The Weekly Town Crier (04/30/21)

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






We’ll Miss You:

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

Religion and Stuff:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Watch ‘American Insurrection’ at PBS Frontline.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

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

This Week With The Police:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

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

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

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Internationalities:

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

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

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

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

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

Politics And Sucheries:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This Week In Political Corruption:

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

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

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

Music-Related News and Such:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

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

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

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

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

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

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

Food Cultures:

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

Misc. Oddities:

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

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

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

Local:

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

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

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

The Weekly Town Crier (04/16/21)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (04/16/21).





We’ll Miss You:

Read “DMX dead at 50, family confirms” at Fox 59.

Read “Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth's longtime consort, will be laid to rest in low-key ceremony” at CNN.

Read “Sonny Simmons, Fiercely Independent Alto Saxophonist, Dies At 87” at NPR.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Proud Boys and other far-right groups raise millions via Christian funding site” at The Guardian.

Read “Pastor: Lawmakers Making Churches Obey COVID Rules Are “Non-Essential” to God!” at Friendly Atheist.

Read ‘High court halts Calif. virus rules limiting home worship” at Religion News Service.

Read “Former Moody Professor & Author for Desiring God Announces He’s No Longer a Christian” at Roys Report.

Read “Evangelical Pastor Faces Prison Time After Recording Child Changing Her Clothes” at Friendly Atheist.

Read “John Wayne, Jesus, and the Struggle to Define the Christian Man” by David French. “Would the Son of God slide into home with his cleats up?”

Read “Hillsong Shuts Down Dallas Campus Following Reports Pastors Misused Funds” at Roys Report.

Read “New York City's Next Mayor Could Be Decided in the Black Church” at Bloomberg.

Read “A Pastor’s Son Becomes a Critic of Religion on TikTok” at New York Times.

Read “Brazil building new Jesus statue even taller than Rio's Christ the Redeemer” at The Hill.

Read “The Supreme Court Broke Its Own Rules to Radically Redefine Religious Liberty” at Slate. “Even Chief Justice John Roberts dissented from the majority’s unusual move.”

Read “Head of Elite Catholic School Is Fired Over Sexual Misconduct Charges” at New York Times.

Read “Pope Francis asks Minnesota bishop to resign following Vatican probe” at The Hill.

Read the opinion piece “Why Democratic Socialism Isn’t Anti-Christian” at Sojourners.

Read “At online symposium, Pope Francis says religions can eradicate sexual abuse together” at Religion News Service.

Read ‘Why Pastors Should Read Literature” by Karen Swallow Prior at Pastor Theologians.

Read “'The Making Of Biblical Womanhood' Tackles Contradictions In Religious Practice” at NPR.

Read “Orlando sanctuary nurses largest cluster of Florida corals rescued from a devastating disease” at Orlando Sentinel.

Read “Pat Robertson slams policing in America” at MSBNC. "We cannot have a bunch of clowns running around who are underpaid and who really are not the best and brightest, we've got to have the best in there."

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

Read “Tucker Carlson, the face of Fox News, just gave his full endorsement to the white nationalist conspiracy theory that has motivated mass shootings” at Media Matters.

Read “Expert Witness Pinpoints the Exact Moment George Floyd Died Under Chauvin’s Weight” at Slate.

  • Read “The claim that drugs killed George Floyd relies on a racist trope” at VOX. “In the Derek Chauvin trial, the defense’s attempt to blame George Floyd’s death on drug use relies on retrograde and racist myths.”

  • Read “Medical Examiner Reaffirms George Floyd Homicide Ruling, Caused by Derek Chauvin’s Restraint” at Democracy Now.

Read “Alabama GOP Senate Candidate Is Extremely Outraged at Affair Allegations Before Being Presented With a 17-Minute Tape” at Slate.

Read “Matt Gaetz Reportedly Sent $900 on Venmo to Indicted Tax Collector Buddy, Who Then Paid Three Young Women for ‘Tuition’ and ‘School’ at Mediaite.

  • Read “Matt Gaetz Now Complains He’s A Victim Of The Deep State” at Huff Post.

  • Read “Indicted Gaetz Associate Is Said to Be Cooperating With Justice Dept.” at New York Times.

Read “Same, but different: Notes on Black Christian solidarity against anti-Asian racism” at Religion News Service.

Read “N.R.A. Chief Takes the Stand, With Cracks in His Armor” at New York Times.

Read “The first Southern state legalizes marijuana — what it means nationally” at The Hill.

Read “President Biden set to further regulate 'ghost guns'“ at PRI. “The Biden administration faces pushback from Republicans as it tries to pass legislation to further regulate "ghost guns" assembled with homemade parts.”

Read “South Dakota GOP Gov. Blasted For Telling Illegal Immigrants To 'Call Me When You're An American'“ at Comic Sands.

Read “Conservative Judges Are Manipulating the History of Eugenics to Overturn Roe v. Wade” at Slate.

Read “Illinois House passes bill mandating Asian American history in schools” at NBC News.

Read “At least 8 dead in shooting at Indianapolis FedEx facility” at The Hill.

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

Read “‘Clear the Capitol,’ Pence pleaded, timeline of riot shows” at Associated Press.

Read “Far-Right Extremist Planned to Blow Up Amazon Data Center, Feds Allege” at Variety.

Read “White supremacists plan nationwide rallies on April 11” at The Hill.

Read ‘Huntington Beach braces for yet another demonstration — a White Lives Matter rally on Sunday” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “‘Darn’ Tootin’ It Is!’: Gov. Tate Reeves Again Declares Confederate Heritage Month, SCV Says” at Mississippi Free Press.

