The Weekly Town Crier (12/11/20)
All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (12/11/20).
We’ll Miss You:
Read “Chuck Yeager, 1st to break sound barrier, dead at 97” at KREM.
Read “Howard Wales on Jerry Garcia, ‘Hooteroll?’ and Beyond” at Relix. “On December 7, 2020 keyboard iconoclast Howard Wales passed away. Here is a look back at our 2017 piece on Wales.”
Read “US composer Harold Budd dies aged 84” at The Guardian.
Religion and Stuff:
Read “Senator Manchin, Your Faith Teaches You Better Than This” at The Nation by William J Barber II.
Read “Thomas Jefferson Tried to ‘Fix’ the Bible. He Only Succeeded in Making It Sad.” at Christianity Today.
Read “Southern Baptists Keep Quarreling Over Critical Race Theory” at Christianity Today.
Read “Disgraced Hillsong pastor Carl Lentz might get payoff despite ‘multiple affairs’” at Page Six.
Read “The Rise and Fall of Carl Lentz, the Celebrity Pastor of Hillsong Church” at New York Times.
Read “The Crisis of Christian Celebrity” by David French at The Dispatch.
Read “The sad irony of celebrity pastors” at The Spectator. “Instead of making me want to become more like them, it looks very much as if they want to become more like me.”
Read “The Celebrity Pastor Problem Is Every Church’s Struggle” at Christianity Today.
Read “St. John Paul II Did Not Change Catholic Teaching on Capital Punishment: A Reply to E. Christian Brugger” at Public Discourse.
Read “Looted Nazi Art Again Before Supreme Court” at NPR.
Read “Black pastor leads his white North Carolina church toward a fuller reckoning of race” at Religion News Service.
Read “It’s time to end ‘name and shame’ religious freedom policy” at Religion News Service. ”President-elect Biden and his foreign policy aides need to focus on a broader strategy of religious engagement.”
Read “In Which I Stop Saving Myself for Marriage” at Fathom.
Read “Church in The Woodlands where woman was abused will not face repercussions from SBC” at Houston Chronicle.
Read “New Labor Department rule expands religious exemption for federal contractors” at Religion News Service.
Read “The Mandalorian’ is an indictment of holy wars, and a celebration of pluralism” at Religion News Service.
Read “Leonard Cohen on Christianity” by David Dark.
Read “Sacred Tension: Overcoming the Faith Cartel with David Dark” at Stephen Bradford.
Read “The Decline of the Christian Consensus” at National Review.
Read “With vaccines on the horizon, faith leaders could play a crucial role in promoting their use” at Religion News Service.
Legal/Justice and Social Justice and Race or Gender or Sexism-Related Stuff:
Read “The House Just Voted to Decriminalize Weed” at Vice. “In a historic first, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to end the federal ban on cannabis. Senate Republicans are unlikely to take it up.”
Read “Matt Gaetz warns GOP that arguments against legalizing marijuana increasingly unpopular” at The Hill.
Read ‘Why So High? More Than Half the Cost to Legalize Weed in VA Goes to Police, Report Says.” at Dogwood.
Read “Leader of the Pro-Black ‘NFAC’ Militia Arrested and Charged by Feds” at Vice. “John Fitzgerald Johnson, aka Grand Master Jay, could get up to 20 years for pointing his gun at authorities.”
Read “Gun violence has become a disturbing public health crisis. The Biden administration must step in and immediately do something about it” at Business Insider.
Read “This Is the Case That Could Bring Down Roe v. Wade” at Vice. “Amy Coney Barrett has only been a Supreme Court justice for a few weeks, and she’s already facing a test on abortion.”
Read “14 Fort Hood soldiers fired, suspended over violence at base” at Associated Press.
Read “Michael Flynn judge says pardon doesn’t mean ex-national security adviser is innocent” at Washington Post.
Read “Black Michigan Lawmaker Got Racist Threats for Calling Out Giuliani's Lies” at Vice.
Read “U.S. Justice Department To Investigate Killing Of Casey Goodson Jr.” at WOSU.
Read “DC attorney general sends cease-and-desist letter to DoorDash over premium service” at The Hill.
