The Weekly Town Crier (10/09/20)
All the week's news that's fit to cry about (10/09/20).
We’ll Miss You:
Read “Helen Reddy Dies at 78; Sang ‘I Am Woman’” at New York Times. ”The Australian-born singer’s first No. 1 hit became a feminist anthem and propelled her to international stardom.”
Read “Eddie Van Halen Dead at 65” at TMZ.
Religion and Stuff:
Read “QAnon Is Going After Members of Congress Now” at Slate. “It’s not every day,” says Rep. Tom Malinowski, “that the fake and likely nonexistent guru of a conspiracy-mongering cult personally attacks you.”
Read “Facebook bans QAnon across its platforms” at NBC News. “The change is a significant escalation over its previous actions targeting QAnon and one of the broadest rules the social media giant has put in place in its history.” Facebook "will remove Facebook Pages, Groups and Instagram accounts for representing QAnon" like any other militarized social movement, militia or terror group.
Read “QAnon leaders look to rebrand after tech crack downs” at NBC News. “The shift in tactics comes the same week as Twitter released new data stating that their ban on QAnon-related accounts was severely limiting the reach of the conspiracy theory.”
Read “Stop telling Black people to pray for Donald Trump” at Religion News Service. "Refusing to pray for our anti-Black oppressor-in-chief is logical, human and prophetic."
Read “Justices Thomas, Alito Blast Supreme Court Decision On Same-Sex Marriage Rights” at NPR.
Watch “Why Do People Join Cults? An Animated Primer Explains” at Open Culture.
Listen to “Faith in the modern world” at BBC. “Marilynne Robinson and Rowan Williams discuss faith and humanity with Andrew Marr.”
Read “Four years ago, Donald Trump’s infamous brag about sexually assaulting women made the news. I wrote this then and, sadly, these words are still needed today: Call Out Locker Room Talk for the Sin That It Is” by Karen Swallow Prior at Christianity Today (from 2016).
Legal/Justice and Social Justice and Race or Gender or Sexism-Related Stuff:
Read “The Turmoil Over ‘Black Lives Matter’ and Political Speech at Coinbase” at Wired. “The CEO of the cryptocurrency pioneer declared political discussions out of bounds—then gave employees a week to agree or leave.”
Read “DOJ Frees Federal Prosecutors To Take Steps That Could Interfere With Elections, Weakening Long-Standing Policy” at Huff Post. “The Justice Department created an exception to a decadeslong policy meant to prevent prosecutors from taking overt investigative steps that might affect the outcome of the vote.”
This Week In Protest-Related News:
Read “Fannie Lou Hamer’s Dauntless Fight for Black Americans’ Right to Vote” at Smithsonian. “The activist did not learn about her right to vote until she was 44, but once she did, she vigorously fought for black voting rights.”
Read “We just want to go home’” at Chicago Reader. “CPD’s violent response to a student-led protest downtown and what it says about this moment in our history”
This Week With The Police:
Read “NYPD Threatens Disciplinary Action For Officers Who Don’t Wear Face Masks” at New York CBS.
Read “MCSO deputy admits to having sex with domestic violence victim” at AZ Family.
Read “Four Austin Women Reported Their Sexual Assaults. But Police and Prosecutors Failed To Hold The Perpetrators Accountable” at The Appeal. “While a debate over defunding the police rages in Austin, a new lawsuit reminds its residents that assault cases in the city are routinely ignored.”
Read “Trump’s Favorite Texas Sheriff Faces Re-Election Amid a Spike in Deaths at His Jail” at Texas Observer. “Conservative media have turned Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn into a right-wing celebrity despite a long list of scandals on his watch.”
Read “Former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin Is Released On $1 Million Bond” at NPR.
Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings
Read “The Students Left Behind by Remote Learning” at Pro Publica.
Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:
Read “White House wanted to keep Hope Hicks's positive COVID-19 test private” at The Hill.