Read “Heritage Versus Hate: Assessing Opinions in the Debate over Confederate Monuments and Memorials” at Wiley Public Library. “When it comes to wanting to leave Confederate monuments alone, it’s racial resentment, not southern identity.”

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “Protests erupt after death of Daunte Wright, 20-year-old Black man shot by police during traffic stop: What we know” at USA Today.

Read ‘Second night of unrest after fatal police shooting of Daunte Wright outside Minneapolis” at CBS News.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Cops Caught on Video Holding a Black Army Lieutenant at Gunpoint, Then Pepper-Spraying Him” at Vice.

  • Read “Army officer sues police for pepper-spraying him, drawing guns during traffic stop” at The Hill.

Read “Police officer with connection to Proud Boys fired” at The Hill.

Read “Protests erupt after death of Daunte Wright, 20-year-old Black man shot by police during traffic stop: What we know” at USA Today.

  • Read “Minnesota officer meant to draw Taser, not handgun” at Associated Press.

  • Read “Medical examiner declares Daunte Wright death a homicide” at KTSP.

  • Read “Brooklyn Center city manager fired following police shooting of Daunte Wright” at The Hill.

  • Read “Rev. Al Sharpton on the police killing of Daunte Wright: ‘You can die for having expired tags’” at MSNBC.

  • Read “How Could the Police Have Mistaken a Gun for a Taser?” at Yahoo.

  • Read “Brooklyn Center officer in Daunte Wright shooting, police chief submit resignation” at KSTP.

  • Read “The Minnesota officer who killed Daunte Wright will be charged with manslaughter.” at New York Times.

    • Read “Minnesota Police Officer Kimberly Potter Charged with Manslaughter for Shooting Daunte Wright” at Democracy Now.

  • Read “Daunte Wright's death proves a more interracial America can't protect us” at MSNBC.

Read “Cincinnati police raise ‘Blue Lives Matter’ flag outside justice center” at Guardian.

Read “Legal experts on whether police testifying against Derek Chauvin portends real change” at MSNBC.

Read “Bill to give Arizona troopers body cameras would also restrict video release” at ABC 15.

Read “Maryland state trooper fatally shoots 16-year-old after responding to reports of an armed man” at ABC News. “Peyton Ham was allegedly carrying an airsoft gun and a knife.”

Read “Daunte and the Debt Collectors: How the Cops Became Robbers” at The Root.

Read “For years, the Boston Police kept a secret: the union president was an alleged child molester” at Boston Globe.

Read “Video of fatal Chicago police shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo released” at NBC News.

Read “Three Georgia officers injured after suspect opened fire with AK-47 during chase” at The Hill.

Read “Pat Robertson slams policing in America” at MSBNC. "We cannot have a bunch of clowns running around who are underpaid and who really are not the best and brightest, we've got to have the best in there."

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “Teen student arrested for having gun at Sandra Day O'Connor High School in north Phoenix” at ABC 15.

Read “One person dead, officer wounded in shooting confrontation at a Tennessee high school, officials say” at Click 2 Houston.

Read “Florida education official tells school districts to make masks optional next year” at The HIll.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “You Can’t Trust Anyone’: Russia’s Hidden Covid Toll Is an Open Secret” at New York Times.

Read “Nearly 40% of Marines have declined Covid-19 vaccine” at CNN.

Read “WHO chief laments 'shocking imbalance' in vaccines for poor countries” at The Hill.

Read “Meat-packing plants were the earliest COVID hotspots, but vaccinating workers isn’t easy” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Loneliness, Anxiety and Loss: the Covid Pandemic’s Terrible Toll on Kids” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Covid vaccine hesitancy among men is its own public health issue” at MSNBC.

Read “Wisconsin Supreme Court rules against restaurant, bar capacity limits” at The Hill.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Nike Settles With Lil Nas X 'Satan Shoes' Manufacturer” at Pop Culture.

Read “Under Capitalism, the Deck Is Always Stacked Against Unionizing at Companies Like Amazon” at Jacobin Magazine.

Watch “The Tony Alva Story” at Open Culture.

Read “Nike’s idea of ‘woke’ is to kill the small businesses, in Philly and elsewhere, that made its sneakers popular” at Inquirer.

Read “Staying Home Gave Some Black Women the Chance to Take Care of Their Own Hair” at Slate. “Some aren’t sure they’ll go back to salons at all.”

Read “'You Can't Escape the Gravitational Pull of Jeff Bezos.' How Amazon Won the Preliminary Union Vote in Alabama” at Time.

Read “‘Huge’ Explosion Rocks St. Vincent As Volcano Keeps Erupting” at Huff Post.

Read “Steak-Umm Twitter Beef with Neil DeGrasse Tyson Explained” at HITC.

Read “Meet the Ransomware Gang Behind One of the Biggest Supply Chain Hacks Ever” at Vice.

Read “Apple might not release an iPhone Mini in 2022, analyst predicts” at CNet.

Read “There Will Be No Swearing or Taking God’s Name in Vain on Mike Lindell’s New ‘Free Speech’ Platform” at Right Wing Watch.

Read “A 23-Year-Old Coder Kept QAnon Online When No One Else Would” at Bloomberg.

Internationalities:

Read “What About China?” Is No Defense of American Injustice” at Slate.

Read “Iran Blames Israel for Attack on Nuclear Facility, Vows to Retaliate” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “China sends 25 warplanes into Taiwan's air defense zone, Taipei says” at CNN.

Read “How Biden’s team overrode the brass on Afghanistan” at Politico.

Read “Japan announces it will release treated radioactive water from Fukushima nuclear plant into sea” at South China Morning Press.

Read “Forthcoming Russia sanctions won't include Nord Stream 2” at Politico.

