The Weekly Town Crier (12/27/19)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (12/27/19).

Browse all the Weekly Town Crier posts so far.

Listen to all 52 episodes of The Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.

Listen to a mix of artists who have performed Habañero Collective house shows.

Browse the Musical Worldview posts.

Stream/download an introductory mix of Sacred Steel music.

Browse all my favorite music of 2019.

Read “Ram Dass, LSD Pioneer and George Harrison Inspiration, Dead at 88” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Magi’s Gift Under Threat: The Steep Decline of the Frankincense Tree Used in worship for millennia, the tree’s resin is in dangerous demand due to popularity of essential oils” at Christianity Today.

Read “Evangelism and religious supremacy” at Religious News Service. “religious supremacy is the idea that “I am better than you on the basis of my religious practice.”

Read “How Trump Lost an Evangelical Stalwart The editor in chief of Christianity Today explains his scathing editorial about the president’s behavior—and the damage he argues his fellow Christians are doing to the Gospel” at The Atlantic.

• Read “The Case For Keeping Trump” by Peter J. Leithart at First Things. (Let me summarize it for you: Anything not Republican = bad.)

• Read “Mr. President, You Asked for a Prayer… This might not be the answer you were looking for, but it’s the one this country needs” at Rolling Stone.

• Read “The Flag in the Whirlwind: An Update from CT’s President Why our editor in chief spoke out against Trump, and why the conversation must continue” at Christianity Today.

• Read “Nearly 200 Pro-Trump Evangelicals Respond to *Christianity Today* After Editorial Calling for Trump’s Removal” at The Way of Improvement.

• Read “Trump Is Freaked Out by Christianity Today’s Support for Impeachment He should be” at Slate.

• Read “‘Evangelicals are not monolithic’: Following scathing editorial, top Trump aide defends president” at Washington Post.

• Read “Convict Trump: The Constitution is more important than abortion” at Christian Post.

• Read “Behind Christianity Today’s editorial is a deeper crisis of America's religion of whiteness” at Religion News Service.

Read “Louisiana Church Filled A Plane With Holy Water And Blessed A Whole Community” at NPR. “A Roman Catholic church in rural Louisiana has come up with a way to maximize its blessings: filling up a crop-duster plane full of holy water and misting the entire community. "We can bless more area in a shorter amount of time," said one reverend.”

Read “The Buffer At Liberty University, Jerry Falwell Jr. has a secret weapon for muffling student dissent” at Slate.

Read “Can teaching about religion reduce intolerance?” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Refuse the Evil, Choose the Good” at Red Letter Christians. "The arrival of Emmanuel is about a season of discernment, a time to see, listen, ponder, judge what is good and right, and act."

Read “New Jersey Governor Signs Bills Restoring Voting Rights To More Than 80,000 People” at NPR.

Read “Stephen Miller floated plan to embed ICE agents in refugee agency” at The Hill. “Stephen Miller floated plan to embed ICE agents in refugee agency to up deportations.”

Read “For-profit prisons reap business benefit from Trump’s immigration stance” at PBS News Hour.

Read “The Sons of Confederate Veterans want their due They’re wrong” at Christian Century.

Read “Why we must take white supremacist symbols seriously” at CNN.

Read “'More amusing than disgusting': Why Trump is so popular in Nigeria” at PRI.

Read “That Uplifting Tweet You Just Shared? A Russian Troll Sent It Here’s what Russia’s 2020 disinformation operations look like, according to two experts on social media and propaganda” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Poverty Grew in One-Third of Counties Despite Strong National Economy” at Pew Trusts.

Read “Children Are Waiting: Fostering And Adopting From Foster Care” at the Dave Thomas Foundation.

Read “Nike's Colin Kaepernick shoe sells out in one day The shoe reportedly includes the date when Kaepernick first refused to stand during the National Anthem” at 12 News.

Read “Behind the troubling rise of uninsured American kids” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Arresting people for sleeping outside is 'cruel,' U.S. Supreme Court affirms” at AZ Central.

Read “The Christmas Eve Confessions of Chuck Todd That disinformation was going to overtake Republican politics was discoverable years before he says he discovered it” at PressThink.

Read “Tidying up is not joyful but another misuse of Eastern ideas” at Aeon. “‘As a professor who regularly teaches East Asian philosophies, I die a little inside every time we experience a cultural phenomenon with a veneer of “wisdom from the East” on it.’ On the cultural fascination sparked by Tidying Up with Marie Kondo.”

Read “Fox News Is Now a Threat to National Security The network’s furthering of lies from foreign adversaries and flagrant disregard for the truth have gotten downright dangerous” at Wired.

Read “The Creator Of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap Escaped From A Mental Asylum To Start His Business” at Ranker.

Read “Betsy DeVos' Education Department rejects 99% of applications for loan forgiveness program” at Salon.

Read “Former White House Officials Feared Putin Influenced Trump’s Views on Ukraine and 2016 campaign” at News and Guts. “The Washington Post is reporting former Trump advisers believe it was Vladimir Putin himself who planted the Ukraine theory with the president.”

Read “Washington Legislator Matt Shear Accused Of 'Domestic Terrorism,' Report Finds” at NPR. “A new report concluded that Washington state Rep. Matt Shea was involved in training young people to fight a "holy war." He created a pamphlet that advocated replacing the government with a theocracy and "the killing of all males who do not agree."

Read “Fear and Loyalty: How Donald Trump Took Over the Republican Party The president demands complete fealty, and as the impeachment hearings showed, he has largely attained it” at New York Times.

• Read the New York Times opinion piece: “We Are Republicans, and We Want Trump Defeated The president and his enablers have replaced conservatism with an empty faith led by a bogus prophet.”

• Read “Trump Meets the Four Tests for Impeachment” at National Review.

• Read “Public support for Trump conviction at all-time high, poll finds” at Yahoo News.

Read “Effort to freeze Ukraine aid began about 90 minutes after call between Trump and Zelensky” at CNN.

Read “Trump Adviser Caught on Tape Discussing ‘Aggressive’ Voter Suppression in 2020” at Rolling Stone.

Read “How Trump has betrayed the working class” at The Guardian. “Trump’s corporate giveaways and failure to improve the lives of ordinary working Americans are becoming clearer by the day.”

Read “The power of conservative talk radio” at PRI.

Read “Brett Kavanaugh Wrote That Hiding Evidence From Congress Is an Impeachable Offense” at Yahoo.

Read “Mike Bloomberg exploited prison labor to make 2020 presidential campaign phone calls” at The Intercept.

Read “Trump Campaign Site Offers Help In Winning Arguments With 'Snowflake' Relatives” at NPR.

Read “Big Money and America’s Lost Decade Yes, the rich have too much political influence” at New York Times.

The Music Year-End Round-Up rolls on:

• Browse Magnet’s Top 25 Albums of 2019.

• Browse “Stinkweeds’ Top 25 of 2019: The “Shop Favorites”.

• Browse the full list of my favorite 2019 music.

  • Listen to Volume 01 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

  • Listen to Volume 02 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

  • Listen to Volume 03 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

  • Listen to Volume 04 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

Read “Terry Riley’s Avant-Garde Sounds Are Still Casting Spells” at New York Times.

Browse “Neil Young’s Essential Albums 50 legendary years of following his cranky muse wherever it takes him — from hippie folk to country rock to grunge and beyond” at Rolling Stone.

“Explore Pavement’s Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (in 5 Minutes)” at Pitchfork.

Read “Green Day Donate $2,000 to Pay for Denny's Punk Show Damages” at Exclaim.

Read “Bill Kreutzmann Remembers Robert Hunter” at Relix.

• Read “If My Words Did Glow: An Unpublished Archival Robert Hunter Interview” at Relix.

Read “Remember the Discman? A Tribute to the Portable Music Players of 1998” at Pitchfork.

Read “The Bronx’s Universal Hip Hop Museum Awarded $3.75 Million from New York State” at The Root.

Read “Kanye West Releases New Album ‘Jesus Is Born’ The companion to Jesus Is King hit streaming services on Christmas Day” at Rolling Stone.

Read “In Praise of Barack Obama, Music Critic The former president’s annual year-end playlist never fails to delight” at Washington Post.

Read “How a Calypso Anthem Became the Surreal Centerpiece of Beetlejuice” at Pitchfork.

Read “How to Talk to Anyone The holidays are a time of warmth, cheer, and awkwardness. Here’s how to enjoy even the trickiest conversations” at Forge.

Read “The Invisible Woman: A Conversation With Björk” at Pitchfork.

Read “How Americana Went Mainstream in the 2010s” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Finally Recognizes Woman Who Practically Invented Rock and Roll” at Jezebel.

Read “The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds Celebrates its 50th Anniversary: Artists Pay Tribute to the Eternal Teenage Symphony” at Pitchfork.

Read “Pete Townshend thinks The Who “sort of invented heavy metal” at Consequence of Sound. "We were copied by so many bands, principally Led Zeppelin -- you know, heavy drums, heavy bass, heavy lead guitar. And some of those bands, like Jimi Hendrix for example, did it far better than we did."

Read “Vampire Weekend Break Down “Harmony Hall” on “Song Exploder” at Pitchfork. “Ezra Koenig explains how “Harmony Hall” tackles themes of power, dispossession, and anti-semitism: “The idea of stateless people forming a state and being seen, understandably, as the powerful ones.... It’s a tough combo, power plus fear.”

Watch “‘Schitt’s Creek’ Final Season Trailer Teases David’s Wedding and a Rose Family Goodbye” at Variety.

Read “Ritchie Valens Musical in the Works From Los Lobos’ Louie Perez and David Hidalgo” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Trump’s cameo in Home Alone 2 cut from Canadian TV broadcast The CBC says the decision was made "to allow for commercial time within the format" at Consequence of Sound.

Watch “Hulu releases first teaser for High Fidelity TV show” at Consequence of Sound.

Browse “These are the 10 best-selling books of the decade” at LitHub.

Browse “30 Of The Best Books To Teach Children Empathy” at Bookish Buzz.

Read “Want to Increase Your Chances of Living Longer? Go to a Museum, Says a New Study Apparently even one or two cultural events a year could cut your risk of early mortality by 14 percent” at Artnet.

Read “Last year, 40% of honey-bee colonies in the US died. But bees aren't the only insects disappearing in unprecedented numbers” at Business Insider.

Read “What Kurt Vonnegut Taught Us about the Science of Happiness” at Elephant Journal.

Read “Dogs Know What That Smile on Your Face Means A new study lends further proof that your pet can read your emotions” at National Geographic.

Read “After Automats Died in New York, They Flourished in the Netherlands The “waiterless” restaurants were once iconic symbols of the Big Apple” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “The Remarkable Resurrection and Unique Nature of Four Roses Bourbon” at Paste. "It’s not the origin of Four Roses Bourbon that is the most interesting thing about its history—it’s the way the brand disappeared from the U.S. for half a century before coming roaring back."

Read “Move Over Kale, Jalapenos Are the Health Food You Never Knew About” at The Hearty Soul.

Read “How Brazilian Chefs Are Using the Fruit That Can Turn Anything Blue” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “How Santa Survived the Soviet Era Of all the variations on the beloved character, Russia’s Ded Moroz might have the strangest history” at Atlas Obscura.

The Weekly Town Crier (12/13/19)

All the week’s News that’s fit to cry about (12/13/19).

Question for the three of you who browse this list each week: when compiling the list each week, I use headers to (very broadly) categorize the different sections. Would you prefer that I left those in so that you can jump to different sections, or do you like just scrolling?

Browse all the Weekly Town Crier posts so far.

Listen to all 52 episodes of The Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.

Listen to a mix of artists who have performed Habañero Collective house shows.

Browse the Musical Worldview posts.

Stream/download an introductory mix of Sacred Steel music.

Browse all my favorite music of 2019.

Read “Sesame Street puppeteer Caroll Spinney dies at age 85: at PBS.

Read “Rapper Juice WRLD Dead at 21” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Roxette’s Marie Fredriksson Dead at 61” at Pitchfork.

Read “The White Evangelical Persecution Complex” at Red Letter Christians.

Read “Want to Get Into the Christmas Spirit? Face the Darkness How I fell in love with the season of Advent” by Tish Harrison Warren at New York Times.

Read “GREAT JOB INTERNET Finally, a Christian alternative to the wicked heresy of the "Cha Cha Slide" at AV Club.

Read “Biblical Literalism among American Protestants Pastors, denominational leaders, and curious Christians need to be reassured—American Christianity is not becoming more liberal” at Christianity Today.

Read as Fathom wonders “Where was Jesus before Advent? If Jesus is eternal, can we find him in the Old Testament?”

Read “Behind the Rise of Evangelical Women “Influencers” at Religion and Politics.

Read “Misusing Romans 13 To Embrace Theocracy” at Sojourners.

Read “The Sort-Of Socialist Church Is Taking A Radical Approach To Christianity Jubilee Baptist is a quasi-socialist, anti-racist, LGBTQ-affirming church conducting a bold experiment: focusing on debt, work, and freedom from oppression instead of fear and moralism” at Buzzfeed News.

Read “Pastor Who Sermonized That Jews Are Going to Hell Was Trump’s Pick to Speak at White House Hanukkah Reception” at The Root.

Read “Is the “final judgment” really final? What the Bible doesn't say about hell” at Christian Century.

Read “Arizona will continue to resettle refugees, Gov. Doug Ducey tells Trump administration” at AZ Central.

Read “Merkel Tours Auschwitz With 'Sense Of Shame' And Warns Of Resurgent Anti-Semitism” at NPR.

Read “Papa John’s Founder Blames His Use of the N-Word on Kanye and Colonel Sanders” at The Root.

