The Weekly Town Crier (05/14/21)

newbynewsterwoman.jpg

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 (12/18/20)

ladypower.jpg

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

We’ll Miss You:

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

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

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

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

Religion and Stuff:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This Week In Protest-Related News:

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

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

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

This Week With The Police:

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

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

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

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

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

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

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

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

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

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

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

Internationalities:

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

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

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

Politics And Sucheries:

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

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

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

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

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

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

This Week In Political Corruption:

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

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

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

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

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

Music-Related News and Such:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • BrowseGlide’s 20 Best Albums of 2020.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read “An Update on Bandcamp Fridays” at Bandcamp.

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

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

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

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

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

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

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

Books/Reading/Authors

Browse “Christianity Today’s 2021 Book Awards.”

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

Design/Artsy Things:

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

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

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

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

Misc. Oddities:

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

The Weekly Town Crier (10/02/20)

flowerpower.jpg

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (10/02/20).





We’ll Miss You:

Read “In Memory of Mac Davis” at American Songwriter.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Trump Secretly Mocks His Christian Supporters” at The Atlantic. “Former aides say that in private, the president has spoken with cynicism and contempt about believers.” “The president's religious right base doesn't mind that he doesn't share their doctrinal beliefs or even belittles them — they care that he selects conservative justices who protect religious liberty and the unborn and that he fights for them.”

Read “The story behind Amy Coney Barrett’s little-known Catholic group People of Praise” at Washington Post.

Read “The Church Mothers Teach Us to Delight in Scripture” at Christianity Today. “Monica and Macrina didn't just influence Augustine and Gregory of Nyssa. They were biblical interpreters in their own right.”

Read “For Conservative Christian Women, Amy Coney Barrett’s Success Is Personal” at New York Times.

Read “Christian group raises over $500K for Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse” (EDITOR’S NOTE: This should read: “Christian” group raises . . . “

Read “Christians Struggled with Relational Health Prior to the Crisis—So What Has Changed?” at Barna.

Read “What Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination doesn’t mean” at Christian Century. “Don’t bother looking for the political significance of the Supreme Court nominee’s Catholicism. There isn’t any.”

Read “Ravi Zacharias’s Ministry Investigates Claims of Sexual Misconduct at Spas” at Christianity Today. “Three women have come forward with additional allegations against the late Christian apologist.”

Read “Making Your Church Manlier Won’t Make It Bigger” at Christianity Today. “History tells us that denominational growth has nothing to do with sex ratios in the pews.”

Read “Meet the new Justin Bieber: Popstar, husband, holy hugger” at Religion News Service.

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

Read “Racism has cost America $16 trillion this century alone” at WSMV Nashville.

Read ‘Indigenous Groups Protest Border Wall Construction At Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument” at KJZZ.

Read “The US government won't detail why TikTok is a security threat” at CNET.

Read “Ballistics don't support AG Cameron's claim Breonna Taylor's boyfriend shot officer” at Louisville Courier-Journal.

  • Read “Officer Charged in Breonna Taylor Case Pleads Not Guilty” at Wall Street Journal.

  • Read “Kentucky attorney general didn't recommend any homicide charges to Breonna Taylor grand jury” at The Hill.

Read “A lot of differences’: Experts address health disparities among Asian American subgroups” at Cronkite News.

Read “California will house transgender inmates by gender identity” at SF Gate.

Read “Federal court orders Texas prison system to provide hand sanitizer for some geriatric inmates during pandemic” at Texas Tribune.

Read “They Have Lost So Much But They Will Not Lose Their Right To Vote.' Advocates Fight To Enfranchise Americans Displaced by Wildfires” at Time.

Read “The 'Dindu' Conspiracy: Donald Trump, America and an Inanimate Object Called Whiteness” at The Root.

Read “This Indian Company Just Introduced a Period Leave Policy” at Global Citizen.

Read “Trump refused to condemn white supremacists. The debate didn't get any better from there” at Mashable. “"Proud Boys, stand back and stand by! But I'll tell you what, somebody's got to do something about antifa and the left." Drumpf went on to say: “This is not a Right Wing Problem," once again denying his own security officials.

  • Read “A Pro-Trump Militant Group Has Recruited Thousands of Police, Soldiers, and Veterans” at The Atlantic. “....The

  • Read “A Pro-Trump Militant Group Has Recruited Thousands of Police, Soldiers, and Veterans” at The Atlantic. “....The leaked database laid everything out. It had been compiled by Rhodes’s deputies as new members signed up at recruiting events or on the Oath Keepers website.... About two-thirds had a background in the military or law enforcement."

  • Read “Right-Wing Domestic Terrorism Is On The Rise. Did The Warning Signs Evade Us?” at WBUR (from 07/2020).

  • Read “Retailers Are Already Pulling 'Stand Back and Stand By' Merch From Online Shelves” at Vice.

Read "H. R. McMaster: ‘Condemning White Supremacists Should Be a Layup’” at The Atlantic.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “US teen charged in Kenosha shootings fights extradition” at Al Jazeera.

Read “How The Protests Upended Portland’s Mayoral Race” at The Intercept.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Breonna Taylor’s death shocked the nation. In Louisville, many Black people are far from surprised” at Los Angeles Times.

  • Read “AG Cameron to release Breonna Taylor grand jury records after juror complains he misled” at Louisville Courier-Journal.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read "Parents Knowingly Sent Kids With Coronavirus to School, Wisconsin Officials Say” at NBC New York. “Never in a million years did we imagine or think to account for parents deliberately sending their sick or symptomatic child to school," one health official said.”

Read “The Federal Government Promised Native American Students Computers and Internet. Many Are Still Waiting” at Pro Publica.

  • Read “The federal government gives Native students an inadequate education” at AZ Central.

Read “60% of Portland State University students face housing, food instability” at Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump test positive for Covid-19” at CNN.

Read ‘Pope to UN: Use COVID crisis to come out better, not worse” at 12 News. “Pope Francis said the world has a choice to make as it emerges from the COVID-19 crisis and addresses the grave economic impact it has had on the most vulnerable.”

Read “Over 50 Million People Dually Affected by COVID-19 and Climate Disasters” at Global Citizen.

Read “No Job, Loads of Debt: Covid Upends Middle-Class Family Finances” at Wall Street Journal. “The pandemic is wreaking havoc in loan-laden white-collar workers’ households; ‘I will never claw my way out of this situation’.

Read “Democrats Unveil $2.2 Trillion Pandemic Relief Bill” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “The Coronavirus Mostly Spares Younger Children. Teens Aren’t So Lucky.” at The New York Times.

Read “Titans-Steelers NFL game postponed after positive COVID-19 tests: report” at The Hill.

Read “Trump’s Family Didn’t Wear Masks During Presidential Debate — Except On Social Media” at Huff Post.

Miscellany Cultural Items:

Read “Everybody Vs. the App Store: Why Companies Are Taking Issue With Apple’s Growing Revenue Engine” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Judge Rules Tucker Carlson Is Not a Credible Source of News” at Slate.

Read “Tracking the Major Wildfires Spreading Across Northern California” at Bloomberg.

Read “Brené Brown, Vulnerability, and The Trump Voter” at Book Riot.

Read “Military Suicides Up As Much As 20% During Coronavirus Era” at Huff Post.

Read “The Legacy of ‘Going Postal’” at Vice. “In the late 80s and early 90s, a spate of shootings by disgruntled postal workers became the primary way most Americans thought of the post office. They also shed light on an agency with a profoundly unhealthy work environment.”

Read “Thousands of Airline Jobs Hang in the Balance as Lawmakers Debate Aid” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Disney cuts: What is life like after 'magic' job?” at BBC.

Internationalities:

Read “Ai Weiwei: 'Too late' to curb China's global influence” at BBC.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Guest Commentary: I served under six presidents — four Republicans, two Democrats — only one has failed to serve U.S. national security interests” at Denver Post.

Read “Why Arizona Is Tilting Blue: ‘The State’s Clearly in Motion’ at New York Times.

Read “57 percent of Americans think next president, Senate should fill Ginsburg vacancy” at The Hill.

Read “Sen. Cory Booker: This president is menacing our democracy” at MSNBC.

Read “Voter registration spiked in days immediately following Ruth Bader Ginsburg death” at The Hill.

Read “Cindy McCain ups support of Joe Biden, joins Democrat’s transition team” at KTAR.

Read “A debate that will live in infamy: That sweaty, red-faced liar is actually our president” at Salon.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Tillis says he has ‘grave concerns’ about voting by mail in NC after board settlement” at News Observer.

Read “The question of how Donald Trump’s Scottish resorts are financed just became even more urgent” at Slate.

Read “IRS: Sorry, but It’s Just Easier and Cheaper to Audit the Poor” at Pro Publica. “Congress asked the IRS to report on why it audits the poor more than the affluent. Its response is that it doesn’t have enough money and people to audit the wealthy properly. So it’s not going to.”

Read “Trump tax records show duplicity. That's devastating for his campaign.” at NBC News.

Read “Detainees at California’s for-profit ICE detention centers will soon be able to sue over abuse, harm” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Police took 10 guns from Trump associate’s Florida home after wife showed them bruises” at Miami Herald.

Read “DeJoy Says Mail Sorting Machines Were Stripped For Parts And Can't Be Reinstalled” at Yahoo.

  • Read “Postal service ordered to stop cuts, federal judge says” at 12 News.

  • Read “In NC, consequences of Postal Service slowdown extend beyond the mailbox” at WECT.

Read “Foreign Hackers Cripple Texas County’s Email System, Raising Election Security Concerns” at Pro Publica.

Read “Census Cuts All Counting Efforts Short By A Month” at NPR.

Read “Judge orders Georgia officials to provide backup paper poll books ahead of election” at The Hill.

Read “Weissmann: WH didn't fully cooperate with our investigation” at MSNBC. “Andrew Weissmann, former lead prosecutor for Special Counsel Robert Mueller, discusses how Trump manipulated the findings in the Mueller Report and why he says the findings from the NYT report are 'potentially indictable'.”

Read “Secretive group who bankrolled Brett Kavanaugh confirmation is now backing Amy Coney Barrett” at Salon.

Read “Money For Misinformation? Experts Say The First Domestic 'Troll Farms' Are Here” at WBUR.

Read “Trump’s ex-national security adviser says president is ‘aiding and abetting’ Putin” at Politico.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “The Quiet Return of Fleet Foxes and Sufjan Stevens” at Pitchfork.

  • Read “Sufjan Stevens’s Cry of Despair and Prayer for Redemption” at New York Times.

  • Read “'I have a sense of urgency': Sufjan Stevens wakes from the American dream” at The Guardian.

Read “Stone Roses’ Ian Brown Says COVID Was “Planned,” Releases Anti-Lockdown Song” at Stereogum.

Read “Bonnaroo Shares The Beastie Boys Final Concert” at Jambase.

Read “I Was Bullied for Being Arab. Nine Inch Nails Threw Me a Lifeline.” at New York Times.

Read “It's a bunch of clowns you voted in': Willie Nelson urges fans to 'Vote 'Em Out' in video” at AZ Central.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “‘Black Panther’ Mural With Chadwick Boseman Unveiled at Disneyland” at Variety.

  • Read “Sienna Miller says Chadwick Boseman took a pay cut on 21 Bridges so she could make more money” (EDITOR’S NOTE: Now let’s lament a system in which this was necessary in the first place).

Read “Watch Trailer for New Doc on Nickelodeon’s Glory Days, ‘The Orange Years’” at Rolling Stone.

Design/Artsy Things:

Read “Studio Ghibli Puts Online 400 Images from Eight Classic Films, and Lets You Download Them for Free” at Open Culture.

Food Cultures:

Read “Why Are So Dang Many Potato Chip Brands From Pennsylvania?” at Gastro Obscura.

Read “Ireland’s Supreme Court rules Subway sandwiches have too much sugar to meet legal definition of bread” at Market Watch.

Misc. Oddities:

Read “The Rise and Fall of North Carolina’s National Hollerin’ Contest” at Atlas Obscura.