Read “Biden administration sanctions Russia for SolarWinds hack, election interference” at the Hill.

Read “Biden Administration Says Russian Intelligence Obtained Trump Campaign Data” at New York Times.

Read “Intel chiefs sound alarm on China in global threats hearing” at Politico.

Read “Russian Troops Amass on Eastern Border as U.S. and NATO Pledge Support for Ukraine” at Democracy Now.

Read “UK facing garden gnome shortage following the Suez Canal fiasco” at Indy 100.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read ‘The GOP Is Voting Against Its Base” at The Atlantic. “Republicans are making a risky bet by opposing Biden’s infrastructure plan.”

Read “High number of Trump political appointees sought permanent jobs in final year” at NBC News.

Read “Can America's 'Civil Religion' Still Unite The Country?” at WPR.

Read “Dwayne Johnson says he’ll run for President “if this is what the people want”” at NME. “46 per cent of poll respondents would welcome him in the Oval Office.”

Read “Stephanie Murphy: Let Florida voters know which election systems were hacked by Russians” at Orlando Sentinel.

Read “Congressional Black Caucus members post selfie celebrating first WH visit in four years” at The Hill.

Read “Mitt Romney And Kyrsten Sinema Team Up On Bipartisan Bill To Increase Minimum Wage” at Huff Post.

Read “Biden Administration Moves To Undo Trump Abortion Rules For Title X” at NPR.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Republicans Accused Of Election Rigging Conspiracy As Congress Demands DOJ Probe” at Politicus USA.

Read “McConnell versus the First Amendment” at Popular Info.

Read “Gaetz was denied meeting with Trump” at The Hill.

Read “Senate Report: Former Trump Aide Paul Manafort Shared Campaign Info With Russia” at NPR.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Prince’s ‘Welcome 2 America,’ an Unreleased Album, Is Due Out in July” at New York Times.

Read “Penn Jillette Tells the Most Amazing David Allan Coe Story” at GQ.

Read “From the Eagle Mall to Terrapin Station: A Skeleton Key to Robert Hunter” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Read “How The Wrecking Crew Secretly Recorded Some of the Biggest Hits of the 1960s & 70s” at Open Culture.

Read “The Spiritual Power of Pharoah Sanders” by Shabaka Hutchingsat Vinyl Factory.

Read “Kelly Clarkson's Onstage Bathroom Disaster Will Forever Change the Way We Think About Trash Cans” at Yahoo.

Browse Bandcamp’s picks for “The Best Albums of Winter 2021.”

Read “Phoebe Bridgers’ Smashed Guitar from SNL Sells for $100k in Auction” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “We All Get To Benefit From Taylor Swift’s Sweet Revenge” at Stereogum.

Read “How Auto-Tune Revolutionized the Sound of Popular Music” at Pitchfork. “An in-depth history of the most important pop innovation of the last 20 years, from Cher’s “Believe” to Kanye West to Migos.”

Read “Madonna Buys The Weeknd's Hidden Hills Estate for $19 Million” at Pop Culture.

Read “Grateful Dead’s ‘Wall of Sound’ Lives Again in Some Dude’s Basement” at Wall Street Journal. “Anthony Coscia spent two months building a working one-sixth replica of the legendary system, to the delight of Deadheads everywhere.”

Read “Liz Phair Details New Album Soberish, Shares New Song” at Pitchfork.

Read “Mudhoney Is No Longer Just the Name of a Band in Seattle: 'This Is Anything But Boring'“ at Billboard. “Seattle Public Utilities announced on Monday (April 12) that it has named its tunnel boring machine after local grunge band Mudhoney after a public vote.”

Read “M.I.A. Launches Fundraiser for Saint Vincent Volcano Relief” at Pitchfork.

Read “CD of the Month: Ryley Walker - "Course In Fable” at WYSO.

Read “Queens of vinyl: 6 female record store owners share the secrets to their success and the struggles that became strengths” at Jumble and Flow. (Featuring Phoenix’s own Kimber Lanning!!)

Read “60 U.S. Music Venues Are Getting ‘Turnkey Livestreaming’ Abilities” at Rolling Stone. “As the live music industry weighs its post-pandemic future, Live Nation and Veeps will outfit venues including The Wiltern, The Fillmore, and House of Blues with livestreaming tech.”

Read “What the Hell Is Spotify’s Tragically Named “Car Thing”?” at Pitchfork.

Read “Morgan Wallen Says He Won’t Play Shows This Summer, Is Still Working on Himself Following Scandal” at Variety.

Read “José González Announces New Album Local Valley, Shares New Song” at Pitchfork.

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

Read “Screamers, a Missing Link of Los Angeles Punk, Is Missing No More” at New York Times.

Read “Low Cover Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” at Pitchfork.

Read “Arcade Fire Share New 45-Minute Song for Headspace Meditation App” at Pitchfork.

Read “Alan Vega Left a Robust Vault. The Excavation Begins With a New Album” at New York Times.

Read “Angel Bat Dawid :: Transmissions” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “TV Is Having a Talking-Head Crisis, From Sharon Osbourne to Dr. Oz to Meghan McCain” at Time.

Read “Bill Hader Talks Overcoming Anxiety and ‘Barry’ Season 3 as He Receives USC’s Master of Comedy Award” at Variety.

Read “The Problem With ‘The Problem With Jon Stewart’” at Vice. “Can the beloved former host of ‘The Daily Show’ be relevant in 2021 without copying the work of his former staff?”

Read “Melissa McCarthy, Please Stop Making Bad Movies With Your Husband” at Slate.

Read “ArcLight Cinemas and Pacific Theatres to Close” at The Hollywood Reporter.

