The Weekly Town Crier (02/14/20)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (02/14/20).

Read “Wes Wilson, Psychedelic Poster Pioneer, Dies at 82 His work announced concerts by the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and more — to those who could read them.” at New York Times.

Read/Listen to “Robert Conrad, star of TV's 'The Wild, Wild West,' dies at 84” at 12 News.

Read “Joseph Shabalala, Ladysmith Black Mambazo founder, dies aged 78” at The Guardian.

Read “Lyle Mays, Evocative Pianist Who Helped Define The Pat Metheny Group, Is Dead at 66” at WBGO.

Read “Acts 29 CEO Removed Amid 'Accusations of Abusive Leadership' Steve Timmis was acclaimed for his model of close church community. But former members claim that inside The Crowded House, he resorted to bullying and control” Christianity Today.

Read “Christian activist to sue NFL because Shakira and J-Lo performances endangered his eternal soul” at Raw Story.

Read “Can Christianity be a counterforce to finance capitalism? “Religious vocation sits very uneasily with individual self-advancement.” at Christian Century.

Read “After a Backlash, Nashville’s Belmont University Says It Will Let Non-Christian Art Professors Teach After All Watkins College of Art, which is being absorbed, was originally told that Belmont had a firm no non-Christians policy” at Artnet.

Read “A German Jew Vows To Fight On To Remove Anti-Semitic Sculpture After Court Defeat” at NPR.

Read “John Ortberg Investigated After Church Volunteer Confessed Attraction to Minors Menlo Church said the senior pastor showed “poor judgment” in allowing the member to work with children and failing to notify other staff” at Christianity Today.

Read/Listen to “Brené Brown Strong Back, Soft Front, Wild Heart” at On Being.

Read “Despite Stigma, More Divorced Evangelicals Are Going to Church Their attendance outpaces other traditions, but still lags far behind married evangelicals” at Christianity Today.

Read “Breaking Out of the White Evangelical Echo Chamber Putting faithful witness ahead of political expediency starts with changing surroundings, words, and friendships” at Christianity Today.

Read “Ron Carpenter was promised $6.25M retirement payout in transition plan with John Gray, court docs say” at Christian Post.

Read World Magazine’s opinion piece “The gospel according to Pete Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg speaks often of his religion—but he tailors it to fit his politics, and it focuses on works over faith.”

Read “Billie Eilish Can Help Us Understand Teenage Anxiety The Grammy-award winning teen’s dark music can help us have necessary conversations with our children” at Christianity Today.

Read “Pope Francis Won't Allow Married Men As Priests, Women As Deacons” at NPR.

Read “Time To Delete Your Church’s Facebook Page?” “"Seventy percent of U.S. adults use Facebook, so the platform has effectively made itself the public square. Facebook is that worst possible spawn of the capitalist system—an unregulated monopoly” at Sojourners.

Read “Are Nationalism and Populism the Cure for What Ails the West? The “strong gods” of old are knocking at the door. We ought to be wary of letting them inside” at Christianity Today.

Read “Barbie debuts Rosa Parks doll as part of series honoring iconic women” at AL.com.

Read “Police Offering Drug Recovery Help: 'We Can't Arrest Our Way Out Of This Problem'“ at NPR.

Read “Masked white nationalists march in Washington with police escort” Yahoo News.

Read “Trump ‘Is Not a Racist’ Because the ‘People Who Wash Dishes’ at Mar-a-Lago ‘Love Him,’ Says Ben Carson “The people who drive the cars and park the cars at Mar-a-Lago, they love him, because he’s kind and compassionate,” the housing secretary said” at Rolling Stone.

Read “In The 1920s, 1 In 3 Eligible Men In Dallas Were KKK Members” at WBUR.

Read “Virginia lawmakers approve Confederate statue removal bills” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Many Mississippi prisoners kept locked up past release dates due to housing shortage” at Mississippi Today.

Read “Pakistan Court Rules That Men Can Marry Underage Girls After They've Had Their First Period The ruling comes in direct violation of the Child Marriage Restraint Act” at Global Citizen.

Read “Are Gun Owners Happier And Do They Sleep Better? UA Study Says No” at KJZZ.

Read “After Flint Water Crisis, Number Of Students With Special Education Needs Spikes” at WBUR.

Read/Listen to “World's 1st 3D Printed Neighborhood Being Built In Mexico” at WBUR.

Read “QAnon’ conspiracy theory creeps into mainstream politics” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Navy Pilot Who Filmed the ‘Tic Tac’ UFO Speaks: ‘It Wasn’t Behaving by the Normal Laws of Physics’” at The Intelligencer.

Read “The Age of Decadence Cut the drama. The real story of the West in the 21st century is one of stalemate and stagnation.” at New York Times.

Read “"You wouldn't think you'd go to jail over medical bills": County in rural Kansas is jailing people over unpaid medical debt” at CBS News.

Read “Trump says Coronavirus will be gone by April when the weather gets warmer, doesn't offer scientific explanation” at AZ Central.

Read “Nearly 1 in 3 American workers run out of money before payday—even those earning over $100,000” at CNBC.

Read “Not welcome: Gay students, parents are denied service in Florida’s publicly funded voucher schools” at Orlando Sentinel.

Read “President Trump Is Trying to Eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts—Again—in His Just-Released 2021 Budget Proposal” at Artnet.

Read “Trump administration moves ahead on shrinking Utah monuments” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Trump Charges Secret Service up to $650 a Night for a Room in His Properties Add this to the long list of the president’s grifts” at Rolling Stone.

Read “'Not Guilty': Trump Acquitted On 2 Articles Of Impeachment As Historic Trial Closes” at NPR.

  • Read “Trump fires key impeachment witnesses Sondland, Lt. Col. Vindman in purge The officials provided critical testimony during the House inquiry into the president's conduct with Ukraine” at NBC News.

Read “Mike Bloomberg Is Paying ‘Influencers’ to Make Him Seem Cool” at Daily Beast.

Read “Pelosi Delivers Another Resistance Meme, and Nothing Else The House Speaker theatrically ripped up a speech that she gave Trump a platform to deliver” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Trump’s New Budget Goes After Social Safety Net Programs The budget calls for cuts to Medicaid and food stamps while asking tax-payers to pay billions for the president’s wall” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Tech Entrepreneur Andrew Yang Drops Out Of 2020 Presidential Race” at NPR.

Read “Barr takes control of legal matters of interest to Trump, including Stone sentencing Attorney General William Barr's intervention in Roger Stone's case wasn't the first time senior political appointees reached into a case involving an ex-Trump aide, officials say” at NBC News.

  • Read “William Barr Supported Pardons In An Earlier D.C. 'Witch Hunt': Iran-Contra” at NPR.

Read “Senate GOP blocks three election security bills” at The Hill.

Read “The Great Affordability Crisis Breaking America In one of the best decades the American economy has ever recorded, families were bled dry” at The Atlantic.

Read/Listen to “The Day America Went Dry: Looking Back At Prohibition 100 Years Later” at WBUR.

Read “Good Looks Alone Do Not Make You Attractive: There’s Much More To It…We live in a world where many like to think that attractiveness is all about having good looks and a cool taste for fashion” at I Heart Intelligence.

Read “Who decides what words mean Bound by rules, yet constantly changing, language might be the ultimate self-regulating system, with nobody in charge” at Aeon.

Read/Listen to “Antarctica just hit 64.9 degrees - its highest temperature ever recorded” at WHAS11.

Read “Bill & Melinda Gates Add Climate Change and Gender Equality to Foundation's Priorities” at Global Citizen.

Read “Native burial sites blown up for US border wall” at BBC.

Read/Listen to “Capturing The Undersung Blues People Of The Rural South” at NPR.