Local:

Read “Pedestrians in Arizona are more likely to be hit and killed than nearly any other state. Why?” at AZ Central.

The Weekly Town Crier (09/25/20)

onethatworks.jpg

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (09/25/20).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dead at 87” at CNN.

Read “Robert Graetz, minister who helped organize Montgomery Bus Boycott, dies at 92” at Montgomery Advertiser.

Read “Juliette Gréco, French chanteuse, dies at 93” at Boing Boing.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Prominent Southern Baptists are dropping ‘Southern’ name amid racial unrest” at Washington Post.

Read “Liberal congregations more politically active than conservative ones” at Religion News Service. “new study of 1,262 congregations across the United States shows it is liberal congregations, and particularly Black churches, that have become substantially more engaged in political activity compared to their conservative counterparts.”

Read “Critiquing the Church’s Beliefs about Sex and Gender (Aimee Byrd)” at Hebraic Thought.

Read “Pope Francis will take his Message on Climate Change to the UN General Assembly” at Open PR.

Read “Political Divides, Conspiracy Theories and Divergent News Sources Heading Into 2020 Election” at Journalism. “43% of Republicans identify fraud as a major problem with voting by mail versus 11% of Democrats. 41% of Republicans who have heard about QAnon say it's a good thing for the country, per new Pew poll.”

  • Read “Who is behind QAnon? The Reply All podcast investigates” at Boing Boing.

Read “ICE apprehension on church grounds violated federal policy, say faith leaders” at Religion News Service.

Read “Cult leader who claims to be reincarnation of Jesus arrested in Russia” at The Guardian. “Former traffic officer Sergei Torop, AKA Vissarion, arrested in special operation in Siberia.”

Read “The Black Church Is Atlanta’s Original Community Organizer” at Christianity Today.

Read “U.S. bishops urge immediate halt to federal executions” at American Magazine.

Read “AG Barr To Receive “Catholic” Award Hours After Authorizing Execution” at Catholic Mobilizing Newtork.

Read “‘That’s No Accident’: Robert Henderson Credits His Prayer for Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Death” at Right Wing Watch.

Read “People who are highly spiritual tend to be more civic-minded” at Religion News Service.

Read “Pandemic Denial Sows Division and Endangers Others” at Christianity Today.

Read “Prominent evangelical church is the first to sue D.C. over covid-19 worship limits” at Washington Post. “The complaint filed by the 850-member Capitol Hill Baptist Church is the first legal challenge by a religious organization to the capital’s coronavirus restrictions. There have been two others in the region — one in Virginia and one in Maryland — since quarantine measures began, and final decisions are pending in both.”

Read “The Market Made Me Do It: The Scandal of the Evangelical College” at Mere Orthodoxy.

Read “How a Sean Feucht worship service convinced me I am no longer an evangelical” at Religion News Service. “I can no longer call myself an evangelical, because what defines a white evangelical in the United States has become a longing for an authoritarian state where Christianity is prioritized and privileged.”

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

Read “NBC News contributor Hugh Hewitt: “The lockdown ... is other than slavery the most numerous imposition on people's individual liberty” at Media Matters.

Read “McConnell Warns D.C. and Puerto Rico Statehood Part of Democrats' 'Radical' Agenda” at Newsweek.

Read “White Supremacists Are a Threat to Elections, Says the DHS” at The Nation. According to this report, right wing extremists have been encouraging followers to intentionally spread covid in minority neighborhoods and at political rallies.

Read “Nike jerseys commemorating four years since Kaepernick took a knee sold out in under a minute” at The Hill.

Read “What Is Critical Race Theory and Why Is Trump Afraid of It?” at The Nation. “His attacks are an attempt to reach those who repudiate the symbols and premises of white supremacy but worry that anti-racist advocacy can go “too far.”

Read “Whiteness as Property” at Harvard Law Review (originally from 1993).

Read “Satchuel Cole, leader in the fight for racial equality in Indianapolis, lied about own race” at Indy Star.

Read “Female graduates earn less than their male counterparts just one year after university - here's why” at The Telegraph.

Read “A racial slur remains in hundreds of place names throughout North America” at Public Radio International. “Clashes throughout North America about the racial slur "squaw" is starting to lead to place name changes.”

Read “The Top Contender for RBG’s Seat Has a Fundamentally Cruel Vision of the Law” at Slate. “Here’s what we can expect if Trump fills the late justice’s seat.”

Read ‘A Neighborhood’s Race Affects Home Values More Now Than in 1980” at Bloomberg.

Read “He fought wildfires while imprisoned. California reported him to Ice for deportation” at The Guardian. “Kao Saelee worked as an incarcerated firefighter in California. But when his release date came, the state partnered with ICE and transferred him to detention. He now faces deportation to Laos, a country his family fled when he was two years old.”

Read “Wells Fargo CEO ruffles feathers with comments about diverse talent” at Reuters. "[T]he unfortunate reality is that there is a very limited pool of black talent to recruit from." - Wells Fargo CEO Charles Scharf.

Read “Fight to protect Joshua trees faces stiff local opposition in California” at The Guardian.

Read “GOP will ask Supreme Court to limit mail voting in Pennsylvania in first post-RBG test” at The Hill.

Read “Almost half of NFL fans have changed their mind about Colin Kaepernick” at The Hill.

Read “Program to house homeless people in hotels is ending after falling short of goal” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “In North Carolina, Black Voters’ Mail-In Ballots Much More Likely to Be Rejected Than Those From Any Other Race” at Pro Publica.

Read “Biracial Couple Gets Lower House Appraisal With Black Family Member Present” at WBUR.

Read “The Secret History Of The Word 'Cracker' at NPR. “A 1783 pejorative - "crackers" specifies people who descended from convicts that were transported from Great Britain to Virginia at different times, and inherit so much profligacy from their ancestors, that they are ostracized.”

Read “Until Black Women Are Free, None of Us Will Be Free” at New Yorker.

Read “The Truth About ‘The Truth About’ Memes” at New York Times.

Read “Extremists Pose a Violent Threat, FBI and DHS Officials Say” at Wall Street Journal. “Christopher Wray, Ken Cuccinelli warned a Senate committee of white supremacists, anarchists and militia-style groups.”

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “Portland protests resume, demonstrators remain resolute in push for racial justice” at Oregon Public Media.

Read “DOJ Designates New York City as an “Anarchist Jurisdiction” at NBC New York.

  • Read “Trump's DOJ Threatens To Strip Funds From NYC And Other "Anarchist Cities," Prompting Cheers From NYPD Unions” at Gothamist.

Read “Tohono O'odham protest at border wall site ends in standoff, scuffle” at AZ Central.

Read “Luxury cars, MAGA flags and Facebook invites: How an unknown Idaho family organized the Portland rally that turned deadly’ at Washington Post.

Read “Video refutes trooper who denied unmasking protester” at Associated Press.

Read “The Problem With Militias and the Constitution” at U.S. News and World Report. “The presence of illegal militia groups at recent racial justice protests increases the chance of violence and has already proved deadly.”

  • Read “pro-Trump activists plotted violence ahead of Portland rallies” at The Guardian. “Patriots Coalition members suggested political assassinations and said ‘laws will be broken, people will get hurt’, leaked chats show.”

Read “Jailed Denver anti-racist leaders subjected to dangerous and degrading conditions in custody” at Liberation News.

Read “A fake protest led to armed resistance in Prescott” at AZ Central. “Posts spread on social media in the Prescott area, claiming buses of protesters were coming on Sept. 11. They claimed local police needed help. There was no protest planned, and the police didn't request help, but armed counterprotesters still turned out.”

Read “Suspect charged in connection to shooting of 2 Louisville officers” at 12 News.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Salt Lake City police officer charged after body cam video shows K9 ordered to bite suspect” at NBC News.

Read “Man in MCSO custody dies after being found unresponsive in Cave Creek substation” at AZ Central.

Read “Trooper who shot Dion Johnson will not face criminal charges, county attorney says” at AZ Central.

Read “NYPD Officer Spied on Tibetan New Yorkers for Chinese Government: Feds” at Daily Beast.

Read “Bodycam shows Salt Lake City police shooting 13-year-old boy with autism” at Salt Lake Tribune.

Read “Six Louisville cops under internal investigation for roles in fatal Breonna Taylor search” at Louisville Courier-Journal.

  • Read “Kentucky Grand Jury Indicts 1 Of 3 Officers Over Breonna Taylor Killing” at NPR.

  • Read “Q&A: Why was no one charged in Breonna Taylor's shooting?” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Is Black Lives Matter Causing a Police Shortage?” at Slate. “Probably not.”

Read “Maricopa County Attorney Calls For Body Cameras For All Arizona Officers” at KJZZ.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read ‘This company says it's 'not a school' and has no teachers. But it gets millions meant for charter, private schools” at AZ Central.

Read "New Zealand Schools Have Been Advised to Use Students’ Preferred Names, Genders, and Pronouns” at Global Citizen.

Read “Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow and family hope 'Bald Beagle' will teach kids 'God and country' American history” at Religion News Service. “President Donald Trump believes American history is under attack. His lawyer — and his lawyer’s kids — want to do something about it. Enter Bald Beagle.”

Read “Telling the Truth About Slavery Is Not ‘Indoctrination’” at The Atlantic. “Our country is made better, not worse, by young people reckoning with the full legacy of the institution.”

Read “University of California wrongly admitted well-connected students, state auditor finds” at ABC 7.

Read “'Where Are the Kids?' School Is Back in Session, but Many Kindergarteners Are Missing” at Time.

Read “Jeff Bezos Announces The First Bezos Academy, A Free Preschool For Students From Low-Income Families” at Forbes.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Fresh curbs in Europe as global coronavirus cases top 30m” at Al Jazeera.

Read “Police Haul Man Out of Library for Not Wearing Mask During Meeting About Wearing Masks” at Herman Cain’s website, saying: “It's time for the obsessive mask-wearing to wear off.” . (EDITOR’S NOTE: Herman Cain died of Coronavirus).

Read “Boris Johnson warns second coronavirus wave has arrived in the UK” at Daily Record.

Read “2-month-old dies from COVID-19 in Michigan: 'Children are not spared' at The Hill.

Read “Anti-maskers in Indonesia are being forced to dig graves for COVID-19 victims” at KXAN.

Read “Boris Johnson says self isolate or face £10,000 fine as tough new virus law imposed” at Daily Record.

Read “CNN's medical expert says 'source' told him '80-90%' of COVID deaths could have been saved by scrapped WH mask plan” at Fox News.

Read “Top US health official says coronavirus vaccine not likely until mid-2021: 'That's just a fact'“ at The Hill.

Read “Scotland Restricts People From Visiting Other People’s Homes” at Bloomberg.

Read “Jorma Kaukonen Honored By The State of New Jersey for Providing “Respite and Entertainment” Through COVID-19 Pandemic” at Jambands.

Read “Officiant At Superspreader Maine Wedding Is An Anti-Mask Evangelical” at Huff Post.

Read “Dr. William Schaffner: CDC's removal of virus transmission guidance 'very distressing'“ at MSNBC.

Read “Despite early, strict quarantine measures, Peru has worst COVID-19 death rate in the world” at Miami Herald.

Read “The media needs to do more to show real Americans' pain during the pandemic” at CNN. “29 million Americans are on unemployment aid, 5% of renters (8 million people) are behind on rent, and 1 in 10 families with kids didn't have enough to eat in August.”

Read “Why SF has the lowest COVID-19 death rate of any other major city” at SF Gate.

Read “Fauci testifies on coronavirus response” at CNN. “You’ve misconstrued that, senator, and you’ve done that repeatedly in the past.” Dr. Fauci pushes back against Sen. Rand Paul’s claims on the coronavirus.

Miscellany Cultural Items:

Read “Trump Administration to Ban TikTok App Downloads Starting Sunday” at Pitchfork.

