The Weekly Town Crier (10/30/20)
All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (10/30/20).
We’ll Miss You:
Read “Jerry Jeff Walker (1942 – 2020), “Mr. Bojangles” singer and songwriter” at Legacy.
Read “Diane di Prima 1934–2020” at Poets.Org.
Read “Billy Joe Shaver, Seminal Outlaw Country Songwriter, Dead at 81” at Rolling Stone.
Religion and Stuff:
Read “Meet the TikTok Generation of Televangelists” at Christianity Today.
Read “A Photographer's Journey Through the Dangerous New Age of Conspiracies in America” at Time.
Read “New England Churches Buy Up, Forgive $26.2 Million In Medical Debt” at Boston Globe.
Read “AOC credits her Catholic faith for positions on health care, environment” at National Catholic Reporter.
Read “Peeing pastor’ hunt comes to an end” at Religion News Service. “The wife of a North Carolina pastor accused of disorderly conduct during a flight from Las Vegas to Detroit says he had a bad reaction to sleeping medication.”
Read “Well-Known” N.C. Pastor accused of urinating on Michigan woman during flight identified” at NC Beat.
Read “The Anti-Abortion-Rights Movement Prepares to Build a Post-Roe World” at The Atlantic. “As activists move closer to their goal of making abortion illegal, they have started planning for the infrastructure needed for a world with more babies—and recruiting major CEOs to bankroll their cause.”
Read the Opinion piece “Don’t Vote Trump For Religious Liberty” at Religion Unplugged.
Read “NXIVM sex cult leader Keith Raniere sentenced to 120 years in prison” at Salon. “At the sentencing, one victim said she was treated like a “piece of meat” and a “brainwashed sex slave"
Read “He’s a former QAnon believer. He doesn’t want to tell his story, but thinks it might help” at Washington Post.
Read “Christian QAnon’ers Want To #Savethechildren. They’re Making Things Worse” at Sojourners.
Read “Mysterious Orb Caught On Camera In Florida Pastor’s Home” at Miami CBS Local.
Read “Trump Becomes the First President Since Eisenhower to Change Faiths in Office” at Christianity Today. “Like many Christians switching churches, he now identifies as nondenominational.”
Read ‘The Alpha-Male Style in American Evangelicalism” at Christianity Today. “A historian asks whether a warped view of masculine authority has corrupted our faith and political witness.”
Read “Jerry Falwell Jr. Sues Liberty University for Defamation” at Julie Roys.
Legal/Justice and Social Justice and Race or Gender or Sexism-Related Stuff:
Read “'A flat-out lie': Breonna Taylor attorneys seek new prosecutor after jurors speak out” at Yahoo.
Read “US Ice officers 'used torture to make Africans sign own deportation orders'“ at The Guardian.
Read “Kushner questions if Black Americans "want to be successful" in widely criticized Fox News interview” at Salon.
Read “Ida B. Wells was driven out of Memphis in 1892. She might soon have her own statue there” at USA Today.
Read “Neo-Nazi Ex-Marine And Porn Actor Arrested In Conspiracy To Hide Weapons From Government” at Huff Post. “The cases, involving three men, appear linked to threats against Alicia Garza, a Black Lives Matter movement co-founder.”
Read “Number of Women Alleging Misconduct by ICE Gynecologist Nearly Triples” at The Intercept. “Advocates briefed senators on allegations that a doctor working with with an ICE detention center performed unnecessary or overly aggressive procedures.”
Read “Judge blocks DOJ's gambit in Trump's E. Jean Carroll case” at MSNBC. “After a woman accused Trump of sexual assault, he lashed out at his accuser, prompting a defamation case. The DOJ wants to intervene; a judge won't let it.”
Read “Militia leader Stewart Rhodes says that his group will be at polling locations and is ready to kill Democrats” at Media Matters.
Read “'It's performance art': Lawyer for Alex Jones says InfoWars founder is 'playing a character'“ at Business Insider from 2017).
Read “Unlocking the Vote in Jails” at Slate. “The majority of the 745,000 people held in local jails can vote, but few do. Advocates say it’s voter suppression on a national scale.”
Read “42% of Young Australian Men Don’t Think Punching a Partner Is Domestic Violence” at Global Citizen.
Read “ICE moves to quickly deport more immigrants without court hearings” at CBS News.
Read “Susan Collins: 'I do not believe systemic racism is a problem in the state of Maine' at CNN.
