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 (12/18/20)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (12/18/20).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Charley Pride, country music's first Black superstar, dies at 86 of COVID-19 complications” at Tennessean.

Read “Tony-Winning Broadway Legend Ann Reinking Dies at Age 71” at Broadway.com.

Read “In Memoriam: “Nationally Recognized Tastemaker” Rita Houston (1961-2020)” at Relix.

Read “Jeremy Bulloch, 'Star Wars' actor who played bounty hunter Boba Fett, dies at 75” at USA Today.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “So, Why is Evangelicalism Not Declining? Because Non-Attenders Are Taking On the Label” at Religion In Public.

Read “The Dangerous Idolatry of Christian Trumpism” by David French. “We can pray peace will prevail, but we’d be fools to presume it will.”

Read “What I Saw At The Jericho March” by Rod Dreher at American Conservative.

  • Read “A Review of Rod Dreher's Live Not by Lies” at Christian Socialism. “Rod Dreher's back in our feeds because of his heroic stand against crass Trumpists. But aside from some aesthetic and rhetorical differences, Dreher depends on the very industrial fear-mongering complex he's decrying.”

Read “‘Proud Boys’ burn Black Lives Matter signs at churches in Washington” at Religion News Service. “'For me it was reminiscent of cross burnings,' said the Rev. Ianther M. Mills, pastor of a church whose Black Lives Matter sign was burned.”

Read “RZIM Apologist Sends Stunning Letter: Says Ministry Has Lost Trust & Needs to Make “Meaningful Reparations” at Julie Roys.

Read “It’s Desecration, Not Vandalism”" at Slate. “A longtime congregant on the Proud Boys’ violent attacks on Black churches in Washington.”

Read “Racism, Misogyny and Abuse: Why the SBC Keeps Getting it Wrong” at Faith, Philosophy, and Politics.

Read “Biden should reestablish the faith-based office” at Religion News Service.

Read ‘How to Be Pro-Life in Our Real Lives” at Christianity Today. “The Christian call to care for the vulnerable starts with facing the heightened needs in our own communities.”

Read “White evangelicals, don’t just condemn Christian nationalism. Own it.” at Religion News Service. “Piously opposing Trumpism as evil is empty, because it does not deal with white evangelicalism's own racism.”

Read “CA Pastor Charged With Contempt After Holding Indoor Maskless Church Services” at Patheos.

Read “Fifth Jehovah’s Witness receives six-year sentence in Russia for practicing his faith” at Religion News Service.

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

Read “Justices rule Muslim men can sue FBI agents over no-fly list” at Religion News Service.

Read “The Pandemic Gave Men a New Way to Sexually Harass Female Restaurant Workers” at Vice. “Pull that mask down so I can see if I want to take you home later,” one customer told a worker.”

Read “Peter Nygard: Fashion mogul faces sex trafficking charges” at BBC.

Read “Right-Wing Embrace Of Conspiracy Is 'Mass Radicalization,' Experts Warn” at NPR.

Read “Report Finds Federal Execution Numbers Top States' for 1st Time” at NBC Philadelphia.

Read “Trump Twitter ‘hack’: Police accept attacker's claim” at BBC. “Dutch prosecutors have found a hacker did successfully log in to Donald Trump's Twitter account by guessing his password - "MAGA2020!"

Read “Sexual Harassment Isn't a Party Issue, It's a Power Issue” at Men Yell at Me. “Or, how the Iowa Democratic Party promoted a state senator accused of harassment.”

Read “38 states file anti-trust lawsuit against Google” at 12 News.

Read “How did a Proud Boys leader with a felony record get into the White House?” at Salon.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “MAGA Protesters Chant ‘Destroy the GOP’ at Pro-Trump Rally” at Rolling Stone.

Read “1 person shot, 5 arrested after opposing protests turn violent in Olympia” at King 5.

Read “MAGA Marchers and Proud Boys Descend on D.C., Setting Fire to Churches' Black Lives Matter Signs and Getting into Stabbing Fights” at The Root.