Read “I Have Blood on My Hands”: A Whistleblower Says Facebook Ignored Global Political Manipulation” at Buzzfeed News. “I’ve found multiple blatant attempts by foreign national governments to abuse our platform on vast scales to mislead their own citizenry, and caused international news on multiple occasions. I have personally made decisions that affected national presidents without oversight, and taken action to enforce against so many prominent politicians globally that I’ve lost count.”

Read “Kanye West Calls Puma ‘Trash’ and Says He Is the ‘Head of Adidas’ on Twitter” at Footwear News.

Read “The West’s Wildfires Collide With its Housing” at Bloomberg. “Oregon was already short 155,000 homes before fires destroyed thousands more, including a huge share of one county’s most affordable options. Where do people go now?”

Read ‘Wired Magazine: Amazon Takes Down Controversial Job Postings” at KJZZ. “Amazon recently removed job postings for Phoenix that went viral with descriptions that included "collecting information about labor organizing threats against the company."

Read “Facebook says it may quit Europe over ban on sharing data with US” at The Guardian.

Read “California to Ban Sales of New Gas-Powered Cars Starting in 2035” at at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Nikola founder Trevor Milton forfeits $166 million in stock he would have lost anyway and gets to keep $3.1 billion under separation deal” at CNBC. “Electric truck company Nikola is under investigation by the Justice Dept and SEC for fraud. Two-thirds of its value was wiped out in the scandal. The company has sold 0 trucks. The founder just resigned with $3.1 billion exit package.”

Read “If You Live in Illinois, Facebook Probably Owes You $400” at Vice.

Read “Harley-Davidson to exit world's biggest bike market” at BBC.

Internationalities:

Read “Erdogan willing to meet Greek PM over east Med tensions” at Al Jazeera.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “He arrived in NC with big donations, but the money traces to a business with QAnon link” at News Observer. “Four voter support groups suspect someone tried to infiltrate their operations as part of an undercover campaign to discredit them.”

Read “Democratic senator calls for eliminating filibuster, expanding Supreme Court if GOP fills vacancy” at The Hill.

Read Court-packing, Democrats’ nuclear option for the Supreme Court, explained” at Vox.

Read “51 percent of voters want to abolish the electoral college” at The Hill.

Read “Arnold Schwarzenegger Offers Grants to Reopen Polling Places” at Variety.

Read “What The SCOTUS Vacancy Means for Abortion — And The 2020 Election” at NPR.

Read “Democrats Prepare New Coronavirus Aid Proposal” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Mary Trump sues President Trump, family members over fraud allegations” at The Hill.

Read “Democrats prepare bill limiting U.S. Supreme Court justice terms to 18 years” at Reuters.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “U.S. Admits That Congressman Offered Pardon to Assange If He Covered Up Russia Links” at Daily Beast. “Republican congressman Dana Rohrabacher offered Assange the deal in 2017, a year after the emails that damaged Hillary Clinton had been published.”

Read “Federal Prosecutors Have Steve Bannon’s Murky Nonprofit in Their Sights” at Pro Publica. “Tucked at the bottom of the long indictment against Bannon, prosecutors say they want to seize the assets of his nonprofit Citizens of the American Republic, shedding more light on the secretive political group’s finances.”

Watch: “The Daily Show Hilariously Cut Together Clips of Trump Doing Exactly the Things He Accuses Biden of Doing” at Second Nexus.

Read “Virginians wait up to four hours to cast early voting ballots” at The Hill.

Read “What GOP Leaders Said About Merrick Garland Back In 2016” at Huff Post.

  • Read “Lindsey Graham, Chuck Grassley, and Susan Collins Have Said They Won’t Vote For SCOTUS Nominee During An Election” at Politics USA.

  • Read “Lindsey Graham Goes Back on His Word, Vows to Vote for Ginsburg Replacement Before Election” at Slate.

  • Read “Sen. Lisa Murkowski Reiterates Opposition To Confirmation Vote Before The Election” at NPR.

  • Read “Democrats say 2016 should be the standard for high court nominees in election year” at NBC News. ““They made a new precedent," Hillary Clinton said Sunday about Senate Republicans, "and that new precedent, which they all defended incredibly passionately, is to wait for the next president.”

  • Read “Most Americans think winner of election should pick next Supreme Court justice” at The Hill.

  • Read “McConnell locks down key GOP votes in Supreme Court fight” (EDITOR’S NOTE: Why is this a “fight” if we’re all just trying to do the right thing?).

Read “DeJoy Didn't Bother to Check Whether His Policies Would Kneecap the USPS” at Vice. “USPS collected the data they needed to know running trucks on time would destroy service, but they didn't look at it.”

Read “ICE Hysterectomy Doctor Wasn’t Even a Board-Certified OB-GYN” at Daily Beast.

Read “Trump, Orbán, and Putin Are Forming an Authoritarian Alliance” at The Intelligencer.

Read ‘The Pentagon funneled nearly $1,000,000,000 of taxpayer money meant for masks and medical equipment to defense contractors building jet engines and body armor” at Washington Post.

Read “DHS awarded $6 million in contracts to firm where Acting Secretary Wolf's wife is executive” at NBC News.

Read “Texas Republicans sue to stop Gov. Greg Abbott's extension of early voting period during the pandemic” at Texas Tribune.

Read “Trump's threat: 'Get rid of the ballots' — 'there won't be a transfer, frankly, there will be a continuation'“ at Boing Boing.

Read “Judge orders Eric Trump to sit for NY Attorney General deposition before the election” at NBC News. “Eric Trump had tried to delay answering questions in the A.G.'s Trump Organization investigation.”

Read “Mary Trump: Take It Seriously That Trump May Not Hand Over Power” at Huff Post. “How far is he willing to go to remain in office if he loses? “Farther than you can possibly imagine,” warned the president’s niece.”

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “How South Africa’s Blue Notes Helped Invent European Free Jazz” at Bandcamp.

Read “Three Years After Tom Petty’s Death, His Dream Project Finally Emerges” at Rolling Stone.

Browse “A Beginner’s Guide To The Interstellar Music of Sun Ra” at Treble.

Read “Final Recordings of the Tragically Hip’s Gord Downie Set for New Album” at Pitchfork. “Listen to a pair of songs from Away Is Mine, a double album featuring tracks recorded months before he died.”

Browse (if you must) Rolling Stone’s picks for “The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.”

Read “Sun Ra: ‘I’m Everything and Nothing’” at New York Review of Books.

Read “Punks Unite in Trailer for Rock Against Racism Doc ‘White Riot’” at Rolling Stone. “British punks unite in the trailer for Rock Against Racism documentary 'White Riot,' a new film chronicling the movement against racist rhetoric in the U.K. in the late Seventies.”

Read “Channeling alienation into a cosmic passion project” at Xtra. “John Shepherd dreamed of contacting aliens through music he beamed into space.”

Read “We’ve Got A File On You: Thurston Moore” at Stereogum. “The Sonic Youth legend on Bernie Sanders, black metal, Steve Albini, 'Gilmore Girls,' & more.”

Read “Michael Kiwanuka Wins Hyundai Mercury Prize 2020” at Clash.

Read “‘Wonderwall’ at 25: How Oasis’ Unlikely Ballad Became One of the Last Rock Standards” at Rolling Stone. “A quarter-century ago, the British band broke into America with an uncharacteristically sensitive hit. The song remains shockingly popular — even if the guy who wrote it isn’t really a fan.”

Watch “From The Edge of America :: Lonnie Holley and Richard Swift” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Read “Terms Of Service” at NCart. “Cory Rayborn had an unlikely bonus task to complete in the midst of his law school orientation, in the summer of 2000: package and ship the debut release from his fledgling record label, Three Lobed.”

Watch “Kraftwerk’s “The Robots” Performed by German First Graders in Adorable Cardboard Robot Outfits” at Open Culture.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “See All the Winners of the 2020 Emmys” at Time.

Read “Microsoft buys Bethesda, publisher of Skyrim, Doom, and Fallout, for $7.5 billion” at AV Club.

Read “‘Family Guy,’ ‘Bob’s Burgers’ Score Two-Season Renewals at Fox” at Variety.

Read “Some monster is tweeting out the entire Shrek 2 script, one line at a time” at AV Club.

Read “Dan Levy On Schitt’s Creek’s Fulsome, Splendrous Emmys Night” at Vulture.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “We're Booked: Join NPR At This Year's Virtual National Book Festival” at NPR.

Design/Artsy Things:

See “Type lovers, over 30,000 old cigarette boxes.”

Science/Animals/Technology/Environment/Etc.:

Read “Scientists Race Against Time To Save Coral Off Florida Keys” at WBUR.

Read “The Internet Archive Will Digitize & Preserve Millions of Academic Articles with Its New Database, "Internet Archive Scholar" at Open Culture.

Food Cultures:

Read “Minnesota’s ‘Root Beer Lady’ Lived Alone in a Million-Acre Wilderness” at Gastro Obscura. “The “loneliest woman in America” brewed root beer for thousands of visitors.”

Local:

Read “Ducey signs law adding 2 justices to Arizona Supreme Court” at Tucson.com.

Read “Everything you need to know before voting on Proposition 207 in Arizona” at 12 News.

Read “Live events workers marched with empty road cases to a rally in Tempe to save jobs” at AZ Central.

The Weekly Town Crier (09/18/20)

ladypower.jpg

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 (09/04/20)

statue.jpg

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

We’ll Miss You:

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

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

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

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

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

Religion and Stuff:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This Week In Protest-Related News:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This Week With The Police:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Education and The Learnings:

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

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

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

School Re-Openings:

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

Miscellany Cultural Items:

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

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

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

Internationalities:

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

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

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

Politics And Sucheries:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This Week In Political Corruption:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Music-Related News and Such:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Movies/TV/Etc.:

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

Books/Reading/Authors

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

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

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

Science/Animals/Technology/Environment/Etc.:

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

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

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

Misc. Oddities:

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

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

Local:

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

The Weekly Town Crier (08/07/20)

Untitled.jpg

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (08/07/20).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Wilford Brimley, 'Cocoon' actor who appeared in Quaker Oats commercials, dies at 85” at CNN.

Read “Chicago rapper FBG Duck killed in brazen daytime shopping attack” at BBC.

Read “R.I.P. Vern Rumsey of Unwound” at Treble.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Supreme Court Rejects Nevada Church’s Appeal to Reopen Like Casinos” at Christianity Today.

Read “Trump-Loving Anti-Mask Pastor Threatens Dunkin’ Donuts Employee With Assault” at Patheos.

“Ed Stetzer asked the U.S. Surgeon General, "What medical advice would you like churches to know?" Here's what he said: “Keep Your Distance.” Read "Keep Your Distance: Words of Advice for Churches from the Surgeon General” at Christianity Today.

Read “N. T. Wright: The Pandemic Should Make Us Humble—and Relentlessly Practical” at Christianity Today.

Read “Obeying God Rather than Men? What’s Really a Religious Liberty Issue?” at Christianity Today. “

Read “Jerry Falwell Jr. Just Deleted a Photo of Himself With His Arm Around a Woman and His Pants Undone and People Are Very Confused” at Second Nexus.

  • Read “Jerry Falwell Apologizes For Pic Of Him With Unzipped Pants In Head-Scratching Interview” at Huff Post. “The influential evangelical leader said in a slurred voice, “I’ve apologized to everybody and I promised my kids, I’m gonna try to be a good boy from here on out.”

Read “Liberty University Poured Millions Into Sports. Now Its Black Athletes Are Leaving” at Slate. “One student was once told by an instructor: “Don’t be scared...I’m not going to pull out my whip and hit you with it.

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

Read “An all-White jury convicted a Black man of rape in 1976. Now, lawyers say evidence was hidden from the defense” at WBTV.

Read “The myth of closing the racial wealth gap with individual accomplishment” at Axios.

Read “93-Year-Old Former Nazi Guard Convicted In One Of Germany’s Last Holocaust Trials” at All That’s Interesting. “Dey claimed he had been forced to serve as an SS guard, and was merely following orders placing him in that position.”

Read “PPP was not distributed equally across racial lines” at Axios.

