The Weekly Town Crier (07/23/21)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (07/23/21).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Rapper Biz Markie dies” at The Hill.

Read “Byron Berline, Master of the Bluegrass Fiddle, Dies at 77” at New York Times.

Religion and Stuff:Human Rights/Legal/Justice and Social Justice and Race or Gender or Sexism-Related Stuff:

Read “Sikhs, finding religious freedom on the road, take outsize role in American trucking” at Religious News Service.

Read “John Piper’s Successor Latest to Resign as Allegations of Abusive Leadership Mount at Bethlehem Baptist” at Roys Report.

Read “Why God is still the best scientific theory to explain our life on Earth” at New York Post.

Read “Despite white Christianity’s role in Capitol assault, some signs of hope and change” at Religion News Service.

Read “Is evangelical Christianity a religious movement, or is it something else?” at Current.

Read “The Six Way Fracturing of Evangelicalism” at Mere Orthodoxy.

Read “House panel rejects SBC-backed Hyde Amendment” at Baptist Press.

Read “Women’s Search for Women Leaders in the Early Church” at Daily JSTOR. “Some nineteenth-century women writers argued that the first Christians included women who were close to Paul—and maybe apostles themselves.”

Read “David Platt’s dreams for McLean Bible Church sour as members file lawsuit over elder vote” at Religion News Service. “Platt, the best-selling author of ‘Radical’ and beloved Bible preacher, finds his church facing controversy over critical race theory.”

Read “12 Women File Lawsuit vs Liberty U for Unsafe Environment, “Enabling On-Campus Rapes”” at Roys Report.

Read “Florida Youth Pastor Arrested 3rd Time for Video Voyeurism” at Roys Report.

Read “Among Mormon Women, Frank Talk About Sacred Underclothes” at New York Times. ““People are scared to be brutally honest, to say: ‘This isn’t working for me. It isn’t bringing me closer to Christ, it’s giving me U.T.I.s.’” Interesting story on Mormon women pushing for changes to their (often itchy, non breathable) holy undergarments:”

Read “Sanctifying the Status Quo: A Response to Reverend Kevin DeYoung” at Front Porch.

  • Read “Distinctively Christian? An Additional Response to Reverend Kevin DeYoung” at Front Porch.

Read “White Christian America built a faith-based safety net. What happens when it’s gone?” at Religion News Service.

Read “Evangelical' Prof’s ‘Biblical Comma’ Tweet Exposes Paradox of ‘Respectable’ Evangelical Anti-Intellectualism” at Religion Dispatches.

Read “UMC edges toward historic split over LGBTQ inclusion. This church showed the way.” at Religion News Service. “Community of Hope was founded in 1993 as an outreach to ‘people on the margin,’ including LGBTQ people and people living with HIV/AIDS, according to its former pastor.”

Read “Catholic priest who wants to prevent Biden from receiving communion resigns in sex scandal” at Boing Boing.

Read “In-Laws of Mark Driscoll’s Children & Key Pastor: ‘Cultic’ Church Is Dividing Families” at Roys Report.

  • Read “Postcards from Phoenix: When Church Divides a Family” at Warren Throckmorton.

Read “Former Pastor at Florida Megachurch Charged with Grooming & Sexually Molesting Young Girl” at Roys Report.

Human Rights/Legal/Justice and Social Justice and Race or Gender or Sexism-Related Stuff:

Read “Federal judge declares DACA program illegal, but halts only new applications” at NBC News.

Read “Biden administration invites UN experts on racism to visit U.S. in bid to combat racial injustice”

Read “Voting Rights Activists Are Planning a Selma-Style March in Texas” at Vice.

Read “Alabama city leader won't quit after using racial slur” at Yahoo.

Read “Harvey Weinstein, Convicted Rapist, Claims He Didn't Rape Anyone in LA’” at Vice. “On Wednesday, Weinstein pleaded not guilty to 11 sexual assault charges.”

Read “Texas Starts Jailing Immigrants on State Charges After Crossing U.S. Border” at Democracy Now.

Read “U.S. Won’t Seek Death Penalty in 7 Cases, Signaling a Shift Under Biden” at New York Times.

Read “Mississippi's attorney general asks Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade” at The Hill.

Read “Giuliani being investigated over Turkish lobbying” at ABC News.

This week in traitorous, white-supremacist Confederate monuments (and/or Columbus monuments // and/or other “American monuments” // Insurrectionists // and/or weird Confederacy stuff):

Read “Two men charged in alleged scheme to attack Democratic headquarters in Sacramento inspired by Trump defeat, DOJ says” at CNN.

Read “Father and son police officers charged with joining Proud Boys at Capitol riot” at The Hill.

Read “Garland bars prosecutors from seizing reporters' records” at Yahoo.

Read “Anti-Jewish manifesto found on California man arrested with ammo, high-powered weapons” at Forward.

Read “Men accused of Whitmer kidnapping plot say FBI set them up” at The Hill.

Read “Prosecutors say 'incel' planned mass shooting of sorority members on Ohio college campus” at The Hill.

Read “Pelosi Says Jan. 6 Panel To Move Ahead Without GOP’s Choices” at Huff Post.

  • Read “In Trump’s Jan. 6 recast, attackers become martyrs, heroes” at Associated Press.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio pleads guilty in Black Lives Matter banner burning” at AZ Central.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Police officers treat Black and white men differently. You can hear it in their tone of voice” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “The case of the mugshot with the missing tattoos concludes on hopeful note: ‘It’s like hitting the lottery’” at Oregon Live.

Read “Rapid City Police Officer Let Go After Racially Profiling Native Americans” at SDBP.

Read “NYC's Non-Police Mental Health Pilot Increasing Rate of Those Getting Aid, Data Show” at NBC New York.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “What the Author of the Poem “White Privilege” Thinks of a Teacher Getting Fired for Showing It to His Class” at Slate. “I know that it was just a terrible excuse for their discomfort,” said Kyla Jenee Lacey.

Read “Texas “critical race theory” bill limiting teaching of current events signed into law” at Texas Tribune. “Texas is one of a handful of states that have approved legislation that prescribes how teachers discuss current events and prohibits students from receiving credit for participating in civic activities.”

  • Read “Texas Senate Bill Drops Teaching Requirement That Ku Klux Klan Is ‘Morally Wrong’” at Huff Post. “Eliminated requirements also include the writings of Martin Luther King Jr., United Farm Workers leader Cesar Chavez and suffragist Susan B. Anthony.”

Read “California to provide free school meals for all students” at The Hill.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Delta Is Driving a Wedge Through Missouri” at The Atlantic. “For America as a whole, the pandemic might be fading. For some communities, this year will be worse than last.”

Read “Biden says platforms like Facebook are ‘killing people’ with COVID-19 misinformation” at The Verge.

Read “High-Profile COVID-19 Cases Are Disrupting Olympic Rosters And MLB Games” at NPR.

Read “World-renowned St. Jude children's hospital tells employees: Get vaccinated or get fired” at The Blaze.

Read “Music festival in the Netherlands leads to over 1,000 Covid infections” at CNBC.

Read “L.A. residents torn as mask mandate takes effect” at Yahoo.

Read “Federal judge will not block Indiana University's vaccine mandate” at The Hill.

Read “Federal appeals court to consider whether Michigan students can be required to wear masks” at Michigan Radio.

Read “Prisoners Keep Dying of COVID While ‘Compassionate Releases’ Stall in Court” at Vice.

Read “Unvaccinated Trump supporter who spread coronavirus conspiracy theories dies of COVID-19” at Raw Story.

Read the opinion piece: “Fox News' Covid vaccine denials can't go unpunished.”

Read “‘I’m sorry, but it’s too late’ Alabama doctor on treating unvaccinated, dying COVID patients” at AL.com. “One of the last things they do before they’re intubated is beg me for the vaccine. I hold their hand and tell them that I’m sorry, but it’s too late.”

Read “Tokyo hits six-month high in COVID-19 cases one day before Olympics begin” at The Hill.

Read “Guinea withdraws from Olympics, citing COVID-19” at The Hill.

Read “More Variants Are Coming, and the U.S. Isn’t Ready to Track Them” at Bloomberg.

Read “Klobuchar Takes Aim at Online Covid Lies With Section 230 Bill” at Bloomberg. “Senator Amy Klobuchar introduces a bill to make online platforms like Facebook and Twitter legally liable for misinformation about health issues such as Covid-19.”

Read “COVID-19 is surging again in Arizona, ASU disease expert says” at AZ Central.

Read “The New COVID Panic” at Slate. “What vaccinated people should really know about their risk from the delta variant.”

Read “NFL warns teams that COVID-19 outbreaks could lead to forfeits in 2021” at ABC 15.

Read “Under HIPAA Rules, Can Businesses Ask If You Have Been Vaccinated Against COVID-19?” at Snopes. “Where does HIPAA's privacy rule apply?”

Read “More than 1.5 million children lost a primary or secondary caregiver due to the COVID-19 pandemic” at NIH.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Dr. Anthony Fauci named 2021 Humanist of the Year” at Religion News Service. “The American Humanist Association awarded the honor to Fauci for embodying humanist values in the global fight against COVID-19.”

Read “Twitter Suspends Marjorie Taylor Greene For COVID Misinformation” at News and Guts.

Read “Deion Sanders Scolds Reporter For Calling Him ‘Deion’ And Walks Away” at Huff Post. “The Jackson State football coach, a Hall of Fame retired pro, griped that the journalist was being “cute.”

Read “The Inevitable Weaponization of App Data Is Here” at Vice.

Read “Mercedes-Benz going all-electric by 2025” at The Hill.

Read “Controversial USPS Plan To Slow The Mail Slammed By Postal Regulator” at Forbes.

Read “Hundreds Demonstrated Against Poverty at Apollo 11 Moon Launch” at Space.

Read “Surprise Jump in Unemployment Claims Shows U.S. Labor Market Churn” at Time.

Read “Female Soldiers Are Getting New Body Armor Designed Just For Them” at NPR.

Read “A Defunct Video Hosting Site Is Flooding Normal Websites With Hardcore Porn” at Vice. “Stories on major news sites like ‘The Washington Post,’ and ‘New York Magazine’ currently have porn embedded in them.”

Internationalities:

Read “U.S. blames China for Microsoft hack” at World.

Read “‘Mom, I Don’t Think I Can Make It’: Inside the Subway Train Flooded by Extreme Rainfall” at Vice. “At least 12 people died in the subway system as a record-breaking rainstorm hit central China.”

Read “US House passes bill to provide 8,000 special visas for Afghans” at Al Jazeera.

Read “Room for 10,000: Inside China’s largest detention center” at Religion News Service. “This site suggests that China still holds and plans to hold vast numbers of Uyghurs and other minorities in detention.”

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Matt Gaetz’s ‘America First’ Rally Dumped By Third California Venue Hours Before Event” at Huff Post. “In last-ditch attempt, Gaetz asked supporters to join him outside Riverside City Hall to “protest against communism.”

Read “Biden's silence on filibuster strains Democrats' patience” at The Hill.

Read “Tech executives increased political donations amid lobbying push” at The Hill.

Read “American Dental Association Bares Teeth, Extracts Funding for Paul Gosar” at Vice.

Read “Senate Democrats propose requiring women to register for military draft” at Politico.

  • Read “Senate panel votes to make women register for draft” at The Hill.

Read “Sparse Voter-Fraud Cases Undercut Claims of Widespread Abuses” at Bloomberg.

Read “Democrats criticize FBI's handling of tip line in Kavanaugh investigation” at The Hill.

Read “Kyrsten Sinema’s Strategy of Refusing to Do Anything About Anything Is Not Impressing Voters, Poll Says” at Slate. “Arizona offers a natural experiment in whether people would rather see a Democrat hold out for Republican cooperation or just pass stuff they like.”

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “A false narrative of 74K extra votes in Arizona” at Associated Press.

Read “Elements of Trump's Big Lie sound alarms for students of history” at MSNBC.

Read “Republicans renege on deal with Democrats, strip funding for IRS in gift to rich tax cheats” at Salon.

Read “Trump campaign really did pay fake supporters to attend 2015 campaign launch, aide admits” at MSNBC.

Read “Trump still says the election was rigged (it wasn't)” at MSNBC.

Read “GOP Rep. Cawthorn Claims House Republicans Will ‘Prosecute’ Fauci For Doing His Job” at Huff Post. “We want to prosecute this guy to the full ability of the law,” the North Carolina congressman told a right-wing website.”

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Britney Spears Posts Fiery, Brutally Honest Response to Critics on Social Media” at Pop Culture.

Read “Yasmin Williams: A New Voice in Fingerstyle Guitar” at Premier Guitar.

Read “Johnny Rotten sued by ex-Sex Pistols members over upcoming miniseries” at Brooklyn Vegan.

  • Read “John Lydon likens contract at heart of Sex Pistols legal dispute to “slavery”” at NME. “Lydon is being sued by his former bandmates after refusing to grant permission for Sex Pistols music to be used in Danny Boyle's 'Pistol'.

Read “Faces are recording their first new music in four decades” at NME.

Read “Def Jam appears to confirm rumours of new Kanye West album after Las Vegas listening event” at NME.

Read “Olympics Opening Ceremony Composer Steps Down And Apologizes For Bullying” at NPR. “Japanese musician Keigo Oyamada, who performs under the name Cornelius, has resigned from the Tokyo Olympics after being criticized on social media for having bullied children with disabilities while he was himself a student.”

Read “Music Was Key Coping Tool During Lockdown, Says Survey” at The Quietus.

Read “‘Woodstock 99’ Documentary Clip: That ‘Mud’? It’s Shit” at Rolling Stone. “HBO’s Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage focuses on infamous music festival.”

Browse Vice’s picks for “16 Essential Albums You May Have Missed in 2021.”

Read “What Will Happen to My Music Library When Spotify Dies?” at Atlantic.

Read “Farm Aid Announces 2021 Lineup With Willie Nelson, Neil Young, & More” at Stereogum.

Read “Remembering the Phoenix rockabilly star behind 'the most important record ever cut here'“ at Arizona Central.

Browse “A Brief History of Philly Psych” at Bandcamp.

Read “Inside Sun Ra’s 1971 trip to Egypt” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “When a loudmouthed DJ tried to kill disco, the homophobic and racist implications were impossible to ignore’ at Timeline.

Read “The Sounds of Struggle” at Boston Review. “Sixty years ago, a pathbreaking jazz album from Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln, and Oscar Brown, Jr., fused politics and art in the fight for Black liberation. Today many Black artists—women at the forefront—are taking similar strides.”

Read “Are You Relivin’ the Years?: How Steely Dan Became a Cult Favorite for Millennials” at The Ringer.

Read “Don Cherry on creativity and “the mysticism of sound” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “Hiss Golden Messenger :: Quietly Blowing It” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Read “From Soldier to Jazz Giant: The Life of Billy Bang” at Bandcamp.

Read “WILLOW's New Pop-Punk Album Comes From Her Mom's Wicked Wisdom” at NPR.

Read “Hyundai Mercury Prize 2021: Full Nominations Announced” at Clash Music.

Read “Yasiin Bey Steps Back From Thelonious Monk Biopic After Estate’s Disapproval” at Rolling Stone. ““I was given every indication by the production company that the family was on board,” rapper-actor says. “I took them at their word, and clearly that wasn’t the case.”

Read “Hall and Oates’ ‘Diddy Woo Wop (I Hear The Voices)’ Is The Most Sinister Kind of Earworm” at Treble.

Read “Eric Clapton Says He Won't Play Venues That Require COVID Vaccines” at NPR.

Read “Whitney Houston’s Hologram Is Coming to Las Vegas” at Rolling Stone.

Read “David Crosby On His New Album 'For Free' & Why His Twitter Account Is Actually Joyful” at Grammy.

Read “Buckcherry’s Josh Todd Wants To Front A Minor Threat Reunion” at Stereogum.

Browse JazzTimes’ picks for “JazzTimes 10: Great Albums of the Loft-Jazz Era.”

Read “Live Nation Offering $20 All-In Tickets to 1,000 Concerts As Part of Return to Live Promotion” at Consequence.

Read “The Roadrunner Director Made a Playlist Full of Anthony Bourdain's Favorite Music” at Esquire.

Read “Disc-go: Should you get rid of your CDs?” at The Guardian. “They’re ugly and they clog up your cupboards. But just like vinyl spun back into fashion, the compact disc could too.”

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “HBO apparently gave James Gandolfini $3 million to not do The Office” at AV Club. “The legacy of The Sopranos was apparently worth a lot of money to HBO.”

Read “Nicolas Cage on acting with a pig: "She was very, like many of us, payment-oriented"“ at AV Club. “The actor discusses the upcoming Pig and his love of animals in new interview.”

Read “The Anthony Bourdain documentary gets his #MeToo devotion all wrong” at The Week.

  • Read “Anthony Bourdain documentary sparks backlash for using AI to fake voice” at The Guardian.

  • Read “Why Roadrunner Director Morgan Neville Skipped Interviewing Asia Argento” at Vulture.

Read “Carl Sagan Tells Johnny Carson What’s Wrong with Star Wars: “They’re All White” & There’s a “Large Amount of Human Chauvinism in It” (1978)” at Open Culture.

Read “Dan Harmon still believes in a Community movie, despite the looming philosophical questions it poses” at AV Club. “The sitcom's creator says the "the gears are turning.”

Watch “15 Hours of The Pink Panther for Free” at Open Culture.

Read “When David Bowie Played Andy Warhol in Julian Schnabel’s Film, Basquiat” at Open Culture.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “Spike Jonze’s Stop Motion Film Hauntingly Animates Paris’ Famed Shakespeare and Company Bookstore” at Open Culture.

Design/Artsy Things:

Read “Jerry Garcia Family Partners With Yellowheart For NFT Collection” at American Songwriter.

Science/Health/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “Two Rods and a ‘Sixth Sense’: In Drought, Water Witches are Swamped” at New York Times.

Read “Clinical Trial: Cannabis Extracts Effective for Refractory Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea” at NORML.

Read “UFOs over Northeast Michigan skies” at The Alpena News.

Read “No, You Beg Adopting used to be a good thing that good people could do. These days, you’re probably not good enough” at The Cut.

Read “Photo shared of acid-squirting 'land lobster from hell' found in US National Park” at The Hill.

Read “A powerful jet emerges from a black hole in unprecedented detail in new images” at Space.

Read “Bezos: Trip to space 'reinforces my commitment to climate change'“ at The Hill.

Read “US border agents seize 15 giant snails” at BBC.

Read “DeSantis dismisses calls for a red tide state of emergency” at Sun-Sentinel.

Read “Bin There, Done That: Scientists Learn How Cockatoos Learn To Lift Trash Lids” at Huff Post.

Read “Rare and beautiful blanket octopus caught on camera” at The Hill.

Read “Scientists discover 15,000-year-old viruses frozen in glacier ice” at CNET.

Read “Enactment of Adult-Use Marijuana Legalization Associated with Immediate, But Temporary Reductions in Opioid-Related Emergency Room Visits” at NORML.

Food And Drink Cultures:

Read “Meet the Italian Brothers Who Grew the World’s Biggest Cherry” at Gastro Obscura.

Misc. Oddities:

Read ‘The Hilarious History of 'OK'“ at Merriam Webster.

Local:

Read “Few Arizona voter fraud cases undercut Trump's claims” at ABC 15.

Read “Advocates Call For Arizona To Give Federal Funds To Former Foster Care Youth” at KJZZ.

Read “Desert in distress? New study ranks Arizona as worst place to live in 2021” ABC 15.

Read “AZDHS Director Says Arizona School Quarantine Policies Are Appropriate In Some Cases” at KJZZ.

The Weekly Town Crier (07/16/21)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (07/23/21).


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We’ll Miss You:

Read “Paul Orndorff Dies: Wrestling Legend Known As “Mr. Wonderful” Who Fought In 1st WrestleMania Was 71” at Yahoo.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “The Rapid Decline of White evangelical America?” at Washington Post.

  • Read “What is a mainline Christian, anyway?” at Religion News Service.

  • Read “Why It’s Unlikely US Mainline Protestants Outnumber Evangelicals” at Religion Unplugged.

  • Read this 2020 piece “The Power Worshippers: A look inside the American religious right” at Al Jazeera.

Read “QAnon moves into the shadows but movement remains active” at Al Jazeera.

Read “Southern Baptist Convention sparks small COVID-19 cluster in Nashville” at Tennessean.

Read “Santa Fe Church Forgives Entire State of New Mexico Medical Debt” at Episcopal News.

Read “SBC President Ed Litton Announces Task Force to Review Mishandling of Abuse Allegations” at Roys Report.

Read “Family loses appeal in lawsuit over priest’s funeral remarks” at Religion News Service. “A priest who criticized a teenager's suicide during his funeral is protected by the First Amendment.”

Read “Atheist and humanist groups sue Mississippi over state’s ‘In God We Trust’ license plate” at Religion News Service. “The suit says car owners have to choose between displaying the state’s standard license tag, with the words ‘In God We Trust,’ on their vehicles or paying an additional fee to display a special tag of their choice.”

Read the opinion piece: “Why are White Evangelicals embracing an anti-democratic movement? Because they’re panicking” at Washington Post.

Read “Church leaders arrested on sex-related charges involving minors” at Baptist Press.

Read “MAGA Pastor Jackson Lahmeyer Discovers the Downside of QAnon” at Right Wing Watch.

Read “United Methodist Church Seizes Assets of Conservative Georgia Megachurch” at Roys Report.

Human Rights/Legal/Justice and Social Justice and Race or Gender or Sexism-Related Stuff:

Read “Biden administration bars ICE from detaining pregnant or nursing women” at CBS News.

Read “Police investigating child’s death at Maggie’s Farm in Manitou Springs” at KRDO. “Two Colorado parents were arrested and charged with "criminally negligent child abuse resulting in death" after their 4-year-old son unintentionally shot and killed himself while left unattended in a car in Manitou Springs.”

Read “Previous ACLU: Miami Correctional inmates lived in total darkness, frequently shocked” at Okaloosa.com.

Read “Federal court blocks Tennessee's anti-trans bathroom law from going into effect” at Business Insider.

This week in traitorous, white-supremacist Confederate monuments (and/or Columbus monuments // and/or other “American monuments” // Insurrectionists // and/or weird Confederacy stuff):

Read “White nationalists prep for "physical" altercation with security at Dallas CPAC conference” at Salon.

Read “Charlottesville begins taking down Confederate statues” at CNN.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Officers sue California city over Black Lives Matter mural” at AZ Family.

Read “Cop Accused of Hiding Stepson’s Body in a Hole in the Wall of His Home” at Vice.

Read “All DPS Troopers To Get Body Cameras, But Arizona Limits Release Of Video” at KJZZ.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Arizona governor signs bill to prohibit critical race theory teaching” at The Hill.

  • Read “What Is Critical Race Theory, and Why Is Everyone Talking About It?” at Columbia.edu.

  • Read “Nikki Haley calls on 'every governor' in US to ban funding for critical race theory in public schools” at Yahoo.

Read “Tears, politics and money: School boards become battle zones” at Associated Press.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Rand Paul, Fellow GOPers Fighting Mask Mandate On Airplanes” at News and Guts.

Read “'Surprising amount of death' will soon occur in these US regions from increased Covid-19 cases, expert says” at CNN.

Read “Canada donating AstraZeneca doses to other countries” at The Hill.

Read “Anti-vaxx nurse dies from COVID-19 in Louisiana” at Raw Story.

Read “Tennessee abandons vaccine outreach to minors — not just for COVID-19” at Tennessean.

Read “Surgeon general warns of dangers of misinformation amid misleading vaccine claims” at CNN.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Tobacco group Philip Morris buys maker of inhalers” at Economic Times. “US cigarette giant Philip Morris said Friday that it has agreed to buy Vectura, a UK company making breathing inhalers, as part of a push into healthcare.”

Read the opinion piece “Only the Rich Could Love This Economic Recovery” at New York Times.

Read “Rachael Denhollander: Let's channel our anger over the FBI and Nassar and save the children” at USA Today.

Internationalities:

Read “US sanctions a Chinese facial recognition company with Silicon Valley funding” at The Verge.

Read “Biden Tells Putin Russia Must Crack Down On Cybercriminals” at Huff Post. “U.S. President Joe Biden warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that he must “take action” against criminals within his country.”

Read “Haitian police: Foreign hit squad killed President Moïse” at PRI The World.

Read “UK mom killed hubby with boiling water for allegedly sexually abusing her kids” at New York Post.

Read the opinion piece “Abolish the Olympics” at The New Republic. “They’ve long been a financial boondoggle that ruins lives and enriches the corporate class. This year, they might also spread a deadly Covid variant among a largely unvaccinated population.”

Read “World disgusted by racist abuse toward players” at The Hill.

Read “South Africa Deploys Army to Contain Unrest Over Former President Zuma’s Arrest” at Wall Street Journal.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Why Toyota's reversal on Republican financial support matters” at MSNBC News.

Read “Senate Democrats Announce $3.5 Trillion Budget Agreement” at NPR.

Read “Schumer: Marijuana legalization will be a Senate priority” at The Hill.

Read “Democratic Senators Call for Investigation of Tax Avoidance by the Ultrawealthy” at Pro Publica. “Calling ProPublica’s Secret IRS Files series a “bombshell,” Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Sheldon Whitehouse demanded an investigation into how the rich use “legal tax loopholes to avoid paying their fair share of income taxes.”

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Dissension in AZGOP as Trump dumps Ducey” at AZ Capitol Times.

Read Greg Abbott Says Fleeing Texas Democrats 'Will Be Arrested' When They Return to State” at Newsweek.

Read “Kremlin papers appear to show Putin’s plot to put Trump in White House” at The Guardian.

Read “USA Today Investigation Links Ducey With Efforts To Extract $100M In Tax Refunds” at KJZZ.

Read ‘Democratic Rep. Beatty arrested while calling for Senate action on voting rights” at Yahoo.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “The Creative Urge: John Coltrane on Perseverance Against Rejection, the Innovator’s Mindset, and How Hardship Fuels Art” at Brain Pickings.

Read “The Residents Announce 50th Anniversary Tour” at Consequence.

Read “Iggy Pop to Narrate King Tutankhamun Documentary” at Pitchfork.

Read “Grateful Dead’s best album is ‘In the Dark’ – even if Deadheads won't admit it” at Herald-Tribune.

Read “Why Are Independent Artists and Labels Turning Away From Vinyl?” at Pitchfork. “Faced with interminable manufacturing delays, some of music’s DIY players are giving up on the beloved format.”

Read “Heartbreakers Keyboardist Benmont Tench Talks ‘She’s the One,’ Life After Tom Petty” at Rolling Stone.

Read “UK Lawmakers Call for Sweeping Reform to Streaming Payouts” at Pitchfork.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “Hannity tells fans to 'take their sports back' by singing national anthem” at The Hill.

Read “Lea Thompson is volunteering to direct a Howard The Duck reboot” at AV Club.

Read “Rob Schneider Unwilling to Take COVID-19 Vaccine, Is Willing to Shoot People” at Consequence.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “The battle for the public library” at Current. “It looks like some conservatives are running for local library boards so they can remove books on race and racism from the stacks.”

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “At least seven states report mosquitoes carrying disease that can paralyze humans” at The Hill.

Read “Meth Pollution in Waterways Turns Trout Into Addicts” at Smithsonian.

Read “Mass bird die-off in eastern US baffles scientists” at Live Science.

Read “EPA: 11,000 facilities illegally discharged pollutants into nearby waters in 2018” at The Hill.

Read “Wobbling’ moon will cause devastating worldwide flooding in 2030’s NASA warns” at Telegraph.

Read “Scientists are tracking the loneliest whale in the world” at The Hill.

Local:

Read “72% of Arizona taxpayers will save less than $45 per year under @dougducey ‘s tax cut. But he repeated again and again that the average taxpayer would save $300. There are two possible explanations: he was being dishonest or he didn’t check the math” at AZ Central.

Read “Phoenix Firefighters Union Asks City To Shutter Two Trails On Extreme Heat Days” at KJZZ.

Read “Arizona Supreme Court halts projected execution dates for 2 inmates” at KTAR.

Read “Arizona flood swept this Prius down a street, caught on video” at Boing Boing.

The Weekly Town Crier (07/09/21)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (07/09/21).

Religion and Stuff:

Read the opinion piece “Patriot games: CRT, Christian nationalism and a battle for the real truth of America” at Religion News Service.

  • Read “Where Were They Radicalized? No Answer Is Complete Without Addressing Evangelical Churches and Schooling” at Religion Dispatches.

Read ‘Breaking the silence: Clergy address pandemic’s surge in domestic violence” at Religion News Service.

Read “Promise Keepers Tried to End Racism 25 Years Ago. It Almost Worked” at Christianity Today. “As new tensions divide the country, the men’s movement leaders wonders what they could have done differently.”

Read “Apocalypse Now And Then: How A Biblical Genre Shapes American Politics” at Religion Dispatches.

Read “The uncomfortable truth about the authoritarian Christian right's role in American politics” at AlterNet.

Read “Franklin bomb scare caused by fake TNT prop used for coal mining-themed church program” at Tennessean.

Read “White mainline Protestants outnumber white evangelicals, while ‘nones’ shrink” at Religion News Service.

Read “NDAs Kept These Christians Silent. Now They’re Speaking Out Against Them” at Christianity Today.

Human Rights/Legal/Justice and Social Justice and Race or Gender or Sexism-Related Stuff:

Read “Lethal Force Against Pipeline Protests? Documents Reveal Shocking South Dakota Plans for National Guard” at Democracy Now.

Read “12 Holdout States Haven't Expanded Medicaid, Leaving 2 Million People In Limbo” at NPR.

Read “At least 150 people fatally shot in more than 400 shootings over the Fourth of July weekend” at CNN.

Read “Tucson to ignore Arizona’s ‘Second Amendment sanctuary’ law” at AZ Capitol Times.

Read “Juan Williams: How the Supreme Court eroded voting rights” at The Hill.

Read “SCOTUS Is Finishing the Job on Financial Disclosure Requirements” at Slate. “Doing bad things in two steps several years apart is becoming something of a strategy for John Roberts.”

Read “Cuomo declares 'state emergency' on gun violence in New York” at The Hill.

Read “ACLU Lawsuit: MCAO ‘coerces’ guilty pleas by fast-tracking cases” at ABC 15.

Read “Trump files suit against Facebook, Twitter and YouTube” at Associated Press.

Read “An MLK Jr. Statue Was Vandalized With Graffiti, Prompting A Hate Crime Investigation” at NPR.

Read “Michigan Judge Refuses to Allow Sidney Powell, Lin Wood, and Other ‘Kraken’ Attorneys to Skip Sanctions Hearing” at Law and Crime.

Read “Ghoulish pall is cast over America by Alabama's plan to gas humans to death” at Montgomery Advertiser.

Read “An Appeals Court Has Suspended Rudy Giuliani's Ability To Practice Law In D.C.” at NPR.

This week in traitorous, white-supremacist Confederate monuments (and/or Columbus monuments // and/or other “American monuments” // Insurrectionists // and/or weird Confederacy stuff):

Read ‘6 Months After Capitol Assault, Corporate Pledges Fall Flat” at NBC Los Angeles. “6 months later, many of those companies have resumed funneling cash to PACs that benefit the election efforts of lawmakers whether they objected to the election certification or not.”

Read “Covering up the insurrection is the Bigger Lie. And it’s worse.” at MSNBC.

Read “Virginia ‘Bible study’ group was cover for violent militia plans, prosecutors say” at Washington Post.