Read “Nine people in President Trump’s inner circle test positive for coronavirus” at Yahoo.
Read “Chris Christie is the latest in Trump circle to get virus” at Yahoo.
Read “They want to kiss": Trump appears to blame troops and cops for spreading virus to his inner circle” at Yahoo.
Read “China's President and other leaders react to Trump coronavirus diagnosis” at MSNBC.
Read “Drugmaker says White House doctor described Trump treatment inaccurately” at NBC News.
Read “Dozens Of Secret Service Agents Get COVID During Trump’s Travels” at KHN.
Read “Covering a cover-up in real time” at Axios. “What is the actual state of President Trump's health?”
Read “Trump returns to comparing COVID-19 to the flu: 'We have learned to live with it'“ at Yahoo.
Read "GOP Sen. John Cornyn Criticizes Trump On COVID-19: 'A Lesson To All Of Us' at Yahoo.
Read “GOP Sen. Ron Johnson Went to Oktoberfest Party While Awaiting COVID-19 Test Results” at Daily Beast.
Read “Fearing 2nd Wave, N.Y.C. Will Adopt Restrictions in Hard-Hit Areas” at New York Times. ““Today, unfortunately, is not a day for celebration,” the mayor said of rising virus rates. His plan would affect 20 neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens.”
Read “US Department of Transportation rejected mask mandate on public transportation” at The Hill. “A spokesperson said the department has sufficient mandates already in place.”
Read “White House not contact tracing Rose Garden event considered possible 'superspreader'“ at The Hill.
Read “Senior Pentagon leadership quarantining after exposure to coronavirus” at CNN.
Miscellany Cultural Items:
Read “Everything to know about the Melania Trump secret recordings” at Yahoo.
Read “The Ultra-Rich Are Using Giant Home Loans to Access Cheap Credit” at Bloomberg. “JPMorgan has issued a $42.5 million loan on a New York penthouse owned by a Russian billionaire’s family.”
Read “Regal Movie Chain Will Close All 536 U.S. Theaters On Thursday” at NPR.
Read “Former MLB player Charles Haeger, suspected in ex-girlfriend's killing, found dead at Grand Canyon” at NBC News.
Read “The Thought Leaders Issue: Mariah Carey” at V Magazine. “The singer talks identity politics, Black Lives Matter, and health care access.” "We’ve been socialized to believe that poverty is a personal failure rather than our systems failing us."
Internationalities:
Read “When the US Became a Rogue State in the Middle East” at Lit Hub. “Noam Chomsky on War with Iran, Both Covert and Overt.” “The US is alone in its ability to impose sanctions. That is a bipartisan consensus freely exercised for many years."
Read “'Zero tolerance' of abuse in aid sector failing to have an impact, MPs told” at The Telegraph. “Governments must do more to stamp out 'culture of impunity' that has allowed peacekeepers to escape punishment for sexual abuse.”
Read “Golden Dawn guilty verdicts celebrated across Greece” at The Guardian. “Ex-leader and MPs found guilty after biggest trial of fascists since Nuremberg.”
Read “How a Chinese company took control of an entire nation’s electrical grid” at PRI. “In the past decade or so, China, via its vast network of state-run companies, has brought a development blitz to Laos.”
Politics And Sucheries:
Read “The definitive case for ending the filibuster” at Vox. “Every argument for the filibuster, considered and debunked.”
Read “Judge blocks ‘unlawful’ plan to end Census Monday; Arizona still lags” at Cronkite News.
Read “More than 1K alumni from Amy Coney Barrett's undergrad college sign letter of concern” at The Hill.
Read “We binge-watched 15 hours of Amy Barrett's speeches. Here’s what we learned about her judicial philosophy” at USA Today.
Read “Viral Post Overstates Effect of Trump’s Order on Preexisting Conditions” at Fact Check.
Read “Pence demands plexiglass dividers not be near him at debate” at Raw Story.