Browse “Ronin Roundup” at Burning Shore.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read ‘The Strangest Books in the World: Discover The Madman’s Library, a Captivating Compendium of Peculiar Books​ & Manuscripts’ at Open Culture.

Design/Artsy Things:



Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “4 Gray Whales Found Dead In San Francisco Bay Area In 9 Days” at Huff Post.

Read “How far does light travel in a year?” at Universal-Sci.

Read “When a Mantis Shrimp Fights a Disco Clam, It Meets Its Match” at Wired.

Read “Woman gets pregnant while already pregnant, gives birth to twins” at The Hill.

Read “The Sand Octopus Was Hiding in Plain Sight” at The Atlantic. “And yet it took a 19th-century naturalist, a 21st-century grad student, and some Brazilian fishers to crack the mystery.”

Read “The Carnivore Paradise That Keeps Changing the Story of Human Evolution” at Atlas Obscura. “New research at Dmanisi continues to challenge what we think we know about our deep past.”

Read “Scientists Create Early Embryos That Are Part Human, Part Monkey” at NPR.

Read “How scientists found 'Nemo,' Australia's newest dancing spider” at National Geographic.

Food Cultures:

Read “How India’s ‘Mango Man’ Grew a Tree With 300 Flavors” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “The Sandwich Scandal at the Heart of the World’s Greatest Golfing Event” at Atlas Obscura.

Misc. Oddities:



Local:

Read “Queens of vinyl: 6 female record store owners share the secrets to their success and the struggles that became strengths” at Jumble and Flow. (Featuring Phoenix’s own Kimber Lanning!!)

The Weekly Town Crier (03/19/21)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (03/19/21).



We’ll Miss You:

Read “Died: Larry Walker, NIV Translator Who Loved Bible Details” at Christianity Today.

Read “Henry Goldrich, Gear Guru to Rock Stars, Is Dead at 88” at New York Times.

Read “Boxing Legend Marvin Hagler Dies At Age 66” at Huff Post.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “RZIM will end apologetics ministry” at Christianity Today. “Ravi Zacharias International Ministries will become a grant-making organization, CEO Sarah Davis tells employees.”

Read “Faith leaders push back against proposed ‘Souls to the Polls’ voting restrictions” at Religion News Service.

Read “My Mom Believes In QAnon. I’ve Been Trying To Get Her Out” at Buzzfeed.

Read ‘Cruelty Is Apostasy” by David French. “Reflections on Beth Moore’s departure from the Southern Baptist Convention.”

Read “Conservative Activist Charlie Kirk Leaves Liberty University Think Tank” at New York Times. “Liberty University opted not to renew Charlie Kirk's contract at the Falkirk Center. The unconventional think tank, which is now missing both halves of its portmanteau (Falwell + Kirk), will be renamed the Standing for Freedom Center.”

Read “A Kentucky Church’s Secret to Handling Abuse Allegations: Humility” at Christianity Today.

Read “Atlanta suspect blamed women for ‘tempting’ him. Purity culture does the same” at Religion News Service. “Christian communities must reexamine attitudes that blame women for men’s sexual problems.”

Read “LifeWay Research: U.S. Protestant Pastors See Gender Change as Immoral” at Christianity Today. “As gender fluidity grows more accepted in wider culture, most Protestant pastors remain traditional.”

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

Read “George Floyd Family Reaches $27 Million Settlement With City of Minneapolis” at Wall Street Journal.

  • Read “What It’s Like Inside the Now ‘Cop-Free’ Zone Where George Floyd Was Killed” at Vice.

Read “Breonna Taylor’s Killing Forced Black High School Girls To Grapple With Uncertainty” at WFPL.

Read “Restoring Pell Grants—And Possibilities—for Prisoners” at The Atlantic. “Classes inside prison give people a sense of community, a sense of purpose, a sense of identity, and a sense of hope.”

Read ‘Racists attack Asian American chef who criticized Texas over mask mandate” at The Hill.

  • Read “Asian American community on edge after deadly shooting in Atlanta” at The World.

  • Read “Elderly Asian woman fights off attacker in San Francisco” at The Hill.

Read “Georgia massage parlor shootings leave 8 dead; man captured” at Associated Press.

  • Read “Massage Parlor Massacres Suspect Said He Loved Guns & God” at Daily Beast.

Read “Is Critical Race Theory Racist?” by Brad Mason.

Read “Immigration Is Not a “Crisis”” at Slate. “What would our laws look like if we stopped treating migration as a problem to be solved?”

Read “Sentenced to death, but innocent: These are stories of justice gone wrong” at National Geographic.

Read “Man Wanted by Police Arrested Near Residence of Vice President Kamala Harris, Gun and Ammo Found in Car” at NBC Washington.

Read “Dem Rep. Plays Some Of The Racist Voicemails She Was Hit With For Condemning Anti-Asian Hate” at Comic Sands.

Read “Judge Rules Some Ghislaine Maxwell Details Are Too ‘Sensational and Impure’ to Be Revealed to the Public” at Law and Crime.

Read “Armie Hammer under investigation by LAPD sex crime detectives” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Teen Vogue’s New Top Editor Out After Backlash Over Old Racist Tweets” at Daily Beast.

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

Read “Two Men Have Been Charged With Assaulting The Officer Who Died After The Capitol Riot” at Buzzfeed News.

Read “George W. Bush on US Capitol insurrection: 'I'm still disturbed when I think about it'“ at CNN.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Essential California: LAPD’s handling of summer protests sharply criticized in report” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Retired Gila County sergeant wins PTSD workers’ compensation claim” at KTAR.

Read “Kentucky Senate votes to criminalize insulting police in way that could cause ‘violent response’” at Washington Post.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read “How Google's New Career Certificates Could Disrupt the College Degree” at Inc.