Read “India Prepares to Block Naturalization for Muslims A bill establishing a religious test for immigration to India is expected to pass Parliament, a major step for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist agenda.” at New York Times.

Read “How Do We Know When Research Participants Truly Give Consent? Following news about research that used data collected from Uighurs, scientific publishers want to create new consent guidelines. But it’s complicated” at Slate.

Read “A University’s Betrayal of Historical Truth The University of North Carolina agreed to pay the Sons of Confederate Veterans $2.5 million—a sum that rivals the endowment of its history department” at The Atlantic.

Read “New Statue Unveiled In Response To Richmond's Confederate Monuments” at NPR.

Read “Nikki Haley gets the history of the Confederate flag very wrong” at Washington Post.

Read “CRACK VS. HEROIN An unfair system arrested millions of blacks, urged compassion for whites” at App.

Read “Principal Who Allegedly Banned Black History Month Accuses Black Teachers of Reverse Racism. Teachers Accuse Her of Original Recipe Racism” at The Root.

Read “This Is What Racism Sounds Like in the Banking Industry A JPMorgan employee and a customer secretly recorded their conversations with bank employees” at New York Times. ““We’re in Arizona. I don’t have to tell you about what the demographics are in Arizona. They don’t see people like you a lot.”

Read “Kansas City Chooses Free Public Transit” at The Appeal.

Read “Houston police chief criticizes McConnell and Senate Republicans over guns: 'Whose side are you on?' at CNN.

Read “Why You Need to Schedule Some Alone Time” at Rewire.

Read “Hiking Wheelchair Opens Up Outdoor Lifestyle To People With Serious Disabilities” at NPR.

Read “This town is giving families $500 a month. The results are remarkable: Recipients have used the money to apply for better jobs, spend more time with their children, or save for better housing” at The Guardian.

Read “Father Books 6 Flights To Stay With His Flight Attendant Daughter On Christmas” at Bored Panda.

Read “Socialism is as American as apple pie. Yes, really” at The Guardian.

Read “Former Top Mexican Security Official Arrested On Cocaine Trafficking Charges” at NPR.

Read “MLB to Stop Testing Minor League Players for Weed” at Now This.

Read “Merriam-Webster Singles Out Nonbinary 'They' For Word Of The Year Honors” at NPR.

Read “Goodell says league has 'moved on' from Kaepernick special workout at Reuters. ““This was about creating an opportunity. We created that opportunity. It was a unique opportunity, a credible opportunity, and he chose not to take it. I understand that ... We've moved on.”

Read “Greta Thunberg: TIME's Person of the Year 2019” at Time.

• Read “Brazil's President Calls Greta Thunberg a 'Brat'“ at Time.

• Read “Trump mocks 16-year-old Greta Thunberg a day after she is named Time’s Person of the Year” at Washington Post.

Hear “Controversial Versions of “The Star Spangled Banner” by Igor Stravinsky, Jimi Hendrix, José Feliciano & John Philip Sousa” at Open Culture.

Read “FCC votes to set up a 3-digit suicide hotline number like 911” at 12 News.

Read “We Teach Children, Not Curriculum” at The Educator’s Room.

Read “Lawsuit Claims SAT And ACT Are Illegal In California Admissions” at NPR.

Read “Betsy DeVos Overruled Education Dept. Findings On Defrauded Student Borrowers” at NPR.

• Read “Congresswoman Tells Betsy DeVos, You Are ‘Out to Destroy Public Education’ at Rolling Stone. “I’ve had some honest disagreements with my friends in the Republican Party on how to move education forward but I have never, not one time, believed they were out to destroy public education until I met you.”

Read “Judiciary Committee releases report outlining constitutional grounds for impeachment The report aims to define what the framers of the Constitution meant by an impeachable offense” at 12 News.

• Read as the Los Angeles Times Editorial Board declares ‘We’ve seen enough. Trump should be impeached.”

• Read “Legal Scholars Conclude President Trump Engaged In Impeachable Conduct” at News and Guts.

• Read “We need to stop reacting to Trump—and start responding. There’s a big difference” at America Magazine.

• Read “AP Fact Check: Trump and the people he forgets he knew” at PBS News Hour.

• Read “The Trump campaign has over $1 million in outstanding bills from American cities” at Washington Post.

• Read “Articles Of Impeachment Against President Trump” at NPR.

• Read “Trump pays $2 million in damages ordered by judge over misuse of charity funds, according to NY attorney general” at Washington Post.

• Read “The Case For Impeachment Is Overwhelming” at American Conservative. “The president doesn’t have a credible line of defense left. That is why his apologists in Congress and elsewhere have been reduced to making increasingly absurd and desperate claims."

Read “Judge says South Carolina GOP allowed to cancel its 2020 primary” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Medicare chief asked taxpayers to cover stolen jewelry” at Politico.

Read “Millions in military aid at center of impeachment hasn’t reached Ukraine” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Trump’s border wall threatens an Arizona oasis with a long, diverse history: Many observers fear that a 30-foot wall along the Arizona border with Mexico will harm wildlife, lower the water table and destroy archaeological treasures” at PBS News Hour.Buzzfeed.

• Read “US Border Officials Are Issuing Fake Court Notices To Keep Out Immigrants Who Have Won Asylum” at Buzzfeed News.

• Read “Under Trump, immigrants face increasingly long and complicated road to citizenship” at PRI.

• Read “$400M Arizona border wall contract under review for potential impropriety” at KTAR.

• Read “Doctors Say They Were Arrested Trying to Give Flu Vaccines to Detained Migrants” at Now This.

Read “U.S. Backs Out of U.N. Meeting on Human Rights Situation in North Korea” at Time.

Read “At 34, Finland's Sanna Marin Set To Become World's Youngest Sitting Prime Minister” at NPR.

Read “Explosive investigative report says U.S. government misled public on war in Afghanistan” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Trusting the News Media in the Trump Era Partisan dynamics overshadow other factors in Americans’ evaluations of the news media” at Journalism.org.

Read “A new U.N. report argues many of the street protests popping up around the globe are driven by a growing sense that societies are rigged to favor the powerful — and trap the masses in low-wage, dead-end lives” at NPR.

• Read “Bolton Tweets Criticism of Trump Admin. Blocking UN Meeting on North Korea” at News and Guts.

Read “Russian Foreign Minister Invited To White House; Claims No Election Interference In 2016” at News and Guts.

Read “Homeowner Leaves Snacks For Amazon Delivery Guy And His Reaction Is Too Pure” at Bored Panda.

Read “Low-income communities are being decimated by fines.”

Read “Solange Is Very First Recipient of Lena Horne Award, Donating $100,000 Prize to Houston Charity” at The Root.

Read “Why Are Cops Around the World Using This Outlandish Mind-Reading Tool?” at ProPublica.

Read “The Mistake I Made With My Grieving Friend The author of We Need to Talk reveals how she learned to help — and not help — a friend with loss” at Huffington Post.

Read “A North Dakota county was poised to be first to bar refugees under Trump’s executive order. Residents said no” at Washington Post.

The “Best Of” Lists continue to roll in:

• Browse Rolling Stone’s picks for “The 50 Best Songs of 2019.”

  • Browse Rolling Stone’s picks for “40 Best Country and Americana Albums of 2019.”

• Browse “2019 Year End Lists: John Darnielle, the Mountain Goats” at Merge Records.

• Browse Pitchork’s picks for “The 100 Best Songs of 2019.”

  • Browse Pitchfork’s picks for “The 50 Best Albums of 2019.”

• Browse PopMatters’ picks for “The 70 Best Albums of 2019.”

  • Browse PopMatters’ picks for “The Best Jazz of 2019.”

• Browse Paste’s picks for “The 50 Best Songs of 2019.”

• Browse NPR’s picks for “The Best Songs of 2019 So Far.”

  • Browse NPR’s picks for “Best Music Of 2019.”

• Browse “Steven Hyden’s Favorite Albums of 2019” at Uproxx.

• Browse Vice’s picks for “The 100 Best Albums of 2019.”

• Browse “RSTB Best of 2019” at Raven Sings The Blues.

• Browse my list of 2019 Favorite music

  • Listen to Volume 01 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

  • Listen to Volume 02 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

  • Listen to Volume 03 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

  • Listen to Volume 04 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

Read as Time names Lizzo “Entertainer of the Year.”

Take “A Deep Dive Into Tom Waits’ Best Rare and Unreleased Material” with Tyler Wilcox at Pitchfork.

Read “Warren Ellis on the transformative power of music” at Sydney Morning Herald.

Read “Spotlight: Garcia Peoples” at Relix.

Read “How five friends from Phoenix came to rule the world as Alice Cooper” at AZ Central.

Read “Hall and Oates announce 2020 tour dates Including shows with Squeeze” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “A Conversation With Jeff Lynne Of ELO” at NPR.

Read “ASCAP launches health and wellness program for musicians A report earlier this year revealed that 73% of musicians suffer from mental illness” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “A Show About Spotify Is Coming to Netflix The scripted series will tell the story of Spotify’s creation” at Pitchfork.

Read “Dinosaur Jr. are in the studio making a new album” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Chris Cornell’s Widow Sues Soundgarden Over Unreleased Recordings” at Rolling Stone.

Revisit at 1980 Relix interview with Robert Hunter about some of the band’s most memorable songs.

Read “Nils Lofgren: Back on the Horse” at Premier Guitar.

Read “The story of Ghanaian highlife legend Ebo Taylor’s “lost tapes” in his own words” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “How Ryley Walker Survived Addiction, Mental Illness, And Self-Destruction In 2019” at Uproxx.

Read “The Raincoats / 40th Anniversary :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Read “In Memoriam: Bands We Lost In 2019” at Stereogum.

Read “‘Let It Bleed’: Why the Stones’ Nastiest Masterpiece Feels Right on Time” at Rolling Stone. “Their 1969 classic remains the band’s darkest LP, and that’s why it sounds perfect right now.”

Read “David Bowie immersive live experience to be held at National Space Centre planetarium” at NME.

Read “Talking Heads Create Official Instagram Account Stoking Rumors Surrounding “Remain in Light” 40th Anniversary” at Post-Punk.

• Read “This is not your beautiful Talking Heads reunion, David Byrne confirms” at AV Club.

Read “40 Reasons We Still Love The Clash’s London Calling The band's masterpiece remains a glowing torch in a world of fear, injustice, and oppression” at Consequence of Sound.

TV and Movies get Year-End Lists too:

• Browse Consequence of Sound’s picks for the “Top 25 Films of 2019.”

• Browse “The 20 worst films of 2019” at AV Club.

• Browse Think Christian’s picks for “The Best TV of 2019.”

Read “Redbox no longer lets you rent video games” at CNet.

“Watch a teaser for Hulu's Hillary Clinton docuseries” at AV Club.

Read “Prince’s Purple Rain Added to National Film Registry The Library of Congress has also archived She’s Gotta Have It, Clerks, The Last Waltz, and more” at Pitchfork.

Read “New Matrix film gets 2021 release, will open on same weekend as John Wick 4” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “The TV Club, 2019 Entry 4: TV isn’t dead, but it’s not getting livelier.” at Slate.

Read “Elon Musk wins defamation lawsuit over tweets against caver in Thailand rescue” at 12 News.

Read “Miss Universe 2019 Is Young, Gifted And An Outspoken Believer In 'Black Girl Magic'“ at NPR.

Read “Bill Cosby Loses Appeal of Sex Assault Conviction” at Variety.

Read the Chili’s menu interpreted by Cormac McCarthy at McSweeny’s.

Read “This Library Bar In Indiana Is Every Book Nerd’s Paradise” at Bookish Buzz.

“Check Out these Miniature Book Houses” at Bookish Buzz.

Browse “40 Of The Worst Newspaper Headlines To Make You Facepalm At The Stupidity” at Bored Panda.

Browse “Christianity Today's 2020 Book Awards” at Christianity Today.

Read as Bookish Buzz wonders “Seriously Though, How Did the Most Beautiful Library in America Get Demolished?”

Read “A Q&A with Justin McRoberts” by Aarik Danielsen at Fathom Magazine.

Read “A Gardener Found a Stolen Gustav Klimt Painting Tucked Behind a Secret Panel—in the Very Building It Was Stolen From” at Artnet.

Read “Revive Dying Coral Reefs, Study Finds” at Forbes.

Read “Plants 'Scream' in the Face of Stress: A new study suggests that plants that are stressed by drought or physical damage may emit ultrasonic squeals” at Live Science.

Read “Scientists discover how gene mutation causes autism and intellectual disability” at 12 News.

Read “Earth's magnetic song recorded for the first time during a solar storm” at Phys Org.

Read “ACA Insurers In The Supreme Court: Why Consumers Should Pay Attention” at NPR.

Read as Boing Boing wonders “Where are all the time travelers?”

Read “Weak potato harvest could cause French fry shortage across U.S., report says” at WSBT.

Read “St. Nicholas: The story behind Santa Claus” at CNN.

Read “The Story Behind Vintage "Shiny Brite" Christmas Ornaments” at Crackerjack 23.

Read “Someone Is Putting Tiny Cowboy Hats On Pigeons Around Las Vegas” at Unilad.

Read “The Time a Nazi Mad Scientist Built a Real Movie Villain Island Lair in Argentina” at Mysterious Universe.

Read “20-foot ‘Indescribably beautiful’ leg lamp inflatable appears at ‘A Christmas Story’ house” at Local 10.

Read “Man whose farts 'can kill mosquitoes six metres away hired to create new repellent'“ at The Mirror.

Read “Arizona man registers swarm of bees as emotional support animals” at New York Post.

Read “EPA Data: Phoenix Has Highest Levels in U.S. of Carcinogenic Gas Ethylene Oxide” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “Laws allowing U.S government to force Native American children into boarding schools still in force” at AZ Family.

