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 (07/02/21)

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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 (06/25/21)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (06/25/21).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Antivirus pioneer John McAfee found dead in Spanish prison” at Miami Herald.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Albert Mohler’s darkest hour” at Religion News Service. “In his bid to lead America’s largest denomination, he was his own worst enemy.”

Read “After politically charged debate, bishops vote to draft controversial Communion document” at Religion News Service.

  • Read “Targeting Biden, Catholic Bishops Advance Controversial Communion Plan” at New York Times.

  • Read “AOC, other Catholic Democrats urge bishops against ‘weaponization’ of Communion” at Religion News Service.

  • Read “Biden dismisses Catholic bishops potentially banning him from communion” at The HIll. “That’s a private matter.”

  • Read “Lieu calls Catholic bishops 'hypocrites' for move to deny Biden communion” at The Hill.

  • Read “Weaponizing the wafer: Why San Francisco Archbishop opposes communion for Biden” at San Fransisco Examiner.

Read “Black Mountain pastor makes first court appearance on child sexual offense charges” at WLOS.

  • Read “Members of The Ridge Church defend pastor charged with child sex offenses” at WLOS.

Read “Critical Race Theory, Sex Abuse, and Southern Baptists” at Christianity Today.

  • Read “How Critical Race Theory Overran the Southern Baptist Convention” at NY Mag.

  • Read ‘Christian Opponents of CRT Peddle A Hollow Salvation” at Sojourners.

Read “Under Attack from Fundamentalist Pirates, Evangelical Baptists Refused to Give Up the Ship” by David French. “In Nashville, Evangelicals clashed with toxic fundamentalists—and Evangelicals prevailed.”

  • Read “America’s largest evangelical denomination is at war with itself” at Vox. “Why the Southern Baptist Convention is in turmoil — and why you should care.”

  • Read “When Southern Baptists Share the Gospel with Democrats, You May Get Christian Democrats! Can You Handle That?” at Southern Baptist Voices.

  • Read “Southern Baptist Convention Calls for ‘Immediate Abolition of Abortion Without Exception or Compromise’” at FaithWire.

  • Read “Christian Nationalist Leader Attacks SBC Election, New President” at Roys Report.

Read/Listen to “The Fight Over Evangelicals’ Future” at Slate. “Conservatives are divided. So are their churches.”

Read “‘An excuse for the feast’: Witches celebrate the summer solstice with cakes, mead — and salsa” at Religion News Service. “For many pagans, spirituality is tied to nature, and eating local seasonal foods connects them to the earth and with a specific time and place.”

Read ‘Religion 'ISN'T the secret to happiness': Global study claims atheists are just as happy as those with a faith” at Daily Mail.

Read “Braveheart’s Warped History Keeps Suckering Evangelicals” at Daly Beast. “Mel Gibson’s sadomasochistic fantasy is beloved by evangelical Christians (and William Wallace wannabes like Ted Cruz), who wallow in its exaltation of violent, macho religion.”

Read “How 'Modest Is Hottest' Is Hurting Christian Women” at Christianity Today. “What the phrase communicates about female sexuality and bodies.”

Read “DeSantis gets standing ovation by promising to put on the 'full armor of God' to fight against leftism” at Washington Examiner.

Read “The Nigerian priest saving Igbo deities from the bonfires” at BBC.

Read “Former Megachurch Pastor & Presidential Adviser Kirbyjon Caldwell Enters Prison” at Roys Report.

Read “Whitewashing Evangelical Scripture: The Case of Slavery and Antisemitism in the English Standard Version” at Oxford Academic.

Read “Can a tender-hearted president solve the Southern Baptists’ trust problem?” at Religion News Service. “The nation's largest Protestant denomination is based on voluntary cooperation by more than 40,000 churches. That cooperation is threatened by growing distrust of national leaders.”

Read “My Farewell to Sojourners” by Jim Wallis at Sojourners.

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

Read “Much of our slang comes from the Black community. Not acknowledging that perpetuates racism.” at USA Today.

Read “How TV Dramas Informed And Misinformed Perceptions Of The War On Drugs” at NPR.

Read “DOJ warns Missouri officials state can't ignore federal gun laws” at The Hill.

Read “14 Votes Against Juneteenth: A Racist Act In The Halls Of Congress” at The Uprising.

  • Read “As Juneteenth marks the end of slavery, lawmakers turn their focus to forced prison labor” at Washington Post.

Read “North Carolina death row inmate freed after newly discovered evidence” at The Hill.

Read “Connecticut Becomes First State to Provide Free Calls from Prison” at Equal Justice Initiative.

Read ‘DOJ Asks SCOTUS to Reinstate Death Penalty for Boston Marathon Bomber” at Democracy Now.

Read “John Roberts Just Pulled Off His Greatest Judicial Magic Trick” at Slate.

Read “Idaho Republican candidate for governor claims US is under attack from 'invasive species'“ at American Independent.

Read “Jesse Jackson, William Barber arrested protesting filibuster and Manchin” at Religion News Service.

Read “Rudy Giuliani suspended from practicing law in New York state” at AZ Family.

  • Read “With Giuliani’s Law License Suspended, Here Are The Other Trump Lawyers Who May Face Discipline Next” at Forbes.

Read “Parkland parents trick former NRA president into speaking in anti-gun violence video” at Salon. “Empty chairs were placed in a stadium to represent seniors who didn't graduate this year because of gun violence.”

Read “Connecticut Legalizes Recreational Marijuana” at Democracy Now.

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

Read “Tucker Carlson And The Far Right Want To Recast Jan. 6 As A False Flag By The Deep State” at Huff Post.

Read “Charlottesville Neo-Nazi Trial Won’t Move Over Violence Fear” at Bloomberg.

Read “Pelosi announces a select committee will investigate Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob” at Washington Post.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “A Group of White Cops Beat a Black Undercover Officer at a BLM Protest” at Vice.

Read “Portland riots: Police crowd-control team resigns after officer indicted” at BBC.

Read “Charges dismissed against trucker who drove into George Floyd protest” at The Hill.

This Week With The Police:

Read “North Carolina sheriff's office settles for $6M in excessive force lawsuit” at The Hill.

Read “Black students pulled from car by Atlanta police sue city” at NBC. “Video of the May 2020 confrontation — shared widely online — shows officers shouting at the students, firing Tasers at them and dragging them from the car.”

Read “Baltimore May Soon Ban Facial Recognition For Everyone But Cops” at Wired.

Read “The history of the US police” at Al Jazeera. “From slave patrols to the criminalisation of Black communities, racism has been a feature of US policing for centuries.’

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Ted Cruz says critical race theory is as racist as 'Klansmen in white sheets'“ at The Hill.

  • Read “How a Conservative Activist Invented the Conflict Over Critical Race Theory” at New Yorker. “To Christopher Rufo, a term for a school of legal scholarship looked like “the perfect weapon.”

  • Read “'The Tea Party to the 10th power': Trumpworld bets big on critical race theory” at Politico.

  • Read Partisan war over teaching history and racism stokes tensions in U.S. schools” at Reuters.

  • Read “Teachers Say GOP’s Critical Race Theory Bills ‘Whitewash American History’ at Huff Post. “Republicans are pushing laws to prevent teaching about systemic racism and white privilege in schools. Teachers say they just want to teach the truth.”

Read “Why Juneteenth Isn't Taught In Schools — And What That Means For Our Understanding Of Slavery” at WBUR.

Read “Top U.S. military leader: ‘I want to understand White rage. And I’m White.’” at Washington Post.

Read “How the media's helping GOP fuel critical race theory hysteria” at Press Run.

Read “US sees record school shootings since March as students struggle with return from pandemic” at The Hill.

Read “DeSantis signs bill requiring Florida students, professors to register political views with state” at Salon.

Read “Supreme Court Sides With Teen Who Was Punished By School Over Expletive-Laden Snapchat Rant” at Comic Sands.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “‘We want them infected’: Trump appointee demanded ‘herd immunity’ strategy, emails reveal” at Politico. “Then-HHS science adviser Paul Alexander called for millions of Americans to be infected as means of fighting Covid-19.”

Read “Unvaccinated Arizonans made up 95% of COVID-19 cases in May” at AZ Mirror.

Read “The Spectacular Failure of the MyPillow Guy’s Mask Operation” at Daily Beast.

Read “More than 150 Houston Methodist employees resign or are fired over COVID vaccine mandate” at Houston Chronicle.

Read “NYC offering in-home vaccinations to all residents” at The Hill.

Read “Jim Bakker, his church settle lawsuit over COVID-19 claims” at Religion News Service.

Read “Nearly all COVID deaths in US are now among unvaccinated” at Associated Press.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Lessons from California’s Pot Industry Bailout” at Bloomberg. ‘California’s 15% tax on legal marijuana has pushed consumers to the illicit market, it’s clear that much more has gone wrong with legalization in the state.”

Read “French software engineer may have cracked the Zodiac killer's code” at Boing Boing.

Read “Retail workers are quitting at record rates for higher-paying work: ‘My life isn’t worth a dead-end job’” at Washington Post.

Read “Michael B. Jordan to rename his rum brand after appropriation accusations” at The Hill.

Internationalities:

Read “UN assembly condemns military coup in Myanmar” at The Hill.

Read “Hungary's anti-gay law threatens programming of TV favourites” at Vox.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Joe Biden Is Confirming Judges Faster Than Decades Of Past Presidents” at Huff Post.

Read “Biden announces bipartisan deal on infrastructure” at The Hill.

Read “States Have Cut Off Unemployment. So Why Aren’t More People Looking for Jobs?” at Slate.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “At Long Last, Donald T$&mp Finally Admits: 'We Didn't Win'“ at Yahoo.

Read “Arizona election audit takes wild turn: Voter data is transported to a "secret" lab in another state” at Salon. “Arizona voter data hits the road, and the location it's being sent to is apparently a secret.”

Read “Led by Trump's old doctor, over a dozen GOP lawmakers demand Biden take a cognitive test” at Salon.

Read “As Gaetz investigation ramps up, feds mount sweeping probe into Central Florida political scene” at Yahoo.

Read “Georgia releases names of over 100K people at risk of having voter registration canceled” at The Hill.

Read “Trump-inspired death threats are terrorizing election workers” at Reuters.

Read “House Republicans Are Still Pushing Trump’s Election Conspiracy Theories” at Slate.

Read “Corporations like Amazon pay big bucks for "union avoidance" — and it all happens in the dark” at Salon.

Read “What would America be like if Trump's coup had succeeded? Suppressing SNL is only the start” at Salon.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “The Horrors of Bull Island, “the Worst Music Festival of All Time” (1972)” at Open Culture.

Read “Billie Eilish Apologizes for Mouthing Racist Slur in Surfaced Video: “I Am Appalled and Embarrassed at Pitchfork.

Read “A Little Less Lonely: Joni Mitchell’s Blue at 50” at Treble Zine.

Read “Untangling MF DOOM’s Lifelong Struggle With the U.S. Immigration System” at Pitchfork.

Browse Treble’s picks for “The 33 Best Albums of 2021 So Far.

Read “Inner Ear Studios’ Original Location Shutting Down” at Pitchfork.

Read “Go Spelunking in Mark E. Smith’s Mind With This Collection of the Fall Ephemera” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Factory Records co-founder and Joy Division album cover designer Peter Saville honoured with CBE” at Manchester Evening News.

Browse Rolling Stone’s picks for “The 50 Greatest Pop-Punk Albums.”

Read “Britney Spears Has Wanted Out of Her Conservatorship for Years. Why Is She Still in It?” at Vice.

Read/Listen to “Ripley Johnson of Rose City Band” at Petal Motel.

Read “Photos of New York's explosive 80s music scene” at I-D Vice.

Read “Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus Reveals Cancer Diagnosis” at Pitchfork.

Read “Talking Heads’ David Byrne buys $5.5M Toluca Lake mansion” at New York Post.

Read “Winston Marshall Leaves Mumford and Sons After Endorsing Andy Ngo’s Book” at Spin.

Read “Behind the Music Returning to Paramount+ with New Episodes: Watch the Trailer” at Consequence.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “Chris Cuomo calls Fox News a 'disgrace' for not informing viewers that Tucker Carlson shouldn't be taken seriously” at Yahoo.

Read “Diamond and Silk suggest Fox News is racist for dumping them over COVID-19 conspiracies that were also embraced by white hosts like Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity” at Business Insider.

Books/Reading/Authors

Browse “Umberto Eco’s 36 Rules for Writing Well (in English or Italian)” at Open Culture.

Read “Enter an Archive of 6,000 Historical Children’s Books, All Digitized and Free to Read Online” at Open Culture.

Read “What We Can Learn from Studying UFOs” at Scientific American.

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “New type of ancient human discovered in Israel” at BBC.

Read “The Truth Has Not Always Been Out There” at New York Times.

Food And Drink Cultures:

Read “Pepsi Seeks Trademark for Rockstar-Branded Beer, Hard Seltzer” at Bloomberg.

Read “California man arrested over theft of 42,000lbs of pistachios” at BBC.

Read “The Horrifying Legacy of the Victorian Tapeworm Diet” at Atlas Obscura.

Misc. Oddities:

Read ‘Yes, There Really is a Softball Field at Area 51” at Vice.

Local:

Read “Before she embraced Donald Trump, Kari Lake signed on with Democrats as Barack Obama's fortunes soared” at 12 News.

Read “Lake Mead's decline points to scary water future in West” at The Hill.

Read “New Mattel-inspired theme park finds a home in Glendale” at 12 News.

Read “Flat Tax Exacerbates Inequalities for Households of Color” at AZ Center For Economic Progress.

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)

DudeCrier.jpg

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 (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 (04/30/21)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (04/30/21).






We’ll Miss You:

Read “Michael Collins, command module pilot on Apollo 11, dies at 90” at 12 News.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Biden’s Armenian Genocide Stance Pleases Christians, Angers Turkey” at Christianity Today.

Read “Muslim Americans Reflect On Another Ramadan During The Pandemic” at NPR.

Read “Black and Asian Christian leaders discuss role of church in fighting racism” at Religion News Service.

Read “Dave Ramsey’s Bestseller Slips from Top 10 List” at Christianity Today.

Read “Mark Driscoll’s Elderless Church” at Throckmorton. “It should come as little surprise that Mark Driscoll’s new church apparently has solved the elder problem which led to his demise at Mars Hill. Just don’t have any.”

  • Read “A Family is Allegedly Driven From Mark Driscoll’s The Trinity Church in Scottsdale, Arizona” at Wondering Eagle.

Read “Virginia GOP reverses course, will let those with religious obligations cast absentee votes for Saturday convention” at The Hill.

Read “‘If you have eyes, plagiarize’: When borrowing a sermon goes too far” at Religion News Service.

Read “‘Beautiful’ Ramadan returns for Israeli Muslims as restrictions lift” at Religion News Service.

Read “US Catholic bishops may press Biden to stop taking Communion” at Religion News Service. “At issue is a document coming from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Doctrine clarifying the church’s stance on an issue that has repeatedly vexed the bishops.”

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

Read “Lindsay Lohan's father arrested for alleged 'patient brokering' in Florida” at The Hill.

Read “Maryland launches review of cases handled by ex-medical chief after Chauvin trial defense” at The Hill.

Read “Montana governor signs bill to protect Second Amendment from federal gun restrictions” at Fox Propaganda Network. “Republicans in the state passed the law amid President Biden’s push for federal gun reform measures.”

Read “NJ Man Charged with Sex Assault after Prior Case Dropped Amid Trooper Protests” at Newsweek. “A New Jersey man is facing new sexual assault charges after a prior case was dropped four years ago amid protests by state police that fueled a corruption probe with far-reaching ramifications, Newsweek has learned.”

Read “Five Myths About Red Flag Laws” at Washington Post.

Read “We all want something done.’ Peace Walk promotes end to gun violence in Lexington” at Lexington Herald Leader.

Read the opinion piece “Why I support reparations — and all conservatives should” at Washington Post.

Read “Erasing The Stain: 15,000 Pardoned Of Marijuana Possession Convictions” at WBHM.

Read “Parents Want Justice for Birth Injuries. Hospitals Want to Strip Them of the Right to Make That Decision” at Pro Publica.

Read “The Department of Homeland Security will undergo an internal review to root out white supremacy and combat extremist ideology in the federal government” at New York Times.

Read “Secret Court Reveals: FBI Hunted for Domestic Terrorists Without a Warrant” at Daily Beast.

Read “3 Indicted On Federal Hate Crime Charges In Ahmaud Arbery Death” at Huff Post.

Read “US Supreme Court hands victory to immigrants facing deportation” at Al Jazeera.

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

Watch ‘American Insurrection’ at PBS Frontline.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “Oklahoma passes law protecting drivers who kill or hurt rioters” at NBC News.

This Week With The Police:

Read “1 Verdict, Then 6 Police Killings Across America in 24 Hours” at NBC Washington. “At least six people were fatally shot by officers across the United States in the 24 hours after jurors reached a verdict in the murder case against former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.”

Read “Doorbell video captures police officer punching and throwing teen with autism to the ground” at CBS News.

Read “Yes, Black America Fears the Police. Here’s Why: at Pro Publica.