This Week With The Police:

Read “New video shows altercation between man and New Rochelle detective charged with assault” at Westchester 12 News.

Read “Judge Accepts Nashville Officer’s Voluntary Manslaughter Plea For 2018 Shooting, Leaving Daniel Hambrick’s Family ‘Disgusted’” at WPLN.

Read “Why Cops Are Driving a ‘Game Truck’ Around New York City” at Vice.

Read “Baltimore IG: Police officers allowed to take paid leave and overtime simultaneously” at Baltimore Brew.

Read “Darnella Frazier Filmed George Floyd’s Murder. The Minneapolis Police Just Killed Her Uncle” at Mother Jones.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Teaching critical race theory isn't happening in classrooms, teachers say in survey” at NBC News.

  • Read “Anti-Critical Race Theory Laws Are Un-American” at New York Times.

  • Read “Former Trump official’s God-and-country nonprofit calls CRT a threat to ‘colorblind society’” at Religion News Service. “Russ Vought, a former Trump official, blames woke pastors for promoting a dangerous and anti-Christian ideology.”

Read “Nikole Hannah-Jones Issues Statement on Decision to Decline Tenure Offer at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and to Accept Knight Chair Appointment at Howard University” at NAACPLDF.

  • Read “Two Iconic American Writers Join Howard University to Create the Center for Journalism and Democracy” at MacArthur Foundation.

Read “How QAnon supporters work to spread ideas via school boards” at MSNBC.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Pandemic Pushes Millions of Small Thai Companies Into Crisis” at Bloomberg.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Reflect on 75 Years of Marriage” at New York Times.

Read “Wells Fargo tells customers it’s shuttering all personal lines of credit” at CNBC.

Internationalities:

Read “Haiti's president assassinated” at CNN.

  • Read “What Is Happening in Haiti?” at Vice.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “VP Harris says DNC will pour $25M into voting rights protection” at AZ Mirror.

Read “How Democrats Lost the Courts” at The Atlantic.

Read “DeSantis won't commit to new review of Florida buildings after condo collapse” at The Hill.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Why are Republicans sticking with Trump? Peer pressure—and we’re all susceptible to it.” at American Magazine.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Explore Nikhil Banerjee’s music in Meeting Rivers’ latest Indian classical mix” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “Britney Spears’s Conservatorship Nightmare” at New Yorker.

  • Read “Britney Spears: Mother says pop star should be allowed to choose her own lawyer” at BBC.

Read “How Lonnie Smith Found an Unlikely New Collaborator: Iggy Pop” at New York Times.

Read “King Tubby: A Beginner’s Guide To The Prolific Dub Innovator” at Treble.

Browse “M.C. Taylor’s 13 Spiritually Uplifting Songs” at Spirituality and Health.

Read “Vinyl Is More Popular Than Ever. Surprisingly, That's a Problem” at Vice.

Read “Sonic Youth Partner For Premium Running Apparel Collection Modeled By Walter Schreifels” at Stereogum.

Watch “the Chaos of Woodstock 99 Unfold in New Trailer for Upcoming Documentary” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Krist Novoselic on Nevermind’s impact: “So much was going on. And then it all just spectacularly blew up” at Uncut.

Read “MF DOOM Will Be Honored With His Own Street Sign In New York” at Okay Player.

Read “Fender to honour Kurt Cobain and Primal Scream with new guitar collection” at NME.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “On and off stage, Questlove’s Summer Of Soul is an invigorating and inspiring concert film” at AV Club.

Read “Fox News backs away from defending Tucker Carlson after NSA spying claims” at Salon.

  • Read “Tucker Carlson sought Putin interview at time of spying claim” at Axios.

Read “Kyle MacLachlan Cast as Carole Baskin’s Husband in Joe Exotic Series” at The Hollywood Reporter.

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “What Technology Could Reduce Heat Deaths? Trees.” at New York Times. “At a time when climate change is making heat waves more frequent and more severe, trees are stationary superheroes: They can lower urban temperatures 10 lifesaving degrees, scientists say.”

Read “Radioactive hybrid terror pigs have made themselves a home in Fukushima's exclusion zone” at The Register.

Read “Climate change: The craft brewery using algae to cut emissions” at BBC.

The Weekly Town Crier (07/02/21)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (07/02/21).




We’ll Miss You:

Read “Blackalicious Rapper Gift of Gab Dead at 50” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Richard Altuna, Who Redesigned What Retail Looks Like, Dies At 70” at NPR.

Read “Jon Hassell, pioneering electronic musician, RIP” at Boing Boing.

Read “‘Cops’ Creator John Langley Dead at 78” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Former Skid Row Singer Johnny Solinger Dead at 55” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Donald Rumsfeld, former secretary of defense, dies at 88” at CNN.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “The American church needs to reckon with its legacy in Indigenous boarding schools” at Religion News Service. “The American church will not be able to hide from its history of complicity in the treatment of Indigenous peoples — and the ongoing colonization Indigenous peoples continue to face today.”

Read ‘Are We Attempting to Serve Two Masters, Jesus and Gun Rights?” at Christianity Today. “Reflections from a school shooting survivor.”

Read “White hysteria, Critical Race Theory, and eyes that dare not see” by David Gushee at Baptist News.

  • Read “Where Did White Evangelicalism’s Hatred of Critical Race Theory Really Begin?” at Religion Dispatches.

  • Read “Critical race theory is a gift to Christians” at Christian Century. “The good news about collective and institutional sin is that, like individual sin, it can be redeemed.”

Read “Who are the Catholic bishops drafting the controversial Communion document?” at Religion News Service. “A look at the clerics tasked with penning a document many see as a rebuke of President Joe Biden.”

Read “More churches burn down on Canada indigenous land” at BBC.

Read “How the Southern Baptist Convention Rejected Populist Fundamentalism” at The Bulwark.

  • Read “As Southern Baptists Begin to Grapple with Sexual Abuse, Looming Challenges Remain” at Roys Report.

Read “Indian priest’s wife chops off his penis after he wanted to marry again” at New York Post.

Meet “the Theobros, who want you to know they’re right about everything” at Baptist News.

Read “Pope to meet with delegation of Indigenous People of Canada” at Vatican News.

Read “Behind Biden’s 2020 Victory” at Pew Research. “Trump’s support among white evangelicals rose from 77% in 2016 to 84% in 2020.”

Read “Catholic bishop of Syracuse decries Doctrine of Discovery, suggests pope do the same” at Religion News Service.

Read “UK Methodist Church Votes to Allow Same-Sex Marriages, While US Methodists Anticipate Split” at Roys Report.

Read “How Philadelphia’s reform DA is teaming with clergy to tackle rising gun violence” at Religion News Service.

Legal/Justice and Social Justice and Race or Gender or Sexism-Related Stuff:

Read “In Suing Georgia, Justice Department Says State's New Voting Law Targets Black Voters” at NPR.

Read “An Iowa County Chooses to Be Named for a Black Professor, Not a Slaveowner” at New York Times. “Johnson County selected Lulu Merle Johnson, a Black educator and historian, as its official eponym, replacing Richard Mentor Johnson, the ninth U.S. vice president.”

Read “How Did This Anti-Labor Lawyer Become One of Joe Biden’s First Judicial Nominees?” at Slate.

Read “Clarence Thomas says federal laws against marijuana may no longer be necessary” at NBC News. “The federal government's current approach is a half-in, half-out regime that simultaneously tolerates and forbids local use of marijuana,” the conservative Supreme Court justice wrote.”

Read “US Supreme Court rejects Virginia school board’s trans bathroom ban appeal” at AL.com.

Read “Supreme Court lets lawsuit continue in death of man detained in prone position” at NBC News.

Read “Bill Cosby to Be Freed as Court Overturns His Sex Assault Conviction” at New York Times.

Read ‘James Franco Agrees to Pay $2.2 Million in Sexual-Misconduct Lawsuit Settlement” at Vulture.

Read “Supreme Court Invalidates Key Part of Voting Rights Act” at New York Times.

Read “Adding to Trump's woes, grand jury indicts his core business” at MSBNC.

Read “NFL Levies $10 Million Fine, Biggest in League History, Against Washington Football Team for Workplace Culture” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “City sells former police academy to become a marijuana grow facility” at Boing Boing.

Read “Woman who falsely accused Black teen of stealing phone charged with hate crime” at The Hill.

This week in traitorous, white-supremacist Confederate monuments (and/or Columbus monuments // and/or other “American monuments” // Insurrectionists // and/or weird Confederacy stuff):

Read “A Florida man admitted storming the Capitol, feds say. Then he told the FBI his pastor had come with him” at Washington Post.

Read ‘‘Castrate, kill, remove voting rights’: Ex-Marine, Georgia deputy was in extremist cell, feds say” at Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Read ‘Spurred By The Capitol Riot, Thousands Of Republicans Drop Out Of GOP” at NPR.

Read “California’s yoga, wellness and spirituality community has a QAnon problem” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Toyota under fire for giving $55K to 37 Republicans who objected to certifying election” at MSNBC News.

Read “Marine Corps officer pleads not guilty in Capitol riot” at The Hill.

Read “House Votes to Remove Confederate Statues from the Capitol” at Democracy Now.

Read “House Approves Creation of Select Committee to Probe Jan. 6 Attack” at Wall Street Journal.

Watch “Day of Rage: An In-Depth Look at How a Mob Stormed the Capitol” at New York Times.

Read “GOP Rep. Paul Gosar appears to ally with white nationalists — again” at Washington Post.

Read “Former cop who allegedly attacked police with flagpole during Capitol riots to be released from jail, placed on house arrest” at The Hill.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Ex-Cop Chauvin Gets 22 1/2 Years in Prison for Floyd Murder” at Bloomberg.

  • Read “How Former Police Officers Are Treated in Prison” at Vice. “We spoke to some experts to find out what life is like for ex-cops behind bars.”

Read “Oakland to divert $17M from police budget” at The Hill.

Read “US Border Patrol launches new marine unit amid rise in maritime smuggling” at PRI.

Read ‘Proposed law making cell phone video of cops a crime moves forward by Ohio legislators” at News 5 Cleveland.

Read “Family demands justice after teen fatally shot by Lonoke County sheriff's deputy” at KATV.

Read “Fox News Sunday host asks GOP congressman why it's "the Republicans who are defunding the police"“ at Salon.

Read “Budget bill provision allows DPS to block release of all video records” at AZ Mirror.

Read “UN calls for US, others to end 'impunity' for police violence against Black people” at The Hill.

Read “Watch a police officer admit to playing Taylor Swift to keep a video off YouTube” at The Verge.

Read “Police group says ambush attacks on officers up 91 percent over past year” at The Hill.

Read “Ex-Nashville officer Andrew Delke takes plea deal in deadly shooting of Daniel Hambrick” at Fox17.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “The hypocrisy of cancel culture means young people can never learn anything” at The Telegraph.

Read “The Death of Gratitude in the American Classroom” at Public Discourse. “Encouraging people to be gracious, and to recognize what others have provided them through no merit of their own, is not about “guilt tripping” them. It is to encourage a particular way of existing in the world. Gratitude acknowledges the plenitude of goodness that surrounds us every moment of every day in millions of small acts of people we do not know.”

Read “Spanking can worsen a child’s behavior and do real harm, study finds” at CNN.

Read “UNC trustees approve tenure for journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones after students removed from meeting area” at CBS News.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Hundreds of PPP Loans Went to Fake Farms in Absurd Places” at Pro Publica.

Read “WHO Urges Vaccinated People to Keep Taking COVID Precautions as Delta Variant Spreads Across Globe” at Democracy Now.

Read “American carnage: What we are now learning about Trump's nightmarish mishandling of COVID” at Salon.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “The Meet-Cute That Made WrestleMania How a ponderous wrestler and a pop star from Queens formed an unlikely friendship that started it all” at Vulture.

Read “Kanye West sues Walmart for allegedly copying his foam runner shoes” at NME.

Read “The Teamsters Announce Coordinated Nationwide Project to Unionize Amazon” at Vice.

Read “Grief Is Another Word For Love” at Guernica Magazine.

Read “Well, now we know what happens when you swallow an AirPod” at AV Club.

Read “Leaving Conservatism Behind” at Dissent Magazine. “How I renounced the God-and-guns conservatism of my blue-collar roots and embraced class politics.”

Read “Nurse suspended for TikTok videos about mistreating her patients claims they were comedy skits” at The Independent.

Read “NCAA Votes To Let Athletes Earn Money Based On Their Names And Images” at NPR.

Read “Amazon Delivery Companies Revolt Against Amazon, Shut Down” at Vice.

Internationalities:

Read “The Dominican Republic Is Building a Wall to Keep Haitian Migrant Kids Out” at Vice. “Close to half a million Haitians are living undocumented in the Dominican Republic, and many of them are children.”

Read “Roughly 650 troops to stay in Afghanistan after withdrawal” at The Hill.

Read “Classified UK military documents found at bus stop” at The Hill.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Pence says it would have been 'un-American' to not certify results of 2020 election” at ABC 15.

Read “Ron Johnson calls for Republicans to run for local office and 'take back our culture'“ at The Hill.

  • Read “Milwaukee newspaper blasts Ron Johnson as 'irresponsible representative of Wisconsin citizens'“ at The Hill.



This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “In Arizona, GOP Lawmakers Strip Power From a Democrat” at Yahoo.

Read “Audit leader Doug Logan appears in conspiracy theorist election film” at AZ Mirror.

Read “Trump Sought Justice Department Intervention to Stop SNL from Making Fun of Him” at Second Nexus.

Read “Documents Show Ivanka Trump Didn’t Testify Accurately in Inauguration Scandal Case” at Mother Jones.

Music-Related News and Such:

Browse “2021.5 : Our Favorite Albums + Songs From The First Half Of The Year” at Gorilla vs. Bear.

  • Browse “Alt.Latino's Best Music of 2021 (So Far)” at NPR.

  • Browse “The Best Of 2021 – Halftime Report” at Uncut.

Read “How Black People Created All Your Favorite Music” at HighSnobiety.

Read “Ed Sheeran turned to Bono for fatherhood advice: “We had a three-hour chat”” at NME.

Read “One Day the Music Goes Away” at Passion Weiss. “After Myspace lost over 50 million song uploads, Will Hagle ponders the fleeting shelf-life of digital music and the impermanence of a life lived online.”

Read “New Hawkwind book to be published in October” at Louder Sound.

Watch “The Ramones on Regis and Kathy Lee (1988)” at Boing Boing.

Read “Rich Robinson Rehashes Black Crowes Split, Calling Drummer Steve Gorman “Extremely Negative” and “Manipulative” at Jambands.com.

Read “Britney Spears’s Courtroom Plea Spurs Questions for Her Lawyer” at New York Times. “The singer said she had not known she needed to petition the court to be released from her conservatorship, placing a focus on the court-appointed counsel who has represented her for 13 years.”

  • Read “Is It Legal to Prevent Britney Spears From Having a Baby and Removing Her IUD?” at Variety.

  • Read “Britney Spears: ‘I Just Want My Life Back’” at New York Times.

  • Read “Management Firm Pulls Out of Britney Spears Conservatorship” at Variety.

Read “Review: Hiss Golden Messenger’s ‘Quietly Blowing It’ Belies Its Title” at American Songwriter.

  • Read “Hiss Golden Messenger's M.C. Taylor Processes His Pandemic Blues In Latest Album” at NPR.

Read “A Race ‘Report Card’ Measures Whether the Music Industry Changed” at New York Times.

Read “Courtney Love Demands ‘Rude’ Olivia Rodrigo Send Her Flowers For Copying Album Cover” at Huff Post.

  • Read “Courtney Love and Olivia Rodrigo Spark Debate About Creative Homage vs. Theft” at Flood.

Read “Sharp Ascent: In Conversation with Six Organs Of Admittance’s Ben Chasny” at Sun-13.

Read “Antifa Defeats Mumford & Sons” at Slate.

Read “Avril Lavigne partners with real-life 'Sk8er boi' Tony Hawk in TikTok debut” at CNN.

Read “Add to Your Record Collection With Amazon’s New Monthly Vinyl Subscription Service” at Variety.

Read/Listen to “Talkhouse Weekend Playlist: Inside the World of Jaubi” at Talkhouse. “The bandleader behind Jaubi shares up-and-coming artists and some influences behind the new record, Nafs at Peace.”

  • Read “Jaubi | Interview | Spiritual Journey from Pakistan” at Psychedelic Baby.

Read “Wanda Jackson Announces Final Album ‘Encore’ With Joan Jett” at Rolling Stone.

Read “How Japanese Breakfast Builds An Album, Sound By Sound” at NPR.

Read “How Sun Ra Taught Us to Believe in the Impossible” at New Yorker. “The visionary jazz artist sketched an “Astro-Black mythology” that aligned ancient Egyptian history with a future human exodus “beyond the stars.”

Browse Americana-UK’s picks for “Essentials: The top ten Howe Gelb albums.”

Read “Supreme Partners with Butthole Surfers for Clothing Collection” at Consequence.

Browse “Ishmael Butler On The 10 Best Shabazz Palaces Songs” at Treble.

Read “Biz Markie Is Still Alive, Manager Confirms Amid Death Rumors on Social Media” at Pitchfork.

Read “Ryley Walker Talks Moving to Vermont and His New Album” at Seven Days VT.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Browse “37 Hitchcock Cameo Appearances Over 50 Years: All in One Video” at Open Culture.

Read “‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ at 25: ‘The Most R-Rated G You Will Ever See’” at New York Times.

Read “Apple TV+ Shortening Its Free One-Year Trials” at Pop Culture.

Design/Artsy Things:

Read “David Bowie art from Ontario landfill sets $50K auction record, but some locals aren't happy with the fame” at CBC. “Some from the small community of South River fear an influx of treasure hunters following rare find.”

Read “Picasso Painting Hidden In Maine Closet For 50 Years Sold” at Huff Post.

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “Discovery of ‘Dragon Man’ Skull in China May Add Species to Human Family Tree” at New York Times.

Read “'Important first step': Highly anticipated UFO report released with no firm conclusions” at AZ Central.

  • Read “For UFO enthusiasts at Oregon festival, ‘it’s all extraterrestrial’” at Religion News Service.

  • Read “U.S. Has No Explanation for Unidentified Objects and Stops Short of Ruling Out Aliens” at New York Times.

  • Read “How the Pentagon learned to start worrying and investigate UFOs” at National Geographic.]

  • Read “New video shows unidentified glowing objects near US Navy ship” at Mystery Wire.

Read “This Is My Brain on Salvia” at Wired. “I loaned my head to the world’s first fMRI study on the effects of salvinorin A, a potent psychedelic. Here’s what it revealed.”

Read “Does drinking hot tea in summer really cool you down?” at Universal-Sci.

Misc. Oddities:

Read “Uncover the (actually not very mysterious) origins of Massachusetts' toy horse graveyard, Ponyhenge” at AV Club.

Local:

Read “Phoenix firefighters union pushing for change after 2 firefighters hospitalized from back to back trail rescues” at 12 News.

The Weekly Town Crier (06/18/21)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (08/16/21).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Frank Bonner, 'WKRP in Cincinnati' Star, Dead at 79” at Pop Culture.

Read “Obituary: Egypt’s first freely elected President Mohamed Morsi” at Al Jazeera.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Racism & Patriarchy: Two Strands of the Same Authoritarian Theology” at Faith, Philosophy and Politics.

Read “Southern Baptists Take Sides Ahead of Nashville Meeting” at Christianity Today.

  • Read “Pressure mounts for an independent investigation of SBC Executive Committee handling of abuse” at Religion News Service.

  • Read “Russell Moore leaves Southern Baptist leadership, but denomination’s troubles remain” at Religion News Service.

  • Read “Leaks Turn Up The Heat In Advance Of Southern Baptists' Nashville Meeting” at Religion Unplugged.

  • Read “Southern Baptists are at a Fork in the Road” at Christianity Today. “The SBC will be making choices about how we respond to abuse, race, and more at this watershed convention.”

  • Read “Less Fore Moore? If Russell Moore Left The SBC Due To Conscience And Convictions His Next Move Is A Curious One” at Religion Dispatches.

  • Read “SBC Polity Gives People in the Pews the Power to Stop Corrupt Leaders” at Christianity Today. “This week at the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting, attendees will ask for change from the top. But regular members also bear responsibility.”

  • Read “The Tragedy of Russell Moore” at Religion and Politics.

  • Read “Southern Baptists Narrowly Head Off Ultraconservative Takeover” at New York Times. “Ed Litton, a moderate pastor from Alabama, won a high-stakes presidential election with the potential to reshape the future of the country’s largest Protestant denomination.”

  • Read “Southern Baptist pastor: Minister accused of abusing a dozen boys never investigated” at Religion News Service.

  • Read “Southern Baptists approve task force on abuse, permanently ban pastors who abuse” at Religion News Service.

  • Read “This Quote About Pregnant Church From Outgoing SBC President Is Deeply Troubling For Anyone Concerned About Sexual Abuse” at Religion Dispatches.

Read “Atheist Stanford Biologist Robert Sapolsky Explains How Religious Beliefs Reduce Stress” at Open Culture.

Read ““In the Heights” is more Jewish than it seems” at Religion News Service.

Read “Nones’ now as big as evangelicals, Catholics in the US” at Religion News Service.

Read “James MacDonald Continues Tirade; Defends Using Hashtag “#JRgossipsl**” at Roys Report.

Read “Communion ban for pro-choice politicians is an old story, but the stakes have grown” at Religion News Service.

Read “Supreme Court Sides With Catholic Agency In LGBTQ Foster Care Case—But Avoids Major Religious Freedom Questions” at Time.

Read “Care About Religious Liberty? Defend Religious Minorities” at Christianity Today.

Legal/Justice and Social Justice and Race or Gender or Sexism-Related Stuff:

Read “She bought 47 guns last month. Police are already finding them in shooting investigations” at Star Tribune.

Read “Alabama close to completing nitrogen gas death chamber” at AL.com.

Read “White House Pushes To Jump-Start Civil Rights-Era Cold Cases Board” at Huff Post.

Read “'Abnormal methods': U.S. attorney general says feds will review Arizona's partisan election audit” at 12 News.

Read “Former NSA contractor Reality Winner, jailed for leaking secrets about Russian hacking, released early from prison” at NBC News.

Read “U.S. Military Guns Keep Vanishing, Some Used in Street Crimes” at Associated Press.

Read “Guantánamo Detainees Say Conditions Are Worse Since Biden Became President” at Vice.

Read “The Justice Department Overturns Rules That Limited Asylum For Survivors Of Violence” at NPR.

Read “Court fines baker $500 for refusing to make gender transition cake” at The Hill.

Read “Biden signs bill making Juneteenth a federal holiday” at Los Angeles Times.

  • Read “So You Want To Learn About Juneteenth?” at New York Times.

  • Read “Everything you need to know about Juneteenth, the new federal holiday” at The HIll.

Read “Firearm purchases to be videotaped under new San Jose law” at The Hill.

Read “Supreme Court Backs Nestle, Cargill on Child-Slavery Suit” at Bloomberg.

Read “After Reparations Study Suggests $151 Million for Each African American, Experts Say Money Alone Isn't Enough” at Time.

Read “St. Louis couple who flashed guns at protesters plead guilty to misdemeanors, forfeit firearms” at NBC News.

This week in traitorous, white-supremacist Confederate monuments (and/or Columbus monuments // and/or other “American monuments” // Insurrectionists // and/or weird Confederacy stuff):

Read “'Traitors Need To Be Executed': 'Stop The Steal' Organizer Indicted In Jan. 6 Conspiracy Case” at Yahoo.

Read “Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, Forceful on Jan. 6, Privately Are in Turmoil” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Even More Insurrectionists Have Histories Of Violence Against Women” at Huff Post.

Read “Man Pleads Guilty to Shooting Black Girl at Iowa Trump Rally” at NBC Washington. “Michael McKinney, an Army veteran and resident of Saint Charles, Iowa, admitted that he intentionally fired into the girls’ vehicle.”

This Week With The Police:

Read “4 police officers placed on administrative leave after video goes viral” at Yahoo.

Read “LAPD officers got free swag from Ring, some promoted its cameras” at Los Angeles Times. “Ring says it stopped providing maps of its device network to law enforcement in 2019. In response to specific police data requests, consumers can consent to sharing their footage with investigators.”

Read “The Best Bargain in the History of Law Enforcement” — and the High Cost of Not Testing Backlogged Rape Kits” at Pro Publica. “When reporter Catherine Rentz began looking at the criminal histories of men who’d been arrested for rape based on DNA evidence, she found a system that protected serial criminals rather than survivors.”

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Nevada schools reckon with race, triggering polarization” at Associated Press. “A group wants Washoe County teachers to wear body cameras to ensure parents that no "critical race theory" is being taught in classrooms.”

Read “Most Americans don't know where Grand Canyon or Niagara Falls are, new poll finds” at The Hill.

Read “National Geographic adds 5th ocean to world map” at NBC News.

Read “Critical Race Theory Used To Attack Black Arizona School Board Member” at Newsweek. “A champion of equity in education, Lindsay Love planned to attend a conference for school board members in urban districts. But conservatives tried to twist the purpose of the conference claiming it proved the district supported critical race theory” at News One.

  • Read “Americans who have heard of critical race theory don’t like it” at The Economist. “But it is a problem of branding, not principle.”

  • Read “Critical Race Theory Is a Convenient Target for Conservatives” at Slate.

Read “Education Department says Title IX protections apply to LGBTQ students” at CNN.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “AMA: 96% Of Doctors Are Vaccinated Against Covid-19” at Forbes.

Read “Utah reports 413 new cases of COVID-19 — the most in a month” at Salt Lake Tribune.

Read “Ricky Schroder and Anti-Vaxxers Protest Foo Fighters Concert” at Consequence.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “The Making of a Perfect Celebrity Apology” at Vice. “Saying ‘I’m sorry’ has become its own art form in Hollywood—and for better or worse, it takes a team to make it happen. Some of the biggest names in the business break down how the mea culpa sausage gets made.”

Read “National Parks Are Overcrowded and Closing Their Gates” at Wall Street Journal,

Read “Millions of Americans Are About to Lose Their Homes” at Slate. “When the CDC’s eviction moratorium ends on June 30, what will still-struggling renters do?”

Read “This British Schoolgirl Invented an Amazing Gadget to Fight Food Waste” at Global Citizen.

Read “MSNBC says it won't voluntarily recognize new union effort” at The Hill.

Read “50,000 security disasters waiting to happen: The problem of America's water supplies” at NBC News.

Read “Poll: Majority back blanket student loan forgiveness” at The Hill.

Read “Why American Women Everywhere Are Delaying Motherhood” at New York Times.

Internationalities:

Read “Amnesty International Accuses China of Crimes Against Humanity in Xinjiang” at Democracy Now.

Read “El Salvador Just Made Bitcoin Legal Tender, A World First” at Vice.

Read “Kim Jong-un Decries K-Pop as “Vicious Cancer” in Crackdown Against South Korean Pop Culture” at Consequence.

Read “Concerns grow over China's Taiwan plans” at The Hill.

Read “The US is banning dogs from 113 countries” at The Hill.

Read “5 Views From Belarus On The Country's Political Crisis” at NPR.

Read “China, Russia Biggest Cyber Offenders” at U.S. News.

Read “China successfully launches mission sending astronauts to new space station” at CNN.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “I’ve never regretted doing it’: Daniel Ellsberg on 50 years since leaking the Pentagon Papers” at The Guardian.

Read “GOP senator introduces constitutional amendment to ban flag burning” at The Hill.

Read “Two more Democrats signal opposition to bipartisan infrastructure deal” at The Hill.

  • Read “'A lot' of politicking still to be done on infrastructure deal” at MSNBC.

Read “US supreme court upholds Obamacare after Republicans seek to gut law” at The Guardian.

Read “Kyrsten Sinema Has Toxic White Lady Energy” at Slate. “The Arizona senator’s position on the filibuster does not square with her supposed admiration of John Lewis.”

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Matt Gaetz questioned the head of the FBI in Congress despite himself being under investigation by the FBI” at Yahoo.

Read “Donald Trump: I trust Vladimir Putin more than US intelligence” at Yahoo.

Read “Pelosi: Trump DOJ seizure of House Democrats' data ' goes even beyond Richard Nixon'“ at The Hill.

Read “Apple Is Said to Have Turned Over Data on Trump’s White House Counsel in 2018” at New York Times. “The company notified Donald F. McGahn II last month that it had been subpoenaed for his account information three years ago.”

Read “Emails Expose Coordination Between Mitch McConnell and His Wife, Elaine Chao” at Daily Beast.

Read “Majority of Republicans think state reviews will change 2020 outcome: poll” at The Hill.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Sony Music to Pay Royalties to Unrecouped Legacy Artists and Producers in Major Policy Change” at Pitchfork.

Read “Van Morrison and Eric Clapton Wonder Why They’re the Only ‘Rebels’ Left in New Duet” at Yahoo.

Read “Check out this remake of a classic Japanese portable record player” at Boing Boing.

  • Browse Spin’s picks for “The 30 Best Albums of 2021 (So Far)”.

Browse The Guardian’s picks for “The best albums of 2021 so far.”

Read “The Cure’s Robert Smith thinks the band’s next album will be their last” at NME. “I definitely can't do this again.”

Read “The Money Laundering Case Against The Fugees’ Pras Michél Just Took Another Wild Turn” at Okay Player.

Read “Concert, theater owners call pandemic relief fund efforts a ‘disaster’” at Cronkite News.

Read “David Bowie Recalls the Strange Experience of Inventing the Character Ziggy Stardust (1977)” at Open Culture.

Read “DJ Nile Rodgers Launches Los Angeles Roller-Disco Haven ‘The DiscOasis’” at Variety.

Read “Recording Academy Seeks to Close Deborah Dugan Arbitration Hearing to Public” at Pitchfork.

Read “Bob Dylan Announces His First Streaming Special, ‘Shadow Kingdom,’ for July” at Variety.

Read “Soundgarden And Vicky Cornell Reach Temporary Truce Over Social Media Accounts” at Stereogum.

Read “A Brief History of the Lumpen, the Black Panthers' Revolutionary Funk Band” at KQED.

Read “2021 Polaris Music Prize Long List Is Here” at Polaris Music Prize.

Read “Celebrating Juneteenth And Black Music Month With Classical Classics” at NPR.

Read “Cedric Burnside Grew Up Steeped in Mississippi Blues. Now, He’s Helping to Ensure Its Future” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Here’s How White and Male the Execs of the Music Business Are” at Rolling Stone.

Read “XTC’s Andy Partridge Announces First Volume in ‘My Failed Songwriting Career’ Series” at Rolling Stone.

Read “50 years of Blue: a celebration of the Joni Mitchell masterpiece” at CBC.

Read “Overlooked No More: Jobriath, Openly Gay Glam Rocker in the ’70s” at New York Times. “His space alien persona and theatrical rock music drew comparisons to David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust character. But American audiences seemed unwilling to accept his sexuality.”

Read “Wiz Khalifa Cast As George Clinton In New Movie About Casablanca Records” at Stereogum.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “NBC Halts Production on Ultimate Slip 'N Slide amid Report of 'Explosive Diarrhea' Outbreak on Set” at People.

Read “James Corden gets called out for mocking Filipino cuisine and other Asian dishes” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “'Queer Eye' cast faced 'blatant' hate filming in Texas” at The Hill.

Read “Ted Lasso’s seamless single-cam editing captures the comedy’s collaborative spirit” at AV Club.

Browse Paste’s picks for “The 20 Best TV Shows of 2021 (So Far).”

