The Weekly Town Crier (07/17/20)
All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (07/17/20)
We’ll Miss You:
Read “Judy Dyble 1949-2020 at DGM Live.
Read “R.I.P. Kelly Preston” at A.V. Club.
Read “Zindzi Mandela, Daughter of Nelson and Winnie Mandela, Dies at 59” at The Root.
Read “Grant Imahara, Host of 'MythBusters' and 'White Rabbit Project,' Dies at 49” at Hollywood Reporter.
Read “'The Magic School Bus' Series Author Joanna Cole Has Died” at NPR.
Religion and Stuff:
Read “Moore, others ask Trump not to rescind DACA” at Baptist Press.
Read “Why Black Christians are bracing for a 'whitelash' at CNN.
Read “Andy Stanley Explains Why His Megachurch Won’t Gather on Sundays Until 2021” at Christianity Today.
Read “Re-Anarchizing Christianity Justice, The Politics of Scripture” at Political Theology Network.
Read “The Redemption of Interfaith Dialogue Three evangelicals wrestle with faithful witness in conversations with Muslims” at Christianity Today.
Read “Do I consider myself a Christian? I know one thing: there is holiness” at Christian Century.
Read “The “Purity” Hoax Elisabeth Elliot was the Evangelical sex guru because of a love story. Did it happen?” at Medium.
Read “Sudan Drops Death Penalty for Apostasy, Alcohol Ban for Christians” at Christianity Today.
Read the opinion piece “Roger Stone is saved” at Washington Post.
Read “The God of Good Manners? It’s easy to forget that God is both kingly and courteous” at Christianity Today.
Read “Finding God outside the church walls The Spirit is God’s wild card, played over and over again when old forms fail” by Barbara Brown Taylor at The Christian Century.
Read “What the Ministerial Exception Will Mean for Religious Employers” at Christianity Today.
Read “Social Justice, Critical Race Theory, Marxism, and Biblical Ethics Looking at Marxism and Critical Race Theory in light of the problem of racism in America” at Christianity Today.
Read “The church has no need to apologize for Paycheck Protection Program loans” at America Magazine.
Read “Comedian John Crist: ‘The Biggest Hypocrite Was Me’ The Christian viral video-maker is back online after confessing his “sexual sin and addiction” and seeking treatment” at Vox. “Local church leaders look to educate themselves and their congregations on racial injustice in the church and how Biblical teachings relate to the Black Lives Matter movement.”
Read “Columbia churches reflect on racial injustice and religion” at Vox. “Local church leaders look to educate themselves and their congregations on racial injustice in the church and how Biblical teachings relate to the Black Lives Matter movement.”
The Section for Considering “Justice”/Race/Social Justice/Immigration and somewhere in the middle:
Meet “Queen Nzinga, The West African Leader Who Fought Off Slave Traders” at All That’s Interesting.
Read “Young Asian American Christians Are Finding Their Voice on Racial Justice” at Christianity Today.
Read “A Liberal North Carolina Town Has Unanimously Voted to Give Its Black Residents Reparations” at The Root.
Read “Hispanic figures slam Goya Foods after CEO praises Trump” at Axios.
Read “What’s Behind Neil Gorsuch’s Stunning Win for Indigenous People” at Slate.
Read “Poetic Justice Is The Exonerated 5 Helping Paint The BLM Mural Outside Of Trump Tower” at Blavity.
Read “Green Berets add first woman to their ranks” at Axios.
Read “The 'Best of Nextdoor' Account Is Trying to Make the Site Less Racist” at Vice.
Read “ICE is offering a six-week course on how to arrest immigrants - including 'firearms and defensive training' - as critics warns they are using private citizens as their eyes and ears” at Daily Mail.
Learn about “Mary Bowser: The Former Slave Who Helped Bring Down The Confederacy” All That’s Interesting.
Read “Appeals court: 1st federal execution in 17 years can proceed” at 12 News.
Read “Redskins to retire team name Monday; new name to be revealed later” at Washington Post.
Read “George Soros' foundation to invest $220 million in racial justice efforts” at Axios.