Read “6 Dark Places Aleister Crowley Performed His Particular Brand of Magick” at Atlas Obscura.
This week in traitorous, white-supremacist Confederate monuments (and/or Columbus monuments // and/or other “American monuments” // and/or weird Confederacy stuff):
Read “Virginia Military Institute Removes Confederate ‘Stonewall’ Jackson Statue” at Huff Post.
This Week In Protest-Related News:
Read “Hong Kong police arrest 8 activists over anti-government protests” at The Hill.
Read “Portland mayor authorizes ‘all lawful means’ to clear protesters from occupied area on Mississippi Ave.” at Oregon Public Broadcasting.
This Week With The Police:
Read “Law Enforcement Took More Stuff From People Than Burglars Did Last Year” at Washington Post.
Read “Hartford detective demoted, suspended for suggesting bet on first homicide of 2021” at NBC News. “The Hartford police chief said the text "represents an appalling lack of judgment" and "an extreme insensitivity toward our community."
Read “Providing police with military gear does not reduce crime or protect officers” at ABC News.
Read “The Police Have Been Spying on Black Reporters and Activists for Years. I Know Because I’m One of Them” at Pro Publica.
Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings
Read “Paradise Valley Superintendent Dr. Jesse Welsh and his family harassed, threatened over school closures” at ABC 15.
Read “Jill Biden to advocate for debt-free community college as next first lady” at The Hill.
Read “Male Texas teen suspended from school for wearing nail polish” at The Hill.
Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:
Read “Oregon doctor's license revoked over refusal to wear mask during pandemic” at NBC News.
Read “Trump announces Rudy Giuliani has Covid” at NBC News.
Read “Witness Mellissa Carone says she's not self-quarantining after Giuliani's COVID-19 diagnosis” at The Hill.
Read “Giuliani from hospital calls COVID-19 'a curable disease'“ at The Hilli.
Read “Tipped Service Workers Are More Vulnerable Amid Pandemic Harassment Spike” at NPR.
Listen to “Wrecking Public Trust” at The Gist. “Those who downplayed the virus because their brand is contrarianism have greatly damaged our ability to recover.”
Listen to “Anti-Vax Ideas Have Metastasized in 2020” at WNYC.
Read “Vaccine opponents rebrand as rollout of Covid-19 shots looms” at Politico.
Read “A whistleblower says the FDA isn’t properly regulating vaccine facilities” at PBS News Hour.
Read/Listen to “Iris Meda Came Out Of Retirement To Teach Nursing. She Died Of COVID-19 After Exposure From Student” at WBUR.
Read ‘Wyoming Governor Issues Statewide Mask Mandate” at Wall Street Journal.
Read ‘Canada preparing to administer COVID-19 vaccine this month” at The Hill.
Read “Arizona legislature shuts down after Giuliani tests positive for coronavirus” at The Hill.
Read “'Cowardly' say some Arizona Republicans of their leaders following closure of Legislature” at AZ Central.
Read “Yes, some Americans may be required to get a COVID-19 vaccine but not by the federal government” at USA Today.
Read “How were COVID-19 vaccines made so fast? Scientists had a huge head start” at Los Angeles Times.
Read “How big could a COVID baby bust be?” at Market Place.
Read “Arizona Businesses Navigating Liability Issues Related To COVID-19” at KJZZ.
Read “Ohio club cited for Covid violations after 500 people attend indoor Trey Songz concert” at NBC News.
Read “COVID-19 hospitalizations exploded the week of Nov. 6. They still haven't slowed down” at 12 News.
Read “Pastor Celebrates COVID Outbreak at Church: “THE FAVOR OF GOD IS ON THIS HOUSE!”” at Patheos.
Read “West Wing fears COVID spread after Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis attends WH party” at Axios.
Read “Americans Aren’t Actually Quarantining” at The Atlantic.
Read/Listen to “Boston Reverend Enlists Dr. Fauci To Help Black Community Get Behind COVID-19 Vaccine” at WBUR.
Read “The Danger of Assuming That Family Time Is Dispensable” at The Atlantic. “Americans who are desperate to see their loved ones need advice that goes beyond “Just say no.”