Read “Versace to open store at Scottsdale Fashion Square mall in 2020” at ABC 15.

Read “Beer Price Could Double By End Of Month If Tax Break Expires” at KJZZ. “The Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act could expire at the end of the month. Over the past two years, the act lowered federal excise taxes for breweries, wineries and distilleries. This allowed producers to use money they saved in taxes on their operations.”

Read “Ducey-Appointed Nursing Board Member Said 'Minorities' Are 'Trying to Change Us'“ at Phoenix New Times.

The Weekly Town Crier (12/06/19)

All the week’s News that’s fit to cry about (12/06/19).

Browse all the Weekly Town Crier posts so far.

Listen to all 52 episodes of The Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.

Listen to a mix of artists who have performed Habañero Collective house shows.

Browse the Musical Worldview posts.

Stream/download an introductory mix of Sacred Steel music.

R.I.P. Irving Burgie, Songwriter Who Helped Bring Calypso To America, Dies At 95 (NPR)

Read “Thankful for the Bad: Upside Down Gratitude This Thanksgiving Upside down gratitude is the ability to give thanks even for the parts of our lives which lead us to sadness and struggle and suffer” at Christianity Today.

Read “Will Worship for Likes To build their celeb-approved megachurch, Churchome, pastors Judah and Chelsea Smith preach community, love, acceptance, and inclusion. Is their Instagrammable message truly reframing Christianity or simply helping their church rake in millions?” at Marie Claire.

Read “What Pastors Can Learn From a Converted Musician: He’s a tremendously famous musician. Some people even use the word genius to describe him. His music moves people, as it has for a long time. He changed the industry. By all accounts, he’s a legend in popular music. But then something happened. It’s make sense if you thought I was talking about Kanye West. No, I’m talking about Bob Dylan.”

Read “The Christian Roots of the Fair Trade Movement” at Christianity Today.

Read “False Idol — Why the Christian Right Worships Donald Trump: White evangelics have their presidential strongman in Donald Trump.” at Rolling Stone.

Read “This Advent, Listen to those who feel unwelcome in the church” at Sojourners.

Read “The Crisis of American Christianity, Viewed From Great Britain The theologian N. T. Wright is unfazed by the faith’s politicization in the U.S.” at The Atlantic.

Read “Jesus’ risen, mutilated body In Luke’s postresurrection appearances, the disciples have to reckon with the traumatic somatic” at Christian Century.

Read “American Jesus, Stay Away from Me: The Jesus of the Bible looks nothing like American Jesus.” at Red Letter Christians.”

Read “The New Math of Church Mergers An option once seen as a failed strategy is now giving many congregations a new lease on life” at Christianity Today.

Read “Why we need religion Stephen Asma, an agnostic, argues powerfully that religion is natural and beneficial. Is it such a leap to believe that it is grounded in truth?” at Prospect Magazine.

Read “Florida Bill Protects Black Hairstyles in School, Workplace” at My Spectrum 13 (Orlando).

Read/watch “Michael Eric Dyson: 'black voters are sick and tired of being taken for granted'“ at MSNBC.

Read “The Night Doesn’t Stop the Stars” On the 50th anniversary of the killing of Fred Hampton, poet Haki R. Madhubuti pays tribute to the leader of Chicago’s Black Panthers with a new work” at Chicago Magazine.

Read “George Zimmerman Sues Trayvon Martin’s Family, Others for $100 Million The new suit is helmed by conservative lawyer Larry Klayman, based on allegations in new book and film by conspiracy theorist Joel Gilbert” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Sick and Alone Most of America’s county jails escape lawsuits seeking reforms for inmates with serious mental illness. Now Arizona’s Cochise County has joined hundreds of other small counties innovating ways to keep people with serious mental illness out of their jails. But it comes too late for Adrian Perez, who has spent the past 13 years cycling in and out of jail, and solitary confinement, which only makes him sicker.: Our jails and prisons have become our new asylums because there is nowhere else for the mentally ill to go” at Arizona Center For Investigative Reporting.”

Read “Rev. William Barber on the Political Power of Poor People: ‘We Have to Change Our Whole Narrative’” at New York Magazine.

Read/Watch “Young boy invites entire kindergarten class to his adoption hearing” at 12 News.

Read “North Korea warns Japan's Abe may soon see 'real ballistic missile' Pyongyang lashes out at Japanese leader stepping up rhetoric against close US ally in the region as nuclear talks stall” at Al Jazeera.

Read The Guardian’s opinion piece: “America is not the land of the free but one of monopolies so predatory they imperil the nation.”

Read “Not So OK, Boomers They‘re attacking the seat of millennial pleasure — the body. It’s high time we contemplated the possibility Boomers want to kill us all” at Medium.

Read “Defiant Mark Zuckerberg defends Facebook policy to allow false ads Zuckerberg says ‘people should be able to judge for themselves the character of politicians’ and compares alternative to censorship” at The Guardian.

Read “Researchers Find A Remarkable Ripple Effect When You Give Cash To Poor Families: A new major study finds that for every dollar in cash aid given to Kenyan families living in poverty, the total economic activity in the area increased by $2.60.” at NPR.

Read “TikTok accused of secretly gathering user data and sending it to China A proposed class-action lawsuit alleges the app "includes Chinese surveillance software” at CNet.

Read “His Company Makes Speakers. Now He's Speaking Out, Opposing Tariffs: Since last fall, this 70-year-old speaker company in Minnesota has had to pay tariffs on some components imported from China. "A surprising number of people I talk to … think that somehow China is paying the tariffs," the company's president says. It's a claim that President Trump has repeatedly made.” at NPR.

Read “Half of all homeless people may have had traumatic brain injury” at The Guardian.

Read “This is the World’s First Beer Taproom That Also Houses Foster Dogs Rescued From Kill Shelters” at Good News Network.

Read “Hedy Lamarr: The Incredible Mind Behind Secure WiFi, GPS And Bluetooth” at Forbes.

Read/watch “What newly released emails reveal about OxyContin, Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family” at PBS News Hour.

Read “The False Promise of Morning Routines Why everyone’s mornings seem more productive than yours” at The Atlantic.

Read “Google faces $50 million lawsuit from Genius for stealing lyrics They've been accused of "misappropriating content".” at NME.

Read “You may be required to get your picture taken when leaving, entering US” at 12 News.

Read “Millennials weren’t the only ones gutted by the recession. Gen X has never recovered. By Austin Channing Brown Dec 4, 2019, 8:00am EST Share this story” by Austin Channing Brown at Vox.

Watch/Read “You Won't Live Comfortably In the U.S. Working 40hrs a Week” at 12 News.

Read “Schools teach refugee, migrant kids skills to succeed in US: This year's students at Valencia Newcomer School feature kids from 21 countries and speak 15 languages” at KTAR.

Read as PBS wonders “What If We Let Kids Get Bored? Give kids space to get bored — you will be amazed by the creative ways they fill their time.”

Read “A Silent Epidemic: Our public schools are struggling to handle millions of students with mental health problems. Here’s why” from 2016 at NPR.

Browse “6 Books for Kids about the Civil Rights Movement” at the New York Public Library website.

Read “Majority Of Republicans Say Trump Is A Better President Than Lincoln” at Politics USA.

• Read “Trump Has Spent $115 Million On Golf Trips ― Or 287 Years Of Presidential Salary Trump often boasts of donating his White House pay, but taxpayers are shelling out much larger sums for his hobby” at Huff Post.

• Read “Trump to designate Mexican drug cartels as terrorist groups” at KTAR.

• Read “Trump campaign will deny press credentials to Bloomberg News Trump’s campaign manager accuses agency of ‘declaring their bias openly’ after choice to not cover Democratic candidates critically" at The Guardian.

• Read “Trump, Who Slashed Taxes by $1.5 Trillion, Is Pushing Cuts to Food Stamps Self-declared man of the people proposes to take food from poor people” at Rolling Stone.

• Read “Trump loses appeal to block Deutsche Bank, Capital One from handing his financial records to Congress” at CNBC.

• Read “Trump Is Waging War on America’s Diplomats: And the impeachment inquiry is only making things worse. With new figures and fresh horror stories, Julia Ioffe reports on how the president is politicizing our embassies, alienating our allies, and decimating the ranks of the foreign service.” at GQ.

• Read “the House Intelligence Committee’s Impeachment Report” at Rolling Stone.

• Read “Rep. Adam Schiff: 'The Uncontested Facts Show This President Solicited A Bribe'“ at NPR.

• Read “Report reveals frequent contact between Giuliani, Nunes and the White House” at PBS News Hour.

• Read “Trump Hands $400 Million Border Wall Contract to Republican Donor Who Touted Construction Firm on Fox News” at Second Nexus.

Read “US seeks high court permission to resume federal executions” at KTAR.

Read “Trump nominee who is anti-IVF and surrogacy was deemed unqualified. She just got confirmed” at Washington Post and then just remind yourself that the Trump administration is appointing judges to lifetime appointments who have previous been deemed “unqualified.”

Read “William Barr says "communities" that protest cops could lose "the police protection they need" at Washington Post.

Read “We should hang’ Ilhan Omar, GOP House candidate says while seeking donations” at Washington Post.

Read “Romney Saw “No Evidence” of Ukraine Meddling in 2016 U.S. Election” at News and Guts.

Read/watch “Student loan forgiveness emerges as key 2020 issue” at MSNBC.

Read “Kamala Harris Has Dropped Out of the Presidential Race” at Rolling Stone.

• Read/Watch “Why Kamala Harris’ campaign failed to gain traction” at PBS News Hour.

• Read “Kamala Harris’s Criminal Justice Record Killed Her Presidential Run: Harris’s record as a prosecutor was representative of a politics of the past. The nation has moved on” at The Appeal.

• Read “Kamala Harris Mattered, and Still Does She made the boldest and (ultimately) most quixotic argument of any candidate, and her failure is a sign of these Trumpian times” at Rolling Stone.

Read “It’s Not Just A ‘Fictional Narrative,’ It’s Russian Propaganda: Republicans are not following Fiona Hill's warnings to ignore the Russian propaganda about Ukraine, in fact they're doubling down. Contributor Steven J. Harper puts in all in context and perspective.” at News and Guts.

Read “Lisa Page Speaks: ‘There’s No Fathomable Way I Have Committed Any Crime at All: “The former FBI lawyer and ongoing Trump target breaks two years of silence in this exclusive interview. And she has quite a lot to say.” at Daily Beast.

Read “Fox News host Tucker Carlson: Putin does not hate America like liberals do” at The Guardian.

Read “Inside the ‘extraordinary’ campaign to put Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court” at PBS News Hour.

Read “A New Online Archive Lets You Listen to 40 Years Worth of Terry Gross’ Fresh Air Interviews: Stream 22,000 Segment Online” at Open Culture.

Read “Mahna Mahna at 50: fascinating facts about the unforgettable Muppets song” at CBC.

Browse “Best of 2019” Lists:

• Browse Stereogum’s picks for “The 50 Best Albums Of 2019.”

• Browse Consequence of Sound’s picks for “Top 50 Albums of 2019.”

• Browse Gorilla Vs. Bear’s Albums of 2019.

• Browse Paste’s picks.

• Browse Rolling Stone’s picks for “The 50 Best Albums of 2019.”

Read “Samana Give Listeners a Map to Locate an Obelisk Hidden in Wales” at Bandcamp.

Read “Taylor Swift, Lizzo, Lana Del Rey: Pop Stars (and Their Fans) Clap Back: This year has seen a spike in pop stars using social media to push back against music critics. Their fans fell in line, swarming the offending writers with hate” at New York Times.

Read “Khruangbin and Leon Bridges Team Up for New Texas Sun EP” at Pitchfork.

Read “Massive Attack commission research into touring’s impact on climate The research aims to create a "roadmap to decarbonisation" at Consequence of Sound.

Read “U2 Are Getting Their Own SiriusXM Channel “Generally when I open my mouth, people prefer if I’m singing,” Bono said. “But on U2X RADIO, maybe they’ll forgive me the odd interruption” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Frozen Fingers :: An American Primitive Holiday Meditation” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Read as NPR wonders “Is It OK To Bootleg Concerts?”

Read “Justin Vernon Tells Aaron Rodgers What “Holocene” Is About” at Stereogum.

Read “Kid Rock is shutting down his Detroit restaurant amid protest over his recent Oprah rant. "I may be guilty of being a loud mouth jerk at times, but trying to label me racist is a joke" at Consequence of Sound.

Read as “Lana Del Rey Interviews Grimes” at Pitchfork.

Read “Garcia Peoples’ One Step Behind Is Clear-Eyed and Ambitious Chris Forsyth on how the Brooklyn band successfully does “whatever the f&*k they want” on their new album” at TalkHouse.

Read “Chet Baker’s Tale of Woe” at Downbeat.

Read “Alice Cooper on Returning to His Detroit Roots Legendary rocker details his new covers album, Breadcrumbs” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “A Look Inside Japan’s Listening Bars For Audiophiles” at Vinyl of the Day.

Read “Jimmy Eat World share playlist of music they listened to on tour in the ’90s Read More: Jimmy Eat World share playlist of music they listened to on tour in the ’90s” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “10 Lessons Learned From Attending Concerts Sober For A Month” at Live For Live Music.

Read “A New Tool From Spotify Walks the Line Between Advertising and Pay-For-Play” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Talking Heads’ Jerry Harrison, Adrian Belew to Tour “40 Years of ‘Remain in Light'” with Turkuaz” at Jambands.com.

Read “The Go-Betweens' Perfect Pop Cracked Open Stream rarities and live tracks from volume two of 'G Stands For Go-Betweens'“ at NPR.