Read “Newark cops, with reform, didn’t fire a single shot in 2020” at NJ.com. “At the same time, crime is dropping, and police recovered almost 500 illegal guns from the street during the year.”

Read “Deputy Shoots Unarmed Man Repeatedly During 911 Call, Officials Say” at New York Times. “Isaiah Brown was on a cordless phone with an emergency dispatcher when he was shot, his lawyer said. His family said he was in intensive care.”

Read “Virginia deputy gave Black man a ride home, then shot him after 911 call” at NBC News. “Brown had a phone in his hand and was speaking to a dispatcher when he was shot, his law firm said.”

Read the opinion piece “The look in Derek Chauvin's eyes was something worse than hate” at CNN.

Read “Baltimore police commissioner expects Minneapolis PD to be placed under federal consent decree” at The Hill.

Read “Judge rules Andrew Brown Jr. bodycam videos will not be released, but will be disclosed to family” at MSNBC.

  • Read “US judge: no immediate release of video of Andrew Brown shooting” at Al Jazeera.

Read “In North Carolina, a Familiar Pattern After the Police Killing of Andrew Brown Jr.” at Slate.

Read “Bodycam Video Released Of California Man Who Died After Police Knelt On Him” at News and Guts.

Read “Justice Department will investigate Louisville police department in aftermath of Breonna Taylor shooting” at NBC News.

Read “Report: Police treatment of African Americans in the US amounts to crimes against humanity” at PRI’s The World.

Read “The World Recognizes Police Violence Against Black Americans as Crimes Against Humanity.” at The North Star.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Miami private school won't employ teachers who get the Covid-19 vaccine” at NBC News.

Read “Embattled Florida superintendent pleads not guilty to perjury charge” at The Hill.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “How Bill Gates Impeded Global Access to Covid Vaccines” at The New Republic.

Read “U.S. defends restrictions on export of COVID-19 vaccine raw materials amid India's request to lift ban” at The Hindu.

  • Read “U.S. to provide Covid vaccine components, medical supplies to India” at NBC News. “The White House said they will send raw materials required for India to manufacture the Covishield vaccine, as well as therapeutics, rapid diagnostic test kits, ventilators and protective equipment.”

Read “Millions Appear to Be Skipping Second COVID-19 Vaccine Shot in the U.S.” at Slate.

Read “Airline Bans Alaska State Senator For Violating COVID-19 Mask Rules” at Huff Post.

Read “West Virginia will offer $100 savings bonds to young people who get vaccinated” at Axios.

Read “French Biotech Firm Has a Weapon for the Mutation War” at Bloomberg.

Read “Washington state poker night linked to nearly 100 COVID-19 cases” at The HillI.

Please Read “Fauci: Joe Rogan's COVID-19 comments 'incorrect” at The Hill.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “The Newest Status Symbol for High-Net Worth Homeowners: Trophy Trees” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “82-Year-Old NFL Alum Arrested, Found With Massive Amount of Cocaine” at Pop Culture.

Read “How Capicola Became Gabagool: The Italian New Jersey Accent, Explained” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “Prancer, The 'Haunted Victorian Child' Dog From Viral Ad, Has Been Adopted” at NPR.

Read “When Ayn Rand Collected Social Security & Medicare, After Years of Opposing Benefit Programs” at Open Culture.

Read “The Problem With Apple’s Plan to Stop Facebook’s Data Collection” at Slate.

Read “It Was Just Thrilling': 2 NPR Founders Remember The First Days, 50 Years Ago” at NPR.

Internationalities:

Read “Food pantries for hungry Filipinos get tagged as communist” at Al Jazeera. “People turn against the Duterte administration after a military-led agency accuses volunteers of a popular feeding initiative of being communist sympathisers.”

Read “Erdogan threatens to recognise killings of Native Americans as genocide in response to Armenia resolution” at Independent.

Read 'I Remember Them Screaming': Afghans Detail Alleged Killings By Australian Military” at NPR.

Read “Filipino investigative journalist to receive UN press freedom prize” at UN News.

Read “U.S. Contractors Are Still Helping Maintain Saudi Warplanes Used in Yemen War” at Democracy Now.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Caitlyn Jenner announces run for California governor in recall election” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Democrats warn Waters censure move opens floodgates” at The Hill.

Read “LinkedIn billionaire: Cut off funding for politicians who limit voting rights” at CNN.

Read “Kerry faces calls to step down over leaked Iran tapes” at The Hill.

Read “Newsom recall effort has enough signatures to make ballot” at The Hill.

Read “Biden to pitch sweeping ‘family plan’ in speech to Congress” at Associated Press.

Read “Biden nominates Texas sheriff to lead ICE” at NBC News.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “This family thought Biden would stop Trump's wall. Now his administration is plodding along to seize their land” at Business Insider.

Read “Documents Show Trump Officials Skirted Rules to Reward Politically Connected and Untested Firms With Huge Pandemic Contracts” at Pro Publica.

Read “Marjorie Taylor Greene Dragged After Announcing She'll File Resolution To Expel Maxine Waters From Congress” at Comic Sands.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “DMX's casket borne through streets of New York on a monster truck, which feels right” at AV Club.

Read “Why Boards of Canada’s Music Has the Right to Children Is the Greatest Psychedelic Album of the ’90s” at Pitchfork. “Unlocking the mysteries behind the Scottish electronic duo’s hallucinatory classic, which turns 20 this month.”

Read “25 Greatest Punk Rock Movies of All Time” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Van Morrison Blames ‘Freedom of Speech’ Over Negative Response to Anti-Lockdown Songs” at Spin.

Read “St. Vincent Told Me To Kill This Interview” by Emma Madden.

Read “Ryley Walker “Course In Fable” at Foxy Digitalis.

Read “Relive being in CBGB via this 360 VR tour” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Arts Coverage Commentary: A Conversation with Ted Gioia About New Approaches to Publishing” at Arts Fuse.

Read “Questlove’s Music Trivia Game at Oscars 2021 Ends With Glenn Close Doing “Da Butt” at Pitchfork.

Read “John Lydon Threatens to Sue Danny Boyle Over “Disrespectful” Sex Pistols TV Series” at Consequence of Sound. "They went to the point to hire an actor to play me but what's the actor working on? Certainly not my character"

Read “Charles Mingus’ Instructions For Toilet Training Your Cat, Read by The Wire’s Reg E. Cathey” at Open Culture.

Read “The Art of Japanese Portable Record Players” at In Sheep’s Clothing Hi Fi.

Read “Kurt Cobain’s ‘The Last Session’ Photoshoot Will Be Sold as an NFT” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Foo Fighters, Radiohead, LCD Soundsystem, and More Design Bikes for Fundraiser” at Pitchfork.

Read “Rig Rundown: Yasmin Williams” at Premier Guitar.

Listen: “The Lumineers And Gregory Alan Isakov Cover Each Other's Songs” at NPR.

Read “How Jamaica shaped the creative spirit and evolution of music production” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “A new Hollywood biopic movie detailing the life of late, great Motorhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister – titled, Simply Lemmy is set to begin production early next year and stars American actor, director and narrator Morgan Freeman” at Vintage Heavy Metal.

Read “Julien Baker Triumphs Over Her Inner Demons” at Spin.

Read “Lady Gaga’s Alleged Dognappers Arrested For Attempted Murder And Robbery” at Huff Post.

Read “Bringin’ it Backwards: Interview with The Mother Hips” at American Songwriter.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “Here’s what happens to the extra food in cooking competition shows” at Marketplace.

Read “China censoring reaction to Chloé Zhao's historic Oscar win” at The Hill.

Read “Josh Gad, Isla Fisher to Star in Romantic Comedy Series ‘Wolf Like Me’ at Peacock” at Variety.

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “Follow-up study finds a single dose of one drug can ease anxiety and depression for five years” at The HIll. “Participants “rated it among the most personally meaningful and spiritually significant experiences of their lives,” according to the study.”

Read “Mars helicopter Ingenuity snapped a fantastic aerial photo of the Perseverance rover” at Boing Boing.

Food Cultures:

Read “The Planet on the Plate: Why Epicurious Left Beef Behind” at Epicurious.

Misc. Oddities:

Read “The Josh Fight is Real and Delightfully Bizarre” at The Big Lead.

Read “Inside the multi-million dollar orgasm cult endorsed by Hollywood” at Cult News 101.

Read “Famed Scots UFO expert returns home after 23 years to crack Bonnybridge 'alien' mystery” at Daily Record.

Local:

Read “Security lapses plague Arizona Senate's election audit at State Fairgrounds” at AZ Family.

  • Read “Experts raise concerns about processes, transparency as election audit begins” at AZ Mirror.

Read “Seller's market in Phoenix real estate is brutal for local buyers” at AZ Family.

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 (04/02/21)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about and more (04/02/21).






We’ll Miss You:

Read “Pioneering Synth Designer and Stevie Wonder Producer, Malcolm Cecil, Dead at 84” at Okay Player.

Religion and Stuff:

ReadChurch membership in the U.S. has fallen below the majority for the first time in nearly a century” at Washington Post. 

ReadLIL' NAS X Satanic Panic Publicity Makes Me Long For When Conservative Christians Got Mad At Metal” at Metal Injection. “The rapper's limited release Satanic sneakers and new music video are causing an uproar that used to be reserved for metal acts.”

  • Read “Lil Nas X's 'Satan' shoes that contain drop of human blood sold out in less than a minute” at The Hill.

Read “'Scolded us for being female': Woman says fishing trip prize taken away because she is a woman” at KETV. ““Living in the days of sexual scandals & accusations many pastors including myself, take the personal position that we will not put ourselves in a position that could bring about a false accusation.”

Read “Dozens of Christian students sue the U.S. Education Dept., hoping to pressure Equality Act negotiations.” “Students from across the country allege being ejected, punished and harmed by policies barring LGBTQ relationships and advocacy, and they are fighting back.”

Read “Celebrating Easter on the anniversary of MLK’s death” at Christian Century.

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

Read “Biden blasts new Georgia voting laws as civil rights group sue” at Al Jazeera.

Read “In the latest debate on guns, a hobbled NRA takes a backseat” at CNN.

Read “Carmichael Man Facing 19 Felony Weapons Charges After Discovery of Massive Gun Cache, Fake Explosives” at Sacramento CBS Local.

Read “A history of “wokeness” at Vox. “Stay woke: How a Black activist watchword got co-opted in the culture war.”

Read “Derek Chauvin Trial Live Updates: Lawyers Present Case in George Floyd’s Death” at New York Times.

Read “Supreme Court reinstates Tennessee inmate's death sentence” at The Hill.

Read “Arkansas becomes first state to pass bill prohibiting doctors from providing gender-affirming medical care to trans youth” at Business Insider.

Read “George Floyd news: Witness says Derek Chauvin used ‘blood choke’ as Floyd ‘pleaded for his life’” at Independent.

  • Read “Officers didn't let me into the scene': Witness, Off-duty firefighter says she would have given Floyd medical attention” at MSNBC.

Read “Asian woman brutally beaten in suspected hate crime as security guard does nothing to help” at New York Post.

  • Read “YouTube employees upset at company's refusal to remove song considered anti-Asian” at The Hill.

  • Read “Minnesota High Schoolers Stage Walkout After Asian Teen Receives Racist Texts From Classmates” at Comic Sands.

Read “Amazon Security Staff Reported Its Own Hostile Tweets as ‘Suspicious,’ Fearing They’d Been Hacked” at The Intercept. “These tweets are unnecessarily antagonistic (risking Amazon’s brand), and may be a result of unauthorized access,” read an employee help ticket.” Instead, in reality, the order for the bad tweets came directly from big man Bezos.

  • Read “‘She-Wees’ and Plastic Bags: Amazon’s Pee Scandal Is Much Worse for Women” at Vice.

Read “NRA Board Member Upends Bankruptcy With Demand to Probe LaPierre” at Bloomberg.

Read “The Myth of the ‘Underage Woman” at The Atlantic.

Read “Matt Gaetz Is Said to Face Justice Dept. Inquiry Over Sex With an Underage Girl” at New York Times.

  • Read “Gaetz showed lawmakers nude photos of women he claimed to have slept with: report” at The Hill.

  • Read “Justice Dept. Inquiry Into Matt Gaetz Said to Be Focused on Cash Paid to Women” at New York Times.

Read “500 Migrant Kids Crammed Into Plastic ‘Pods’ Meant for 32 People” at Daily Beast.

Read “Revisiting the Black power dream of North Carolina's Soul City” at Facing South.

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

Read “Capitol riot suspect arrested while wearing 'I Was There' T-shirt” at The Hill.

Read “Charlottesville Can Remove Statues Of Confederate Generals, High Court Rules” at Huff Post.

Read “How Do You Solve A Problem Like The Proud Boys?” at Rantt Media. “Given the challenges law enforcement faces when trying to tackle extremist groups, it's clear that other counter-extremism measures have to be on the table.”

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Biden’s First Big Break With His Allies Is Over School Reopenings” at New York Mag : Intelligencer.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Dr. Deborah Birx says thousands of U.S. Covid deaths were preventable” at MSNBC.

Read “The Pandemic Ignited a Housing Boom—but It’s Different From the Last One” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “The Stunning Art That’s Waging War On COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy And Disinformation” at Huff Post.

Read “I just can't face another surge': Premature reopenings threaten vaccine successes” at MSNBC.

Read “U.K. Government Distributes $553 Million More From Culture Recovery Fund to Arts Organizations” at Variety.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Annie's Mac and Cheese is based in the Bay Area, but Annie is not. Here's her story” at SF Gate.

Read ‘Miss me yet?’ Donald Trump tears into Biden and border crisis at Mar-a-Lago wedding” at The Express.

Read “Detroit restaurant warns people who smell like marijuana to not 'even think of stepping inside'“ at The Hill.

Read “A Q&A With the Real Estate Agent Selling This Sexy Funeral Goth House in Baltimore” at Slate.

Read “Can a scammer hypnotize you over the phone? Let’s ask professional hypnotists” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “National Building Museum to reopen with exhibit on gun violence” at The Hill.

Read “Were Rampage’s Monsters Really Based on King Kong, Godzilla, and The Wolf Man?” at Den of Geek. “Before Godzilla vs. King Kong, we spent years pretending Rampage put those legendary monsters on the same screen. However, the true origins of Rampage's monsters are stranger than you think...”

Read “How One of the World’s Largest Container Ships Can Get Stuck in the Suez Canal” at Wall Street Journal.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Fox News sued by Dominion Voting Systems over election fraud claims” at NBC News.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Georgia Lawmaker Arrested As Governor Signs Law Overhauling Elections” at NPR.

Read “Graham cites Hurricane Katrina as reason to own AR-15” at The Hill.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Rick Nielsen Of Cheap Trick Reviews Cheap Trick’s Biggest Albums” at Uproxx.

Watch “the Weather Station Perform on CBS This Morning” at Pitchfork.

Read “Bob Weir: Saint of Circumstance” at Relix.

  • Read “Dead & Company Confirm Dates for Playing in the Sand 2022” at Relix.

  • Read “Phil Lesh to Perform Socially Distanced Show at Terrapin Crossroads” at Jambands.

Read “The Many Lives of Judee Sill” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Officially Sanctioned ‘Jerry Garcia, Artist’ Documentary To Focus On 1987 Interview” at Live For Live Music.

Read “BTS Discuss Facing Discrimination, Condemn Racism in #StopAsianHate Statement” at Pitchfork.

Read “Sons of Kemet Announce New Album Black to the Future, Share “Hustle” at Consequence of Sound.

Browse Pitchfork’s picks for “30 Great Records You May Have Missed: Winter 2021.”

Read “Benevento/Russo Duo Confirm Relix Studio Full Acoustic Livestream Concert” at Jambase.

Read “Nils Frahm: ‘NFTs are the most disgusting thing on the planet’” at Independent.

Read “Kevin Shields on My Bloody Valentine’s Return: Time Is ‘More Precious’” at New York Times.

Read “Celebrating 15 Years of Musical Eclecticism with Aquarium Drunkard’s Justin Gage” at In Sheep’s Clothing Hi Fi.

Read “Archie Shepp :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview”.

Read “Janis Joplin’s Last TV Performance & Interview: The Dick Cavett Show (1970)” at Open Culture.

Read “Grammy Museum To Honor Blue Note Records For Jazz Appreciation Month” at U Discover Music.

Read “Matt Sweeney Loves “Guitar Playing That You Don’t Understand” at Premier Guitar.

Read “A Quiet Revolution” at Spin. “Indigo Girls' Amy Ray and Emily Saliers on their life in music, activism and friendship.”

Read “Learning to Be OK With the Word ‘Vinyls’” at Variety.

Read “Ryley Walker Explains How He Made His Best Album, ‘Course In Fable’” at Uproxx.

Read “Soundgarden Accuse Vicky Cornell of Locking Band Out of Social Media Accounts” at Consequence of Sound.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “Did you spot them? 'Coming 2 America's best throwbacks to the classic comedy original (Spoilers!)” at USA Today.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “Howl: illuminating draft of Allen Ginsberg's seminal poem found” at The Guardian. “Early draft of Howl is on sale for $425,000 and ‘allows a look into the mind’ of the influential Beat poet.”

Misc. Oddities:

Read “Who Built the Egyptian Pyramids & How Did They Do It?: New Archeological Evidence Busts Ancient Myths” at Open Culture.