Read “10 Songs by The Clash That Made Films Better Wes Anderson, Martin Scorsese, and Judd Apatow are all fans” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Devastating” Manufacturing Plant Fire Threatens Worldwide Vinyl Record Supply Third Man Records’ Ben Blackwell says the destruction of Apollo Masters’ California facility “will present a problem for the vinyl industry worldwide” at Pitchfork.

Read “Fan designs impressive Tool LEGO set that has a chance to be manufactured” at Consequence of Sound.

Read/Watch/Listen to “Family Of Bob Marley Releases New Animated Video For “Redemption Song” at Live For Live Music.

Read “Sufjan Stevens Announces New Album With His Stepfather Lowell, Shares Song” at Pitchfork.

Read/Listen to “For Bob Marley's 75th Birthday, Ziggy Marley Reflects On His Father's Legacy” at NPR.

Read “Blind Faith: The Meteoric Rise & Rapid Fall Of Clapton, Baker, Winwood, And Grech’s 1969 Supergroup” at Live For Live Music.

Read/Listen to “Fascination, Friendship And Desire: Kathleen Hanna On The Reign Of 'Rebel Girl' at NPR’s American Anthem series.

Watch “A Brief History of Dad Rock” by Pitchfork.

Read “Putting their necks on the line one gig at a time” at the Sydney Morning Herald.

Browse “5 Movie Soundtracks That Rescued Great Musicians From Obscurity” at Pitchfork.

Read “Take one: lost Dave Brubeck tapes reveal jazz hit originally sounded like ‘a bad student band’ at The Guardian.

Read “Nina Simone’s rare 1982 album, Fodder On My Wings, to be reissued Until now, the album's commercial availability has been sporadic at best” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's Voice Offers A Sonic Refuge” at NPR. “Last year, a live recording of a performance from late Pakistani vocal master Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was released from the archives after 35 years. The album, 'Live at WOMAD 1985,' captures Khan at his vocal prime and at his most traditional, performing in the South Asian musical style of qawwali.”

See “John Frusciante Perform With Red Hot Chili Peppers Members for First Time Since Reunion” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Yo La Tengo on the Pros and Cons of Being a Self-Managed Band” at Spotify.

Read “Pussy Riot Say Russian Police Shut Down Video Shoot, Citing “Gay Propaganda” The “БЕСИТ / RAGE” shoot was thwarted at a cost of $15,000, the group says” at Pitchfork.

Read “Kamasi Washington releasing new concert film from Apollo Theater” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Bauhaus, Morrissey, Blondie, Devo, Bunnymen, P-Furs & lots more playing LA’s Cruel World fest at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Heavy Metal, Year One: The Inside Story of Black Sabbath’s Groundbreaking Debut Half a century since Ozzy Osbourne first bellowed, “What is this that stands before me?” the band and their collaborators look back on the album that kick-started a worldwide movement” at Rolling Stone.

Read “RPM Records: Sustainable Vinyl Pressing In Europe!” at Discogs.

Read “Neil Young, Willie Nelson, Stephen Stills and More Will Perform at ‘Light Up The Blues’ Autism Benefit” at Jambands.

Read “Carol Kaye: The Boss of the Bass Guitar” at Please Kill Me.

Read “Bassist Admits to Burning Churches to “Raise His Profile as a Black Metal Musician” Holden Matthews will be sentenced to at least 10 years in prison on May 22nd” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “A Code Switch Playlist For Black History Month” at NPR.

Read “Remembering Richard Flower, an unsung player in the Gin Blossoms' origin story” at AZ Central.

Read ‘The Whole System Collapsed’: Inside the Music Industry’s Ongoing Distribution Crisis ‘It’s amazing how a company most have never heard of can bring the U.S. music industry to its knees,’ said one label exec struggling to get his artists’ records into stores” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Universal Confirms Nirvana, Beck, Sonic Youth, Elton John Masters Damaged in Warehouse Fire Works by Soundgarden, R.E.M., Jimmy Eat World, and others were also lost in the 2008 blaze” at Pitchfork.

Browse “8 Pitchfork Staffers on Their Favorite Music Moments in Recent Movies” at Pitchfork.

Read “Netflix reveals the 9 shows and movies it's pulled at the request of the world's governments” at News.AV Club.

Read “Be Kind. Please Rewind: An Ode to the VCR” at Pop Matters.

Read “The Rise Of The Single-Shot Movie In A Hyper-Edited World” at NPR. “Once editing was invented, one-shot movies seemed primitive. But in the past 20 years, the number of one-shot feature films rose 500%.”

Let's unpack this whimsical, detailed poster for Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch” at AV Club.

Read “Disney Didn’t Just Buy ‘Hamilton’ for $75 Million; It Bought a Potential Franchise Disney wants to bring the Lin-Manuel Miranda brand under the same corporate umbrella as Marvel and "Star Wars." at Indie Wire.

Read “Keith Richards quits smoking The Rolling Stones guitarist admitted that kicking heroin was easier than stopping smoking” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Famous Authors Are Writing Books for a Time Capsule Library None of Us Will Ever See” at Bookish Buzz.

Read “Finally, Van Gogh Gets His Own Action Figure, And Yes, You Can Detach His Ear” at Demilked.

Read “President Trump Wants to Make ‘Federal Buildings Beautiful Again’ With a New Executive Order That Echoes Fascist History” at Artnet.

Read “Thorncrown Chapel This futuristically sylvan church is a glass-enclosed marvel of modern architecture” at Atlas Obscura.

See “Someone In Bulgaria Is Putting Googly Eyes On Broken Street Objects, And It’s Even Better Than Fixing Things” at Bored Panda.

Read “A Small Pennsylvania Museum Just Discovered It Has Owned a Rembrandt for 70 Years Without Knowing It” at Artnet.

Read “Foucault Pendulum at the Franklin Institute A daily replay of the experiment that proved the rotation of the Earth” at Atlas Obscura. “The four-story Foucault pendulum at the Franklin Institute has now been swinging for more than 80 years.”

Read “The name you’re given as a child might affect the shape of your face” at Quartz.

Read/hear “The Trump Administration Is 'Silencing Science,' Environmental Law Expert Says” at WBUR.

Read “For Kid's Coughs, Swap The Over-The-Counter Syrups For Honey” at NPR.

Read “Researchers Link Autism To A System That Insulates Brain Wiring” at NPR.

Read “'Ghost' DNA In West Africans Complicates Story Of Human Origins” at NPR.

Read “Mad Honey This hallucinogenic honey can sell for over $60 a pound on the black market. This pollinated honey can pack a hallucinogenic punch” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “How Dried Cod Became a Norwegian Staple and an Italian Delicacy” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “All About Books and Comics is Closing in April” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “O'odham sacred site near Lukeville blasted for border wall construction” at AZ Central.

Read “President Trump hosting rally in Phoenix February 19” at 12 News.

Read “'No One Claims Responsibility': Amid Rising Homelessness, Phoenix and Its Largest Shelter Are Out of Sync” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “The Whole Family Will Love A Trip To This Bigfoot-Themed Restaurant In Arizona” at Only In Your State.

Read “Poll: Arizona Voters Support Tougher Gun Laws By 8:1 Margin” at KJZZ.

Read “Rep. Raul Grijalva: Border Wall Construction Doing Irreparable Damage” at KJZZ.


The Weekly Town Crier (02/07/20)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (02/07/20).

Read “Gang of Four’s Andy Gill Dead at 64” at Pitchfork.

Read “Ivan Král, Patti Smith Group Member, Dead at 71” at Pitchfork.

Read “Kirk Douglas, Hollywood Icon and Spartacus Star, Dies at 103” at People.

Read “For Those Who Feel Betrayed By Christianity” at Sojourners. "Since the election of President Donald Trump, many Christians are asking: How could so many Christ-followers agree with actions that are so decisively un-Christlike?"