Read “Jimmy Eat World's Jim Adkins: "I used to study classical and jazz... then I was suddenly sleeping on floors and playing punk-rock" at Guitar World.

Read “DC Comics Comes Under Fire for Deleting Batman Poster That Sparked Chinese Backlash: DC Comics came under fire for pulling a Batman poster after Chinese commenters said it appeared to support pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong” at Variety.

Browse “Top 100 TV Shows of the 2010s” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Questlove to Direct New Movie Black Woodstock A documentary about 1969’s Harlem Cultural Festival, which featured performances from Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder, Sly and the Family Stone, and more” at Pitchfork.

Read “Oprah Producing Documentary About Sexual Assault in the Music Industry” at Exclaim.

Read “Johnny Depp producing musical starring Michael Jackson’s glove In which the King of Pop's iconic sequin glove "is actually an alien from outer space [and] feeds on virgin boy blood" at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Brazil President Blames Leonardo DiCaprio for Funding Amazon Wildfires Without evidence, Jair Bolsonaro says actor is “giving money to torch the Amazon” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Willie Nelson quits smoking marijuana due to breathing issues "I have abused my lungs quite a bit in the past" at Consequence of Sound.

Read “The Travel Diaries of Allen Ginsberg in South America” at LitHub.

Read “'We Wanted Our Patrons Back' — Public Libraries Scrap Late Fines To Alleviate Inequity” at NPR.

Read “Reading Toni Morrison in Advent A seasonal practice: cultivate the patient gaze to describe life as we find it” at Christian Century.

Read “Cry, Heart, But Never Break: A Remarkable Illustrated Meditation on Loss and Life “Who would enjoy the sun if it never rained? Who would yearn for the day if there were no night?” at Brain Pickings.

Read “How did renowned novelist Kurt Vonnegut Jr. wind up in Iowa City? Two years in Iowa were turning point in novelist's career at The Gazette.

Read/Listen to “What Bestseller Lists Really Tell Us About A Book's Popularity: The appearance of Donald Trump Jr.'s TRIGGERED on the bestseller lists prompted us to dig into how those lists work -- and how they can be manipulated.” at NPR.

See “Winged Insects Made From Old Computer Circuit Boards And Electronics” at Bored Panda.

Read “Researchers Have Found That Visiting Art Museums Can Offer Significant Relief for People Living With Dementia” at Artnet.

See “Photographer Spends Eternity Waiting For Museum Visitors To Match Artworks And The Result Is Worth The Wait” at Bored Panda.

Read “Were the Mexican Muralists America’s Greatest Street Artists? A New Whitney Show Will Examine Their Too-Long-Ignored Legacy” at Artnet.

Read “Just A Reminder That Gorillas Hum ‘Little Food Songs’ To Themselves While They Eat” at Live For Live Music.

Read “Cats Domesticated Themselves, Ancient DNA Shows” at National Geographic.

Read “Scientists Resume Efforts To Create Deadly Flu Virus, With US Government's Blessing” at Forbes.

Read “Scientists Discover Psychedelic DMT Creates Waking Dream State In Brain: ‘It’s Like Dreaming But With Your Eyes Open’ at Newsweek.

Read “Hoag's Object Is a Galaxy Within a Galaxy Within a Galaxy (and Nobody Knows Why)” at Live Science.

Read “China gene-edited baby experiment 'may have created unintended mutations'“ at The Guardian.

Read “Probe Gets Close To The Sun — Finds Rogue Plasma Waves And Flipping Magnetic Fields” at NPR.

Read “New drug curbs delusions in dementia patients, study finds If approved, it could not only help people with Parkinson's but also Alzheimer's” at 12 News.

Read “Ballast Point sold to tiny suburban Chicago brewery Kings and Convicts in beer industry stunner” at Chicago Tribune.

Read “The World’s Most Valuable Whisky Collection Is Worth Nearly $17 Million A Vietnamese man's 20-year obsession with Scotch yields a world record” at Inside Hook.

See “Vale Street England's steepest street has such a drastic incline that locals tie their parked cars to lampposts when it gets icy” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “Bill would require Arizona students to say the Pledge of Allegiance: The bill would strike an existing law that allows time for "those students who wish" to recite the pledge and instead require a parent to excuse the student” at AZ Central, and remember kids, forced patriotism is fascism.

Read “Arizona 19-year-old suing Juul for getting him addicted to nicotine” at 12 News.

Read “Whistleblower says contractors failing to fix locks at Phoenix-area prison” at KTAR.

Read “Why the devil is the Scottsdale City Council fighting Satanists?” at AZ Central.

Read “20 Years of Modified Arts: How the Gallery Changed Roosevelt Row” at Phoenix New Times.

The Weekly Town Crier (11/22/19)

All the week’s News that’s fit to cry about (11/22/19).

Browse all the Weekly Town Crier posts so far.

Listen to all 52 episodes of The Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.

Listen to a mix of artists who have performed Habañero Collective house shows.

Browse the Musical Worldview posts.

Read “Howard Thurman’s contemplative nonviolence The pastor and mentor to Martin Luther King formed a vision of resistance around prayer, not politics” at Christian Century.

Read the Washington Post’s opinion piece: “Jesus isn’t interested in America’s two-party division: Sadly, many want Jesus to be the personal chaplain to a Republican emperor, or else, Jesus is invoked to sanction a Jacobin purge on anyone suspected of not progressive enough. Jesus is re-created in either the image of Caesar or Che Guevara.”

Read “Scripture and Neuroscience Agree: It Helps to Lament in Community Through song, liturgy, and communion, the body of Christ inhabits the suffering experienced by its weakest members” at Christianity Today.

Read “Christianity is declining at a rapid pace, but Americans still hold positive views about religion’s role in society” at Washington Post.

Read “What Research Tells Us About the ‘Seal’ of Believer’s Baptism A new study suggests that the rite doesn’t bind young Christians to a certain level of faith commitment, but to a faith community” at Christianity Today.

Read “Kanye West calls himself 'the greatest artist that God has ever created' at Joel Osteen service” at AZ Central.

Read “Why Black Protestants and Evangelicals Still Preach Politics” at Christianity Today.

Read “The Real Battle (Between Atheism and Christianity) Is Always Emotional” at Mockingbird: “Disproofs of God’s existence are about as effective in creating atheists as proofs are in creating believers. Such arguments are shadow boxing. The real battle is always emotional."

Read “Chick-fil-A Says It Will Stop Donating to Anti-LGBTQ Organizations” at Advocate.

Read/Listen to “'Who Is An Evangelical?' Looks At History Of Evangelical Christians And The GOP” at NPR.

• Read “U.S. Adults See Evangelicals Through a Political Lens” at Barna.

Read/watch “How these Oregon teachers are fighting back against white nationalism” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Paige Patterson feared backslide after election of first black SBC president” at Religion News Service.

Read “Scott Warren, Who Provided Humanitarian Aid To Immigrants, Found Not Guilty On Harboring Charges” at Sojourners.

Read the opinion piece: “Kanye West is spreading the gospel of white evangelicals: Like other black conservatives, the rapper and designer downplays racism while promoting bootstrap virtue-signaling” at The Guardian.

Read “Michael Bloomberg apologises for 'stop-and-frisk' policy” at BBC.

Read the opinion piece: “Enough Thanksgiving Myths. Schools Should Teach Indigenous History” at TruthOut.

Read “Trump’s new refugee limits are senseless and destructive” at Christian Century.

• Read “U.S. has world's highest rate of children in detention: U.N. study” at Reuters.

• Read “U.N. Expert Faults U.S. For 'Inhuman Treatment' And High Incarceration Of Children” at NPR.

Read “Bound By Statute: In Mississippi, Jim Crow era laws result in a high rate of black kids charged as adults” at Reveal.

Read “Why 1,200 people who never took a life are condemned to die in Pa. prisons” at Inquirer.

Read/Listen to “Jeffrey Epstein's Prison Guards Are Indicted On Federal Charges” at NPR.

Read “U.S. income inequality at highest level in 50 years, economic gap growing in heartland” at NBC News.

Read “Israeli PM Netanyahu indicted on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust” at NBC News.

Read “After decades of pushing bachelor’s degrees, U.S. needs more tradespeople” at PBS.

Read “Our legislators’ silence is a failure of moral courage” at Christian Century.

Read/Watch “70% of Americans say Trump’s actions tied to Ukraine were wrong” at ABC.

Read “The White House Just Released A Log Of Trump's First Call with Zelenskiy: The log differs from what the White House originally said about the call in a brief readout” at NPR.

• Read “Trump attacks impeachment witness Marie Yovanovitch on Twitter” at PBS News Hour.

• Read “Democrats invite Trump to testify in impeachment inquiry” at PBS News Hour

• Read Sarah Kendzior’s opinion piece: “Why the Trump impeachment hearings need to go beyond Ukraine” at Globe and Mail.

• Read “Trump ‘Will Strongly Consider’ Testifying in Impeachment Probe, as New Poll Shows 70% Disapprove of His Ukraine Actions As the president defends his actions, however, the American people seem unconvinced” at Rolling Stone.

• Read “House Looking Into Whether Trump Lied to Mueller During Russia Investigation” at News and Guts.

• Read “Trump’s Retribution Against the Washington Post Owner Is His Gravest Abuse of Power” at New York magazine.

• Read “Chief justice orders delay in House fight for Trump financial records” at PBS News Hour.

• Read “I Followed the Directions of the President’: Read Gordon Sondland’s Explosive Impeachment Testimony” at Rolling Stone.

  • Read/Watch “Sondland says Pence knew about concerns over the hold on military aid to Ukraine” at PBS News Hour.

• Read “Trump Brags About Opening Apple Plant In Texas That’s Been Producing Computers Since 2013” at News and Guts.

Read “Roger Stone, Political Operative And Trump Aide, Guilty In False Statements Trial” at NPR.

• Browse “Everyone Charged in the 2016 Election Investigations” at New York Times.

• Read “Prosecutors in Giuliani investigation interested in talking to Ukrainian energy company” at CNN.

Read “Over 75 Members Of Congress To Stephen Miller: Resign From White House Now” at Huff Post.

• Read/Listen to “Stephen Miller And White Supremacy: the book mentioned in Stephen Miller's leaked emails. What is it? And why is it important to white power movements?” at NPR.

• Read “Stephen Miller planted anti-Rubio stories in Breitbart during 2016 campaign, leaked emails show” at NBC News.

Read “Trump Retreats From Flavor Ban for E-Cigarettes Advisers say the president pulled back from proposed restrictions intended to curb teenage vaping after he was warned of the political fallout among voters” at New York Times.

Read “Bill Barr's fascist manifesto: Is this man the real threat to American democracy?” at Salon.

Read “No One Believes Anything’: Voters Worn Out by a Fog of Political News Paying attention to the impeachment inquiry and other developments means having to figure out what is true, false or spin. Many Americans are throwing up their hands and tuning it all out” at New York Times.

Read “In Major Shift, U.S. Declares West Bank Settlements Do Not Violate International Law” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Trump advisory board member: Women should strive to be “handmaidens,” stay out of the workplace Trump surrogate Clarence Mason Weaver on women: “We don’t care how smart you are. We don’t care how strong you are” at Media Matters.

Read “What ending DACA could cost the U.S. economy” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Social Security Does Not Add To The Federal Deficit” at Forbes.

Read ‘You’re Done:’ Conservative Radio Host Fired Mid-Show for Criticizing Trump “I call things as I see them,” Craig Silverman wrote” at Rolling Stone, and remember, friends, that forced patriotism is fascism.

Read “Nikki Haley Used System for Unclassified Material to Send ‘Confidential’ Information” and wonder . . . but her e-mails . . . with the rest of us at The Daily Beast.

Read “Democrats in Congress reauthorize Patriot Act, again” at Boing Boing.

Read “Whatever Happened To Reality Winner? Reality Winner’s mom, Billie J. Winner-Davis, speaks out about her daughter and the effort to #FreeRealityWinner” at Rantt Media.

Read “Democrat Edwards wins reelection in conservative Louisiana” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Pete Buttigieg and Jim Wallis Discuss Christianity in Politics” at Juicy Ecumenism.

• Watch “Mayor Pete surges ahead in Iowa polling” at MSNBC.

• Read “The Generous Gospel of Mayor Pete Buttigieg talks with ‘Rolling Stone’ about faith, the religious left, and what the Mike Pences of the world get wrong” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Possible pay-to-play scheme for ambassador role in Trump administration uncovered by CBS News Emails obtained by CBS News show Trump’s nominee for ambassador to the Bahamas was asked by the RNC to donate half a million dollars as his confirmation in the Senate hung in the balance” at CBS.

Read “Amazon will pay $0 in taxes on $11,200,000,000 in profit for 2018” at Yahoo Finance.

Read “Two people showed up for ‘Straight Pride’ in Dallas. Yes, two” at Metro Weekly.

Read “Meth. We’re on It’: South Dakota’s Anti-Meth Campaign Raises Eyebrows” at New York Times.

Read "25 Years of Wilco: Tracing the Band’s Live Evolution Through Their Best Bootlegs” at Pitchfork.

Read “The kids of Wu-Tang Clan have formed their own Wu-Tang Clan” at AV Club.

Read “Church builds huge baby Jesus statue — that looks like Phil Collins” at New York Post.

See “Inside the vinyl archives of Berlin’s biggest music library” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “Spotify Announces Its Own Award Show” at Pitchfork.

Read “David Bazan talks about his music and watching Christianity be “co-opted by authoritarianism” at Vox: "For me, it’s heartbreaking over and over again. You just think, “Surely now they can see. Surely now they can see.” What do I do with that? Knowing that certain people that I love deeply, and depended on, are just going to go to their graves being stooges for fascism and authoritarianism? That’s still something I’m trying to make sense of."