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 (01/01/21)

goober.jpg

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (01/01/21).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Guitarist Tony Rice Dead at 69” at Pitchfork.

Read “In Memoriam: Leslie West (1945-2020)” at Jambands.

Read “Pierre Cardin, iconic Space Age fashion designer, dead at 98” at New York Post.

Read “MF DOOM, Elusive Bard of Hip-Hop, Dead at 49” at Rolling Stone.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “From cruise ships to Trump’s hotel, Calvinist Christian nationalism is making moves” at Religion News Service. “Michael O'Fallon argues that America's Judeo-Christian heritage and 'the right of self governance' are under attack by the Open Society Foundation and society at large.”

Read “The Nationalist Roots of White Evangelical Politics” at Dissent. “From its origins, white evangelicalism has been marked by a vision of a Christian America, driven to overcome its perceived enemies.”

Read “The Church Needs Prophets, But It Wants Lawyers” by David French. “It’s time to listen to men and women who tell us what we need to hear.”

Read “RZIM Confirms Ravi Zacharias’s Sexual Misconduct” at Christianity Today.

  • Read “RZIM Branch in UK Calls on U.S. Board to “Reform Radically”” at Roys Report.

Read “Several Black pastors break with the Southern Baptist Convention over a statement on race” at Washington Post.

Read “If You Want to Understand White Evangelicals, Tour a Hobby Lobby Store” at Daily Beast. “The merch illustrates a cultural identity that is clearly Christian but less about loving thy neighbor and more about loving thy guns and a militant white masculine ideal.”

Read “How Jesus became white — and why it’s time to cancel that” at Religion News Service. “Nearly a century later, both ‘Head of Christ’ and criticism of its role in enshrining Jesus as white endure.”

Read “CT’s Top 20 Stories of 2020” at Christianity Today.

Read “Mormon church sued for alleged role in Boy Scouts sex abuse” at KBTX.

Read “The path to enlightenment is an ego trip: Meditation and mindfulness linked to narcissism and feelings of 'spiritual superiority', study finds” at Daily Mail.

Read “There’s no theological education pipeline anymore” by Justo L. González at Christian Century. “It’s been replaced by a thriving irrigation hose.”

Read “Los Angeles activists say Sean Feucht is ‘waging biological warfare’ ahead of homeless outreach events” at Religion News Service. “Activists are holding car caravans on Wednesday and New Year’s Eve to block Christian recording artist Sean Feucht from holding outreach events in two homeless communities in Los Angeles.”

  • Read “Christian Singer Sean Feucht Moves Ahead With New Year's Eve Concerts in LA Despite COVID-19 Rules” at Billboard.

Read “Justin Bieber reportedly studying to be a minister for Hillsong church” at Page Six.

Read “Jericho March plans DC return in the new year to pray Pence will overturn election” at Religion News Service.

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

Read “Possible human remains found near Nashville explosion site, police chief says” at CNN.

  • Read “These six Nashville police officers evacuated residents moments before motor home exploded” at CNN.

  • Read “Authorities probing whether Nashville bomber Anthony Warner blew up dogs” at New York Post.

  • Read “Investigators reportedly looking into whether Nashville bombing suspect believed in alien lizards” at Task and Purpose.

  • Read “Nashville Bomber's Girlfriend Warned Police About Him In 2019” at NPR.

Read “The Economy Isn’t Working. That’s Exactly the Plan.” at Common Dreams. “Inequality is reaching feudal proportions, where very few own almost everything, and everyone else is crushed under the wheel of engineered destitution.”

Read “Longtime Anti-Nuclear Activists Face Prison, Again, After Breaking Into Naval Base” at NPR.

Read “A Woman Attacked a 14-Year-Old Black Boy on Video After She Falsely Accused Him of Stealing Her Phone” at Vice.

Read “Ghislaine Maxwell denied $28.5m bail in sex crime case” at BBC.

Read “Religion, Abortion, Guns And Race. Just The Start Of A New Supreme Court Menu” at NPR.

Read “Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signs bill requiring fetal remains be buried or cremated” at Cincinnati.com.

This Week With The Police:

Read “What we know about the fatal shooting of Andre Hill, a Black man, by Columbus police” at Columbia Dispatch.

  • Read “Ohio police officer fired in fatal shooting of Black man” at AP News.

Read “Phoenix police officer said, 'If the mayor defunds the police, I'm going to shoot her'“ at AZ Central.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Betsy DeVos tells Education Department employees to 'resist' Biden administration, report says” at USA Today.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Covid-19 Aid Bill Remains in Doubt as Congress Braces for Showdown With Trump” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan jailed for 'provoking trouble' with Wuhan reporting” at NBC News.

Read “L.A. County is probing whether a new, more contagious COVID strain is spreading locally” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Still Disinfecting Surfaces? It Might Not Be Worth It” at NPR.

Read “Small Number of Covid Patients Develop Severe Psychotic Symptoms” at New York Times.

Read “If you want to travel next year, you may need a vaccine passport” at CNN.

Read “COVID-19 is taking a heavy toll in America’s mental health-care deserts” at National Geographic.


Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology and/or “Celebrities”):

Read “Shia LaBeouf to Enter Rehab for Addiction and Psychological Issues” at Consequence of Sound.

Internationalities:

Read “US begins labelling illegal settlement products as 'Made in Israel'“ at Middle East Eye.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Growing number of GOP lawmakers back Electoral College challenge” at The Hill.

Read “Senate filibuster designed to oust Mitch McConnell over $2000 survival aid” at Raw Story.

Read “Georgia signature audit finds no fraud in presidential election” at The Hill.

Read “Ossoff slams Loeffler criticism of Warnock: She's 'been campaigning with a Klansman'“ at The Hill.

Read “Graham calls for stand-alone vote on $2K checks” at The Hill.

Read “Biden's Incoming Press Secretary: Briefings Won't Be A Platform For Right-Wing Spin” at NPR.

Read “Republicans Propping Up the Fossil Fuel Industry Is Borderline Socialist” at Slate.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Trump's final days try to turn the military into a political pawn” at The Hill.

Read “GOP lawmaker sues Pence in bid to overturn Biden win” at The Hill.

  • Read “Pence asks judge to toss GOP lawmaker's bid to overturn election results” at The Hill.

Read “Trump Races to Weaken Environmental and Worker Protections, and Implement Other Last-Minute Policies, Before Jan. 20” at Pro Publica.

Read “Sen. Josh Hawley Will Contest the Electoral College Vote Count” at Slate.

Music-Related News and Such:

Browse The Allmusic 2020 Year In Review.

Read “Interview: Jeff Tweedy on Creativity and Catharsis” at Relix.

Read “How Music Persisted During the Pandemic” at Pitchfork. “From Bandcamp Fridays to Verzuz battles, these were our silver linings from a strange, stuck year in music.”

Browse “Lee Ranaldo lists his favorite guitarists of all time” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Vinyl Just Had Its Best Sales Week in History” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Ticketmaster To Pay $10 Million Fine Following Songkick Legal Dispute” at Relix.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “Nadine Labaki to Star in Arabic ‘Perfect Strangers’ Remake” at Variety.

Design/Artsy Things:

Read “Photographer Crafts Special Camera To Capture Delicate Snowflakes in the Highest Resolution Ever” at My Modern Net.

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

National Geographic has chosen their favorite photographs of the year:

  • Browse “The best science pictures of 2020.”

  • Browse “our best animal photos of 2020.”

  • Browse “Family Life 2020—in photos.”

Misc. Oddities:

Read “Wanted: albino python thieves in Massachusetts” at Boing Boing.

The Weekly Town Crier (12/04/20)

beardy.jpg

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (12/04/20).



We’ll Miss You:

Read “Darth Vader actor David Prowse has died at 85” at The Verge.

Read ‘‘Mad Max’ villain Hugh Keays-Byrne has died” at NME.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Ruling Striking Down Limits on Religious Services Shows Trump Effect on Supreme Court” at Slate.

Read “Is Healing Even Possible?” at The Atlantic. “In an extended interview, the Reverend William J. Barber II explains why healing the soul of the nation will take more than returning to “normal.”

Read “Most ‘Fox News Republicans’ believe Christians face most discrimination” at Religion News Service.

Read (Russel) “Moore presented with Defending Religious Freedom Award” at Kentucky Today.

Read “Churches return land to Indigenous groups as part of #LandBack movement” at Religion News Service.

Read “Lawsuit: LDS Church officials, teacher knew of abuse but kept silent” at AZ Central.

Read “Seminary presidents reaffirm BFM, declare CRT incompatible” at Baptist Press.

  • Read “Southern Baptist seminary presidents reaffirm their commitment to whiteness” at The Witness.

Read “How Prison Ministry Inspired an All-Female Audio Bible” at Christianity Today.

Read “Faith takes the forefront as Georgia Senate runoffs heat up” at Associated Press.

Read “Eric Metaxas and the losing of the evangelical mind” at Religion News Service. “Christians can’t wait for the sociologists to sort out why our fellow congregants believe in ‘Q’ or that Trump won the election. We need a strategy to restore a few basic truths.”

  • Read “How Eric Metaxas went from Trump despiser to true believer” at Religion News Service. “How a one-time aspiring public intellectual and Trump doubter turned into a true believer in stolen elections.”

Read “Three ways to create sacred moments at home this Advent” at Christian Century.

Read “Why Some Evangelicals Refuse To Acknowledge That Trump Has Lost The Election” at Huff Post.

Read “In leaked call, Hillsong founder Brian Houston details ‘narcissistic’ Carl Lentz’s firing” at Religion News Service.

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

Read “New rule could allow gas, firing squads for US executions” at AP News.

Read “Man receives racist note after putting up Black Santa decoration” at The Hill.

Read “Restructuring A World Without Prisons” at Sojourners. “Making the impossible possible calls for an exercise in radical imagination.”

Read “Ex-Arizona Official Gets Six Years for Smuggling Pregnant Women Into U.S. to Sell Their Babies” at MSN.

Read “President Trump's war on immigration takes on political overtone at Supreme Court” at USA Today.

Read “Supreme Court skeptical of Trump's plan to exclude undocumented immigrants from census” at NBC News.

Read “French government drops draft law curbing filming of police” at Al Jazeera.

Read “Inside a Neo-Nazi Terror Cell as it Reckons with FBI Arrests” at Vice.

  • Read “How One Man Built a Neo-Nazi Insurgency in Trump's America” at Vice. “This is the inside story of how Rinaldo Nazzaro built the Base, a neo-Nazi terror organization—and how it all came apart.”

  • Read “For Some, Joining the Proud Boys Was a Stop on the Way to Neo-Nazi Terror” at Vice. “Several members and a recruit to the neo-Nazi terror group the Base described the Proud Boys as part of the journey into far-right extremism.”

Read “Bill that could help Black farmers reclaim millions of acres 'a step in the right direction'“ at ABC News.

Read “Hidden in Plain Sight: The Ghosts of Segregation” at New York Times.

Read “Harris County GOP chairman who made racist Facebook post resigns” at The Hill.

Read “DeSantis wants to make ‘Stand Your Ground’ a license to kill vandals in Florida” at Orlando Sentinel.

Read “'Tiger King' star Joe Exotic formally requests pardon, including handwritten letter to Trump” at USA Today.

Read “Black Children Are Six Times More Likely to Be Shot to Death by Police” at Equal Justice Initiative.

Read “The U.S. Spent $11.6B to Stop Cocaine Trafficking. It Was a Massive Failure” at Vice.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Kentucky cop slugs man livestreaming an arrest with ‘solid left hook’” at New York Post.

Read “How America’s deadliest serial killer went undetected for more than 40 years” at Washington Post.

Read “Phoenix approves $3 million payout to family of man fatally shot in the back by police” at AZ Central.

Read “US: No Justice 6 Months Since New York Police Assault” at Human Rights Watch.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Teaching in the Pandemic: This is not sustainable” at New York Times.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “The Unexpected Message Revealed by Long Lines for Virus Testing” at New York Times.

Read “Rhode Island is shutting bars and gyms But leaving schools open Because that's what the data suggests we should do” at Washington Post.

Read “The NFL’s Thanksgiving Weekend Has Become a Covid Crisis” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Larry Fitzgerald tests positive for COVID-19” at 12 News.

Read “In Europe’s Nursing Homes, a Soaring Covid-19 Death Toll and the Pain of Isolation” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “The Yankee Candle phenomenon” at Boing Boing.

Read “Coronavirus Hospitalizations Are at an All-Time High” at Vice.

Read ‘How The Coronavirus Has Affected Individual Members Of Congress” at NPR.

Read “Pope Blasts Those Who Criticize COVID Restrictions in the Name of “Personal Freedom”” at Slate.

Read “Moderna Chief Medical Officer: ‘Once there is marketing authorization, we stand ready to distribute our vaccine’” at MSNBC.

Read “Arizona School, Business Leaders Concerned About Spread Of COVID-19” at KJZZ.

Read “Articles of impeachment filed against GOP Ohio governor over coronavirus orders” at The Hill.

Read ‘Canada not ready to lift border restrictions with US as COVID-19 spikes” at The Hill.

Read “How Safe Is Eating At A Restaurant During The COVID-19 Pandemic?” at Huff Post.

Read “CDC urges Americans not to travel for Christmas” at The Hill.

Read “Why nursing home aides exposed to COVID-19 aren’t taking sick leave at The Conversation.

ReadCoronavirus: Here's how you can stop bad information from going viral” at BBC

Read “The Majority Of Children Who Die From COVID-19 Are Children Of Color” at NPR.

Read “Italy bans Christmas travel between regions” at BBC.

Read “Iowa Is What Happens When Government Does Nothing” at The Atlantic. “The story of the coronavirus in the state is one of government inaction in the name of freedom and personal responsibility.”

Read “What the CDC’s New Quarantine Guidelines Mean for You” at Slate.

Read “City of Phoenix halts sports facility reservations as coronavirus cases rise” at KTAR.

Read “Covid Shrinks the Labor Market, Pushing Out Women and Baby Boomers” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “COVID-19 Will Change How We Age, Where We Age And How We Pay For It” at WBUR.

Read “Fauci: 'I don't socialize. It's my wife and I and the federal agents'“ at The Hill.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Family Caregivers In Arizona Are Struggling With Burnout And Isolation During COVID-19” at KJZZ.

Read “Ikea Will Buy Back the Furniture You No Longer Want and Recycle or Resell It” at Global Citizen.

Read “OAN Is So Dangerous Because It Looks Like a Real News Channel” at Vice.

Read “Man caught with nearly 4 tons of stolen sewer lids in pickup truck, cops say” at CWB Chicago.

Read “The Crown Doesn't Fully Explain Why Princess Diana Was So Popular. Here's How She Became a Global Celebrity” at Time.

Read “‘Time For My Flag to Go Up’: How Anti-Trumpers Are Reclaiming the American Flag” at Politico.

Read “'The Real Looting in America Is the Walton Family': GAO Report Details How Taxpayers Subsidize Cruel Low Wages of Corporate Giants” at Common Dreams.

Read “IRS Says Its Own Error Sent $1,200 Stimulus Checks To Non-Americans Overseas” at NPR.

Read “Microsoft files patent to record and score meetings on body language” at BBC.

Read “Facial recognition is getting better at making matches around face masks’ at CNET.

Read “Facebook Content Review Board Chooses First Six Cases for Review” at Bloomberg. “Oversight Board has picked the first six cases it will review to determine whether the company took appropriate action with controversial content.”

Read “Airbnb Sets IPO Terms Sending Valuation as High as $35 Billion” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “UCLA Paid Student Workers With Amazon Gift Cards” at Vice.

Read I'm an 'LSD Specialist' Who Sells Acid to Oxford University Students” at Vice. "I’m not really in it for the money. If I was, I’d probably sell something like ketamine."

Read “Elliot Page Announces He is Transgender” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “How To Fix A Food System That Wasn’t Designed To Feed People” at Huff Post.

Read “The Justice Department is suing Facebook for side-stepping visa rules” at The Verge.

Read “This ‘Magical Bug’ Exposed Any iPhone in a Hacker's Wi-Fi Range” at Wired.

Read “The Latest OnlyFans Drama Involves a YouTuber Posting a Video of Herself As a Toddler” at Vulture.

Internationalities:

Read “Suspected North Korean Hackers Target COVID-19 Vaccine Maker AstraZeneca” at HuffPost.

Read “Israel, US planning ‘covert ops’ against Iran as Trump’s term ends, report says” at Times of Israel.

Read “How Iranian scientist’s killing could derail future US-Iran talks” at Al Jazeera.

Read “Government ready for 100 per cent increase in Hong Kong citizens coming to UK” at Telegraph.

Read “Canada bans mass exports of prescription drugs” at BBC.

Read “Assassination in Iran Could Limit Biden’s Options. Was That the Goal?” at New York Times.

Read “Eviction of Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah part of Israeli policy” at Al Jazeera.

Read “US sanctions Chinese company for conducting business with Maduro regime” at The Hill.

Read “Japan Puts Its Post-Covid Tourism Hopes In Hands Of Giant Robot” at Huff Post.

Read “Homes raided after Germany bans far-right group” at The Hill.