Read “After Years of Advocacy, the House of Representatives Finally Cuts Funding to Trump’s Deportation Force” at ACLU.
This week in traitorous, white-supremacist Confederate monuments (and/or Columbus monuments // and/or other “American monuments” // and/or weird Confederacy stuff):
Read “Is the destruction of monuments a rewriting of history? Holding in tension our achievements and failures as a nation” at Christian Century.
Read “American History Is Not Canceled While Christians can’t erase the church’s slaveholding past, we can change the symbols, statues, and namesakes we celebrate” at Christianity Today.
Read “Statue of Black protester replaces toppled U.K. slave trader” at PBS News Hour.
This Week In Protest-Related News:
Read “History Shows That Sustained, Disruptive Protests Work” at Yes!
Read “Over 600,000 Hong Kongers cast 'protest' vote against new security laws” at Reuters.
Read “Trump Dismisses Police Killing Outrage, Saying 'More White People' Killed Than Blacks” at NPR.
Read “Trump says 'more white people' are killed by police, while studies show Black people are more likely to be killed” at AZ Central. “A Harvard analysis of deaths by police from 2013-2017 and published last month found Black men are more than three times more likely than white men to be killed by police.”
Read “Who are these federal officers sent to Portland to deal with protesters?” at KGW.
See these “federal officers” disappear someone in Portland.
Read “Trump Sent Cops to Portland and They're ‘Kidnapping People Off the Streets’ Camouflaged federal officers have been patrolling the streets, pulling protesters into unmarked cars and arresting them” at Vice.
Read “Federal Law Enforcement Use Unmarked Vehicles To Grab Protesters Off Portland Streets” at Oregon Public Broadcasting.
Read “Leaked Documents Show Police Knew Far-Right Extremists Were The Real Threat At Protests, Not ‘Antifa’” at The Intercept.
This Week With The Police:
Read “Police Viewed Less Favorably, But Few Want To 'Defund' Them, Survey Finds” at NPR. “A Pew survey finds two-thirds of respondents think officers should be held legally accountable for using excessive force — but few say they would support cutting police budgets. The results were skewed by respondents' race and political persuasion.”
Read “LA Coroner Defies Sheriff, Releases Andres Guardado Autopsy Results” at Los Angeles CBS Local.
Read “Florida Cop Fired and Charged With Assault After Pointing Gun to Handcuffed Black Man’s Head for Not Giving His Name” at The Root.
Education and The Learnings:
Read “Los Angeles and San Diego Schools to Go Online-Only in The Fall California’s two largest districts made the joint call amid a White House push to get children back into classrooms” at New York Times.
Read “New York will use formula to determine if it's safe to reopen schools” at Axios.
Read “A Teenager Didn’t Do Her Online Schoolwork. So a Judge Sent Her to Juvenile Detention” at Pro Publica.
Read “Is School Safe? Will Districts Test For COVID-19? Answering Back-To-School Questions” at NPR.
Read “White House vows not to 'let the science stand in the way' of reopening schools as poll shows three-fourths of parents DON'T back Donald Trump's reopening demands” at Daily Mail.
Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:
Read “Merkel says pandemic reveals limits of 'fact-denying populism'.
Read “3 things the U.S. can do to stop coronavirus” at PBS.
Read “Gov. Doug Ducey says Arizona seeing signs coronavirus is flattening” at KTAR.
Read “The Toll That Isolation Takes on Kids During the Coronavirus Era” at Wall Street Journal.
Read “Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter: "Please wear a mask to save lives" at Axios.
Read “Bill Gates calls for COVID-19 meds to go to people who need them, not 'highest bidder'“ at Reuters.
Read “How can we grieve with funerals on hold?” at The Atlantic.
Read “Dozens of Arizona bar owners suing Governor Ducey over executive order keeping bars closed” at 12 News. “Bar owners from Prescott to Phoenix to Tucson filed a lawsuit claiming that Executive Order keeping them closed isn't fair or constitutional.”
Read “CDC director: U.S. could get coronavirus "under control" in 4–8 weeks if all wear masks” at Axios.