Read “'Family Separation 2.0.' Parents in ICE Detention Have To Decide Whether to Keep Their Children or Release Them To Sponsors” at Time.

Read “A Black Lives Matter mural is set to be removed in Tulsa after the city received a request for a pro-police painting” at Insider.

Read “‘If The Players Won’t, I Will’: Hockey Fans Post Pictures Kneeling For Black Lives Matter” at Forbes.

Read “An Effort to Abolish Court Fees Grows in California” at Bloomberg.

Read “Louisiana Supreme Court upholds Black man's life sentence for stealing hedge clippers more than 20 years ago” at CNN.

Read “The mother of NSA leaker Reality Winner speaks out: 'Everything about her case has been so harsh and just cruel' at Business Insider.

Read “Why the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act is necessary” at Christian Century.

  • Read “Trump’s reflections on John Lewis preview his own potential legacy” at Washington Post. “I don’t know. I really don’t know. I don’t know John Lewis. He chose not to come to my inauguration. He chose — I never met John Lewis, actually, I don’t believe.”

Read “Thousands rally in Turkey to demand end of violence against women” at Al Jazeera.

Read “Capital One fined $80 million for 2019 hack of 100 million credit card applications” at Washington Post.

Read “NY AG files lawsuit to dissolve the NRA after 18 month investigation” at American Military News.

Read “The Ghost of Margaret Sanger Planned Parenthood and the complexities of anti-racism.” at New York Times.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “Burns, bloody wounds, broken bones: Injuries mount at Portland protests” at Oregon Live.

This Week With The Police:

Read “L.A. County deputy alleges ‘Executioner’ gang dominates Compton sheriff station” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “East Hartford police union president says some department-issued pistols don’t shoot straight, a defect that could lead to ‘a needless tragedy’” at Hartford Courant.

Education and The Learnings:

Read “Michigan Court Frees Black Teenager Jailed for Missing Online Schoolwork” at Democracy Now.

  • School Re-Openings:

  • Read “A Georgia sleepaway camp's coronavirus outbreak is a warning for what could happen when schools reopen, CDC says” at CNN.

  • Read “A Study Shows Children Can Carry Tons of Virus. What Does That Mean for Schools?” at Slate.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “COVID-19 Hospital Data System That Bypasses CDC Plagued By Delays, Inaccuracies” at NPR.

Read ‘Arizona Cardinals void season tickets for upcoming season amid COVID-19 outbreak” at 12 News.

Read “Trump says Fauci is "wrong" about coronavirus cases surge” at Axios.

Read “In GOP plan, you can't sue your employers for giving you COVID — but they can sue you” at Yahoo.

Read “Top Fed official: Short, sharp coronavirus lockdown will enable recovery” at Axios.

Read “More athletes opt out as U.S. struggles with coronavirus” at Axios.

Read “Our pandemic slowdown has been good for the planet What if we kept it going?” at Christian Century.

Read “'It is what it is,' Trump says of rising coronavirus death toll as he insists outbreak is 'under control'“ at AZ Central.

Read “The Unraveling of America Anthropologist Wade Davis on how COVID-19 signals the end of the American era” at Rolling Stone.

Miscellany Cultural Items:

Read “Florida 17-year-old charged with Twitter hack of Obama, Biden, Kanye, other high-profile accounts” at NBC News.

Meet Theo, the 7-year old boy who has been homeless his whole life at San Francisco Chronicle.

Read “James Murdoch exits News Corp. board” at Axios.

Read “Postage Stamps Honor Scholars and Novelist in Schomburg Center Collections” at New York Public Library.

Read ‘U.S. Postal Service Considers Downsizing, Senator and Union Leader Say” at Time.

Read “Disney Suffers Brutal Quarterly Earnings Due to Theme Park Closures” at Variety.

Read “Beirut blast: Hundreds injured in explosion - Red Cross” at BBC.

  • See “Aerial footage shows scope of devastation after Beirut explosion” at NBC News.

Read “When Workers Can Live Anywhere, Many Ask: Why Do I Live Here?” at Wall Street Journal. “Coronavirus prompts Americans to reassess the need to reside near hot job markets.”

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Trump Gives Medical Stockpile A 'Kodak Moment' With New Loan To Make Drugs” at NPR. ‘The Trump administration said it plans to give a $765 million loan to Eastman Kodak – which has struggled to survive after digital cameras displaced film – so the company can manufacture ingredients used in pharmaceuticals.”

Read “Trump Keeps Criticizing Universal Vote By Mail. But The Nation Isn't Doing That” at NPR.

Revisit: “The Electoral College’s Racist Origins” from The Atlantic in 2019. “More than two centuries after it was designed to empower southern white voters, the system continues to do just that.”

Read “Citing Election Delay Tweet, Influential Trump Ally Now Demands His Re-Impeachment” at NPR.

Read “Biden campaign faith director talks Christian beliefs, outreach to evangelicals and systemic racism” at Christian Post.

Read “Biden will no longer travel to DNC to accept Democratic nomination amid pandemic” at ABC News.

Read “Protest leader Bush ousts 20-year US Rep. Clay in Missouri” at Associated Press.

Read “Pence blasts Chief Justice John Roberts as ‘disappointment to conservatives’” at Politico.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Soundtrack Of My Life: Spoon’s Britt Daniel Founder of the legendary alt-rockers talks love of The Beatles, Bee Gees and spending lockdown listening to Sleaford Mods” at NME.

Read “What Beyoncé Tells Us Without Saying a Word” at Vulture.

  • Read “Beyoncé’s Black Is King Offers Awe-Inspiring Looks and Muddled Messages” at Pitchfork.

Read “The Rolling Stones to Release 1989 Trump-Promoted Concert as Live Album and Film” at Consequence of Sound. “Keith Richards infamously pulled a knife on Trump after he reneged on an agreement with the band.”

Read “Nick Cave on Living with Loss and the Central Paradox of Grief as a Portal to Aliveness” at Brain Pickings.

Read ‘Ishmael Butler on the 10 Best Shabazz Palaces Songs” at Treble.

Read “Radiohead’s Thom Yorke on the album that changed his life” at Far Out.

Read “The Who Will Launch Weekly “Join Together @ Home” Broadcast with 1982 Shea Stadium Show” at Relix.

Read “Neil Young Sues Donald Trump Campaign Over Unauthorized Use of His Music” at Pitchfork.

Read “Tom Petty Estate Shares Unheard ‘Wildflowers’ Track, “There Goes Angela (Dream Away)” at Jambands.

Movies/TV/Etc.:

Read “The Umbrella Academy Season 2 Swings into the ’60s: Review” at Consequence of Sound. “Netflix's fractured superhero family goes through the motions, but in the '60s this time.”

Read “'Mulan' will premiere on Disney+ September 4th for $30” at Engadget.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “Eric Metaxas is writing a memoir” at The Way of Improvement.

“Culture”/Design/Artsy Things:

Read “Tourist snaps the toes off 19th-century statue while posing for photo” at CNN.

Science/Animals/Technology/Environment/Etc.:

Read “"Zombie cicadas" infected with mind-controlling fungus return to West Virginia” at CBS News.

Read “Remembering the Astronaut Who Smuggled a Sandwich Into Space” at Atlas Obscura. “He got into a lot of trouble.”

Read “Why Some People Can Stay Sharp Even After Age 95” at Psychology Today.

Food Cultures:

Read “KFC Has Launched Its Own Lipstick – & It Tastes Like Hot Wings” at Bustle.

Misc. Oddities:

See “Here’s How 30 People React To A Sign On The Sidewalk Telling Them To ‘Commence Silly Walking’” at Bored Panda.

AZ Local:

Read “Lawsuit accuses Bikini Beans Coffee owners of stealing wages from employees” at 12 News.

The Weekly Town Crier (07/31/20)

splurgy.jpg

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 (07/10/20)

spirograph.jpg

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (07/10/20).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Ennio Morricone Dead at 91” at Pitchfork.

Read “Country rocker and fiddler Charlie Daniels dies at age 83” at Associated Press.

Religiony Stuff:

Read “White Evangelicals Have a Complicated Relationship with Christian Nationalism” at Christianity Today.

Read “The 'spiritual battle' over the Dakota Access pipeline” at Religion News Service.

Read “America Is in the Grips of a Fundamentalist Revival But it’s not Christian.” at The Dispatch.

Read “Search Results Web results Christian Leaders Call on U.S. Political Parties to Address Palestinian Rights” at Sojourners.

Read “Why Is Jesus Depicted As Being White?” at Ranker.

Read “Becoming less defensive about white privilege The Christian faith provides some tools for letting go of our defensiveness” at Christian Century.

Read “John Ortberg’s Church Says ‘No Evidence of Misconduct’ As More Details Emerge Megachurch pastor’s son named as the volunteer who confessed sexual attraction to children” at Christianity Today.

Read ‘Supreme Court Undercuts Access To Birth Control Under Obamacare” at NPR.

Read “Phoenix Church That Held Trump Rally Got Up to $2 Million in PPP Loans” at Christian Century.

The Section for Considering “Justice”/Race/Social Justice and things like that:

Learn about “The Real Story Of Thomas Jefferson’s Mistress And Slave, Sally Hemings” at All That’s Interesting.

Read “The intersectionality between BLM and ‘so-called’ Black on Black killings” at The Black Wall Street Times. “"It feels almost grotesque comparing the killings of people to try and make a point. I don’t like it at all. I’m only doing it because of the conversations I hear surrounding the two," Mike Creef says.”

Read “Judge Orders Dakota Access Pipeline To Shut Down” at Earth Justice.

Read “How cities failed the black middle class White people without a college education can still find better pay in big cities. But for black people without a college degree, moving to a city no longer guarantees entry to the middle class” at Washington Post.

Read “CAREN Act introduced by California lawmaker aims to outlaw racially motivated 911 calls” at 12 News.

  • Read “White People Have Weaponized ‘I Feel Threatened’ the Same Way They Have Weaponized the Police” at The Root.

  • Read “Amy Cooper charged for calling police on Black bird watcher in Central Park” at Axios.

  • Read “Christian Cooper Says He Will Not Participate in Prosecution of the White Woman Who Threatened to Call 911 on Him” at The Root.

Read “Why Is This Happening? Explaining why Reality Winner is still in prison” at NBC News.

Read “Mississippi Election Commissioner Complains That 'Blacks' Are Registering to Vote” at The Root.

Watch “Frederick Douglass' Descendants Deliver His 'Fourth Of July' Speech” at NPR.

Read “George and Martha Washington enslaved 300 people. Let’s start with their names” at Washington Post.

Read “Trump’s push to amplify racism unnerves Republicans who have long enabled him” at Washington Post.

  • Read “Trump slams possible Redskins, Indians name changes as "politically correct" at Axios.

  • Read “Trump demands apology from Bubba Wallace” at Axios.

    • Read "Bubba Wallace responds to Trump attack: "Love over hate every day" at Axios.

    • Read “Tamara Keith and Amy Walter on public response to Trump’s race rhetoric” at PBS News Hour.

  • Read “'Complete disaster': Trump's fraught ties with Native Americans on display at Mount Rushmore” at Politico.

Read “ICE tells students on visas they must leave US if schools go online-only” at The Hill.

Read “Trump turns clock back 155 years with Confederacy-inspired election strategy” at CNN.

Read “Trump Campaign Vows to Protect Famed Statue — in Brazil” at News and Guts.’

Read “Why Christians Have a Reputation for Smashing Statues” at Christianity Today.

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

  • Read “The creator of Mount Rushmore’s forgotten ties to white supremacy” at Washington Post.

  • Read “It's Time To Tell the Truth About the Confederacy and its Symbols” at ACLU.

  • Read “Baltimore protesters pull down Christopher Columbus statue, throw it into harbor” at 12 News.

  • Read “Pentagon draft policy would ban Confederate battle flag displays” at PBS News Hour.

  • Read “Top Senator Predicts Congress Would Reverse Trump Veto of Defense Bill Over Re-Naming Bases” at News and Guts.