This Week With The Police:

Read “To Stop Police Violence, We Need Better Questions — and Bigger Demands” at Medium.

Read “Ex-Cop Held Man at Gunpoint to Search for Fraudulent Ballots That Didn't Exist, Prosecutors Say” at Vice.

  • Read “Former Houston police captain accused of violent attempt to prove election conspiracy was hired by GOP activist's group” at Texas Tribune.

Read “The latest tool to help police develop empathy for the public: Virtual reality headsets” at Washington Post.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Harold Budd's Family Confirm Cause Of Death” at The Quietus.

Read “Around America’s ‘Christmas City,’ Rural Churches Left Heartbroken by COVID-19” at Christianity Today.

Read “COVID-19's effects include seizures and movement disorders -- even in some moderate cases, study finds” at AZ Family.

Read “CMA Awards: Unmasked, Indoor Ceremony Raises Questions About COVID-19 Precautions, Producers Cite 'Extremely Diligent' Measures” at TV Line.

Read “Rick Rubin Court Date Set for COVID-19 Quarantine Violation” at Pitchfork.

Read “Dave Ramsey, Christian personal finance guru, defies COVID-19 to keep staff at desks” at Religion News Service.

Read “Arizona has 'all but locked in a humanitarian crisis' ahead of Christmas, expert says” at 12 News. “Dr. Joe Gerald from the University of Arizona said a lack of harsh mitigation tactics have pushed the state into crisis.’

Read “The Mass Distribution of Covid-19 Vaccines Is Under Way. ‘Everything Has to Come Together” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “As U.S. Deaths Surpass 300,000, Obituaries Force Reckoning with Covid” at New York Times.

Read “What The Pandemic Means For The Future Of Movie Theaters” at KJZZ.

Read “Melania Trump breaks children's hospital rules by taking her mask off to read to patients” at CNN.

Read “How Profit and Incompetence Delayed N95 Masks While People Died at the VA” at Pro Publica.

Read “California sheriff refusing to comply with order to release inmates due to COVID” at The Hill.

Read “FDA panel backs Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine for use in the US” at CNET. “This follows the backing and subsequent authorization of Pfizer's vaccine last week.”

Read “Arizona Rep. Debbie Lesko In Quarantine After COVID-19 Exposure” at KJZZ.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Joe Biden and Kamala Harris named Time Person of the Year” at CNN.

Read “Tennessee lawmaker pushing for Presidential Medal of Freedom for Dolly Parton” at News Channel 9.

Read “How Rita Moreno Found Dignity and Strength With Her ‘West Side Story’ Role” at Variety. “I was not treated like a serious young actress and that was very hard. It sent me into psychotherapy, which is one of the smartest things I ever did. It taught me that I had to find value in myself.”

Read ‘U.S. needs estimated $4.5 trillion in stimulus to recover, analysis argues” at Yahoo.

Read “Red Flags for Economy as Retail Sales Fall for a Second Month” at New York Times

Read ““A Ray of Sunshine in a Dark Time”: A Look at ‘Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President’” at Relix.

Internationalities:

Read: (Canada) “Federal government to pay for COVID-19 vaccine costs as Canada’s death toll surpasses 13K.”

Read “Treasury breached by hackers backed by foreign government - sources” at Reuters.

Read “Australia: NSW man charged over allegedly corrupt betting on table tennis” at BBC.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Fox News poll: Majority say US worse off than it was 4 years ago” at The Hill.

Read “House Democrat says 126 Republicans backing Texas election challenge shouldn't be seated” at Washington Examiner.

Read “Chris Christie calls Trump's legal team's legal theory an 'absurdity'“ at The Hill.

Read “Georgia Supreme Court Rejects Trump's Last-Minute Request To Toss Election Results” at Georgia Public Broadcasting.

Read “Joe Biden picks Pete Buttigieg to be transportation secretary” at CNN.