Read “DeSantis: Civics curriculum proposal will 'expressly exclude' critical race theory” at The Hill.

Read “Education Dept. Begins Rolling Back Trump-Era Policies On Defrauded Students” at NPR.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “How anti-vax rhetoric sneaks past Instagram’s content moderation system” at Salon.

Read “Passenger on flight from Seattle to Denver accused of refusing mask, urinating in cabin” at Oregon Live.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Seth Rogen’s new cannabis site temporarily shut down due to high demand” at NME.

Read “Michigan State announces basketball team will now be called 'MSU Spartans Presented by Rocket Mortgage' at Yahoo.

Read “Why the GameStop story is far from over” at BBC.

Read “Don’t Trust Civilization”: ‘Soldier of Fortune’ Magazine and the Masculine Myth” at We Are The Mutants.

Read “Serial stowaway Marilyn Hartman arrested yet again, at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport” at CBS News.

Read “Goldman Sachs Commits $1 Billion to Fund Diverse-Led Businesses” at Forbes. “Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said it’s doubling a commitment to investing in companies run by women and people of color to $1 billion.”

Read “No One Has Ever Wanted Anything More Than This City Wants a RoboCop Statue” at Vice.

Read “San Antonio Tussaud’s Pulls Wax Donald Trump Because People Keep Punching It” at Consequence of Sound. “The former president has been moved to a storage closet for his own protection.”

Internationalities:

Read “Myanmar’s Suu Kyi Charged With Bribery, Faces 15 Years In Prison” at Bloomberg.

Read “Kenya's High Court Upholds Crucial Ban on FGM in Much-Needed 'Boost' for Activists” at Global Citizen.

Read “China: 'Furious and sad' about violence against Asian Americans in US” at The Hill.

Read “Sri Lanka Mulls Banning Burqas and Closing 1,000 Madrassas” at Christianity Today.

Read “Japan’s Pot Laws Are Harsh, But Its Pensioners Invest in Growers” at Bloomberg.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Sen. Marco Rubio endorses Amazon warehouse union drive in surprise op-ed” at The Verge.

Read “A survey of Republicans shows 5 ‘tribes’ have emerged following Trump’s presidency” at New York Times.'

Read “GOP Rep. Suggests Gun Control Isn't Needed Because Bible Characters Killed Each Other Without Guns” at Comic Sands.

Read “How Mean Tweets—And Bad Predictions—Threaten to Derail Another Biden Nominee” at The Dispatch.

Read “Effort to recall Newsom gathers over 2M signatures, enough for possible ballot measure” at The Hill.

Read “Harry Reid calls for killing the filibuster: ‘60% is not a real democracy’” at MSNBC.

Read “Why Attacking ‘Cancel Culture’ And ‘Woke’ People Is Becoming The GOP’s New Political Strategy” at Five Thirty Eight.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Cuomo Says He Will Not Resign Despite Calls From Prominent New York Democrats” at NPR.

Read “'Dangerous for democracy': Why these GOP state legislatures want to restrict voting rights” at Go Erie.

Read “McCaskill: 'Treasonous' Giuliani played into Putin's hand” at MSNBC.

Read “Republicans who tried to overturn election vote against medals for Capitol, D.C. police at Salon.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “The Weeknd 'will no longer submit music to Grammy Awards' after snub” at BBC.

Read “Genre Is Disappearing. What Comes Next?” at New Yorker.

Read “Why Spotify’s Ex-Global Head Of Music Publishing Thinks Streaming Services Should Be Paying Songwriters More Money” at Music Business Worldwide.

Read “R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe and Mike Mills Look Back at Out of Time at 30” at Spin.

Read “Grammys 2021 Winners: See The Full List Here” at Pitchfork.

  • Read ‘Taylor Swift Wins Album of the Year at 2021 Grammys for folklore” at Pitchfork.

  • Read “Billie Eilish Wins Record of the Year at 2021 Grammys, Says Megan Thee Stallion Should Have Won” at Pitchfork.

Browse all the covers the Grateful Dead performed.

Read “Henry Rollins on Some of His Favorite Crate-Digging Experiences” at Discogs.

Read “The Many Lives of Judee Sill” at Rolling Stone. “After an abusive childhood and run-ins with the law, she grew into one of the most captivating singer-songwriters of the Seventies. More than 40 years after her death, could the world finally be ready to appreciate her?”

Read “Garth Brooks Lays Plans For Chris Gaines Album Reissue With Unreleased Songs” at American Songwriter.

Read “Justice Send Cease-and-Desist to Justin Bieber Over New Album” at Pitchfork.

Browse “A Guide to 25 Years of Mogwai” at Bandcamp.

Read “What the Spotify/K-Pop Showdown Underscores About the Future of Streaming” at Ptichfork.

Read “Artists Earned $21 Million on Bandcamp in the Last 30 Days” at Microchip Substack.

Read “Britney Spears Is Reportedly Considering a Tell-All Interview with Oprah Winfrey” at Harper’s Bazaar.

Read “Sunburned Hand of the Man merges woe and joy on Pick a Day to Die” at Chicago Reader.

Read “Sun Kil Moon’s Mark Kozelek Accused of Sexual Misconduct by Seven More Women” at Pitchfork.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “'The Talk' extends hiatus; Sharon Osbourne says she's 'been set up' after heated exchange” at USA Today.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “The 69 Pages of Writing Advice Denis Johnson Collected from Flannery O’Connor, Jack Kerouac, Stephen King, Hunter Thompson, Werner Herzog & Many Others” at Open Culture.

Read “Atwood, Grisham among contributors to pandemic novel” at WOKV.