Read “Christians are Supposed to Care About People” at John Pavlovitz. “I never once see a Jesus brandishing a “Don’t Tread On Me” bravado in the face of dire need. I don’t see him lecturing the poor and the afflicted to “pull themselves up by their bootstraps.” I can’t find him inviting war or celebrating bloodshed or reveling in loss of life for any reason.”

Read “Evangelicalism Is Dead. We Need A New Label For Our Faith” at Sojourners.

Read “State of the Church” at Barna.

Read “Faith formation in my world religions classroom Each year a Hindu priest asks my students to “worship our own, but respect all.” They find the second part easier” at Christian Century.

Read “Christian Nonprofits Reeling from Trump Cuts to Foreign Aid Work in Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador was starting to bring change, agencies say” at Christianity Today.

Read “Richard Rohr Reorders the Universe” at New Yorker.”The seventy-six-year-old Franciscan friar Richard Rohr believes that Christianity isn’t the only path to salvation.”

Read “Capitalism Is Incompatible With Christianity” at Sojourners.

Read “Pope Francis Turned a Roman Palace Into a Homeless Shelter” at Global Citizen.

Read “U.S. Showing ‘Many’ Genocide Warning Signs Under Trump, Expert Says: ‘I Am Very, Very Worried” at Newsweek.

Read “Greensboro Sit-In: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know” at Heavy.

Read “Before the Bus, Rosa Parks Was a Sexual Assault Investigator Why has history left out this piece of Rosa Parks' story?” at History.com.

Read “US judge in Tucson overturns convictions of 4 border-aid volunteers” at AZ Central.

Read “Investors Buy Old Hotel and Convert It into 139 Mini-Apartments for the Homeless” at Black Business.

Read “Finland's Women-Led Government Has Equalized Family Leave: 7 Months For Each Parent” at NPR.

Read “Watch: News Anchor Shows Americans Real Size of Wealth Gap—Using American Pie” at Common Dreams.

Read “How Chaos at Chain Pharmacies Is Putting Patients at Risk” at New York Times.

Read “E.B. White’s Beautiful Letter to a Man Who Had Lost Faith in Humanity What sailors teach us about hope and the resilience of the human spirit” at Brain Pickings. "As long as there is one upright man, as long as there is one compassionate woman, the contagion may spread and the scene is not desolate."

Read “Steve Wozniak: When Apple got ‘big money’ Steve Jobs’ personality ‘changed’” at CNBC.

Read “Report: Where Parents Have More Choice, Schools Appear To Become More Segregated” at WBUR.

Read “J.Lo and A-Rod Just Donated a Year’s Worth of Meals to a Tennessee School” at Global Citizen.

Read “Excess Teacher Responsibilities are Stealing Bonding Time with Students” at Bored Teachers.

Read “It's official: Trump's tax cuts were an economic bust” at Business Insider.

Read “Trump administration ‘rolling back women’s rights by 50 years’ by changing definitions of domestic violence and sexual assault” at The Independent.

Read “Senate rejects witnesses in Trump trial, ensuring acquittal” at PBS News Hour.

  • Read “Which Republicans Had the Worst Excuses for Ending the Impeachment Trial With No Witnesses?” at Slate.

  • Read “Voting to acquit this noxious criminal is the point of no return for the Republican Party” at Salon.

  • Read “Sen. Kyrsten Sinema votes to convict President Trump on impeachment charges” at AZ Central.

  • Read “Mitt Romney: ‘Dishonesty Is Donald Trump’s Hallmark.”How Mitt Romney Decided Trump Is Guilty” at Sojourners.

    • Read “How Mitt Romney Decided Trump Is Guilty” at The Atlantic.

Read “Trump extends travel ban to 6 countries — but is OK with selling arms to those same places” at NBC News.

Read “Trump's sexual assault allegations: The full list of women who have accused the President” at The Independent.

Read “The Downfall of the Republican Party To see men and women who had a positive vision beaten down and broken by Trump is a poignant thing” at The Atlantic.

Read “'It was a total mess': Caucusing is long over, but Iowa still doesn't have a winner” at USA Today.

Read/listen to “'No Longer A Friend': Ukrainians Are Losing Faith In The U.S.” at NPR.

Read “Trump Administration Loosens Obama-Era Restrictions On Land Mine Use” at NPR.

Read “Pelosi rips up Trump’s State of the Union speech” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Attorney General Barr Issues New Rules For Politically Sensitive Investigations” at NPR.

Read “Rush Limbaugh Says He Has Been Diagnosed With Advanced Lung Cancer” at NPR.

  • Read “Trump Honors Rush Limbaugh With Presidential Medal Of Freedom” at News and Guts.

Read “Gen X Will Not Go Quietly” at Gen.Medium.

Read “Fully Armed Rally-Goers Enter Kentucky’s Capitol Building With Zero Resistance” at Rolling Stone.

Read: “The Reading Room: Where Politics and Country Music Collide” at No Depression.

Watch “Vampire Weekend Perform at Bernie Sanders Rally” at Pitchfork.

Read “Country music is ‘dead’: Icon Loretta Lynn trashes modern hits” at Lexington Herald Leader.

Watch “The Velvet Underground Played At My High School” at PBS.

Read “Read between the lines with Mike Doughty” and Aarik Danielson at Columbia Daily Tribune.

Read “From White Supremacy To Opioids, Drive-By Truckers Confronts 'The Unraveling' at NPR.

Read “Built To Spill Announce Daniel Johnston Covers Album” at Stereogum.

Read “Remembering Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, & The Big Bopper On ‘The Day The Music Died’ In 1959 (02/03) at Live For Live Music.

Read “Spike Lee To Direct Film Version Of ‘David Byrne’s American Utopia’ Stage Show” at Deadline.

Read “Soundgarden countersue Vicky Cornell over ownership of final Chris Cornell recordings” at Consequence of Sound.

Consider “Television’s Punk Epic “Marquee Moon,” 40 Years Later” at Pitchfork.

Read “ABBA intend to release new music in 2020 The iconic Swedish group's first material in over 30 years” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “In conversation: When Elvis Costello met Tom Waits” at Far Out Magazine.

Read “David Byrne to Appear as Musical Guest on ‘Saturday Night Live’” at Jambands.

Read “Prominent Malian Musician Alleges That TSA Destroyed His Instrument” at NPR. “Delicate and complex, koras can stand more than 4 feet tall. In a statement on Ballaké Sissoko's Facebook, an ethnomusicologist deemed the custom-made style irreplaceable.”

Read “Brian Wilson Opposes Mike Love’s Beach Boys Show at Trophy Hunting Convention Wilson points fans toward a Change.org petition that calls to boycott the Beach Boys until their performance is canceled” at Pitchfork.

Read “Pee-wee Herman's "Dark" Reboot: Paul Reubens Is Ready to Stage a Comeback” at Hollywood Reporter.

Browse “74 Ways Characters Die in Shakespeare’s Plays Shown in a Handy Infographic: From Snakebites to Lack of Sleep” at Open Culture.

See “Super High-Resolution Photo of the Sun Reveals It Looks Like ... Corn” at Mental Floss.

Read “15,372 Scientists Just Signed a Letter Calling Climate Change Impact ‘Catastrophic’” at Global Citizen.

Read “Record-breaking astronaut Christina Koch returns to Earth after 328 days in space” at 12 News.

Read “The Art and Science of Kashmir’s Pink Tea Green tea becomes rosy with the addition of a special ingredient” at Atlas Obscura.

Browse “Haunted by Cybersects A freaky tour of the extant websites of 1990s cults” at Baffler.

Read “Arizona Quietly Sells 16,810 Acres to Freeport-McMoRan for Mining Waste” at Phoenix New Times.

The Weekly Town Crier (01/24/20)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (01/24/20).