Read “Missouri school district asks parents to sign COVID-19 ‘death’ waiver for children” at Raw Story.
Read “California orders sweeping rollback of open businesses as virus cases surge” at Axios.
Read “‘Don’t be a sheep’: Washington sheriff urges residents to defy mask order”at New York Post.
Read “New Zealand lifts all Covid restrictions, declaring the nation virus-free” at BBC.
Read “White House tells hospitals to bypass CDC on coronavirus data” at Axios.
Read “White House Strips CDC Of Data Collection Role For COVID-19 Hospitalizations” at NPR.
Read “A dangerous new chapter of the outbreak: Every state for itself” at Politico.
Read “Fauci is sidelined by the White House as he steps up blunt talk on pandemic” at Washington Post.
Read “Fauci on who to trust amid coronavirus: "Stick with respected medical authorities" at Axios.
Read “'We Still Face Much Uncertainty': Pandemic Hammers Big Banks” at NPR.
Read “First COVID-19 vaccine tested in US poised for final testing” at Associated Press.
Read “8 world leaders demand equal access to coronavirus vaccine” at Axios.
Read “NPR Radio Ratings Collapse As Pandemic Ends Listeners' Commutes” at NPR.
Read “Why is There a Coin Shortage in the U.S.?” at Newsweek.
Read “These States’ Leaders Claim to Be ‘Pro-Life.’ So Why Are So Many of Their Citizens Dying of COVID-19?” at Time.
Miscellany:
Read “Notre Dame to be restored as closely to original structure as possible” at Axios.
Read “Record Numbers Have Lost Their Health Insurance the Moment They Need It Most” at Slate.
Politics And Sucheries:
Read “The Fair Labor Standards Act: What to Know and Why the U.S. Needs New Labor Laws” at Teen Vogue.
Read “Facebook considering political ad blackout ahead of election” at Axios.
Read “Fox host's writer quits after racist and sexist online comments revealed” at The Guardian.
Read “Trump Reportedly Suggested Selling Puerto Rico After Hurricane Maria” at Slate.
Read “Trump's failing culture wars” at Axios “Google search trends for “Crooked Hillary” and “Sleepy Joe” in the U.S.”
Read “Kanye West Reportedly Drops Out Of 2020 Presidential Race” at Hot New Hip Hop.
Read “A ‘Kanye 2020’ Committee Just Filed With the FEC, But Is It Legit? Hours after rapper’s presidential run is rumored to be over, a supposedly Wyoming-based PAC files Statement of Organization” at Rolling Stone.
Read “Kanye West Is Maybe Still Running for President After All” at Exclaim.
Read “Hamilton, In Fiction And History, Is Key To Understanding The Electoral College” at NPR.
Read “The once-mocked ‘Never Trump’ movement becomes a sudden campaign force” at Washington Post.
Read “What Are 2019’s Tax Brackets, and Who Gets Audited the Most?” at Pro Publica.
Read “In a Death, Details of More Russian Murder-for-Hire Plots” at New York Times. “In 2006, Russia legalized the targeted killing of 'terrorist' suspects abroad under authorizations that Russian officials like to compare to the legal justifications for American drone strikes."
Read “A Senate Takeover Is Very Much A Possibility For Democrats. Just Follow The Money” at NPR.
Read “Trump administration rescinds foreign student visa guidance” at Axios.
Read “Signed, Sealed, Undelivered: Thousands Of Mail-In Ballots Rejected For Tardiness” at NPR.
Read “'It was only done to make me look bad': Trump denounces border wall section funded by supporters” at AZ Central.
Read “Biden unveils $2 trillion clean energy and infrastructure plan” at Axios.
Read “South Dakota Is Sharing Driver's License Info To Help Find Out Who's A Citizen” at NPR.
Read “Jeff Sessions loses Alabama Senate primary runoff” at Axios.
Read “Pelosi calls for Trump to invoke Defense Production Act” at PBS News Hour.
This Week In Political Corruption:
Read “Trump commutes Roger Stone's sentence” at Axios.”President Trump has commuted the sentence of his longtime associate Roger Stone. Stone was sentenced in February to 40 months in prison for crimes including obstruction, witness tampering and making false statements to Congress.”