Read “An anti-gay Hungarian politician has resigned after being caught by the police fleeing a 25-man orgy through a window” at Business Insider.

Read ‘Everyone Looks Terrible in the Grim China-Australia Twitter War” at Slate. “How a nation got trolled into publicizing its own war crimes.”

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Cuomo blames new conservative majority for high court's COVID-19 decision” at The Hill.

Read “NC donor wants millions returned after pro-Trump group drops election fraud cases” at News Observer.

Read “Joe Biden considering Cindy McCain for UK ambassador” at KTAR.

Read “Republicans ready to become deficit hawks again under a President Biden” at The Hill.

Read “Pennsylvania Supreme Court Throws Out Last Active Legal Challenge to State’s Election Results” at Slate.

Read “Carter Page sues over surveillance related to Russia probe” at The Hill.

Read “National Review Calls Out “Trump’s Disgraceful Endgame” at Hill Reporter.

Read “Biden hires all-female WH communications team” at MSNBC.

Read “Biden says he asked Fauci to be a chief medical adviser for incoming administration” at Boing Boing.

Read “Robert Lighthizer Blew Up 60 Years of Trade Policy. Nobody Knows What Happens Next.” at Pro Publica.

Read “The Pardon Power May Be Broad, But that Does Not Mean a Self-Pardon Would Be Legit” at Reason.

Read “More and More Republican Officials Are Standing Up to Trump and His Effort to Overturn the Election” at Slate.

Read “Barr: No evidence of fraud that’d change outcome of presidential election” at WUSA9.

Read “Trump to boycott Biden’s inauguration — and won’t even invite him for White House visit” at The Raw Story.

Read “McCaskill: 'Hypocrisy' for GOP to target Biden nominee's tweets after Trump” at The Hill.

Read “The MAGA Coalition Rallying Behind Trump’s Post-Election Mischief Is Already Cracking” at Daily Beast.

Read “Most Americans support raising taxes on those making at least $400,000” at The Hill.

Read “How Is Trump’s Lawyer Jenna Ellis ‘Elite Strike Force’ Material?” at New York Times.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Trump’s Disinformation Campaign Threatens to Undermine the Government” at Time.

Read “20 days of fantasy and failure: Inside Trump’s quest to overturn the election” at Washington Post.

Read “It's not the first time that an outgoing president refused to work with an incoming one” at Salon.

Read “Arizona Republicans Level More Allegations Of Election Fraud” at KJZZ.

Read “Kemp to Trump: Georgia law blocks him from ‘interfering’ with elections” at AJC.

Read “Trump and his allies won't drop claims of stolen election — because they're cashing in” at Salon.

Read “Trump blasts Ducey over election certification, says he betrayed Arizonans” at AZ Mirror.

Read “Bill Barr Hid Evidence Of A Bribery For Pardon Investigation During The Election” at Empty Wheel.

Read ‘Trump Has Discussed With Advisers Pardons for His 3 Eldest Children and Giuliani” at New York Times.

Read ‘'It has to stop': Georgia official calls on Trump to 'stop inspiring' death threats over election” at USA Today.

Read “Wisconsin Gov. Calls Trump Election Fraud Lawsuit An ‘Assault’” at Huff Post. “He is simply trying to seize Wisconsin’s electoral votes, even though he lost the statewide election,” attorneys say.

Read “Donald Trump’s Latest Grift May Be His Most Cynical Yet” at The New Yorker.

Read “White House liaison barred from DOJ after pressing for sensitive information” at The Hill.

Read “Wisconsin Supreme Court declines to hear Trump's "case"“ at Boing Boing.

Read “Ivanka Trump deposed Tuesday as part of inauguration fund lawsuit” at NBC News. “The suit claims the Inaugural Committee made improper payments to the president's hotel during his 2017 inauguration. Trump called the suit political.”

Read “David Perdue bought Pfizer stock — a week before company said it would develop a vaccine” at Salon.

Read “GOP Attorney Caught Illegally Registering to Vote in Georgia After Video of Him Urging Others to Do So Went Viral” at Second Nexus.

Read “Giuliani's witness draws audible laughter during testimony” at CNN.

Music-Related News and Such:

2020 Year-End Lists:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read “Music Legends Eric Clapton, Van Morrison Team for Anti-Lockdown Single ‘Stand and Deliver’” at Variety.

Read “Erykah Badu & Summer Walker Discuss Stardom, Aliens And More” at Okay Player.

Read “When Home Recording Hit the San Francisco Rock Scene” at Reverb.

Read “In Praise of Phoebe Bridgers, a Thoroughly Good Celebrity” at Slate.

Read “AC/DC Debuts at No. 1, Powered by CD Sales” at New York Times.

Read “Phish Frontman Trey Anastasio Raises Over $1 Million For New Drug Treatment Center” at Vanity Fair.

Read “Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein to Write and Direct New Heart Biopic” at Pitchfork.

Browse “Elvis Costello on the Music of His Life” at Pitchfork.

Read ‘Rivers Cuomo is selling thousands of old demos while learning how to code. Here’s his final class assignment” at A Journal Of Musical Things.

Read “Phoenix producer Bob Hoag revisits a 'magical time' with the reissue of Pollen's 3rd album” at AZ Central.

Read “Warp Records Comes to Bandcamp” at Bandcamp.

Read ‘Why Arizona music icon Nils Lofgren's wife is 'not welcome' at this Scottsdale steakhouse” at AZ Central.

Read “Bob Dylan Just Released the Ultra-Rare 1970 ‘George Harrison Sessions’ Without Warning” at Rolling Stone. “The Bob Dylan – 50th Anniversary Collection 1970 was released as a super-limited set to avoid the recordings entering the public domain in Europe.”

Read “Justin Townes Earle’s Cause of Death Revealed” at Pitchfork.

Read ‘Deadicated: Trixie Garcia on Jerry’s Legacy, Garcia’s at The Cap and New Cannabis Brand” at Relix.

Listen to Neal Casal’s Final Solo Recordings” at Pitchfork. “The previously unfinished “Everything Is Moving” and “Green Moon” were completed by the late singer-songwriter’s friends and collaborators.”

Support the artists you listen to by buying their stuff” at Hype Machine. “Paste a link to a Spotify playlist (for ex. "Your Top Songs 2020"), and we’ll check what you can purchase directly from them on Bandcamp.”

Read “Pharrell Williams announces new charity Black Ambition to aid underrepresented entrepreneurs” at NME.

Read “Walt Disney Co. shutting down influential Radio Disney after two decades” at Los Angeles Times.

Browse “A Brief History of Cardigans in Music, From Kurt Cobain to Harry Styles and Taylor Swift” at Rolling Stone.

Read “The Origin Story of Carlos Santana’s Abraxas” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Iggy Pop & Elvis Costello” at Rolling Stone. “The old friends on surviving the Seventies, why most hard rock is overrated, and staying in touch with their iconoclastic inspiration.”

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “David Lynch To Start Shooting Netflix Series (Working Title: “Wisteria”) In 2021 at Welcome To Twin Peaks.

Read “New-Streaming-Service Alert: Discovery+ Coming in 2021” at Vulture.

ReadSuperstore Is Closing After Six Seasons” at Vulture.

Read “Actors File Age Discrimination Suit Over SAG-AFTRA Health Plan Cuts” at NPR.

Read “Did HBO Max Just Kill Movie Theaters?” at Okay Player.

Read “'Masked Singer' hits highest rating for entertainment show since April” at Los Angeles Times.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “Toni Morrison’s 1,200 Volume Personal Library is Going on Sale: Get a Glimpse of the Books on Her Tribeca Condo Shelves” at Open Culture.

Browse “NPR books NPR’s Book Concierge”.

Design/Artsy Things:

Read “Meet Congo the Chimp, London’s Sensational 1950s Abstract Painter” at Open Culture.

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “For Rats That Coat Themselves In Poison, These Rodents Are Surprisingly Cuddly” at NPR.

Read “Scientists baffled by bizarre sea creature with dozens of legs found on beach” at Express.

Read “Wasps threaten airplane safety” at Boing Boing.

Read “New science tempers hope for life in Venus' clouds — but nothing is ruled out just yet” at Salon.

Read “Too Many Storms, Not Enough Names” at NPR.

Read “Huge Arecibo Observatory Radio Telescope In Puerto Rico Collapses” at Huff Post.

Read “Ginkgo trees nearly went extinct. Here’s how we saved these ‘living fossils.’” at National Geographic.

Read “Australia’s Great Barrier Reef ‘critical’ due to climate change” at Al Jazeera.

Food Cultures:



Misc. Oddities:

Read “A Massive Collection of Dead Insects Lives Inside Filing Cabinets in a Canadian Office” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “That Mysterious Monolith in the Utah Desert? It’s Gone, Officials Say” at New York Times.

  • Read “New Mysterious Monolith Appears in Romania” at Vice.

  • Read “Photographers captured removal of the mysterious Utah monolith. Here's why it vanished” at USA Today.

  • Read “New mysterious monolith appears on top of mountain in California” at Independent.

Read “Dallas Restaurant Owner Seems More Concerned With Twerking Patrons Than Covid In Viral Video” at Okay Player.

Read “How camp explains Trump” at Yahoo.

Local:

Read “Recreational Marijuana: Everything you need to know about Arizona going green” at 12 News.

Read “Remember these people who defended the integrity of Arizona's election” at AZ Central.

Read “GM Rethinks Planned Stake In Phoenix-Based Electric Vehicle Maker Nikola” at KJZZ.

Read “Petersen sentencing looms on federal charges, and Arizona says it isn't part of any deal to cut prison time” at AZ Central.

Read “Tempe's Marquee Theatre postpones reopening as COVID cases spike. What you need to know” at AZ Central.

The Weekly Town Crier (11/20/20)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (11/20/20).

Religion and Stuff:

Read ‘The Evangelical Reckoning Begins” at The Atlantic. “Andy Stanley, the pastor of one of the largest megachurches in the country, ponders the future of an influential corner of American Christianity.”

Read “How the U.S. Military Buys Location Data from Ordinary Apps” at Vice. “A Muslim prayer app with over 98 million downloads is one of the apps connected to a wide-ranging supply chain that sends ordinary people's personal data to brokers, contractors, and the military.”

Read “What the Study of Religion Can Teach Us About Psychedelics” at Harvard’s Bill of Health website.

Read as Christian Century wonders “How do we grieve the hundreds of thousands of people the COVID-19 pandemic has killed?”

Read “William Barr and the politics of death” at Religion News Service. “We are not executing the ‘worst of the worst,’ as some may believe, but the poorest of the poor, and disproportionately people of color.”

Read “Never the Same Twice: Grace and the (Divinely) Inspired World of Jazz” at Mockingbird.

Read “Vatican Launches Probe After Pope’s Insta Account Likes Very Risqué ‘School Girl’ Pic” at Daily Beast.

Read “Five faith facts about former President Barack Obama’s new book: ‘A Promised Land’ at Religion News Service.

Read “Pastors Launch Church-Planting Network for ‘Black and Brown Neighborhoods’” at Christianity Today.

Read “Chicago church releases a beer for Advent — and the end of the world” at Religion News Service.

Read “Carl Lentz and the ‘hot pastor’ problem” at Religion News Service. “Maybe the problem isn’t hot pastors like Lentz but a toxic megachurch culture that makes narcissism a prerequisite.”

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

Read “The far right is cracking up, as their violent fantasies of Trump's fascist takeover evaporate” at Salon.

Read “University of California agrees to $73M sex abuse settlement over former UCLA gynecologist” at NBC News.

Read “Trump's legal adviser Jenna Ellis in 2016 called him an 'idiot' and said his supporters didn't care about 'facts or logic'“ at CNN.

Read “Rudy Giuliani Isn’t Even Trying to Make Coherent Legal Arguments Anymore” at Slate.

Read “Disturbing new details in alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer” at ABC7 Chicago. “Disturbing new details in alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer reveal their Plan B was to takeover the Michigan capitol building with 200 combatants, who would stage a week-long series of televised executions of public officials.”

Read “7 Ways Biden Could Go It Alone on Gun Violence Prevention” at The Trace.

Read “Make fun of the "Million MAGA March" all you want — white supremacy has not been defeated” at Salon.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Prosecutors say Chauvin kept his knee on teenager’s back for 17 minutes in 2017, while the boy said ‘I can’t breathe’” at Minnesota Reformer.

Read “ACLU, Activist Groups Denounce Prosecutions of Anti Police Brutality Protesters” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “Suburban Milwaukee Police Officer Who Has Killed 3 People Since 2015 Set To Resign” at NPR.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “When Schools Closed, Americans Turned to Their Usual Backup Plan: Mothers” at New York Times.

Read “Nicola Sturgeon insists schools in Scotland must stay open even in level 4 lockdown areas” at Daily Record.

Read “Mississippi governor calls for spending $3 million on 'Patriotic Education Fund'“ at The Hill.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “More than 130 Secret Service officers are said to be infected with coronavirus or quarantining in wake of Trump’s campaign travel” at Washington Post.

Read “Super-spreading wedding party demonstrates COVID-19 risk posed by holiday gatherings” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Denver bar owner dies after second battle with COVID-19, cancer” at 9News.

Read “‘No One Is Listening to Us’” at The Atlantic. “More people than ever are hospitalized with COVID-19. Health-care workers can’t go on like this.”

Read ‘Utah Valley Hospital strained by conspiracy theorists trying to enter ICU” at KSL.

Read “Billionaire Medadoners Who Fought Wisconsin’s Plans To Contain Pandemic Get Infected At White House” at Milwaukee Independent.

Read “On Fox News, Dr. Scott Atlas encourages large holiday gatherings: “For many people this is their last Thanksgiving” at Media Matters.

Read as Marketplace wonders “How might COVID-19 vaccine makers compete in the marketplace?”

Read “Alabama Sorority Gets Official Blessing for 600-Person Farm Party Just in Time for Holidays” at Daily Beast.

Read “Dolly Parton partly funded Moderna Covid vaccine research” at The Guardian.

Read “GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa tests positive for Covid-19” at CNN.

Read “Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Trump’s response to the pandemic: ‘Frankly, he hasn’t been any help’” at MSNBC.

Read “Trump’s post-election tantrum is holding up federal vaccine planning” at The Verge.

Read “What we know about face masks has changed. Here's what experts say and which states mandate masks” at USA Today.

Read “FDA Approves First At-Home Coronavirus Test” at KCRW.

Read “McEnany calls state coronavirus restrictions for Thanksgiving 'Orwellian'“ at The Hill.

Read “Tyson managers bet money on how many workers would contract COVID-19” at Iowa Capital Dispatch.

Read “CDC urges Americans against traveling for Thanksgiving as coronavirus outbreak worsens” at CNBC.

Read “U.S. Coronavirus Death Toll Surpasses 250,000” at National Review.

Read “Ben Carson says he used unproven COVID-19 treatment recommended by MyPillow CEO” at The Hill.

Read “Biden calls for national mask mandate to fight COVID-19” at Al Jazeera.

Read “Reporters Blow Up at Covid Task Force For Ducking Questions at End of” at Mediaite.

Read “Tennessee mayor won’t require COVID masks until Holy Spirit says so” at Alabama.

Miscellany Cultural Items:

Read “Trump's next move might be even more dangerous than his presidency” at MSNBC. “Trump's term is ending, but the fight against the extremism he stirred up is far from over.”

Read “The invention of mirrors and why they matter” at Boing Boing.

Read “BuzzFeed to Acquire HuffPost in Stock Deal With Verizon Media” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Big Retailers Made Nearly $15 Billion During the Pandemic, But Most Halted Hazard Pay” at Public Citizen.

Read “Now More Than Ever, Brandon Stanton Makes People Feel Less Alone” at New York Times.

Internationalities:

Read “Russia moves to protect Putin from prosecution” at BBC. “The Russian parliament's lower house - the Duma - has backed a bill granting Russian presidents and their families immunity from criminal prosecution after they leave office.”

Read “Israel scrambles to expand settlement in anticipation of changing U.S. policy under Biden” at Globe and Mail.

Read “Pompeo makes unprecedented visits to Israeli settlement in West Bank and Golan” at BBC.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “The Troubling Reason the Electoral College Exists’ at Time.

Read “The End of Trump? Biden & Harris Claim Victory in Historic Election, Vowing to Heal Divided Nation” at Democracy Now.

Read “Trump Sought Options for Attacking Iran to Stop Its Growing Nuclear Program” at New York Times.

Read the opinion piece “Republicans are letting Trump wage war on democracy” at Washington Post.

Read “Joe Biden wins Georgia, flipping the state for Democrats” at AP News.

Read “Rahm Emanuel under consideration to become Biden's transportation secretary” at CNN.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Evidence suggests several state Senate candidates were plants funded by dark money” at Local 10.

Read “Sore loser or victim? Trump voters struggle with president’s role in defeat” at Washington Post. "A majority of Republican voters — 70 percent — say the election was unfair, according to a Politico/Morning Consult poll"

Read “Trump Administration Ending Like It Began: Lying About Crowd Size” at Slate.

Read “Ga. secretary of state says fellow Republicans are pressuring him to find ways to exclude legal ballots” at Washington Post. “Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger says he has come under increasing pressure from fellow Republicans, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, to question the validity of legally cast absentee ballots in an effort to reverse Trump's loss.”