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.

  • 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 “Singer-songwriter David Olney dies on stage at age 71” at CNN.

Read “Jazz Saxophone Legend Jimmy Heath Has Died” at NPR.

Read “Terry Jones, Monty Python Co-Founder and Comedy Polymath, Dead at 77” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Jim Lehrer, journalist who co-founded PBS' nightly newscast, dead at 85” at NBC.

Read “When Your Theology of Pain Is Painfully Bad” at Mockingbird.

Read “The Heresy of Christian Nationalism” at John Pavlovitz.

Read “Kindness, kinship, and the boundaries of justice The virtue of kindness depends on who we see as kin” at Christian Century.

Read “70% of people in local jails are not convicted of any crime” at Prison Policy.

Read “Depressive realism We keep chasing happiness, but true clarity comes from depression and existential angst. Admit that life is hell, and be free” at Aeon. “What if depression is the collapse of the illusions that help us cope with a truly depressing reality?”

Read “Indiana's Oldest State Worker Is Retiring At 102: 'I've Been A Pretty Lucky Guy'" at NPR.

Read “The Mysterious “Order of the Odd Fellows” that frankly, belongs in a Wes Anderson Movie” at Messyness Chic. “A secret society that outnumbered the Freemasons at one point. But had you ever heard of them??”

Read “Patagonia’s CEO is donating company’s entire $10M Trump tax cut to fight climate change.” at Upworthy.

Read “If the National Archives Blurs Anti-Trump Speech From Its Exhibits, Is It Really an Archive?” at The Root.

Read “The National Archives Has Apologized For Altering A Photo To Remove Criticisms Of Trump” at Buzzfeed.

Read “Italy passes law to send unsold food to charities instead of dumpsters Italy joins growing list of countries looking to end food-waste” at Global Citizen.

Read “Richmond Gun Rally: Thousands Of Gun Owners Converge On Virginia Capitol On MLK Day” at NPR.

Read “Football and Brain Trauma – Recommended Books” at Englewood Review of Books.

Read “Why Do You Think They Cross the Border?” by John Pavlovitz.

Read “High School Transforms Hallways Into Iconic Book Covers” at For Reading Addicts.

Read “Trump Administration to Roll Back Obama School Lunch Rules” at News and Guts.

Read “Pelosi impeachment manager is calling for McConnell’s recusal from Trump Senate trial” at Miami Herald.

  • Read/watch “Lev Parnas remarks on role of Devin Nunes in Trump Ukraine Scheme” at MSNBC.

Read “NRA Was 'Foreign Asset' To Russia Ahead of 2016, New Senate Report Reveals” at NPR.

Read “Trump’s Plan to Reduce Trade Deficit Falters as It Hits an All-Time High Instead” at Fortune.

Read “In a break with convention, the editorial board has chosen to endorse two separate Democratic candidates for president” at New York Times.

Read “Wiggles member Greg Page goes into cardiac arrest during reunion concert” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “M.I.A. receives M.B.E. from Prince William” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Without Small Venues, the UK Doesn't Have a Music Industry How many more have to be railroaded by rent hikes and property developers before we lose our grassroots scenes completely?” at Vice.

Read “Nick Cave says Kanye West is currently “our greatest artist” "There is no musician on Earth that is as committed to their own derangement as Kanye" at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Radiohead Add Rarities to Streaming Services in Online Archive Launch The Radiohead Public Library corrals band trivia, visuals, HD performances, rare songs and merchandise, and more” at PItchfork.

Read “The Wall of Sound The untold story of the Grateful Dead's short-lived mega PA, arguably the largest, most technologically innovative sound system ever built” at Vice.

Read “Why We Need MTV Now More Than Ever The struggle to find music in a world with too many options and not enough community” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Aerosmith Drummer Sues Band for Excluding Him Ahead of Grammys” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Josh Klinghoffer on Red Hot Chili Peppers Exit: ‘Complete Shock But Not a Surprise’” at Rolling Stone.

Read “‘Punky Brewster’ Is Coming Back to Traumatize a Whole New Generation” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Quentin Tarantino plans to write and direct Bounty Law series He also teases his tenth movie may have a connection to his first” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Joe Pera Talks With You’ Is the Best Thing Adult Swim Has Ever Done The comedian plays a gentle, Mr. Rogers-like figure who navigates our anxiety-ridden world with unfailing kindness” at Vice.

Read “Ozzy Osbourne Reveals Parkinson’s Disease Diagnosis” at Rolling Stone.

Read “A vending machine for books” at Bookish Buzz.

Read: The Secrets of The ‘80’s New York Art Scene - As Told By John Lurie.”

Read “Hoverboarding dentist found guilty of 'unlawful dental acts' at NBC.

Read “In 1930s New York, the Mayor Took on the Mafia by Banning Artichokes” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “Ranking says Phoenix is a top 50 city in the world, top 20 large city in the US” at KTAR.

The Weekly Town Crier (01/17/20)

newertowncrier.jpg

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (01/17/20).

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.

  • 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 “Neil Peart, Rush Drummer Who Set a New Standard for Rock Virtuosity, Dead at 67” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Christopher Tolkien, 'Middle-earth's First Scholar,' Dies At 95” at NPR.

Read “Why Do People Believe in Hell? The idea of eternal damnation is neither biblically, philosophically nor morally justified. But for many it retains a psychological allure. By David Bentley Hart” at New York Times.

Read “New documents show government targeted NYC pastor for officiating immigrant weddings” at Religion News Service.

Read “An open letter from black church leaders and allies to Christianity Today” at Religion News Service.

Read “Scam Lures Speakers to Fake UK Church Conferences Hundreds of American Christian leaders have been invited to Anglican events—then asked to pay up” at Christianity Today.

Read/Listen to “Can Spirituality Exist Without God? A Growing Number Of Americans Say Yes” at WBUR.

Read “The Earth Is the Hottest It's Ever Been, According to the UN Rising carbon emissions and human activity have contributed to warming global temperatures” at Global Citizen.

Read “Space Force Bible Blessing At National Cathedral Sparks Outrage” at NPR. “The blessing of what's being called "the official Bible for the new U.S. Space Force" at the Washington National Cathedral on Sunday is being criticized as a violation of laws separating church and state.”

Read “Falwell Says He Will Call For Civil Disobedience if Virginia Democrats Implement Gun Grab” at Todd Starnes.

  • Read “'Evangelicals for Trump' was an awful display by supposed citizens of the Kingdom of God Trump mocked his enemies, trafficked in half-truths, instilled fear and expressed zero humility. My fellow evangelicals loved every minute of it” at USA Today.

  • Read “Religion voters to rally against Trump in Denver on Tuesday evening” at Colorado Politics.

Read “Why Pete Buttigieg Has Made Religion Central to His Campaign The former mayor is not only trying to bridge ground within the Democratic Party, he’s also making a direct appeal to disaffected conservatives who cannot stomach President Trump” at New York Times.

  • Read “The Democratic Candidates’ Favorite Bible Verses” at Christianity Today.

Read “Most Pastors Say Middle East Politics Won’t Speed Up the Second Coming A new LifeWay Research survey shows that only 1 in 8 pastors link geo-political events with Christ’s return” at Christianity Today.

Read “Donald Trump Jr., Iran, and the Right-Wing Obsession with the Crusades Talia Lavin on the real-world implications of politicians caught up in holy war fantasies” at GQ.

Read “Christian school expels girl over rainbow shirt and birthday cake, family says” at ABC News.

Read “Trump Defends School Prayer. Critics Say He's Got It All Wrong” at NPR.

Read “In Rare Move, Pope Francis Appoints A Woman To A Senior Vatican Position” at NPR.

Read “Many Churchgoers Don’t Know If Their Pastor Is a Republican or Democrat” at Christianity Today.