Read “McConnell urges GOP senators not to object to Electoral College vote” at The Hill.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Rep. Katie Porter Exposes 'Corruption In Real Time' After McConnell's Attempts To Tank Relief Bill” at Comic Sands.

Read ‘GOP Lawmakers in Missouri Propose Bills Making It Legal to Hit Protesters With Cars” at Newsweek.

Read “USPS Finally Releases Louis DeJoy’s Calendar — And Everything’s Redacted” at Huff Post.

Read “At This Trump-Favored Charity, Financial Reporting Is Questionable and Insiders Are Cashing In” at Pro Publica.

Read “The CARES Act Sent You a $1,200 Check but Gave Millionaires and Billionaires Far More” at Pro Publica.

Music-Related News and Such:

2020 Year-End Lists (* = New This Week):

  • Browse “Brad's Top 50 Albums of 2020” at Amoeba Music.

  • Browse “Aquarium Drunkard :: 2020 Year In Review.” *

  • Browse AV Club’s picks for “The 20 best albums of 2020.” *

  • Browse Bandcamp’s picks for “The Best Soul of 2020.”

  • Browse Clash’s “Clash Albums Of The Year 2020.” *

  • Browse “Top 30 Metal + Hard Rock Albums of 2020” at Consequence of Sound.

  • Browse Crack’s picks for “The Top Albums of 2020.”

  • Browse The Fader’s picks for “The 50 best albums of 2020.” *

  • BrowseGlide’s 20 Best Albums of 2020.”

  • Browse Ted Goia’s picks for “The One Hundred Best Albums of 2020.”

  • Browse Gorilla Vs. Bear’s Albums of 2020.

  • Browse the New Yorker’s picks for “The Best Music of 2020” (topped by a 2018 album which I can get behind).'

  • Browse the New York Times’ picks for the “Best Albums of 2020.”

  • Browse NPR’s picks for “The 100 Best Songs Of 2020.”

  • Browse NPR’s picks for “The 50 Best Albums Of 2020.”

  • Browse Paste’s picks for “The 50 Best Albums of 2020.”

  • Browse Pitchfork’s picks for “The 30 Best Electronic Music Releases of 2020.”

  • Browse Pitchfork’s picks for “The 100 Best Songs of 2020.”

  • Browse Pitchfork’s picks for “The 50 Best Albums of 2020.” *

  • Browse Pitchfork’s picks for “The 35 Best Rock Albums of 2020.”

  • Browse Pitchfork’s picks for “The 20 Best Music Videos of 2020.”

  • Browse “Tunes that kept The World spinning in 2020: A playlist” at PRI. *

  • Browse Stereogum’s picks for “The 50 Best Albums Of 2020”.

  • Browse Time’s picks for “The 10 Best Albums of 2020.”

  • Browse Treble’s picks for the “Top 100 Songs of 2020.”

  • Browse Treble’s picks for the “Top 50 Albums of 2020.”

  • Browse “The 2020 Uproxx Music Critics Poll.” *

  • Browse Vice’s picks for “The 100 Best Albums of 2020.”

  • Browse Vinyl Factory’s picks for their “favourite vinyl artwork and packaging of 2020.”

  • Browse Yardbarker’s picks for “The 30 best albums of 2020.”

Read “Family affair: Tengger reunite after Covid enforced separation” at The Wire.

Read “FKA twigs sues Shia LaBeouf, alleges sexual battery and assault in new interview” at The Fader.

  • Read “Sia Says ‘Pathological Liar’ Shia LaBeouf ‘Conned’ Her ‘Into an Adulterous Relationship’” at Spin.

  • Read “What We Know About the Domestic Abuse Allegations Against Shia LaBoeuf” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Harold Budd's Music Was Heaven On Earth” at NPR.

Read “Rapper Lil Wayne pleads guilty to illegal gun possession” at The Hill.

Read “Streaming payments 'threaten the future of music,' says Elbow's Guy Garvey” at BBC.

Read/Listen to “How independent musicians are planning for 2021” at MarketPlace.