  • Read “Justin Timberlake says confederate monuments “must come down” & shares ACLU video in new post” at Brooklyn Vegan.

  • Read “Virginia Governor Calls For Renaming Schools That Honor Confederate Leaders” at NPR.

  • Read “Joint Chiefs chairman condemns Confederate symbols” at Axios.

Read “‘Some type of retaliation’? Statue of abolitionist Frederick Douglass torn down in New York” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Breonna Taylor warrant connected to Louisville gentrification plan, lawyers say” at Louisville Courier Journal.

Read “Transcripts Of Police Body Cams Show Floyd Pleaded 20 Times That He Couldn't Breathe” at NPR.

Read “An officer told George Floyd it took 'a lot of oxygen to talk,' body camera transcripts show” at CNN.

Read “Death of Robert Fuller, found hanging from a tree in Palmdale, is ruled a suicide” at Los Angeles Times.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

  • Read “Antifa, explained What the militant left-wing movement actually believes — and why President Trump’s scapegoating of them during the George Floyd protests is dangerous” at Vox.

  • Read “A Letter on Justice and Open Debate” at Harpers.

  • Read “Activists speak out against upcoming executions: “One says Trump wants execution 'under his belt' heading into election” at Tribune-Star.

  • Read “Martinez Residents Charged with Hate Crime After Defacing BLM Mural” at KQED.

  • Read “'Scared, Confused And Angry': Protester Testifies About Lafayette Park Removal” at NPR.

  • Read “'This Is Horrendous': US Military Confirms Bayonets Were Issued to Troops Responding to George Floyd Protests” at Common Dreams.

  • Read “NYC Begins Painting Black Lives Matter Mural In Front Of Trump Tower” at NPR.

  • Read “Tense moments erupt after man drives SUV into crowd of protesters in Paradise Valley” at 12 News.

This Week With The Police:

  • Read “Los Angeles City Council Approves $150M in Cuts to Police Budget” at Democracy Now.

  • Read “If Philando Castile Was a Threat, Then Black People are Never Safe” at The Witness.

  • Read “Phoenix police shot and killed a man in a parked car, sparking renewed protests” at CNN.

  • Read “Top California Democrats demand state party stop taking money from police unions” at San Fransisco Chronicle.

  • Read “Columbus Police Removing 22 Officers From Columbus City Schools” WOSU2.

  • Read “White, Black, and Blue: Christians Disagree Over Policing” at Christianity Today. “Black Christians overwhelmingly say police treatment is biased against them. Why don’t white evangelicals believe them?”

  • Read “Trump has tried to claim Democrats want to eliminate police. Americans aren’t buying it.” at Washington Post. “Even two-thirds of Republicans reject the idea that “defund the police” means eliminating police entirely.”

  • Read “Phoenix Pride plans to scale back police presence at festival, parade in November” at 12 News.

  • Read “Pew poll: Americans support allowing citizens to sue officers for misconduct” at Axios.

  • Read “150 Minneapolis police officers seeking disability for PTSD following riots” at Fox 9 News.

Education and The Learnings:

Read “Prioritizing Empathy and Anti-Racism in Schools” at PBS.

Read “Study on Harvard finds 43 percent of white students are legacy, athletes, related to donors or staff” at NBC News.

Read “States sue U.S. Department of Education over diverted virus relief funds for schools” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Betsy DeVos rejects part-time school reopening plan amid pandemic” at 12 News.

Read “President Trump threatens to cut federal aid from schools that don't reopen” at 12 News.

Read “White House Stumbles Over How Best To Reopen Schools, As Trump Blasts CDC Guidance” at NPR.

Read “CDC will not rewrite guidelines for reopening schools despite criticism from Trump” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Top Pediatrician Says States Shouldn't Force Schools To Reopen If Virus Is Surging” at NPR.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

  • Read “How Coronavirus Is Changing July Fourth Celebrations, From Virtual Fireworks to Car Parades” at Wall Street Journal.

  • Read “COVID-19 Is Killing the Soulmate Model of Marriage. Good. The silver lining for a post-coronavirus America: More married couples will be family-first” at Christianity Today.

  • Read “As coronavirus rebounds, more patients are being hospitalized and capacity is stretched” at Washington Post.

  • Read “'You sure you're going to make me wear a mask?’ Customer threatens store clerk with gun after being asked to wear mask” at KMBC.

  • Read “WHO revises how COVID-19 can be transmitted” at Axios.

  • Read “The US has 4% of the world's population but 25% of its coronavirus cases” at CNN.

    • Read “'We need to live with it': White House readies new message for the nation on coronavirus The effort to craft a clearer response comes after months of Trump downplaying the health crisis and mixed signals from the administration” at NBC News.

    • Read “Trump-connected lobbyists reap windfall in COVID-19 boom” at 12 News.

    • Read “Despite Rising Coronavirus Cases, Trump's Focus Appears To Be Elsewhere” at NPR.

    • Read “Cuomo accuses Trump of "enabling" the coronavirus surge” at Axios.

    • Read “US is still 'knee-deep' in the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, Fauci says” at CNN.

    • Read “FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn won’t confirm Trump’s promises on vaccine timing” at ABC News.

    • Read “Trump Health Secretary Says Health Care Workers Don’t Get Infected With COVID” at Truth Out.

    • Read “Tulsa health official: Trump rally "likely contributed" to coronavirus spike” at Axios.

    • Read “U.S. to advise health care workers to reuse PPE, says Pence” at PBS News Hour.

  • Read “Houston mayor cancels Texas state Republican convention over coronavirus concerns” at Axios.

  • Read “Florida teen dies after conspiracy theorist mom takes her to church ‘COVID party’ and tries to treat her with Trump-approved drug: report” at Raw Story.

  • Read “'A Nightmare': Georgia Tech Faculty Push Back Against In-Person Reopening Plans” at NPR.

  • Read “Calif. issues ban on singing in churches amid ongoing pandemic” at Christian Post.

  • Read “'STOP GETTING TESTED' For Coronavirus, Ohio Politician Tells Constituents” at NPR.

  • Read “Mexico closes border in Arizona as coronavirus cases in both countries surge” at MSN.

    • Read “5 Dutch Bros. Phoenix area locations shut down after employees test positive for COVID-19” at AZ Central.

    • Read “Residents of Mexican town block Americans from entering Their informal border wall follows an upswing in Covid-19 cases in Arizona” at Politico.

    • Read “FEMA is 'getting out of the testing business,' won't help in Arizona, Phoenix mayor says” at The Week.

    • Read “Arizona’s ‘Qanon Karen’ Destroys Target Face Mask Display. Claims Her $40k Rolex Pissed Off Staff” at TMZ.

    • Read “Phoenix Mayor Says The City Is In A 'Crisis Situation,' Needs Help” at NPR.

    • Read “1 In 4 Arizona COVID-19 Tests Come Back Positive” at KJZZ.

    • Read “Arizona is No. 1 global pandemic hotspot” at KGUN.

Read “Trump administration notifies UN of intent to withdraw from WHO” at Axios.

Read “China defends WHO, lashes out at US move to withdraw” at 12 News .

Read “Ivy League scraps college football and fall sports for 2020, will evaluate feasibility of playing in spring” at SBC Sports.

Read “British government to subsidize 50% off restaurant meals” at Axios.

Read “Costco Ken throws furious fit when asked to wear a mask” The Black Wall Street Times.

Read “Starbucks to require all customers to wear face masks” at 12 News.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Thousands of veterans fear "burn pits" exposed them to lethal disease” at CBS News.

Read “U.S. sanctions Chinese officials over Uighur human rights abuses” at Axios.

Read “Democracy Books Disappear From Hong Kong Libraries” at NDTV.

Read “Need A Polling Place With Social Distancing? 3 NBA Teams Offer Venues” at NPR.

Read “The Economy May Be Losing Its Impact On Presidential Elections” at NPR.

Read “Trump's Job Approval Rating Steady at Lower Level” at Gallup.

Read “Supreme Court says Manhattan prosecutors can obtain Trump's financial records” at Axios.

  • Read “Trump rails against Obama, FBI, Senate GOP after Supreme Court ruling” at Axios.

Read “Trump Presses 'Cancel Culture' War, But Here Are 6 Numbers That Matter More” at NPR.

Read “TikTok users troll Trump campaign, flooding his official campaign app with thousands of one-star reviews” at Axios.

Read “Supreme Court Unanimously Rules States Can Require Electors To Back Popular Vote Winner” at News and Guts.

Read “Judge asks full appeals court to review panel's dismissal of Flynn case” at Axios.

Read “Michael Cohen Is Back In Jail” at Axios. “Trump’s former attorney is back behind bars after reportedly violating terms of his early release.”

Read “Kanye West Says He’s Running for President, But He Hasn’t Actually Filed Any Paperwork” at Pitchfork.

  • Read “Kanye West Says He’s Done With Trump, Opens Up About White House Bid, Damaging Biden And Everything In Between” at Forbes.

  • Read “Kanye West Disavows Donald Trump & Comes Out As Anti-Vaxxer In Wild Interview About Presidential Platform” at Steregum.

  • Read “Billionaire Kanye West’s Company Gets Multimillion-Dollar PPP Loan From Trump Admin” at Daily Beast.

  • Read “What unites Planned Parenthood, Kushner and Kanye? PPP loans” NBC News.

  • Read “Elon Musk Retracts Support for Kanye West's Presidential Campaign” at Exclaim.

  • Read “Family and Friends Believe Kanye’s Presidential Run is a Bipolar Episode” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Right-Wing Media Outlets Duped by a Middle East Propaganda Campaign” at The Daily Beast.

Read “Publisher moves up release of book by Trump niece Mary Trump’s account describes the president as scarred as a child by a lack of parental attention” at News and Guts.

Read “The True Story Of The Alexander Hamilton-Aaron Burr Duel That Ended Their 15-Year Rivalry — And Hamilton’s Life” at All That’s Interesting.

Read “What the Lincoln Project Ad Makers Get About Voters (and What Dems Don’t) The Republicans of the Lincoln Project might have an advantage over Trump’s left-leaning opponents” at News and Guts.

Read “Trump's Drive On Division And Fear May Not Be A Winning Strategy Come November” at NPR.

Read “Vindman, Key Impeachment Witness, Retires Over 'Bullying, Intimidation' By Trump” at NPR.

Read “Democratic Task Forces Deliver Biden A Blueprint For A Progressive Presidency” at NPR. “A joint effort between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders to unify the Democratic Party ahead of the November election has published a 110-page policy wish list on matters ranging from climate change to healthcare to criminal justice reform.”

Read “Biden proposes $700 billion-plus ‘Buy American’ campaign” at 12 News.

Music-Related News:

Read “Neil Young Issues Open Letter To President Donald Trump” at Jam Base.

Read “Mandy Moore's Ex-Husband Ryan Adams Pens Grovelling Apology One Year After Sexual Harassment Expose” at Too Fab.

  • Read “Mandy Moore & Karen Elson respond to Ryan Adams’ apology for abuse & sexual misconduct” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Neil Young blasts Trump for using his music at Mt. Rushmore” at Axios.

Read “Symphony of Souls :: On the Hippie Christian Folk of The Trees Community” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Read “UK Government Announces Nearly $2 Billion Stimulus Package For The Arts” at Live For Live Music.

Read “White out! Tony Herrington calls time on the monoculture that is the experimental sound and music industry” at The Wire.

Read “Synthpop Legends Erasure share analogue track “Shot A Satellite” from New Album “The Neon”” at Post-Punk.

Read “System of a Down's John Dolmayan Says Black Lives Matter Is a "Democratic Party Propaganda Tool" at Exclaim.

Read “How Ennio Morricone Changed the Way Movies Sound” at Pitchfork.

Browse “Sonic Youth album guide – a look back on all 16 studio albums” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Fiona Apple, Kim Gordon, Fleet Foxes, More Support Mask Benefit for Indigenous Communities” at Pitchfork.

Read/Listen “Willie Nelson Inhabits The Songs Of Others On 'First Rose Of Spring'“ at NPR.