Read “Diversity Makes Countries Stronger in the Long Run, New Research Shows” at Global Citizen.

Read “Video Outside Cell During Jeffrey Epstein's First Suicide Attempt 'No Longer Exists'‘ at NPR.

Read “Texas will become first state to reject refugees under Trump executive order” at PBS News Hour.

Read “'The Incredible Hulk' actor Lou Ferrigno to become deputy in New Mexico” at 12 News.

Read “Yemen Once Again Ranked as Worst Humanitarian Crisis in the World” at Global Citizen.

Read “A place for homeless families to sleep safely in their cars How a group of interfaith partners is making use of their idle parking lots” at Christian Century.

Read “I was in juvenile detention, so I know that locking up kids doesn’t work” at NJ.

Read “Border Wall Threatens National Wildlife Refuge That's Been 40 Years In The Making” at NPR.

Read “Man requests 'trial by combat' with Japanese swords to settle custody battle with ex-wife” at AZ Central.

Read “Admit It: You Have a Box of Cords You’ll Never, Ever Use Again” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Sandusky, Ohio, Makes Election Day A Paid Holiday — By Swapping Out Columbus Day” at NPR.

Read “Why do we get sad when robots die? It’s not about seeming “human” — it’s about the work machines do for us.” at The Outline.

Read “Harvard Just Discovered that PowerPoint is Worse Than Useless Intuitively, anecdotally, and scientifically, PowerPoint may be the worst business tool ever created” at Inc.

Read “30 Unbelievable Places That Are Illegal to Visit” at Travel A Lot.

Read “Death by design We can chose how we live – why not how we leave? A free society should allow dying to be more deliberate and imaginative” at Aeon.

Read “Why we owe it to ourselves to spend quiet time alone every day” at Ideas.TED.

Read “Microsoft Pledges To Remove From The Atmosphere All The Carbon It Has Ever Emitted” at NPR.

Read “Education without liberal arts is a threat to humanity, argues UBC president Social Sharing Santa J. Ono says studying the liberal arts made him a better scholar, scientist, teacher and father CBC Radio” at CBC.

Read “Do You Really ‘See’ Your Child? Helicopter parenting has become the American norm, but it may not be the best way to connect with our kids Parenting/New York Times.

Read “Justice Department Effectively Ends Clinton Investigation After Finding Nothing” at Huff Post.

  • Read “Trump Broke The Law In Freezing Ukraine Funds, Watchdog Report Concludes” at NPR.

Read “House votes to limit Trump's military action against Iran without congressional approval” at CNN.

  • Read “Trump Brags About Serving Up American Troops to Saudi Arabia for Nothing More Than Cash Conservative Rep. Justin Amash, who was a Republican until recently, responded to Trump’s remarks, saying, “He sells troops” at Rolling Stone.

  • Read “In a Rare Political Gesture, the Met Speaks Out Against Trump’s Threats to Iranian Cultural Sites, Calling Such Targeting ‘Abhorrent’ The Met joins other museum leaders as well as top museum organizations in condemning the US President's comments” at Art.net.

  • Read “Majority of Americans disapprove of Trump's handling of Iran and feel less safe, poll says” at CNN.

Read “Colin Powell: The Republican Party Needs To 'Get a Grip' and Stand Up to Trump” at Time.

Read “Cory Booker Drops Out Of Presidential Race” at NPR.

Read “Drug price outrage threatens to be liability for GOP” at The Hill.

Read “Virginia Finally Ratifies The Equal Rights Amendment” at News and Guts.

Read “International Bonhoeffer Society Calls For ‘Ending Donald Trump’s Presidency’ in ‘Statement of Concern’ at Sojourners.

Read “Henry Rollins expresses an angry, bleak vision of the world in this rare Dutch television documentary in 1995” at That Eric Alper.

Read “The case for ... making low-tech 'dumb' cities instead of 'smart' ones” at The Guardian.’

Read “Billboard-The Hollywood Reporter Media Group Selling Stereogum To Founder Scott Lapatine” at Stereogum.

Read “Oteil Burbridge: The Road Goes on Forever” at Jambands.

Read “The Beatles’ Abbey Road Was the Best-Selling Vinyl LP of the 2010s” at Pitchfork.

Watch “Patti Smith Cover Neil Young's "After The Gold Rush" on Fallon” at Paste.

Read “Danzig Is Finally Releasing His Elvis Presley Covers Album” at Exclaim.

Read “How Spotify For Artists is Making Musicians Engage with Data and Build an Audience” at Rolling Stone India.

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

Read “Sun Ra Plays a Music Therapy Gig at a Mental Hospital; Inspires Patient to Talk for the First Time in Years” at Open Culture.

Read “Early Myths About R.E.M. Debunked: What We Learned From a New Biography” at Pitchfork.

Read “New Design For The Quarter-Tone Piano Unveiled In Finland.”

Browse Paste’s picks for “The 80 Best Albums of the 1980s.”

Read “D’Angelico Debuts New Bob Weir Signature Guitar” at Jambands.

Read "Billie Eilish to write and record James Bond theme song” at Consequence of Sound.

Read/Listen to “How To Like Country Music, For The Uninitiated” at NPR.

Read “Drive-By Truckers Call Out Unchecked Gun Violence in New Song, ‘Thoughts and Prayers’ at Rolling Stone.

Read “Terry Allen giving sculpture made with Guy Clark’s ashes to Wittliff Collection” at Austin 360.

Read “Ken Jennings Misses Tool, Courtney Love, Kanye West Clues In Jeopardy! Greatest Of All Time Tournament” at Stereogum.

Read “Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails to be Inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” at Post-Punk.

Read “Beastie Boys and Spike Jonze Announce New Documentary Beastie Boys Story premieres on IMAX and Apple TV+ in April” at Pitchfork.

Read “Hiss Golden Messenger Is Looking For Truth On 'Terms Of Surrender' at NPR.

Read “Relive the history of The Band in first trailer for Once Were Brothers documentary” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Mark-Paul Gosselaar (a.k.a. Zack Morris) Signs On to 'Saved by the Bell' Reboot” at Exclaim!

Read “10 David Bowie Songs That Made Films Better” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Oscars Best Picture Nominations 2020: The Full List” at Pitchfork.

Read “Barack Obama lands first Oscar nomination American Factory, a film which Obama distributed, is nominated for Best Documentary” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Actor Jon Gries Reflects on a Flippin' Sweet 15 Years of Napoleon Dynamite” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “Fox Is ‘Wide Open’ to ‘Firefly’ Revival – ‘If There’s a Way to Reinvent It for Today’" at The Wrap.

ReadSlaughterhouse-Five Will Soon Get Its Own Comic Book” at Paste.

Read “The New York Public Library Has Calculated Its Most Checked-Out Books Of All Time” at NPR.

Read “What are the health benefits of being creative?” at Medical News Today.

Read “Kandinsky on the Spiritual Element in Art and the Three Responsibilities of Artists” at Brain Pickings.

Read “Photographer Travels The World To Capture Every Skin Tone In Pantone Style” at Demilked.

Read “How One Photographer Captures the Glory of Birds in Flight An otherworldly look at a familiar sight” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “Teen's graphic images of vaping damage go viral: 'My lung tissue was just completely destroyed' at Yahoo.

Read “Teen discovers new planet during NASA internship” at 12 News.

Read/Listen to “Addicted To Sugar? This Doctor Says It's 'The New Tobacco' at NPR.

Read “New Survey Shows Increasing Number of Parents With Young Children Don’t Support VaccinationNew Survey Shows Increasing Number of Parents With Young Children Don’t Support Vaccination” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Scientists use stem cells from frogs to build first living robots Researchers foresee myriad benefits for humanity, but also acknowledge ethical issues” at The Guardian.