Read “‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ Drummer Jerry Granelli :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview” at Aquarium Drunkard (REPOST).

Browse “A Visual History of The Rolling Stones Documented in a Beautiful, 450-Page Photo Book by Taschen” at Open Culture.

Browse The Ringer’s picks for “The Top 100 Albums in the Rick Rubin Extended Universe, Ranked.”

Read “An Update on Bandcamp Fridays” at Bandcamp.

Read “Chance the Rapper Says He and Dionne Warwick Are Working on New Music on ‘Colbert’” at Rolling Stone.

Read “H.C. McEntire Delivers Her Masterpiece with 'Eno Axis'“ at Pop Matters.

Read “Emily Eavis says Glastonbury is “a long way” from being able to confirm 2021 festival” at NME.

Read “6 Paths Through Jazz in 2020” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Carlos Santana Launches New Coffee Company” at Jambands.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “The Best Films of 2020” at Flood Magazine.

Books/Reading/Authors

Browse “Christianity Today’s 2021 Book Awards.”

Browse Pitchfork’s picks for “Our 15 Favorite Music Books of 2020.”

Design/Artsy Things:

Take “a Close Look at Basquiat’s Revolutionary Art in a New 500-Page, 14-Pound, Large Format Book by TASCHEN” at Open Culture.

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “‘Cat scratch’ fever may cause human madness, study says” at New York Post.

Read “Kangaroos Can Learn To Communicate With Humans, Researchers Say” at Huff Post.

Misc. Oddities:

Read “Mysterious Radio Signal Is Coming From Inside Our Galaxy, Scientists Announce” at Independent.

The Weekly Town Crier (09/04/20)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (09/04/20).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “'Black Panther' star Chadwick Boseman has died” at CNN.

Read “Trail Blazers on the Passing of Blazers Great, Cliff Robinson” at NBA.com.

Read “Itaru Oki 1941–2020” at The Wire. “The Japanese free jazz trumpeter and instrument builder died on 25 August.”

Read “Original Freedom Rider, Bill Harbour, passes away at age 78” at CBS42.

Read “Tom Seaver, Hall of Fame pitcher, dies at 75” at CNN.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Former pool attendant details alleged relationship with Becki and Jerry Falwell Jr.” at ABC News. “The Falwells told him during that first encounter that they had visited a Miami swingers' club the previous night...”

  • Read “What Jerry Falwell Jr. Taught Me at Liberty University” at New York Times. "At Liberty, our minds may have been receiving correct content, but our hearts were being trained to love wrongly: to love political power, physical security and economic prosperity as higher goods than they are.”

  • Read “Trailer Park Boys Video Reveals Raunchy Falwell Family Culture With Many Ties to Liberty U” at Roys Report.

  • Read “Liberty trustees failed Falwell, too” at Alabama.com. ““You know who else was due some love and protection? The faithful and sincere members of the Liberty faculty who had to walk into the classroom each day and face students who were confused and angered by the brazen hypocrisy going on all around them.”

  • Read “Liberty University launches investigation into Jerry Falwell Jr.’s tenure as president” at WFXRTV.

  • Read “Larry Flynt: My Final Farewell to the Falwells” at Daily Beast. “The Hustler publisher, who won a landmark First Amendment legal battle against Jerry Falwell Sr., writes about Jerry Falwell Jr.’s fall from grace—and the Trump of it all.”

Read “As Billy Graham's granddaughter and a proud evangelical, I worry for our country under Trump” at Independent. “Where is the fight for the marginalized communities Jesus exemplified? The church has been quicker to condemn an NFL player peacefully protesting than they are the racism that brought the protestor to his knees in the first place.”

Read “One-third of evangelicals believe Jesus was a “good teacher," but "not God”” at Disrn.

Read “Christian Dandy Throws A Punch” in which Rod Dreher defends Eric Metaxas for punching someone: “You just get so sick of these people and their filthy mouths, and their berserk screaming at people. ... Sometimes you have to use violence to preserve order.”