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “Watch a Never-Before-Aired James Baldwin Interview From 1979” at Esquire.

Design/Artsy Things:


Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “The solar system probably has thousands of captured interstellar asteroids” at Universal-Sci.

Read “Weird ‘Living Fossil’ Fish Lives 100 Years, Pregnant For 5” at Huff Post.

Food And Drink Cultures:

Read “Thieves Find Money That Grows on Trees: ‘Avocados Are the Green Gold’” at Wall Street Journal.

Misc. Oddities:

Read “Massachusetts lobster diver survives being swallowed by whale: 'I was completely inside'“ at Fox Propaganda.

Read “9 Surprisingly Ancient Marvels in Modern California” at Atlas Obscura.

Local:

Read “'Reasonable People Know the Elections Are Over.' Secretary of State Katie Hobbs on Death Threats, Arizona's Election 'Audit', and Running for Governor” at Time.

Read “Native American Artist Recasts Hollywood Sign As 'Indian Land'“ at KJZZ.

Read “'It's just been overwhelming': Mesa wig store targeted by anti-mask group gets outpouring of support” at AZ Central.

Read “Reps. Andy Biggs, Paul Gosar among few who voted against Juneteenth holiday” at AZ Central.

Read “Arizona Will Pay Prisoners $1.50 An Hour To Fight Wildfires” at KJZZ.

Read “Ducey ditches ‘things that matter’ to Arizonans so the rich can be richer” at AZ Mirror.

Read “Fully Vaccinated? No Masks, Social Distancing Required At Most Phoenix City Buildings” at KJZZ.

The Weekly Town Crier (06/11/21)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (07/11/21).






Religion and Stuff:

Read “Russell Moore’s Warnings Should Bring a Reckoning” by David French. “How much more evidence do we need that the church needs reform?”

Read “Godless grifters: How the New Atheists merged with the far right” at Salon. “What once seemed like a bracing intellectual movement has degenerated into a pack of abusive, small-minded bigots.”

Read “A refugee agency rebuilds its pipeline after Trump: ‘We’re starting from scratch’” at Religion News Service.

Read “Keep COVID-19 restrictions during in-person worship, ecumenical guide suggests” at Religion News Service.

Read: “A Chronicle Invesigation: Abuse of Faith” at Houston Chronicle. “In the past 20 years, a disturbing number of Southern Baptists with formal church roles have engaged in sexual misconduct, a new investigation by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News reveals. They were pastors. Deacons. Youth pastors. They left behind more than 700 victims. Read and hear the stories of those victims, and learn the depths of the crimes and misconduct of the church leaders they trusted.”

Read “PTL! Andrew Garfield, Jessica Chastain to star as Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker in biopic” at Religion News Service.

Read “Biden DOJ updates court filing after LGBTQ advocates blast its stance in religious schools case” at CNN.

Legal/Justice and Social Justice and Race or Gender or Sexism-Related Stuff:

Read “Judge overturns California’s 32-year ban on assault weapons” at Associated Press.

Read “Supreme Court Will Hear Case Of FBI Allegedly Surveilling Some Muslim Californians” at Huff Post.

Read “Why Arizona May Resume Gas Chamber Executions” at KJZZ.

Read “America’s gun obsession is rooted in slavery” at The Guardian.

Read “The Secret IRS Files: Trove of Never-Before-Seen Records Reveal How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax” at Pro Publica. “ProPublica has obtained a vast cache of IRS information showing how billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Warren Buffett pay little in income tax compared to their massive wealth — sometimes, even nothing.”

  • Read “Wealthiest Executives Paid Little to Nothing in Federal Income Taxes, Report Says” at New York Times.

Read “Michael Cohen on Trump criminal probe: Everyone in the company lied for Donald” at MSNBC.

Read “America’s Dangerous Obsession With Innocence” at The Atlantic. “Most people on death row are guilty. That doesn’t mean they deserve their fate.”

This week in traitorous, white-supremacist Confederate monuments (and/or Columbus monuments // and/or other “American monuments” // Insurrectionists // and/or weird Confederacy stuff):

Read “"It's now or never": Bipartisan congressional report finds Capitol police ignored Jan. 6 warnings” at Salon.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Could Brain Training Help Address Police Brutality?” at Wired. “New neuroscience-based technologies aim to improve decisionmaking under pressure. But solving systemic problems will take a lot more than that.”

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Judge orders reinstatement of Virginia teacher who opposed transgender rules” at The Hill.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Fauci calls on China to release medical records of Wuhan researchers” at The Hill.

Read “Washington state to allow free pot with vaccines” at The Hill.

Read “Experts Knew a Pandemic Was Coming. Here’s What They’re Worried About Next” at Politico. “Nine disasters we still aren’t ready for.”

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Bill Gates' affairs were an open secret, and someone in Melinda's inner circle hired a private investigator before she filed for divorce, report says” at Business Insider.

Read “Why Is Growing Pot So Energy-Intensive?” at Slate. “Federal regulations, budtender preferences, and a weird trick with carbon dioxide.”

Internationalities:

Read “Nigerian gov’t says it ‘indefinitely’ suspends Twitter” at Al Jazeera.

Read “The world has gained a brand new ocean” at CNet. “On World Ocean Day, the Southern Ocean was officially recognized by National Geographic's mapmakers.”

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “There are already 19 QAnon candidates running for Congress in 2022” at Mic.

Read “Bye-bye Miss American Pie — whatever happened to the Republican Party and conservatism?” at The Hill.

Read “Our Welfare Puritanism” at Democracy Journal.

Read “Trump Spawned a New Group of Mega-Donors Who Now Hold Sway Over the GOP’s Future” at Pro Publica.

Read “3 in 10 Republicans believe Trump will be reinstated as president” at The Hill.

Read “Bipartisan Senate group rules out tax hikes on infrastructure” at The Hill.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Iowa GOP advances bills to shorten early voting, restrict absentee ballots” at The Hill.

Read “Arizona's ballot audit could spread to other states. Here's what to know” at AZ Central.

Read “Giuliani Audio Proves Trump’s Team Was Lying About Ukraine” at Rolling Stone. “A new recording confirms that Trump and his allies were full of shit when they claimed “there was no quid pro quo” in Ukraine.”

Read “Joe Manchin Cares More About ‘Bipartisanship’ Than Fighting Jim Crow” at The Nation.

Read “Joe Manchin is opposing big parts of Biden’s agenda as the Koch network pressures him” at CNBC.

Read “OAN correspondent who is covering the Arizona election audit has been aiding the effort since at least December, documents show” at Business Insider.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Spotify Facing House Judiciary Committee Probe Over “Discovery Mode”” at Pitchfork.

Read “Reservoir Acquires Iconic Tommy Boy Music, Groundbreaking Hip-Hop Label, for $100 Million” at Variety.

  • Read “De La Soul's Catalogue Could Be Coming To Streaming Services” at Clash Music.

Read “Home Is Where My Record Collection Is” at Apartment Therapy.

Read “Sinead O'Connor Says She Is Retiring From Music” at Clash Music.

Read “Kid Rock Screams Homophobic Slur During Performance at Tennessee Bar” at Consequence.

Read “Foo Fighters to Play Madison Square Garden’s First Full-Capacity Show Since Start of the Pandemic” at Pitchfork.

Read “Moby on Making ‘Reprise’ and ‘Moby Doc,’ His Rise to Fame, and Living Sober” at Ozy.

Read “Dreamers Wait No Longer—An Expanded Crowded House Returns After A Decade Away” at American Songwriter.

  • Read “Neil Finn On Working With His Sons On New Crowded House Album, Canada Memories & Future Of Fleetwood Mac” at ET Canada.

Browse Stereogum’s picks for “The 50 Best Albums Of 2021 So Far.”

Read “Danny Elfman Is Here to Remind Listeners "It's Always Been About Politics"“ at Exclaim.

Read “East Meets West In Anoushka Shankar's Latest Album” at NPR.

Browse “The Strange World Of… Don Cherry” at The Quietus.

Read “Jimmy Eat World’s Zach Lind: Suns are special in ‘The Middle’ of playoff ride” at KTAR.

Read “YouTube Is Poised to Overtake Spotify as Music’s Biggest Bankroller” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Dancing With The Noise: A Conversation with Ben Chasny” at Record Crates United.

Read “The Enduring Appeal of Italian Composers’ Dramatic ‘Library Music’” at New York Times.

Read “Uncovering the Rich History of Spanish Experimental Music” at Bandcamp.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “Enjoy these surreal "One Minute Movies" by The Residents” at Boing Boing.

Read “Carole Baskin to “bring bad guys to justice” in new ITV show” at NME.

Read “Cowboy Bebop Composer Yoko Kanno Returns to Score Netflix’s Live-Action Series” at Consequence.

Read ‘Elizabeth Olsen was “frustrated” watching her ‘WandaVision’ performance” at NME. "I can see my 10-year-old theatre-kid self playing out to the audience.”

Read “Anthony Bourdain Didn’t Just Travel the World, He Let It Speak for Itself” at Variety.

Misc. Oddities:

Read “Those times the US military hoaxed the public about extraterrestrial contact” at Boing Boing.

The Weekly Town Crier (06/04/21)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (06/04/21).





We’ll Miss You:

Read ‘Actor Gavin MacLeod of 'The Love Boat' and 'Mary Tyler Moore' dies at age 90” at CNN.

Read “Patrick Sky, Folk Singer and Bob Dylan Contemporary, Dead at 80” at Rolling Stone.

Read “B.J. Thomas, 'Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head' singer, dies at age 78” at CNN.

Read “Buddy Van Horn, Clint Eastwood’s Stunt Double and Director, Dies at 92” at Hollywood Reporter.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Zondervan won't publish ‘God Bless the USA Bible,' says marketing was 'premature' after backlash” at Christian Post.

Watch “The 15 year old that Mark Driscoll targeted for kissing his daughter tells his side” at Youtube.

  • Read “Postcards from Phoenix: When Church Divides a Family”

Read “Kentucky ties to Baptist kids agency at risk over LGBTQ rights” at Religion News Service. “Baptist-affiliated Sunrise Children’s Services is refusing to sign a clause in a new contract with the state that bans discrimination based on sexual orientation.”

Read “‘It is a constituency:’ QAnon embraced by many in the U.S.” at MSNBC.

Read “The Untold Story of Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard’s Secret Pact With Nazi Propagandist Leni Riefenstahl” at Daily Beast.

Read “Exclusive: Sex abuse allegations by Carl Lentz’s former nanny put spotlight on Hillsong culture” at Religion News Service.

Read “Preaching at FBC Dallas, Patterson Denounces “Lynch Mob” Trying to Get Him” at Word and Way.

  • Read “Patterson disputes allegations he improperly took items, used SWBTS’ donor list” at Baptist Press.

Read “Leaked Russell Moore letter blasts SBC conservatives, sheds light on his resignation” at Religion News Service. “In a letter written more than a year before his resignation, Moore explained his troubles with the SBC leadership in bitterly frank terms. Then-President Donald Trump barely makes an appearance.”

  • Read “Russell Moore to ERLC trustees: ‘They want me to live in psychological terror’” at Religion News Service.

Read “I'm a teacher but I serve God first': Virginia teacher refuses to comply with proposed pronoun policy” at NBC News.

Read “Rape Victim Says Liberty University Deceived & Betrayed Her” at Roys Report.

Read “How Is The GOP Adjusting To A Less Religious America?” at NPR.

 

Legal/Justice and Social Justice and Race or Gender or Sexism-Related Stuff:

Read “Latino or Latinx? The Linguistic Debate Over Inclusive Terms” at KJZZ.

Read “Texas State Rep. Moody On Bill That Would Allow Anyone To Carry A Handgun Without A Permit, License” at WBUR.

  • Read “Miami Police Chief Slams Texas Bill That Would Allow Unlicensed Carrying Of Handguns” at Huff Post. “Common sense tells us” that the new gun measure is “ridiculous,” said Art Acevedo, the former Houston police chief.”

Read “The U.S. forced them into internment camps. Here’s how Japanese Americans started over.” at National Geographic.

Read “The Gig Economy’s Business Model Is a Racial Justice Issue” at Vice.

Read “San Jose Gunman Expressed Hate for Co-Workers for Years, Had History of Sexual Violence” at Democracy Now.

Read “One hundred years ago, white mobs burned Tulsa’s Black neighborhood to the ground.” at Wall Street Journal.

  • Read “Tulsa's Greenwood neighborhood found prosperity after the 1921 massacre. Then the highways arrived” at NBC News. “The plot to take it over has happened — it just didn’t happen in 1921,” a researcher said of the once-thriving Greenwood district.”

  • Read “When Our Forefathers Fail” by David French. “On the moral imperative of mourning the Tulsa Race Massacre today.”

  • Read “The job is not done yet": Black Wall Street documentaries detail the massacre & still seek justice” at Salon.

  • Read “Tulsa pastors honor ‘holy ground’ 100 years after massacre” at Associated Press.

Read “Biden leaves Hyde Amendment out of budget” at The Hill.

Read “Roger Stone predicts a Donald Trump criminal indictment is on the horizon” at Salon.

Read “2 dead, 20 injured in mass shooting in Miami” at The Hill.

Read “One-fifth of Americans who bought guns last year were first-time buyers” at The Hill.

Read “Judge approves plea deal of Gaetz associate Joel Greenberg; sentencing set for August” at The HIll.

Read “NFL pledges to halt ‘race-norming,’ review Black claims” at Associated Press.

Read “Giuliani and Prosecutors Agree on Former Judge to Review Seized Materials” at New York Times.

Read “How the Supreme Court has tilted election law to favor the Republican Party” at Los Angeles Times.

This week in traitorous, white-supremacist Confederate monuments (and/or Columbus monuments // and/or other “American monuments” // Insurrectionists // and/or weird Confederacy stuff):

Read “Jan. 6 defendants continue to struggle as Trump continues to lie” at MSNBC.

Read “DOJ adds four defendants to Oath Keepers conspiracy case” at The Hill.

Read “Former Trump advisor Michael Flynn said the US should have a coup like Myanmar, where the military overthrew the democratically elected government” at Yahoo.

Read “Neo-Nazi Was Behind Walmart Mass Shooting Plot, Group Claims” at Vice. “The Texas man was arrested and police confiscated guns, ammo, and extremist paraphernalia, including a T-shirt featuring the image of the neo-Nazi group that claims he was one of their own.”

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “Thousands marched in Phoenix against police brutality a year ago. So, what's changed since?” at 12 News.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Deputy demoted after leaving his K-9 partner in a patrol car, the dog died” at AZ Family.

Read “What If Your Abusive Husband Is A Cop?” at New Yorker.

Read “Phoenix Settles Rape Claim Against Former Police Officer” at KJZZ.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Oklahoma teacher says summer class canceled due to bill that bans teaching critical race theory” at KOCO.

Read “How Hillary Clinton Went Undercover to Examine Race in Education” at New York Times.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Methodist Hospital employees sue over vaccine requirement, citing violation of Nuremberg Code” at Houston Chronicle.

Read “Costco says free samples and food courts will fully return by June” at USA Today.

Read “Florida rock concert tickets are $18 if you're vaccinated – $1,000 if you're not” at The Hill.

Read “Hat makers distance from Nashville store amid uproar over 'Not Vaccinated' badges” at The Hill.

Read “Vietnam Detects New Highly Transmissible Coronavirus Variant” at Slate.

Read “Anti-vaxxer sheriff's deputy dies from COVID-19 complications shortly after mocking the vaccine on Facebook” at Yahoo.

Read “'Karen' baby name popularity drops over 170 spots in 2020” at The Hill.


Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “The Colorado River is facing an alarming water shortage for the first time ever” at The Hill.

Read “U.S. Military Personnel Spilled Nuclear Secrets in Online Flashcards” at Vice.

Read “Homebuyers Squeezed As Western States See Prices Double Or More In Last Decade” at NPR.

Read “Matt Gaetz says $155k to close on yacht with his fiancee ‘went missing’” at Yahoo.

Read “TikTok’s ‘Americancore’ Trend Shows Americans How the Rest of the World Feels at Vice.

Read “American Airlines joins Southwest in delaying return of alcohol sales” at The Hill.

Read “How Would You Feel About a 4-Day Workweek?” at The Nation. “As productivity has soared, time off has not kept pace. It’s time to change that.”

Read “Mental Health Struggles Don't Care About 'Success'“ at Huff Post. “Naomi Osaka is just one of many examples where compassion evaporates the second someone publicly discusses their well-being.”

Read “World No. 1 Ash Barty Withdraws From French Open Due To Hip Injury” at Huff Post.

Internationalities:

Read “NGOs say Biden's proposed military aid to Egypt undermines human rights” at Al-Monitor.

Read “Germany Officially Recognizes It Committed Genocide In Present-Day Namibia” at NPR

ReadUS returns ancient stone carvings to Thailand” at BBC.

Read “Remains of 215 children found at former residential school in British Columbia” at APTN News.

Read ‘AI emotion-detection software tested on Uyghurs” at BBC.

Read “Tiananmen: Hong Kong vigil organiser arrested on 32nd anniversary” at BBC.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “The six GOP senators who backed Jan. 6 commission bill” at The Hill.

Read “Trump Slams Paul Ryan For Calling End To His Presidency ‘Disgraceful’” at Huff Post. “The ex-president claimed the former House speaker is “a curse to the Republican Party.”

Read “A win for DeSantis? Fla. law fines social media companies for banning candidates” at MSNBC.

Read ‘Fmr. DHS Secretary Napolitano slams GOP Senators for ignoring national security threats” at MSNBC

Read “Alaska: Biden to suspend Trump Arctic drilling leases” at BBC.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Senate Republicans block commission on January 6 insurrection” at CBS News.

  • Read “These 11 senators skipped the Jan. 6 commission vote” at Daily News.

  • Read “Sen. Kyrsten Sinema Won’t Explain Why She No-Showed for the Capitol Riot Commission Vote” at Daily Beast.

Read “Sen. Cruz shares far-right Russian propaganda video to attack U.S. military” at MSNBC.

Read “Texas Republicans finalize bill that would enact stiff new voting restrictions and make it easier to overturn election results” at Washington Post.

Read “DOJ Asks Judge to Dismiss Lawsuits Against Trump for Violent Clearing of Lafayette Square” at Slate.

Read “The RNC's scandal-plagued finance team, four years later” at MSNBC. “Four years ago, the RNC announced its national finance team. How many of the quartet have faced Justice Department investigations? All of them.”

Read “National Review writer 'can attest' to Trump pressing conservatives to say election was 'stolen'“ at The Hill.

Read “Postmaster General DeJoy under investigation for claim he once called ‘outrageous’” at MSNBC.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “It Came Out of the Sky: Creedence Clearwater Revival’s ‘Willy and the Poor Boys’ at 50” at The Ringer (originally from 2019).

Read “10 big talking points from the posthumous new DMX album ‘Exodus’” at NME.

Read “What Is Asian American Music, Really?” at Pitchfork.

Read “Jeff Tweedy in Conversation with Jeff Tweedy” at Believer.

Read “Man Returns Bob Dylan Album to Library After 48 Years Overdue” at Consequence.

Read “Resistance Songs: Mdou Moctar's Favourite Music” at The Quietus.

Read “Hanson Tap Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen for New Song ‘Don’t Ever Change’” at Rolling Stone.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “Apple Orders ‘The Big Door Prize’ TV Adaptation From ‘Schitt’s Creek’ Producer David West Read” at Variety.

Read “'Rugrats' Reboot: Phil and Lil's Mom Betty Will Be Openly Gay in Paramount+ Show” at Pop Culture.

Read “‘Paddington 2’ Loses Top Movie of All Time Honor Due to New Bad Review” at Hollywood Reporter.

Read “The Healing Power of Lodge 49 How a Short-Lived Show Broke Through My Pandemic Fog” at Vogue.

Read “Universal Reportedly Wants A Fast & Furious And Jurassic World Crossover” at We Got This Covered.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “A Medieval Book That Opens Six Different Ways, Revealing Six Different Books in One” at Open Culture.

Design/Artsy Things:



Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “UFO whistleblower says Pentagon tried to silence him” at The Hill.

  • Read “UFO filmmaker releases 46-second video allegedly showing swarm of objects hovering near Navy ship” at Yahoo.

  • Read “U.S. Finds No Evidence of Alien Technology in Flying Objects, but Can’t Rule It Out, Either” at New York Times.

Read “Even Creatures in The Deepest Ocean Trench Have Eaten Plastic” at Global Citizen.

Read “It’s really beginning to look like Tom DeLonge can blow the lid off the mystery of UFOs” at A Journal Of Musical Things.

Read “Viral video shows massive shark circling boat in Atlantic Ocean” at 12 News.

Read “China to send 3 astronauts to its new space station in June” at 12 News.

Read “Nasa to launch baby squid to International Space Station” at BBC.

Food And Drink Cultures:



Misc. Oddities:



Local:

Read “Arizona ‘refurbishes’ its gas chamber to prepare for executions, documents reveal” at The Guardian.

Read “Ducey vetoes 22 bills, says nothing will be signed until budget is approved” at AZ Mirror.

Read “‘We should be very worried’: Top Arizona election official sounds alarm over GOP’s war against democracy” at The Independent.

The Weekly Town Crier (05/28/21)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (05/28/21).





We’ll Miss You:

Read “R.I.P. School Of Rock star Kevin Clark” at AV Club.

Read “Eric Carle, Author Of ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar,’ Dies At 91” at Huff Post.

Religion and Stuff:

 Read “Why Complementarianism Can’t Be a “Gospel” Issue” at Heidel Blog.

Read “More Churches Closed than Opened in 2019. Then Came the Pandemic.” at Christianity Today.

Read “Southern Baptist decline continues, denomination has lost more than 2 million members since 2006” at Religion News Service.

Read “QAnon is spreading in churches. These pastors are trying to stop it” at CNN.

Read “Can America Be America When Jews Are Beaten in the Streets?” at David French. “George Washington’s promise to American Jews helped define this nation. Breaking that promise would define us again.”

Read “From DNA to NDA” at Christianity Today. “Can you separate Ravi Zacharias International Ministries from Ravi Zacharias?”

Read “15 percent of Americans believe central QAnon theory” at The HIll.

Read “Gun Church That Worships With AR-15s Bought a 40-Acre Compound in Texas for Its ‘Patriots’” at Vice. “The Rod of Iron Ministries has become more militant since leader Hyung Jin “Sean” Moon attended the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6.”

Read “Understanding QAnon’s Connection to American Politics, Religion, and Media Consumption” at PRRI.

Legal/Justice and Social Justice and Race or Gender or Sexism-Related Stuff:

Read “Poor People’s Campaign, lawmakers unveil sweeping resolution to tackle poverty” at Religion News Service.

Read “Why Conservatives Want to Cancel the 1619 Project” at The Atlantic.

Read “The War on Critical Race Theory” at Boston Review. “Turning a blind eye to the realities of racial injustice, the highly orchestrated right-wing attacks cast a body of scholarship about race in the law as a great threat to American society.’

Read “Greenwood, 1921: One of the worst race massacres in American history” at CBS News.

Read “U.S. revises policy that denied citizenship to children of gay couples” at NBC News.

Read “Black Lives Matter activist in critical condition after being shot in head in London” at CNN.

Read “Joe Biden, Kamala Harris Condemn Jewish Hate Crimes in Stance Against Antisemitism” at Variety.

Read “TV stars Chip and Joanna Gaines donate to campaign against critical race theory in schools” at The Hill.

Read “Secretly recorded audio of Dave Ramsey reveals question of double standards in company” at WSMV.

Read “Texas Gets Ready To Allow Unlicensed Carrying Of Handguns” at NPR.

Read “Jewish Groups Call for Federal Action Amid Rise in Antisemitic Attacks” at Democracy Now.

Read “In historic first, climate activists are now on Exxon's board” at The Hill.

Read “Biden to visit Tulsa to commemorate 100th anniversary of Tulsa Race Massacre” at NBC News.

Read “Amy Cooper's "racial discrimination" lawsuit and the scourge of white whining” at Salon.

Read “America’s unique gun violence problem, explained in 16 maps and charts” at Vox.

This week in traitorous, white-supremacist Confederate monuments (and/or Columbus monuments // and/or other “American monuments” // Insurrectionists // and/or weird Confederacy stuff):

Read “Baked Alaska of Capitol riot notoriety, out on bail, is now a hostile bully to store employees” at Boing Boing.

Read “Live From The Sahara Clermont Music” at The Hill.

Read “Largest US shrine to the Confederacy getting new exhibit describing KKK history” at The Hill.

This Week With The Police:

Read “How to use the Siri 'I'm Getting Pulled Over' shortcut to record police encounters during traffic stops with your iPhone” at Business Insider.

Read “Legalization of marijuana forcing some police K9s in Virginia to retire” at Fox5DC. (EDITOR’S NOTE: Please stop making dogs be cops.)

Read “Former Montana Police Chief Charged With Distributing Child Porn” at Huff Post.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Howard University Announces Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts” at Pitchfork.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Houston doctor trying to figure out why some COVID-19 patients develop massively enlarged tongues” at 12 News.

Read “US issues Japan travel warning weeks before Olympics” at BBC.

Read “Indiana AG says university mandating vaccines violates new state law” at The Hill.

Read “Tennessee anti-vaxxer arrested after deliberately plowing car through vaccination site” at Raw Story.

Read “California to pay $116.5 million in gifts, cash to those who get COVID vaccinations” at Los Angeles Times.

Read ‘Flight attendants: Spike in unruly passengers who refuse to wear a mask a safety issue” at Boston 25 News.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Target bans Pokémon and sports trading cards after fights between speculators” at Boing Boing.

Read “10 Questions About Empathy In America, A Year After George Floyd's Death” at NPR.

Read “Seth Rogen on cancel culture: 'If you've made a joke that's aged terribly, accept it'“ at The Hill.

Read “The Many Identity Crises of Sonic the Hedgehog” at Wired. “Sega's beloved speedster arrived on the scene 30 years ago. Since then, he's gone through numerous transformations—not all for the better.”

Read “Kellogg's robot vending machine lets you mix your favorite cereals” at CNet.

Read “K-Pop Group BTS And McDonald's Launch Exclusive Meal And Clothing Line” at NPR.

Read “‘Ax’ vs. ‘Axe’: Which is correct?” at Merriam Webster.

Internationalities:

Read “Kim Jong-un bans mullets, skinny jeans in North Korea” at New York Post.

Read ‘Eurovision winners under investigation for partying suspiciously hard” at AV Club.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Trump Is Marching Down the Road to Political Violence” at The Atlantic. “The Republican Party must counteract lies rather than indulge them.”

Read “Biden: 'Simply wrong' for Trump DOJ to seek journalists' phone records” at The Hill.

Read “Americans See Broad Responsibilities for Government; Little Change Since 2019” at Pew Research. “Share of adults ‘basically content’ with federal government rises to highest point since 2004, driven by Democrats.”

Read “88% of children covered by monthly payments starting in July” at ABC 13.

Read “It happened there: how democracy died in Hungary” at Vox.

Read “Democrats to introduce bill to prevent default recurring political donations” at The Hill.

Read “Democratic leaders discussed restraining order for Ocasio-Cortez against Greene” at The Hill.

Read ‘Americans Are Fine With a Broad Definition of ‘Infrastructure” at Slate. “Voters want bridges and roads, but they want child care, long-term care, and clean energy too.”

Read “66 percent of GOP want Trump to run for reelection” at The HIll.

Read “Sen. Tammy Duckworth: Republicans would rather ‘spread lies than defend our democracy’” at MSNBC.

Read “Senate confirms Wormuth as first female Army secretary — for real this time” at News and Guts.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Trump's election "audit" should be treated as a trojan horse, Arizona secretary of state warns” at Salon.

Read “Trump Has Charged Secret Service $40,000 For Mar-a-Lago Room Since Leaving White House” at Huff Post.

Read “Cheney primary challenger says he impregnated 14-year-old when he was 18” at NBC News. "She was a little younger than me, so it's like the Romeo and Juliet story," state Sen. Anthony Bouchard said of the girl he later married and divorced.”

Read “Emails show DEA’s “covert surveillance” of racial justice protesters in Philadelphia, Chicago, Albuquerque” at Citizens for Ethics.

Read “Trump supporter's nonprofit will help decide who counts ballots as election audit resumes” at AZ Central. “This is why it matters who’s paying for the audit. They outsourced the funding to election fraud conspiracy theorists, and now they’re calling the shots on important decisions.”

Read “Gaetz, Greene cheer election audit in Arizona rally” at KTAR.

Read “Florida, in a First, Will Fine Social Media Companies That Bar Candidates” at New York Times.

Read “They tried to overturn the 2020 election. Now they want to run the next one.” at Politico. “Trump supporters who back his claim that the 2020 vote was rigged are running to become the top election officials in key states.”

Read ‘Kansas Republican charged with battery allegedly kicked high school student in the crotch” at The Hill.

Read “Long After Trump's Loss, a Push to Inspect Ballots Persists” at Yahoo.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Guitarist Yasmin Williams’ Techniques Are Second Only To Her Songs” at Bluegrass Situation.

Read “Now That We Know Diddy Once Scrapped With J. Cole, Who Will the Mogul Fight Next?” at Pitchfork.

Read “Megadeth part ways with bassist David Ellefson following allegations” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “The Linda Lindas Sign With Epitaph Records” at Variety.

Read “Lil Nas X Has Wardrobe Malfunction in Middle of ‘Call Me By Your Name’ Performance on ‘SNL’ Finale” at Pop Culture.

Read “A Brief History of Talking Heads: How the Band Went from Scrappy CBGB’s Punks to New Wave Superstars” at Open Culture.

Read “Sunday Reading: Bob Dylan at Eighty” at New Yorker.

Read “Mdou Moctar on the Recording and Meaning of "Afrique Victime" at Reverb.

Read ‘The The announces ‘Comeback Special’ live album and film” at Slicing Up Eyeballs.

Read “Willie Nelson announces 2021 Outlaw Music Fest tour w/ Sturgill Simpson, Lucinda Williams & more” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “80 Artists Pick Their Favorite Bob Dylan Song For Bob Dylan’s 80th Birthday” at Stereogum.

Read “Just in time for the long weekend: Tragically Hip Road Apples cider”at A Journal of Musical Things.

  • Read “An oral history of The Tragically Hip’s Saskadelphia album” at A Journal of Musical Things.

Read “Renaissance Knives Had Music Engraved on the Blades; Now Hear the Songs Performed by Modern Singers” at Open Culture.

Read ‘Primavera Sound Barcelona Announces 2022 Lineup: Tame Impala, The Strokes, Khruangbin, The National and More” at Relix.

Read ‘Marilyn Manson Wanted In New Hampshire For Spitting On A Videographer” at Stereogum.

Read “How Eddie Van Halen, Homemade Hot Pepper, and a Simple Fuzz Pedal Inspired Mdou Moctar’s New Album” at Pitchfork.

Read “The Eden of Kraut Rock: The Sounds and Stories of the Zodiak Free Arts Lab” at In Sheep’s Clothing Hi Fi.'

Read “How the Rembrandts’ ‘Friends’ Song Became the Most Iconic TV Theme of the ’90s… and Beyond” at Variety.

Read “The Beat Behind Afrobeat: A Guide to the Music of Tony Allen” at Bandcamp.

Read “Robert Plant Asks for His Songwriting Archive To Be Released “Free of Charge” When He Dies” at Relix.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “Tom Waits to Voice “The Narrator” in New AMC+ Animated Show Ultra City Smiths” at Pitchfork.

Read “Flavortown mayor Guy Fieri is now the highest-paid chef on cable” at AV Club.