Design/Artsy Things:

Read “Halsey to sell her art for the first time in NFT auction” at NME.

Read “Visit the Largest Collection of Frida Kahlo’s Work Ever Assembled: 800 Artifacts from 33 Museums, All Free Online” at Open Culture.

Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “Scientists created human tear glands in a dish — and then made them cry” at Salon.

Misc. Oddities:

Read “Trying To Explain Aliens To Your Kids” at WPDH.

Read “Mysterious UFO above Phoenix remains a mystery 24 years later” at 12 News.

Read “It started flying towards us’: Mysterious fireball ignites blaze in Peachland” at Global News.

Local:

Read “Mountainside Fitness founder leaves CEO role, considers run for governor” at KTAR.

The Weekly Town Crier (02/12/21)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (02/12/21)


We’ll Miss You:

Read “Christopher Plummer dead as Sound of Music star dies aged 91” at Daily Record.

Read “US congressman Ron Wright dies with coronavirus, aged 67” at BBC.

Read “Supremes Co-Founder Mary Wilson Dead at 76” at Pitchfork.

Read ‘Elliot Mazer, Engineer-Producer for Neil Young, Linda Ronstadt, and the Band, Dead at 79” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Larry Flynt, Founder of Hustler Magazine, Dies at 78” at Variety.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “An American Lent: It’s time for evangelicalism to embrace the act of confession” at Religion News Service. “Without disciplines like corporate confession and Lent, there is little within popular evangelicalism to restrain the triumphalism of white American culture from overshadowing the cross of Christ.”

Read “A Catholic scholar weighs Biden’s future with Vatican and US bishops” at Religion News Service. 

ReadChristian Rapper Lecrae Brushes Off GOP Activist’s Attempt To Cancel Him” at Yahoo.

Read “Faith-based refugee resettlement groups describe what it will take to rebuild program after Trump cuts” at Religion News Service.

Read “No touching! Churches get ready for Ash Wednesday in a pandemic” at Religion News Service.

Read “LGBTQ singer-songwriter ‘GameStops’ Christian music with No. 1 Christian album on iTunes” at Religion News Service. “‘Preacher’s Kid’ carries a parental advisory for explicit lyrics and at turns lacerates youth group lock-ins and short-term mission trips — staples of an evangelical Christian upbringing — while professing a complicated faith.”

Read “Still Baptist. Still evangelical” at Karen Swallow Prior at Religion News Service. “My childhood church has come to mind a lot lately, perhaps because these days in church life have so dismayed and disoriented me.”

Read “If I Were an Abuser, What Church Would I Want to Attend?” by Dr. Nancy Murphy.

Read “Welcoming Migrants and Refugees: A Biblical Ethic of Kinship” at Christianity Today.

Read “Don’t Immanentize the Eschaton: Against Right-Wing Gnosticism” at The Public Discourse.

Read “It’s Time to Talk About Violent Christian Extremism” at Politico.

Read “Most Evangelicals Support Women in Church Leadership” at Christianity Today. “Despite the ongoing debates over gender roles, surveys show significant agreement in favor of female Sunday school teachers, worship leaders, speakers, and preachers.”

Read “Evangelist Ravi Zacharias taught his followers to ask tough questions — just not about his sexual conduct” at Washington Post.

  • Read “Religion Evangelist Ravi Zacharias engaged in rape, financial misconduct and spiritual abuse, report says” at Washington Post.

  • Read “Ravi Zacharias Hid Hundreds of Pictures of Women, Abuse During Massages, and a Rape Allegation” at Christianity Today.

  • Read “Investigation Finds Ravi Zacharias Reportedly Raped a Massage Therapist; Sexually Molested Others” at Roys Report.

Read “Christian financial guru Dave Ramsey: If you need stimulus check, you are ‘screwed’” at Religion News Service.

Read ‘Survey: More than a quarter of white evangelicals believe core QAnon conspiracy theory” at Religion News Service.

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

Read “Immigrants, activists worry Biden won’t end Trump barriers” at KTAR.

Read “'We cannot tolerate extremist behavior': Admiral condemns recent racist incidents in Navy” at NBC News.

Read “Inside Trump and Barr’s Last-Minute Killing Spree” at Pro Publica. “Private executioners paid in cash. Middle-of-the-night killings. False or incomplete justifications. ProPublica obtained court records showing how the outgoing administration is using its final days to execute the most federal prisoners since World War II.”

Read “Violent attacks on elderly Asian Americans in Bay Area leaves community members 'traumatized'“ at ABC News. “A community leader say there have been at least 20 attacks.”

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

Read “FBI Raids Home Of Rachel Powell, Mercer County Mother Of 8 Suspected In Capitol Attack” Pittsburgh CBS Local.

Read “The Barbarians at the Gate: The Sack of Rome and the Attack on the U.S. Capitol” at The Reveal. “The problems with imagining who the barbarians are in the U.S. today.”

Read “The majority of the people arrested for Capitol riot had a history of financial trouble” at Washington Post.

Read “Sen. Shirkey baselessly claims U.S. Capitol riot was 'staged' by Trump haters, recording shows” at Metro Times.

Read “She Lived Through the Capitol Attack. Now This GOP Staffer Is Calling Out Her Friends’ Conspiracies” at Vice. “Leslie Shedd used to politely change the topic when friends would float fringe right-wing conspiracy theories. Not anymore.”

Read “Texas woman charged in Capitol riot says she bought into Trump 'lie': 'I regret everything'“ at The Hill.

Read “Five people associated with Proud Boys arrested for Capitol riot on conspiracy charges” at CNN.

Read “Military officials were unaware of potential danger to Pence's 'nuclear football' during Capitol riot” at CNN.