Read “Lady A, Formerly Lady Antebellum, Sue Seattle Blues Singer Lady A” at Pitchfork.

  • Read “17 Reactions To Lady A, FKA Lady Antebellum, Suing Anita White Because They Now Have The Same Stage Name' at Buzzfeed. "So Lady Antebellum changed their name to Lady A in order to be racially 'woke' but now they are suing the black singer that’s had that name for 20 years."

  • Read “Blues Singer Lady A Responds to Lady Antebellum’s Lawsuit” at Pitchfork. ““If you want to be an advocate or an ally, you help those who you’re oppressing. And that might require you to give up something because I am not going to be erased.”

Read “A rare song recorded by Jimmy Page and Keith Richards is being officially released” at Led Zep News.

Read “Grateful Dead Launch New Podcast ‘The Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast’” at Jambands.

Movies/TV/Etc.:

Read “Jim Gaffigan To Star in Chuck Smith, Greg Laurie Biopic About the ‘Jesus People’ Movement” at Deadline.

Read “Martin Scorsese to Direct New Documentary on New York Dolls’ David Johansen” at Pitchfork.

Read “Disney is creating a new show with Colin Kaepernick The athlete and activist will share his story, along with other stories that deal with race and social injustice” at CNet.

Read “‘Hamilton’ Review: You Say You Want a Revolution The filmed version of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s founding-father Broadway musical arrives just in time — vital and more challenging than ever” at The New York Times. ““Hamilton,” which premiered at the Public Theater in early 2015 before moving to Broadway and then into every precinct of American popular culture, may be the supreme artistic expression of an Obama-era ideal of progressive, multicultural patriotism.”

Read “Matthew Cherry's 'Hair Love' Becoming HBO Max Animated Series” at Hollywood Reporter.

Read “'The Wonder Years' Is Being Rebooted with a Black Family” at Exclaim.

Design/Artsy Things:

Read “Our Cities Need Artists Now More than Ever. Here's Why” at Strong Towns.

Science/Animals/Technology/Environment/Etc.:

Read “Australia Has a Flesh-Eating-Bacteria Problem In the beach towns south of Melbourne, everyone, it seems, knows someone who’s been attacked” at The Atlantic.

Read “‘A Species That We Cannot Afford To Lose’: Hundreds Of Elephants In Botswana Found Mysteriously Dead” at WBUR.

Food Cultures:

Read “Moose Cheese A Swedish farm is the world's only producer of this rare, creamy delicacy” at Gastro Obscura.

Misc. Oddities:

Read “This 103-Year-Old Woman Is The Last Filipino To Preserve Ancient Tattoo Tradition” at Bored Panda.

The Weekly Town Crier (06/26/20)

newesttowncrier.jpg

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (06/26/20).

Read “Complementarians in Closed Rooms Aimee Byrd, Beth Moore, and private words that reveal a pressing problem” at Christianity Today. “When we see the words of some complementarians outed from a Facebook group, it reminds us we all have a responsibility to root out misogyny.” (EDITOR’S NOTE: What is the difference between Complementarianism and Patriarchy?)

Read “Leaving Liberty After a decade of declining black enrollment on campus, a tweet set off several recent departures among black students and staff” at Christianity Today.

  • Read “I Suppressed So Much of My Humanity in Being Here” What it’s like to be black at Liberty University” at Slate.

Read “Why are so many white Christians suddenly standing up for racial justice? It might help that our pews aren’t available to sit in and pray” at Christian Century.

Read “Dozens of Christian College Faculty Eliminated in Spring Budget Cuts” at Christianity Today.

Read “In an interview with EWTN, Trump hails ‘tremendous letter of support from the Catholic Church’” at America Magazine.

Read “The ‘Over There’ Era of Missions Is Over Nowadays, the Western church needs to send ambassadors to its own culture” at Christianity Today.

Read “We reversed Trump’s immigration policy once. We’re back to fight ‘Remain in Mexico.’ at Religion News Service.

Read “Black Practicing Christians Are Twice as Likely as Their White Peers to See a Race Problem” at Barna.

Read “Brazil’s massive replica of the Temple of Solomon The Pentecostals of the Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus have a mighty vision” at Christian Central.

Read “Did Race and Racism Exist in the Middle Ages?” at Not Even Past.

Read “Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben deserve retirement. They're racist myths of happy Black servitude. The mascots were intended to let white consumers indulge in a fantasy of enslaved people as submissive, self-effacing, loyal and contentedly pacified” at NBC News.

Read “Fact check: Father of modern gynecology performed experiments on enslaved Black women” at USA Today.

Read “Who Wrote ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’? Inside The Little-Known True Story” at All That’s Interesting.

  • Read “Tulsa Athletic to no longer play “The Star-Spangled Banner” at The Black Wall Street Times. “Tulsa Athletic, an American soccer team based in Tulsa and part of the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL), announces the club will no longer play the “The Star-Spangled Banner” and will play a new song of that's more inclusive and representative of today's America, “This Land Is Your Land” by Woody Guthrie, at all home matches.”

  • Read “Pro Softball Players Quit After Manager Brags To Trump About Her Team Standing For The National Anthem” at PercoLately.

Read “Why some people are willing to challenge behavior they see as wrong despite personal risk” at PBS. “Psychologists describe those who are willing to defend their principles in the face of potentially negative social consequences such as disapproval, ostracism and career setbacks as “moral rebels.”

Read “Never Forget, America’s Mass Lynching: 237 Black Sharecroppers Were Murdered In Arkansas” at Black Westchester.

Read “'World should know what is happening' to children in ICE detention: Mother testifies "It is painful for me to relive this experience and remember that suffering." at ABC News.

Read “We still don’t know just how much was lost in the Tulsa massacre of 1921” at QZ.

Read “The History of Racism Is Not Past” at Sojourners.

Read “'Black Lives Matter' is About More than the Police” at ACLU.

Read “A Call For Reparations: How America Might Narrow The Racial Wealth Gap” at NPR.

Juneteenth:

  • Read “Why Juneteenth is a holiday every American should celebrate” at Denison Forum.

  • Read “On Juneteenth, look to the biblical prophets and the Black Lives Matter movement” at America Magazine.

  • Read “Juneteenth and the Meaning of Freedom Emancipation is a marker of progress for white Americans, not black ones” at New Yorker.

  • Read “Honoring the 'Mother of Juneteenth' in Portland, Clara Peoples” at KGW.

  • Read “Senators propose bill to make Juneteenth a federal holiday Juneteenth is currently recognized by 47 states and the District of Columbia as a state holiday or observance” at NBC News.

Read “How Did We Get Here? 163 years of The Atlantic’s writing on race and racism in America” at The Atlantic.

Read/Listen to “'An Extraordinary Moment': Angela Davis Says Protests Recognize Long Overdue Anti-Racist Work” at WBUR.

Read “Black Lives Matter is inspiring demonstrations all over Latin America” at America Magazine.

Read “13 Microaggressions Black People Deal With All The Time” at Huff Post.

Read “Bubba Wallace responds after FBI says noose found in stall there as early as Oct. 2019” at 12 News. “"The image that I have, that I have seen hanging from my garage is not a garage pull," Bubba Wallace said in an interview with CNN. "From the evidence that we have, that I have, it's a straight-up noose."

Read “High court justices press attorneys over high-capacity magazine ban” at VT Digger.

Read “Mark Taylor: Black men are hanging themselves to start ‘civil war’ that will stop Trump’s reelection” at Dead State.

Read “Antisemitic incidents in Colorado continue to rise as attacks against American Jews reach all-time highs, new report shows” at MSN.

Read “Supreme Court blocks Trump from ending DACA in big win for Dreamers” at NBC News.

Read “NASA names headquarters after first Black female engineer Mary W. Jackson” at Axios.

Read “The US Government Kills Black People with Impunity Both at Home and Abroad” at The Nation.

Read “U.S. Soldier Charged With Plotting to Let Neo-Nazis Ambush Read “NASA names headquarters after first Black female engineer Mary W. JacksonHis Army Unit” at Time.

Read “Tennessee Tennessee Republicans approve six-week abortion ban in surprise vote Ban beginning at six weeks, which is before most women know they are pregnant, is blatantly unconstitutional” at The Guardian.

Read “Looking for black-owned restaurants in Arizona? Here are more than 50 around metro Phoenix” at AZ Central.

Read “What We Know About the Killing of Elijah McClain” at The Cut.

Ahmaud Arbery:

  • Read “Ahmaud Arbery murder suspects indicted on murder charges” at Axios.

George Floyd:

  • Read “Opinion Why Did Cup Foods Call the Cops on George Floyd?” at New York Times.

  • Read "Scottsdale Councilman Apologizes to George Floyd's Family for Mocking 'I Can't Breathe' at Phoenix New Times.

Breonna Taylor:

  • Read “One of the officers involved in the shooting of Breonna Taylor is being fired, Louisville mayor says Interim Police Chief Robert Schroeder calls actions of Brett Hankison a "shock to the conscience" at Salon.

  • Read “Mayor Fischer announces initiation of termination procedures against LMPD Officer Brett Hankison” at LouisvilleKY.gov.

This week in traitorous, white-supremacist Confederate monuments (and/or Columbus monuments):

  • Read “SEC tells Mississippi it has to change its flag, or risk losing host rights for championship events” at CBS News.

  • Read “Mayor Fischer announces initiation of termination procedures against LMPD Officer Brett Hankison” at LouisvilleKY.gov.

  • Read/Listen to “Confederate Monuments Continue To Come Down In Racial Justice Protests” at WBUR.

  • Read “Washington, D.C.'s only Confederate statue sacked during protest” at Axios.

  • Read “Confederate Speaker Portraits To Be Removed From The U.S. Capitol On Juneteenth” at NPR.

  • Read “President Trump tries to tie statue destruction to Democrats” at 12 News.

    • Read “President Trump says 'learn from history' instead of removing statues President Trump spoke out after an attempt Monday night to bring down a statue near the White House of Andrew Jackson, one of Trump's favorite presidents” at 12 News.

    • Read “President Trump threatens anyone destroying statues could face 10 years in prison” at 12 News. “President Trump said he's 'authorized' the arrest of anyone 'who vandalizes or destroys' monuments or statues.”

      • Read "Twitter flags ANOTHER Donald Trump tweet for 'abusive language' after he threatened protesters trying to topple Andrew Jackson statute outside the White House with 'serious force' at The Daily Mail.

  • Read “'I did the right thing:' Man arrested on suspicion of painting Arizona Confederate memorial speaks out” at AZ Central.

  • Read “We need to do more than topple (some) statues” at America Magazine.

  • Read “Miss. Baptists ask for removal of Confederate symbol from state flag” at Kentucky Today.

    • Read “Walmart bans Mississippi state flag due to Confederate symbol” at Axios.

  • Read “Minnesotans Petition To Replace St. Paul’s Columbus Statue With A Prince Monument” at Live For Live Music.

  • Read “Slavery advocate’s statue removed in South Carolina” at PBS News Hour.

  • Read “Dixie Chicks Change Name to The Chicks” at Pitchfork.

This Week in Protest News:

  • Read “Armed Vigilantes Antagonizing Protestors Have Received A Warm Reception From Police” at The Intercept.

  • Read “Phoenix church leads 'White Silence is Violence' march” at 12 News.

  • Read “Over 3,500 people take part in Tokyo’s first official Black Lives Matter march” at Time Out.

  • Read “Police Turned Richmond, Virginia Into a War Zone Last Night” at Vice.

  • Read “Chicago Police Illegally Denied Protesters Right To Attorney, Phone Call, Top Public Defender Says” at Block Club Chicago.

  • Read “Police shoot flash-bang grenades, pepper balls at protesters outside Phoenix Trump rally” at AZ Central.

This Week With the Police:

  • Read “NYC's 1975 Nightmarish Cop Propaganda Pamphlet” at Cracked.

  • Read “Nextdoor Ends Its Program for Forwarding Suspicions to Police” at Bloomberg. “Forward to Police,” one of several Nextdoor programs to strengthen law enforcement relations, has been criticized for elevating racial profiling.