Read “Danny McBride Developing Garbage Pail Kids Animated Series for HBO Max” at Consequence.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “Read 12 Stories By Haruki Murakami Free Online” at Open Culture.

Read “John Steinbeck wrote a violent werewolf mystery novel and no one will let us read it” at AV Club.

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “CDC urges against kissing, snuggling poultry in salmonella warning” at The Hill.

Read “I Look for Aliens for a Living, and No, I Don’t Study UFOs” at Slate.

Read “Extinct giant bird claw with the flesh still on it resurfaces online” at The Hill. “The claw belonged to a moa, an extinct flightless bird from New Zealand.”

Read “I Just Learned Why Olympic Divers Take Showers After Each Dive, and It Makes a Lot of Sense” at Yahoo.

Food And Drink Cultures:

Read “Craft beer industry undergoing a #MeToo-style reckoning” at ABC 15. “Women sharing stories of misogyny in the workplace.”

Read “The Lost Art of Growing Blueberries With Fire” at Atlas Obscura.

Browse “The 9 Best Spiked Cold Brews for Satisfying Your Alcohol and Coffee Cravings” at The Manual.

Misc. Oddities:

Read “The Collectors Who Hunt Down Radioactive Glassware” at Atlas Obscura.

Local:

Read “Why Arizona Cities Oppose Governor’s Flat Tax Proposal” at KJZZ.

Read “New law says Arizona bars, restaurants, liquor stores can sell to-go cocktails” at 12 News.

Read “Pre-lawsuit letter: Maricopa County doubling down that it did not delete election data” at ABC 15.

  • Read ‘How national news is covering the Arizona audit: 'I've never seen one this mismanaged'“ at ABC 15.

The Weekly Town Crier (05/21/21)

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (05/21/21).





We’ll Miss You:

Read “Charles Grodin, deadpan comic actor known for 'Midnight Run' and 'Beethoven,' dies at 86” at NBC News.

Read “Paul Mooney, 'Bamboozled' and 'Chappelle's Show' actor and comedian, has died” at CNN.

Read “Roger Hawkins, legendary Muscle Shoals drummer, RIP” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Religion and Stuff:

Read the opinion piece: “The debate over women pastors is a Southern Baptist smoke screen” at Religion News Service. “The fiery arguments distract from constructive conversations about entrenched racism, Christian nationalism and sexual abuse.”

Read “Survey: Faith groups showcase media divide” at Religion News Service. “White evangelicals were also the group most likely to say the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump.”

Read “White evangelicals after Trump: What now?White evangelicals after Trump: What now?” at CNN.

Read “A Pennsylvania Lawmaker and the Resurgence of Christian Nationalism” at New Yorker. “How Doug Mastriano’s rise embodies the spread of a movement centered on the belief that God intended America to be a Christian nation.”

Read “Franklin Graham urges evangelicals to get vaccinated before it’s ‘too late’” at Religion News Service.

Read “Mark Driscoll Paid for Honeymoon with Church Funds; Uses Gift Cards to Pay Interns, Former Members Say” at Roys Report.

Read ‘DC Talk’s Kevin Max Is Now ‘Exvangelical,’ Says He’s Been ‘Progressing’ for ‘Decades’ at Faith Wire.

Read “Why grievance studies hoaxer and atheist James Lindsay wants to save Southern Baptists” at Religion News Service. “Much of the recent debate over critical race theory in the Southern Baptist Convention has been driven by an atheist, sword-wielding, former massage therapist best known for writing hoax academic papers.”

Read “If You End Church Mask Mandates, My Family Can’t Be There” at Sojourners.

Read “Russell Moore to Join Christianity Today to Lead New Public Theology Project” at Christianity Today.

Read “The New Republic postpones religion and politics forum. Replaces Eric Metaxas with Peter Wehner” at Current.

Legal/Justice and Social Justice and Race or Gender or Sexism-Related Stuff:

Read “Joel Greenberg, key player in Matt Gaetz sex trafficking probe, agrees to cooperate with feds” at ABC7NY.

  • Read “Former Matt Gaetz associate Joel Greenberg pleads guilty to six federal charges” at CNN.

Read “House passes bill mandating accommodations for pregnant workers” at The Hill.

Read “Black homeowner had a white friend stand in for third appraisal. Her home value doubled” at Cincinnati.com.

Read “Mass shooting insurance in high demand as U.S. emerges from lockdown” at Reuters.

Read “How Black Lives Matter Changed the American Conversation About Israel and Palestine” at Slate. “The surge of attention to the occupation is unimaginable without last year’s protests.”

Read “80% Of Asian Americans Say They Are Discriminated Against” at NPR.

Read “The Supreme Court Just Took a Case That Could End Roe v. Wade’ at Vice.

Read “Trump legal bombshell? 45 'might be implicated' in Giuliani probe” at MSNBC.

  • Read “Trump Organization Probe Becomes Criminal Investigation” at Time. “The investigation "is no longer purely civil in nature" a spokesman for the New York attorney general's office said.”

  • Read “New York AG's office opens criminal probe into Trump Organization” at NBC News.

  • Read “I think Donald Trump is going to flip on all of them’: Michael Cohen on the new NY State criminal investigation into the Trump Organization” at MSNBC.

Read “S.C. governor signs bill requiring death row inmates to choose firing squad or electric chair” at Axios.

Read “Giuliani asks judge to block review of records seized in raid of home, office” at The Hill.

Read “Hundreds of PPP Loans Went to Fake Farms in Absurd Places” at Pro Publica.

Read “‘I have lived through the massacre every day’: Tulsa massacre survivors testify before House committee” at MSNBC.

Read “In a Small Town, a Battle for Racial Justice Confronts a Bloody Past and an Uncertain Future” at Pro Publica. “A frustrated Black Lives Matter activist. A die-hard Confederate loyalist. A sheriff who won’t back down. In a place where protests are restricted and violence feels imminent, many cry: “We don’t want to die no more.”

This week in traitorous, white-supremacist Confederate monuments (and/or Columbus monuments // and/or other “American monuments” // Insurrectionists // and/or weird Confederacy stuff):

Read “Democrat moves to censure three Republicans for downplaying Jan. 6” at The Hill.

Read “Romney: Capitol riot was 'an insurrection against the Constitution'“ at The Hill.

Read “America’s Deadly Domestic Extremism Worst In 24 Years, Reveals New FBI Report” at Huff Post. “Most extremist killings in 2019 were committed by white supremacists.”

Read “Alleged Capitol Rioter On House Arrest After Killing Mountain Lion” at Huff Post.

Read “Arizona resident photographed with Proud Boys on day of Capitol riot is arrested in Phoenix” at AZ Central.

Read “Threats, videos and a recall: A California militia fuels civic revolt in a red county” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “FBI releases videos of 'horrifying assaults' on officers during Jan. 6 riot” at The Hill.

Read “House Votes To Establish Capitol Riot Commission Over Republican Opposition” at Huff Post.

Read “Trump calls for Jan. 6 commission debate to end 'immediately'“ at The Hill.

Read “Now the "QAnon Shaman" wants to use autism as an excuse: Hell no” at Salon.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “51 Years Later, Brother Of Kent State Victim Reflects On Iconic Photo — And One That Just Emerged” at WBUR.

This Week With The Police:

Read “The Enemy Within” at Rolling Stone. “Race and White Supremacy in American Policing.”

Read “The Ball Was Dropped by All”: How Cops Got More Than $400,000 in Unlawful Sick Day Payouts” at Pro Publica.

Read “Bodycams haven't lived up to promises of exposing police misconduct. One reason: The police decide what to release” at USA Today.

Read “There's a database whose mission is to stop problematic police officers from hopping between departments. But many agencies don't know it exists” at CNN.

Read “Police unions plan to update guidance on defending officers” at The Hill.

Read “Police in Cities Across U.S. Brace for a Violent Summer” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “How US police training compares with the rest of the world” at BBC.

Read “Can Police Be Taught To Intervene When Colleagues Violate Safety Rules? One Professor Says Yes” at WBUR.

Read “Monroe Louisiana Arrests: ‘I’m scared’: AP obtains video of deadly arrest of Black man” at Associated Press.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Texas GOP Passes Bill To Stop Teachers From Talking About Racism” at Huff Post.

Read “University of California system will no longer consider SAT, ACT scores in admissions process” at The Hill.

Read “Tech Companies Want Schools to Use COVID Relief Money on Surveillance Tools” at Vice.

Read “Arizona schools chief says GOP budget plan takes state in ‘negative direction’” at KTAR.

Read “UNC won’t offer tenure to Nikole Hannah-Jones after wave of conservative criticism” at 19th News. “Despite approval from faculty and the tenure committee, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist will be the first Knight Chair professor at the university to be denied tenure by the board of trustees.”

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Ricky Schroder confronts Costco employee over mask requirement in viral video: 'You're just going to listen to their rules?'“ at Yahoo.

Read “Texas governor bans local governments, schools from requiring face masks” at The Hill. (EDITOR’S NOTE: As David Dark sometimes says: “There are so many ways to hate God.”)

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Meghan McCain Blasts Marjorie Taylor Greene For ‘Behaving Like An Animal’” at Huff Post.

Read “PETA Slams The Offspring For Chimpanzee Strip Club Video With John Stamos” at Stereogum.

Read “Apple locked users into its ecosystem. Tesla wants to do the same with its ‘iPhone on wheels.’” at Washington Post.

Read “We Found Joe Biden’s Secret Venmo. Here’s Why That’s A Privacy Nightmare For Everyone.” at Buzzfeed News.

Read “Nearly two dozen cities are handing out cash with no conditions” at The Hill. “Los Angeles is working on a plan that would offer $1,000 per month to 1,000 families using public funds.”

Read “The IRS Tried to Take on the Ultrawealthy. It Didn’t Go Well.” at Pro Publica.

Read “Chrissy Teigen Is a Cyberbully. Could It Sink Her Career?” at Slate. “The answer is a lot less obvious than you’d think—or is it?”

Read “Naked Homes: Nudist Architecture and Rethinking Domestic Space” at Wolfsonian.

Read “Woman says she accidentally put $26M winning lottery ticket in the washer” at The Hill.

Read “AT&T is reportedly in talks to merge its media business with Discovery” at The Verge.

Read “Long Before Divorce, Bill Gates Had Reputation for Questionable Behavior” at New York Times.

  • Read “Bill Gates's reputation reeling from affairs, 'uncomfortable' workplace behavior and ties to Jeffrey Epstein” at The Hill.

Read “Space Force commander fired after comments made on conservative podcast” at AZ Family.

Read “Your Electric Vehicle Can’t Get There from Here—At Least, Not Without a Charge” at New Yorker. “Why we need to build a national network of charging stations fast.”

Read “Seth Rogen Reveals How Beyonce's Bodyguard 'Humiliated' Him When He Tried to Meet Her” at Pop Culture.

Read “10 Celebrities Who Use Their Influence to Fight Injustice” at Global Citizen.

Read “The Mexican Mountain Town Feeding the International Crystal Market” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “The Sound of Silence: Have We Forgotten How to Be Quiet?” at The Millions.

Internationalities:

Read “Israel pounds Gaza with air raids, shelling” at Al Jazeera.

Read “Israel airstrikes kill 8 children, flatten building housing Associated Press, Al Jazeera offices” at NBC News.

Read the opinion piece: “Israel Doesn’t Have a “Right to Exist” — But Israelis and Palestinians Do” at Jacobin Magazine.

Read “Israel and Palestine: What Will it Take to Stop the Violence?” at Preemptive Love.

Read “Justin Trudeau Caught Using a Fake Apple MacBook” at Vice.

Read “Tayyip Erdogan Accuses Joe Biden of 'Bloody Hands' After Report of $735M Weapons Sale to Israel” at Newsweek.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “House Democrats moving to censure Rep. Paul Gosar, 2 others for Jan. 6 comments” at AZ Central.

Read “Democratic Congressman Wants To Censure Rep. Gosar, Other Republicans” at KJZZ.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Rep. Matt Gaetz Snorted Cocaine With Escort Who Had ‘No Show’ Gov’t Job” at Daily Beast.

  • Read “Troubles grow for Gaetz as former associate flips” at The Hill.

Read “Deleted video shows Greene taunting Ocasio-Cortez's office in 2019” at The Hill.

  • Read “Investigation: Marjorie Taylor Greene filed homestead exemptions on 2 homes, violating state law” at WSBTV. “A Channel 2 Action News investigation has found that Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and her husband have two active homestead exemptions, which is against Georgia law.”

Read “Man charged with wife’s murder illegally cast her ballot for Trump, officials say: ‘I just thought, give him another vote’ at Washington Post.

Read “Former President Trump Accuses Maricopa County Of Deleting Voter Records; Recorder Responds” at KJZZ.

  • Read “Audit official says he ‘recovered’ files, undercutting claim county officials deleted them” at AZ Mirror.

Read “GOP leaders look to curtail ballot initiatives after red state voters opt for legal weed, expanded Medicaid” at Yahoo.

Read “Georgia Republicans oppose measure condemning Atlanta spa shootings” at Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Read “Feds investigating alleged illegal donations to Collins’ re-election bid” at Axios.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Shabaka Hutchings Goes Back to the Future” at Esquire. “The saxophonist and bandleader of Sons of Kemet is the most exciting voice in British jazz.”

Read “Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour Composes a Soundtrack to Arthur C. Clarke’s Documentary Fractals: The Colors of Infinity” at Open Culture.

Read “The Great American Songwriter Mr Bill Callahan Picks His Texas Playlist” at Mr Porter.

Read “David Byrne, Jonathan Demme, and 35 Years of ‘Stop Making Sense’” at The Ringer.

Browse Rolling Stone’s picks for “The 50 Greatest Concerts of the Last 50 Years.”

Read “The Green Album” Turns 20” at Stereogum. “After the release of Pinkerton in 1996, Rivers Cuomo decided that he needed to straighten some things out — so he got braces.”

Browse Vinyl Factory’s picks for “50 of the greatest Trojan Records".

Read “George Clinton, Robert Glasper Headline 2021 Blue Note Jazz Festival” at Okay Player.

Browse Far Out’s picks for “The 6 best songs written about disasters.”

Browse Pitchfork’s picks for “The 50 Best Shoegaze Albums of All Time.”

Read “James Taylor announces tour with Jackson Browne and new album” at Rock and Roll Garage.

Read “Guitarist Sin Quirin quits Ministry a year after allegations of sexual relationships with minors” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Punk Rock Priests Offer Up Their ‘Parallel Love’ in Music and Sacrament’ at Christianity Today. “There’s no other band quite like Luxury, the evangelical indie rockers from the ’90s who journeyed through tragedy and faith to Eastern Orthodoxy.”

Read “Apple announces lossless Apple Music is coming in June at no added cost” at The Verge.

Read “A famed folk singer won a presidential pardon after molesting a child. Did he prey on others?” at Union Leader.

Browse Vinyl Factory’s picks for “The essential Yusef Lateef in 10 records.”

Read “Sinead O’Connor Remembers Things Differently” at New York Times.

Read “Marilyn Manson Sued by Former Assistant for Sexual Assault, Battery, and Harassment” at Pitchfork.

Read “Times they are a-changing! Bob Dylan is seen in public for the first time in a DECADE while running errands in LA - just days before this 80th birthday” at Daily Mail.

Read ‘Alanis Morissette Releases Chester Bennington Tribute Song ‘Rest’” at Rolling Stone.

Read “The Future Now: An Interview With Black Monument Ensemble’s Damon Locks” at Ghetto Blaster.

Read “The World Outside of Tropicalia: A Survey of the Psychedelic Sounds of South America” at In Sheep’s Clothing Hi-Fi.

Read “The Guardian talk to The Necks' Tony Buck about improvising and bypassing the brain onstage” at Le Guess Who.

Read “Mdou Moctar’s Songs of Revolution and Love” at Rolling Stone. “The Tuareg guitar hero on his excellent new album and the ongoing fight for freedom and justice in neocolonial Niger.”

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “‘Wonder Years’ Reboot Among Four ABC Series Orders for 2021-2022 Broadcast Season” at Variety.

Read “Miley Cyrus Signs Overall Deal With NBCUniversal, Will Develop Programs and Star in Three Specials” at Variety.

Read “Wanna See Keegan-Michael Key and Kenan Thompson Beat Up Statler and Waldorf?” at Slate.

Books/Reading/Authors



Design/Artsy Things:

Read “Compliments of Chicago – Gang Business Cards from the 1970s and 1980s” at Flashback.

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “When this octopus sees a threat it doesn't put up a fight – it just disappears” at Boing Boing.

Read “Freshly Made Plutonium From Outer Space Found On Ocean Floor” at NPR.

Read “This Moth Is Huge in Australia” at New York Times. “A giant wood moth, the heaviest of all known moths, appeared on the side of a school building in Queensland, Australia, enthralling students who are used to diverse wildlife.”

Read “'Extinct Fossil Fish' Dating Back 420 Million Years Found Alive in Madagascar” at Newsweek.

Read “Why can’t we remember our early childhood?” at Universal Sci.

Read “Explorer Details His 40 Days In French Cave Without Clocks Or Sunlight” at WBUR.

Read “Fungus full of psychedelic drugs could cause Indiana Brood X cicadas' butts to fall off” at Courier Press.

Read “Watch a Navy Pilot Explain His Encounter With a UFO” at Vice.

Read “Leaked Navy video appears to show UFO off California” at Yahoo.

Read “Skinwalker Ranch Owner Reveals UFO Moment That Struck Cow Dead, Made Him Believer” at Pop Culture.

Read “Scientists Shot Tardigrades from a Gun to See If Interplanetary Travel Is Survivable” at Vice.

Food Cultures:

Read “How Crowns & Hops is building a Black-owned craft beer brand — and a community” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Drinking any amount of alcohol causes damage to the brain, study finds” at AZ Family.

Read “‘Mindfreak’ Magician Criss Angel Dives Into the Restaurant Business in Overton” at Vegas Eater.

Misc. Oddities:



Local:

Read “Roundup: Chino Bandido Has a Food Truck, Tax Day Pizza Deals, and More Food News” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “Chino Bandido opens food truck at new location in Phoenix” at KTAR.

Read “Pointing To Economic Harm, Arizona Communities Call For Border Reopening” at Fronteras Desk.

The Weekly Town Crier (05/14/21)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (05/14/21).






We’ll Miss You:

Read “Vans co-founder Paul Van Doren dies At 90” at PennLive.

Read ‘Pervis Staples, Co-Founder of the Staple Singers, Dies at 85” at Pitchfork.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “For some pastors, the past year was a sign from God it was time to quit” at Religion News Service.

Read “Why Nathan Cartagena Teaches Critical Race Theory To Evangelicals” at Sojourners.

Read “Saddleback Church Ordains 3 Women Pastors, Defying Southern Baptist Position” at Roys Report.

Read “How American Christendom Weakens American Christianity” at David French.

Read ‘German priests defy Pope Francis with blessings of same-sex unions” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Mark Driscoll Accused of Cult-Like Actions; 24/7 Surveillance, Mandated Loyalty” at Roys Report.

Read “Inside Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam’s Strange Ties to Scientology” at Daily Beast.

Read “Meet Kashmir’s ‘Midnight Drummers,’ keeping alive an age-old Ramadan tradition” at Religion News Service.

Read “Religion plays a role in the renewed conflict in Israel, but it may not be what you think” at Religion News Service.

Read “Former Members of Indiana Church Accuse Pastor of Sexual Abuse & Presbytery of Covering it Up” at Roys Report.

Read “The Eugenics Roots of Evangelical Family Values” at Religion and Politics.

Legal/Justice and Social Justice and Race or Gender or Sexism-Related Stuff:

Read “The War on Critical Race Theory” at Boston Review. “Turning a blind eye to the realities of racial injustice, the highly orchestrated right-wing attacks cast a body of scholarship about race in the law as a great threat to American society.”

Read “Two Asian women repeatedly attacked with cinder block as they closed Baltimore store” at NBC News.

Read “Maryland governor pardons 34 victims of racial lynching” at The Hill.

Read “Sub shop owner allegedly pays manager to kill employee to avoid back pay” at Crime Online.

Read “'Woke,' Leftist & Black: The Incomplete Glossary of White Slurs” at The Root.

Read “DA to seek death penalty, hate crime charges against 22-year-old spa shooting suspect” at 11 Alive.

Read “Bodycam video shows Andrew Brown Jr. didn't drive into deputies who shot him, lawyers say: "He did just the opposite"“ at CBS News.

This week in traitorous, white-supremacist Confederate monuments (and/or Columbus monuments // and/or other “American monuments” // Insurrectionists // and/or weird Confederacy stuff):

Read “In Exclusive Jailhouse Letter, Capitol Riot Defendant Explains Motives, Remains Boastful” at Pro Publica. ”The material obtained by ProPublica sheds light on the radicalization of a Jan. 6 defendant whom prosecutors have characterized as a “serious danger ... not only to his family and Congress, but to the entire system of justice.”

Read “Rep. Paul Gosar defends the 'peaceful patriots' who rioted on Jan. 6” at AZ Central.

Watch “GQP reps claim Capitol riot was a "normal tourist visit" at Boing Boing.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “Washington bans open carry of weapons at state capitol, public protests” at The Hill.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Two More Lawsuits Filed Against Williamson County Sheriff's Department For Its Use Of Force” at KUT. “Attorneys say Ramsey Mitchell was punched, kicked and tased by deputies multiple times, and that he was put in a chokehold before being rendered unconscious. The incident was captured on camera for the the now-canceled reality television show “Live PD.”

Read “Alabama officer convicted of murdering suicidal man while on duty” at The Hill.

Read “Federal grand jury charges 4 former Minneapolis cops with violating George Floyd’s civil rights — Chauvin also charged in teen arrest” at CNBC.

Read “KARE 11 Investigates: New data shows MPD searches Black drivers at 29 times the rate of whites after minor stops” at KARE11. “A KARE 11 analysis reveals huge racial disparities continue in Minneapolis for minor traffic stops and searches despite reforms promised after George Floyd’s death.”

Read “Virginia prosecutor says Black motorist should never have been pulled over, asks for investigation” at CNN.

Read “Witness: Man angered by Texas deputies in yard killed them” at Yahoo.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Schools Seeing Relief, Conflicts Since Arizona Lifted School Mask Mandate” at KJZZ.

Read “Dillard University Receives $1 Million From The Ray Charles Foundation” at Offbeat Magazine.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Nurses Honor 400 Colleagues Who Lost Their Lives to COVID-19, Call for More Protections” at Democracy Now.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Pro golfer arrested for attempting to meet with minor for sex” at ABC 15.

Read “Caitlyn Jenner tells Hannity friends are fleeing California because of homeless people” at The Hill.

Read ‘Logjam! A journey to the heart of the lumber shortage.” at Slate.

Read “Anyone can claim copyright to your videos - and YouTube stands by and watches” at My News Desk.

Read “Kintsugi: The Centuries-Old Japanese Craft of Repairing Pottery with Gold & Finding Beauty in Broken Things” at Open Culture.

Read “Called by God” at Slate. “In 2014, I went on a vigilante raid to “save” kids sold for sex. What we did haunts me now.”

Read “Diamond in the rough: Japanese Americans imprisoned at Arizona camps during WWII found solace in baseball” at Cronkite News.

Read “Who Should John Mulaney Be Now?” at Vulture.

Browse “Leonardo da Vinci’s Handwritten Resume (1482)” at Open Culture.

Read “Hummer destroyed by fire after driver stockpiles gas” at The Hill.

Read “The 1970s Fashion Designer Who Was Outlandishly Ahead of His Time” at The Atlantic. “Twenty years ago, fashion lost the visionary designer—and prophet—behind P-Funk and Kiss.”

Read “McDonald's-owned U.S. restaurants boost pay to lure new workers” at Reuters.

Internationalities:

Read ‘Man Trapped on Bridge After Glass Deck Blown Off By Strong Wind” at Vice.

Read “8 dead in Russia school shooting” at The Hill.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read the opinion piece “Republicans will never certify a Democratic win ever again” at Boing Boing.

Read “Liz Cheney removed from position as House GOP conference chair over anti-Trump stance” at New York Post.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Trump Justice Department secretly obtained Post reporters’ phone records” at Washington Post.

Read “Arizona Republicans to brush off DOJ concern about election audit” at The Hill.

Read “Are Donald Trump & Rudy Giuliani Sitting on Secret Pardons?” at News and Guts.

Read “Tennessee cuts off $300 federal unemployment supplement” at The Hill.

Read “Election security experts say giving Maricopa County routers to Arizona Senate's election auditors would be concerning” at AZ Central.

Read “Activists and Ex-Spy Said to Have Plotted to Discredit Trump ‘Enemies’ in Government” at New York Times.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Van Morrison: Latest Record Project Volume 1 review – depressing rants by tinfoil milliner” at Guardian. “The veteran bluesman loudly wakes up the sheeple with this boring and paranoid double album, reminiscent of a dinner party with a bitter divorcee.”

  • Read as Pitchfork reviews Van Morrison’s newest album: “It’s a terrible night for a moondance: On this risible and intermittently lovely 28-song collection, Van indulges in some of his most cherished paranoid theories and deepest-held grudges.”

Read “Mac Miller’s Family Condemns Unauthorized Biography” at Pitchfork.

Read “Chrissie Hynde Details New Bob Dylan Covers Album Standing in the Doorway” at Consequence.

Read “David Lynch Directs New Music Video for Donovan’s “I Am the Shaman”” at Consequence.

Read “On maintaining creative relationships” at The Creative Independent.

Read “The Artist Impostors of Spotify” at Salon. “I tracked some down.”

Read “Rodney Crowell Previews New Album With Urgent ‘Something Has to Change’” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Listening to Hard Rock and Metal Can Lead to Unhealthy Food Choices” at Consequence.

Read “Dead & Company on Summer Tour: ‘You Couldn’t Turn Your Back on This Music’” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Archie Shepp’s 1974 Paris concert set for first vinyl release” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “JAY-Z, Foo Fighters, Tina Turner Inducted Into Rock Hall of Fame 2021” at Pitchfork.

Read “Kraftwerk FINALLY gets into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (Oh, and the Foos made it, too)” at A Journal of Musical Things.

Read “Can’s Live Shows Will Be Heard at Last, Thanks to a Bootlegger in Big Pants” at New York Times.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “NBC Is Dropping Golden Globes After Criticism Over Diversity” at Bloomberg. “Musician Matt Sweeney discusses confidence, different types of collaboration, paying attention, and creating and sustaining your lane.”

Read “The "Ted Lasso" way is comforting – and a counter to the hollow nationalism Americans have embraced” at Salon.

Read “'American Idol' finalist Caleb Kennedy out after KKK-style hood video surfaces” at CNN.

Read “Bong Joon Ho working on animated film involving "deep-water sea creatures"“ at AV Club.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction: 17,500 Entries on All Things Sci-Fi Are Now Free Online” at Open Culture.

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “A Private Company Is About to Send the First Paying Crew to the International Space Station” at Time.

Read “The Psychedelic Miracle” at Rolling Stone. “How some doctors are risking everything to unleash the healing power of MDMA, ayahuasca and other hallucinogens.”

  • Read “A New Study Points to MDMA as a Powerful Treatment for PTSD” at Time.

Read “The Soviet Doctor Who Cut Out His Own Appendix” at Flashback.

Food Cultures:

Read “Restaurants are running out of chicken wings” at ABC 15.

Local:

Read “21 and Over! Here are 21 New Craft Beer Releases from Arizona Breweries” at Phoenix Magazine.

Read “What were those strange lights in the Arizona sky?” at AZ Family.

Read “Arizona's Early Voting List Is No Longer Permanent” at KJZZ.

The Weekly Town Crier (05/07/21)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (05/07/21.






We’ll Miss You:

Read “Nathan Jung, 'Star Trek' and 'The A-Team' Actor, Dead at 74” at Pop Culture.

Read “Paul Oscher, Blues Musician in Muddy Waters’s Band, Dies at 74” at New York Times.

Read “RIP: Bassist Tony Markellis” at Relix.

Read ‘Ed Ward, Rock Historian and Early ‘Rolling Stone’ Editor, Dead at 72” at Rolling Stone.

Religion and Stuff:

 Read “Ravi Zacharias’s Ministry Investigates Claims of Sexual Misconduct at Spas” at Christianity Today.

Read “Faith, Freedom, Fear: Rural America’s Covid Vaccine Skeptics” at New York Times.

Read “Faith, Freedom, Fear: Rural America’s Covid Vaccine Skeptics” at New York Times.

Read “How Eric Metaxas went from Trump despiser to true believer” at Religion News Service. “How a onetime aspiring public intellectual and Trump doubter turned into a true believer in stolen elections.”

Read “The evangelical sexual abuse crisis is the spiritual warfare of our time” by Karen Swallow Prior at Religion News Service.

Read “John Piper: Ravi Zacharias turned 'position of power' into 'neediness and woundedness'“ at Christian Post.

Read “Study: Trauma-Informed Bible Reading Reduces Depression, Anxiety, Anger” at Christianity Today.

Browse the list of “Ministries With an “F” Transparency Grade” at Ministry Watch.

Read ‘As COVID-19 swamps India, decision to allow Kumbh Mela’s crowds is scrutinized” at Religion News Service.

Read “Canadian Pastor Calls Lockdowns “Greatest Threat” to Health in First Day of Trial” at Roys Report.

Read “Inside The Evangelical Beliefs and Practices That Facilitate Abuse In Families Like The Duggars’ at Religion Dispatches.

Read “‘She didn’t deserve to die the way she did,’ says family of cult leader found dead and mummified” at Washington Post.

Read “Russell Moore had a crisis of faith, but it didn’t help him understand ex-evangelicals” at Flux.Community.

Read “LifeSiteNews removed from Facebook for violating COVID-19 misinformation policies” at Religion News Service.

Read “The Lament of the Christian Disney Dad: What Evangelicals Really Hate About ‘Wokeness’ at Disney World’” at Religion Dispatches.

Read “Remembering Marva Dawn, a Saint of Modern Worship” at Christianity Today.

Legal/Justice and Social Justice and Race or Gender or Sexism-Related Stuff:

Read “Tests from 1993 killing reveal another man's DNA other than executed Arkansas inmate” at KATV.

Read “Five people charged after authorities find 97 migrants in Houston home” at The Hill.

Read “Derek Chauvin files motion for new trial in George Floyd case, alleging jury misconduct” at NBC News. “Chauvin’s attorney, Eric Nelson, filed the request alleging that the former officer's ability to have a fair trial was affected by pretrial publicity.”

Read “This Board Game Uses Vampires To Fight Anti-Asian Racism” at Huff Post.

Read “Lawyer for separated migrant families 'hopeful' they will soon be reunified, allowed to stay in U.S.” at NBC News.

Read “Josh Duggar Charged On 2 Federal Child Pornography Counts; Pleads “Not Guilty,” Requests Bail” at Deadline.

  • Read “Josh Duggar Hearing: Homeland Security Agent Details Timeline of Child Porn Case” at People.

  • Read “Josh Duggar allowed out of jail while awaiting trial on child porn charges” at Northwest Gazette.

This week in traitorous, white-supremacist Confederate monuments (and/or Columbus monuments // and/or other “American monuments” // Insurrectionists // and/or weird Confederacy stuff):

Read “New "weapons of mass destruction" charges filed against accused Whitmer kidnap plotters” at Salon.

Read “Canadian chapter of the Proud Boys, designated a terrorist group by the government, says it has ‘dissolved’” at Washington Post.