Read/watch “Giving birth in America now costs more than a woman earns in a month” at CBS News.

Read “A Travel Guide from Anthony Bourdain Will Be Released This Fall” at Food and Wine.

Read “Feces from a giant kettle of vultures is disrupting CBP communications on the US-Mexico border” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “Toilet paper robot will deliver fresh roll when you're stranded” at 12 News.

Read “A Big Archive of Occult Recordings: Historic Audio Lets You Hear Trances, Paranormal Music, Glossolalia & Other Strange Sounds (1905-2007)” at Open Culture.

Read “Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey announces closure of Florence state prison” at KTAR.

  • Read “Town of Florence ‘startled’ by Ducey’s plan to close down prison” at KTAR.

  • Read “‘Rehabilitation’ in Name Only? Advocates React to Ducey’s Plan on State Prisons” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “Arizona's budget 'surplus' hides our underfunded schools, prisons and health care” at AZ Central.

Read “Zia Records Kicks Off Its 40th Anniversary With Rare Vinyl Releases” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “Arizona teacher shortage not getting better, survey shows” at AZ Central.

Read “Prescott couple fights HOA decision to evict orphaned grandson from their senior community The couple had to take in their teenage grandson after both of his parents died weeks apart” at 12 News.

The Weekly Town Crier (01/10/20)

newtowncrier.jpg

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (01/10/20).

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.

  • 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 “Author of ‘Prozac Nation’ Elizabeth Wurtzel Dead at 52” at Rolling Stone.

Read “American Christianity Has Failed" at Sojourners.

Read “Todd Bentley Investigation Finds ‘Steady Pattern’ of Immoral Conduct The edgy Canadian preacher was declared unfit for ministry due to credible allegations of adultery, sexting, and substance abuse spanning the past 15 years” at Christianity Today.

Read “On the Assault of James Cone & Black Liberation Theology” at The Witness SBC.

Read “Last call for aging white evangelicals: The political marriage to Trump will collapse. What then?” at Baptist News.

Read “Outspoken Chinese Pastor Wang Yi Sentenced to 9 Years in Prison” at Christianity Today.

Read/watch “Millennials are leaving organized religion. Here’s where some are finding community” at PBS News Hour.

Read “The MAGA Church (Teaser) It is clear that in exchange for power and money these “pastors” have been tasked with recasting Trump’s absurdities and moral failures as nothing short of prophetic divinity.”

Read “Montana Court Reverses $35 Million Child Abuse Verdict Against Jehovah's Witnesses” at NPR.

Read/Listen to “'Your Body Being Used': Where Prisoners Who Can't Vote Fill Voting Districts” at NPR.

Read/Watch “A Phoenix researcher interviewed 100 homeless people. Here's what she found can help them” at AZ Central.

Read “How to Be a Better White Person in 2020” at The Root.

Read “White evangelicals' attacks on James Cone are about power, not truth” at Religion News Service.

Read “India Rules Sex With a Child Bride Is Always Rape in a Massive Win for Girls’ Rights” at Global Citizen.

Read “Children of color projected to be majority of U.S. youth this year” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Facing Unprecedented Anti-Semitic Attacks, New York Jews Are Learning To Fight Back—Literally” at NPR. “ Across New York City, anti-Semitic hate crimes went up 26 percent in 2019, according to the NYPD. That's prompting some Jews to take matters into their own fists.”

Read “U.S. imposes visa bans on International Criminal Court investigators - Pompeo” at Reuters.

Read “Patti Smith wrote Greta Thunberg a poem for her 17th birthday” at Consequence of Sound.

  • Read “Climate Skeptic Meat Loaf Says Greta Thunberg is ‘Brainwashed’ at Bloomberg.

Read “A belief in meritocracy is not only false: it’s bad for you” at Aeon.

Read “Terry Gilliam: “I’m tired of white men being blamed for everything wrong with the world” Terry Gilliam sneered at #MeToo and defended white men in a controversial new interview” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “The Advantage of Not Fitting In Being an outsider lets you invent your own systems” at Forge/Medium.

Read/Watch “The culture of masculinity and its negative impacts on men” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Intellectual humility: the importance of knowing you might be wrong” at Vox.

Read “Vermont bill would ban people under 21 from having cellphones” at 12 News.

Read “Diapers and feminine hygiene products are now tax-free in California” at The Hill.

Read/Listen to “How The CIA Overthrew Iran's Democracy In 4 Days” at NPR.

  • Read “War With Iran” at Truth Dig. ““So why go to war with Iran? Why walk away from a nuclear agreement that Iran did not violate? Why demonize a government that is the mortal enemy of the Taliban, along with other jihadist groups, including al-Qaida and Islamic State? Why shatter the de facto alliance we have with Iran in Iraq and Afghanistan? Why further destabilize a region already dangerously volatile?”

  • Browse “The history of US-Iran relations: A timeline” at PRI’s The World. “In 1953, the CIA helped orchestrate a coup that laid the groundwork for future hostilities between the US and Iran. But in 1967, it was the US that gave Iran a 5-megawatt nuclear reactor and weapons-grade enriched uranium fuel. Here's a look at the long and complex history of US-Iranian relations.”

  • Read “Pence Falsely Links Soleimani to 9/11 Attacks to Justify Assassination” at Slate.

  • Read “Iraqi parliament calls on government to expel U.S. troops over Soleimani killing” at Axios.

  • Read “None of Trump’s Iran Policy Makes Sense. All of It Is Dangerous” at Rolling Stone.

  • Read “War With Iran Is Nothing To Worry About, Men Who Launched Iraq War Promise” at Huff Post.

Read “White House Withholds 20 Emails Between Two Trump Aides on Ukraine Aid It contends the release of the documents sought by The Times would “inhibit the frank and candid exchange of views” in government decision-making” at The New York Times.

  • Read “Bolton ‘prepared to testify’ if subpoenaed in Senate trial” at PBS News Hour.

  • Read “Defamation lawsuit from Trump's sexual misconduct accuser is put on hold Summer Zervos was a contestant on "The Apprentice" and says Trump made unwanted sexual contact with her” at Salon.

  • Read “Much Of The World Doesn't Trust President Trump, Pew Survey Finds” at NPR.

Read “Appeals Court Allows Trump To Divert $3.6 Billion In Military Funds For Border Wall” at NPR.

Read/Listen to “Stanford Researchers Bring Together People With Different Political Views” at WBUR.

Read “Chinese Tech Giant Tencent Wants A Piece Of The World's Most Successful Record Label” at NPR.

Browse “In Remembrance: Tributes to Ten Notable People Who Died in 2019” at Englewood Review of Books.

Read “Linda Ronstadt sees 'great parallels' between Donald Trump's America and Hitler's Germany” at AZ Central.

Read “Prince Harry, Meghan Markle ‘Step Back’ From Royal Family Decision comes amid family tensions, legal battle with British press” at Rolling Stone.

Read “The ‘warspeak’ permeating everyday language puts us all in the trenches” at The Conversation.

Read “Coachella reveals 2020 lineup” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Rod Stewart Faces Battery Count After Scuffle With Security Guard on New Year’s Eve Singer and eldest son considered “primary aggressors” in incident at Florida resort” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Dave Grohl Reunites With Nirvana Members For Special Performance Beck, St. Vincent and Grohl’s daughter Violet perform alongside Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear at 2020 Art of Elysium Gala” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Mickey Hart Remembers Robert Hunter” at Relix.

Read “How Music Copyright Lawsuits Are Scaring Away New Hits” at Rolling Stone.

Read/Watch “the sound shirt lets deaf people feel music on their skin” at Design Boom.

Read “Bonnaroo 2020 Lineup & Interview with Bryan Benson of AC Entertainment” at Relix.

Read “The Endless Potential Of The Pedal Steel Guitar, An Odd Duck By Any Measure” at NPR.