Read “Lil Wayne Voices Support For Trump’s Platinum Plan: “He Listened To What We Had To Say” at Okay Player.
This Week In Protest-Related News:
Read “'Boogaloo Bois' member charged in attack on Minneapolis police precinct during George Floyd protests” at ABC News.
Read “A Look Back at the People's Plaza Protest” at Nashville Scene. “With the process to remove the Nathan Bedford Forrest bust underway, we look back on the summer's longest-running protest.”
Read “A White House Adviser Was Involved in Surveillance of Protesters” at The Nation. “Formerly a Middle East adviser to Mike Pence, an intelligence official central to DHS’s Portland operation has not been made available for congressional testimony.”
This Week With The Police:
Read “Protests in Philadelphia After Police Fatally Shoot Black Man” at New York Times.
Read “Phoenix police officer accused of threatening Mayor Kate Gallego” at KTAR. “A Phoenix police officer allegedly made a “credible threat” against Mayor Kate Gallego, the mayor’s office said.”
Read “Cops Do a Big Lie About Philly Protests, Immediately Get Caught” at Discourse Blog.
Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings
Read “Guidelines for keeping classrooms open during COVID-19 revised by ADHS” at 12 New AZ.
Read “Montgomery faith leaders urge voters to approve property tax increase for schools” at Montgomery Advisor.
Read “State leaders in Arizona have quietly changed school metrics as COVID-19 cases rise” at ABC 15.
Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:
Read “Health Agency Halts Coronavirus Ad Campaign, Leaving Santa Claus in the Cold” at Wall Street Journal.
Read “Certified safe labels coming for face masks” at Boing Boing.
Miscellany Cultural Items:
Read “Small-business owners say national paid sick leave wouldn’t hurt their bottom line” at Fast Company.
Read “BuzzFeed Expects to Break Even This Year, Thanks to Heavy Cost Cuts” at Wall Street Journal.
Read “Facebook’s Top Public Policy Executive in India Steps Down” at Wall Street Journal. “Ankhi Das drew criticism in India over social-media giant’s enforcement of its policy on anti-Muslim hate speech.”
Read “Marilynne Robinson: 'America still has a democratic soul' at The Guardian. “The author of Gilead on the Black Lives Matter protests, the dangers of social media, and her latest novel, Jack.”
Read “A liberal daughter discusses White privilege with her conservative dad” at Christian Century. “What would happen if we listened to each other in love?”
Read “City Pages is closing, ending the era of alternative weeklies in Twin Cities” at Star Tribune.
Read “Sarah Cooper Jokingly Calls Out Stephen Colbert For Creating Trump” at Huff Post. “The “Late Show” host’s fictional “Colbert Report” character has become a reality.”
Read ‘One in Five Holiday Dollars Will Be Spent Online” at Bloomberg.
Read “Trump Has Weaponized Masculinity As President. Here's Why It Matters” at NPR.
Read “The Co-Opting of Rap Criticism Is About More Than Just Music” at Vice. “The strongest reporting on the LA riots of 1992 came from Black writers at a hip-hop magazine. In 2020, the infrastructure for a robust Black press doesn't exist.”
Internationalities:
Read “Putin rejects Donald Trump's criticism of Biden family business” at Reuters.
Read “Kazakhstan’s Tourism Board Embraces Borat’s “Very Nice!” as New Slogan” at Consequence of Sound.
Browse “Photographer Shows Differences Between North and South Korea” at Clever Classic.
Politics And Sucheries:
Read “To defend taking immigrant kids from their parents, Trump blamed Biden” at Washington Post.
Read “Trump Told Donors That It Will Be ‘Very Tough’ For Republicans To Hold Senate” at Huff Post.
Read “Texas Supreme Court temporarily reinstates governor's ban on additional ballot drop boxes in state” at The Hill.
Read “Senate Confirms Amy Coney Barrett To The Supreme Court” by NPR.
Read “Boston man charged with setting fire to ballot drop box” at The Hill.
Read “Cruz: Hunter Biden attacks don't move 'a single voter'“ at The Hill.
Read “Ex-Postal Service worker charged with tossing absentee ballots in dumpster in Kentucky” at NBC News.
Read “Murkowski predicts Barrett won't overturn Roe v. Wade” at The Hill.
Read “Middle-finger voting is driving the entire country mad” at The Week. "The animating principle of our public life is the performance of certain rituals that set us apart (or so we fondly imagine) from persons utterly unlike ourselves whom we despise."