Read ‘White Nationalism Is Far Worse Than a 'Disease'“ at Wired. “Most analogies for racism as a pathology oversimplify its blight. Better diagnosing it means knowing how to treat it.”

Read ‘Former Neo-Nazi Terror Leader Gets Three-Year Prison Term” at Vice.

Read “Wisconsin National Guard member charged in Capitol riot” at The Hill.

Read “FBI still after 'worst of the worst' in Capitol riot as new arrests come at steady pace” at NBC News.

Read “Lawyer blames 'Foxitis' for his US Capitol riot client's actions, as another defendant derails hearings with profane outbursts” at CNN.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “Federal judge finds that Columbus police ran 'amok' during peaceful protests, restricts uses of force” at NBC News.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Georgia deputy said that beating Black man was 'sweet stress relief,' feds say” at The Hill.

Read “Watch: South Carolina cop harasses a man for being "suspicious" (as in Black)” at Boing Boing.

Read ‘How activists fought Joe Arpaio’s immigration roundups” at High Country News.

Read “Officers no longer at jobs after video showed them laughing at violent arrest of elderly woman” at The Hill.

Read “Recording the Police: What to Know, and How to Stay Safe Doing It” at KQED.

Read “Man killed himself after LAPD officer fired Taser during foot pursuit, officials say” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Atlanta police officer fired after fatally shooting Rayshard Brooks has been reinstated” at ABC News.

Read “Kansas City officials seek to end jaywalking penalties noting racial disparity in citations” at The Hill.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “College Coach Arrested, Accused of Tricking Student-Athletes Into Sending Nude Photos” at Pop Culture.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “The U.S. never had a shot at herd immunity” at Salon. “Hostility to scientific expertise plus rejection of the concept of the common good led to anti-vaxx conservatism.”

Read “Actor Arrested for Ignoring COVID-19 Protocols to Film Movie” at Pop Culture.

Read “Less than half of NYPD cops have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine” at New York Post.

Read “PPP is out of money for most businesses ahead of planned May 31 closure” at AZ Family.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “US Space Force scientist says military ‘human augmentation’ is necessary in next decade” at Metro.

Read “NPR Turns 50! Its Hosts and Stars Share Their Favorite NPR Moments, Memories and Near-Disasters” at People.

Read “German Gymnasts Cover Their Legs In Stand Against Sexualization” at NPR.

Read “Bill and Melinda Gates announce they are getting divorced” at Associated Press.

Read “‘MDMA cured my alcoholism’: Inside the remarkable ecstasy trial offering an escape from trauma” at The Telegraph.

Read “Verizon sells AOL, Yahoo for $5B” at The Hill.

Read “The FBI is breaking into corporate computers to remove malicious code” at Salon.

Read “Trump hypes new "communications platform": It's a blog — run with Big Tech's help” at Salon.

Read “Account tweeting Trump statements suspended by Twitter” at The HIll.

Read “How Video Games Are Saving Those Who Served” at Wired.

Internationalities:

Read “Mexico City rail overpass collapses onto road, killing at least 23” at Reuters.

Read “Belgian farmer moves border with France by mistake” at AZ Family.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Mitt Romney booed at raucous Utah GOP convention as speakers attack the Biden agenda” at Salt Lake Tribune.

Read “Mitch McConnell: 1619, American slavery starting point, not an important date in history” at Louisville Courier-Journal.

Read ‘DOJ slow to resolve Trump-era legal battles” at The Hill.

Read “Biden Raises Refugee Admissions Cap to 62,500” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “TheHill.com Bush: If Republican Party stands for 'white Anglo-Saxon Protestantism, then it's not going to win anything'“ at The Hill.

Read “The first 100 days can define a president. Here’s how the internet saw Biden and Trump” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Cheney hits 'Trump cult of personality,' says she'll keep speaking out” at The Hill.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Iowa governor signs law allowing landlords to refuse Section 8 vouchers” at The Hill.

Read “Former FBI director represented Russian firm at center of major money-laundering probe” at Business Insider.

Read “Judge orders release of Trump obstruction memo, accuses Barr of deception” at The Hill.

Read “'Do it right or don't do it': Arizona's top elections officer warns of serious problems with ballot recount” at 12 News.

Read “Former Ukrainian prosecutor says he was fired for not investigating Hunter Biden” at The Hill.

Read “Despite GOP rhetoric, there have been fewer than two dozen charged cases of voter fraud since the election” at Washington Post.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read ‘Marilyn Manson Sued for Sexual Assault, Sex Trafficking by ‘Game of Thrones’ Actress Esmé Bianco” at Rolling Stones.

Read “Ex-Cannibal Corpse Guitarist Pat O’Brien Finally Sentenced for Bizarre Headline-Making Incident” at Consequence of Sound. “The metal musician's case involved assault, burglary, a house fire, 80 firearms, and three skulls.”

Read “Young The Giant’s Sameer Gadhia: Rock Music Must Unearth Its Diverse Roots” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Esme Bianco Sues Marilyn Manson for Sexual Assault” at Consequence of Sound. “The Game of Thrones actress also accuses the disgraced rocker of assault and human trafficking.”

Read “Catholic Group Calls for Shutdown of Influential College Radio Station WSOU over “Satanic” Music” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “The Story of the Rolling Stones: A Selection of Documentaries on the Quintessential Rock-and-Roll Band” at Open Culture.

Read “Lucinda Williams Is Recovering From a Stroke” at Consequence.

Listen “to Phife Dawg’s New Posthumous Song “French Kiss Deux” at Pitchfork.

Read “José González Announces Tour With Rufus Wainwright, Shares New “Visions” Video” at Pitchfork.

Read “Over 180 Musicians Protest Spotify’s Speech Monitoring Patent in Open Letter” at Pitchfork.

Read “Bad Brains :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Read “NOFX’s Fat Mike gives a presentation on NFTs–and it’s really good!” at A Journal Of Musical Things.

Browse “10 Unbelievable Performances by Saxophone Virtuoso Rahsaan Roland Kirk” at In Sheep’s Clothing Hi Fi.

Read “Digging in the Mags: Hi-fidelity Illustrations from the 1970s” at In Sheep’s Clothing Hi Fi.

Read “Bruce Springsteen Receives 2021 Woody Guthrie Prize” at Consequence.

Read “Tokyo Flashback: An essential guide to Japanese label PSF Records” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “Los Lobos Detail New Covers Album ‘Native Sons’ & Share Singles” at JamBase.

Read “Willow Smith Reunites and Fronts Mom Jada Pinkett Smith’s Metal Band Wicked Wisdom for Mother’s Day Surprise: Watch” at Consequence.

Read “Sons of Kemet’s Journey of the World of the Artist” at Treble.

Read “Live Nation Weathers Rough Quarter as Concert Business Slowly Rumbles Back to Life” at Variety.

Read “UK vinyl sales surpassed 1 million units in early 2021” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “You Can Buy Six Strands of Kurt Cobain’s Hair at a Music Auction If You’re Into That Sort of Thing” at Spin.

Read “J Mascis :: Transmissions” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Read “Red Hot Chili Peppers Sell Publishing Rights to Song Catalog for $140 million” at Jambands.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “The Strange Bipartisan Appeal of Ted Lasso” at Politico. “It's an apolitical show. So why do politicians keep talking about it?”

Read “Fox Staffers Hate Tucker Carlson But They Say He’ll Never Be Fired” at Politics USA.

Read “What’s A Wrinkle in Time Doing in Ted Lasso?” at Madeleine L’Engle.

Read “You Won’t Live to See the Final Star Wars Movie” at Wired.

Read “George A. Romero’s final zombie film is being finished by his widow” at NME.

Read “Inside Netflix’s Quest to End Scrolling” at Vulture.

Read “New Stranger Things 4 Teaser Reminds Us Eleven Is Not Alone” at Consequence.

Read “‘Tiger King’ Subject Jeff Lowe Reveals Federal Authorities Are Seizing Animals at Joe Exotic’s Former Zoo” at Pop Culture.

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “The Pentagon Inspector General Is Investigating the Military's UFO Program” at Vice.

The Weekly Town Crier (04/23/21)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (04/23/21).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “R.I.P. Felix Silla, Actor Who Played Cousin Itt on The Addams Family Dead at 84” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “World reacts to death of Chad President Idriss Deby” at Al Jazeera.

Read ‘Ole Anthony, longtime critic of prosperity gospel televangelists and head of Trinity Foundation, dies at 82” at Religion News Service.

Read “Walter Mondale, former US vice-president and celebrated liberal, dies aged 93” at The Guardian.

Read “Jim Steinman, bombastic hitmaker for Meat Loaf and Celine Dion, dies at 73” at Los Angeles Times.

Read ‘Bay City Rollers frontman Les McKeown, dead at 65” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Rapper Shock G Of Digital Underground Dies at 57” at WBLS.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Liberty University Sues Jerry Falwell Jr. for $10 Million” at New York Times. “he lawsuit claims that Mr. Falwell, the university’s former president, withheld scandalous and potentially damaging information.”

  • Read “Apparently Jerry Falwell Jr.’s pool boy has a “cache of compromising photos” he’s willing to leak” at Queerty.

Read “The Greatest Christian Novel” at First Things.

Read “Meet Mercy Haub: The 16-year-old cancer survivor and preacher’s kid who inspired Ellen” at Religion News Service.

Read “Biden reverses course on refugee cap after faith groups express outrage” at Religion News Service.

Read “America Without God” at The Atlantic. “As religious faith has declined, ideological intensity has risen. Will the quest for redemption through politics doom the American idea?”

Read “D.C. Pastor Used $3.5 Million in Fraudulent PPP Loans to Buy Himself a Tesla, FBI Says” at Daily Beast.

Read “Dostoyevsky, Just After His Death Sentence Was Repealed, on the Meaning of Life” at Brain Pickings.

Read “Religious unaffiliation is growing in the US. Why isn’t it in Congress?” at Religion News Service.

Read “Sex discrimination suit against Florida church tests ‘ministerial exception’ rulings” at Religion News Service. “A woman’s lawsuit alleging gender discrimination may reconcile unanswered questions about the so-called ministerial exception.”

Read “The Splintering of the Evangelical Soul” at Christianity Today. “Why we’re coming apart, and how we might come together again.”

Read “Why Defining Gossip Matters in the Church’s Response to Abuse” at Christianity Today.

Read “Christian peacemaking and the role of forgiveness” at Christian Century. “Seeking justice is critical. Is it enough?”

Read “General Baptist pastor who criticized wives’ weight ‘deeply sorry’ for sermon” at Religion News Service. “‘In the sermon, I made insensitive remarks about women and made statements deemed unbiblical,’ said Pastor Stewart-Allen Clark in a statement.”

Read “Margie Zacharias Breaks Silence, Defends Ravi” at Roys Report.

Read “White Evangelical Racism: An Interview with Anthea Butler” at Religion and Politics.

Read “Remembering Prince: A Pop Music Priest in a Secular World” at Christianity Today.

Read “Religious Identities and the Race Against the Virus: Engaging Faith Communities on COVID-19 Vaccination” at PRRI.

Read “AI unlocks ancient Dead Sea Scrolls mystery” at BBC.

Read “Algerian scholar gets three years in jail for ‘offending Islam’” at Al Jazeera.

Read “Amy Coney Barrett was a “paid speaker 5 times, starting in 2011, at the Blackstone Legal Fellowship, a summer program established to inspire a ‘distinctly Christian worldview in every area of law...’ at Washington Post.

Legal/Justice and Social Justice and Race or Gender or Sexism-Related Stuff:

Read “Officer in George Floyd case found guilty of murder” at NME.

  • Read “Chauvin being held in solitary confinement for his own safety” at The Hill.

Read “Maybe America Is Racist” at The Root.

Read “Justice Dept. sues Trump ally Roger Stone for unpaid taxes” at The Hill.

Read “Ethics committee finds probable cause in sexual misconduct allegation against Idaho lawmaker” at The Hill.

Read “Freedom Caucus member condemns GOP group pushing 'Anglo-Saxon political traditions'“ at The Hill.

Read “Florida woman charged for allegedly threatening to kill Kamala Harris” at AZ Family.

Read “13 investigations, no court-martials: Here's how the US Navy and Marine Corps quietly discharged white supremacists” at Yahoo.

Read the opinion piece “GOP's new 'America First Caucus' follows in some blatantly white nationalist footsteps” at MSNBC. “The ‘America First Caucus’ continues the country’s long history of white nationalism.”

Read “Mass Shooting In Austin Leaves At Least Three Dead” at News and Guts.

Read “Most Americans want to end lifetime Supreme Court appointments for justices” at NBC News.

Read “A National Policy Blueprint To End White Supremacist Violence” at Center For American Progress.

Read “Indiana's Red Flag Law Was Designed To Prevent Mass Shootings Like The FedEx Facility Rampage. Prosecutors Never Tried To Use It” at Buzzfeed News.

Read “Virginia governor signs bill legalizing marijuana possession” at The Hill.

Read “Ben Carson defends op-ed arguing racial equity is 'another kind of racism'“ at The Hill.

Read “I’m Actually Glad Nancy Pelosi Thanked George Floyd for “Sacrificing” Himself” at Slate.

Read “Governments That Are Occupying Land Are Criminalizing Indigenous Peoples for Occupying Land” at Vice.

Read “Florida Supreme Court rules against effort to legalize recreational marijuana” at The Hill.

Read “US Supreme Court rejects limits on life sentences for juveniles” at The HIll.

  • Read “Brett Kavanaugh Rules Children Deserve Life In Prison With No Chance of Parole” at Vanity Fair. “Kavanaugh, who said it was absurd to judge him based on who he was in high school, thinks children convicted of crimes should die in prison.”

  • Read “Sotomayor blasts Kavanaugh's decision on juvenile life sentences” at The Hill.

Read “State Foster Care Agencies Take Millions Of Dollars Owed To Children In Their Care” at NPR.

This week in traitorous, white-supremacist Confederate monuments (and/or Columbus monuments // and/or other “American monuments” // Insurrectionists // and/or weird Confederacy stuff):

Read “Heavy metal guitarist with ties to Oath Keepers is first US Capitol rioter to plead guilty” at CNN.

Read “The Radicalization of Kevin Greeson” at Pro Publica. “How one man went from attending President Barack Obama’s inauguration to dying in the mob protesting Donald Trump’s election loss during the Capitol insurrection.”

Watch “American Insurrection” at PBS Frontline. “Over the last three years, FRONTLINE has collaborated with ProPublica to investigate the rise of extremism in America. In the aftermath of the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol, FRONTLINE, ProPublica and Berkeley Journalism’s Investigative Reporting Program team up to examine how far-right extremist groups have evolved in the wake of the deadly 2017 Charlottesville rally — and the threat they pose today.”

Read “Marjorie Taylor Greene Calls Off America First Caucus Following Backlash” at Forbes.

Read “Oath Keepers: How a militia group mobilized in plain sight for the assault on the Capitol” at 60 Minutes.

Read “The Hybridity of Rural Fascism” at Society for Cultural Anthropology. “The community praised patriarchy as God-ordained, employing apocalyptic language to decry what they saw as the Marxist LGBTQ+ agenda disrupting traditional Christian family values in America.”

Read “Capitol Police officer allegedly told units to only monitor for 'anti-Trump' protesters on Jan. 6” at The Hill.

Read “Jan. 6 commission must focus only on insurrection” at The HIll.

Read “17 Requests for Backup in 78 Minutes” at Washington Post.

Read “Kevin McCarthy Says Capitol Riot Commission Should Look At Unrelated Riots’ at Huff Post. “The top House Republican doesn’t want too much focus on that time Donald Trump and his supporters tried to overturn the 2020 election.”

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “How the G.O.P. Is Creating Harsher Penalties for Protesters” at New York Times.

Read ‘GOP Lawmakers in Iowa and Oklahoma Pass Anti-Protest Bills” at Democracy Now.

This Week With The Police:

Read “US police and public officials donated to Kyle Rittenhouse, data breach reveals” at The Guardian. “That donation also carried a comment, reading: ‘God bless. Thank you for your courage. Keep your head up. You’ve done nothing wrong.’” “Officers and officials also donated to fundraisers for far-right activists and fellow officers accused of shooting black Americans.”

  • Read “The Fraternal Order of White Supremacy” at North Star. “Murderer Kyle Rittenhouse is being financially supported by various law enforcement agencies. It's the latest in several cases in which systemic racism protects boots-on-the-grounds supremacists.”

Read “A pair of 'pro-police' GOP bills in Missouri draw scrutiny from free speech advocates” at Yahoo.

Read “Detroit police restrained man and beat him for 2 minutes after he tried to help protesters, lawsuit claims” at Yahoo.

Read “Colorado police accused of injuring elderly woman with dementia during arrest” at NBC News.

Read “Man accused of throwing bleach in NYPD officer's face, hurling Molotov cocktail at others” at The Hill.

Read “Louisville officer punches protester during arrest” at Chron.

Read “Fear and Paranoia in American Policing” at Slate. “Everything around police officers tells them that they should be scared.”

Read “No convictions for St Louis officers who beat Black undercover colleague at protest” at Guardian. “Officer Luther Hall, who was recording criminal activity during protests, required multiple surgeries after the attack.”

Read “Chris Cuomo: Police reform won't happen until 'white people's kids start getting killed'“ at The Hill.

Read “Florida Sheriff Tells People Moving to State Not to 'Vote the Stupid Way You Did Up North'“ at Newsweek.

Read “‘Defund the Police’ Actually Means Defunding the Police” at Vice.

Read “The police officer who fatally shot 13-year-old Adam Toledo was listed as a victim on an incident report. One law-enforcement expert said it's 'an old cop trick meant to muddy the murky waters.'“ at Yahoo.

Read “'I'm also a police officer': Arizona deputy uses racial slur, pleads for release after being pulled over for DUI” at Yahoo.

Read “Bravery of witnesses made the difference in Chauvin trial” at MSNBC.

  • Read “Police across U.S. respond to Derek Chauvin trial: 'Our American way of policing is on trial'“ at NBC News. “While some officers see the trial as an example of a rogue officer being held accountable, others see it as a sign that the country has turned against them.”

Read “Columbus Police release body cam footage of officer shooting, killing girl, 16” at NBCi.

  • Read “Columbus cop shouts "blue lives matter" at the scene of deadly police shooting of Ohio teen” at Salon.

Read “Cops Killed a Black Man in North Carolina. Protesters Are Demanding Answers” at Vice.

Read “One of America's most popular police trainers is teaching officers how to kill” at Insider. (NOTE: Article from 2020 but highly relevant today).

Read “Most officers never fire their guns. But some kill multiple people — and are still on the job” at NBC News. “In Seattle, one officer's multiple deadly encounters offer a window into this little understood corner of American policing.”

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Arizona Supreme Court hears case about legality of education tax” at KTAR. “Reformist initiatives like '8 Can't Wait' have already failed. Here's what you need to know about defunding and abolishing the police.”

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “The Grief Crisis Is Coming” at New York Times.

Read “A Vaccine Is Not a Personality” at Slate. “The memes and merch inspired by Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson are not helping the fight against COVID.”

Read “Pfizer Says COVID-19 Booster Vaccines Likely Needed Within a Year” at Democracy Now.

Read ‘India Reports Record 217,000 New Cases as Millions Gather for World’s Largest Pilgrimage” at Democracy Now.

Read “Coronavirus: 'Double mutant' Covid variant found in India” at BBC.

Read “Proud Boy charged in Capitol riot gets coronavirus while jailed” at The Hill.

Read “3 million COVID-19 deaths recorded around the world” at ABC News.

Read “The Pandemic Proved That Our Toilets Are Crap” at Wired.

Read “Has outdoor masking turned into 'meaningless political theater'?” at The Week.

Read “More Than Half Of U.S. Adults Have Gotten At Least One COVID-19 Vaccine Dose” at NPR.

Read “Ted Nugent tests positive for COVID-19 after claiming outbreak is 'not a real pandemic'“ at ABC 15.

Read “New Data Shows How Much COVID-19 Has Disrupted Life For The Youngest Americans” at Huff Post.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Apple reinstates Parler app, stands by initial ban” at NBC News.

Read “‘No One Was Driving’ Tesla in Crash That Killed Two People, Police Say” at Vice.

Read “The United States of Weed” at Rolling Stone. “Curious about the status of cannabis? Here’s where legalization stands, state by state.”

Read “Gretchen Carlson Says the 'Pain' of Being Body Shamed 'Stays with You for Life'“ at People.

Read “What Is Triller Fight Club, Snoop Dogg's Weird Celebrity Boxing League?” at Vice.

Read “Mike Lindell's new social platform crashes — and MyPillow guy didn't even notice” at Salon.

Read “Company Behind Krysten Sinema’s F*** Off’ Ring To Donate All Proceeds To Fight For Increased Minimum Wage” at Independent.

Read “Influencer Boxing Is the Circus-Sport America Deserves” at Vice.

Read “Right-Wing Trend of Buying or Not Buying Things to Own the Libs Reaches Nadir With Accidental Boycott of Semen” at Slate.

Internationalities:

Read “Raul Castro to Stand Down as Head of Cuba’s Communist Party” at Bloomberg.

Read ‘China posts record economic growth after plunge 12 months ago” at Al Jazeera.

Read “Harvard’s Digital Giza Project Lets You Access the Largest Online Archive on the Egyptian Pyramids (Including a 3D Giza Tour)” at Open Culture.

Read “At least 97 injured in Egypt as train derails” at CNN.

Read “Afghans who fled to Turkey are worried — and hopeful — about the prospect of peace at home” at The World.

Read “Biden Preparing to Declare That Atrocities Against Armenia Were Genocide” at New York Times.

Read “UK Parliament declares China's treatment of Uighurs a genocide” at The Hill.

Read “The Thrilling Collapse of the European Super League” at Slate.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Greta Thunberg will testify in Congress on Earth Day” at The Hill.

Read “GOP Reps. Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene were the only 'no' votes on a bill reauthorizing the National Marrow Donor Program” at Business Insider.

Read “Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert Invent Reasons to Vote Against Bone Marrow Bill” at Daily Beast.

Read “Marjorie Taylor Greene Calls Off America First Caucus Following Backlash” at Forbes.

Read “Kinzinger Says GOPers Who Join Nativist Caucus Should Be Stripped Of Committees” at Talking Points Memo.

Read “House rejects GOP resolution to censure Waters” at The Hill.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “How Josh Hawley and Marjorie Taylor Greene Juiced Their Fundraising Numbers” at Pro Publica.

Read “The Postal Service is running a 'covert operations program' that monitors Americans' social media posts” at Yahoo.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “The world’s biggest music companies are scrambling to sign African artists” at Quartz Africa.

Read “Sun Ra’s musical poetry — and how it began in Chicago — captured in new gallery exhibit” at Chicago Tribune.

Read “Apple Music, in Contrast With Rival Spotify, Says It Pays a Penny-Per-Stream Average” at Pitchfork.

Read “This Youtube Channel Has Been Uploading J Dilla Rarities for Months” at Okay Player.

Read “Gillian Welch Talks Tom Jones, John Prine and John Steinbeck” at Relix.

Read “Van Morrison Confirms First-Ever Livestream Special” at Jambase.

Read “Man 'stalking' Taylor Swift arrested in New York” at BBC.

Read “Mt. Westmore (Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, E-40, Too $hort) Deliver Debut Performance at Triller Fight Club” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Star Songwriter Ali Tamposi Sells Catalog to New Female-Focused Music Fund” at Rolling Stone.

Read “The Mountain Goats Announce New Album Dark in Here, Share New Song “Mobile'“ at Pitchfork.

Read “Ryley Walker – ‘Course In Fable’” at Ears to Feed.

Read “Morrissey Says He’d Sue The Simpsons for Slander, But “It Requires More Funding Than I Could Possibly Muster” at Consequence of Sound. “I've had enough horror thrown at me that would kill off a herd of bison"

  • Read “The Simpsons Releases Morrissey Episode Music Video” at Den of Geek.

Read “South by Southwest Stake Is Sold to Owner of Rolling Stone in Effort to Keep Festival Alive” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Frank “Poncho” Sampedro :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Read “Kurt Vile Signs With Legendary Jazz Label Verve Records” at Pitchfork.

Read “Igloo Launches Beatles Yellow Submarine-Inspired Collection of Coolers” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Don Cherry on creativity and “the mysticism of sound” at Vinyl Factory.

Read the story behind “Here Comes The Flood, by Robert Fripp and Peter Gabriel” at Music Afficianado.

Read “Louis Armstrong Plays Trumpet at the Egyptian Pyramids; Dizzy Gillespie Charms a Snake in Pakistan” at Open Culture. “During the Cold War, the United States made the case for the American way of life by sending its best ambassadors abroad — jazz musicians.”

Read “Eric Andre Says He Was Racially Profiled at Atlanta Airport” at Pitchfork.

Read “Chvrches share powerful video for new single ‘He Said She Said’” at NME.

Read “The Best and Most Misunderstood of Green Day, According to Billie Joe Armstrong” at Vulture.

Read “Yo La Tengo’s ‘I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One’ Set A Benchmark In Indie Rock” at Treble.

Read “Cardi B snaps back after GOP congressman blames her for “the moral decline of America" at Salon.

Read “I Get Around: The Oral History of 2Pac’s Digital Underground Years” at Rolling Stone.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “Sharon Osbourne gives Bill Maher first interview since leaving 'The Talk': 'I’m angry. I’m hurt.'“ at USA Today.

Read “‘Community’ Star Yvette Nicole Brown Says Reunion Movie ‘Is Coming’” at Variety.

Read “The MCU's Relationship With the Military, From Iron Man to Captain Marvel” at CBR.

Read “Tom Hopper Gives an Update on ‘The Umbrella Academy’ Season 3 Filming: “We've Got a Long Way to Go” at Collider.

Read “You may have to actually pay for Apple TV Plus to watch Ted Lasso’s second season” at The Verge.

Read “LeVar Burton Will Fly Twice As High As Jeopardy!’s Next Guest Host” at Vulture.

Read ‘Disney to Get Online, TV Access to Sony Films After Netflix” at Bloomberg.

Read “Major Update on 'Stranger Things' Season 4 Premiere Date” at Pop Culture.

Read ‘The CW Released The First Official Photo From The Live-Action "Powerpuff Girls" After Their Costumes Caused Controversy” at Buzzfeed News. “The cartoon-accurate dresses are nowhere in sight.”

Read “Jonah Hill was going to star in ‘Transformers’ but Seth Rogen made him turn it down” at NME.

Books/Reading/Authors

Browse “The Golden Guide to Hallucinogenic Plants: Discover the 1977 Illustrated Guide Created by Harvard’s Groundbreaking Ethnobotanist Richard Evan Schultes” at Open Culture.

Read “A Beautiful 1897 Illustrated Book Shows How Flowers Become Art Nouveau Designs” at Open Culture.

Read “Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s place in San Francisco literary history” at Datebook.

Read “The Faulty Lines in Voddie Baucham’s “Thought Line” at Bradley Mason.

Read “Tsundoku,” the Japanese Word for the New Books That Pile Up on Our Shelves, Should Enter the English Language” at Open Culture.

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “Pentagon confirms legitimacy of Navy pilot's unidentified aerial phenomena video” at The Hill.

Read “NASA selects SpaceX to land first woman, next man on Moon” at 12 News.

Read “How America’s most endangered cat could help save Florida” at National Geographic.

Read “A Song of Spider Silk” at The Scientist. “Scientists from MIT reveal the hidden music in spiderwebs.”

Read “Mars Perseverance rover successfully inhaled carbon dioxide and exhaled oxygen” at Boing Boing.

Misc. Oddities:

Read “Why a Vancouver Cemetery Is Planting Squash, Kale, and Corn” at Gastro Obscura.

Read “What about those flying pyramids?” at Mystery Wire. “Former Pentagon UFO investigator responds to questions about leaked images.”

Local:

Read “Governor signs tribal gaming compact, legalizes sports gambling in Arizona” at Cronkite News.

Read “SanTan Brewing closes its Phoenix taproom and restaurant” at ABC 15.

Read “Supporters Of Changes To AZ Voting Laws Pushing To Move Them Forward” at KJZZ.

Read ‘Ducey to station troops on the border” at AZ Capitol Times.

Read “Arizona Is Rolling Back Voting Rights, and Kyrsten Sinema Is Refusing to Stop It” at Mother Jones.

Read “Arizona governor vetoes strict sex education legislation” at NBC News.

The Weekly Town Crier (04/16/21)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (04/16/21).





We’ll Miss You:

Read “DMX dead at 50, family confirms” at Fox 59.

Read “Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth's longtime consort, will be laid to rest in low-key ceremony” at CNN.

Read “Sonny Simmons, Fiercely Independent Alto Saxophonist, Dies At 87” at NPR.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Proud Boys and other far-right groups raise millions via Christian funding site” at The Guardian.

Read “Pastor: Lawmakers Making Churches Obey COVID Rules Are “Non-Essential” to God!” at Friendly Atheist.

Read ‘High court halts Calif. virus rules limiting home worship” at Religion News Service.

Read “Former Moody Professor & Author for Desiring God Announces He’s No Longer a Christian” at Roys Report.

Read “Evangelical Pastor Faces Prison Time After Recording Child Changing Her Clothes” at Friendly Atheist.

Read “John Wayne, Jesus, and the Struggle to Define the Christian Man” by David French. “Would the Son of God slide into home with his cleats up?”

Read “Hillsong Shuts Down Dallas Campus Following Reports Pastors Misused Funds” at Roys Report.

Read “New York City's Next Mayor Could Be Decided in the Black Church” at Bloomberg.

Read “A Pastor’s Son Becomes a Critic of Religion on TikTok” at New York Times.

Read “Brazil building new Jesus statue even taller than Rio's Christ the Redeemer” at The Hill.

Read “The Supreme Court Broke Its Own Rules to Radically Redefine Religious Liberty” at Slate. “Even Chief Justice John Roberts dissented from the majority’s unusual move.”

Read “Head of Elite Catholic School Is Fired Over Sexual Misconduct Charges” at New York Times.

Read “Pope Francis asks Minnesota bishop to resign following Vatican probe” at The Hill.

Read the opinion piece “Why Democratic Socialism Isn’t Anti-Christian” at Sojourners.

Read “At online symposium, Pope Francis says religions can eradicate sexual abuse together” at Religion News Service.

Read ‘Why Pastors Should Read Literature” by Karen Swallow Prior at Pastor Theologians.

Read “'The Making Of Biblical Womanhood' Tackles Contradictions In Religious Practice” at NPR.

Read “Orlando sanctuary nurses largest cluster of Florida corals rescued from a devastating disease” at Orlando Sentinel.

Read “Pat Robertson slams policing in America” at MSBNC. "We cannot have a bunch of clowns running around who are underpaid and who really are not the best and brightest, we've got to have the best in there."

Legal/Justice and Social Justice and Race or Gender or Sexism-Related Stuff:

Read “Tucker Carlson, the face of Fox News, just gave his full endorsement to the white nationalist conspiracy theory that has motivated mass shootings” at Media Matters.

Read “Expert Witness Pinpoints the Exact Moment George Floyd Died Under Chauvin’s Weight” at Slate.

  • Read “The claim that drugs killed George Floyd relies on a racist trope” at VOX. “In the Derek Chauvin trial, the defense’s attempt to blame George Floyd’s death on drug use relies on retrograde and racist myths.”

  • Read “Medical Examiner Reaffirms George Floyd Homicide Ruling, Caused by Derek Chauvin’s Restraint” at Democracy Now.

Read “Alabama GOP Senate Candidate Is Extremely Outraged at Affair Allegations Before Being Presented With a 17-Minute Tape” at Slate.