Read “The FDA says Pfizer’s Covid vaccine is safe and effective. But trial participants warn of intense symptoms after second shot” at NBC New York.
Read “'How a picture of my foot became anti-vaccine propaganda'“ at BBC.
Read “'A slap in the face': Yuma hospital fires ER doctor for talking about COVID-19” at AZ Central.
Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):
Browse “20 Diversion Tactics Highly Manipulative Narcissists, Sociopaths And Psychopaths Use To Silence You” at Thought Catalog.
Read “Chick-fil-A Sues Poultry Suppliers, Alleging Price-Fixing” at Wall Street Journal. “Lawsuit adds one of the U.S. chicken industry’s biggest customers to expanding litigation that alleges long-running collusion among poultry processors.”
Read “Guy Fieri, the Fundraiser of Flavortown” at Bloomberg. “Guy Fieri has raised $21.5 million for unemployed restaurant workers, which means Guy Fieri has done more for unemployed restaurant workers than Congress has in the last 8 months.”
Read “Breakdancing to become an Olympic sport, will debut at Paris in 2024” at Boston Globe.
Read “Uber, After Years of Trying, Is Handing Off Its Self-Driving Car Project” at New York Times.
Read “The FTC is suing Facebook to unwind its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp” at The Verge.
Read “Time Nominates “Racial Justice Movement” As Person Of The Year” at Okay Player.
Read “Disney Increases Layoff Plans to 32,000 Employees in First Half of 2021” at Variety.
Internationalities:
Read “How will US President-elect Biden deal with Iran?” at Al Jazeera.
Read “Iran Says Scientist Was Killed Using Satellite-Controlled Gun” at Bloomberg.
Read “Argentina passes new tax on wealthiest people to pay for cost of coronavirus pandemic” at BBC.
Read “Greek police detain dozens to stop march in memory of slain teen” at Al Jazeera.
Read “Senior Saudi Prince Blasts Israel at Security Conference” at Bloomberg.
Read “Major Jewish Group Joins Fight Against Trump’s Massive Middle East Weapons Sale” at Huff Post.
Read “Mexican president proposes stripping immunity from US agents” at The Hill.
Read “Civilians killed in air strikes in Afghanistan soars by more than 300%” at BBC.
Read “Denmark apologises to children taken from Greenland in a 1950s social experiment” at BBC.
Read “Archaeologists find vast network of Amazon villages laid out like the cosmos” at Live Science.
Politics And Sucheries:
Read “Barr Is Said to Be Weighing Whether to Leave Before Trump’s Term Ends” at New York Times.
Read “Biden will pick California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to lead Health and Human Services” at NBC News.
Read “Biden picks retired general Lloyd Austin to run Pentagon” at Politico.
Read “Trump’s Election Attack Ends December 14—Whether He Knows It or Not” at Wired.
Read “Trump's election push causing long-term damage, experts say” at The Hill.
Read “Arizona GOP Dragged After Suggesting Trump Will Be 'Inaugurated for His Second Term' on January 20th” at Second Nexus.
Read “Today marks an important Electoral College deadline. Here's why that's bad news for Trump” at USA Today.”
Read “Deficit climbs 25 percent to $430 billion through November” at The Hill.
Read “Biden's Victory Cemented As States Reach Key Electoral College Deadline” at NPR.
Read “Mitch McConnell is destroying the case for Georgia’s GOP senators” at Washington Post.
This Week In Political Corruption:
Read “Pompeo spent over $40,000 in taxpayer funds for State Dept dinners” at The Hill.
Read “Trump Trade Adviser Violated Hatch Act With Biden Attacks, Watchdog Says” at Huff Post.
Read “ER doctor who criticized Trump's actions to be removed from Walter Reed schedule” at CBS News. “Dr. James Phillips, the emergency room physician who publicly criticized President Trump's decision to drive with Secret Service agents to greet supporters while he was hospitalized with COVID-19 in October, has been removed from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center's schedule starting in January, according to sources familiar with the situation.”
Read “Armed Mexicans Were Smuggled In to Guard Border Wall, Whistle-Blowers Say” at New York Times.
Read “Agents raid home of ousted Florida health scientist who accused state of manipulating data” at The Hill.