  • Read “Graham says he's talked to officials in two states about election” at The Hill. “After Graham told reporters that he spoke with election officials, Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D) said on Twitter that Graham had not spoken with her.”

    • Read “Graham faces questions for reaching out to GA election official” at MSNBC.

    • Read “Lindsey Graham’s Alleged Attempt to Toss Georgia Ballots Is Felony Election Fraud” at Slate.

  • Read “Trump Fires Election Security Director Who Corrected Voter Fraud Disinformation” at NPR. “President Trump has fired Christopher Krebs, a top cybersecurity official who affirmed the security of the election and rebutted rumors and baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud that Trump promoted.”

  • Read “Trump Doesn't Have To Win In Court To Erode Trust In Voting” at NPR.

    • Read “'People will stop believing in the process.' Why Donald Trump's Legal Strategy Is Dangerous Even If It's Likely to Fail” at Time. “Rudy Giuliani, to the chagrin of many, is candidly telling associates the goal of the campaign's lawsuits is sow enough doubt among GOP that legislatures in swing states punt and appoint their own electors”

  • Read “Trump Supporters Echo False Claims of Fraud: Election Update” at Bloomberg.

  • Read “Trump Campaign Attorneys Admit ‘There Is No Evidence’ of ‘Any Fraud’ in Connection with Challenged Ballots in Bucks County, Pa” at Law and Crime.

  • Read “Trump’s Strategy for Contesting the Election: Throw Out Black People’s Votes” at Mother Jones.

  • Read “Michigan Republican leaders going to White House Friday; Trump calls GOP canvassers” at Chicago Tribune.

  • Read “Illinois Sen. Duckworth says 'silence is deafening' from Republicans on Trump's election maneuvers” at Yahoo News.

  • Read “Inside Rudy Giuliani's attempt to sow chaos on behalf of Trump and steal the election” at CNN.

  • Read “'Did you all watch My Cousin Vinny?' Sweating Rudy Giuliani presents 'evidence' for 'massive voting fraud' as hair dye runs down his face - alongside 'elite legal strike force' who claim Joe Biden's win is a Venezuelan plot they uncovered on the internet” at Daily Mail.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires Exit Country Music Association After 2020 CMAs Didn’t Honor John Prine” at Pitchfork.

Read ‘Melvins Announce New Album Working With God, Share “I F**k Around” and “Bouncing Rick” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Morrissey and BMG Part Ways” at Pitchfork. “Morrissey accused the label of dictating “how their artists should behave”.

Read “Run The Jewels Release “No Save Point” Video, Announce Craft Beer Collaboration” at Treble.

Read “Electrosoul's SAULT Center Themselves Around Blackness on 'UNTITLED (Black Is)'“ at Pop Matters.

Read “Guitar Center Is Officially Filing for Bankruptcy” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Bandcamp Launches New Livestreaming Service for Artists” at Pitchfork.

Read “Lo-Fi Hip-Hop Has Become One Of The Internet’s Most Popular Subgenres; Is Slowed & Reverb Next?” at Okay Player.

Read “Anti-Flag release vol. 2 of new protest/benefit single ft. Tom Morello, Marcia of The Skints & more” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Why Is The Obscure B-Side “Harness Your Hopes” Pavement’s Top Song On Spotify? It’s Complicated” at Stereogum.

Read “How Elektra Records ushered in the alternative music revolution—and then helped kill it” at AV Club.

Read “It Is Time For The Youth To Wake Up!" Songhoy Blues Interviewed” at Clash Music.

Read “Steve Earle Covers Justin Townes Earle’s “Harlem River Blues” for Upcoming Memorial Record” at Jambands.

Read “How Leonard Cohen Haunted the Trump Era” at Pitchfork.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “John Mulaney joins Seth Meyers’ ‘Late Night’ writing staff” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Nelly Cast as Chuck Berry in New Buddy Holly Biopic” at Pitchfork.

Design/Artsy Things:

Watch “this expert apple sculptor create juicy delights” at Boing Boing.

Read “Art Yard publishes Sun Ra inspired photography book” at The Wire.

Science/Animals/Technology/Environment/Public Health/Etc.:

Read “Vaccine Group Hits $2 Billion 2020 Goal for Low, Middle Income Nations” at Bloomberg.

Read “World's only known white giraffe fitted with tracker to deter poachers” at BBC.

Read “Japanese town enlists terrifying robot wolves to protect them from bears” at Boing Boing.

Read “Technology Promises Connection, but Gen Z Sees a Paradox” at Barna.

Local:

Read “As Stores Close At Phoenix’s Paradise Valley Mall, Future Plans Grow” at KJZZ.

The Weekly Town Crier (09/18/20)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (09/18/20).


We’ll Miss You:

Read “Diana Rigg, star of 'Game of Thrones' and 'The Avengers,' dies at 82” at NBC.

Read “Hal Singer, Saxophonist and Tulsa Massacre Survivor, Dies at 100” at New York Times.

Read “R.I.P. Toots Hibbert, Reggae Pioneer and Frontman of Toots & The Maytals Dies at 77” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Original Bad Brains singer Sid McCray, RIP” at Brooklyn Vegan.


Religion and Stuff:

Read “No Pearl-Clutching Allowed” by Diana Butler Bass.

Read “Former Avalon Singer Michael Passons Says He Was Kicked Out of Christian Band for Being Gay” at People.

Read “It’s Out Of Control’: How QAnon Undermines Legitimate Anti-Trafficking Efforts” at Huff Post. “The child sex trade is a global crisis. Far-right conspiracy theorists are harassing, distracting and intimidating the organizations fighting to end it.”

Read “Black Lives Matter co-founder denounces Pat Robertson for saying the movement is 'anti-God' at Religion News Service.

Read “'God Has a Mission for Me': Roger Stone Tells CBN News He's Not Out for Revenge but on a New Path” at CBN News.

Read “On the Use and Abuse of Critical Race Theory in American Christianity” at The Dispatch.

Read “Christian Apologist Ravi Zacharias A Serial Liar And Molester? Brothers In Faith Blame “Demonic” Hindu Yoga In His Spa” at Swarajya Mag.

  • Read “Betrayed Trust, Part One: New Testimony, Emails & Other Documents Portray Ravi Zacharias as Predator in Sexting Scandal” at Roys Report.

  • Read “Betrayed Trust, Part Two: Woman Accused in Sexting Scandal Claims Ravi Zacharias Groomed & Exploited Her” at Roys Report.

  • Read “Betrayed Trust, Part Three: Ravi Zacharias Claimed Accusers in Sexting Scandal Were Extortionists, But Evidence Indicates Otherwise” at Roys Report.

Read “How Did Martin Luther Become So Popular?” at Sojourners.

Read “Former Christianity Today Editor Mark Galli to be Confirmed a Catholic” at Roys Report.

Read “Baptist Calvinists defend slavery of Southern Seminary founders” at Baptist News.

Read “Catholic group launches $9.7M campaign against Biden targeting swing-state voters” at The Hill.

Read “White Christians Have Become Even Less Motivated to Address Racial Injustice” at Barna.

  • Read “No race problem here: Despite summer of protests, many practicing Christians remain ambivalent” at Religion News Service.

Read “Evangelical Pastor Urges Christians to 'Mobilize' to Fight Civil War Against Left-Wing Activists” at Newsweek.

Read “An evangelical activist could draw big crowds to Milwaukee, Madison and Kenosha as Wisconsin reaches record COVID-19 cases” at Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Read “The Complicated Importance Of Abortion To Trump Voters” at NPR (EDITOR’S NOTE: Abortion would not be legal nor exist as it currently does without Republican support).

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

Read “Conor McGregor arrested for alleged attempted sexual assault in Corsica” at Mirror.

Read “Former Judge Gleeson's response to Justice Department efforts to drop Michael Flynn's prosecution” at CNN.

Read “The IRS offers a $625,000 bounty to anyone who can break Monero and Lightning” at Coin Telegraph.

Read “Naomi Osaka Says She Wore 7 Masks About Black Lives During This Year's U.S. Open to 'Make People Start Talking' at Time.

Read “A Coded Word From the Far Right Roils France’s Political Mainstream” at New York Times.

Read “Young US Latinos are at the forefront of a climate revolution” at PRI.

Read “19 families buy nearly 97 acres of land in Georgia to create a city safe for Black people” at CNN.

Read “Judges halt plan to exclude unauthorized immigrants from count used to award seats in Congress” at CBS News.

Read “Oregon prisoners report ‘inhumane’ conditions following fire evacuations, transfers” at Oregonian Live.

Read “How Big Oil Misled The Public Into Believing Plastic Would Be Recycled” at NPR.

Read “California Woman Goes Off On Racist Rant At Man During Dispute About His Kids’ Sidewalk Art” at Percolately.

Read “‘Like an Experimental Concentration Camp’: Whistleblower Complaint Alleges Mass Hysterectomies at ICE Detention Center” at Law and Crime.

  • Read “Whistleblower Alleges 'Medical Neglect,' Questionable Hysterectomies Of ICE Detainees” at KCRW.

Read “A Civil War Political Movement Reawakens — Complete With Capes” at New York Times.

Read “The Top 1% of Americans Have Taken $50 Trillion From the Bottom 90%—And That's Made the U.S. Less Secure” at Time.

Read “ICE deported a key witness in investigation of sexual assault and harassment at El Paso detention center” at Texas Tribune.

Read “Donald Trump accused of sexual assault by former model Amy Dorris” at The Guardian.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “George Floyd family attorney slams defense claim he died from drug overdose” at NBC News.

Read “City of Louisville agrees to 'substantial' settlement in Breonna Taylor shooting” at Louisville Courier-Journal.

Read “Portland slaps new $20K daily fine on fed courthouse fence” at Pamplin Media.

Read “Portland Protesters Say Their Lives Were Upended by the Posting of Their Mug Shots on a Conservative Twitter Account” at Willamette Weekly. “What Andy Ngo is doing is legal. The mug shots are public records. And Ngo told WW that it is his “duty” to report on protesters who have been arrested.”

Read ‘KPCC Journalist Tackled, Arrested While Trying To Cover L.A. Protest” at NPR.

Read “Violent protests erupt in Colombia after the death of a man repeatedly tasered by police” at CBS News.

Read “Massive Protests Continue In Belarus As Demonstrators Demand Lukashenko Resign” at NPR.

Read “Attacks on journalists during protests risen sharply: UNESCO” at Al Jazeera. “Journalists attacked, arrested or killed in 21 protests between January and June of this year, UNESCO said.”

Read “Whistleblower says officials considered using "heat ray" on D.C. protester” at Axios. “Federal officials stockpiled ammunition at the D.C Armory and sought crowd control devices before law enforcement forcibly cleared protesters from Lafayette Square in June, a whistleblower said in written submissions to Congress.”

This Week With The Police:

Read “4 Texas police officers fired after fatally shooting man 'having a mental breakdown' in April” at USA Today.

Read “NLVPD officer accused of kneeing handcuffed suspect, asking others to turn off bodycams” at Las Vegas 3.

Read “Salt Lake police chief, former chief address shooting of teen with autism” at KSL.

Read “Flagstaff police officer dead after reportedly taking his own life” at 12 News.

Read “2 L.A. deputies shot in ‘ambush’ attack recovering after surgery” at Los Angeles Times.

  • Read “Shooting of L.A. deputies new flashpoint in a 'tinderbox moment'" at Yahoo.

Read “Policing in Arizona is at a crossroads as long-simmering issues involving race and use-of-force come to a head” at KJZZ.

Read ‘Roderick Walker: Georgia Police Tackle & Pin Cab Rider in Viral Video” at Heavy.

Read ‘Maryland Police Officer Indicted After Man Left Partially Paralyzed” at NBC Washington.

Read “Officer-involved shooting leaves one person injured in North City” at KMOV.

Read “Openly-Gay Congressional Candidate Hits Back After Police Union Calls Him A 'First Class Wh*re'“ at Comic Sands.

Read “A Newark Officer Was Filmed Punching Someone. Jelani Cobb Asked a Police Union Head If It Was Justified” at PBS’ Frontline.

Read “8 Times Cops Let People Go as Personal Favors (And One When They Didn’t)” at Vice.

Read “Documents Reveal How the Police Kept Daniel Prude’s Death Quiet” at New York Times.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Nearly two-thirds of US young adults unaware 6m Jews killed in the Holocaust” at The Guardian.

Read “Trump announces commission to further 'patriotic education' at The Hill.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Canada reports zero COVID-19 deaths for first time since March” at Reuters.

Read “U.S. closes in on grim pandemic milestone: the 200,000th COVID-19 death” at NBC News.

  • Read Trump told Bob Woodward he knew in February that COVID-19 was 'deadly stuff' but wanted to 'play it down' at NBC News.

  • See “32 times Trump said the coronavirus would go away” at Washington Post.

  • Read “RNC chairwoman says history will vindicate Trump's coronavirus handling” at NBC News.

  • Read “Joy Reid on Trump downplaying coronavirus dangers: Your President lied to you” at MSNBC.

  • Read “Trump’s coronavirus death toll estimate exposes his failure” at Vox. “Trump had a chance to avert the unfolding coronavirus disaster. He blew it.”

  • Read “Trump’s COVID-19 Culpability” at Niskassen Center.

Read “CDC Director Says COVID-19 Vaccine Likely Won't Be Widely Available Until Next Year” at NPR.

  • Read “Trump says CDC director "made a mistake" when he said vaccine won't be widely available until at least summer 2021” at CBS News.

Read “Political Appointees Meddled in C.D.C.’s ‘Holiest of the Holy’ Health Reports” at New York Times. “Trump loyalists at the Health and Human Services Department have been exerting influence on the Centers for Disease Control’s weekly reports on all disease outbreaks, the coronavirus and beyond.”

Read “Trump Pressed for Plasma Therapy. Officials Worry, Is an Unvetted Vaccine Next?” at New York Times.

Read “Adults with Covid-19 about 'twice as likely' to say they have dined at a restaurant, CDC study suggests” at CNN.

Read “COVID creeps into a sprawling Syrian refugee camp in Jordan” at CBS News.

Read “Bullfighting has reached a crisis point in Spain” at PRI. “Spain has just become the first country in Europe to register half a million coronavirus cases, leaving bullrings empty and bullfighters out of work.”

Read “Florida bars to reopen even as state battles coronavirus” at CBS News.

Read “Coronavirus pandemic taking much bigger mental health toll on young adults compared to older adults, survey finds” at CBS News.

Read “Tom Hanks' Blood Will be Used To Develop COVID-19 Vaccine” at Today.

Read “A top disease expert is warning of 'another 12 to 14 months of a really hard road ahead of us,' and says the US has no national plan to stop it” at Yahoo.

Read “Israel to Enter Second Virus Lockdown After Bungled Reopen” at Bloomberg.

Read “Utah County behind ‘clear’ spike in coronavirus cases, state health officials say” at Salt Lake Tribune.

Read “UArizona recommending 14-day shelter-in-place for students to curb spread of COVID-19” at KGUN9.

Read “Coronavirus cases are growing in 11 U.S. states as Fauci warns of 'disturbing' data” at CNBC.

Read “The Sturgis Biker Rally Did Not Cause 266,796 Cases of COVID-19” at Slate.

Read “Bill Gates: CDC being 'written out of the picture' on coronavirus” at The Hill. “The CDC is largely being written out of the picture because you have people at the White house who aren’t epidemiologists, saying what a great job they’ve done, and so it’s no longer a set of experts.”

Read “Coronavirus: Ukraine accuses Belarus over stranded Jewish pilgrims” at BBC.

Read “Hungary Tightens Rules With Virus Wave Expected to Last Months” at Bloomberg.

Read “Iran’s Daily Coronavirus Cases Surge to Three-Month High” at Bloomberg.

Read “West Coast Fires Are Raising Covid-19 Risks” at Wall Street Journal.


Miscellany Cultural Items:

Read “In Oregon, a New Climate Menace: Fires Raging Where They Don’t Usually Burn” at New York Times.

  • Read “As the West Coast Burns, Communities Unravel With Each Death” at New York Times.

  • Read “West Coast Fires: Climate, Forest Management, Lax Rules, Plenty Of Blame To Go Around” at NPR.

  • Read “Trump Bucks Climate Science in Wildfire Briefing” Fact Check.

Read “Former Daily Caller Editor Reveals He Was Forced To Publish Oleg Deripaska” at Empty Wheel.

Read “Alicia Keys interview: ‘I despise the word celebrity – it’s such an empty word’” at The Telegraph.

Read “‘World’s Loneliest Elephant’ Is Finally Free After 35 Years in Confinement” at Global Citizen.

Read “Bush’s Empty Words on Post-9/11 Tolerance Were Good, Actually” at Slate.

Read “In Oregon, a Year of Political Tumult Extends to Devastating Wildfires” at New York Times.

Read “13-year-old dies from brain-eating amoeba after vacation in Florida, family says” at CBS.

Read “Facebook deleting posts linking activist groups to Oregon fires” at CNet.

Read “Oracle Picked as Winning Bid for TikTok U.S. Over Microsoft” at Bloomberg.

Read “What I Learned From Writing Letters To Strangers Across America” at NPR.

Read “David Lynch Tries to Make a List of the Good Things Happening in the World … and Comes Up Blank” at Open Culture.