  • Read “Rod Dreher: “I don’t care that Eric threw a punch at that guy. He had it coming.” at The Way of Improvement.

  • Read “Eric Metaxas says a protester on a bike menaced him, ducks questions about punch” at Religion News Service.

Read “John MacArthur: There is No Pandemic” by Warren Throckmorton. "In truth, 6% of the deaths that have occured can be directly attributable to COVID, 94% cannot. Of the 160,000 people who have died, 9,210 actually died from COVID. There is no pandemic."

  • Read “Los Angeles County Evicts Grace Community Church From Parking Lot” at Todd Starnes. EDITOR’S NOTE: This is not persecution.

  • Read “John MacArthur claimed there is 'no pandemic.' He was politicizing science, experts say” at Religion News Service.

Read “What ‘Black Panther’ Means for Christians” at Christianity Today.

Read “On the Front Lines, Some Pro-Life Activists Think Twice About Supporting Trump” at Christianity Today. “A pro-life spokeswoman quit her job rather than endorse Donald Trump for another term in the White House.”

Read “More than 350 faith leaders endorse Biden, citing 'need of moral leadership'“ at The Hill.

Read “American Christianity’s White-Supremacy Problem” at The New Yorker. “History, theology, and culture all contribute to the racist attitudes embedded in the white church.”

Read ‘Can Christians Justify the Violence on America’s Streets?” at Christianity Today.

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

Read “Authorities find 123 missing children in just ONE day during a Michigan sex trafficking operation” at MSN.

  • Read “U.S. Marshals find 39 missing children in Georgia” at My Fox 8.

  • Read “U.S. Marshals rescue another 25 missing and sex-trafficked children” at DISRN.

Read “Banksy bought a refugee rescue boat and its crew is saving lives” at Boing Boing.

Read the opinion piece “RNC Spectacle Revealed Sheer Hypocrisy of Trump's Immigration Policy” at Newsweek.

Read “NBA to resume games after player protest, turn stadiums into voting sites” at Reuters.

  • Read “NBA Players Urge Activism but Only 20 Percent Are Registered to Vote” at Mediaite.

Read “Why You Should Think Twice Before Sharing Your ‘Blackout Tuesday’ Post on Instagram” at W Magazine.

Read “Billionaire T. Denny Sanford Was Under Investigation for Child Pornography” at Pro Publica. “The richest man in South Dakota, T. Denny Sanford, was investigated for possible possession of child pornography, according to four people familiar with the matter. Sanford is a major donor to children’s charities and Republican politicians.”

Read “Activist Shaun King Accused of Profiting off Chadwick Boseman's Death” at Newsweek.

Read “California bans flavored tobacco sales in response to a surge in teen use” at Yahoo.

Read “King James' Profanity Prayer” by David Dark at Paste.

Read “Why is the Border Patrol undermining humanitarian aid efforts at the southern border?” at Christian Century.

Read “Ron Jeremy Charged With 20 More Counts of Sexual Assault” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Trump's latest weird theory involves a 'plane loaded with thugs' at MSNBC. “People lurking "in the dark shadows" controlling American streets? A plane full of black-uniformed "thugs"? What on earth is Trump talking about?”

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

Read ‘Mississippi to vote in November on new state flag featuring magnolia” at CNN.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “Amazon protesters outside Jeff Bezos' home construct guillotine” at Fox Business.

Read “Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, faces first-degree intentional homicide, five other charges in Kenosha protest shootings” at AZ Central.

  • Read “ASU conservatives raising funds for Kenosha protest shooter Kyle Rittenhouse” at AZ Central.

  • Read “Vigilante? Militia? Confusion And Politics Shape How Shooting Suspect Is Labeled” at NPR.

  • Read “Militias, Armed Vigilantes Encouraged Online to Head to Kenosha Before Deadly Attack” at NBC Chicago.

  • Read “Christian fundraising site has raised over $220,000 for accused Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse” at Raw Story.