Read/Listen to “How Bill Graham's Nazi Escape Might Explain His Fillmore Apples” at KQED.

Read “Hear A Previously Unreleased Version Of David Bowie's 'The Man Who Sold The World'“ at Rolling Stone.

Read “Prince Is Getting an All-Star Grammy Tribute Concert” at Rolling Stone.

Read “The Venetian ice cream maker with a 26,000-strong record collection” at Vinyl Factory. “Using a different sound system for every genre in his collection, Carlo Pistacchi is one of the biggest reggae collectors in Italy.”

Read “Artist to Watch: Revealing the Mystery Man Behind Rose City Band” at Vortex. Listen to “‘Fear Song’ by Rose City Band from the album Rose City Band” on Volume 01 of my 04-volume 2019 year-end music wrap-up.

Browse Rolling Stone’s picks for the “25 Most Anticipated TV

Browse Rolling Stone’s picks for the “25 Most Anticipated TV Shows of 2020.”

Read “Timothée Chalamet to play Bob Dylan in new James Mangold movie” at AV Club.

Read “The 2020 Oscars Will Be Hostless Again” at Rolling Stone.

Read “William Tyler Scores New A24 Film First Cow: Watch the Trailer” at Pitchfork.

Read “Lori Loughlin hires prison coach, learns martial arts "She's knuckling down, learning the lingo, and practicing martial arts" at Consequence of Sound.

Read “FEC Commissioner Rips Facebook Over Political Ad Policy: 'This Will Not Do' at NPR. “The FEC commissioner is blasting Facebook's policy to continue allowing political ads to target its users — saying Facebook's "weak plan suggests the company has no idea how seriously it is hurting democracy.

Read “Rumi, Caught Between The U.S. And Iran.”

Read “Czech grandma transforms small village into her own art gallery” at My Positive Outlooks.

Read/Listen to “Making Art Is Good For Your Health. Here's How To Start A Habit” at NPR.

Read “The World Is Using Natural Resources Faster Than Ever Before” at Global Citizen.

Read “Africa's Most Ancient Trees Are Dying Due to Climate Change” at Global Citizen.

Read “Why Newfoundland Is Turning Its Moose Into Bologna” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “The Prickly Symbolism of Cactus Fruit in Israel and Palestine On different sides of border checkpoints, different views of a sweet treat” at Atlas Obscura.

See “There's Now A Tote Bag That Looks Just Like An Office Binder Clip, For Extreme Office Nerds” at Oddity Mall.

The Weekly Town Crier (01/03/20)

newtowncrier.jpg

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (01/03/20).

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.

  • 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/Hear “The Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions Read by Bob Dylan” at Open Culture.

Read “Lee Mendelson, ‘Peanuts’ Producer and ‘Christmas Time Is Here’ Co-Writer, Dead at 86” at Rolling Stone.

Read “R.I.P. Don Imus, veteran radio broadcaster dies at 79” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Broadway Legend Jerry Herman Is Dead At 88” at NPR.

Read “Cult Rockabilly Star Sleepy LaBeef Dead at 84” at Pitchfork.

Read “R.I.P. Jack Sheldon, Schoolhouse Rock! singer and jazz musician dead at 88” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “When a Dragon Tried to Eat Jesus: The Nativity Story We Don’t Talk About” at Mockingbird.

Read “There’s No Shame When A Miracle Doesn’t Come” at Christianity Today. “God didn’t #WakeUpOlive, but the gospel teaches Christ’s solidarity with suffering.”

Read “Trump campaign selects Apostolic Miami megachurch for evangelicals campaign roll-out” at Yahoo News.

  • Read “The Evangelical War Over Impeachment Has Been A Long Time Coming” at Talking Points Memo.

Read “11 Nigerian Christians Executed in ISIS Christmas Video” at Christianity Today.

Read “Conservative Protestant Men Are Still Resisting Porn Sociological data suggests that churchgoing men engage pornography at a vastly lower rate than others” at Christianity Today.

Read “Greece's first and only crematorium opens despite pushback from the church” at PRI.

Read “Why Christianity Has Thrived in the U.S.” at Time. “Between 1870 and 1960, Christianity declined across Europe. But not in the U.S.” Hint: “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.”

Read “Christianity Today’s Editorial May Be Watershed Moment For 2020” at Sojourners.

Read “I and Thou: A Bigfoot Encounter It’s possible, even likely, that somehow all of us, even those among us who pay close attention, have missed something” at Guernica Magazine.

Read “Churches Are Saving Ethiopia’s Last Remaining Native Trees” at Christianity Today.

Read “Good Guys’ Carrying Guns & a Savior Who Carried a Cross” at Red Letter Christians.

Read “Has family become an idol? The Bible gives no sense that the family is an end in itself” at Christian Century.

Read “The Strangeness of Grief” at New Yorker. “We are never finished with grief. It is part of the fabric of living. Love makes memories and life precious; the grief that comes to us is proportionate to that love and is inescapable.”

Read “Mexican police chief arrested in connection to Mormon family massacre” at 12 News.

Read “Ex-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn fled Japan ‘hiding in double bass case on private jet’ while awaiting trial for corruption” at The Sun.

In headlines that feel like we shouldn’t have to deal with in 2020: Read “West Virginia Governor Approves Firing All Cadets Who Posed In Nazi-Like Salute Photo” at NPR.

Read “Buttigieg Getting Dragged For Saying Constitution Signers Didn't Know Slavery Was Bad” at The Root.

Read “Illinois governor clears thousands of marijuana convictions” at PBS News Hour.

Read "'The Slaves Dread New Year's Day the Worst': The Grim History of January 1” at Time Magazine.

Read “Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu seeks immunity from corruption charges” at PBS News Hour.

Read “U.S. launched Baghdad airstrike that killed Iranian military leader Qasem Soleimani” at AZ Central.

Read “Trump Vs. Toilets (And Showers, Dishwashers And Light Bulbs)” at NPR.

Read “People Can't Even Agree On When The Decade Ends” at NPR.

Read “Why Am I Unhappy? Because All American Men Are Getting Sadder” at Fatherly.

Read “Boomers, Take It from Woody or Iron Man: It’s Time to Pass the Torch This summer’s blockbusters showcase the importance of transferring wisdom between generations” at Christianity Today.

Read “The world's 500 wealthiest people gained $1.2 trillion this year, boosting their collective net worth 25% to $5.9 trillion” at Bloomberg.

Read “How to Talk to Someone Whose Opinions You Can’t Stand It’s a family gathering, not a debate you need to win” at Forge.

Read “US mass killings hit a record high in 2019: 'This seems to be the age of mass shootings'“ at AZ Central.

Read “It's OK to not be OK. So go ahead and cry in public, if that's what you need to do. Life is full of breaking points after thousands of personal apocalypses. You have to learn to forgive yourself for yours” at NBC News.

Read “With Births Down, the U.S. Sees the Slowest Population Growth Rate in a Century” at Time.

Read “The Death of Truth: “Both Sides” Don’t Deserve Our Consideration” at Theology Corner.

Read “OxyContin Billionaire Granted Patent for Opioid Addiction Treatment” at Fortune.

Read/watch “Greyhound offers free bus ticket home to runaway kids” at Fox 4 News.

Read “Italy passes law to send unsold food to charities instead of dumpsters” at Global Citizen.

Read “Stop Believing in Free Shipping How retailers hide the costs of delivery—and why we’re such suckers for their ploys” at The Atlantic.

Read “No Test Left Behind How Pearson Made a Killing on the US Testing Craze” at Talking Points Memo.

Read “Virginia School District To Give Students One Day Off Per Year For 'Civic Engagement'“ at NPR. “Starting next month, students in Virginia's Fairfax County — one of the largest school district in the country — can take one day off per school year to engage in political activism.”