Read “Chris Martin Says Coldplay Won’t Tour for Environmental Reasons” at Pitchfork.

Read “Nick Cave announces new autobiography and exhibition, ‘Stranger Than Kindness’ Read More: Nick Cave announces new autobiography and exhibition, ‘Stranger Than Kindness’ at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Trump’s Denials Turned into a Ramones Song: “I WANT NOTHING. I WANT NOTHING. I WANT NO QUID PRO QUO.” at Open Culture.

Read “How Countries Around the World Fund Music—and Why It Matters As President Trump eyes abolishing federal arts funding in the U.S., a survey of tax-supported music from Australia to Iceland reveals a complex, shifting landscape” at Pitchfork.

Read “How Poison frontman Bret Michaels went from glam-metal icon to Humanitarian of the Year” at AZ Central.

Read “Flying teapots and electric Camembert: the story of Gong, prog's trippiest band” at The Guardian.

Read “Noel Gallagher wants to play guitar for The Smiths if they ever reunite” at NME.

Read “Tiddas honoured for their fierce, bold, pioneering music” at The Age and listen to "Inanay" by Tiddas on Episode 05 of The Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.

Browse “Portrait of the Artist: An Oral History of David Berman at UVA” at Virginia.edu.

Read “Janet Weiss talks leaving Sleater-Kinney: “the new record was made sort of without me” Read More: Janet Weiss talks leaving Sleater-Kinney: “the new record was made sort of without me” at Brooklyn Vegan: “"I said, ‘am I just the drummer now?’ They said yes. And I said, ‘can you tell me if I am still a creative equal in the band?’ And they said no. So, I left."

Read “KISS played a show for great white sharks, but no sharks showed up” at Consequence of Sound.

Watch “Grateful Dead’s Mickey Hart plays the rhythm of the universe” at PBS.

Read “'One of the Best Yet' Is Another Gang Starr Classic” at PopMatters.

Read “Neil Young Will No Longer Use Facebook Because Of Its “Obvious Commitments” To Republicans” at Stereogum.

Read “Why Your Favorite Alt-Rock Legends Are Remixing Their Old Albums” at Vice.

Read “Wu-Tang Clan are getting their very own amusement park in South Korea” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “How Wes Anderson Perfected the Music-Nerd Soundtrack (from 2018)” at Pitchfork.

Read “That Time Michael Bolton Wrote a Song With Bob Dylan” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Lunachicks are back, announce first show in over a decade Read More: Lunachicks are back, announce first show in over a decade” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read/Listen to “Pete Townshend On Creativity, 'The Age Of Anxiety' And The Who's New Record” at NPR.

Read “Bonnie "Prince" Billy on Recording Others' Songs, Mourning David Berman and Long-Awaited 'I Made a Place' at Exclaim.

Read as Grimes tells NME “I think live music is going to be obsolete soon”.

Read “Bon Iver Share First Official Music Video Since 2012” at Pitchfork.

Read “‘Blurryface’ by Twenty One Pilots is the biggest-selling rock album of the decade” at NME.

Read “A new Gorillaz documentary is coming to theaters for one night only” at AV Club.

Read “The Timetravellin' Bob Dylan: On 'Bringing It All Back Home'“ at PopMatters.

Read “Taylor Swift Is Fighting With Her Former Record Label Again” at Spin.

Read “'Tis Already The Season To Argue About 'Baby, It's Cold Outside'“ at NPR.

Read “The Beatles: Abbey Road Changed Music History Forever” at Den Of Geek.

Browse “A Brief Guide to Metal In China” at Bandcamp.

Read “Kanye Announces Nebuchadnezzar Opera” at Pitchfork.

• Read “Kanye West put the wrong emperor on his Nebuchadnezzar opera invite It features Persian emperor Darius the Great, not the Babylonian king” at Consequence of Sound.

• Read “Kanye West teases Jesus Is King Part II with Dr. Dre” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Joe Henry's Next Second Chance” at NPR: “I'm not going to hide with this," Joe Henry said. "We're called to bear witness." Almost a year to the day since a grim diagnosis, Henry has released 'The Gospel According to Water,' an album as emotionally nuanced as he's ever made.”

Read “Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard, Poison Set 2020 Stadium Tour” at Rolling Stone.

See “AIR Studio Ruins: George Martin's Caribbean recording studio now rots within the shadow of an active volcano” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “How Do We Live With Music Made by Problematic Artists?” at Pitchfork.

Read “Nicolas Cage in talks to play Nicolas Cage in movie about Nicolas Cage” at CNet.

Read “How an Internet Obsession Resurrected a Creepy, Long-Lost Sesame Street Cartoon” at Slate.

Read “John Mulaney made a kids variety special with David Byrne & more for Netflix Read More: John Mulaney made a kids variety special with David Byrne & more for Netflix” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “The Bob's Burgers Movie Has Been Pulled from Disney's Release Schedule” at Paste.

Read “‘Sesame Street’ Is Highlighting a Forgotten Skill: Failing” at Forge.

Read “Beautiful Day' Director On Mister Rogers' 'Radical Notion': Telling Kids The Truth” at NPR.

Read “How The ‘Dora the Explorer’ Effect Helped Usher in a New Wave of Inclusive Animation” at Variety.

Read “Justice Department to change how studios distribute films by revoking decades-old rules Wiping out the Paramount consent decrees could completely alter the theater industry” at Consequence of Sound: “Under the new rules, a Netflix Multiplex, or a new Amazon subscription tier that includes two screenings a month in an actual cinema could come to fruition.”

Read “Todd Phillips to write and direct Joker sequel, wants to do more DC Comics origins movies” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Alan Moore: why I turned my back on Hollywood” at Guardian.

Read “Jay-Z says Colin Kaepernick turned his ‘legitimate workout’ into publicity stunt” at NY Daily News.

Read “'Our friendship was intimate on all levels': Robyn Crawford on her love for Whitney Houston” at The Guardian.

Read “Emily Dickinson’s Herbarium: A Forgotten Treasure at the Intersection of Science and Poetry” at Brain Pickings.

Read “Pizza Hut’s ‘Little Free Libraries’ Look Exactly Like Mini Pizza Huts” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “Wendell Berry on Delight as a Force of Resistance to Consumerism, the Key to Mirth Under Hardship, and the Measure of a Rich Life” at Brain Pickings.

Read “Proust on Why We Read “The end of a book’s wisdom appears to us as merely the start of our own, so that at the moment when the book has told us everything it can, it gives rise to the feeling that it has told us nothing” at Brain Pickings.

Read “Traveler Restaurant This small-town Connecticut restaurant gives each diner a free book from its vast library” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “The Guerrilla Girls Are Targeting MoMA Trustees Tied to Jeffrey Epstein With an Ad on a Phone Booth Outside the Museum” at Art.net.

Read “120,000 Ribbons Hover Where The Berlin Wall Once Stood To Mark The 30-Year Anniversary Of Its Fall” at Bored Panda.

Read “Police Foiled a Brazen Thief Who Tried Sneak Out of a London Museum With Two Rembrandts in Tow” at Art.net.

Read “Comic Sans Turns 25: Graphic Designer Vincent Connare Explains Why He Created the Most Hated Font in the World” at Open Culture.

Read “Baltimore Museum of Art will only acquire works from women next year: ‘You have to do something radical’" at Baltimore Sun.

Read “A Three-Story Mural Keith Haring Created for a Catholic Youth Center Sold for $3.9 Million—to the Chagrin of the Artist’s Foundation” at Art.net.

Read “Download 576 Free Art Books from The Metropolitan Museum of Art” at Open Culture.

Read “Frida Kahlo and Her Animalitos: An Illustrated Celebration of How the Pioneering Artist’s Love of Animals Shaped Her Character” at Brain Pickings.

Read “Amid Criticism and Controversy, the Guggenheim Museum Hires Its First Full-Time Black Curator” at The Root.

Read “Donald Trump’s Crazy Handwriting Is Now A Free Font Called Tiny Hand” at Fast Company.

Read/Watch “Why overuse of antibiotics is a massive, ‘staggering’ problem in health care” at PBS News Hour.

Read “It’s impossible to see the world as it is, argues a cognitive neuroscientist” at Aeon.

Read “An Oceanographer’s Amazing Algorithm That Removes Blue-Green Visual Distortion From Underwater Photos” at Laughing Squid.

Read “Scientists develop slippery toilet coating to stop poo sticking Spray-on surface could prevent bacteria building up and reduce household water use” at The Guardian.

Read “NASA Makes Their Entire Media Library Publicly Accessible and Copyright Free” at DIY Photography.

See “Excellent animation explains how an escalator works” at Boing Boing.

Read “60% of world's wildlife has been wiped out since 1970” at CBC.

See the “Paste Eater's Grave” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “Serial Killer Goblins May Be On the Loose in Zimbabwe” at Mysterious Universe.

See “Museum of Miniature Books” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “Bainbridge Township police: Man said he fired gun because he thought Bigfoot was trying to enter his home” at Cleveland 19.

Read “Arizona is the only state with an English-only education law. It's time to repeal it” at AZ Central.

Read “Arizona Man to Plead Guilty to Illegally Making Ammunition Bought by Las Vegas Shooter” at Time.

Read “Lyft announces plan to end service at Phoenix airport due to proposed fee” at KTAR.

Read “Amazon opens first physical bookstore in Arizona at Scottsdale Quarter” at AZ Central.

Read “Oscar Mayer Wienermobile to make stops in Valley this weekend” at KTAR.

Read “‘We need to act fast’: Statewide forum focuses on climate solutions for Arizona” at AZ Central.

Read “Tent city's closure saving Maricopa County millions” at AZ Family.

Read/Watch “Flyer for white supremacy group found in downtown Phoenix” at 12 News.

Read “Protesters want Valley Metro to stop police sweeps for light rail fares” at KTAR.

Read “Arizona Lawmaker Wants Armed Vets in Schools, Slams Funding For Counselors” at Phoenix New Times: “Arizona State Representative Jay Lawrence told New Times that "a couple Green Berets" at a school could deter a "bad actor" or possibly serve more mundane school functions, like breaking up fights.”

Read “Country’s 1st car-free neighborhood coming to Tempe in 2020” at KTAR.

The Weekly Town Crier (11/15/19)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (11/08/19 Edition).

Browse all the Weekly Town Crier posts so far.

Listen to all 52 episodes of The Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.

Listen to a mix of artists who have performed Habañero Collective house shows.

Browse the Musical Worldview posts.

R.I.P. Robert Freeman, Beatles photographer dies at 82

Read “Kanye West’s ‘Jesus Is King’ Sparks Biblical Searches” at Facts & Trends.

Read “What Freud Can Teach Us About Trump And His Christian Supporters” at Sojourners.

Read/Watch “Still teaching at 95, Jimmy Carter draws devotees to church His message is unfailingly about Jesus, not Jimmy Carter” at 12 News.

Read “PC(USA) Stated Clerk responds to questions on Trump’s membership: Donald Trump was baptized in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). However, there is no factual evidence that Mr. Trump currently holds membership in any local congregation. Therefore, the discipline process that would be necessary to remove him from membership is not applicable” at PCUSA.org.

Read “Paula White and the Mainstreaming of American Pentecostalism” at Red Letter Christians.

Read “Respect for pastors is at an all-time low. What would help? Nobody wants to be irrelevant. Yet how much can pastors really do to reverse the increasing lack of interest in organized religion and religious practice that shapes attitudes toward clergy?" at Christian Century.

Read “Why Jesus Followers Should Be Prison Abolitionists” at Red Letter Christians.

Read “Debt Is Holding Black Americans Hostage To break free, we need an honest conversation about reparations and forgiveness on a mass scale” at The Nation.

Read “I Went to Mexico to Meet Asylum-Seekers Trapped at the Border. This Is What I Saw” at ACLU.

Read “#EatingASandwichWhileBlack: Commuters Hold Protest After Cop Detains Black Man for 'Illegally Eating' at BART Station” at The Root.

Read “Trump ended DACA. This woman is suing to keep the program alive” at PRI.

Read “Second Trial Against Activist Who Helped Migrants To Begin” at KJZZ.

Read “The cursing president: Donald Trump is the first president to make C-SPAN unsuitable viewing for children” at The Week.

Read “Researchers Reveal Kids Who Get More Hugs Have More Developed Brains” at Healthy Food House.

Read “You Can Get A Master's In Medical Cannabis In Maryland” at NPR.

Read “Can I Get A Witness? The righteously, radical Campbellite core of Nashville by David Dark at Southern Foodways.

Read “The Alarming Message of Mattel’s “Gender-Neutral” Dolls” at Slate.

Read/Watch: “Mural of activist Greta Thunberg going up in San Francisco” at 12 News.

Read “Experts Worry Active Shooter Drills In Schools Could Be Traumatic For Students” at NPR.

Read “Indigenous people blocked Ecuador oil auction in growing fight to save Amazon” at Salon.

Read “Criminals may be banned from being near guns in New Zealand” at 12 News.

Read “Federal Court Rules That Border Officers Can’t Arbitrarily Search Our Electronic Devices” at ACLU.

Read “Demon Screens: For the last twelve years, social media, handheld devices, and video games have swept into teens’ lives like a tidal wave” at First Things.

Read/Listen to “Who Will Decide On The Dalai Lama's Successor — His Supporters Or Beijing?” at NPR.

Read “Nike designed a pair of comfortable sneakers just for medical workers, and all of the profits will go to a children's hospital” at Insider.