  • Read “Trump Defends Kenosha Shooting Suspect” at NPR.

  • Read “Kenosha Protests, Violence Expose Racial Disparities Among The Worst In The Country” at NPR.

Read “One Author's Argument 'In Defense Of Looting' at NPR.

Read “Rand Paul recounts confrontation with protesters after RNC” at Axios.

Read “1 killed in Portland amid clashes between Trump supporters and counterprotesters” at Axios.

  • Read “Wolf says "all options" on the table for ending violent protests in Portland” at Axios.

  • Read “Oregon State Police deploying to Portland after fatal shooting” at Axios.

  • Read “Oregon State Police troopers deputized by feds” at KATU.

Read “Athlete Activism Against Police Violence Reminds Ken Shropshire Of '85's 'Sun City' at WBUR.

  • Read “NBA playoffs to resume after agreement on social justice initiatives” at Axios.

Read “New Jersey teen behind Black Lives Matter rally receives bill for thousands of dollars for police overtime” at CBS News.

Read “Mark Meadows: "Most of Donald Trump's America is peaceful" at Axios.

Read “Kentucky AG says he has received ballistics report in Breonna Taylor probe” at Axios.

  • Read “Court Records Show Drug Suspect Offered Plea Deal to Name Breonna Taylor as Part of 'Organized Crime Syndicate' at The Root.

Read “Arrest of Tampa protesters under scrutiny; lawyer calls it a ‘joke charge’” at Tampa Bay Weekly.

Read “ACLU Demands Resignation of Top Cops in Kenosha for Racism & Brutal Response to Jacob Blake Protests” at Democracy Now!

Read “Trump Moves to Cut Federal Funding From Democratic Cities” at New York Times. “The president directed officials to identify “anarchist jurisdictions” and move to withhold funds as he tries to build his campaign around the unrest that has accompanied racial justice protests.”

This Week With The Police:

Read “Police reforms face defeat as California Democrats block George Floyd-inspired bills” at The Sacramento Bee.

Read “The FBI warned for years that police are cozy with the far right. Is no one listening?” at The Guardian.

Read “NYPD to adopt guidelines for disciplining officer misconduct” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Los Angeles sheriff’s office says Black bicyclist fatally shot by police had dropped a gun” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Whistleblower Testifies Deputy Who Shot Gardena Teen Was “Chasing Ink” at Spectrum1 News.

Read “Ex-Boston Police Union Pres. Charged With Raping 4 More Children” at NBC Boston.

Read “The Little Cards That Tell Police 'Let's Forget This Ever Happened' at Vice. “Some cops give their friends and family union-issued "courtesy cards" to help get them out of minor infractions. The cards embody everything wrong with modern policing.”

Education and The Learnings:

Read “Photo of children using Taco Bell's free WiFi to do schoolwork sheds light on digital divide” at KCTV5.

Read “Man, 21, busted for posing as 14-year-old and enrolling in high school” at Boing Boing.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Sen. Thom Tillis says he “fell short” by not wearing mask at Trump's RNC speech” at Axios.

Read “Iowa was reporting false COVID-19 information for months, until this nurse blew the whistle” at The Gazette. “State epidimiologist knew about the problem since July.”

Read “Far right using coronavirus as excuse to attack Asians, say police” at The Guardian.

Read “Rise in coronavirus cases as 123 positive tests overnight in Scotland” at The Daily Record.

Read “The U.S. Can Fix Its COVID Testing Failures” at Slate. “We need more rapid results tests, and we need them now.”

Read “Can you be evicted during the pandemic? It depends on your ZIP code” at CNBC.

Read “White Man in Alaska Demonically Screams in the Face of Walmart Worker, 'You Have No Authority Over Me' at Raw Story.

Read “'Small events add up to a lot': Limited gatherings quietly emerge as source of coronavirus infections” at AZ Central.

Read “Northern California church accrues $25,000 in fees for violating public health orders” at Religion News Service. “"If I get COVID, God bless you," Rev. Jack Trieber, the church's pastor said. "It's going to be a great funeral."