Read “Matt Gaetz Reportedly Sent $900 on Venmo to Indicted Tax Collector Buddy, Who Then Paid Three Young Women for ‘Tuition’ and ‘School’ at Mediaite.

  • Read “Matt Gaetz Now Complains He’s A Victim Of The Deep State” at Huff Post.

  • Read “Indicted Gaetz Associate Is Said to Be Cooperating With Justice Dept.” at New York Times.

Read “Same, but different: Notes on Black Christian solidarity against anti-Asian racism” at Religion News Service.

Read “N.R.A. Chief Takes the Stand, With Cracks in His Armor” at New York Times.

Read “The first Southern state legalizes marijuana — what it means nationally” at The Hill.

Read “President Biden set to further regulate 'ghost guns'“ at PRI. “The Biden administration faces pushback from Republicans as it tries to pass legislation to further regulate "ghost guns" assembled with homemade parts.”

Read “South Dakota GOP Gov. Blasted For Telling Illegal Immigrants To 'Call Me When You're An American'“ at Comic Sands.

Read “Conservative Judges Are Manipulating the History of Eugenics to Overturn Roe v. Wade” at Slate.

Read “Illinois House passes bill mandating Asian American history in schools” at NBC News.

Read “At least 8 dead in shooting at Indianapolis FedEx facility” 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) // Insurrectionists // Far-Right Extremism:

Read “‘Clear the Capitol,’ Pence pleaded, timeline of riot shows” at Associated Press.

Read “Far-Right Extremist Planned to Blow Up Amazon Data Center, Feds Allege” at Variety.

Read “White supremacists plan nationwide rallies on April 11” at The Hill.

Read ‘Huntington Beach braces for yet another demonstration — a White Lives Matter rally on Sunday” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “‘Darn’ Tootin’ It Is!’: Gov. Tate Reeves Again Declares Confederate Heritage Month, SCV Says” at Mississippi Free Press.

Read “Heritage Versus Hate: Assessing Opinions in the Debate over Confederate Monuments and Memorials” at Wiley Public Library. “When it comes to wanting to leave Confederate monuments alone, it’s racial resentment, not southern identity.”

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “Protests erupt after death of Daunte Wright, 20-year-old Black man shot by police during traffic stop: What we know” at USA Today.

Read ‘Second night of unrest after fatal police shooting of Daunte Wright outside Minneapolis” at CBS News.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Cops Caught on Video Holding a Black Army Lieutenant at Gunpoint, Then Pepper-Spraying Him” at Vice.

  • Read “Army officer sues police for pepper-spraying him, drawing guns during traffic stop” at The Hill.

Read “Police officer with connection to Proud Boys fired” at The Hill.

Read “Protests erupt after death of Daunte Wright, 20-year-old Black man shot by police during traffic stop: What we know” at USA Today.

  • Read “Minnesota officer meant to draw Taser, not handgun” at Associated Press.

  • Read “Medical examiner declares Daunte Wright death a homicide” at KTSP.

  • Read “Brooklyn Center city manager fired following police shooting of Daunte Wright” at The Hill.

  • Read “Rev. Al Sharpton on the police killing of Daunte Wright: ‘You can die for having expired tags’” at MSNBC.

  • Read “How Could the Police Have Mistaken a Gun for a Taser?” at Yahoo.

  • Read “Brooklyn Center officer in Daunte Wright shooting, police chief submit resignation” at KSTP.

  • Read “The Minnesota officer who killed Daunte Wright will be charged with manslaughter.” at New York Times.

    • Read “Minnesota Police Officer Kimberly Potter Charged with Manslaughter for Shooting Daunte Wright” at Democracy Now.

  • Read “Daunte Wright's death proves a more interracial America can't protect us” at MSNBC.

Read “Cincinnati police raise ‘Blue Lives Matter’ flag outside justice center” at Guardian.

Read “Legal experts on whether police testifying against Derek Chauvin portends real change” at MSNBC.

Read “Bill to give Arizona troopers body cameras would also restrict video release” at ABC 15.

Read “Maryland state trooper fatally shoots 16-year-old after responding to reports of an armed man” at ABC News. “Peyton Ham was allegedly carrying an airsoft gun and a knife.”

Read “Daunte and the Debt Collectors: How the Cops Became Robbers” at The Root.

Read “For years, the Boston Police kept a secret: the union president was an alleged child molester” at Boston Globe.

Read “Video of fatal Chicago police shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo released” at NBC News.

Read “Three Georgia officers injured after suspect opened fire with AK-47 during chase” at The Hill.

Read “Pat Robertson slams policing in America” at MSBNC. "We cannot have a bunch of clowns running around who are underpaid and who really are not the best and brightest, we've got to have the best in there."

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Teen student arrested for having gun at Sandra Day O'Connor High School in north Phoenix” at ABC 15.

Read “One person dead, officer wounded in shooting confrontation at a Tennessee high school, officials say” at Click 2 Houston.

Read “Florida education official tells school districts to make masks optional next year” at The HIll.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “You Can’t Trust Anyone’: Russia’s Hidden Covid Toll Is an Open Secret” at New York Times.

Read “Nearly 40% of Marines have declined Covid-19 vaccine” at CNN.

Read “WHO chief laments 'shocking imbalance' in vaccines for poor countries” at The Hill.

Read “Meat-packing plants were the earliest COVID hotspots, but vaccinating workers isn’t easy” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Loneliness, Anxiety and Loss: the Covid Pandemic’s Terrible Toll on Kids” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Covid vaccine hesitancy among men is its own public health issue” at MSNBC.

Read “Wisconsin Supreme Court rules against restaurant, bar capacity limits” at The Hill.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Nike Settles With Lil Nas X 'Satan Shoes' Manufacturer” at Pop Culture.

Read “Under Capitalism, the Deck Is Always Stacked Against Unionizing at Companies Like Amazon” at Jacobin Magazine.

Watch “The Tony Alva Story” at Open Culture.

Read “Nike’s idea of ‘woke’ is to kill the small businesses, in Philly and elsewhere, that made its sneakers popular” at Inquirer.

Read “Staying Home Gave Some Black Women the Chance to Take Care of Their Own Hair” at Slate. “Some aren’t sure they’ll go back to salons at all.”

Read “'You Can't Escape the Gravitational Pull of Jeff Bezos.' How Amazon Won the Preliminary Union Vote in Alabama” at Time.

Read “‘Huge’ Explosion Rocks St. Vincent As Volcano Keeps Erupting” at Huff Post.

Read “Steak-Umm Twitter Beef with Neil DeGrasse Tyson Explained” at HITC.

Read “Meet the Ransomware Gang Behind One of the Biggest Supply Chain Hacks Ever” at Vice.

Read “Apple might not release an iPhone Mini in 2022, analyst predicts” at CNet.

Read “There Will Be No Swearing or Taking God’s Name in Vain on Mike Lindell’s New ‘Free Speech’ Platform” at Right Wing Watch.

Read “A 23-Year-Old Coder Kept QAnon Online When No One Else Would” at Bloomberg.

Internationalities:

Read “What About China?” Is No Defense of American Injustice” at Slate.

Read “Iran Blames Israel for Attack on Nuclear Facility, Vows to Retaliate” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “China sends 25 warplanes into Taiwan's air defense zone, Taipei says” at CNN.

Read “How Biden’s team overrode the brass on Afghanistan” at Politico.

Read “Japan announces it will release treated radioactive water from Fukushima nuclear plant into sea” at South China Morning Press.

Read “Forthcoming Russia sanctions won't include Nord Stream 2” at Politico.

Read “Biden administration sanctions Russia for SolarWinds hack, election interference” at the Hill.

Read “Biden Administration Says Russian Intelligence Obtained Trump Campaign Data” at New York Times.

Read “Intel chiefs sound alarm on China in global threats hearing” at Politico.

Read “Russian Troops Amass on Eastern Border as U.S. and NATO Pledge Support for Ukraine” at Democracy Now.

Read “UK facing garden gnome shortage following the Suez Canal fiasco” at Indy 100.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read ‘The GOP Is Voting Against Its Base” at The Atlantic. “Republicans are making a risky bet by opposing Biden’s infrastructure plan.”

Read “High number of Trump political appointees sought permanent jobs in final year” at NBC News.

Read “Can America's 'Civil Religion' Still Unite The Country?” at WPR.

Read “Dwayne Johnson says he’ll run for President “if this is what the people want”” at NME. “46 per cent of poll respondents would welcome him in the Oval Office.”

Read “Stephanie Murphy: Let Florida voters know which election systems were hacked by Russians” at Orlando Sentinel.

Read “Congressional Black Caucus members post selfie celebrating first WH visit in four years” at The Hill.

Read “Mitt Romney And Kyrsten Sinema Team Up On Bipartisan Bill To Increase Minimum Wage” at Huff Post.

Read “Biden Administration Moves To Undo Trump Abortion Rules For Title X” at NPR.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Republicans Accused Of Election Rigging Conspiracy As Congress Demands DOJ Probe” at Politicus USA.

Read “McConnell versus the First Amendment” at Popular Info.

Read “Gaetz was denied meeting with Trump” at The Hill.

Read “Senate Report: Former Trump Aide Paul Manafort Shared Campaign Info With Russia” at NPR.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Prince’s ‘Welcome 2 America,’ an Unreleased Album, Is Due Out in July” at New York Times.

Read “Penn Jillette Tells the Most Amazing David Allan Coe Story” at GQ.

Read “From the Eagle Mall to Terrapin Station: A Skeleton Key to Robert Hunter” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Read “How The Wrecking Crew Secretly Recorded Some of the Biggest Hits of the 1960s & 70s” at Open Culture.

Read “The Spiritual Power of Pharoah Sanders” by Shabaka Hutchingsat Vinyl Factory.

Read “Kelly Clarkson's Onstage Bathroom Disaster Will Forever Change the Way We Think About Trash Cans” at Yahoo.

Browse Bandcamp’s picks for “The Best Albums of Winter 2021.”

Read “Phoebe Bridgers’ Smashed Guitar from SNL Sells for $100k in Auction” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “We All Get To Benefit From Taylor Swift’s Sweet Revenge” at Stereogum.

Read “How Auto-Tune Revolutionized the Sound of Popular Music” at Pitchfork. “An in-depth history of the most important pop innovation of the last 20 years, from Cher’s “Believe” to Kanye West to Migos.”

Read “Madonna Buys The Weeknd's Hidden Hills Estate for $19 Million” at Pop Culture.

Read “Grateful Dead’s ‘Wall of Sound’ Lives Again in Some Dude’s Basement” at Wall Street Journal. “Anthony Coscia spent two months building a working one-sixth replica of the legendary system, to the delight of Deadheads everywhere.”

Read “Liz Phair Details New Album Soberish, Shares New Song” at Pitchfork.

Read “Mudhoney Is No Longer Just the Name of a Band in Seattle: 'This Is Anything But Boring'“ at Billboard. “Seattle Public Utilities announced on Monday (April 12) that it has named its tunnel boring machine after local grunge band Mudhoney after a public vote.”

Read “M.I.A. Launches Fundraiser for Saint Vincent Volcano Relief” at Pitchfork.

Read “CD of the Month: Ryley Walker - "Course In Fable” at WYSO.

Read “Queens of vinyl: 6 female record store owners share the secrets to their success and the struggles that became strengths” at Jumble and Flow. (Featuring Phoenix’s own Kimber Lanning!!)

Read “60 U.S. Music Venues Are Getting ‘Turnkey Livestreaming’ Abilities” at Rolling Stone. “As the live music industry weighs its post-pandemic future, Live Nation and Veeps will outfit venues including The Wiltern, The Fillmore, and House of Blues with livestreaming tech.”

Read “What the Hell Is Spotify’s Tragically Named “Car Thing”?” at Pitchfork.

Read “Morgan Wallen Says He Won’t Play Shows This Summer, Is Still Working on Himself Following Scandal” at Variety.

Read “José González Announces New Album Local Valley, Shares New Song” at Pitchfork.

Read “Inside Sun Ra’s 1971 trip to Egypt” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “Screamers, a Missing Link of Los Angeles Punk, Is Missing No More” at New York Times.

Read “Low Cover Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” at Pitchfork.

Read “Arcade Fire Share New 45-Minute Song for Headspace Meditation App” at Pitchfork.

Read “Alan Vega Left a Robust Vault. The Excavation Begins With a New Album” at New York Times.

Read “Angel Bat Dawid :: Transmissions” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “TV Is Having a Talking-Head Crisis, From Sharon Osbourne to Dr. Oz to Meghan McCain” at Time.

Read “Bill Hader Talks Overcoming Anxiety and ‘Barry’ Season 3 as He Receives USC’s Master of Comedy Award” at Variety.

Read “The Problem With ‘The Problem With Jon Stewart’” at Vice. “Can the beloved former host of ‘The Daily Show’ be relevant in 2021 without copying the work of his former staff?”

Read “Melissa McCarthy, Please Stop Making Bad Movies With Your Husband” at Slate.

Read “ArcLight Cinemas and Pacific Theatres to Close” at The Hollywood Reporter.

Browse “Ronin Roundup” at Burning Shore.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read ‘The Strangest Books in the World: Discover The Madman’s Library, a Captivating Compendium of Peculiar Books​ & Manuscripts’ at Open Culture.

Design/Artsy Things:



Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “4 Gray Whales Found Dead In San Francisco Bay Area In 9 Days” at Huff Post.

Read “How far does light travel in a year?” at Universal-Sci.

Read “When a Mantis Shrimp Fights a Disco Clam, It Meets Its Match” at Wired.

Read “Woman gets pregnant while already pregnant, gives birth to twins” at The Hill.

Read “The Sand Octopus Was Hiding in Plain Sight” at The Atlantic. “And yet it took a 19th-century naturalist, a 21st-century grad student, and some Brazilian fishers to crack the mystery.”

Read “The Carnivore Paradise That Keeps Changing the Story of Human Evolution” at Atlas Obscura. “New research at Dmanisi continues to challenge what we think we know about our deep past.”

Read “Scientists Create Early Embryos That Are Part Human, Part Monkey” at NPR.

Read “How scientists found 'Nemo,' Australia's newest dancing spider” at National Geographic.

Food Cultures:

Read “How India’s ‘Mango Man’ Grew a Tree With 300 Flavors” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “The Sandwich Scandal at the Heart of the World’s Greatest Golfing Event” at Atlas Obscura.

Misc. Oddities:



Local:

Read “Queens of vinyl: 6 female record store owners share the secrets to their success and the struggles that became strengths” at Jumble and Flow. (Featuring Phoenix’s own Kimber Lanning!!)

The Weekly Town Crier (04/09/21)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (04/09/21).







We’ll Miss You:

Read “War Bassist B.B. Dickerson Has Died at 71” at Pitchfork.

Read “Küng, original celebrity theologian and liberal muse, dead at 93” at Crux.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “At second Easter under pandemic rules, Christians glimpse church’s future” at Religion News Service. 

ReadBeth Moore left the SBC after the SBC left women to fend for themselves” at Religion News Service.

  • Read “Beth Moore apologizes for her role in elevating ‘complementarian’ theology that limits women leaders” at Religion News Service. “In an email to Religion News Service, Moore didn’t go quite so far as to say she has entirely abandoned complementarianism. But she no longer sees it as essential.”

Read “White Evangelical Resistance Is Obstacle in Vaccination Effort” at New York Times. “Millions of white evangelical adults in the U.S. do not intend to get vaccinated against Covid-19. Tenets of faith and mistrust of science play a role; so does politics.”

Read “Saudi Arabia to Reopen Mecca Holy Site to “Immunized” Pilgrims” at Democracy Now.

Consider “10 Reasons Why Men Should Not be Ordained for Ministry” with Eugene Cho.

Read “Black and Asian Christian leaders discuss role of church in fighting racism” at Religion News Service.

Read “Is the evangelical view of sex at the root of our sex scandals?” at Religion News Service. “It was not celebrity culture that taught Ravi Zacharias, Carl Lentz and countless other pastors to objectify women. Our evangelical culture primed them for it.”

Read “White Evangelical Racism Has Always Been a Political Power Grab” at Medium. “Anthea Butler explains how racism has been essential to growing the power of white evangelical Christians.”

Legal/Justice and Social Justice and Race or Gender or Sexism-Related Stuff:

Read “A spokesman for Matt Gaetz quits, as the Justice Dept. investigates whether his boss violated sex trafficking laws” at New York Times.

Read “Georgia Law Could Seal Trump's and Rudy's Fate in Election Interference Investigation” at Second Nexus.

Read “Elderly Asian woman stabbed in California while walking dogs” at The Hill.

Read “The myth about smart black kids and “acting white” that won’t die” at Vox. “Nerds come in all colors.”

Read “Virginia Latest to Strike ‘Trans Panic’ Defense of Violent Crime” at Bloomberg Law.

Read “Amazon Admits Drivers Sometimes Have to Pee in Bottles While on the Job” at Slate.

Read “Justices dismiss suit over Trump's blocking of critics on Twitter” at The Hill.

Read “Supreme Court nixes Alex Jones' appeal in Newtown shooting case” at NBC News. “Jones was fighting a Connecticut court sanction in a defamation lawsuit brought by relatives of some of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.”

Read “Utah Will Require Fathers to Help With Pregnancy Bills” at New York Times.

Read “Biden to unveil long-awaited executive action on guns” at Politico.

Read “NRA Chief Wayne LaPierre Faces Grilling During Highly Anticipated Bankruptcy Trial Testimony” at Law and Crime.

This week in traitorous, white-supremacist Confederate monuments (and/or Columbus monuments // and/or other “American monuments” // and/or weird Confederacy stuff):

Read “Fears of White People Losing Out Permeate Capitol Rioters’ Towns, Study Finds” at New York Times.

This Week With The Police:

Read “U.S. Capitol locked down after a vehicle plows into officers, police say” at Yahoo.

  • Read “Officer dead after suspect rammed car into police at US Capitol barricade” at Yahoo.

Read “Video Of Chicago Police Killing 13-Year-Old Adam Toledo Will Be Released, Agency Says After Public Pressure” at Book Club Chicago.

Read “DA wants to dismiss 90 convictions tied to ex-NYPD detective accused of perjury” at NBC News.

Read “NYPD ‘Goon Squad’ Manual Teaches Officers To Violate Protesters’ Rights” at The Intercept.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Tennessee lawmaker proposes bill to ban LGBTQ history and issues from state curriculum” at UT Daily Beacon.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “White Evangelical Resistance Is Obstacle in Vaccination Effort” at New York Times. “Millions of white evangelical adults in the U.S. do not intend to get vaccinated against Covid-19. Tenets of faith and mistrust of science play a role; so does politics.”

Read “Montana Governor Who Rescinded Mask Mandate Now Has COVID” at Daily Beast.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “The Cause of Tiger Woods’ Car Wreck Is No Longer a Mystery” at Yahoo.

Read “Amazon apologizes for tweet denying some workers urinate in bottles” at The Hill.

Read “How Adults with ADHD Can "Manufacture" Motivation” at Psychology Today.

Read “California man sues after father dies during taco eating contest” at The Hill.

Read “Pageant winner has title revoked for twerking” at The Hill.

Read “Pfizer CEO says Trump told him vaccine 'will help me' with election” at The Hill.

Internationalities:

Read “MLB signs deal with China's largest tech company” at CNN.

Read “New Zealand raises minimum wage to $20 an hour” at Independent.

Read “Flash floods in Indonesia and Timor Leste kill more than 50” at BBC.

Read “Unrest in Northern Ireland: 27 police officers injured as riots occur in Belfast and Derry” at Independent.ie

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Stimulus checks and COVID optimism raise Biden's approval rating to highest level yet” at Yahoo.

Read “Laura Ingraham Warns Corporations of 'Wrath of GOP' Over Georgia Voting Law” at Newsweek.

Read “Democrats Look at Lowering Medicare Eligibility Age in Healthcare Package” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “MLB Moves All-Star Game from Atlanta to Protest Georgia Voter Suppression Law” at Democracy Now.

  • Read “Georgia Governor Criticizes MLB For Buying Into Liberal 'Lies' About New Election Law” at NPR. “Major League Baseball announced it would pull this year's All-Star Game and its draft out of Atlanta after Georgia revamped its voting rules. Gov. Brian Kemp says it's an example of "cancel culture."

Read “Arkansas Governor Vetoes Ban On Gender-Affirming Care For Trans Youth” at NPR.

Read “Republicans rediscover their concern for the national debt” at Washington Post.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “How Trump Steered Supporters Into Unwitting Donations” at New York Times. “Online donors were guided into weekly recurring contributions. Demands for refunds spiked.”

Read “Trump May Be Gone, but His Biggest Scam Is Still With Us” at Slate.”There’s a frustrating connection between the Derek Chauvin defense and the Matt Gaetz scandal.”

  • Read “NYT: Matt Gaetz said to have sought blanket pardon” at MSNBC.

  • Read “Matt Gaetz Spent 4 Years Sucking Up to Trump — and Trump Just Abandoned Him” at Vice.

  • Read “Congressman Matt Gaetz to speak at conservative women's summit amid federal investigation into sex trafficking allegations” at CBS News.

Read “Republicans trumpet elements of Covid-19 relief bill they voted against” at NBC News.

Read “Former Trump HUD official fined and barred from federal work over Hatch Act violation” at CNN.

Read “Ethics watchdog group accuses Cruz of using campaign funds to promote book” at The Hill.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “DMX hospitalised and in critical state after suffering overdose” at NME.

Read “Ever wonder why drums sound the same on many of today’s recordings?” at a Journal of Musical Things.

Read “36 of America’s Best Independent Music Venues on Surviving and What’s Next” at Pitchfork.

Read “Paul Simon Sells His Entire Songwriting Catalog to Sony” at New York Times.

Browse Treble’s picks for “The Best Albums of March 2021.”

Read “Tedeschi Trucks Band Postpone Wheels of Soul Tour to 2022” at Relix.

Read “Ryley Walker: 'Going two days sober was impossible since I was a kid” at The Guardian.

Read “The 49 Most Anticipated Albums of Spring 2021: Taylor Swift, Japanese Breakfast, J Balvin, and More” at Pitchfork.

Read “Brandi Carlile Has Always Seen Herself Clearly. Now It’s Our Turn.” at New York Times.

Read “Hugh Masekela: The Politics Of South Africa’s Famed Trumpeter” at U Discover Music.

Read “Page McConnell Announces Ambient Electronic Solo Record ‘Maybe We’re The Visitors,’ Shares First Single” at Relix.

Listen “to Taylor Swift’s New “From the Vault” Song “Mr. Perfectly Fine” at Pitchfork.

Read “Jason Isbell and Sturgill Simpson to star in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Despite Quarantine, Beauty Pill Find New Artistic Paths” at Bandcamp.

Read “So the singers of Led Zeppelin and AC/DC went for a walk in the woods…” at A Journal Of Musical Things.

Read “RSD Drops 2021: Lady Gaga, Oneohtrix Point Never, Freddie Gibbs and Madlib, Shrek, and More” at Pitchfork.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “Top CBS Local Station Executives Exit Amid Probe of Racism Allegations” at Variety.

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “NASA prepares Mars helicopter for first flight on another planet” at The Hill.

Read “Finding From Particle Research Could Break Known Laws of Physics” at New York Times.

Misc. Oddities:

Visit “Cryptozoology & Paranormal Museum Littleton, North Carolina” with Atlas Obscura.

Local:

Read “First Friday Unofficially Reopens On Phoenix's Roosevelt Row” at KJZZ.

The Weekly Town Crier (03/26/21)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (03/26/21).




We’ll Miss You:

Read “George Segal: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? actor dies aged 87” at BBC.

Read “Jessica Walter Dies: Emmy-Winning ‘Arrested Development’, ‘Archer’ Actress Was 80” at Deadline.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Church removes Atlanta shooting suspect from membership, urges ‘no blame’ on victims” at Religion News Service.

  • Read “What an Expert on Evangelicals and Sex Says About the Atlanta Shooter's Claim He Had a Sex Addiction” at Time. 

Read “With Beth Moore’s exit, more evangelical women are challenging strict gender norms” at Religion News Service.

Read “Who Owns John MacArthur’s Sermons?” at Roys Report.

Legal/Justice and Social Justice and Race or Gender or Sexism-Related Stuff:

Read “Biden White House Sandbags Staffers, Sidelines Dozens for Pot Use” at Daily Beast.

Read “Maggots, Rape and Yet Five Stars: How U.S. Ratings of Nursing Homes Mislead the Public” at New York Times.

Read “Immigration Is Not a “Crisis” at Slate.

Read “Stop telling women to just keep yourselves safe, without addressing misogyny': How women bear the burden of safety when men can't control themselves” at MSNBC.

Read “College students are falling in love with white supremacy. Rep. Paul Gosar is helping” at MSNBC.

Read “Supreme Court to consider reinstating death sentence for Boston bomber” at The Hill.

Read “Lawyers Who Were Ineligible to Handle Serious Criminal Charges Were Given Thousands of These Cases Anyway” at Pro Publica.

Read “Tennessee Senate passes permitless gun carry bill” at Local Memphis.

Read “Virginia becomes 1st Southern state to abolish death penalty as governor signs law” at NBC News.

This week in traitorous, white-supremacist Confederate monuments (and/or Columbus monuments // and/or other “American monuments” // and/or weird Confederacy stuff):

Read “This Is War”: Inside the Secret Chat Where Far-Right Extremists Devised Their Post-Capitol Plans” at Pro Publica. “Chats from a private Telegram group obtained by ProPublica show how a suspect tied to the Jan. 6 insurrection tried to organize a self-styled militia. The hidden proliferation of such groups worries experts.”

This Week With The Police:

Read “George Takei: Law enforcement throughout American history has manipulated Asian Americans” at MSNBC.

Read “North Carolina police seize gun in drug bust altered to look like Nerf toy” at The Hill.

Read “In City After City, Police Mishandled Black Lives Matter Protests” at New York Times. “Inquiries into law enforcement’s handling of the George Floyd protests last summer found insufficient training and militarized responses — a widespread failure in policing nationwide.”

Read “The Solution to Violence Against Women Will Never Be 'More Police'“ at Vice.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “US Secretary of Education cancels $1B of student loan debt” at The Hill. “The Department of Education implemented a new strategy focused on helping students defrauded by colleges and universities.”

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club Partially Closed After Coronavirus Outbreak” at Slate.

Read “Maskless Trump Supporter Who Coughed on Protesters Donates $3k to NAACP Scholarship Fund as Punishment” at Second Nexus.

Read “Michigan pizzeria owner arrested for 'willfully' violating 'public health orders'“ at The Hill.

Read “Miami Beach official recommending curfew through end of spring break” at The Hill.

Read “Working from home is causing breakdowns. Ignoring the problem and blaming the pandemic is no longer an option” at Globe and Mail.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Donald Trump is creating his own social media network that will be live in a few months” at AZ Family.

Read “'Sad day for Boulder': Gunman kills 10 at Colorado supermarket, including police officer, in second US mass shooting in a week” at USA Today.

  • Read “Someone Livestreamed the Boulder Shooting. YouTube Isn't Taking It Down.” at Vice.

Read “The People Issue 2021: Author David Dark” at Nashville Scene.

Read ‘The Flawed Premise of Statements Like 'Love Our People Like You Love Our Food'“ at Vice.

Read “Trump Shrugs Off Twitter Ban Because His Press Releases Are 'Much More Elegant' Anyway” at Comic Sands.

Read “Documents Show Amazon Is Aware Drivers Pee In Bottles and Even Defecate en Route, Despite Company Denial” at The Intercept.

Browse “Fabulous Snapshots From A Florida Hair Salon in the 1980s” at Flashbak.

Read “Social Media CEOs Can’t Defend Their Business Model” at Wired

Read “Missing Florida woman rescued after found naked in storm drain” at We Are TV. “The Florida woman says she accidentally got lost in a sewer system while swimming in a canal. She then wandered around in the sewer system for the past 3 weeks before being rescued Tuesday from a storm drain.”

Internationalities:

Read “A Volcano Erupted in Iceland. Björk Was ‘Sooo Excited.’” at New York Times.

Read “Magnitude 6.9 quake rocks northeastern Japan” at The Japan Times.

Read “Afghanistan: The women killed for working at a TV station” at BBC.

Read “Fire At Rohingya Refugee Camp Destroys Hundreds Of Shelters” at HuffPost.

Read “Shipping container crisis could spark another toilet paper shortage” at The Hill.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Russian company 'suspending its investments' in Kentucky project pushed by McConnell” at Raw Story.

Read “Rep. Tom Reed Says He Won’t Run for Re-Election in 2022” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “QAnon Rep. Spouts Conspiracy About Dems Trying To 'Silence' Her After Brief Twitter Suspension” at Comic Sands.

Read “Sidney Powell argues in new court filing that no reasonable people would believe her election fraud claims” at CNN.

Read “Georgia Governor Signs Election Overhaul, Including Changes To Absentee Voting” at NPR.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Newport Folk Festival Confirms July 2021 Event” at Jambase.

Browse Treble’s picks for “A History of Alt-Country In 40 Essential Tracks.”

Read “Ringo Starr Says New Beatles Film Brings Back ‘Fun’ “ at Ultimate Classic Rock.

Hear “Radiohead’s "Creep" Played on the Gayageum, a Korean Instrument Dating Back to the 6th Century” at Open Culture.

Read “Slowdive and Flaming Lips Members Form Beachy Head, Announce Debut Album” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “A Point of Congregation :: Daniel Lanois on the Sacred Space of Heavy Sun” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Read “Lemmy’s Ashes Were Placed in Bullets and Given to His Closest Friends” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “A Beginner’s Guide To Can’s Avant-Garde Rock” at Treble.

Read “Loren Connors: A Sound That’s “Almost Not There” at Premier Guitar.

Read/Watch/Listen to “John Fahey :: Live in 1967” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Read “Secretly Group Employees Form Union” at Pitchfork.

Browse “10 Essential Albums Featuring Bass Great Pino Palladino” at Discogs.

Read “Prince’s Ashes to Be Displayed at Paisley Park on 5th Anniversary of His Death” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Listen to The Very Last Beat J Dilla Ever Made” at Okay Player.

Read “Paul McCartney and Beck Share New Version of “Find My Way” at Pitchfork.

Read “Morgan Wallen Tops Chart for a 10th Week” at New York Times.

Read “Janet Jackson’s Classic ‘Rhythm Nation 1814’ Added To National Recording Registry” at Huff Post.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “Inside COVID-Safe Movie Theaters: Sanitization Foggers, Plexiglass and New Popcorn Rules” at Variety.

Books/Reading/Authors

Browse “Spring books guide: 20 books we can’t wait to read by Brandi Carlile, Seth Rogen and more” at USA Today.

Design/Artsy Things:

Read “Creator who sold NFT house for $500,000: We’ll be ‘living in an augmented reality lifestyle’ soon” at CNBC.

Read “Salvador Dalí & Walt Disney’s Short Animated Film, Destino, Set to the Music of Pink Floyd” at Open Culture.

Food Cultures:

Read “When Life Gave Pennsylvania Spotted Lanternflies, Its Bees Made Spotted Lanternfly Honey” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “Popeyes Plots to Become Global Power” at Bloomberg. “An afterthought until its fried chicken sandwich went viral in 2019, Popeyes is challenging KFC’s supremacy, including its U.K. debut this year.”

Local:

Read “Ducey talks disdain for new education tax, vows fast fix” at Associated Press.

Read “2 Arizona House Measures Allowing Loaded Guns In More Places Head To Full Senate” at KjZZ.