  • Read “Hundreds of Police Officers Belong to Racist Facebook Groups” at The Root.

  • Read “The ‘Warrior Cop’ Is a Toxic Mentality. And a Lucrative Industry. Police are paying firms that preach extreme vigilance and deadly force.” at The Trace.

  • Read “Why Are Cops Putting Kids in Cuffs? Federal funding, zero tolerance, and lack of choice encourage the creeping criminalization of student misbehavior” at Reason.

  • Read “Shake Shack, "poisoned" cops, and how the press falls for police propaganda Break the dependence on police information” at Press Run.

  • Read “APA Urges Closer Partnerships Between Police, Behavioral Experts To Stem Racial Incidents” at American Psychological Association.

  • Read “Six lessons for police reform from the Catholic Church" at America Magazine.

  • Read “Who caused the violence at protests? It wasn’t antifa’ at Washington Post.

  • Read “Lawmakers in New Mexico back mandatory police body cameras” at 12 News.

  • Read “Beyond Reform The Senate stalls out before doing anything about police abuse.” at Slate.

  • Read “Above the Law: The Data Are In on Police, Killing, and Race” at The Public Discourse.

  • Read “Minneapolis Council members draft charter amendment to replace existing police department” at Minneapolis Reformer.

  • Read “National Teachers Union Wants Police Out Of Schools” at Cap Con.

  • Read “Should cops who shoot someone be tested for drugs and alcohol? Metro Council may demand it” at Louisville Courier-Journal.

  • Read “Demilitarization of Police Means Disrupting the Army-to-Police Pipeline” at Jacobin Magazine.

  • Read “Democrats Vow To Block GOP Police Reform Bill Unless Republicans Agree To Negotiate” at NPR.

  • Read “Florida police caught using mug shots of black men for target practice” at MSNBC.

  • Read “Anonymous digs up vast tranche of U.S. police documents” at Axios.

  • Read “The urgent need for deep changes in American policing Are the police meant to protect people? Or to fight them?” at Christian Century.

  • Read “How the Phoenix Police Department Spends Its $745 Million Budget. “The city wants to give the force an additional $24 million. But the department is still failing to solve crimes, and officers have shot 212 people between 2011 and 2018, killing about half” at The Appeal.

Read “Wrongfully Arrested Because Face Recognition Can’t Tell Black People Apart” at ACLU.

Read “Minneapolis Park Board declares parks are ‘refuge’ for homeless” at Minnesota Reformer.

Read “Brett Favre says Colin Kaepernick will be considered a hero like Pat Tillman” at TMZ.

Read “Boston Lawmakers Vote To Ban Use Of Facial Recognition Technology By The City” at NPR.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup

  • Read “Apple Closes Retail Stores in Four States as Coronavirus Cases Rise Apple said it would close stores near Naples, Fla; Charlotte, N.C.; in Greenville, S.C.; and in Arizona” at Wall Street Journal.

  • Read “Ducey will let Arizona cities decide on mandating mask wearing, announces new rules for businesses” at AZ Central.

  • Read “Phoenix will require masks starting Saturday. Refusing to wear a face covering could bring a $250 fine” at AZ Central.

  • Read “The Karens Are Giving Us a Hard Time Now” A waiter at a reopened restaurant explains how dining works in a pandemic” at Slate.

  • Read “Maricopa County sends mandate to every resident in the county: Wear a mask no matter what city, town or area you live in” at AZ Central.

  • Read “Treasury to release names of some businesses that received PPP loans” at Axios.

  • Read “Yes, Wearing Masks Helps. Here's Why” at NPR.

  • Read “Six Trump campaign staffers test positive for coronavirus ahead of Tulsa rally” at Axios.

  • Read “Rep Andy Biggs believes mandatory face masks are tyranny. Yeah, he said that, tyranny” at AZ Central.

  • Read “Phoenix Megachurch Hosting Trump Rally Says It Has Special Coronavirus-Killing Air System” at Phoenix New Times.

  • Read “Phoenix Mayor Gallego: Mask policy won’t be enforced at Trump event” at KTAR.

  • Read “Spain opens border to tourists; Trump wants less testing” at AP News.

  • Read “President Trump suggests he urged slowing of coronavirus testing” at 12 News.

  • Read “White House Defends Trump's Use Of Racist Term To Describe Coronavirus” at NPR.

  • Read “German Federal Government Pledges $169 Million For Live Events Industry With “Restart Culture” Initiative” at Live FOr Live Music.

  • Read “Amid threats and political pushback, public health officials are leaving their posts” at Washington Post.

  • Read “Why Native Americans took Covid-19 seriously: 'It's our reality' Coronavirus is novel to the world, but the impact on native communities is anything but a new experience” at The Guardian.

  • Read “The pandemic has deepened my insomnia—and my prayers As I lie awake, it seems right to join those who address God with different names than I use” at Christian Century.

  • Read “Young people in the US South and West are increasingly getting coronavirus” at CNN.

  • Read “Years of potential life lost” is the most sobering and sad Covid-19 statistic I’ve seen” at Vox.

  • Read “EU prepares to ban American travelers as borders reopen on July 1” at Axios.

  • Read “Coronavirus has brought US 'to its knees', says CDC director” at The Guardian.

  • Read “You Can Order A Face Mask Customized With The Rest Of Your Face On It” at Crafty.diply.

  • Read "We Still Don't Fully Understand The Label 'Asymptomatic'

  • Read “Protest against mask mandates, led by Scottsdale councilman, underway in Old Town” at AZ Central.

  • Love your neighbor, wear a mask.

  • Read “Hospitals issue joint call to wear masks in public: ‘Wearing a mask is not a political statement’” at News Break.

  • Read “Rubio: 'Everyone should just wear a damn mask' at The Hill.

  • Read “Nike Turned Away a Public Health Official From Its Warehouse Days After a Worker With COVID-19 Died” at Pro Publica.

  • Read “Study Finds Black Lives Matter Protests Didn't Lead to Growth in Coronavirus Cases” at The Root.

  • Read “The U.S. divide on coronavirus masks” at Axios. “Mask-wearing has become the latest partisan division in an increasingly politically divided pandemic.”

  • Read “Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro was ordered by a federal judge on Tuesday to wear a face mask outside or be fined” at Axios.

  • Read “What Parents Can Learn From Child Care Centers That Stayed Open During Lockdowns” at NPR.

  • Read “Texas family shaken after 18 relatives test positive for COVID-19 following surprise birthday party.” at KSDK. “Three are now hospitalized, including two elderly family members and one woman battling breast cancer.”

  • Read “With COVID-19 Cases Rising, Some States Slow Their Reopening Plans” at NPR.

Read “CBS Reporter Becomes Internet Hero After Asking Trump Why He Keeps Hiring 'Wackos And Liars'“ at ComicSands.

  • Read ““William Barr Poses The Greatest Threat… To Our Rule Of Law” at News and Guts.

    • Read “Powerful US attorney who investigated Trump associates refuses to step down after Barr pushes him out” at CNN.

    • Read “House Judiciary panel preparing to subpoena Barr” at Politico.

  • Read “Politics Influenced Justice Department In Roger Stone Case, DOJ Lawyer Tells Hill” at NPR.

  • Read “Prosecutor to tell Congress of pressure from ‘highest levels’ of Justice Dept. to cut Roger Stone ‘a break’” at Washington Post.

  • Read “Judge says Bolton can publish book despite efforts to block it” at 12 News.

  • Read “Stephen Colbert To John Bolton: “How Could You Be Naive?” at News and Guts.

  • Read “Appeals court orders dismissal of Michael Flynn's criminal case The decision was made, even though Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to prosecutors in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation” at 12 News.

Read “In Arizona, Republicans worry about losing traction with independent voters In a state that could prove pivotal in both the presidential race and the fight for Senate control, Republicans are concerned about a shrinking base” at NBC News.

Read “A new Trump proclamation will block foreign workers It could affect hundreds of thousands of foreigners stranded abroad” at Vox.

Read "Trumps lose attempt to gag Mary Trump from publishing tell-all book as a judge dismisses petition for a protective order saying their claims are 'fatally defective' at NPR.

Read “Biden to accept nomination at pared-down Milwaukee convention” at Axios.

  • Read “Biden Takes Dominant Lead as Voters Reject Trump on Virus and Race” at New York Times.

  • Read “Trump Is Struggling To Run Against A White Guy” at The Atlantic.

Read “Devin Nunes can’t sue Twitter over statements by fake cow, judge rules’ at Fresno Bee.

Read “Black Progressives Appear To Surge In Primaries, While Trump-Backed Candidates Lose” at NPR.

Read “More Than 100 Veterans Sign Letter Condemning Sen. McSally” at KJZZ.

Read “24-Year-Old Easily Tops President Trump's Pick In N.C. Republican Primary” at NPR.

Read “Zuckerberg says he’s ‘disgusted’ by Trump’s rhetoric. It’s just crocodile tears” at Washington Post.

Read “Alaska's 'Into the Wild' bus, known as a deadly tourist lure, has been removed by air” at CNN.

Read “Philly shuts down dumpster pools: 'We are not screwing around' at USA Today.

Read “Bill Cosby’s appeal of sex-crime conviction accepted by state supreme court” at USA Today.

Read “Okayplayer CEO Abiola Oke Resigns, Company Cites Recent Allegations” at Exclaim.

Read “Tom Petty’s Family Blasts Trump For Using His Music At Tulsa Rally” at Stereogum.

Read “K-Pop Stans Take Credit For Ruining Trump’s Tulsa Rally” at Stereogum.

Read “Jefferson Airplane to Receive Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2021” at Jambands.

Read “There is Now An Official Grateful Dead Deodorant” at Relix.

Half-year-end Half-lists:

  • Browse “The 33 Best Albums of 2020 So Far” at Treble.

  • Browse “The Best Of 2020 – Halftime Report A list of 72 Albums we've enjoyed from January to June” at Uncut.

  • Browse “Exclaim!'s 33 Best Albums of 2020 So Far”.

Read “Toil and Trouble: Uncle Tupelo’s ‘No Depression’ Turns 30” at No Depression.

Read “'I Have Had No Prouder Moment in Music': Run the Jewels On Capturing the Sound of American Rage” at Esquire.

Read “Sammy Hagar Is Willing to “Get Sick and Even Die” to Kickstart the Concert Industry Again” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Barcelona opera house reopens with performance to 2,292 plants” at CNN.

Read “More Than 50 Years Ago Thelonious Monk Played A High School In California. Now The Album’s On Vinyl Everything You Need To Know About The Newly Discovered Lost Monk Album” at Vinyl Me Please.

Read “John Prine Scores First No. 1 Single with Final Recording “I Remember Everything” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Nick Cave Explains Why He Doesn’t Write Protest Songs” at Stereogum.

Read “Paul McCartney Calls on Schools to Cease Serving Meat-Only Lunches "No one needs to eat meat, so it shouldn't be mandatory to serve it in schools" at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Warren Haynes Pens Op-Ed ‘A Change Is Gonna Come—Oh, Yes It Will’, Shares Accompanying Playlist” at Jambands.

Read “Dixie Chicks Change Name to The Chicks” at Pitchfork.

Browse “The Story of ’80s Texas Punk in 9 Photographs” at Pitchfork.

Read “'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' Creators Scrap Season 8, Plan to Start over Amid Police Brutality Protests” at Exclaim.

Read “Large iguana found in freezer of pizza restaurant in Florida.

Read “Large iguana found in freezer of pizza restaurant in Florida” at Boing Boing.

Read “An exploitative digital cult born from Facebook meme groups is imploding” at AV Club.

Read “Tourist's photo showing creature rising from water sparks online claims that it could be 'one of the best ever' pictures of Loch Ness Monster” at The Daily Mail.

The Weekly Town Crier (06/05/20)

dudecrier copy.jpg

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (06/07/20)





Read “Amid pandemic, the Wichita Kenyan community unites virtually through food and family” at Religion News Service.