Read “FBI arrests two Kentucky men associated with the 'Boogaloo Bois'“ at The Hill.

Read “Mark Finchem Planned Jan. 6 D.C. Visit With Right-Wing Activist Ali Alexander” at Phoenix New Times.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “Tucker Carlson Bizarrely Ties The Capitol Riots To George Floyd’s Death” at Okay Player.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Health care workers replaced Denver cops in handling hundreds of mental health and substance abuse cases — and officials say it saved lives” at CBS News.

Read “Is This Beverly Hills Cop Playing Sublime’s ‘Santeria’ to Avoid Being Live-Streamed?” at Vice. “Police officers in Beverly Hills have been playing music while being filmed, seemingly in an effort to trigger Instagram’s copyright filters.”

Read “How ABC15 Linked A Phoenix Police 'Challenge Coin' To Neo-Nazism” at KJZZ.

Read “Charges dismissed against Buffalo cops who shoved elderly protester” at New York Post.

Read “The Staten Island Files: Explore Hundreds of Previously Secret NYPD Misconduct Findings” at Gothamist.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings



Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “This Health Advocate Is Calling on Rich Countries to Stop Hoarding COVID-19 Vaccines” at Global Citizen.

Read “Fully vaccinated people don't need to quarantine if exposed to Covid” at NBC News.

Read “Fauci says it will be “open season” for COVID-19 vaccine by April” at Salon.

Read “Biden Announces Deal For 200 Million More COVID-19 Vaccines” at NPR.

Read “Why Are Chicago’s Playgrounds Still Closed?” at WBEZ.

Miscellany Cultural Items (and some Technology):

Read “Who Really Created the Marvel Universe?” at The New Yorker. “Stan Lee presided over a world of superheroes, but his collaborators and readers sustained his vision—and his characters outlasted it.”

Read “Hacker Changed Chemical Level in Florida Water Plant” at Bloomberg.

Read “Dallas Mavericks cease playing national anthem before games at Mark Cuban’s direction” at The Athletic.

  • Read “The Dallas Mavericks Stopped Playing the National Anthem Before Games and No One Noticed” at Okay Player.

Read “Twitter considering subscription fees to ensure 'revenue durability'“ at The Hill.

Read “How the Measles Vaccine Went From No Big Deal to Anti-Vaxxer Obsession” at Slate.

Read “When Republicans Attack 'Cancel Culture,' What Does It Mean?” at NPR.

Read “Portia De Rossi Says Ellen DeGeneres Helped Her Realize Being Gay Was OK” at Huff Post.

Read “Looking to avert evictions, L.A. seeks $46 million to buy Chinatown apartment building” at Los Angeles Times.

Read ‘Donald Trump’s Twitter Ban Is Permanent, CFO Confirms” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Twitter permanently bans Project Veritas account” at CNN.

Read “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been banned from Instagram” at CNN.

Read “After the ballots are counted: Conspiracies, political violence, and American exceptionalism” at American Survey Center. “Findings from the January 2021 American Perspectives Survey.”

Read “Thread Man” by Liz Lenz. “Seth Abramson’s viral meta-journalism unreality.”

Read “Some Parkland Survivors Are Not Amused By David Hogg's Pillow Venture” at Jezebel.

Internationalities:

Read “Haitian Gov’t Claims It Halted a Coup Amid Dispute over Jovenel Moïse’s Presidency, Ongoing Protests” at Democracy Now.

Read “Saudi Activist Who Led Campaign To Legalize Driving For Women Is Released From Jail” at NPR.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “American Democracy Isn't Doing So Hot” at Vice. “Almost half of Americans say U.S. democracy isn't functioning very well.”

Read “GOP Sen. Richard Shelby announces he won't seek re-election in 2022” at NBC News. “Shelby, 86, is now the fourth Republican senator to announce plans to retire at the end of the current Congress.”

Read ‘House Oversight chair demands Parler financing information” at The Hill.

Read “Biden DOJ to continue to seek Assange extradition” at The Hill.

Read “The Predator in the Lincoln Project. “Weaver used his power to get jobs for young men he allegedly harassed. His colleagues were warned” at New York Magazine.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Trickle down Trumpism: How Pennsylvania's Republican Party radicalized against democracy” at Salon.

Read “Georgia Prosecutors Open Criminal Investigation of Trump Phone Call” at New York Times.

Read “Trump’s political operation paid more than $3.5 million to Jan. 6 organizers” at Open Secrets.

Read ‘One Of Trump’s Impeachment Lawyers Once Sued Him Over Baseless Ballot ‘Fraud’ Claims” at Huff Post.

Read “Trump's attack on Gov. Doug Ducey, Maricopa County election protest cited in impeachment trial” at AZ Central.

Read “As riot raged at Capitol, Trump tried to call senators to overturn election” at CNN.

Read ‘A Million-Dollar Pardon Offer at the Trump Hotel” at Atlantic. “Corey Lewandowski allegedly wanted a hefty fee in exchange for helping a government whistleblower win a pardon from the former president.”

Music-Related News and Such:

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

Read “KISS’ Gene Simmons says young fans are “culprits” for the death of rock: “You killed the thing that you love” at NME. “He also blamed streaming and digital downloads.”

Read “Robbie Robertson on Reworking the Band’s ‘Stage Fright’: ‘This Is What It’s Supposed to Be’” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Wolf Alice Singer Ellie Rowsell Says Marilyn Manson Filmed Up Her Skirt” at Consequence of Sound.

  • Read “Marilyn Manson’s streaming figures for his back catalogue rise despite abuse allegations” at NME.

  • Read “Corey Feldman Has Accused His Former Band Members Of Being Satanists Working With Marilyn Manson Since 2018” at Celebrity Insider.