Read “The Museum Club Flagstaff, Arizona” at Atlas Obscura. “This 1930s log cabin began as a taxidermy museum but is now a popular country music venue.”

Read “Texas burger chain wants to open 20 locations in Phoenix” at ABC 15 News.

Read “Five dads open a driveway pizza joint and deliver money for charity” at AZ Central.

Read “Phoenix women turn to Airbnb, making up for income lost during pandemic” at AZ Central.

The Weekly Town Crier (03/19/21)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (03/19/21).



We’ll Miss You:

Read “Died: Larry Walker, NIV Translator Who Loved Bible Details” at Christianity Today.

Read “Henry Goldrich, Gear Guru to Rock Stars, Is Dead at 88” at New York Times.

Read “Boxing Legend Marvin Hagler Dies At Age 66” at Huff Post.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “RZIM will end apologetics ministry” at Christianity Today. “Ravi Zacharias International Ministries will become a grant-making organization, CEO Sarah Davis tells employees.”

Read “Faith leaders push back against proposed ‘Souls to the Polls’ voting restrictions” at Religion News Service.

Read “My Mom Believes In QAnon. I’ve Been Trying To Get Her Out” at Buzzfeed.

Read ‘Cruelty Is Apostasy” by David French. “Reflections on Beth Moore’s departure from the Southern Baptist Convention.”

Read “Conservative Activist Charlie Kirk Leaves Liberty University Think Tank” at New York Times. “Liberty University opted not to renew Charlie Kirk's contract at the Falkirk Center. The unconventional think tank, which is now missing both halves of its portmanteau (Falwell + Kirk), will be renamed the Standing for Freedom Center.”

Read “A Kentucky Church’s Secret to Handling Abuse Allegations: Humility” at Christianity Today.

Read “Atlanta suspect blamed women for ‘tempting’ him. Purity culture does the same” at Religion News Service. “Christian communities must reexamine attitudes that blame women for men’s sexual problems.”

Read “LifeWay Research: U.S. Protestant Pastors See Gender Change as Immoral” at Christianity Today. “As gender fluidity grows more accepted in wider culture, most Protestant pastors remain traditional.”

Legal/Justice and Social Justice and Race or Gender or Sexism-Related Stuff:

Read “George Floyd Family Reaches $27 Million Settlement With City of Minneapolis” at Wall Street Journal.

  • Read “What It’s Like Inside the Now ‘Cop-Free’ Zone Where George Floyd Was Killed” at Vice.

Read “Breonna Taylor’s Killing Forced Black High School Girls To Grapple With Uncertainty” at WFPL.

Read “Restoring Pell Grants—And Possibilities—for Prisoners” at The Atlantic. “Classes inside prison give people a sense of community, a sense of purpose, a sense of identity, and a sense of hope.”

Read ‘Racists attack Asian American chef who criticized Texas over mask mandate” at The Hill.

  • Read “Asian American community on edge after deadly shooting in Atlanta” at The World.

  • Read “Elderly Asian woman fights off attacker in San Francisco” at The Hill.

Read “Georgia massage parlor shootings leave 8 dead; man captured” at Associated Press.

  • Read “Massage Parlor Massacres Suspect Said He Loved Guns & God” at Daily Beast.

Read “Is Critical Race Theory Racist?” by Brad Mason.

Read “Immigration Is Not a “Crisis”” at Slate. “What would our laws look like if we stopped treating migration as a problem to be solved?”

Read “Sentenced to death, but innocent: These are stories of justice gone wrong” at National Geographic.

Read “Man Wanted by Police Arrested Near Residence of Vice President Kamala Harris, Gun and Ammo Found in Car” at NBC Washington.

Read “Dem Rep. Plays Some Of The Racist Voicemails She Was Hit With For Condemning Anti-Asian Hate” at Comic Sands.

Read “Judge Rules Some Ghislaine Maxwell Details Are Too ‘Sensational and Impure’ to Be Revealed to the Public” at Law and Crime.

Read “Armie Hammer under investigation by LAPD sex crime detectives” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Teen Vogue’s New Top Editor Out After Backlash Over Old Racist Tweets” at Daily Beast.

This week in traitorous, white-supremacist Confederate monuments (and/or Columbus monuments // and/or other “American monuments” // and/or weird Confederacy stuff):

Read “Two Men Have Been Charged With Assaulting The Officer Who Died After The Capitol Riot” at Buzzfeed News.

Read “George W. Bush on US Capitol insurrection: 'I'm still disturbed when I think about it'“ at CNN.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Essential California: LAPD’s handling of summer protests sharply criticized in report” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Retired Gila County sergeant wins PTSD workers’ compensation claim” at KTAR.

Read “Kentucky Senate votes to criminalize insulting police in way that could cause ‘violent response’” at Washington Post.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “How Google's New Career Certificates Could Disrupt the College Degree” at Inc.

Read “DeSantis: Civics curriculum proposal will 'expressly exclude' critical race theory” at The Hill.

Read “Education Dept. Begins Rolling Back Trump-Era Policies On Defrauded Students” at NPR.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “How anti-vax rhetoric sneaks past Instagram’s content moderation system” at Salon.

Read “Passenger on flight from Seattle to Denver accused of refusing mask, urinating in cabin” at Oregon Live.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Seth Rogen’s new cannabis site temporarily shut down due to high demand” at NME.

Read “Michigan State announces basketball team will now be called 'MSU Spartans Presented by Rocket Mortgage' at Yahoo.

Read “Why the GameStop story is far from over” at BBC.

Read “Don’t Trust Civilization”: ‘Soldier of Fortune’ Magazine and the Masculine Myth” at We Are The Mutants.

Read “Serial stowaway Marilyn Hartman arrested yet again, at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport” at CBS News.

Read “Goldman Sachs Commits $1 Billion to Fund Diverse-Led Businesses” at Forbes. “Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said it’s doubling a commitment to investing in companies run by women and people of color to $1 billion.”

Read “No One Has Ever Wanted Anything More Than This City Wants a RoboCop Statue” at Vice.

Read “San Antonio Tussaud’s Pulls Wax Donald Trump Because People Keep Punching It” at Consequence of Sound. “The former president has been moved to a storage closet for his own protection.”

Internationalities:

Read “Myanmar’s Suu Kyi Charged With Bribery, Faces 15 Years In Prison” at Bloomberg.

Read “Kenya's High Court Upholds Crucial Ban on FGM in Much-Needed 'Boost' for Activists” at Global Citizen.

Read “China: 'Furious and sad' about violence against Asian Americans in US” at The Hill.

Read “Sri Lanka Mulls Banning Burqas and Closing 1,000 Madrassas” at Christianity Today.

Read “Japan’s Pot Laws Are Harsh, But Its Pensioners Invest in Growers” at Bloomberg.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Sen. Marco Rubio endorses Amazon warehouse union drive in surprise op-ed” at The Verge.

Read “A survey of Republicans shows 5 ‘tribes’ have emerged following Trump’s presidency” at New York Times.'

Read “GOP Rep. Suggests Gun Control Isn't Needed Because Bible Characters Killed Each Other Without Guns” at Comic Sands.

Read “How Mean Tweets—And Bad Predictions—Threaten to Derail Another Biden Nominee” at The Dispatch.

Read “Effort to recall Newsom gathers over 2M signatures, enough for possible ballot measure” at The Hill.

Read “Harry Reid calls for killing the filibuster: ‘60% is not a real democracy’” at MSNBC.

Read “Why Attacking ‘Cancel Culture’ And ‘Woke’ People Is Becoming The GOP’s New Political Strategy” at Five Thirty Eight.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Cuomo Says He Will Not Resign Despite Calls From Prominent New York Democrats” at NPR.

Read “'Dangerous for democracy': Why these GOP state legislatures want to restrict voting rights” at Go Erie.

Read “McCaskill: 'Treasonous' Giuliani played into Putin's hand” at MSNBC.

Read “Republicans who tried to overturn election vote against medals for Capitol, D.C. police at Salon.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “The Weeknd 'will no longer submit music to Grammy Awards' after snub” at BBC.

Read “Genre Is Disappearing. What Comes Next?” at New Yorker.

Read “Why Spotify’s Ex-Global Head Of Music Publishing Thinks Streaming Services Should Be Paying Songwriters More Money” at Music Business Worldwide.

Read “R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe and Mike Mills Look Back at Out of Time at 30” at Spin.

Read “Grammys 2021 Winners: See The Full List Here” at Pitchfork.

  • Read ‘Taylor Swift Wins Album of the Year at 2021 Grammys for folklore” at Pitchfork.

  • Read “Billie Eilish Wins Record of the Year at 2021 Grammys, Says Megan Thee Stallion Should Have Won” at Pitchfork.

Browse all the covers the Grateful Dead performed.

Read “Henry Rollins on Some of His Favorite Crate-Digging Experiences” at Discogs.

Read “The Many Lives of Judee Sill” at Rolling Stone. “After an abusive childhood and run-ins with the law, she grew into one of the most captivating singer-songwriters of the Seventies. More than 40 years after her death, could the world finally be ready to appreciate her?”

Read “Garth Brooks Lays Plans For Chris Gaines Album Reissue With Unreleased Songs” at American Songwriter.

Read “Justice Send Cease-and-Desist to Justin Bieber Over New Album” at Pitchfork.

Browse “A Guide to 25 Years of Mogwai” at Bandcamp.

Read “What the Spotify/K-Pop Showdown Underscores About the Future of Streaming” at Ptichfork.

Read “Artists Earned $21 Million on Bandcamp in the Last 30 Days” at Microchip Substack.

Read “Britney Spears Is Reportedly Considering a Tell-All Interview with Oprah Winfrey” at Harper’s Bazaar.

Read “Sunburned Hand of the Man merges woe and joy on Pick a Day to Die” at Chicago Reader.

Read “Sun Kil Moon’s Mark Kozelek Accused of Sexual Misconduct by Seven More Women” at Pitchfork.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “'The Talk' extends hiatus; Sharon Osbourne says she's 'been set up' after heated exchange” at USA Today.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “The 69 Pages of Writing Advice Denis Johnson Collected from Flannery O’Connor, Jack Kerouac, Stephen King, Hunter Thompson, Werner Herzog & Many Others” at Open Culture.

Read “Atwood, Grisham among contributors to pandemic novel” at WOKV.

Design/Artsy Things:

Read “Halsey to sell her art for the first time in NFT auction” at NME.

Read “Visit the Largest Collection of Frida Kahlo’s Work Ever Assembled: 800 Artifacts from 33 Museums, All Free Online” at Open Culture.

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “Scientists created human tear glands in a dish — and then made them cry” at Salon.

Misc. Oddities:

Read “Trying To Explain Aliens To Your Kids” at WPDH.

Read “Mysterious UFO above Phoenix remains a mystery 24 years later” at 12 News.

Read “It started flying towards us’: Mysterious fireball ignites blaze in Peachland” at Global News.

Local:

Read “Mountainside Fitness founder leaves CEO role, considers run for governor” at KTAR.

The Weekly Town Crier (03/12/21)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (03/12/21).








We’ll Miss You:

Read “Roger Mudd, longtime TV newsman, dies at 93” at Politico.

Read “Lou Ottens, inventor of the audio cassette tape, has died” at NME.


Religion and Stuff:

ReadAfter Ravi Zacharias report, Christians examine how to avoid ‘betrayal blindness’” at Religion News Service. 

  • Read “Ravi Zacharias’s Ministry Plans Name Change, Calls for More Victims to Come Forward” at Christianity Today.

Read “A Missouri pastor is reportedly seeking 'professional counseling' after he told women to lose weight and strive to be like Melania Trump for their husbands” at Insider.

Read “Slavers and Heresy: A Response to Tom Nettles” by Marty Duren.

Read “Bible teacher Beth Moore, splitting with Lifeway, says, ‘I am no longer a Southern Baptist’” at Religion News Service. “Because of her opposition to Trump and her outspokenness in confronting sexism and nationalism in the evangelical world, Moore has been labeled as “liberal” and “woke” and even as being a heretic for daring to give a message during a Sunday morning church service.”

  • Read “Beth Moore Inspired Scores of Southern Baptist Women. They Don’t Blame Her for Leaving.” at Christianity Today.

Read “‘Til Kingdom Come’ examines link between end-times theology and Israel politics” at Religion News Service.

Legal/Justice and Social Justice and Race or Gender or Sexism-Related Stuff:

Read “How the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act is being used in this latest Trump lawsuit” at NBC News.

Read “Many Juvenile Jails Are Now Almost Entirely Filled With Young People of Color” at The Marshall Project.

Read “The Secret Burglary That Exposed J. Edgar Hoover's FBI” at NPR.

Read “Google HR 'suggested medical leave' for racism victims” at BBC.


This week in traitorous, white-supremacist Confederate monuments (and/or Columbus monuments // and/or other “American monuments” // and/or weird Confederacy stuff):

Read “Transcript theater: Defendant in Trump riot case throws 'tantrum' over being held in jail” at MSNBC.

Read “Trump White House associate tied to Proud Boys before riot via cell phone data” at The Hill.

Read “'QAnon Shaman' scolded by federal judge for appearing on '60 Minutes'“ at The Hill.

Read “White supremacists 'seek affiliation' with law enforcement to further their goals, internal FBI report warns” at Yah

Read “Florida Man With Alleged Links To Oath Keepers Charged Over Capitol Riot” at NPR.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Ducey back-to-school order leaves educators shocked, scrambling, upset” at Cronkite News.

Read “Texas state lawmaker introduces bill to set minimum teacher salary at $70K” at The Hill.

Read “Lawmaker pushes to allow concealed weapons in Texas public schools” at News 4 San Antonio.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Cuomo staff hid higher COVID death toll as New York governor sought to profit from book” at Salon.

Read “Florida Official Calls On FBI To Investigate ‘Red Carpet’ Vaccines For State’s GOP Donors” at Huff Post.

Read “Biden Administration To Order 100 Million More Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Shots” at Huff Post.


Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Crypto enthusiasts burn and digitize Banksy artwork” at CBS News.

Read “The Improbable Time When Orson Welles Interviewed Andy Kaufman (1982)” at Open Culture.

Read “The Myth of Drug Expiration Dates” at Pro Publica.

Read “Guam governor offers Greene history book after falsely calling US territory a foreign land” at The Hill.


Internationalities:

Read “Prepaid postcards going to every household in Canada to boost 'meaningful connection'“ at The Hill.

Read “Man running for office in Japan has Joker makeup and an unusual platform” at Boing Boing.


Politics And Sucheries:

Read “No One’s Buying the Republicans’ Deficit Fearmongering Anymore” at The New Republic.

Read “Trump presses GOP to stop using name for fundraising” at The Hill.

Read “Senate rejects Cruz effort to block stimulus checks for undocumented immigrants” at The Hill.

Read “Broad Public Support for Coronavirus Aid Package; Just a Third Say It Spends Too Much” at Pew Research.

Read “'Cold war-era weapon': $100bn US plan to build new nuclear missile sparks concern” at Guardian.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Paul Gosar: MTG In Lifts” at The Bulwark. “An insurrection-planning, white-nationalist-collaborating congressman remains uncensored and unchallenged. Why?”

Read “Trump Appointee At VOA Parent Paid Law Firm Millions To Investigate His Own Staff” at NPR.

Read “Texas utility manager rejects calls to fix $16B in overcharges” at The Hill.

Read “Song of Suppression” at Public Citizen. “Disney Backed 96% of Florida Republicans Who Sabotaged Voting Rights Ballot Initiative, Contributed Over $800,000 Between 2016 and 2020.”

Read “Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen to meet again with Manhattan DA in Trump probe” at Reuters.

Read “Trump told Ga. investigator he won the state: 'You'll be praised' for 'the right answer'“ at The Hill.

Read “New York Assembly to investigate Gov. Andrew Cuomo; 59 state lawmakers call for resignation” at USA Today.

  • Read “New York Lawmakers To Launch ‘Impeachment Investigation’ Into Cuomo” at Forbes.


Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Metallica Donates $75,000 to Texas Food Banks” at Spin.

Listen to “Jeff Parker on John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” at Maximum Fun.

Read “John Lurie: ‘I wanted to break into Martha Stewart’s house and change the curtains. My lawyer said no’” at Guardian.

Read “Women Underrepresented in Popular Music, New Study Finds” at Pitchfork.

Read “Audio Ammunition: A Documentary Series on The Clash and Their Five Classic Albums” at Open Culture.

Read “Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”: Music’s Greatest Work in Progress” at Pitchfork.

Read “With Seven Weeks at No. 1, Morgan Wallen Breaks a Chart Record” at New York Times.

Read “Why Do NFTs Matter for Music?” at Pitchfork.

Read “See Patti Smith’s Special Pop-Up Mini-Concert at Brooklyn Museum” at Rolling Stone.

Read “'The party that never ended': An oral history of Alice Cooper's 'Love it to Death' at 50” at AZ Central.

Read “In the Beatles' "Hey Jude," you can hear someone say "Fucking hell!"“ at Boing Boing.

Read “Asleep at the Wheel’s Ray Benson on Keeping the Texas Band Alive, Alert and Swinging for 50 Years” at Variety.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “John Amos Looks Back on 50 Years in Hollywood” at Time.

Read “Understanding Trauma, Grief, and Resilience In WandaVision” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Bad Reputation: An Oral History of the Freaks and Geeks Soundtrack” at Consequence of Sound.

Read ‘Fox News will be 'loyal opposition' to Biden, Fox CEO says” at NBC News. “Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch says it is the job of Fox News to serve as the opposition to the Biden admin., stating clearly the political biases of a network that until 2017 billed itself as "fair and balanced."

Read “‘We Started With Sitcom Boot Camp’: Director Matt Shakman on the Making of ‘WandaVision’” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Safdie Brothers-produced Pee-Wee Herman / Paul Reubens documentary coming to HBO” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Design/Artsy Things:

Read “Who Spends Millions on NFTs? Meet Beeple’s Crypto-Rich Early Collectors” at Art News.

Read “Download Vincent van Gogh’s Collection of 500 Japanese Prints, Which Inspired Him to Create “the Art of the Future” at Open Culture.

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “Soft robot reaches the deepest part of the ocean” at Nature.

The Weekly Town Crier (03/05/21)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (03/05/27)





We’ll Miss You:

Read “Bunny Wailer, Reggae Legend and Wailers Co-Founder, Dies at 73” at Pitchfork.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “After Sermon Criticizing Wives’ Weight, Pastor Resigns as Moderator of General Baptist Meeting” at Roys Report.

Read “Spectacular Politics On the Culture of Trumpism” at The Bias Magazine. 

  • ReadThe Golden Trump Statue Is the Talk of CPAC. It Was Made in Mexico.” at Slate.

Read “White evangelicals' dominance of the GOP has turned it into the party of resistance” at CNN.

Read “First Jehovah’s Witness woman sentenced in Russia after faith declared ‘extremist’” at Religion News Service. “The faith group’s spokesman called the ruling ‘a mockery of the rule of law — both international human rights law as well as Russia’s constitution.’”

Read the opinion piece “Phil Johnson’s Defense of MacArthur’s Salaries & Nepotism Raises More Red Flags” at Roys Report.

Read “Meet the spouses whose marriages were destroyed by QAnon” at Salon. “A therapist who specializes in cult recovery says he's "never seen anything like this before"

Read “Appeals court decision allows sex abuse lawsuit against SBC's Paul Pressler to proceed” at Houston Chronicle.

Read “More than 500 evangelicals, other faith leaders condemn religion at insurrection as ‘heretical’” at Religion News Service.

Read “Major Evangelical Adoption Agency Will Now Serve Gay Parents Nationwide” at New York Times. “The decision comes as more cities and states require organizations to accept applications from L.G.B.T.Q. couples or risk losing government contracts.”

Read “Stryper’s Michael Sweet Fears It’s “Just a Matter of Time” Before the Bible Is Canceled” at Newsbreak.

Read “Shame, grace and #STOPtheSTEAL” at Religion News Service. “How we read the world depends on the kinds of stories we traffic in.”

Read “Sam Horn Resigns as President of The Master’s University and Seminary, Capping Three Years of Tumult” at Roys Report.

Legal/Justice and Social Justice and Race or Gender or Sexism-Related Stuff:

Read “Second Former Aide Accuses New York Gov. Cuomo of Sexual Harassment” at Slate.

Read “Bruce Springsteen’s Drunken-Driving Charges Are Dismissed” at New York Times.

Read “Rep. Gosar denounces 'white racism' after controversial appearance” at The Hill.

Read “Cuomo Is Accused of Sexual Harassment by a 2nd Former Aide” at New York Times. “The woman, 25, said that when they were alone in his office, Gov. Andrew Cuomo asked if she “had ever been with an older man.”

Read “Marijuana use no longer automatic disqualification for Biden appointees” at The Hill.

Read “How Jane Fonda Convinces Her Famous Friends to Get Arrested” at Vulture.

Read “Supreme Court Seems Ready To Uphold Restrictive Voting Laws” at NPR.

Read “House fight for Trump's financial records poised to stretch into the summer” at Politico. “The House Oversight Committee reissued a subpoena for the former president’s accounting firm, Mazars USA.”

Read “D’Elia faces child-porn lawsuit from woman who says he had sex with her at 17” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “South Carolina Senate adds firing squad as alternative execution method” at The Hill.

Read “Nadria Tucker On Being Fired From ‘Superman & Lois’: ‘Toxicity’ Is Pervasive” at Huff Post. “The TV writer says she was dropped from the new CW show after pushing back on racist and sexist storylines and tropes.”

Read “Hours After an Employee Accused Him of Sexual Misconduct, Prominent Alaska Executive Resigns” at Pro Publica.

Read “Threats to lawmakers up 93.5 percent in last two months” at The Hill.

Read “DoD Report Describes Trump Doctor Ronny Jackson as a Lecherous Boozehound and All-Around Terrible Colleague” at Slate.

Read “Wray says no evidence of 'antifa' involvement in Jan. 6 attack” at The Hill.

Read ‘Refugees are being removed from flights to the US as they await Biden's signature” at CNN.

Read “Right-Wing Social Network Parler Files New Lawsuit Against Amazon” at Variety.

This week in traitorous, white-supremacist Confederate monuments (and/or Columbus monuments // and/or other “American monuments” // and/or weird Confederacy stuff):

Read “The Boogaloo Bois Have Guns, Criminal Records and Military Training. Now They Want to Overthrow the Government” at Pro Publica.

  • Read “U.S. alleges Proud Boys planned to break into Capitol on Jan. 6 from many different points” at Washington Post.

Read “‘Q Shaman’ Deeply ‘Wounded’ And Disappointed That Trump Didn’t Pardon Him” at Forbes.

Read “Rioter who broke into Pelosi's office: Not 'fair' I'm still in jail” at The Hill.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “CPAC attendees boo, yell 'freedom' when asked to wear masks” at The Hill.

Read “Fauci Worried That U.S. Virus Cases Will Stick at 70,000 a Day” at Bloomberg.

Read “Trump Got Vaccinated Secretly, Because Otherwise He Might Have Helped the Country” at Rolling Stone. “Getting vaccinated publicly could have gone a long way toward dispelling Republican doubts about the Covid vaccine — so of course Trump didn’t do it.”

Read “Texas becomes biggest US state to lift COVID-19 mask mandate” at Associated Press.

Read “Texas and Other States Ease COVID-19 Rules Despite Warnings” at Time.

Read “Covid-19 Variant in Brazil Overwhelms Local Hospitals, Hits Younger Patients’ at Wall Street Journal.

Read “U.K. Extends COVID Insurance Scheme for Film and TV Industry, Renews Furlough” at Variety.

Read “Alamo Drafthouse files for Chapter 11, keeping COVID safety measures amid TX reopening” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “When Did the Pandemic Become Real for You?” at New York Times. “The World Health Organization declared the spread of the coronavirus a pandemic on March 11, 2020. But when was the instant you knew your life would change?”

Read “New York Music Venues Can Reopen at 33% Capacity in April, Governor Says” at Pitchfork.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Atlanta Has Created the Largest Free Food Forest in the Country” at Modern Farmer.

Read “Michaels to Go Private in Apollo Deal” at Wall Street Journal. “Private-equity firm Apollo Global Management’s acquisition offer values crafts retailer at $3.3 billion.”

Read “The Growing Threat Of Disinformation And How To 'Deprogram' People Who Believe It” at NPR.

Read “CPAC, conservatives and the culture war: Why Republicans will become more extreme in Trump's absence” at Salon.

Read ‘'The Sinking City' Developer Uses DMCA to Remove Its Own Game From Steam” at Vice.

Read “Keith Gill Drove the GameStop Reddit Mania. He Talked to the Journal” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Jeff Grosso: The life and death of skateboarding’s soul” at Los Angeles Times. “To best understand skateboarding — its counter-culture roots, its rise to the Olympics, its helter-skelter tale of competing styles, clashing customs and self-sabotaging plot twists — you need to understand Jeff Grosso.”

Read “Clubhouse Is Recording Your Conversations. That's Not Even Its Worst Privacy Problem” at Inc.

Internationalities:

Read “US intel: Saudi crown prince approved Khashoggi killing” at The Hill.

Read “How Europe Became the World’s Biggest Electric-Car Market—and Why It Might Not Last” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “US Missile Strike in Syria: What You Should Know” at Preemptive Love.

Read “Medics risk lives to treat injured in Myanmar anti-coup protests” at Al Jazeera.

Read “At Least 18 Killed In Another Bloody Day For Myanmar” at NPR.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Biden hails House passage of $1.9T virus bill, now to Senate” at KTAR.

Read “CPAC stage is shaped like a Nordic rune used on some Nazi uniforms” at Business Insider.

Read “Rep. Karen Bass: $10 and $12 are not livable wages, we need to have a $15 minimum wage” at MSNBC.

Read “Another New York Democrat Calls on Cuomo to Resign” at Bloomberg.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “McConnell says he'll 'absolutely' support Trump in 2024 if he's the GOP nominee” at CNN.

Read “Postmaster General DeJoy introduces plans to overhaul USPS, draws criticism” at MSNBC.

Read “Hawley gets boisterous ovation at CPAC for Electoral College objection” at The Hill.

Read “Rep. Ronny Jackson made sexual comments, drank alcohol and took Ambien while working as White House physician, Pentagon watchdog finds” at CNN.

Read “Biden administration still hasn't briefed top senators on Syria strike” at Politico.

Read “"This has gone beyond the messiah of President Trump": Former GOP congressman on why parts of the GOP can't let go” at MSNBC.

Read “Texas grid manager responsible for $16B in overcharges, says watchdog” at The Hill.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Justin Bieber Announces New Album Justice” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Freddie Gibbs Covers Gil Scott-Heron’s “Winter in America” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Spotify just unveiled “lossless” CD-quality music. Your move, Apple” at Fast Company.

Read “Primavera Sound 2021 Cancelled” at Pitchfork.

Read “Bigger Black: 5 Easy Pieces w/Steve Albini” at Eugene Robinson. “Five questions, not a single one about music, that's the deal.”

Read “Biggie Smalls, the Human Behind the Legend” at New York Times. “The new Netflix documentary “Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell” captures the rapper before fame, and history, got hold of him.”

Read “Council says “nothing has been agreed” on Reading Festival 2021 go-ahead” at NME.

Read “The Mighty Mighty Bosstones announce new album ‘When God Was Great,’ share new song” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “David Crosby on dinner with Joni, Phoebe Bridgers and the 50th anniversary of his haunted solo debut” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “A Guide to the Music of John Lurie” at Pitchfork.

Read “Tyler, the Creator Releases Song Used in Coca-Cola Commercial: Listen” at Pitchfork.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “Inside Joss Whedon’s ‘Cutting’ and ‘Toxic’ World of ‘Buffy’ and ‘Angel’ (EXCLUSIVE)” at Variety.

Read “Billy Ocean's Loverboy video is way weirder than you remember” at Boing Boing.

ReadSchitt’s Creek Mansion Returns to Market With Price Reduction” at Bloomberg.

Read “Meet the Songwriters Behind the ‘Wandavision’ Hit ‘Agatha All Along’” at New York Times. “It isn’t the first time the songwriting power couple has created an ear worm, having written the Oscar- and Grammy-winning “Let It Go” for the Disney animated movie “Frozen” and the Oscar-winning ballad “Remember Me” for the Pixar animated film “Coco.”

Read ‘Golden Globes org says it will recruit Black members after outcry’ at 11 Alive.

Read “Soul Is Pixar at Its Most Unpredictably Weird” at Vulture.

Read “Common to Produce Biopic of Voting Rights Activist Fannie Lou Hamer” at The Hollywood Reporter.

Read “Rachel Maddow Is Most-Watched In February, As MSNBC Leads All Cable Networks” at Forbes.

  • Read “‘We are lost’: Fox News suffers worst ratings in 20 years” at The Independent.

Read “Former Trump spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany joining Fox News” at The Hill.

Read “Spate of awards-season films track FBI tactics against Black activists” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “The Comics History Behind that WandaVision Credits Reveal” at Vulture.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “So you want to start reading comics?” at The Verge. “A guide to figuring out the best and most cost-effective methods.”

Read “Black Panther Comic Writer Ta-Nehisi Coates To Reboot Superman for DC, And More Movie News” at Rotten Tomatoes.

Read “Dr Seuss: Six books withdrawn over 'hurtful and wrong' imagery” at BBC.

Design/Artsy Things:

Read ‘YInMn Blue, the First Shade of Blue Discovered in 200 Years, Is Now Available for Artists” at Open Culture.

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “Cuttlefish show self-control, pass 'marshmallow test' at Live Science.

Misc. Oddities:

Read “Rooster with blade kills man during cockfight in Telangana” at New Indianan Express. “Accidentally, the knife that was tied to the rooster's leg, got pierced into Satish's groin, injuring him grievously.”

Read “Inside the Gently Competitive World of Giant Vegetable Growing” at Atlas Obscura.

Local:

Read “Judge sides with Senate, says Maricopa must turn over election materials for audit” at AZ Mirror.

Read “Wildlife, rights coalition asks Biden to remove miles of Arizona's border wall” at Tucson.com.

Read “Apple and Google lobbyists are swarming Arizona over a bill that would reform the app store” at Protocol.

Read “Bill purging Arizona early voting list clears state Senate’ at KTAR.

The Weekly Town Crier (02/26/21)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (02/26/21).




We’ll Miss You:

Read “Akron/Family’s Miles Seaton Has Died at 41” at Pitchfork.

Read “Johnny Pacheco, Who Helped Bring Salsa to the World, Dies at 85” at New York Times.

Read “Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Beat Poet And Small Press Publisher, Dies At 101” at NPR.

Read “John Baker, founder of the Christian support group Celebrate Recovery, has died” at Religion News Service.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Founders Ministry President: VP Kamala Harris “Going to Hell” at Word & Way. “While defending Southern Baptist pastors who called Vice President Kamala Harris a “Jezebel,” prominent Southern Baptist pastor Tom Ascol declared Harris was going to hell.” 

Read “New planets raise old questions” at Religion News Service. “The discovery of seven Earth-sized planets orbiting a nearby dwarf star, Trappist-1, is raising lots of questions with religious implications.”

Read “Christians, Conspiracy Theories, and Credibility: Why Our Words Today Matter for Eternity” at Lifeway Research.

Read “More Christian Groups Cut Ties with Ravi Zacharias & RZIM” at Roys Report.

  • Read “Ministry leaders’ rush to empathize with Ravi Zacharias is beyond alarming” at Religion News Service.

  • Read “Ravi Zacharias posthumously defrocked, ministry suspends fundraising after abuse report” at Religion News Service.