Read “Schiff: Trump commuting Stone an appalling attack on rule of law” at MSNBC
Read “Robert Mueller speaks out on Roger Stone commutation” at Axios.
Read “The Roger Stone Case Shows Why Trump Is Worse Than Nixon” at New Yorker.
Read “Roger Stone Clemency Latest Example Of Trump Rewarding His Friends, Scholars Say” at NPR.
Read “President Trump has made more than 20,000 false or misleading claims” at Washington Post.
Read “Kansas Rep. Steve Watkins charged with voter fraud” at Axios.
Music-Related News and Such:
Read “The Revolution Will Be TikTok’d” at Pitchfork.
Read “Blues Singer Lady A: ‘I Should Not Have to Bend to Band’s Will Because They’ve Got Money’” at Rolling Stone.
Read “Lady A Explains Why Co-Existence With Country Band Will Not Work: “Lady Antebellum Has Erased Me From Every Platform” at Stereogum.
Read “The Many Electronic Surprises To Be Found In The Nation's Vast Archive Of Folk Music” at NPR.
Read “Jerry Garcia’s Army Record Uncovered, Describing the Guitarist as “Willfully Disobedient,” An “Irresponsible, Immature” Soldier” at Relix.
Read “Bob Geldof Reflects On Live Aid, 35 Years Later” at NPR.
Read “Billy Martin Discusses Unorthodox Route To New Album, ‘G U I L T Y’” at Live For Live Music.
Read “Canadian Vinyl Sales Are Down in 2020 — and It's Not Just Because of COVID-19” at Exclaim.
Read “How Avant-Garde Legend Cecil Taylor Inspired Idris Ackamoor’s Psychedelic Jazz” at Bandcamp.
Read “Arcade Fire’s Will Butler Announces New Album Generations, Shares Song” at Pitchfork.
Read “Oumou Sangaré Proves Why She's the Songbird of Wassoulou” at Okay Africa.
Read “Nike Confirms Grateful Dead Sneaker Collaboration, Sets Release Date” at Jambands.
Read “A Band Like Us Doesn’t Have Deep Pockets”: Galactic’s Robert Mercurio Explains Uncertain Future of NOLA’s Famed Tipitina’s Club” at Jambands.
Read “An interview with Ian Curtis | Fully transcribed for the first time—Says he’s a fan of Bauhaus” at Post-Punk.
Read “Vinyl Nick Cave figure with a glowing red right hand is being released” at Brooklyn Vegan.
Movies/TV/Etc.:
Read “Robert De Niro's Lawyer Says He "Will Be Lucky If He Makes $7.5 Million This Year" at Exclaim.
Read “Richard Linklater's making an animated movie about the moon landing for Netflix” at AV Club.
Books/Reading/Authors
Read “Flannery O’Connor’s Grotesque Grace” by Karen Swallow Prior at Think Christian.
Design/Artsy Things:
Watch “Banksy paint COVID-19 art on London Underground system” at Brooklyn Vegan.
Science/Animals/Technology/
Books/Reading/Authors
Design/Artsy Things:
Science/Animals/Technology/Environment/Etc.:
Food Cultures:
Read “A Pirate Botanist Helped Bring Hot Chocolate to England” at Gastro Obscura.
Read “The Lost Art of Growing Blueberries With Fire” at Gastro Obscura.
Misc. Oddities:
Read “FAA Documents Offer Unprecedented Look Into Colorado Drone Mystery Hundreds of pages of documents provide consistent detailed descriptions of the drones and conclude the military wasn't behind the operation” at The Drive.
Read “Inside Lenin’s Mausoleum And The Best-Preserved Corpse On Earth” at All That’s Interesting.
Local:
Read “This Underground Hike In Arizona Will Take You Through A Lava Tube” at When In Your State.
Read “Arizona Minimum Wage Earners Would Need To Work 70 Hours A Week To Afford Housing” at KJZZ. “To afford a two-bedroom home, Arizonans now need to earn at least $21.10 per hour. That’s up more than $1.50 from last year.”