Read “Bill Gates: “Our values do change what gets funded in this economy” at MarketPlace.

Internationalities:

Read “Liberia declares rape a national emergency after spike in cases” at Al Jazeera.

Read “Iran: Secret execution of wrestler Navid Afkari a ‘travesty of justice’” at Amnesty International.

Read “India-China dispute: China returns five missing Indian nationals” at BBC.

Read “Afghan-Taliban talks: Government calls for ceasefire” at BBC.

Read “Officials: Iran weighs plot to kill U.S. ambassador to South Africa” at Politico.

Read “Sweden and France Confirm Aleksei Navalny Was Poisoned With Novichok, Germany Says” at Vice.

Read “Yemen: Aid Obstruction Puts Millions at Risk” at Human Rights Watch.

Read “US ambassador to China stepping down” at The Hill.

Read “Trump says he wanted to kill Assad, but Mattis opposed” at France 24.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “The Trump campaign played a song about rich kids dodging the Vietnam War draft — which the president did 5 times — at a Michigan rally” at Business Insider.

Read “Ohio high court says no to Kanye West’s ballot request” at Fox 8.

Read “Trump Campaign Staffer Slammed After He Tried Mocking Joe Biden as He Visited His Son's Grave” at Second Nexus.

Read “Top Aide in Review of Russia Inquiry Resigns From Justice Dept.” at New York Times.

Read “A major American city may soon allow 16-year-olds to vote — and others could follow suit” at NBC News.

Read “Years after 9/11, the political use of fear continues on” at Chicago Tribune.

Read “Republicans Are Knocking On Doors. Democrats Aren't. Biden's Campaign Says That's OK” at NPR.

Read “Mary Trump says reporters 'continue to pull these punches' at CNN.

Read “NRA's political influence dwindling ahead of the election” at Axios. “The National Rifle Association has spent $9.2 million on political expenditures this cycle, about one-sixth of the $54.4 million reported in 2016, according to Federal Election Commission data tracked by Open Secrets.”

Read “Biden Creates Legal War Room, Preparing for a Big Fight Over Voting” at Yahoo.

Read “Scientific American Endorses Joe Biden” at Scientific American. “We’ve never backed a presidential candidate in our 175-year history—until now.”

Read “400,000 people have registered to vote through Snapchat” at The Verge.

Read “At Least Someone's Trying to Pass a Stimulus Package” at Vice. “The House Problem Solvers Caucus — a bipartisan group of 50 lawmakers — is trying to broker a compromise between Democrats and Republicans before benefits completely run dry.”

Read “Pelosi: House to stay in session until COVID-19 rescue pact” at KTAR.

Read “Schumer, Sanders call for Senate panel to address election security” at The Hill.

Read “Pelosi: We're supposed to be crushing the virus; Trump is crushing the ACA” at MSNBC.

This Week In Political Corruption:

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

Read “Twitter And Facebook Flag Trump's Mail-In Voting Post for Platform Violations” at NPR.

Read “As Energy Secretary, Rick Perry Mixed Money and Politics in Ukraine. The Deals Could Be Worth Billions” at Time.

Read “Longtime Climate Science Denier Hired At NOAA” at NPR.

Read “Fact-checking William Barr: Is your vote no longer secret with mail-in ballots?” at CNN.

Read “Trump Says He Will ‘Negotiate’ Third Term Because He’s ‘Entitled’ To It” at Forbes.

Read “Pompeo’s wife assigned State Dept. work on secretary’s behalf using private email” at The Olympian.

Read “Companies Owned by This Billionaire Governor Received up to $24 Million in Bailout Loans” at Pro Publica.

Read “South Dakota AG Involved in Fatal Car Accident Kept Driving, Thinking He Hit Deer: Cops” at Daily Beast.

Read “Jacob Wohl Staged Fake FBI Raid on Business Partner, Actor Hired for Production Says” at The Daily Beast.

Read “Judge rules Chad Wolf likely unlawfully serving as Homeland Security secretary and temporarily blocks some asylum restrictions” at CNN.

Read “Democratic lawmakers call for an investigation into allegations of medical neglect at Georgia ICE facility” at The Hill.

Read “Wray says Russia engaged in 'very active efforts' to interfere in election, damage Biden” at Politico.

Read “Judge blocks 'politically motivated' changes to U.S. Postal Service ahead of election” at Reuters.


Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Jazz Lives in Clubs. The Pandemic Is Threatening Its Future.” at New York Times.

Read “Cocteau Twins’ vast influence lives on :: 24 great artists they’ve inspired” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Pearl Jam Announce ‘Take-Three Pledge’ Vote By Mail Initiative” at Jambands.

Read “Bob Dylan Is Bringing Back His “Theme Time” Radio Show” at Pitchfork. “His first installment in over a decade airs September 21 in honor of Bourbon Heritage Month.”

Read “John Fogerty on Trump’s ‘Confounding’ Use of a Creedence Classic About Draft Dodgers: ‘He IS the Fortunate Son’ at Variety.

Read “‘American Utopia’ Review: One of the Best Concert Docs Since ‘Stop Making Sense’” at Indie Wire.

Read “The Cure Finished Their New Album While in Lockdown” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Blues singer Lady A sues the band fka Lady Antebellum” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Amoeba Music plans to open San Francisco store for first time in 6 months” at Date Book.

Read “A New Prescription: A Dose of Live Music for Hospital Patients” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Bill Callahan: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert” at NPR’s Tiny Desk.

Read “Biggie’s Plastic Crown Sells for Nearly $600,000 in Sotheby’s Hip-Hop Auction” at Pitchfork.

Read “The Psychedelic Sound of Rüstəm Quliyev, King of Azerbaijani Guitar” at Bandcamp.

Read “Kanye West tweets video of himself pissing on a Grammy” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Van Morrison to release lockdown protest songs” at BBC.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “49 Years Ago, Harry Belafonte Hosted the Tonight Show—and It Was Amazing” at The Nation.

Read “Warner Bros. Won’t Share ‘Tenet’ Box Office Data, Angering Rival Studios” at Variety.

Read “How the Kardashians turned celebrity into something monstrous” at The Telegraph.

Read “How Cuties, a French movie on Netflix, became part of America’s culture war” at Vox.

Read “Jeremy Tardy Parts Ways With ‘Dear White People,’ Cites Racial Discrimination” at Okay Player.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “The Novel and the Secret Police” at Boston Review. “In Vineland, his underappreciated 1990 novel, the author of Gravity’s Rainbow anticipated a United States in which security would become the greatest good.”

Read “Bookstore Sales Fell 24.6% in July” at Publisher’s Weekly.

Science/Animals/Technology/Environment/Etc.:

Read “A ball python laid 7 eggs at the Saint Louis Zoo, even though she hasn't been around a male in years” at CNN.

Read “NASA sets out to buy moon resources mined by private companies” at Reuters.

Read “13 mysterious mummies discovered in Egyptian well” at CNN.

Read “Scientists baffled by orcas ramming sailing boats near Spain and Portugal” at The Guardian.

Read “Scientists find gas linked to life in atmosphere of Venus” at The Guardian.

Read “A perfectly preserved Ice Age cave bear has been found in Russia -- even its nose is intact” at CNN.

Read “'We Really Don't Know' If Bird Die-Off In New Mexico Is Related To Climate Change, Expert Says” at WBUR.

Food Cultures:

Read “To Save Madagascar’s Wildlife, an Entomologist Is Helping Revive a Bug-Based Cuisine” at Gastro Obscura.

Read “Japan Is Combating Rural Decline With a National Network of Ice Cream” at Gastro Obscura.

Misc. Oddities:

Read “Where Did the Monk’s Haircut Come From? A Look at the Rich and Contentious History of the Tonsure” at Open Culture.

The Weekly Town Crier (07/31/20)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (07/31/20).



We’ll Miss You:

Read “Fleetwood Mac blues guitarist Peter Green dies at 73” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Ronald L. Graham, Who Unlocked the Magic of Numbers, Dies at 84” at New York Times.

Read “Regis Philbin, TV Host With the Most Congenial Demeanor, Dies at 88” at The Hollywood Reporter.

Read “Olivia de Havilland, star of 'Gone With the Wind,' dies at 104” at CNN.

Read “Former GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain dies of COVID-19” at MSNBC.

Read “Malik B. – Co-Founder of The Roots – Has Died” at Relix.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Multiracial Congregations May Not Bridge Racial Divide” at NPR.

Read “Evangelical, Midwestern, Southern churches most likely to be meeting in person again” at Religion News Service. “A new survey found that 7 out of 10 Protestant churches held an in-person service last week.”

Read “Supreme Court Rejects Nevada Church’s Appeal to Reopen Like Casinos” at Christianity Today.

Read “Sex Offenders Can Find Hope in Christ But Not Necessarily a Place at Church” at Christianity Today. “Most Christians believe offenders belong at worship. Most congregations aren’t prepared to welcome them.”

Read “Coronavirus, Conspiracy Theories, and the Ninth Commandment” at French Press. “A better political theology can make us less vulnerable to lies.”

Read “Rep. Ted Yoho removed from board of Christian charity over his comments about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez” at Washington Post.

Read “Faith in protest as young people find fervor on the street” at Associated Press.

Read “For Third-Party Christians, Some Things Are More Important Than Winning” at Christianity Today.

Read “Alabama Pastor Resigns After Praying at KKK Leader’s Birthday” at Christianity Today. “The pastor and state representative also posted a photo of himself standing in front of a portrait of the first KKK Grand Wizard and surrounded by Confederate flags.” “Baptist leaders said the controversy was not good for his church.”

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

Read “Sterilization abuse of Uighurs in China meets international legal criteria for genocide, experts say” at PRI.

Read “The World’s Most Technologically Sophisticated Genocide Is Happening in Xinjiang” at Foreign Policy.

Read “Alan Yang on anti-Asian bias: We're all 'fighting the same common enemy' at MSNBC.

Read “Confronting Racial Disparities in America, From Cradle to Grave: A Reading List” at Also A Carpenter.

Read “It's Time to Admit That the Department of Homeland Security Has to Go” at Esquire.

Read “‘Empowerment’ Selfies Are Burying a Turkish Women’s Rights Campaign” at KQED.

Read “LeBron James joins push to turn out ex-felon vote in Florida” at Politico.

Read “A Rare Look Inside Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Draws Legal Threats A new documentary peers inside the secretive world of immigration enforcement. The filmmakers faced demands to delete scenes and delay broadcast until after the election” at New York Times.

Read “The late Rep. John Lewis to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol next week” at News and Guts.

Read “US sued over expulsion of migrant children detained in Hampton Inns” at AZ Central.

Read “NBA players pick social justice jersey messaging” at Axios.

Read “Permission Required to Change Your Tampon” at ACLU.

Read “Bill by Sen. Tom Cotton targets curriculum on slavery” at Arkansas Online.

Read “Santa Clara County will no longer seek death penalty, DA says” at Palo Alto Online.

Read “Tom Cotton calls slavery 'necessary evil' in attack on New York Times' 1619 Project” at The Guardian.

Read “House passes legislation to create Smithsonian Latino museum” at The Hill.

Listen to “'Rednecks For Black Lives' Urges Southerners To Fight For Racial Justice” at WBUR.

Read “America Has Been Addicted To Whiteness For 400 Years” by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove at Sojourners.

Read “The Poison of Male Incivility When a woman dares respond to it, she’s seen as “disruptive” at The Cut.

Read “Switzerland opens criminal case against FIFA boss Infantino” at Al Jazeera.

Read “Judge blocks Trump administration's "public charge" rule on immigrants during pandemic” at Axios.

Read “Republican senator deletes ad that made Jewish opponent’s nose bigger” at Forward.

Read “10 Ways Good White People Can Help Black America (If 'Good White People' Exist)” at The Root.

Read “Census Door Knocking Cut A Month Short Amid Pressure To Finish Count” at NPR. “The change increases the odds of an undercount of hard to reach groups, such as people of color.”

Read “ICE Agents Complain About Nazi Comparisons, Say They're Only Enforcing the Laws” at Newsweek. In related news,

  • Read: “How the Nazi’s defense of ‘just following orders’ plays out in the mind” from PBS News Hour, originally posted in 2016.

  • Read “Ex-Nazi concentration camp guard, living in U.S. since 1959, faces deportation”” at Washington Post. “Reached by phone, Berger, now 94, said he was ordered to work in the camp . . . “

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

Read “Robert E. Lee high school in Virginia to be renamed for late Rep. John Lewis” at NBC News.

Read “Christopher Columbus statues taken down at 2 Chicago parks” at Yahoo.

Read “Virginia evicts Confederate monuments from its state Capitol” at The Black Wall Street Times.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “Protesters March for Release of Fellow Demonstrator” at Nashville Scene. “A Black Lives Matter protester who is experiencing homelessness has been held by the Davidson County Sheriff's Office for a week.”

Read “Black Lives Matter Organizer in Florida Facing Felony Charges for Snatching Flags at Pro-Trump Event” at The Root.

Read “In Portland, this rabbi leads the clergy resistance” at Religion News Service.

Read “Portland Mayor Tear-Gassed By Federal Police After Joining Crowd Of Protesters Calling For His Resignation” at Comic Sands.

See “A literal tear gas tornado in downtown Portland” on Twitter and remember, kids: Tear gas is illegal in war but legal for police . . .

Read “The Lead Federal Agency Responding to Protesters in Portland Employs Thousands of Private Contractors” at Medium. “Congress needs to shine a light on the use of private security firms, including ‘Blackwater’ legacy companies, in Trump’s response to ongoing civil rights protests.”

Read “How One of America’s Whitest Cities Became The Center of B.L.M. Protests.”

Read “'The first step': Yankees, Nationals players all kneel before national anthem in MLB opener” at USA Today.

Read “Trump Expands Deployment Of Federal Agents To End 'Explosion Of Shootings'“ at NPR.

Read “Massive Protests in Portland Continue After Judge Denies State Request for Restraining Order Against Federal Agencies” at Common Dreams.

Read “Police declare a riot at Seattle protests” at Axios.

Read “Fatal shooting at Black Lives Matter protest in Austin, Texas” at Axios.

Read “Riot Ribs to Transfer Leadership to Don't Shoot PDX” at Portland Mercury.

Read “Black armed militia demands swift decision in Breonna Taylor case” at WLKY.

See “Videos Show How Federal Officers Escalated Violence in Portland” at New York Times.

Read “Police declare riots as protests turn violent in cities nationwide; 1 demonstrator dead in Austin” at Yahoo.

Read “Philadelphia DA on federal agents: Trump is acting like an ‘authoritarian dictator’ at MSNBC. “"My dad volunteered and fought in WWII to fight fascism. I wouldn't be doing my part for this country if I didn't say the obvious: We have a president who is acting like an authoritarian dictator."

Read “Anti-fascists linked to zero murders in the US in 25 years” at The Guardian. “As Trump rails against ‘far-left’ fascism, new database shows leftwing attacks have left far fewer people dead than violence by rightwing extremists.”

Read “'Umbrella Man' was a white supremacist trying to incite George Floyd rioting” at Star Tribune.

Read “What The 'Wall Of Moms' Protests Say About Motherhood, Race In America” at NPR.

Read ‘AG Barr agrees he ‘misspoke’ about FBI arrests in Kansas City under Operation LeGend” at Kansas City.

Read ‘Portland protesters released from jail on condition they no longer attend protests” at Boing Boing.

Read “Minnesota Twins hold moment of silence for George Floyd at 8:46” at AZ Central.

Read “It’s like they’re testing it on us': Portland protesters say tear gas has caused irregularities with their periods” at Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Read “Federal Agents Will Begin Leaving Portland in a 'Phased Withdrawal,' Says Oregon's Governor” at Time.

Read “Analysts Say Armed Groups At Protests Raise Specter Of A 'Street War'“ at NPR.

Read “'It's About the Core Values of Black Lives Matter.' Portland Activists Are Trying to Remind People Why They Started Protesting to Begin With” at Time.

This Week With The Police:

Read “How the state uses “police morale” to divert from the violence inherent to policing” at Black Youth Project.

Read “NYPD admits it’s used unmarked vehicles to apprehend suspects for “decades” after “disturbing” video” at Slate.

Read “Federal encroachment on local police raises mission creep concern” at MSNBC.

Education and The Learnings:

Read “Chinese students who once set their sights on US schools now weigh other options” at PRI’s The World.

School Re-Openings:

Read “Many Arizona Grandparents Raising Grandkids Worried About Going Back To School” at KJZZ.

Read “CDC director concedes schools in ‘hot spots’ face tougher call on reopening” at Washington Post.

Read “GOP Senator Says They 'Can Kiss My A**' as Teachers, Unions Oppose School Reopenings Over COVID Concerns” at Newsweek.

Read “Ireland: Schools set to fully reopen before end of August” at BBC.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “As US passes 150,000 coronavirus deaths, experts at Johns Hopkins call for reset in national response” at CNN.

Read “Public health expert says ‘zero doubt’ most U.S. virus deaths were avoidable” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Fed chair warns path of the economy depends on path of coronavirus” at Axios.

Read “China Superspreader Gave COVID-19 to 71 People in a Single Elevator Trip” at Newsweek.