Read “Scaramucci: ‘I applaud the President for unifying the country. It just happens to be against him’” at MSNBC.
Read “Miles Taylor, a Former Homeland Security Official, Reveals He Was ‘Anonymous’” at New York Times.
This Week In Political Corruption:
Read “Five Lessons for Fighting Back After a Disputed Election” at Slate.
Read “Trump Basically Just Encouraged Voters To Commit Election Fraud By Changing Their Already-Cast Votes To Him” at Comic Sands.
Read “Thousands of mail ballots may be lost, Pittsburgh-area official says” at The Hill.
Music-Related News and Such:
Read “When David Byrne Got Together With Spike Lee” at New York Times.
Read “The Spiritual Power of Pharoah Sanders” at Vinyl Factory.
Read “Jah Wobble on his 5 essential bass albums” at Guitar World. “Jah Wobble on his 5 essential bass albums.”
Read as Cameron Crowe interviews Joni Mitchell for The Guardian. “Joni Mitchell: 'I'm a fool for love. I make the same mistake over and over'“.
Read “Trent Reznor, Billy Corgan, More to Play Virtual David Bowie Tribute Festival” at Pitchfork.
Read “Earth Couldn’t Contain Sun Ra’s Ideas. His Arkestra Is Still Exploring Them” at New York Times.
Read “Lamb of God’s John Campbell: Donald Trump Is “Murdering People” at Consequence of Sound.
Listen/Read “Lambchop Cover Stevie Wonder’s ‘Golden Lady’” at Spin.
Read “Stevie Nicks Can’t Wait for the Magic to Come Back” at Rolling Stone. “Nicks discusses her ’24 Karat Gold Concert Film’ and returning to live shows in new interview.”
Browse PopMatters’ picks for “The Top 10 Definitive Breakup Albums”. What are your picks?
Browse Paste’s picks for “14 Creepy Songs From 2020 to Add to Your Halloween Playlist.”
Browse Rolling Stone’s picks for “Bob Dylan’s Greatest Collaborations”.
Browse Consequence of Sound’s picks for “Every Bruce Springsteen Album from Worst to Best”.
Read/Listen to “What Bruce Springsteen Lost And Found” at NPR.
Read “Garcia Peoples :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview”.
Browse PopMatters’ picks for “15 Overlooked and Underrated Albums of the 1990s.”
Browse “Throwing Muses’ Kristin Hersh on the Music That Made Her” at Pitchfork.
Read “Can’t get enough K-pop? Check out these 6 reality shows to feed your fandom” at Los Angeles Times.
Read “‘Stardust’: Young David Bowie Hits the Road to Fame, Self-Discovery in New Trailer” at Rolling Stone.
Read “He Helped Create Lollapalooza. Now He Wants to Save Live Music” at New York Times.
Watch “The Flaming Lips bring their socially distanced bubbles to ‘Assassins Of Youth’ video” at NME.
Read “Chill Vibes, Minus the Wind Chimes: It’s a New Day for New Age Music” at New York Times.
Read “13 Songs for Halloween: "Red Right Hand" + "Song of Joy" by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds” at KEXP.
Read “How Jamaica shaped the creative spirit and evolution of music production” at Vinyl Factory.
Read “Outkast’s Stankonia Presented An Eclectic Hip-Hop Utopia” at Treble.
Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:
Read “Stacey Abrams’ Voter-Suppression Documentary ‘All In’ Will Be Free on YouTube” at Variety.
Books/Reading/Authors
Read “Lemonheads’ Evan Dando Pens Memoir ‘Rumors of My Demise’" at Rolling Stone.
Browse “10 Recent Books By Asian American Poets” at Book Riot.
Browse “Ten Poets Every Pastor Should Read” at Anglican Compass.
Science/Animals/Technology/Environment/Etc.:
Read “NASA discovered evidence of hidden water on a sunlit surface of the Moon for the first time” at Today News Post.
Read “Scientists discover coral reef taller than the Empire State Building” at CNet.
Read “Alphabet's Loon sets record for stratospheric flight by a balloon” at CNet.
Misc. Oddities:
Read “The Myth of the Werehyena and the Fear of the Other in the Horn of Africa” at Astro Obscura.
See “A Glass Floor in a Dublin Grocery Store Lets Shoppers Look Down & Explore Medieval Ruins” at Open Culture.
Local:
Read “How Arizona Wilderness DTPHX Became a Bird-Friendly Beer Garden” at Phoenix New Times.