Read “Herman Cain account tweets coronavirus 'not as deadly' as claimed after his death from COVID-19” at The Hill.

Read “Ducey's maskless photos came as Arizona has spent $3M on 'mask up' campaign” at Tucson.com.

Read “Uber to require that passengers provide face-mask selfies” at 12 News.

Read “The Trump Administration Is Backing Out of a $647 Million Ventilator Deal After ProPublica Investigated the Price” at Pro Publica.

Read “Making Gyms Safer: Why The Virus Is Less Likely To Spread There Than In A Bar” at NPR.

Read “CDC requests states ready COVID-19 vaccine distribution by November” at Axios.

Read “Three Phoenix-Area Bars Shut Down By State Officials Over COVID-19 Violations” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “Surly Brewing Co. to close its destination beer hall in Minneapolis” at Star Tribune. ““This space is built for a lot of people, for socializing and getting together with friends,” said Surly owner Omar Ansari. “That’s not the way the world is working right now. There’s a pandemic going on, and there’s just no way for places like ours to make it in a COVID world.”

School Re-Openings:

Read “Utah coronavirus case numbers spike to 458 on Saturday, with another hospitalization tied to a school outbreak” at Salt Lake Tribune.

Miscellany Cultural Items:

Read “Study says Oklahoma ranked No. 1 in states with the most despair” at KFOR.

Read “FDA removes top spokesperson after 11 days on the job” at Axios.

Read “The Furious Hunt for the MAGA Bomber” at Wired. “Scarred by trauma and devoted to Trump, a man began mailing explosives to the president’s critics on the eve of an election. Inside the race to catch him.”

Internationalities:

Read “EU warns Turkey of sanctions as east Mediterranean crisis worsens” at Al Jazeera.

Read “French spying: Senior army officer investigated” at BBC.

Read “Russiagate Was Not a Hoax” at The Atlantic. “The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence confirmed what the Mueller report could not.”

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Rival Themes Emerge as Race Enters Final Weeks: Covid vs. Law and Order” at New York Times. “Mr. Trump’s aides said he enjoyed the frustration and anger he caused by holding a political event on the South Lawn of the White House, shattering conventional norms and raising questions about ethics law violations. He relished the fact that no one could do anything to stop him, said the aides, who spoke anonymously to discuss internal conversation.”

  • Read “The GOP’s norm-shattering convention showed how the two parties are worlds apart” at PBS News Hour.

  • Read “Here Is How RNC Speakers Addressed Two of the Most Pressing Issues in America Today” at Slate.

Read “Mitch McConnell’s campaign hires Covington teen Nick Sandmann” at New York Post.

Read “Top general says no role for military in presidential vote” at Associated Press. “The comments from Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, underscore the extraordinary political environment in America, where the president has declared without evidence that the expected surge in mail-in ballots will make the vote “inaccurate and fraudulent,” and has suggested he might not accept the election results if he loses.”

Read “Donald Trump’s pathology of victimhood: It's dangerous for his own party — and the rest of us” at Salon. “As a clinical psychologist, what I see in Donald Trump is a classic and destructive pattern of malignant narcissism.”

Read “The Ford Administration Rolled Out a Vaccine Program Right Before the 1976 Election. It Backfired—And Not Just Politically” at Time.

Read “Kanye West Is Trying Hard to Get on Arizona’s Presidential Ballot This Fall” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “Steve Scalise draws fire and then doubles down over doctored video of a disabled activist” at NOLA.com.

Read “Fact Check: Trump's Address To The Republican Convention, Annotated” at NPR.

Read “Joe Biden call for 'lawless' rioters to be prosecuted in push back to Donald Trump's criticism” at The Telegraph. “'Does anyone believe there will be less violence if Trump is re-elected?'

Read “The Payroll Tax Delay Is Here, But So Is Confusion About It” at NPR.

Read “Facebook And Twitter Remove Russia-Backed Accounts Targeting Left-Leaning Voters” at NPR.