Read “'Cannabis burned during worship' by ancient Israelites - study” at BBC.

Read “‘How long, O Lord?’ Psalm 13 is the cry of black Americans” at America Magazine.

Read “Dear Evangelicals, You Must Know What You’ve Done To be Healed” by Kyle J. Howard.

Read “Southern Baptists see historic drop in membership” at Washington Post.

Read “Bishop at DC church outraged by Trump visit: 'I just can't believe what my eyes have seen' at CNN.

  • Read “Peaceful Protesters Were Gassed Outside The White House So Trump Could Get A Photo Op At A Church” at Buzzfeed News.

  • Read “Ahead of Trump Bible photo op, police forcibly expel priest from St. John’s church near White House” at Religion News Service.

  • Read “The Bible Is Not a Prop. Its Teachings, Though—about the Gospel and Justice—Are What We Need Right Now A Bible in a photo opp was not the Bible we needed” at Christianity Today.

  • Read “Barr personally ordered removal of protesters near White House, leading to use of force against largely peaceful crowd” at Washington Post.

  • Read “The president is dragging the church into a culture war. We shouldn’t let him” at America Magazine.

  • Read “An 'ANTIFA' Twitter account that called for looting 'white hoods' was actually run by white nationalist group Identity Evropa” at Business Insider.

  • Read “American Bible Society leader: Don’t use the Bible as a political ‘prop’” at Religion News Service.

  • Read “Amid protests, US Faith leaders engage racism and politics” at AP News.

  • Read “Trump Favorability Slips Among White Catholic and Non-College Americans During National Unrest” at PRRI.

Read “Liberty University’s Director of Diversity Retention Has Resigned” at The Way of Improvement.

  • Read “Black Liberty U. alums rebuke Falwell after blackface tweet” at AP News.

Browse “Antiracism Books for Christians – A Reading Guide” at Englewood Review of Books.

Browse “75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice” at Medium.

Unrest erupts worldwide in response to systemic racism in the U.S. manifesting in police brutality:

  • Read “Pentagon puts military police on alert to go to Minneapolis” at Associated Press.

  • Read “The History Behind 'When The Looting Starts, The Shooting Starts' at NPR.

  • Read “The Revolution Will Not Be Videoed What Paul and Silas might have said about George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor and and and …” at Christianity Today.

  • Read “Why Do They Riot? Rioting & The Overflow of Racial Trauma” by Jemar Tisby.

  • Read “JAY-Z Called Minnesota Governor About Justice for George Floyd, Issues Statement” at Pitchfork.

  • Read “Killer Mike Delivers Emotional Speech to Atlanta Protesters at Mayor’s Press Conference” at Pitchfork.

  • Read “In Some Cities, Police Officers Joined Protesters Marching Against Brutality” at Forbes.

  • Read “Cities on Edge as Fires Burn Near White House” at New York Times.

  • Read “Music Industry to Observe ‘Blackout Tuesday’ in Solidarity with Nationwide Protests” at Relix.

  • Read “A Reporter’s Cry on Live TV: ‘I’m Getting Shot! I’m Getting Shot!’” at New York Times.

  • Read “Op-Ed: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Don’t understand the protests? What you’re seeing is people pushed to the edge” at Los Angeles Times.

  • Read “As cities burned, Trump stayed silent — other than tweeting fuel on the fire” at Washington Post.

  • Read “Protest, Uprisings, and Race War” at Counter Punch.

  • Read “Martin Luther King Jr.’s scorn for ‘white moderates’ in his Birmingham jail letter” at Washington Post.

  • Read “The terror of wearing both a press badge and black skin’: Black journalists are carrying unique burdens” at Washington Post.

  • Read “What Does “Blackout Tuesday” Actually Mean for the Music Industry?” at Pitchfork.

    • Read “What Major Music Companies Actually Did on “Blackout Tuesday” at Pitchfork.

  • Read/Watch “Thousands protest in downtown Phoenix for 4th straight night, people being detained” at AZ Family.

  • Read “When Rioting Is the Answer” at Time.

  • Read “The additional violence of George Floyd’s autopsy report” at Christian Century.

  • Read “Minneapolis police union president releases letter criticizing city leaders following civil unrest” at KSTP.

  • Read “The DEA Has Just Been Authorized to Conduct Surveillance on Protesters” at Buzzfeed News.

  • Read “Trump calls governors ‘weak,’ urges them to use force against unruly protests” at Washington Post.

  • Read “Colin Kaepernick sets up legal defence fund for George Floyd demonstrators” at The Independent.

  • Read “Minnesota Files Discrimination Complaint Against Minneapolis Police Department” at NPR.

  • Read “How to Safely and Ethically Film Police Misconduct” at Teen Vogue.

  • Read/Watch “Massive protests defy local curfews, Trump threats” at MSNBC.

  • Read “All four former officers involved in George Floyd's killing now face charges” at CNN.

  • Read “Social media cracks down on sick challenge mocking George Floyd’s death” at New York Post.

  • Read “If You Are White And Anti-Racist, This Non-Optical Allyship Guide Is Required Reading” at Vogue.

  • Read "A Soul Check for White Christians In the words of MLK, "There comes a time when silence is betrayal” at Christianity Today.

  • Read “‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ Cast, Showrunner Donate $100,000 to National Bail Fund Network” at Variety.

  • Read “They Wanted A War, They Got One” Inside Trump’s Militarized Occupation of Washington D.C.”

  • Read “Institutionalized Racism: A Syllabus How can we help students understand George Floyd’s death in the context of institutionalized racism?” at Daily JSTOR.

  • Read “Final autopsy report reveals George Floyd had CORONAVIRUS but died from 'cardiopulmonary arrest' after Minneapolis cop knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes” at Daily Mail.

  • Read "Jimmy Carter on George Floyd protests: 'Silence can be as deadly as violence' at CNN.

  • Read “New Yorkers Said ‘F**k The Police,’ So The Police Rioted A historic uprising against police brutality in the city has seen the arrest of nearly 2,000 people, including me” at Huff Post.

  • Browse “Resources in the Fight Against Police Brutality and Systemic Racism” at Pitchfork.

  • Read “3 more Minneapolis officers charged in George Floyd death, Derek Chauvin charges elevated” at NBC News.

  • Read “The Problem With Research on Racial Bias and Police Shootings” at City Lab.

  • Browse “Antiracism Books for Christians – A Reading Guide” at Englewood Review of Books.

  • Read “1968-2020: A Tale Of Two Uprisings” at NPR.

  • Read “Tear Gas Is Way More Dangerous Than Police Let On — Especially During the Coronavirus Pandemic In the middle of a respiratory pandemic, law enforcement agencies have used tear gas in especially dangerous ways. The chemical agent also seeps into homes, contaminates food, furniture, skin and surfaces, and can cause long-term lung damage” at Pro Publica.

  • Read “A Dubious Legal Doctrine Protects Cities From Lawsuits Over Police Brutality” at Slate.

  • Read “Floyd Protesters Met With Armed Bystanders During Indiana March” at Time.

  • Read “Law Enforcement Seizes Masks Meant To Protect Anti-Racist Protesters From COVID-19” at Huff Post.

Protests against police violence . . . produce more police violence?

Read “A church returns land to American Indians “This is decolonized land,” a young woman said. “This is a liberated zone” at Christian Century.

  • Read “Standing Rock Tribe Wins in Court After Years of Perseverance” at Earth Justice.

Read “Virginia governor to announce removal of Lee statue” at AP News.

  • Read “Robert E Lee statue: Virginia governor announces removal of monument” at BBC.

Read “K-Pop Fans Have Hijacked #WhiteLivesMatter on Twitter to Teach Racists a Lesson” at News 18.

Read “Study: White people react to evidence of white privilege by claiming greater personal hardships” at Raw Story (from 2015).

Read “Minneapolis Police Union President: “I’ve Been Involved In Three Shootings Myself, And Not A One Of Them Has Bothered Me” at The Intercept.

Read “White New York socialite calls police on black woman for sitting on a bench” at Indy 100.

Read “Racism, Police Violence, and the Climate Are Not Separate Issues” at New Yorker.

Read “Ahmaud Arbery was boxed in by 2 trucks as he tried to escape, suspect used racial slur as he stood over body, evidence revealed in court shows” at Chicago Tribune.

Read “No, I'm not okay By Neal Lester, PhD.” at Ahwatukee Foothills News.

Read “Portland Public Schools will discontinue regular presence of school resource officers” at KATU.

Read “Breonna Taylor lived and died in a part of the U.S. where rights do not matter” at America Magazine.

Read “Atlanta-Based Organization Advocates For Rest As A Form Of Social Justice” at NPR.

Read “Putin decides to announce federal emergency due to fuel spill in Norilsk at RBC.

Read “About Face Death and surrender to power in the clothing of men” at Popula.

Weekly Coronavirus Roundup

  • Read “Social Distancing Is Not Enough We will need a comprehensive strategy to reduce the sort of interactions that can lead to more infections” at The Atlantic.

  • Read “Praying in a church is more important than buying flatpack furniture” at The Telegraph.

  • Read “A pastor’s pandemic diary” at Christian Century.

  • Read “Hydroxychloroquine, a drug promoted by Trump, failed to prevent healthy people from getting covid-19 in trial” at Washington Post.

  • The U.S. death toll passes 110,000.

Read “What comes after the ‘Trumpocalypse’? America has a chance to be reborn” at The Star.

  • Read “Donald Trump Appears to Have Committed Felony Voter Fraud” at Slate.

  • Read “Trump, Lacking Clear Authority, Says U.S. Will Declare Antifa a Terrorist Group” at New York Times.

  • Read “'I wish you the best': US military adviser resigns after Trump's controversial photo op at church” at Business Insider.

  • Read “James Mattis Denounces President Trump, Describes Him as a Threat to the Constitution In an extraordinary condemnation, the former defense secretary backs protesters and says the president is trying to turn Americans against one another” at The Atlantic.

  • Read “History Will Judge the Complicit Why have Republican leaders abandoned their principles in support of an immoral and dangerous president?” at The Atlantic.

Read “Iowa Rep. Steve King defeated in GOP primary” at Axios.

Read “Colorado Democrats Announce a New Bill To Hold Law Enforcement More Accountable As mass demonstrations against police brutality continue throughout America, a group of Centennial State lawmakers has put forth a set of legislative solutions” at 5280.

Read “Carole Baskin wins control of Tiger King star Joe Exotic's former zoo” at Yahoo.

Read “Formation of The Bob Weir Band-Fall 1977 (Enter Brent)” at Lost Live Dead.

Read “Music Industry to Observe ‘Blackout Tuesday’ in Solidarity with Nationwide Protests” at Relix.

Hear “Bob Mould Rage Against the President and Evangelicals on ‘American Crisis’ Track will appear on artist’s upcoming Blue Hearts LP, due out this fall” at Rolling Stone.

Read “This Is How Much More Money Artists Earn From Bandcamp Compared to Streaming Services” at Pitchfork.

Read “The Apollo Theater Schedules Free ‘Let’s Stay In Together’ Benefit with Dionne Warwick, Gary Clark Jr., Warren Haynes and More” at Relix.

Read “Sturgill Simpson Announces Livestream Show At Empty Ryman Auditorium” at Jambands.

Read “The Osbick Bird: Edward Gorey’s Tender and Surprising Vintage Illustrated Allegory About the Meaning of True Love” at Brain Pickings.

Read “The Court Case That Killed the ‘Ladies Menu’ Upscale restaurants once listed prices only for men” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “How ‘Shoebox Lunches’ Made Black Travel Possible During Jim Crow Humble shoeboxes allowed African-Americans to dine with dignity” at Atlas Obscura.

Browse “The extraordinary Polaroid diary of German filmmaker Wim Wenders” at Far Out Magazine.

Support FilmBar Online.

Read “10 Black-Owned Businesses To Support In Downtown Phoenix” at DTPHX.

Read “First Amendment Lawsuit Filed Over Terrorism Lesson At Scottsdale Community College” at Fronteras Desk.