Read/Listen to “Detroit Public School Students Allege They Were Deprived Access To Literacy In Lawsuit: Many days were spent in freezing or mold-infested classrooms watching movies, sometimes without a teacher even in the room, plaintiffs allege. Textbooks were outdated. Lunch food was expired” at WBUR’s Here and Now.

Read: “Supreme Court Wrestles With Consequences for Piracy by State Governments” at The Hollywood Reporter.

Read “What We Learned From Reading Thousands Of Pages Of Impeachment Inquiry Transcripts” at NPR.

• Read “Lawyer for Ukraine whistleblower sends White House cease and desist letter to stop Trump’s attacks” at CNN.

• Read “Trump says he might attend Russia Victory Day events in May” at Reuters.

  Read “Impeaching Trump Is Imperative to Preserving Our Democracy: Trump’s first abuse of trust is the one our founders feared most: inviting a foreign power to interfere with our democracy,” at Time.

• Read “The Whistleblower Complaint Has Largely Been Corroborated. Here's How” at NPR.

• Read “What you learned about the impeachment hearing depended on what channel you watched” at Washington Post.

• Read “Trump Asks Supreme Court to Bar Release of His Tax Returns” at New York Times (just as one with nothing to hide does).

Read the New York Times opinion piece: “Multibillion-dollar fortunes are often called excessive and decadent. But here’s something they’re rarely called but ought to be: anti-democratic. These fortunes will destroy our democracy,"

Read “University of Florida student president faces impeachment after paying $50,000 for Don Jr. visit Michael Murphy is accused of using $50,000 of mandatory student fees "to further enrich" Trump and his girlfriend” at Salon.

Read “Trump adviser Stephen Miller injected white nationalist agenda into Breitbart, investigation reveals” at The Guardian.

• Read “Stephen Miller’s Affinity for White Nationalism Revealed in Leaked Emails” at Southern Poverty Law Center.

Read “Supreme Court Allows Sandy Hook Families' Case Against Remington Arms To Proceed” at NPR.

Read “Elijah Cummings' Widow Announces She's Running For His U.S. House Seat” at NPR.

Read “U.S. budget deficit surges to $134.5 billion in October” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Trump Official Punished Public Servant Over Her Iranian Heritage” at NPR.

Read “Tindersticks :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview.”

Read “Fox & Friends is throwing its support behind Kanye West’s presidential candidacy "When our current president announced that he was running, a lot of people laughed too" at Consequence of Sound.

• Read “Kanye West WIll Appear At Joel Osteen’s Sunday Service . . . Choir In Tow” at TMZ.

Read “Neil Young Says U.S. Citizenship Application Delayed By Marijuana Use” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Neil Young Wants You to Hear His Unreleased Music Before You Die “It’s a race against time,” Young writes of his ambitious plan to release a huge cache of unreleased albums to his fans in 2020” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Why David Byrne Became a U.S. Citizen After Six Decades” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Jeff Tweedy: Learning to Love the Music You Hate'“ at That Eric Alper.

Read “Dolly Parton: A Seeker and a Poor Sinful Creature” at Christianity Today.

Read “A Subversive History: An Interview with Music Historian Ted Gioia” at Image Journal.

Read “Spike Lee to direct hip-hop version of Romeo and Juliet” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “The Internet Archive Is Digitizing & Preserving Over 100,000 Vinyl Records: Hear 750 Full Albums Now” at Open Culture.

Read “The Spotify Blacklist Continues ⁠— Artist Faces Retaliation After Magazine Exclusive” at Digital Music News.

Read “Moby is an animal rights advocate, and he now has giant arm tattoos to prove it” at Consequence of Sound.

Hear “Iggy Pop, Frank Black Cover Jazz Great Mose Allison for New Tribute Album” at Rolling Stone.

Read “The Lijadu Sisters: the Nigerian twins who fought the elite with funk” at The Guardian and listen to “Orere Elejigbo” by Lijadu Sisters on Episode 17 of The Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.

Read “Meat Puppets & Mudhoney announce 2020 co-headlining tour Read More: Meat Puppets & Mudhoney announce 2020 co-headlining tour” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “The Monkees Announce 2020 Tour Dates, New Live Album” at Rolling Stone.

Browse “Ryley Walker :: A Roundup” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Read “Rod Stewart Spent More Than Twenty Years Building a Model Train Railroad” at Flood.

Browse Crack Magazine’s picks for the top 100 albums of the decade.

Read “Andy Partridge Looks Back at XTC” at Culture Sonar.

Browse “The Story of Outlaw Country in 33 Songs” at Pitchfork.

Read “Grateful Dead Announce Soundtrack Featuring Rare Live Recordings To Accompany Forthcoming Graphic Novel’ at Live For Live Music.

Read “Black Crowes Reunite, Plot 2020 ‘Shake Your Money Maker’ Tour” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Silence, presence, and challenging conventions – thoughts on John Cage’s 4’33”' at Crosseyed Pianist.

Read “Trump Opens New Portal to Hell By Promoting #MAGACHALLENGE Rap Contest on Twitter” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Country Music Veteran Trent Reznor Nabs His First CMA Award” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Michael Jackson’s Estate Acquires Sly and the Family Stone’s Catalogue” at Vulture.

Read “When Christ Came for Kanye” at Think Christian.

• Read “Kanye’s ‘Jesus Is King’ is Superficially Gospel” at Sojourners.

Watch “a new film celebrating 30 years of record shop and label Mr Bongo” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “Robert Johnson Biopic Reportedly In The Works From Oscar-Winning ‘Spider-Man’ Director” at Live For Live Music.

Read “Hall & Oates announce 2020 tour, dates w/ Squeeze & KT Tunstall Read More: Hall & Oates announce 2020 tour, dates w/ Squeeze & KT Tunstall” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Bob Weir & Wolf Bros Announce Early-2020 Tour Dates” at JamBase.

Read “'Sesame Street' celebrates 50 years on the air” at 12 News.

Read “Kevin Feige: Disney buying Marvel was the 'greatest thing that ever happened to us' "If Disney hadn't bought us, you wouldn't have seen the movies we've made since then” at CNet.

Read ‘Michael Jackson’s Simpsons episode kept off of Disney+” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Zoinks, Scooby-Doo gets a new origin story in this trailer for Scoob!” at AV Club.

Read “NBC renews Brooklyn Nine-Nine for season 8” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Werner Herzog on Why He Didn’t Need to See ‘Star Wars’ Films for ‘The Mandalorian’ Role” at Variety.

Read “Disney+ warns viewers about past racism, but not as well as Warner Bros. 53 Disney’s 1941 Dumbo is a prime example” at The Verge.

Read “Keanu Reeves plays a Sage named Sage in first trailer for The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Noel Fielding is writing a new Netflix series about a magical record player” at NME.

Read “The Day Dostoyevsky Discovered the Meaning of Life in a Dream” at Brain Pickings.

Read “Graphic Adaptation Of 'Heart Of Darkness' Takes On Canonical Racism, Artfully” at NPR.

Read “Woman Turned 110-Year-Old Dead Tree Into A Free Little Library For The Neighborhood And It Looks Magical” at Bookish Buzz.

Read “A Group of Middle Eastern Artists Was Denied Entry to the US to Attend the Opening of Their Own MoMA PS1 Show” at Artnet.

Read “Artists are turning the U.S.-Mexico border fence into the world’s longest peace-themed mural” at Inhabit.

Read “A New Museum Dedicated to Picasso and Giacometti Is Launching in Beijing Next Year” at Artnet.

Read: “Wine Kills Germs That Cause Sore Throats and Dental Plaque, Says Awesome Study” at Maxim.

Read “A Tiny Species That Looks Part-Deer, Part-Mouse Was Missing for Nearly 30 Years. Scientists Just Found It” at Live Science.

Read “This nightmare fish with a human face is reminding people of Dreamcast's Seaman” at AV Club.

Read “I Thought Being a Health Care Reporter Would Make Cancer Easier. I Was Wrong. Nothing can prepare you for the immense number of complicated, sometimes life-or-death decisions the disease forces you to make about your own treatment” at Politico.

Read “Speech-Language Pathologist Teaches Her Dog to Communicate Through a Custom Button Talking Board” at Laughing Squid.

Read: “Two Guys In Mexico Just Created Vegan Leather From Cactus” at VegNews.

• Read “Wu Tang Clan Is Making Vegan Wallets Made Of Bananas” at Truth Theory.

Read “Overactive Brain Has Been Linked to a Shorter Life Want to live longer? Quiet your mind” at Medium.

Read “Bob Dylan's Heaven's Door 'Bootleg Series' Is a Rare 26-Year-old Whisky Finished in Japanese Oak Barrels: The 111.5 proof whisky comes in a bottle adorned with a Dylan painting and inside a collectible leather journal” at Maxim.

Read: “EPA Data: Phoenix Has Highest Levels in U.S. of Carcinogenic Gas Ethylene Oxide” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “Arizona school districts suing e-cigarette maker Juul” at KTAR.

Read “Andy Warpigs on Building a Local Music Community” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “Federal judge says Arizona prisons too broadly censor publications inmates can see” at Tucson.com.

Read “How the Disney/Fox Merger Is Affecting Local Independent Movie Theaters” at Phoenix New Times.

The Weekly Town Crier (11/01/19)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (11/01/19 Edition).

Browse all the Weekly Town Crier posts so far.

Listen to all 52 episodes of The Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.

Listen to a mix of artists who have performed Habañero Collective house shows.

Browse the Musical Worldview posts.

Read “John Witherspoon Dies: ‘Friday’ & ‘Wayans Bros.’ Star Was 77” at Deadline.

Read “Longest Serving Black Congressman John Conyers Jr. Passes Away at 90” at The Root.

Read “Little Feat Guitarist Paul Barrere Dead at 71” at Rolling Stone.

Read Religion News Service’s opinion piece: “Christianity as we know it is dying. Let’s welcome the new life ahead.”

Read Christianity Today’s piece: “The Apostles Never ‘Shared’ the Gospel, and Neither Should We Why it’s time to retire our favorite evangelistic phrase.”

Read RNS’ report: “Jury convicts 7 Catholic pacifists of breaking into nuclear submarine base.”

Read “Biden denied communion at SC parish” at Catholic News Agency.

Read “Leadership Has Replaced Discipleship And how the internet is transforming the Church” at Medium.

Read Christianity Today’s piece: “The Latest Multisite Campus: Prison.”

Read “The Church Needs a Masterclass in How to Apologize for Sexual Assault” at Christ and Pop Culture.

Read Slate’s piece “Jerry Falwell Jr. Says Kanye Called Him Out of the Blue and They “Struck Up a Little Friendship”.

Read “Demon of Disunity” at First Things.

Read “White Christian Nationalism, Not Secularism, Is Destroying America” at Sojourners.

Read “Evangelism Isn’t About Results The Parable of the Sower frees us from our desire for resolution” at Christianity Today.

Read “Kanye says God rewarded him with $68 million tax refund for becoming born-again Christian” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Pastors, friendship, and the limits of boundaries What use are boundaries when you’re sitting with a friend who is about to die?” at Christian Century.

Read “What did the Jesuits have to do with the invention of the horror film?” at American Magazine.

Read/Listen to: “With Plans To Pay Slavery Reparations, Two Seminaries Prompt A Broader Debate.”

Read “A Nazi Flag Was Hanging in a California Corrections Office, Which Totally Makes Sense” at The Root.

Read “High school athlete disqualified at cross-country meet for wearing hijab” at Yahoo.

Read The Root’s report: “Study Finds a Medical Algorithm Favors White Patients Over Sicker Black Ones.”

Read “Southern Baptist church: Racial prejudice a factor in rejection of black pastor” at Religion News Service.

Read “When NY Ended Money Bail, a Prosecutor Trained DAs to Keep People in Jail” at The Root.

Read “These are the new symbols of hate: “In Sept 2019, the Anti-Defamation League released an updated list of hate-related symbols, hand signs and numbers. Among them was a familiar, seemingly innocent gesture: the "OK" sign” at CNN.

Read “An Interview With the Mayor Who Banned Trick-or-Treating for Anyone Over 12” at Slate.

Read/watch CBS’ piece: “An alternative to police: Mental health team responds to emergencies in Oregon.”

Read CNBC’s report: “It’s not just experiences—spending on objects makes us happy, too.”

Read Barna’s piece: “82% of Young Adults Say Society Is in a Leadership Crisis.”

Read “How a Texas Custody Case Became a Terrifying Right-Wing Talking Point” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Why the most successful students have no passion for school” at Aeon.

Read “Lyft offering free rides to job interviews and first 3 weeks of employment” at WFLA.

Read “Ted Danson's the latest celebrity to get arrested at Jane Fonda's weekly climate change protest” at AV Club.

Read/Listen to “Smartphone Dependency Study Links Anxiety, Depression And Loneliness” at KJZZ.

Read as The Millions considers “The Cockroach Decade: The 1970's have become an unkillable source of inspiration for writers and filmmakers, the scummy well that refuses to run dry. What is the secret of its durable appeal?"

Read “At long last, an oral history of Chuck E. Cheese's nightmare robots” at AV Club.

Read Boing Boing’s report: “Disney theme parks have a serious problem with cremain-scattering.”

Watch “The Myth of Sisyphus Wonderfully Animated in an Oscar-Nominated Short Film” from 1974 at Open Culture.

Read “Hyundai plans to launch a free robot taxi service in California” at The Verge.

Read as USA Today wonders “Texas gun laws: What happens when ‘good guys’ have guns?”

Read “Dissent Erupts at Facebook Over Hands-Off Stance on Political Ads” at the New York Times.

Read “Day of the Dead: From Aztec goddess worship to modern Mexican celebration” at Religion News Service.

Read “Facebook and the shameful media tradition of enabling Breitbart hate” at Daily Kos.