Read “A Doctor Who Specializes in Long-Term COVID-19 Effects Is Alarmed by What He Sees” at New York Magazine.

Read Fauci tells MarketWatch: I would not get on a plane or eat inside a restaurant” at Market Watch.

Read “McDonald’s to Require Face Masks in U.S. Restaurants” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “More than 60% disapprove of Ducey’s handling of pandemic, poll finds” at KTAR.

Read “Osteoporosis drug could be repurposed to fight Covid-19, say scientists” at The Telegraph.

Read “Would you like a side of glitter with that burger? Thanks to COVID-19, Houston is home to Texas’ first drive-thru strip club.” at CHRON.

Read “Fauci says family, including wife and daughters, receiving 'serious threats' at 12 News.

Read “Why casinos remain open despite experts saying gambling is a high risk activity during Arizona's COVID-19 spike” at AZ Central.'

Read “N.M. governor blasts Trump's virus response as "worst abdication" of duty” at Axios.

Read “Ex-CDC head: Total tests conducted is a "useless number" if results are delayed” at Axios.

Read ‘MLB faces its first coronavirus crisis with Marlins outbreak less than a week into season” at Washington Post.

  • Read “MLB Temporarily Suspends Miami Marlins' Season After 15 Players Test Positive for COVID-19” at Time.

Read “Florida surpasses New York to become the state with the second highest number of coronavirus cases” at CNN.

Read “White House, Senate GOP race to finalize coronavirus package ahead of Monday rollout” at The Hill.

Read “Study identifies six different "types" of COVID-19” at CBS News.

Read “Reality Winner, former NSA contractor who leaked classified intelligence, contracts coronavirus” at Washington Examiner.

Read “Senate GOP coronavirus bill includes $29.4B for Pentagon” at The Hill.

Read “Senators Introduce Bill to Fund Independent Venues Struggling During COVID-19” at Rolling Stone.

See “Video compares droplet sprays when wearing different masks -- and no mask at all” at Boing Boing.

Read “Why these retail chains won't require customers to wear masks” at CNN. “they aren't introducing mask mandates because they are difficult to enforce, and they don't want to put their workers in the position of having to tell shoppers to put on facial coverings.”

Read “Pandemic Is Overwhelming U.S. Public Health Capacity In Many States. What Now?” at NPR.

Read “How Airlines Are Changing the Flying Process” at AARP.

Read “Rep. Gohmert Tests Positive for COVID-19, Cancels Trump Trip An eight-term lawmaker, Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas is often seen without wearing a mask” at Snopes.

  • Watch “Kevin McCarthy accidentally calls Louie Gohmert "Congressman COVID" at Twitter.

Read “Can Masks Save Us From More Lockdowns? Here's What The Science Says” at NPR.

Read “Buddy, first dog to test positive for COVID-19 in the U.S., has died” at National Geographic.

Read “We Thought It Was Just a Respiratory Virus We were wrong” at University of California San Francisco.

Read “Retailers are canceling coronavirus hazard pay. That's a mistake” at CNN.

Read “Coronavirus pandemic pushes U.S. economy to worst-ever contraction” at Axios.

Read “How Jared Kushner’s Secret Testing Plan “Went Poof Into Thin Air” at Vanity Fair. “This spring, a team working under the president's son-in-law produced a plan for an aggressive, coordinated national COVID-19 response that could have brought the pandemic under control. So why did the White House spike it in favor of a shambolic 50-state response?” // “Most troubling of all, perhaps, was a sentiment the expert said a member of Kushner’s team expressed: that because the virus had hit blue states hardest, a national plan was unnecessary and would not make sense politically. “The political folks believed that because it was going to be relegated to Democratic states, that they could blame those governors, and that would be an effective political strategy,” said the expert.”

Read “Three-quarters of adults with COVID-19 have heart damage after recovery” at UPI.

This Week in Hydroxychloroquine News:

Read “Misleading Virus Video, Pushed by the Trumps, Spreads Online” at New York Times. “Social media companies took down the video within hours. But by then, it had already been viewed tens of millions of times.”

  • Read “Trump’s New Favorite COVID Doctor Believes in Alien DNA, Demon Sperm, and Hydroxychloroquine” at Daily Beast.

  • Read “Madonnna Heralds Demon Semen Doctor As “My Hero” Following Bizarre COVID-19 Presser” at Consequence of Sound.

  • Read “Social media giants remove viral video with false coronavirus claims that Trump retweeted” at CNN.

  • Read “Trump is retweeting complaints of censorship after Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter take down hydroxychloroquine video” at Business Insider.

  • Read “No Evidence That Doctor Group in Viral Video Got Near COVID 'Front Lines' at Med Page Today.

  • Read “'America's Frontline Doctors' may be real doctors, but experts say they don't know what they're talking about” at USA Today.

  • Read “Who Are ‘America’s Frontline Doctors’ and Dr. Stella Immanuel?” at Snopes. “During the course of our investigation, we found a doctor who describes herself on Twitter as “God’s battle axe and weapon of war,” health care providers some of whose claimed credentials and affiliations could not be confirmed, and some questionable and outright dangerous claims regarding an unproven “cure” and preventative treatment for COVID-19.”

  • Read “Fauci: Trials have "consistently" shown hydroxychloroquine is "not effective" at Axios.

  • Read “Former FDA head Scott Gottlieb: "We can definitively say hydroxychloroquine doesn't work" at Axios.

  • Read “Ohio Board of Pharmacy bans sale of hydroxychloroquine to treat coronavirus” at WKBN.

Miscellany Cultural Items:

Read “On Anthony Bourdain in a Tearing World” at The Millions.

Read “Culture, Claims ‘PAW Patrol’ Was Dropped, But It Wasn’t” at Deadline.

Read “Hi, my name is Karen. Embarrassed to meet you” at America Magazine.

Read “Former X-Factor Live star exposed as 'pure evil' serial rapist is jailed for life” at the Daily Record.

Read “A cyberpsychologist explains why you can't stop staring at yourself on Zoom calls (and everyone else is probably doing the same)” at Insider.

Read “Americans Aren’t Making Babies, and That’s Bad for the Economy” at Bloomberg.

Read “How America weaponizes motherhood” at Washington Post. “The experience of motherhood in America is a political question just as much as it is a question of flesh. We allow white mothers a sainthood not extended to other types of mothers.”

Read “Greta Thunberg Wins $1.15 Million Prize; Pledges to Donate All to Environmental Groups” at A Mighty Girl.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Fire at Arizona Democratic Party headquarters under investigation” at MSN.

Read “Russia satellite: Kremlin accuses US and UK of 'distorting' truth” at BBC.

Read “Twitter Finally Cracked Down on QAnon—but There’s a Catch” at Slate.

Read “Down In The Polls, Trump Pitches Fear: 'They Want To Destroy Our Suburbs' at NPR.

Read “Reagan Foundation Calls on Trump Campaign to Stop Using Ex-President’s Image to Raise Money” at Slate.

Read “Ocasio-Cortez calls for end to federal funding for military recruitment in schools” at The Hill.

Read “How Shannon Watts Says You Can Be A Mom And Advocate During Coronavirus” at Forbes.

Read “Record number of Black women are running for U.S. Congress” at NBC News.

Read “Democrats seek to shame Barr over politics at the Justice Department” at Washington Post.

Read “Biden says he will pick running mate by end of next week” at Washington Post.

Read “Trump: Republicans who oppose funding FBI building in stimulus "should go back to school" at Axios.

Read “Former President Obama to speak at Rep. John Lewis’ funeral” at News and Guts.

  • Read “John Lewis’ Final Words Published” at News and Guts.

Read “Trump Tries To Appeal To 'Housewives' And White Suburbs, But His Views Seem Outdated” at NPR. “Whatever you call them, they're not in Trump's corner. Trump needs them back, and he's trying to use fear to do it.”

  • Read “Trump Plays on Racist Fears of Terrorized Suburbs to Court White Voters” at New York Times.

Read “Pending Postal Service Changes Could Delay Mail And Deliveries, Advocates Warn” at NPR.

Read “AOC Introduces Measure to Stop the Military from Recruiting on Twitch” at Vice.

Read “More Than Half Of Young People Lack Resources To Vote By Mail” at NPR.

Read “Yankees surprised by Trump announcing plans to throw first pitch without invite” at The Hill.

Read “Senate adjourns without extending expiring unemployment benefits” at Axios.

Read “Postal Service backlog sparks worries that ballot delivery could be delayed in November” at Washington Post.

Read “Trump-backed postmaster general plans to slow mail delivery” at Fortune.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Trump floats delaying November election” at Axios.

  • Read “2020 Election Live Updates: Republicans Reject Trump’s Suggestion to Delay Election, Something He Cannot Do” at New York Times

Read “Tax burden from the Pentagon budget authorized by the NDAA wipes out COVID stimulus payments” at Responsible StateCraft. “The new defense budget imposes a $4,711.11 cost on each tax filer. The average coronavirus stimulus check was $1,809.”

Read “White House Lies About Paw Patrol Being Cancelled While Criticizing So-Called 'Cancel Culture' for Cops” at The Root.

Read “Obese politicians signal corruption, study finds” at Eurasianet. “Post-Soviet nations with the biggest corruption problem have the biggest politicians.”

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “The Man Brian Eno Called ‘the Daddy of us all.” at New York Times.

Read “Grateful Dead, Dead & Company, Bob Weir and More To Be Featured on Rex Foundation and Jerry Garcia Family’s ‘Daze Between’ Livestream” at Relix.

Read “The Endurance of Bob Dylan’s Rough and Rowdy Ways” at Pitchfork.

Read “Marilyn Manson announces new album ‘We Are Chaos,’ shares video for title track” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Taylor Swift Has Been Working Toward ‘Folklore’ All Along” at Rolling Stone. “Her new album’s indie-folk touches fit into a career full of effortless reinvention.”

  • Read “5 Takeaways From Taylor Swift’s New Album, folklore” at Pitchfork. “The superstar singer-songwriter teams up with Bon Iver and members of the National for her quiet, personal eighth album.”

  • Read “Aaron Dessner Describes Keeping Taylor Swift Album Secret From His 8-Year-Old Daughter” at Stereogum.

  • Read “Black-Metal Legend Ihsahn Calls Out Taylor Swift Over Album Artwork” at Consequence of Sound.

Read/Listen to “Reclaiming Boogaloo” at NPR. “Boogaloo was a music developed in the 1960s by Nuyoricans who were listening to American pop music, James Brown, Tito Puente and Machito – young folks bringing together disparate sounds and cultures to make their own. But recently, an informal network of white supremacists and other hate groups have adopted the word "boogaloo" to signify an impending race war or some other form of mass violence.”

Read “Bloodshot co-founder responds following allegations of unpaid royalties and plans to sell label” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read as Pitchfork considers “Bad Brains I Against I”. Each Sunday, Pitchfork takes an in-depth look at a significant album from the past, and any record not in our archives is eligible. Today, we revisit the hard-fought third album by the D.C. hardcore icons who played faster and better than everyone else.”

Read “Lalo Guerrero: The Forgotten Father Of Chicano Music” at Daily Chela.

Read “Rilo Kiley Will Reissue And Finally Stream Their 1999 Debut” at Stereogum. “After attending Rilo Kiley's first show, comedian Dave Foley of 'Kids In The Hall' and 'NewsRadio' funded the recording sessions for the band's 1999 debut, soon to be streaming for the first time. He recalls, "I was in a full on, pop music fan swoon."

Read “The Killers respond to allegations of sexual misconduct against band & crew members” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Amid a Racial Justice Reckoning, Pioneers of Rap, Reggae, and R&B Recount Their Struggles to Get Paid” at Pitchfork.

Read “Jerry Garcia’s “Pretzel” Guitar Resurfaces” at Relix.

Read “A Neil Young Time Capsule” at the New Yorker.

Read “Yo La Tengo announce socially distant shows at MASS MoCA, share Matmos collab” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Trent Reznor, Kamasi Washington, RZA, More Nominated for 2020 Emmys” at Pitchfork.

Read “New Orleans Musician Offers Kids Trumpets In Exchange For Their Guns” at NPR.

Browse “10 Best Quarantine Concerts Online” at New York Times.

Read ‘Pop music is getting faster (and happier)” at BBC. “The average tempo of 2020's top 20 best-selling songs is a pulse-quickening 122 beats per minute. That's the highest it's been since 2009.’

Read “Phish Lyricist Tom Marshall Hospitalized for Bacterial Blood Infection” at Jambands.

Read “Merge Records cuts ties with Ian Svenonius” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Want live music back? Wear a mask and call Congress” at Reader.

Read “Trey Anastasio Announces New Album, ‘Lonely Trip’” at Relix.

Read “MTV VMAs 2020: See The Full List of Nominees Here” at Pitchfork.

Read “Spotify CEO Daniel Ek says working musicians may no longer be able to release music only “once every three to four years” at The Fader.

Movies/TV/Etc.:

Read “Disney is remaking its classic 1973 Robin Hood film as a CGI Disney Plus exclusive” at The Verge.

Read “Wes Anderson’s New Movie The French Dispatch Pushed to 2021” at Pitchfork.

Read “Dystopian series ‘Watchmen’ leads all Emmy nominees with 26” at Associated Press.

Read “IMAX has lost $26 million due to coronavirus closures” at NME.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “Stuck in an imperial system that has outlived its promise Ross Douthat wonders what will get us beyond decadence” at Christian Century.

Design/Artsy Things:

Read “33% of U.S. museums are "not confident" they will survive next fall”

See “Design Inspiration: Bailey Elder” at Raven Sings The Blues.

Movies/TV/Etc.:

Read “Disney is remaking its classic 1973 Robin Hood film as a CGI Disney Plus exclusive” at The Verge.

Read “Universal and AMC strike historic movie distribution deal” at Axios.

Books/Reading/Authors/Podcasts:

Read “Michelle Obama to "Explore Meaningful Topics" in New Spotify Podcast Launching This Month” at Pop Sugar.

Design/Artsy Things:

Read “33% of U.S. museums are "not confident" they will survive next fall” at Axios.

Read “Is It Time to Repatriate Africa’s Looted Art?” at Foreign Policy.

Science/Animals/Technology/Environment/Etc.:

Read “No Longer in Shadows, Pentagon’s U.F.O. Unit Will Make Some Findings Public For over a decade, the program, now tucked inside the Office of Naval Intelligence, has discussed mysterious events in classified briefings” at New York Times.

Read “It’s Still Not Aliens The latest report on military study of UFOs is just as tantalizing—and unilluminating—as all the ones before” at Slate.

Read “Baboons 'carrying knives and chainsaw' spotted in safari park” at Yahoo.

Food Cultures:

Read “The 19th-Century Swill Milk Scandal That Poisoned Infants With Whiskey Runoff” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “Coca-Cola Entering Hard Seltzer Market With Topo Chico Hard Seltzer” at Paste.

Browse “The Best Burger in Every State” at The Daily Meal. What do you think of their picks?

Misc. Oddities:

Read “How to Outrun a Dinosaur” at Wired. “If, through some scientific malfunction, you found yourself transported 70 million years into the past, you might be safer from certain hungry reptiles than you think.”

Local:

The Weekly Town Crier (06/19/20)

towndude.jpg

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (06/19/20)



Read “Legendary Batman writer, Denny O'Neil dies at age 81” at Games Radar.

Read “Evangelicals perfected cancel culture. Now it’s coming for them” at Religion News Service.

Read “Jesus Was Divisive: A Black Pastor's Message To White Christians” at NPR’s Code-Switch. “Of course, they are willing to sacrifice black and brown bodies to hear a full-throated hymn.”

Read “Apartheid’s Roots Nourished By Religion” from January 1985’s Chicago Tribune.

Read and Sign an “Open Letter to Our Nations’ Lawmakers on Systemic Racism” from The Poor People’s Campaign. "The question before us is whether America can be what it has promised to be." We will not stop until we can all breathe.

Read “Most US Pastors Speak Out in Response to George Floyd’s Death Survey finds many still worry discussing race is “too political” at Christianity Today.

Read “Before protests, black Americans said religious sermons should address race relations” at Pew Research.

Read “A Brief History of People Using Romans 13 to Justify White Supremacy” at The Root (originally published 2018).

Read ‘In landmark case, Supreme Court rules LGBTQ workers are protected from job discrimination” at NBC News. “The decision said Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which makes it illegal for employers to discriminate because of a person's sex, also covers sexual orientation and transgender status”

Read “Supreme Court blocks Trump’s bid to end DACA, a win for undocumented ‘Dreamers’” at Washington Post.

Read “Number of Refugees World-Wide Has Doubled in Past Decade Nearly 80 million people were displaced from their homes at the end of 2019, according to the U.N.’s refugee agency” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Colonialism’s Cages: When Indigenous People Were Placed In Human Zoos” at All That’s Interesting.

HAPPY JUNETEENTH!

  • Read “The meaning of Juneteenth and how we should commemorate it today” at MPR News.

  • Learn about Juneteenth at Teen Vogue.

  • Read “Trump claims he made Juneteenth "very famous" at Axios. “I did something good: I made Juneteenth very famous." The president claimed that "nobody had ever heard" of the June 19 celebration before he planned a rally in Tulsa on that day.”