Read “As US refocuses anti-extremism programs on far right, many Muslims still oppose them” at Religion News Service. “After the Capitol attack, the Biden White House called for countering violent extremism programs to shift to a focus on white supremacists. But Muslim groups say the programs are still a waste of resources.”

Read “Before Rush Limbaugh, Father Coughlin was America’s first demagogue of the airwaves” at America Magazine.

Read “Southern Baptists divided over politics, race, LGBTQ policy” at SBC News. “Divisions over race, politics, gender and LGBTQ issues are roiling the Southern Baptist Convention ahead of a meeting of its executive committee next week.”

Read “Evangelicals perfected cancel culture. Now it’s coming for them.” at Religion News Service. “One Alabama megachurch preacher is experiencing a cautionary tale about a central spiritual idea: What goes around comes around.”

Read “Why Is it So Hard to Reach the Christian Conspiracy Theorist?” by David French. “When fellowship is superior to facts.”

Read “George Saunders on What Buddhists Can Offer the World Right Now” at Tricycle.

Read ‘Fewer Churches Held In-Person Services in January” at Christianity Today.

Read “Palestinian Christians Promised an Outsized Voice in New Legislature” at Christianity Today.

Read “SBC president J.D. Greear: “God did not call Southern Baptists to save America” at Religion News Service. “In a speech to the SBC Executive Committee meeting, Greear asked, “Do we want to be a gospel people, or a Southern culture people? Which is the more important part of our name — Southern or Baptist?” “We should mourn when closet racists and neo-Confederates feel more at home in our churches than do many of our people of color,”

  • Read “Southern Baptists Expel Two More Churches Over Abuse” at Christianity Today. “Top leaders address divides in the denomination at the first in-person Executive Committee meeting in a year.”

  • Read “Floyd, Greear stare down division, call for refocus on the Great Commission at EC meeting” at Baptist Press.

Read “Written in Protest The impeachment vote was a vote for white supremacy” at Religion News Service. “The refusal to confront the white supremacy at the Capitol is a refusal to reconcile America’s lofty democratic rhetoric with the state of its floundering institutions.”

Read “No, Rush Limbaugh Did Not Hijack Your Parents’ Christianity”at Religion Dispatches. “Many conservative Christians embraced Rush Limbaugh because they had already embraced a faith that championed an us-vs.-them militancy... and a thinly veiled misogyny that kept women in their (God-given) place.”


Legal/Justice and Social Justice and Race or Gender or Sexism-Related Stuff:

Read “Federal judge temporarily blocks South Carolina 'heartbeat' abortion ban” at CNN.

Read “Nazi Concentration Camp Guard Sent to Germany From Tennessee” at Bloomberg.

Read “New Mexico Legislature moves to preserve abortion rights” at Associated Press.

Read “Iowa lawmaker Brad Zaun cited for having gun at airport” at Des Moines Register.

Read “Woman who gave birth alone in cell secures $200k settlement” at Associated Press.

Read “Whistleblowers: Software Bug Keeping Hundreds Of Inmates In Arizona Prisons Beyond Release Dates” at KJZZ. “Sources say Department of Corrections leadership has known about the problem since 2019.”

Read “New Jersey governor signs bills legalizing marijuana” at The Hill.

Read “Supreme Court Clears Way For NY Prosecutor To Obtain Donald Trump’s Financial Records” at News and Guts.

Read “Supreme Court won't review Pennsylvania GOP election lawsuits” at The Hill.

Read “Mike Lindell Just Got Sued for $1.3 Billion Over Election Conspiracies” at Vice.

Read “Minnesota returns land to Lower Sioux Indian Community after decades-long battle” at The Hill.

Read “Supreme Court turns down Stormy Daniels's defamation suit against Trump” at The Hill.

Read “James Franco Reaches Settlement with Former Students in Sexual Exploitation Suit” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “UN chief labels white supremacy a 'transnational threat'“ at The Hill.

Read “Why Clarence Thomas' Trump-like dissent in election case matters” at MSNBC.

Read “Illinois governor signs bill making state the first to end cash bail” 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 “Acting Capitol Police Chief, House Sergeant at Arms to testify before House Appropriations Committee” at The Hill.

Read “U.S. alleges wider Oath Keepers conspiracy, adds more charges in Jan. 6 Capitol riot” at Washington Post.

Read “Feds Charge Pa. Cop For Rioting During Capitol Insurrection: ‘I May Need A Job’” at Huff Post.

Read “His pastors tried to steer him away from social media rage. He stormed the Capitol anyway.” at Washington Post.

Read “Several Charged Capitol Rioters Complained On Social Media About Antifa Getting Credit For Their Work” at Comic Sands.

Read “Oath Keeper claims she was VIP security at Trump rally before riot and says she met with Secret Service agents” at CNN.

Read “Former North Miami Beach cop went live on Facebook from inside the Capitol during riot” at Miami Herald.

Read ‘Justice Dept. Is Said to Be Examining Stone’s Possible Ties to Capitol Rioters” at New York Times.

Read “Reporter's Video From Inside Senate On Jan. 6 Shows A Crowd Prepared For Violence” at NPR.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Video Shows NYPD Cop Repeatedly Punching a Restrained Man in the Head” at Vice.

Read “Phoenix Council Debates Moving Money From Police Oversight To Homeless Services” at KJZZ.

Read “Newly released video shows deputies confront Black man over alleged jaywalking before fatally shooting him in San Clemente” at KTLA. “The deputies themselves can be heard debating whether Kurt Reinhold was jaywalking, with one telling the other, “Don’t make case law.”

Read “Martin Gugino sues city of Buffalo, mayor and police after fracturing skull” at Religion News Service. “A grand jury declined to indict the Buffalo police officers, but the Catholic social justice activist filed a civil suit alleging his constitutional right to peaceably protest was violated.”

Education and The Learnings, And/Or School Re-Openings

Read “Cornel West Says Harvard Denied Him Tenure Consideration, Calls It 'Political'“ at Huff Post.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Watch “Fmr. FDA Commissioner: Vaccine supply could exceed demand as soon as April” at MSNBC.

Read ‘Sedentary and stressed? Get outside to improve health during COVID, experts advise” at Cronkite News.

Read “Israel: Pfizer vaccine prevents 98.9 percent of COVID-19 deaths” at The Hill.

Read “Aging Out of Foster Care During COVID-19 Pandemic Brings Additional Challenges” at Teen Vogue.

Read “Meghan McCain calls for Biden to remove Fauci” at The Hill.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Video shows man screaming 'get a f---ing job' at family in line for church's food drive” at The Hill.

Read “Robinhood CEO apologizes for limiting GameStop trades” at MSBC.

Read “Politico finds Ted Cruz's Cancun scandal 'refreshingly normal'“ at The Week.

Read “DeSantis to lower Florida flags in honor of Limbaugh” at The Hill.

Read “Kim Kardashian Reportedly Files To Divorce Kanye West” at MTV.

Read “Why Were There So Many Serial Killers Between 1970 and 2000 — and Where Did They Go?” at Rolling Stone. “The answer is manyfold — encompassing everything from sociological changes, to biology, to technology, to linguistics.”

Read ‘Turkish Garbage Collectors Open a Library from Books Rescued from the Trash” at Goodnet.

Read “Free speech on campus is to be protected, but the war against cancel culture rages on” at Telegraph.

Read “Coolidge man fakes kidnapping to get out of work, police say” at 12 News.

Read “Some Texans got electric bills up to $17,000 after the storm. How does that happen?” at Washington Post.

  • Read “Power Companies Get Exactly What They Want”: How Texas Repeatedly Failed to Protect Its Power Grid Against Extreme Weather” at Pro Publica. “Texas regulators and lawmakers knew about the grid’s vulnerabilities for years, but time and again they furthered the interests of large electricity providers.”

Read “The Comedy Industry Has a Big Alt-Right Problem” at The New Republic. “How safe spaces for transgressive humor, both online and in real life, helped breed a hateful ideology.”

Read “Twitter Kicked Donald Trump Out and Its Stock Surged to a Record” at Bloomberg.

Read “Mark Changed The Rules”: How Facebook Went Easy On Alex Jones And Other Right-Wing Figures” at Buzzfeed News. “Facebook’s rules to combat misinformation and hate speech are subject to the whims and political considerations of its CEO and his policy team leader.”

Read “Barack Obama, Bruce Springsteen Launch Spotify Podcast” at The Hollywood Reporter.

Read “28-Year-Old Dad-to-Be Dies in Explosion While Building 'Gender-Reveal' Device” at People.

See “Woman Yelling at Cat" in LEGO” at Boing Boing.

Read “The Army Is Building a New High Powered Laser” at Vice. “The Army wants to build a new kind of laser that fires in 1 quadrillionth of a second.”

Read “How Disney is using ‘Star Wars’ to help Chevy sell electric cars” at Los Angeles Times.

Internationalities:

Read ‘US sanctions inflicted $1 trillion damage on Iran’s economy: FM” at Al Jazeera.

Read “Canada's parliament declares China's treatment of Uighurs 'genocide'“ at BBC.

Read “North Korean Defector’s DMZ Crossing Raises Questions About Border Security” at Wall Street Journal. “Man swam across the border, went through a drainage conduit and appeared on South Korean military cameras eight times before being detected.”

Read “China denies requiring anal swabs from US diplomats” at BBC.

Read “US bombs Syria facilities used by Iran-backed militia; first airstrikes under Biden” at USA Today.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Ocasio-Cortez calls for full investigation of Cuomo's handling of coronavirus in nursing homes” at The Hill.

Read “Mike Pence Declines Invite to CPAC Event Where Donald Trump Will Speak” at Newsweek.

Read “Progressive caucus chair: Income thresholds for direct payments should stay at $75,000” at The Hill.

Read “The GOP is rapidly becoming the blue-collar party. Here's what that means” at NBC News.”Most of the GOP's blue-collar growth took place during the presidency of Donald Trump.”

Read ‘Trump to claim total control of GOP” at Axios. “In his first post-presidential appearance, Donald Trump plans to send the message next weekend that he is Republicans' "presumptive 2024 nominee" with a vise grip on the party's base, top Trump allies tell Axios.”

Read “Florida official tells offices to disregard DeSantis order to lower flags in Limbaugh's honor” at The Hill.

Read “Riot Romney predicts Trump would win the 2024 G.O.P. nomination if he ran for president.” at New York Times. “He has by far the largest voice and a big impact in my party,” Mr. Romney said.

Read “Bill would strip pension for president convicted of felony” at The Hill.

Read “Why Biden Can’t Fire Postmaster General Louis DeJoy” at Slate. “Trying to force DeJoy out could lead to constitutional chaos.”

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “McConnell Wants the Law Changed to Ensure He's Replaced by a Republican If He Leaves the Senate Early” at Second Nexus.

Read “Georgia Republicans Are Doubling Down on Racist Voter Suppression” at Mother Jones. “After Black voters turned out in record numbers, the GOP wants to make it harder to vote.”

Read “Matt Schlapp on Banishing Mitt Romney From CPAC: I Would Be ‘Afraid For His Physical Safety’ If He Came” at Mediaite.

Read “Trump’s blunt weapon: State GOP leaders” at Axios. “Virtually every Republican who supported impeachment was censured back home, or threatened with a primary challenge.”

Read “Trump to reemerge on political scene at CPAC” at The Hill.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Dinosaur Jr’s Green Mind Turns 30” at Spin. “We spoke with frontman J Mascis about the band’s early days, and why 'Green Mind' is still a pivotal work.”

Read “Sub Pop opens new flagship record store in Seattle” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “Courtney Love Says She Stopped Acting Because of “A Bunch of #MeToos” at Consequence of Sound. ‘"No one would believe me, and it wouldn't stop. So I left, and it left."

Read “Decades Since ‘3 Feet High & Rising’ & De La Soul Still Isn’t In Control Of Its Legacy” at Okay Player. “In an age where countless veteran rap acts are benefiting off of nostalgia, pioneering hip-hop group De La Soul hasn’t fully been able to do the same.”

Read “Bill Callahan, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy & Cassie Berman Cover Silver Jews’ The Wild Kindness’” at Jambase.

Read “Marilyn Manson under investigation by LA County Sheriff’s Department” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Browse Jerry Garcia’s guitars.

Read “José González Returns With First New Song in 5 Years” at Pitchfork.

Read “R.I.P. Miles Seaton of Akron/Family” at Talkhouse. James Toth (Wooden Wand) remembers his friend.

Read “Daft Punk Break Up” at Pitchfork. “The legendary dance duo have called it quits 28 years after forming in Paris.”

Read “U-Roy: the singularly musical toaster was a vital part of reggae's bloodline” at The Guardian. “His inspired technique made toasting into an international phenomenon, yet he was endearingly modest to the end.”

Read “Dinosaur Jr. Announce New Album, Share New Song “I Ran Away”: Listen” at Pitchfork.

Browse Bandcamp’s picks for “The Best Experimental Music on Bandcamp: February 2021.”

Read “Can Live Series Begins With Release Of 1975 Stuttgart Show” at The Quietus.

Read “Spiritualized to Reissue Their First Four Albums on Vinyl” at Pitchfork.

Read “Post Malone Covers Hootie and the Blowfish for Pokémon Day Celebration” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Uproar at KCRW as former producer accuses public radio giant of 'blatant racism'“ at Yahoo.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “What Are the Commercials in WandaVision Telling Us? at Vulture.

Read “32 Memorable ‘Muppet Show’ Musical Moments to Stream on Disney+” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “David Lynch’s Industrious Pandemic” at New Yorker. “Checking in with the director as he turns seventy-five.”

Read “Disney+ Adds Disclaimer to The Muppet Show” at Consequence of Sound. “The streaming platform warns viewers of "negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures."

Read “E.T. II, the mega-dark sequel that never happened” at Boing Boing.

Read “Woody Allen and Soon-Yi Previn trash HBO documentary series as a ‘hatchet job’” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “From Heroes to WandaVision: How superheroes learned to meet TV halfway” at AV Club.

Browse Paste’s picks for “The 10 Best Movies on Apple TV+ Right Now, Ranked.”

Read “Tom Morello to Serve as Executive Music Producer on Netflix’s ‘Metal Lords’ Film” at Rolling Stone. “Coming-of-age comedy about high school metal band to premiere later this year.”

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “Brian Eno Lists 20 Books for Rebuilding Civilization & 59 Books For Building Your Intellectual World” at Open Culture.

Read “Stan Lee and the Dot-Com Disaster” at Vulture.

Read “How the Internet Archive Digitizes 3,500 Books a Day–the Hard Way, One Page at a Time” at Open Culture.

Read “Cindy McCain planning 'intimate memoir' of life with John McCain” at The Hill.

Read “What Are Magazines Good For?” at New Yorker. “What is the cultural sway of magazines when there are 20-year-old TikTok influencers with many more subscribers than Time?”

Design/Artsy Things:

Browse “Uncanny Portraits of Perfectly Symmetrical Pets” at Wired.

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “First Arctic Navigation in February Sends a Worrying Climate Signal” at Bloomberg.

Local:

Read “37 suspects accused of child sex crimes arrested in Phoenix-area” at AZ Family.

Read “Banner Health Eases Visitor Restrictions” at KJZZ.

Read “What did Allister Adel know about protest ‘gang’ charges?” at ABC 15. “ABC 15 obtained radio calls and dispatch logs that show (a specific MCAO prosecutor) was directly advising Phoenix police officers before the arrests against the group were even finalized on the night of the protest."

Read “The U.S. Air Force is going to set up a distribution center in Glendale and give out bottled water to nearby residents/business owners who had their drinking water contaminated by Air Force activity” at AZ Central.

Read “Spend Or Save? Phoenix Estimates $153 Million Budget Surplus” at KJZZ.

The Weekly Town Crier (02/12/21)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (02/12/21)


We’ll Miss You:

Read “Christopher Plummer dead as Sound of Music star dies aged 91” at Daily Record.

Read “US congressman Ron Wright dies with coronavirus, aged 67” at BBC.

Read “Supremes Co-Founder Mary Wilson Dead at 76” at Pitchfork.

Read ‘Elliot Mazer, Engineer-Producer for Neil Young, Linda Ronstadt, and the Band, Dead at 79” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Larry Flynt, Founder of Hustler Magazine, Dies at 78” at Variety.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “An American Lent: It’s time for evangelicalism to embrace the act of confession” at Religion News Service. “Without disciplines like corporate confession and Lent, there is little within popular evangelicalism to restrain the triumphalism of white American culture from overshadowing the cross of Christ.”

Read “A Catholic scholar weighs Biden’s future with Vatican and US bishops” at Religion News Service. 

ReadChristian Rapper Lecrae Brushes Off GOP Activist’s Attempt To Cancel Him” at Yahoo.

Read “Faith-based refugee resettlement groups describe what it will take to rebuild program after Trump cuts” at Religion News Service.

Read “No touching! Churches get ready for Ash Wednesday in a pandemic” at Religion News Service.

Read “LGBTQ singer-songwriter ‘GameStops’ Christian music with No. 1 Christian album on iTunes” at Religion News Service. “‘Preacher’s Kid’ carries a parental advisory for explicit lyrics and at turns lacerates youth group lock-ins and short-term mission trips — staples of an evangelical Christian upbringing — while professing a complicated faith.”

Read “Still Baptist. Still evangelical” at Karen Swallow Prior at Religion News Service. “My childhood church has come to mind a lot lately, perhaps because these days in church life have so dismayed and disoriented me.”

Read “If I Were an Abuser, What Church Would I Want to Attend?” by Dr. Nancy Murphy.

Read “Welcoming Migrants and Refugees: A Biblical Ethic of Kinship” at Christianity Today.

Read “Don’t Immanentize the Eschaton: Against Right-Wing Gnosticism” at The Public Discourse.

Read “It’s Time to Talk About Violent Christian Extremism” at Politico.

Read “Most Evangelicals Support Women in Church Leadership” at Christianity Today. “Despite the ongoing debates over gender roles, surveys show significant agreement in favor of female Sunday school teachers, worship leaders, speakers, and preachers.”

Read “Evangelist Ravi Zacharias taught his followers to ask tough questions — just not about his sexual conduct” at Washington Post.

  • Read “Religion Evangelist Ravi Zacharias engaged in rape, financial misconduct and spiritual abuse, report says” at Washington Post.

  • Read “Ravi Zacharias Hid Hundreds of Pictures of Women, Abuse During Massages, and a Rape Allegation” at Christianity Today.

  • Read “Investigation Finds Ravi Zacharias Reportedly Raped a Massage Therapist; Sexually Molested Others” at Roys Report.

Read “Christian financial guru Dave Ramsey: If you need stimulus check, you are ‘screwed’” at Religion News Service.

Read ‘Survey: More than a quarter of white evangelicals believe core QAnon conspiracy theory” at Religion News Service.

Legal/Justice and Social Justice and Race or Gender or Sexism-Related Stuff:

Read “Immigrants, activists worry Biden won’t end Trump barriers” at KTAR.

Read “'We cannot tolerate extremist behavior': Admiral condemns recent racist incidents in Navy” at NBC News.

Read “Inside Trump and Barr’s Last-Minute Killing Spree” at Pro Publica. “Private executioners paid in cash. Middle-of-the-night killings. False or incomplete justifications. ProPublica obtained court records showing how the outgoing administration is using its final days to execute the most federal prisoners since World War II.”

Read “Violent attacks on elderly Asian Americans in Bay Area leaves community members 'traumatized'“ at ABC News. “A community leader say there have been at least 20 attacks.”

This week in traitorous, white-supremacist Confederate monuments (and/or Columbus monuments // and/or other “American monuments” // and/or weird Confederacy stuff):

Read “FBI Raids Home Of Rachel Powell, Mercer County Mother Of 8 Suspected In Capitol Attack” Pittsburgh CBS Local.

Read “The Barbarians at the Gate: The Sack of Rome and the Attack on the U.S. Capitol” at The Reveal. “The problems with imagining who the barbarians are in the U.S. today.”

Read “The majority of the people arrested for Capitol riot had a history of financial trouble” at Washington Post.

Read “Sen. Shirkey baselessly claims U.S. Capitol riot was 'staged' by Trump haters, recording shows” at Metro Times.

Read “She Lived Through the Capitol Attack. Now This GOP Staffer Is Calling Out Her Friends’ Conspiracies” at Vice. “Leslie Shedd used to politely change the topic when friends would float fringe right-wing conspiracy theories. Not anymore.”

Read “Texas woman charged in Capitol riot says she bought into Trump 'lie': 'I regret everything'“ at The Hill.

Read “Five people associated with Proud Boys arrested for Capitol riot on conspiracy charges” at CNN.

Read “Military officials were unaware of potential danger to Pence's 'nuclear football' during Capitol riot” at CNN.

Read “FBI arrests two Kentucky men associated with the 'Boogaloo Bois'“ at The Hill.

Read “Mark Finchem Planned Jan. 6 D.C. Visit With Right-Wing Activist Ali Alexander” at Phoenix New Times.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “Tucker Carlson Bizarrely Ties The Capitol Riots To George Floyd’s Death” at Okay Player.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Health care workers replaced Denver cops in handling hundreds of mental health and substance abuse cases — and officials say it saved lives” at CBS News.

Read “Is This Beverly Hills Cop Playing Sublime’s ‘Santeria’ to Avoid Being Live-Streamed?” at Vice. “Police officers in Beverly Hills have been playing music while being filmed, seemingly in an effort to trigger Instagram’s copyright filters.”

Read “How ABC15 Linked A Phoenix Police 'Challenge Coin' To Neo-Nazism” at KJZZ.

Read “Charges dismissed against Buffalo cops who shoved elderly protester” at New York Post.

Read “The Staten Island Files: Explore Hundreds of Previously Secret NYPD Misconduct Findings” at Gothamist.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings



Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “This Health Advocate Is Calling on Rich Countries to Stop Hoarding COVID-19 Vaccines” at Global Citizen.

Read “Fully vaccinated people don't need to quarantine if exposed to Covid” at NBC News.

Read “Fauci says it will be “open season” for COVID-19 vaccine by April” at Salon.

Read “Biden Announces Deal For 200 Million More COVID-19 Vaccines” at NPR.

Read “Why Are Chicago’s Playgrounds Still Closed?” at WBEZ.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Who Really Created the Marvel Universe?” at The New Yorker. “Stan Lee presided over a world of superheroes, but his collaborators and readers sustained his vision—and his characters outlasted it.”

Read “Hacker Changed Chemical Level in Florida Water Plant” at Bloomberg.

Read “Dallas Mavericks cease playing national anthem before games at Mark Cuban’s direction” at The Athletic.

  • Read “The Dallas Mavericks Stopped Playing the National Anthem Before Games and No One Noticed” at Okay Player.

Read “Twitter considering subscription fees to ensure 'revenue durability'“ at The Hill.

Read “How the Measles Vaccine Went From No Big Deal to Anti-Vaxxer Obsession” at Slate.

Read “When Republicans Attack 'Cancel Culture,' What Does It Mean?” at NPR.

Read “Portia De Rossi Says Ellen DeGeneres Helped Her Realize Being Gay Was OK” at Huff Post.

Read “Looking to avert evictions, L.A. seeks $46 million to buy Chinatown apartment building” at Los Angeles Times.

Read ‘Donald Trump’s Twitter Ban Is Permanent, CFO Confirms” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Twitter permanently bans Project Veritas account” at CNN.

Read “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been banned from Instagram” at CNN.

Read “After the ballots are counted: Conspiracies, political violence, and American exceptionalism” at American Survey Center. “Findings from the January 2021 American Perspectives Survey.”

Read “Thread Man” by Liz Lenz. “Seth Abramson’s viral meta-journalism unreality.”

Read “Some Parkland Survivors Are Not Amused By David Hogg's Pillow Venture” at Jezebel.

Internationalities:

Read “Haitian Gov’t Claims It Halted a Coup Amid Dispute over Jovenel Moïse’s Presidency, Ongoing Protests” at Democracy Now.

Read “Saudi Activist Who Led Campaign To Legalize Driving For Women Is Released From Jail” at NPR.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “American Democracy Isn't Doing So Hot” at Vice. “Almost half of Americans say U.S. democracy isn't functioning very well.”

Read “GOP Sen. Richard Shelby announces he won't seek re-election in 2022” at NBC News. “Shelby, 86, is now the fourth Republican senator to announce plans to retire at the end of the current Congress.”

Read ‘House Oversight chair demands Parler financing information” at The Hill.

Read “Biden DOJ to continue to seek Assange extradition” at The Hill.

Read “The Predator in the Lincoln Project. “Weaver used his power to get jobs for young men he allegedly harassed. His colleagues were warned” at New York Magazine.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Trickle down Trumpism: How Pennsylvania's Republican Party radicalized against democracy” at Salon.

Read “Georgia Prosecutors Open Criminal Investigation of Trump Phone Call” at New York Times.

Read “Trump’s political operation paid more than $3.5 million to Jan. 6 organizers” at Open Secrets.

Read ‘One Of Trump’s Impeachment Lawyers Once Sued Him Over Baseless Ballot ‘Fraud’ Claims” at Huff Post.

Read “Trump's attack on Gov. Doug Ducey, Maricopa County election protest cited in impeachment trial” at AZ Central.

Read “As riot raged at Capitol, Trump tried to call senators to overturn election” at CNN.

Read ‘A Million-Dollar Pardon Offer at the Trump Hotel” at Atlantic. “Corey Lewandowski allegedly wanted a hefty fee in exchange for helping a government whistleblower win a pardon from the former president.”

Music-Related News and Such:

Read ‘Inside Sun Ra’s 1971 trip to Egypt” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “KISS’ Gene Simmons says young fans are “culprits” for the death of rock: “You killed the thing that you love” at NME. “He also blamed streaming and digital downloads.”

Read “Robbie Robertson on Reworking the Band’s ‘Stage Fright’: ‘This Is What It’s Supposed to Be’” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Wolf Alice Singer Ellie Rowsell Says Marilyn Manson Filmed Up Her Skirt” at Consequence of Sound.

  • Read “Marilyn Manson’s streaming figures for his back catalogue rise despite abuse allegations” at NME.

  • Read “Corey Feldman Has Accused His Former Band Members Of Being Satanists Working With Marilyn Manson Since 2018” at Celebrity Insider.

  • Read “Marilyn Manson Accused Of Sexually Assaulting Minors In Florida, Calls For An FBI Investigation Under Way” at Celebrity Insider.

Read “Danielson’s Daniel Smith Wrote These Fake Christian Hair Metal Songs For The New Movie Electric Jesus” at Stereogum.

Read “Goodbye, Dolly” at The Baffler. “Mythmaking in Dolly Parton’s America.”

Read “Kill Rock Stars Is Turning 30. No One Is More Surprised Than Founder Slim Moon” at Williamette Week.

Read “Celebrities Join Push To ‘Free’ Britney Spears After New Documentary Airs” at Huff Post.

  • Read “Court blocks Britney Spears' dad from re-taking full control of her estate” at AV Club.

Read “Morgan Wallen's record sales skyrocket after racial slur controversy” at CNN.

  • Read “Jason Isbell Donating Royalties From Morgan Wallen’s Version of “Cover Me Up” to the NAACP” at Pitchfork.

  • Read Morgan Wallen: Country star says fans shouldn't defend his use of racist language” at ABC News.

Listen to “JPR Live Session: H.C. McEntire” at Jefferson Public Radio.

Read “Breaking Down Bruce Springsteen’s Uncharacteristic Super Bowl Commercial” at Pitchfork. “The rock icon’s first-ever ad appearance is filled with the sorts of platitudes he has transcended in the past.” (EDITOR’S NOTE: Let’s not forget the Christian Nationalism imagery.)

  • Read “Bruce Springsteen faces drunken driving charge in New Jersey” at 12 News.

  • Read “Bruce Springsteen’s Jeep Ad Pulled From YouTube After Report of DWI Arrest” at Pitchfork.

  • Read “Bruce Springsteen busted for DWI after one shot of tequila” at New York Post.

Browse Rolling Stone’s picks for “Black Women Who Shaped Rock & Roll".

Read “Did Van Halen Have a Fourth Singer? Mitch Malloy Tells His Story” at Rolling Stone. “Mitch Malloy tells all about his (very brief) time with Van Halen, after Sammy Hagar and before Gary Cherone.”

Read “The Prodigy to Receive Full-Length Documentary Treatment” at Spin.

Read “Shaun Ryder says his home is still being invaded by aliens” at NME. “It comes after the Black Grape frontman previously claimed to have been visited by a "spider" spaceship.”

Read “Saint Disruption: John Medeski & Jeff Firewalker Schmitt Travel From the Jungle to the Street” at American Songwriter.

Read “Mark Cuban Wants A Piece Of The Growing Audio Business.” at Inside Radio.

Read “Phoebe Bridgers Reflects on ‘Kyoto’ and its impact: “Forgiveness Is A Gift To Yourself” at MTV.

  • Read “Phoebe Bridgers Calls SNL Guitar-Smashing ‘a Bucket List Thing’ as Boomers Continue to Fume” at Spin.

Read “Man builds guitar out of his dead uncle’s skeleton, uses it to play black metal” at Guitar World.

Read “Someone collected 1.5 hours of Slayer’s ’80s stage banter” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill Reaches Diamond Status” at Consequence of Sound. “23 years after its release, the iconic LP has has surpassed 10,000,000 units sold.”

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Browse The Guardian’s picks for “52 perfect comfort films – to watch again and again.”

Read “Why Fox News canceled Lou Dobbs” at MSN. “Fox News' official reason for canceling Lou Dobbs' show -- a post-election programing adjustment -- doesn't quite add up.”

Read “'Buffy' star Charisma Carpenter accuses Joss Whedon of abusive behavior” at The Hill.

  • Read “Sarah Michelle Gellar, More ‘Buffy’ Actors Respond to Joss Whedon Allegations: ‘I Stand With All Survivors of Abuse’ at Variety.

Read ‘Netflix's Cecil Hotel Doc Attempts to Find Out What Happened to Elisa Lam” at Vice. “Infamous CCTV footage of her behaving bizarrely caught the attention of online sleuths who thought it was proof of paranormal activity. The reality is much more grim.”

Read “You Literally Can't Believe The Facts Tucker Carlson Tells You. So Say Fox's Lawyers” at NPR.

Read “Lucasfilm Calls Gina Carano Social Media Posts “Abhorrent”; Actress No Longer Employed By ‘Mandalorian’ Studio” at Deadline.

Read “Tucker Carlson claims George Floyd died of a drug overdose — and links it to Trump's impeachment” at Salon.

Books/Reading/Authors



Design/Artsy Things:



Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “The world's first 3D printed lab-grown rib-eye steak is unveiled” at The Hill. ““It incorporates muscle and fat similar to its slaughtered counterpart,” Aleph Farms said.”

Read “Hallucinatory 'voices' shaped by local culture, Stanford anthropologist says” at Stanford News. “Stanford anthropologist Tanya Luhrmann found that voice-hearing experiences of people with serious psychotic disorders are shaped by local culture – in the United States, the voices are harsh and threatening; in Africa and India, they are more benign and playful. This may have clinical implications for how to treat people with schizophrenia, she suggests.”

Food Cultures:



Misc. Oddities:



Local:

Read “Inside the case: Watch testimony behind the Phoenix protest gang charges” at ABC 15.

Read “Arizona Republicans Threaten to Arrest GOP Officials If They Don't Turn Over Ballots for Another Recount” at Second Nexus.

Read “Arizona legislators to hear first in series of 'anti-protest' bills Wednesday” at 12 News.

Read “Arizona Senate OKs asking voters to curb governor's emergency powers” at Tucson.com.