Read “Republican lawyer resigns appointed state post over treatment of data analyst” at Miami Herald.
Read “Florida’s justification for raiding COVID data whistleblower Rebekah Jones is looking a little shaky” at The Verge.
This week in the GOP Election Kerfuffle:
Read “Election Lawsuits Withdrawn Under Threat Of Sanctions” at KJZZ.
Read “Cruz offers to argue Pennsylvania election case before Supreme Court” at The Hill.
Read “Texas sues states Biden won in Supreme Court, seeking to delay Electoral College vote” at The Hill.
Read “Trump Asked Pennsylvania House Speaker About Overturning His Loss” at New York Times.
Read “Hobbs Begins Recovering Taxpayers' Funds From AZGOP For Defending Trump Election Challenges; Gloves Come Off” at AZ Law.
Read “US Supreme Court rebuffs attempt to block Biden’s win in Pennsylvania” at Financial Times.
Read “1,500 Attorneys Call On Bar Associations To Condemn Trump Campaign Lawyers” at Huff Post.
Read ‘More voters say pardons for Trump's family would be inappropriate” at The Hill.
Read “After Democrats flip state, Georgia moves to shut down early voting locations ahead of Senate runoff” at Salon.
Read “Trump Roasted For Bragging That 'Bookies' Favoring Him On Election Night Is Proof That He Won” at Comic Sands.
Read “Rush Limbaugh Says Conservative States Are 'Trending Toward Secession' From U.S.” at Newsweek.
Read “The GOP Abandons Democracy” at The Atlantic. “One hundred and six members of Congress, and 18 state attorneys general, are asking the Supreme Court to overturn the election.”
Music-Related News and Such:
2020 Year-End Lists:
Browse “Brad's Top 50 Albums of 2020” at Amoeba Music.
Browse Bandcamp’s picks for “The Best Soul of 2020.”
Browse “Top 30 Metal + Hard Rock Albums of 2020” at Consequence of Sound.
Browse Crack’s picks for “The Top Albums of 2020.”
Browse “Glide’s 20 Best Albums of 2020.”
Browse Ted Goia’s picks for “The One Hundred Best Albums of 2020.”
Browse Gorilla Vs. Bear’s Albums of 2020.
Browse the New Yorker’s picks for “The Best Music of 2020” (topped by a 2018 album which I can get behind).'
Browse the New York Times’ picks for the “Best Albums of 2020.”
Browse NPR’s picks for “The 100 Best Songs Of 2020.”
Browse NPR’s picks for “The 50 Best Albums Of 2020.”
Browse Paste’s picks for “The 50 Best Albums of 2020.”
Browse Pitchfork’s picks for “The 30 Best Electronic Music Releases of 2020.”
Browse Pitchfork’s picks for “The 100 Best Songs of 2020.”
Browse Pitchfork’s picks for “The 50 Best Albums of 2020.”
Browse Stereogum’s picks for “The 50 Best Albums Of 2020”.
Browse Time’s picks for “The 10 Best Albums of 2020.”
Browse Treble’s picks for the “Top 100 Songs of 2020.”
Browse Treble’s picks for the “Top 50 Albums of 2020.”
Browse Vice’s picks for “The 100 Best Albums of 2020.”
Browse Vinyl Factory’s picks for their “favourite vinyl artwork and packaging of 2020.”
Browse Yardbarker’s picks for “The 30 best albums of 2020.”
Browse “The 2020 No Depression Guide to Holiday Music That Doesn’t Suck.”
Read “So, How Was Your 2020, Thurston Moore?’ at Rolling Stone. “Former Sonic Youth singer and guitarist reflects on the music, books, TV, and movies that helped him get through this year.”
Browse “The 35 Best Lesser-Known Artists of the Last 35 Years, Picked by 35 Well-Known Artists” at Spin.
Read “The Cultural Impact of the Technics SL-1200 Turntable, Then and Now” at Discogs.
Read “Why You Should Listen to John Fahey’s Christmas Music—Even If You Hate Christmas Music” at Pitchfork.
Read (and listen to) “Frozen Fingers :: An American Primitive Holiday Meditation” at Aquarium Drunkard.