Read “Aaron Sorkin to Mark Zuckerberg: "Facebook isn't defending speech, it's assaulting truth"“ at AV Club.

See “dazzling pictures of Diwali, the festival of lights” at National Geographic.

Read ESPN’s piece “NCAA clears way for athletes to profit from names, images and likenesses.”

Read Wired’s piece: “Trump's Presidency Has Spawned a New Generation of Witches.”

Read NBC’s report: “California's first surgeon general: Screen every student for childhood trauma.”

Read Boing Boing’s piece: “70% of millennials would vote for a socialist.”

• Read “What is democratic socialism, and where is it headed?” at Christian Century.

Read NPR’s report: “U.S. Travel Ban Disrupts The World's Largest Brain Science Meeting.”

Read/Watch 12 News’ report: “5,460 migrant children separated from parents under Trump in new tally Children who were separated early during the administration can be difficult to find because the government had inadequate tracking systems.”

Read NPR’s report: “As President Trump Tweets And Deletes, The Historical Record Takes Shape: President Trump's tweets are considered part of the official presidential record — which federal law says must be preserved. His tendency to tweet and delete is alarming experts, and prompting grassroots archival efforts.”

• Read “Twitter Says It Will No Longer Run Political Advertisements, Trolls Facebook” at Rolling Stone.

Read CNBC’s report: “Federal deficit increases 26% to $984 billion for fiscal 2019, highest in 7 years.”

Read “Mitt Romney: a solitary GOP voice battling Trump for the soul of the Republican Party” at USA Today.

Read “In-N-Out Burger donates $25,000 to Republican Party, prompting Democrats to demand boycott” at USA Today.

Read The Guardian’s piece: “Make no mistake: Medicare for All would cut taxes for most Americans.”

Read Washington Post’s piece: “Mike Pence’s inconsistent support for free speech in professional sports: The vice president’s criticism of athletes failing to speak out against a government behaving unethically appears to be quite the pivot from how he has previously responded to those mixing sports and activism.”

Read NBC’s post: “Rudy Giuliani butt-dials NBC reporter, heard discussing need for cash and trashing Bidens.”

Read “Trump gets cheers, boos and 'lock him up' chants at World Series in DC” at CNN.

Read “Obama Calls Out Online Call-Out Culture: ‘That’s Not Activism’ “The world is messy. There are ambiguities. People who do really good stuff have flaws” at Rolling Stone.

Read PBS News Hour’s report: “Trump’s conservative picks will impact courts for decades

Read Rolling Stone’s report: “Trump Has Officially Weaponized the Justice Department to Go After His Rivals.’

Read PBS’s report: “Pentagon told impeachment inquiry witness not to testify.”

• Read NPR’s report: “Democrats Say White House Is Interfering As Russia Review Becomes A Criminal Case.”

• Read PBS News’ Hours’s report: “Judge: DOJ must hand over Mueller grand jury evidence to House Democrats.”

• Read “House Passes Resolution Formalizing Impeachment Inquiry” at NPR.

Read Consequence of Sound’s review of the new Kanye West album ‘Jesus Is King’: “Kanye West Even Bores God with the Passionless Jesus Is King Twenty-seven minutes of cliches, half-finished thoughts, and vaguely religious gesturing.”

• Read as the New Yorker weighs in.

• Read NPR’s opinion piece: “Forgotten: The Things We Lost In Kanye's Gospel Year.”

• Read “Church Of Satan responds to Jesus Is King: "Satan is the best friend Kanye has ever had” at AV Club.

• Read “Yeezus Follows Jesus” at First Things.

• Read “Kanye West’s JESUS IS KING Is a Divine Failure For the first time in his career, Kanye has released something entirely boring and forgettable” at Paste.

• Read “On Jesus Is King, Kanye West Finds God, But Loses His Inspiration” at Time.

• Read “Kanye was Christ-haunted long before 'Jesus Is King' at the Catholic Herald.

• Read Stereogum’s “Premature Evaluation: Kanye West Jesus Is King.”

• Read “Evangelicals Are Extremely Excited About Kanye’s Jesus Is King” at Slate.

• Read “Kanye West Reaches for Greatness But Falls Short on ‘Jesus Is King’ at Rolling Stone.

• Read Pitchfork’s review: “Christianity is the unwavering focus of Kanye’s gospel album, a richly produced but largely flawed record about one man’s love of the Lord (and himself).”

• Read “All the Wrong People Love Jesus Is King” at The Root.

• Read as Shane Claiborne wonders “Is Jesus king of Kanye’s bank account?” at Religion News Service.

• Read “Gospel Music Doesn’t Need Kanye’s Remixing” at The Root.

• Read “Why Trump — not Jesus — is at the heart of white Christian love for Kanye” by Andre Henry at Religions News Service.

Read CNN’s report: “Kirk Franklin’s Dove Awards speech was edited to cut remarks on police brutality in America. It wasn't the first time.

• Read Christian Post’s piece “Lecrae, Natalie Grant, gospel stars join Kirk Franklin in boycott of TBN, Dove Awards.”

Read/Watch “Bruce Springsteen: Trump ‘Doesn’t Have a Grasp’ on What It Means to Be American “The stewardship of the nation has been thrown away to somebody who don’t have a clue what that means,” singer tells CBS This Morning” at Rolling Stone.

Read about two of my favorite 2019 albums: “75 Dollar Bill and Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society yield plenty from the leanest of materials” by Peter Margasak.

Watch the trailer for “Thumbs Up for Mother Universe; The Lonnie Holley Story” at Vimeo.

Read “A duel with Van Morrison: 'Is this a psychiatric examination? It sounds like one'" at The Guardian.

• Read as Jason Woodbury reviews the new Van Morrison album for Pitchfork.

Read an interview with Garcia Peoples at Echoes and Dust.

Read/Listen as NPR wonders “Can Dolly Parton Heal America?”

Read “The Entire Archive of Contact: A Journal for Contemporary Music Has Been Digitized and Put Online” at Open Culture.

Read “Tommy Boy says Amazon is selling counterfeit vinyl copies of their albums Read More: Tommy Boy says Amazon is selling counterfeit vinyl copies of their albums” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “John Fogerty Uses His Canceled Woodstock 50 Payment to Buy a Home for a Veteran” at Variety.

Watch “Kim Gordon interviewed: “The end of capitalism is coming” at NME.

Read “Miles Davis Albums To Be Collected In Box Set” at Quietus.

Read “The New Linda Ronstadt Documentary Proves Just How Underrated She Is” at Pitchfork.

Read “Rolling Thunder Revue: Bob Dylan Bandmate David Mansfield Reminisces On The Notorious Tour” at Live For Live Music.

Read “Small but perfectly formed: a love letter to the EP, the unsung hero format of the music world” at NME.

Read “How Bill Graham Became A Legend Of The San Francisco Music Scene” at Live For Live Music.

Read New York Times’ report: “A Musical Revolt Succeeds: WNYC, in a Reversal, Keeps ‘New Sounds’".

Read Spin’s report: “Twisted Sister Would Really Like Fox & Friends to Stop Using Their Music.”

Read “Trent Reznor On The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame: “I’ve Changed My Opinion” at Stereogum.

Read Exclaim’s report: “Morrissey Signed Other People's Albums to Sell as Merch.”

Read “Kill your darlings”: An interview with Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat World” at Tone Deaf.

Read “Daft Punk's 'Random Access Memories' Tops Discogs' List of the Top 200 Albums of the 2010s” at Billboard.

Read “How Bob Dylan’s ‘Make You Feel My Love’ Became a Modern Standard” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Ringo Starr on finding out about John Lennon’s death: “I didn’t know what to do” at NME.

Read PItchfork’s piece: “Rainbo Records Vinyl Pressing Plant Closing After 80 Years The historic California company is shutting down following their landlord’s decision to no longer house manufacturers.”

Read “Grace Slick Licenses Song To Chick-fil-A, Gives Proceeds To LGBTQ Rights Organization” at Live For Live Music.

Listen to “CHAI Talks with Stef Smith (Varsity) for the Talkhouse Podcast Grab your headphones for Talkhouse’s first ever bilingual conversation” at Talk House and listen to CHAI on Episode 44 of The Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.

Read “This Twin Peaks explainer is good—it’s also 4 1/2 hours long” at AV Club.

Browse “Ten Essential Music BiographiesTen Essential Music Biographies” at The Millions.

Read Boing Boing’s report: “The Internet Archive's Open Library will let you sponsor a book, paying for it to be scanned.”

Read WUWM’s piece “Laundromat Libraries Aim To Boost Literacy In Milwaukee.”

Read Wired’s piece: “Stan Lee’s ‘A Trick of Light’ Explores the Dark Side of the Internet.”

Read “We Should All Be Reading Ancient Poetry Right Now” at The Millions.

Read “These Rare Classic Children’s Books Can Now Be Read Online for Free” at Bookish Buzz.

Read “Bowie’s Bookshelf: A New Essay Collection on The 100 Books That Changed David Bowie’s Life” at Open Culture.

See “The Paintings of Miles Davis: Discover Visual Art Inspired by Kandinsky, Basquiat, Picasso, and Joni Mitchell” at Open Culture.

Read “The Beauty of Degraded Art: Why We Like Scratchy Vinyl, Grainy Film, Wobbly VHS & Other Analog-Media Imperfection” at Open Culture.

Read “Egon Schiele on What It Means to Be an Artist and Why Visionaries Always Come from the Minority” at Brain Pickings.

Read “Cats Might Not Act Like It, But They Know Their Names As Well As Dogs, Study Says” at NPR.

Read Live Science’s piece: “Your Brain 'Shields' Itself from the Existential Threat of Death.”

Read “Secret Air Force Space Plane Lands After More Than 2 Years In Orbit” at NPR.

Read “How science has shifted our sense of identity” at Nature.

Read “State of Health Report Shows Growing Despair Among American Men” at Yahoo.

Read as NPR considers “Crows: Are They Scary Or Just Scary-Smart?”

Read “Where Did the Carter White House's Solar Panels Go? One of the 32 solar-thermal panels that captured energy on the roof of the White House more than 30 years ago landed this week at a science museum in China” at Scientific American.

Read/Listen to “How Deep Sleep May Help The Brain Clear Alzheimer's Toxins” at NPR.

Consider “Point/counterpoint: What’s the best shape of fried pickles?” at The Takeout.

Read “An American Cheese Won the World Cheese Awards for the First Time Ever” at Food and Wine.

Read “Irish Whiskey Is So Popular That It Gets Its Own Festival in New York City” at The Manual.

Read “The Dark Side of the ‘Angel’s Share’ Kentucky’s bourbon industry is covering its neighbors in black fungus” at Atlas Obscura.

Read Craft Beer.com’s piece: “Smithsonian Set to Showcase Brewing History.”

Read Atlas Obscura’s piece “Scottish Singles Used to Spend Halloween Picking Kale The leafy green once foretold the future.”

Read “The First Prank Calls Were Surprisingly Morbid” at Atlas Obscura.

Read about the Swiss town where they age cheese for their own funerals at Atlas Obscura.

Read KTAR’s report: “Mesa man recieves prison sentence for trying to smuggle guns into Mexico.”

Read “Down and Out: Four Venues From the Phoenix Punk Heyday” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “St. Luke’s Phoenix hospital to close next month due to drop in patients” at KTAR.

Read KJZZ’s report “Apple Co-Founder's Woz U Gives Up Postsecondary License In Arizona.”

Read “Wren House Brewing to open offsite barrel & lager facility this spring” at Mouth By Southwest.

Read “Goldwater Brewing’s new northeast Mesa taproom construction ‘on schedule’ at Mouth By Southwest.

Read KTAR’s report: “Mayor Gallego pushing for Phoenix to host Democratic presidential debate.”

Read “Phoenix School Investigating Officer's Use of Pepper Spray, Handcuffs on Students” at Phoenix New Times.

The Weekly Town Crier (09/06/19)

All the News that’s fit to cry about. 09/06/19 edition.

Browse all the Weekly Town Crier posts so far.

Listen to all 52 episodes of The Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.

Listen to a mix of artists who have performed Habañero Collective house shows.

Browse the Musical Worldview posts.

Stream or download a mix that I’ve been listening to in the car during Summer 2019.

Read “Study Shows Increasing Political Divide Between Younger and Older White Evangelicals” at Sojourners.

Watch a tour of a “paranormal bookstore at the Jersey Shore.”

Read PopMatters piece: “Bananarama Turn Up the 'Stereo' for Their First Album in 10 Years.”

Hear “5 Hours of Edgar Allan Poe Stories Read by Vincent Price & Basil Rathbone" at Open Culture.

Read “An Oral History Of The Fender Telecaster” at Guitar.com.

Read Relevant’s report: “Earlier this week, Justin Bieber led worship at a Churchome service in Beverly Hills.”

Read Rolling Stone’s report that “Ariana Grande Sues Forever 21 for $10 Million.”

Read Live For Live Music’s report that “Miles Davis’ Customized ‘Moon And Stars’ Trumpet To Be Sold At Auction.”

Read “Hang on the Box: The Illustrated Story of China’s Female Punk Pioneers” at radiichina.com.

Read CNN’s report: “Walmart ends all handgun ammunition sales and asks customers not to carry guns into stores.”

• Read CNBC’s report: “Kroger joins Walmart in asking shoppers not to openly carry guns in stores.”

• Read Walgreens’ statement: “We are joining other retailers in asking our customers to no longer openly carry firearms into our stores other than authorized law enforcement officials.”

• Read NBC News’ report: “Walgreens, CVS and Wegmans join Walmart and Kroger in asking customers to no longer openly carry guns in their stores.”

Read PopSugar’s profile: “Skateboarding Legend Peggy Oki on the Olympics and 40 Years of Smashing Gender Expectations.”