  • Read “Juneteenth: A Truer Independence Day The official end of slavery in America more fully embraces the self-evident truth of all people as created equal” at Christianity Today.

  • Read “Juneteenth – 7 Books for Kids!” at Englewood Review of Books.

  • Read “Amid Calls for a General Strike, Labor Will Shut Down 29 Ports on Juneteenth” at Truthout

Learn about Medgar Evers.

Learn about Ruby Bridges.

Learn about “The Trail Of Tears: Government-Approved Ethnic Cleansing That Removed 100,000 Native Americans From Their Ancestral Lands” at All That’s Interesting.

Read “Top Military Leaders Acknowledge Black and Hispanic Service Members Get Treated Unfairly in Its Justice System” at Newsweek.

Read “Top State Department official resigns in protest of Trump’s response to racial tensions in the country” at Washington Post.

Listen to “'Lean Into Discomfort' When Talking About Race” at WBUR.

Read “The Unmistakable Black Roots of 'Sesame Street' at Smithsonian.

Read “Aunt Jemima brand to change name, remove image that Quaker says is 'based on a racial stereotype' at NBC News.

  • Read “Aunt Jemima's logo has changed 6 times, and its history is rooted in racial stereotypes and slavery — check out how the brand started and evolved over 130 years” at Business Insider.

Read “Is Genocide Happening In Nigeria As The World Turns A Blind Eye?” at Forbes.

Read “Beyond Berets: The Black Panthers as Health Activists” at US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health.

Learn about the “Boogaloo movement” at CNN.

  • Read “The 29-Year-Old Bodybuilder Behind the Armed Effort to Reopen Texas A month ago Philip Archibald was stuck inside his Dallas home, unable to work. Now he commands a heavily armed network of anti-lockdown vigilantes, some with extremist leanings” at Texas Monthly.

  • Read “Members of armed civilian group arrested, suspected gunman identified after man is shot at Albuquerque protest” at Washington Post.

This week in traitorous, white-supremacist Confederate monuments (and/or Columbus monuments):

  • Read “George Floyd's uncle calls on South Dakota police department in his hometown to remove Confederate flag from their logo” at Daily Mail.

  • Read “Trump's history of defending Confederate 'heritage' despite political risk” at ABC News. (EDITOR’S NOTE: You don't get to call yourself "The Party of Lincoln" while defending Confederate symbols.

  • Read “Taylor Swift Speaks Out Against Tennessee’s Confederate Monuments” at Stereogum.

  • Read “Tennessee just showed that white supremacy is alive and well; Honoring a former Confederate general and KKK grand wizard in 2019 is outrageous” at Washington Post.

  • Read “Is this the end for public monuments to the Confederacy?” at PBS News Hour. "While some argue the monuments honor Southern ancestors, Lecia Brooks of the Southern Poverty Law Center says most went up either early in the 20th century or during the civil rights era, as racist groups like the Ku Klux Klan flexed their muscle.”

  • Read "NASCAR’s Bubba Wallace on banning the Confederate flag and a new generation of fans” at PBS News Hour.

  • Read “Cities Are Removing Racist & Confederate Statues That Protesters Have Targeted” at Now This!

  • In modern-day Confederate news, Read: “Mitch McConnell: We paid for 'sin of slavery' by electing Obama” at USA Today.

  • Read “Statue of Josephus Daniels, publisher and white supremacist, removed from Raleigh square” at The News and Observer.

  • Read “Columbus To Remove Christopher Columbus Statue At City Hall” at WOSU.

  • Read “Letting Go Of The Lost Cause: Confederates Were Racist Traitors The Civil War ended 155 years ago. We need to finally correct the historical record. The Confederates were racist traitors and should not be celebrated” at Rantt Media.

  • Read “Kingston Decides to Swap One George Clinton for Another” at Hudson Valley River News.

This Week in Protest News:

  • Read “'Riots', 'mobs', 'chaos': the establishment always frames change as dangerous” at The Guardian.

  • Read “Tear Gas: An Investigation. What it is, how it is abused and why you should care” at Amnesty.org.

  • Read “What the Heck is Going On In Seattle?” at Medium.

  • Read “Fox News runs digitally altered images in coverage of Seattle’s protests, Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” at Seattle Times. (EDITOR’S NOTE: MAYBE, Just Maybe, Fox “News” isn’t news after all but propaganda?”

  • Read “Trump draws rebukes for suggesting 75-year-old protester pushed to the ground in Buffalo was part of a ‘set up’ at Washington Post.

  • Read “As protests continue, black women activists are leading again” at PBS News Hour.

  • Read “The Small-Town Antifa Invasion That Never Came Hundreds of people in Klamath Falls, Oregon, rallied with guns and bulletproof vests in response to a Facebook rumor” at Slate.

  • Read “US law enforcement surveilled protests with drones, spy planes” at Al Jazeera.

    • Read “AOC Wants to Know Why the Hell a Predator Drone Was Spying on Protesters The military-grade Predator B drone was far outside the 100-mile operational zone of Customs and Border Protection” at Vice.

  • Read “Kneeling Protest, Once a Flashpoint, Now a Widespread Symbol of Solidarity Four years after Colin Kaepernick was shunned, demonstrators, police and lawmakers embrace the gesture” at Wall Street Journal.

  • Read “The George Floyd demonstrations turned into a movement when the protesters began to sing It was as if the spirituals of the Civil Rights waited, just below the surface, to surge forth once more” at Dallas News.

  • Read “Black Lives Matter is Winning, and They Don’t Need Advice from the Liberal Establishment” at Due Dissidence.

  • Read “Cornel West on US protests: The chickens have come home to roost Activist and scholar talks to Middle East Eye about the Black Lives Matter movement and the roots of neoliberalism that need to be dismantled” at Middle East Eye.

George Floyd:

  • Read “George Floyd’s Autopsy and the Structural Gaslighting of America” at Scientific American. “The weaponization of medical language emboldened white supremacy with the authority of the white coat. How will we stop it from happening again?”

Breonna Taylor:

Read “Sen. John Cornyn’s distorted interpretation of ‘systemic racism’ displayed what a lot of Americans don’t get about it. A witness at Tuesday’s Senate Judiciary hearing on policing reform offered a lesson on what it means” at Washington Post.

This Week With the Police:

  • Read “Unarmed professionals will now respond to non-criminal police calls in San Francisco to reduce 'police confrontations' at Yahoo.

  • Read “Atlanta officer who fatally shot Rayshard Brooks has been terminated” at

  • Read “Police Have Long History of Responding to Black Movements by Playing the Victim” at Truthout.

  • Read “Defunding the Police Will Actually Make Us Safer Policing in this country evolved from slave patrols. It has never been a neutral institution” at ACLU.

  • Read “'I can't breathe,' Oklahoma man tells police before dying. 'I don't care,' officer responds. Newly released video of the 2019 incident shows officers restraining Derrick Scott, 42, who is heard asking repeatedly for his medicine and saying he can’t breathe” at NBC News.

  • Read “Why Minneapolis Was the Breaking Point Black men and women are still dying across the country. The power that is American policing has conceded nothing” at The Atlantic.

  • Read “They Were the Authority and I Didn’t Argue With Authority” In an era before rape kits, Sue Royston decided to fight for justice even though the police doubted her, the prosecution discouraged her, and those around her dismissed her story” at Pro Publica.

  • Read “Seattle Council Bans Police Use of Crowd Control Weapons” at New York Times.'

  • Read “Lawsuit: Arizona's Use Of Private Prisons Violates The U.S. Constitution” at KJZZ.

  • Read “'Hey Siri, I'm getting pulled over' - iPhone shortcut helps record police interactions An iPhone shortcut that allows users to automatically record their interactions with the police is gaining popularity” at ABC 7.

  • Read “Defund The Police? Columbus Police Account For More Than A Third Of City's Budget” WOSU.

This Week In Prison Abolition:

  • Read “What Is Prison Abolition? The movement that is trying to think beyond prisons as a tool to solve society’s problems” at The Nation.

  • Read “Is Prison Necessary? Ruth Wilson Gilmore Might Change Your Mind” at New York Times.

  • Read “What Abolitionists Do” at Jacobin Magazine. “Prison abolitionists aren't naive dreamers. They're organizing for concrete reforms, animated by a radical critique of state violence.”

  • Read “The Challenge of Prison Abolition: A Conversation” at History Is A Weapon. A conversation between Angela Y. Davis and Dylan Rodriguez.

Read “Autopsy report says Rayshard Brooks was shot twice in the back, lists manner of death as homicide” at CNN.

  • Read “Ex-Atlanta Police officer who killed Rayshard Brooks charged with felony murder” at CNN.

Read “A short history of black women and police violence” at The Conversation.

Read “The Sacrifice Black Children Shouldn’t Have to Make This country prizes Black children’s precocity — insists on it, even, much of the time” at The Cut.

Read “Law Professor On Misdemeanor Offenses And Racism In The Criminal System” at NPR.

Read “Loving Day: 53 years after the Supreme Court overturned laws banning interracial marriage Mildred and Richard Loving took their case to the highest court after they were arrested for living together as an interracial married couple in Virginia” at WFAA.

Read “‘A change is gonna come’: Reimagining public safety” by Jim Wallis for Religion News Service.

Read “In U.S., 87% Approve of Black-White Marriage, vs. 4% in 1958 Ninety-six percent of blacks, 84% of whites approve” at The Guardian.

Read “Starbucks to allow baristas to wear Black Lives Matter attire and accessories after social media backlash” at CNBC.

Read “Transgender Health Protections Reversed By Trump Administration” at NPR.

Read “How some researchers are using data science to fight sex trafficking” at America Magazine.

Read “John Cleese Blasts the BBC After 'Fawlty Towers' Episode Gets Removed for Using the N-word "We were not supporting [these] views, we were making fun of them... If people are too stupid to see that, what can one say?" at Exclaim.

Read “'There Is No Neutral': 'Nice White People' Can Still Be Complicit In A Racist Society” at NPR.

Read “Making people aware of their implicit biases doesn’t usually change minds. But here’s what does work” at PBS News Hour.

Read the history of NYPD Challenge Coins at Research and Destroy.

  • Read “Stories about people who have the right to remain silent, but choose not to exercise that right—including police officer Adrian Schoolcraft, who secretly recorded his supervisors telling officers to manipulate crime statistics and make illegal arrests” at This American Life.

Read “Federal Executions Set To Resume After Nearly 2-Decade Hiatus” at NPR.

Read “These companies are giving their employees time off for Juneteenth A growing list of companies have decided to make Juneteenth, which commemorates the ending of slavery in America, a paid company holiday” at 5 News Online.

Read/Listen to “A 'Forgotten History' Of How The U.S. Government Segregated America” at NPR.

Read “University of California divests from fossil fuels, puts $1 billion into clean energy” at Cronkite News.

Read “Study: 70% of Facebook users only read the headline of science stories before commenting” at Science Post.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

  • Read “#TheArizonaWay doesn’t include a plan to stop spiking COVID cases” at Arizona Mirror.

  • Read “CDC warns U.S. may reimplement strict coronavirus measures if cases go up ‘dramatically’” at CNBC.

  • Read “‘The direct result of racism’: Covid-19 lays bare how discrimination drives health disparities among Black people” at Stat News.

  • Read “Our masked future Wearing a mask all the time affects how we interact with each other. But how?” at Vox.

  • Read “After six months of coronavirus, how close are we to defeating it?” at The Guardian.

  • Read “Argentina pastor turns church into bar in protest at uneven coronavirus restrictions” at The Guardian.

  • Read “Florida fired its coronavirus data scientist. Now she’s publishing the statistics on her own” at Washington Post.

  • Read “FDA revokes authorization for hydroxychloroquine” at Market Watch.

  • Read “How Independent Music Venues Are Fighting for Their Existence” at Pitchfork.

  • Read “Pence Tells Governors to Repeat Misleading Claim on Outbreaks” at Washington Post. In other words: “Pence Tells Governors to Lie Like He Does . . . “

  • Read “Fauci said US government held off promoting face masks because it knew shortages were so bad that even doctors couldn't get enough” at Business Insider.

  • Read “Partygoers have been packing Arizona bars. Now the state is a coronavirus hot spot” at Los Angeles Times.

  • Read “Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey: Arizonans Must Learn To Live With The Coronavirus” at KJZZ.

  • Read “Record spike in new coronavirus cases reported in six U.S. states as reopening accelerates” at Reuters.

  • Read “Judge Orders Trump Administration To Give Tribes Their COVID-19 Relief Funds The Treasury Department was planning to sit on $679 million in emergency aid that was due to go to tribal governments months ago” at Huff Post.

  • Read “'It may save your life': Facing virus surge, more U.S. states mandate masks” at Reuters.

Read “There’s No Going Back to ‘Normal’ Once we accept, and grieve, that our old way of life is gone, we can build a better future” at The Atlantic.

Read “When Donald Trump tried to stage a coup: Was June 1 the turning point? Last week our president tried to send the Army into America's streets. Aides pushed back, but it was a close call” at Salon.

Read “Bolton Says Trump Impeachment Inquiry Missed Other Troubling Actions at New York Times. “Mr. Bolton also adds a striking new allegation by saying that Mr. Trump overtly linked trade negotiations to his own political fortunes by asking President Xi Jinping of China to buy a lot of American agricultural products to help him win farm states in this year’s election. Mr. Trump, he writes, was ‘pleading with Xi to ensure he’d win. He stressed the importance of farmers, and increased Chinese purchases of soybeans and wheat in the electoral outcome.’”

  • Read “Trump asked China’s Xi to help him win reelection, according to Bolton book” at Washington Post.

Read “Facebook Removes Trump Ads With Symbol Used By Nazis. Campaign Calls It An 'Emoji' at NPR.

Read “Twitter labels Trump video tweet as manipulated media, continuing its cra

Read “Twitter labels Trump video tweet as manipulated media, continuing its crackdown on misinformation The label marks the fourth time Twitter has added labels to the president’s tweets” at Washington Post.

Read “Democrats also gain from the border wall The militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border was always a bipartisan effort, with symbolism that’s useful to both parties” at High Country News.

Read “History says Trump's low approval rating is unlikely to move” at CNN.

Read “Biden running mate search zeroes in on group that includes at least four black women” at Washington Post.

Read “Poland Accidentally Invades Czech Republic In 'Minor Misunderstanding' at NPR.

Read “For Fans Of: Sonic Boom’s “All Things Being Equal” at Bandcamp.

Read “Understanding Blackness to understand Black art” at The Wire. “Does the diversity of your record collection reflect the diversity of your real social life or approach to the world?”

Read “Lady Antebellum Is Now ‘Lady A.’ But So Is a Blues Singer Who’s Used the Name for 20 Years “This is my life. They’re using the name because of a Black Lives Matter incident that, for them, is just a moment in time,” says the original Lady A, a 61-year-old black singer who’s released multiple records under the name” at Rolling Stone.

Read “David Crosby: ‘Trump Is Far More Dangerous Than Nixon’ “My democracy that I love so much is failing and being abused to death,” Crosby says” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Bob Dylan Has a Lot on His Mind” at DNYUZ.

ReadTrouser Press’ entire ’70s/’80s magazine run now available online for free” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “The Prescient Power of ‘Jagged Little Pill’ Maybe Alanis Morissette was angry, but mostly she was lucid” at Tidal.

Read “Lemmy Kilmister Biopic in the Works” at Pitchfork.

Read “2020 Americana Music Award Nominations Reflect Roots Music’s Rich Diversity” at No Depression.

Read “GET TO KNOW… SAMMY BRUE” at DIY Magazine.

Watch “David Bowie blast MTV for not playing enough Black artists in 1983” at Brooklyn Vegan. “It occurred to me, having watched MTV over the last few months, that’s it’s a solid enterprise, really. It’s got a lot going for it. I’m just floored by the fact that there are so few black artists featured on it. Why is that?"

Read “The Roots and Michelle Obama to Host Virtual Music Festival” at Pitchfork.

Read “Rose City Band: Summerlong review – a gorgeous record” at The Guardian.

Read “Bob Dylan Has Given Us One of His Most Timely Albums Ever With ‘Rough and Rowdy Ways’” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Michael Stipe, Chad Smith and other rock stars featured in trailer for 'Creem' magazine documentary” at ABC News Radio.

Read "Neal Casal Music Foundation Launches With Tribute Album to Late Guitarist Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, and Billy Strings cover Casal’s songs on ‘Highway Butterfly’; a book of the musician’s photos is also on tap” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Live Nation Wants Artists to Take Pay Cuts and Cancelation Burdens for Shows in 2021” at Rolling Stone.

ReadInside Out makes the profound case that sadness is good” at AV Club.

ReadInside Out makes the profound case that sadness is good” at AV Club.

Read “Meet Hercules, One of America’s Early Celebrity Chefs Heralded for his food, the enslaved cook headed the first presidential kitchen” at Gastro Obscura.

Read “Phoenix artists fighting racial injustice with public murals Around town, murals are starting to appear supporting a message of equality” at 12 News.

Read “Roll The Windows Down And Take A Drive Down Kayenta-Monument Valley Scenic Road In Arizona” at Only In Your State.

Read “There may be more than 36 intelligent alien civilizations in the Milky Way, scientists say” at CBS News.

Read “Surge Letter To Churches - June 2020” at Surge Network.