Read “U.S. Debt Is Set to Exceed Size of the Economy Next Year, a First Since World War II” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Generation Z In The GOP: Young Republicans Reflect On The Future Of Their Party” at NPR.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Justice Dept. Never Fully Examined Trump’s Ties to Russia, Ex-Officials Say” at New York Times. “The former deputy attorney general maneuvered to keep investigators from completing an inquiry into whether the president’s personal and financial links to Russia posed a national security threat.”

Read “Oklahoma Governor Asked EPA to Strip Tribes of Environmental Authority” at TYT. “GOP Leaders Quietly Working to Circumvent Supreme Court Ruling Giving Tribes Control of Half the State.”

Read “The USPS Is Actively Being Destroyed By Trump—Here's How to Help” at Yahoo.

Read “Trump encourages North Carolina residents to vote twice to test mail-in system” at CNBC. EDITOR’S NOTE: It is illegal to vote more than once in an election, meaning the president urged people to break the law. And he did it publicly.

Read “Postal Service Has Paid DeJoy’s Former Company $286 Million Since 2013” at New York Times. “Documents obtained through a public records request showed the degree to which XPO Logistics, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s former employer, is intertwined with the agency he now oversees.”

Read “House Democrats launch probe into Postmaster General Dejoy” at Al Jazeera. “The investigation comes amid reports that Dejoy illegally reimbursed former employees for political campaign donations.”

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Public Enemy Announce New Album, Return to Def Jam” at Pitchfork.

Read “Turntable Lab’s NYC store has closed” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Leonard Cohen Estate Considering Legal Action After RNC Plays “Halleujah” at Slate.

Read “Taylor Swift Spends a Fourth Week at No. 1 Thanks to Full Album Sales” at New York Times.

Read “Justin Townes Earle and the Burden of Names” at Paste.

Watch “Dave Grohl and 10-Year-Old Nandi Bushell Face Off in Drum Battle” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Getting To Know Sundressed” at Something You Said.

Read “David Byrne addresses wearing Blackface in ‘Stop Making Sense’ promo video” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Public Enemy’s New Album to Feature Beastie Boys, George Clinton, Cypress Hill, Run-DMC, More” at Pitchfork.

Read “Toots Hibbert Hospitalized in Intensive Care Unit” at Pitchfork.

Read “Soul Coughing’s Mike Doughty On His New EP Ghost Of Vroom 2” at Stereogum.

Read “Master P launches “Uncle P’s” line of food products as alternative to Aunt Jemima & Uncle Ben’s” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “H.C. McEntire :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Read “Devandra Banhart Honors the Grateful Dead’s Blues for Allah Anniversary With Cover” at Spin.

Movies/TV/Etc.:

Read “Owen Teague Playing Tommy Stinson In Replacements Biopic” at Stereogum.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “Douglas County Library Board of Trustees will investigate library director, staff over support for BLM movement” at Sierra Nevada Ally.

Read “Everything We Know About Stephen King’s New The Stand Miniseries” at Rotten Tomatoes.

Read “Donald Trump Jr. wants to use his social media power to disrupt publishing” at Axios.

Science/Animals/Technology/Environment/Etc.:

Read “The science of stoking fear” at Axios. “Academics codified it as the "fear drive" method in the 1950s, referring to the idea that engaging with fear can be the motivation for people to buy into anything that would make the feeling of fear go away.”

Read “NASA data shows glacial lakes swelling 50% due to climate change” at CNET.

Read “Musk Says It Will Be Possible For Owners To Telepathically Summon Their Tesla With Neuralink Implant” at Yahoo.

Misc. Oddities:

Read “Heart of Belgian city mayor found entombed in fountain” at BBC.

Read “Airline pilots reported seeing 'a guy in a jetpack' flying 3,000 feet over Los Angeles” at NBC News.

Local:

Read “'Black Lives Matter' could be painted on a street in downtown Phoenix” at AZ Central.