Aloo Gobhi - Instant Pot.

Read Washington Posts’s piece: “It’s a brave new world. Why is our protest music stuck in the past?”

See a newly discovered “Shimmery blue tarantula.”

Read Atlas Obscura’s piece: “The World’s First Piranha Ramen Is No Joke.”

Read about “The Spectacular Failure of the World's Only Hard Rock Theme Park” at Vice.

Read Newsweek’s report that a “Teenager Went Blind After Only Eating Fries, Chips, White Bread, Sausages and Ham Since Elementary School.”

Consider “Bob Dylan’s Overlooked Christian Music” at Sojourners.

Read as Washington Post profiles The Hold Steady.

Stream a new Iggy Pop song at Spin.

Listen as “Animal Collective covered the Silver Jews' "Ballad of Reverend War Character."

Read NPR’s piece: “The Voice That Shattered Glass How Ella Fitzgerald's cassette campaign fueled a late-career renaissance.”

Learn “How peacock spiders use optical illusions to woo females” at National Geographic.

Read: “John Steinbeck on Falling in Love: A 1958 Letter of Advice to His Lovesick Teenage Son” at Brain Pickings.

Read CNN’s report: “Judge rules White House must give Playboy columnist Brian Karem his press pass back.”

Read about the Banksy artwork stolen in Paris.

See Relevant’s report: “The Thomas Kinkade/Godzilla Mashup You Knew Was Coming Is Finally Here.”

Read AV Club’s piece: “The Art Bell Vault is unlocked, and it's filled with aliens, time travelers, and Bigfoots.”

Read about Atlas Obscura’s piece: “Found in a Record Store: Kurt Cobain’s Royalty Check.”

Read Fatherly’s report that “Netflix Is Ditching the Binge, Will Start Releasing Episodes Weekly.”

Read about the Nashville school banning Harry Potter books, claiming that the books present the "risk conjuring evil spirits".

Free on September 18 and in Phoenix? Celebrate National Bourbon Month w/ Free Whiskey Tasting at the Little Woody.

Browse the piece: “Guinea Pig Halloween Costumes Exist, and Yup, That Is Definitely a Pineapple Suit” at

Read Music Radar’s interview with Peter Hook: Peter Hook: “I’ve never liked to be hidden, and I don’t like to be patronised. I don’t buy into the idea that the bass player is the quiet one”

“Hear Neil Young and Crazy Horse’s New Song ‘Milky Way’ at Rolling Stone.PopSugar.

Read/Listen to NPR’s report: “Charlottesville Victims Use Post-Slavery KKK Law To Go After Hate Groups.”

Read as Gen.Medium suggests: “Public Libraries Aren’t Going Extinct — They’re Evolving.”

Read about the TN man suing “Popeyes for running out of chicken sandwiches.”

Watch/Read: “Expert predicts 25% of colleges will "fail" in the next 20 years” at CBS News.

Read/Listen to NPR’s report “Houses Of Worship Find New Life After Congregations Downsize.”

R.I.P. Valerie Harper.

Browse as Book Riot profiles “11 Nonfiction Science Comics For Adults.”

Read National Post’s report: “Secret John Coltrane album was 'hidden in plain sight' as soundtrack for 1964 French-Canadian film.”

Join Rolling Stone in wondering: What is a VSCO Girl?

Read KQED’s report: “San Francisco Officials Designate NRA a Domestic Terrorist Organization.”

Browse Rolling Stone’s list of “15 Legendary Unreleased Albums.”

My friend’s son Andy Whiten says: “I updated my site with some recent photo work, film, & more! I’d love to take on additional photo projects when time allows, so if you have any photography needs, you can view my work and contact me here!” Visit andywhiten.com.

Watch a new video from The Messthetics; “Touch Earth Touch Sky”, at Stereogum.

Read as Aquarium Drunkard interviews Tinariwen.

Read as the New York Times profiles Stephen King.

The Weekly Town Crier (08/30/19)

All the week’s news that’ fit to cry about.

Listen to all 52 episodes of The Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.

Listen to a mix of artists who have performed Habañero Collective house shows.

Watch as “Meat Loaf discusses the music in 'Bat Out of Hell The Musical'.

Read as Relevant magazine wonders: “Why did Jerry Falwell Jr. reportedly steer the sale of $1.2 million in Liberty property to his young personal trainer for no money down, a low interest rate and then have the school lease part of it back from him?”

Read Slate’s piece: “Governing by Owning the Libs When a president’s entire motivation is to antagonize the people who didn’t vote for him.”

Read and wonder: “Bake Off fans in love with Noel Fielding’s Dinosaur Jr. jumper - can you buy it?”

Read Relevant’s piece: “Whoa, Benny Hinn Is Rejecting the Prosperity Gospel: ‘I’m Correcting My Theology’".

Read/Listen to “Columnfortably Numb: Psych Rock For September Reviewed By JR Moores” at Quietus.

Read Pitchfork’s report: “R.E.M. Announce Monster Reissue With Unreleased Music The six-disc 25th anniversary edition comes with unheard demos and a live performance.”

Browse as the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival announces its 2019 lineup.

Read Raw Story’s report: “Infowars’ Sandy Hook appeal goes down in flames as judge orders Alex Jones to ‘pay all costs’.

Read Open Culture’s piece: “Why Should You Read Haruki Murakami? An Animated Video on His “Epic Literary Puzzle” Kafka on the Shore Makes the Case.”

Read Stereogum’s report: “Ohio Man Sues After Legless Juggalo Crashes Into Him With A Golf Cart At Insane Clown Posse Gathering: He was operating the golf cart peddles with a baseball bat.”

Read Travel and Leisure’s piece: “These Key West Hotels Offer Waterproof Books You Can Read in the Pool.”

Read Phoenix New Times’ report: “Former Revolver Records Building Will Become Evolve Arts Space in Roosevelt Row.”

Read NPR’s piece: “After Months In A Dish, Lab-Grown Minibrains Start Making 'Brain Waves'.

Help Janet Weiss Get Back On Her Feet at GoFundMe.

So, Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters wanted to start a petition to get Oasis to reunite so Noel Gallagher says he wants to start a petition to get Foo Fighters to break up. Read about it at NME.

See “Inside Jazz Great Dave Brubeck's Groovy Connecticut Home” at Town and Country.

Read as Wisconsin Public Radio wonders: “What Ever Happened To The Pop Song Fade-Out? The History Behind Bringing A Song To Silence.”

Read as The Hollywood Reporter reports that Audible is being sued by U.S. Publishers over the question of whether or not transcripts of audio books are . . . books.

Read Slate’s report “Netflix Confirms Rumors: Breaking Bad Movie Will Be Released in October.”

Read Consequence of Sound’s report: “Leslie Jones, Alec Baldwin exit SNL.”

I didn't know who Bret Stephens was until this week. Now he will always be the Bedbug Guy. See what tattling can do to you, kids?!

Read Stereogum’s report that Xylouris White (featured on Episode 03 of the Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow) have announced their new album The Sisypheans and shared a new video.

Read Rolling Stone’s report: “Sting Condemns Brazil’s Handling of Amazon Fires: ‘We Will All Suffer the Consequences’Sting Condemns Brazil’s Handling of Amazon Fires: ‘We Will All Suffer the Consequences’

Read the Washington Posts’s report: “Mormon leaders explicitly ban guns from houses of worship.”

Read Jambands.com’s report: “Phil Lesh Cancels Festival Appearances to Undergo Back Surgery.”

Browse “The Most Disgusting Canned Foods” at Ranker.

Head to Facebook and RSVP for John Doe’s book signing at Zia Records Chandler.

Consider “Back in the Habit: Creedal Faith and “Sister Act” at Mockingbird.

Read about the “Teen who registered people to vote as they waited in line at Popeyes.”

Visit Live For Live Music to “Celebrate Oteil Burbridge’s 55th Birthday With His Dead & Co Lead Vocal Debuts.”

Read Consequence of Sound’s report: “Eva Longoria to direct Flamin’ Hot Cheetos movie Flamin' Hot will tell the story of the man behind the popular snack.”

Read “Kim Gordon interview: on art, life after Sonic Youth and her debut solo album, No Home Record” at The Times.

Read “More UFOs Than Ever Before” at The Paris Review.

Watch The Muppets perform “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

Read about the garbage man who “saved 25,000 books and turned them into a library. The pictures are amazing.”

Read AV Club’s piece “How can you not check out a movie called The VelociPastor?”

Read PopSugar’s report: “Disney's New Pixar Movie, Soul, Will Feature Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, and a Whole Lotta Jazz.”

Listen to the Christianity Today podcast episode: “Grief Is Inevitable. It Doesn't Have to Be Inevitably Lonely.”

Read Pitchfork’s report: “Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross Scoring New Pixar Movie Soul.”

Read the Washington Post’s piece: “Dairy Queen burgers are not made of human flesh, a county coroner is forced to confirm.”

Read Nippon’s profile: ““Sazae-san” and “Chibi Maruko-chan”: Two of Japan’s Most Beloved Anime.”

Read: “Get Involved, Internet: Help They Might Be Giants raise money for separated families and asylum-seeking minors” at AV Club.”

Browse “The Story of Outlaw Country in 33 Songs” at Pitchfork.

Read Rolling Stone’s report: “'It Was One Problem After Another': How Woodstock 50 Fell Apart.”

Browse Pitchfork’s picks for “The 25 Best Music Videos of the 1970s.”

Read Consequence of Sound’s report “Peter Murphy has “made a full recovery” after suffering heart attack.”

Browse Barack Obama’s 2019 Summer Playlist.

Read AV Club’s report: “Black Panther II is coming in 2022.”

Browse the Englewood Review of Books’ list of “Fall 2019 Most Anticipated Books for Christian Readers!”

Read Christianity Today’s piece: “How Prison Ministry Inspired an All-Female Audio Bible.”

Read Bandcamp’s piece “The Indonesian Underground: From Its Political Roots to the Present Day.”

Read Rolling Stone’s piece: “The Young and the Sexless There’s a new sexual revolution going on: young men and women getting off on not getting it on. Meet the Christian soldiers who are fighting the fire down below.”

Read Pro Publica’s piece: “How Amazon and Silicon Valley Seduced the Pentagon.”

Watch the live-action Lady and the Tramp trailer at Rolling Stone.

Watch Bob Weir sit in with Old Crow Medicine Show and Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians.

Read The Guardian’s piece: “'My father said I should be looking after the cows': the first female Tuareg guitarist: Fatou Seidi Ghali once had to practise on her brother’s guitar in secret. She and her band, Les Filles de Illighadad, are now taking the world by storm.” Listen to Les Filles de Illighadad on Episode 46 of the Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.

Read Vinyl Factory’s report: “Tricky announces his autobiography, Hell Is Round The Corner.”

Read The Atlantic’s report: “The Proud Boys’ Real Target They are endangering both American citizens and American ideals at large.”

Read as New York Times considers “How Feist’s ‘1234’ Turned Into a ‘Sesame Street’ Blockbuster.”

Read America: A Jesuit Review’s piece: “We need to stop reacting to Trump—and start responding. There’s a big difference.”

Read: “Jerry Garcia on Saving the World’s Rainforests: 30 years ago, Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead spoke to High Times about preserving the rainforests.”

Read about the “Foucault Pendulum at the Franklin Institute” at Atlas Obscura.

Read as the Phoenix New Times reports “The Full Lineup for the 2019 Apache Lake Music Festival.”

R.I.P. “David Koch, conservative donor and philanthropist.”

R.I.P. Neal Casal.

R.I.P. Pedro Bell (??/??/?? - 08/27/19)

R.I.P. Donnie Fritts (11/08/42 - 08/27/19)

Wonder “What Does an Ancient Pot Sound Like?” at Pitchfork.

Read “Meet The Edelweiss Pirates: The Little-Known Teenaged Resistance Fighters Of Nazi Germany” at All That’s Interesting.

Read Gallup’s piece “Sermon Content Is What Appeals Most to Churchgoers.”

Stream a new track from Mike Patton and Jean-Claude Vannier at Consequence of Sound ahead of their collaborative album

Watch Derek Trucks sit in with the Trey Anastasio Band at Live For Live Music.

Read Relevant’s report: “People Are Getting Sued Over the Billy Graham Rule Now: A sheriff's deputy says he was fired for refusing to work alone with a woman. Now he's suing for religious discrimination.”

Read Consequence of Sound’s “Social Distortion announce 40th anniversary show with Joan Jett, The Distillers, The Kills, and more.”

Stream a new track from Trey Anastasio and watch Trey Anastasio sit in with Khruangbin at LOCKN’.

Read about “That Time Keith Richards Found Muddy Waters Painting the Ceiling at Chess Studios.”

Read Stereogum’s report “Death Row Records Is Now Owned By Hasbro.”

Read Exclaim’s report “Colin Stetson Is Scoring a Nicolas Cage Film.”

Read Rolling Stone’s report: “Eddie Money Reveals Stage 4 Esophageal Cancer Diagnosis.”

Read Pitchfork’s report “Why the Eminem Vs. Spotify Case May Be Headed to the Supreme Court.”

Read Rolling Stone’s report “David Byrne Launches Online Magazine ‘Reasons to Be Cheerful’

Read Consequence of Sound’s piece “Emma Stone is punk rock Cruella de Vil in first image from upcoming prequel.”

Read: “How Competitive Walking Captivated Georgian Britain In 1815, thousands of people came to watch George Wilson, the “Blackheath Pedestrian,” walk 1,000 miles” at Atlas Obscura.

Read Relevant’s piece “Rev. William Barber Calls on Democrats to Host a Presidential Debate on Poverty.”