  • Read “Marilyn Manson Accused Of Sexually Assaulting Minors In Florida, Calls For An FBI Investigation Under Way” at Celebrity Insider.

Read “Danielson’s Daniel Smith Wrote These Fake Christian Hair Metal Songs For The New Movie Electric Jesus” at Stereogum.

Read “Goodbye, Dolly” at The Baffler. “Mythmaking in Dolly Parton’s America.”

Read “Kill Rock Stars Is Turning 30. No One Is More Surprised Than Founder Slim Moon” at Williamette Week.

Read “Celebrities Join Push To ‘Free’ Britney Spears After New Documentary Airs” at Huff Post.

  • Read “Court blocks Britney Spears' dad from re-taking full control of her estate” at AV Club.

Read “Morgan Wallen's record sales skyrocket after racial slur controversy” at CNN.

  • Read “Jason Isbell Donating Royalties From Morgan Wallen’s Version of “Cover Me Up” to the NAACP” at Pitchfork.

  • Read Morgan Wallen: Country star says fans shouldn't defend his use of racist language” at ABC News.

Listen to “JPR Live Session: H.C. McEntire” at Jefferson Public Radio.

Read “Breaking Down Bruce Springsteen’s Uncharacteristic Super Bowl Commercial” at Pitchfork. “The rock icon’s first-ever ad appearance is filled with the sorts of platitudes he has transcended in the past.” (EDITOR’S NOTE: Let’s not forget the Christian Nationalism imagery.)

  • Read “Bruce Springsteen faces drunken driving charge in New Jersey” at 12 News.

  • Read “Bruce Springsteen’s Jeep Ad Pulled From YouTube After Report of DWI Arrest” at Pitchfork.

  • Read “Bruce Springsteen busted for DWI after one shot of tequila” at New York Post.

Browse Rolling Stone’s picks for “Black Women Who Shaped Rock & Roll".

Read “Did Van Halen Have a Fourth Singer? Mitch Malloy Tells His Story” at Rolling Stone. “Mitch Malloy tells all about his (very brief) time with Van Halen, after Sammy Hagar and before Gary Cherone.”

Read “The Prodigy to Receive Full-Length Documentary Treatment” at Spin.

Read “Shaun Ryder says his home is still being invaded by aliens” at NME. “It comes after the Black Grape frontman previously claimed to have been visited by a "spider" spaceship.”

Read “Saint Disruption: John Medeski & Jeff Firewalker Schmitt Travel From the Jungle to the Street” at American Songwriter.

Read “Mark Cuban Wants A Piece Of The Growing Audio Business.” at Inside Radio.

Read “Phoebe Bridgers Reflects on ‘Kyoto’ and its impact: “Forgiveness Is A Gift To Yourself” at MTV.

  • Read “Phoebe Bridgers Calls SNL Guitar-Smashing ‘a Bucket List Thing’ as Boomers Continue to Fume” at Spin.

Read “Man builds guitar out of his dead uncle’s skeleton, uses it to play black metal” at Guitar World.

Read “Someone collected 1.5 hours of Slayer’s ’80s stage banter” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill Reaches Diamond Status” at Consequence of Sound. “23 years after its release, the iconic LP has has surpassed 10,000,000 units sold.”

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Browse The Guardian’s picks for “52 perfect comfort films – to watch again and again.”

Read “Why Fox News canceled Lou Dobbs” at MSN. “Fox News' official reason for canceling Lou Dobbs' show -- a post-election programing adjustment -- doesn't quite add up.”

Read “'Buffy' star Charisma Carpenter accuses Joss Whedon of abusive behavior” at The Hill.

  • Read “Sarah Michelle Gellar, More ‘Buffy’ Actors Respond to Joss Whedon Allegations: ‘I Stand With All Survivors of Abuse’ at Variety.

Read ‘Netflix's Cecil Hotel Doc Attempts to Find Out What Happened to Elisa Lam” at Vice. “Infamous CCTV footage of her behaving bizarrely caught the attention of online sleuths who thought it was proof of paranormal activity. The reality is much more grim.”

Read “You Literally Can't Believe The Facts Tucker Carlson Tells You. So Say Fox's Lawyers” at NPR.

Read “Lucasfilm Calls Gina Carano Social Media Posts “Abhorrent”; Actress No Longer Employed By ‘Mandalorian’ Studio” at Deadline.

Read “Tucker Carlson claims George Floyd died of a drug overdose — and links it to Trump's impeachment” at Salon.

Books/Reading/Authors



Design/Artsy Things:



Science/Animals/Nature/Environment/Etc.:

Read “The world's first 3D printed lab-grown rib-eye steak is unveiled” at The Hill. ““It incorporates muscle and fat similar to its slaughtered counterpart,” Aleph Farms said.”

Read “Hallucinatory 'voices' shaped by local culture, Stanford anthropologist says” at Stanford News. “Stanford anthropologist Tanya Luhrmann found that voice-hearing experiences of people with serious psychotic disorders are shaped by local culture – in the United States, the voices are harsh and threatening; in Africa and India, they are more benign and playful. This may have clinical implications for how to treat people with schizophrenia, she suggests.”

Food Cultures:



Misc. Oddities:



Local:

Read “Inside the case: Watch testimony behind the Phoenix protest gang charges” at ABC 15.

Read “Arizona Republicans Threaten to Arrest GOP Officials If They Don't Turn Over Ballots for Another Recount” at Second Nexus.

Read “Arizona legislators to hear first in series of 'anti-protest' bills Wednesday” at 12 News.

Read “Arizona Senate OKs asking voters to curb governor's emergency powers” at Tucson.com.