Browse Louder Sound’s picks for “The 50 Greatest Live Albums Ever.”
Read “‘Gimme Shelter’ at 50: How The Rolling Stones Got Conquered By America” at Rolling Stone.
Read “Here’s The Story Of The 1970s Most Forgotten Funk Star” at Okay Player.
Read “Bob Dylan Sells Songwriting Catalog to Universal Music Publishing” at Pitchfork.
Read “Wait, Bob Dylan Owned ‘The Weight’? An Explainer” at Rolling Stone. “In selling his own catalog to Universal Music, Dylan also sold the publishing rights of the Band’s first album Music From Big Pink — thanks to a peculiar arrangement that goes back to 1967.”
Read “Bob Dylan’s Overlooked Christian Music” at Sojourners.
Read “Sinéad O’Connor Announces Memoir Rememberings” at Pitchfork.
Browse “An introduction to Don Cherry in 10 records” at Vinyl Factory.
Read “Neil Young Drops Lawsuit Against Donald Trump Campaign” at Pitchfork.
Read “Fiona Apple Explains How She Ended Up On Bob Dylan’s New Album And The “Tramp Stamp” She Got For David Blaine” at Stereogum.
Read “Kanye West’s Sunday Service Choir Is Suing Him For $1 Million For Unpaid Wages” at The Jasmine Brand.
Read “Without Music, I Wouldn’t Have Been Able to Navigate My Breakups” at Vice.
Read “Ethan Hawke On How Music Shaped His Film Career” at Pitchfork.
Read “‘Take Five’ Is Impeccable. ‘Time Outtakes’ Shows How Dave Brubeck Made It.” at New York Times.
Read “Fiona Apple on How She Broke Free and Made the Album of the Year” at Pitchfork.
Read “Pharrell Discovered His Synesthesia Listening To A Tribe Called Quest” at Okay Player.
Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:
Read “Why an All-Streaming Movie World Won’t Look Like You Think It Will” at Variety.
Read “Netflix says it won't add disclaimer to 'The Crown'“ at The Hill.
Read “Mario Lopez plays sexy Colonel Sanders in Lifetime movie, because it's 2020” at CNet.
Read “Culture Clash: Warner Bros.’ HBO Max Move Signals New Day in Hollywood” at Variety.
Browse Vulture’s picks for the “Best Movies of 2020.”
Read “John Mulaney and Andy Samberg are your new Chip 'N Dale, we guess” at AV Club.
Read “‘Moana: The Series’ Set for 2023 on Disney Plus” at Variety.
Read “John Lurie Returns to TV in New HBO Series ‘Painting With John’” at Variety.
Books/Reading/Authors
Read “Yes, Roald Dahl was a Jew-hater” at Religion News Service. “The family of the late British novelist and screenwriter has given the Jewish people an early Hanukkah gift: an apology.”
Browse Los Angeles Times’ picks for “The Ten Best Books of 2020.”
Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:
Read “What is the largest desert on earth?” at Universal Sci.
Read “Everest Gets an Altitude Adjustment: Nepal and China Agree on Height” at Wall Street Journal.
Read “A New Report Says Microwave Attacks Caused Mystery Illnesses In US Diplomats. Scientists Say That Makes No Sense” at Buzzfeed News.
Read “So You Think You Know Gravity? Let Us Drop Some Knowledge” at Wired.
Read “Former Israeli military leader opens up about contact with "Galactic Federation" of aliens” at Boing Boing.
Misc. Oddities:
Read “Giant Penis Sculpture Disappears from German Mountaintop” at Vice.
Read “Mysterious Monolith Update: Racists Destroy California Monolith, Proclaim Christ Superior to Space Aliens” at Vice.
Read “How a Young Eagle Huntress Kicks Butt at a Kazakh Tradition” at Atlas Obscura.
Local:
Read “Effort To Recall Ducey Gains Unlikely Support From Paul Gosar” at KJZZ.
Read “'Shut the hell up': Arizona GOP at war over Trump's election loss” at MSNBC.
Read “Arizona gets $1.4 million in nationwide settlement with a mortgage servicer” at KTAR.