Read “Visionary and Pragmatic'—A Black Feminist Guide to Electoral Politics” at Scalawag Magazine.
This Week In Political Corruption:
Read “Texas governor limits election drop boxes to one per county in sprawling state” at CNN.
Read “How John Roberts Quietly Made It Harder to Vote” at Slate. “The Roberts Court has been rewriting the rules of our democracy via the shadow docket.”
Read “In big states, tiny counties, Trump attacking voting rules” at Associated Press. “It’s clearly based on a strategy to disrupt the election as much as possible. You’re seeing a broad-based, generalized strategy to suppress the vote by the Republican Party.” Barry Richard, who represented George W. Bush in the 2000 Florida recount.”
Read “John McAfee, tech mogul and presidential candidate, arrested on suspicion of tax evasion” at Los Angeles Times.
Read “We need to take away children.” Jeff Sessions and top Justice Department officials pushed hard for migrant family separations in 2018, a watchdog found” at New York Times.
Read “Trump Lashes Out at His Cabinet With Calls to Indict Political Rivals” at New York Times. “Most politicians can handle losing a race, but they really don’t want to be embarrassed. When a loss seems inevitable, people who want a future in politics start looking out for their own interests,”
Music-Related News and Such:
Read “The War on Drugs Detail New Live Album” at Spin.
Read “On following the idea” at The Creative Independent. “Musician Phil Elverum on parenting in a pandemic, expressing universal truths through personal details, and finding the beauty in uncertainty.”
Read “Phoebe Bridgers launches her own record label, ‘Saddest Factory’” at Brooklyn Vegan.
Read “Listening Post: Sun Ra Arkestra” at Dusted.
Radiohead’s Kid A turns 20:
Read “Kid A Turns 20” at Stereogum.
Read “Kid A Reaches Adulthood: Radiohead’s Mesmerizing Fourth Record Turns 20” at Spin.
Read "Between the Grooves of Radiohead's 'Kid A'“ at PopMatters.
Read “20 Years Ago, Radiohead's 'Kid A' Changed The Way Albums Were Marketed” at Billboard.
Read “Thurston Moore on the Obscure Sonic Youth Songs He Loves the Most” at Vulture.
Read “Sinéad O’Connor Returns With Powerful Cover of Mahalia Jackson’s ‘Trouble of the World’” at Spin.
Read “And The Heat Goes On: Talking Heads' Remain In Light At 40” at Quietus.
Read “The story of grunge in 15 classic albums” at NME. “From Neil Young to Nirvana and their juggernaut anthem 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', along with the post-grunge that followed, the genre has a knotty history.”
Read “Mdou Moctar signs to Matador, shares “Chrismiten” at Brooklyn Vegan.
Read “The (Mostly) True Story of Vanilla Ice, Hip-Hop, and the American Dream” at The Ringer.
Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:
Read “Ever Wonder How The Big Bird Costume Worked?”Ever Wonder How The Big Bird Costume Worked?” at The Mind Circle.
Read “Tom DeLonge directing coming of age sci-fi film with “blink-era dick jokes, skateboarding culture, UFOs” at Brooklyn Vegan.
Books/Reading/Authors
Browse “11 Women Horror Writers You Need to Read” at Mental Floss.
Browse “24 Dystopian Books That Will Suck You In And Make You Think” at Buzzfeed.
Read “A Sneak Peek of Margaret Atwood's Poem, Blackberries” at Waterstones.
Design/Artsy Things:
Read “Joy As Resistance” at Vulture. “Artist collective the Wide Awakes takes NYC this weekend. Why we’re marching.”
Food Cultures:
Read “The Court Case That Killed the ‘Ladies Menu’” at Gastro Obscura. “Upscale restaurants once listed prices only for men.”
Read “It's Not Goodbye, But Not Good Either: Ruby Tuesday Declares Bankruptcy” at NPR.