Read “Don’t assume that every student had a fun or warm holiday break” at PBS News Hour.

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

  • Read “Fed study finds Trump tariffs backfired” at Market Watch.

  • Read “The Louder the Monkey, the Smaller Its Balls, Study Finds Howler monkeys can be well-endowed in the voice box or the family jewels, but not both” at Vice. Yes, I put in the “politics” section.

  • Read “A Gangster in the White House” at The Atlantic. “The President tweeted the name of the presumed Whistle-Blower in the Ukraine scandal–demonstrating that he is unrepentant and determined to break the law again.”

  • Read “Germans think Trump is more dangerous than Kim Jong Un and Putin” at DW.

Read “Anger and Anguish From The Navy SEALs Who Turned In Edward Gallagher" at New York Times.

  • Read “Eddie Gallagher ‘Is Freaking Evil’ Says Fellow Navy SEAL in R

Read “Eddie Gallagher ‘Is Freaking Evil’ Says Fellow Navy SEAL in Rolling Stone.

Read “Treasury will again borrow $1 trillion to pay for tax cuts, spending” at Axios.

Read “Spotify Becomes Latest Tech Company To Hit Pause On Political Ads” at NPR.

Read “Civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis diagnosed with Stage IV cancer” at 12 News.

Read “NC voter ID law written with ‘discriminatory intent,’ says judge who just struck it down” at News Observer. “Federal judge just struck down NC’s voter ID law: “North Carolina has a sordid history of racial discrimination & voter suppression stretching back to the time of slavery, through the era of Jim Crow, and, crucially, continuing up to the present day.”

Read “Farmers Got Billions From Taxpayers In 2019, And Hardly Anyone Objected” a NPR. AKA: Welcome to ‘Murica’s Socialism.

Read “After 2 Years, Trump Tax Cuts Have Failed To Deliver On GOP's Promises” at NPR.

Read Washington Post’s opinion piece: “Wake up, Republicans. Your party stands for all the wrong things now.”

Read “Intended to induce awe': codpiece thrusts itself back into fashion Designers’ embrace of 16th-century accessory forms part of revival of Tudor power dressing” at The Guardian.

Read “Judge orders Alex Jones to pay $100,000 in Sandy Hook case” at PBS News Hour.

2019 Year-End Round-Ups continue to roll in.

  • Browse “NPR Music's 25 Best Albums Of 2019.”

  • Browse Magnet’s Top 25 Albums of 2019.

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

  • Browse Barack Obama’s Favorite Music of 2019 at Twitter.

  • 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 “From Digable Planets to Knife Knights: The Many Faces of Ishmael Butler” at Pitchfork.

Read “Kim Gordon on five of her favorite breakup songs Read More: Kim Gordon on five of her favorite breakup songs” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “A Conversation With Brian Eno About Ambient Music The unceasingly curious composer on chance, minimalism, and the politics of form” at Pitchfork.

Read “Watch the Berlin era Nick Cave documentary “Stranger in a Strange land” at Post-Punk.

Read Esquire’s profile of Mdou Moctar: “The Hendrix of the Sahara.” Listen to “Tarha” by Mdou Moctar on Episode 43 of the Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow. Listen to "‘Wiwasharnine’ by Mdou Moctar from the album Ilana (The Creator) in Volume 01 of my 2019 year-end music wrap-up.

Read “40 Years of Goth: Essential Albums from the Genre’s Beginnings” at Post-Punk.

Read “Nick Cave on PJ Harvey breaking up with him: “I was so surprised I almost dropped my syringe.” Read More: Nick Cave on PJ Harvey breaking up with him: “I was so surprised I almost dropped my syringe” at Brooklyn Vegan.

  • Read “An Essential Guide to Nick Cave” at Exclaim.

Read “Bo Diddley’s Essential Tips for Surviving Life & the Music Business” at Open Culture.

Read “Death Row Records is now owned by toy company Hasbro The maker of Monopoly and Transformers acquired the label's catalog in its purchase of Entertainment One” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Rare Rolling Stones Outtakes Appear on YouTube in Copyright-Extending Release” at Variety.

Read “Watch Dead & Company Get Interviewed By Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen on New Year’s Eve” at Relix.

Read “He has spoken: Jon Favreau confirms season 2 of The Mandalorian” at AV Club.

Read “Daniel Day-Lewis Called Adam Sandler to Congratulate Him on His Uncut Gems Performance” at Esquire.

Read “How Space Ghost Coast to Coast Changed Cartoon Network Forever A perfect nerd storm of late-'90s sarcasm, twisted nostalgia, and surrealist delights” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Kurt Vonnegut on 8 'shapes' of stories” Big Think.

Read “Toddlers engage more with print books than tablets” at ABC News.

Read “Dolly Parton's Charity Just Donated Its 100 Millionth Book to Kids” at Global Citizen.

Read “100+ Museums Turn Their Collections Into Free Downloadable Coloring Books” at My Modern.

BrowseRolling Stone’s Favorite Photos of 2019.”

Read “For almost every common medical service, patients and insurance companies in the U.S. pay higher prices compared to the rest of the world, an international survey found” at New York Times.

Read “When Wasps Are Given Colored Paper, They Build Rainbow Nests” at Bored Panda.

Read “Humanity Has Killed 83% of All Wild Mammals and Half of All Plants” at Global Citizen.

Read “Psychedelic Drugs: Researchers experimenting with active agent in magic mushrooms to treat addiction, depression and anxiety” at CBS News.

Read “6 Bricks Under: Vienna Cemetery Introduces Funeral LEGO Sets” at Cult of Weird.

See “Tortoises eating berries” at 41 Strange on Twitter.

Read “How Chinese Artisans Turn Dead Cicadas Into ‘Hairy Monkeys’ These traditional handicrafts require exoskeletons, magnolia buds, and a steady hand” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “Ruins of Aleister Crowley’s Cursed House on Loch Ness for Sale” at Cult of Weird.

Read “According To FBI Statistics, These Are The 10 Most Dangerous Cities In Arizona For 2020” at Only In Your State.

Read “U-Haul to stop hiring smokers and nicotine users in Arizona, 20 other states” at AZ Central.

Read “Hard Rock Cafe in downtown Phoenix is closing. Here's what we know” at AZ Central.

The Weekly Town Crier (12/27/19)

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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 (12/20/19)

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

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 “R.I.P. Danny Aiello, Do the Right Thing actor dies at 86” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Flamin’ Groovies Singer Roy Loney Dead at 73” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Anna Karina, Singer and French New Wave Actress, Dead at 79” at Pitchfork.

Read “Observing Advent Makes Me Feel Less Alone Following the rituals of the church calendar remind me that my life is part of the larger story of God’s creation, redemption, and restoration” at Christianity Today.

Read “Is Trumpism a cult? A new book from a former cult member makes the case” at Vox.

Read the opinion piece: “The False God of Conservative Christianity” at Evangelicals for Social Action. “here's a religion whose savior was a refugee, yet it rejects refugees. Whose God embraces sojourners, yet it deports immigrants. Whose parishioners worship someone called the Prince of Peace, yet they defend violence and are pro-war. Whose hero was an ethnic minority, yet they're complicit in white supremacy. Whose Christ was unlawfully arrested and killed by a governing empire, yet it has become nationalistic and oppressive.”

Read “Mormon Church has misled members on $100 billion tax-exempt investment fund, whistleblower alleges” at Washington Post.

  • Read “Mormons pulling 400,000 youths out of struggling Boy Scouts” at KTAR.

Read “How long is the sermon? Study ranks Christian churches” at AP News.

Read “The Risky Business of Letting the Government Define a Religion Trump's executive order undermines the freedom of Jewish self-definition” at Sojourners.

Read “Don’t Panic About Nones Who Stop Believing” at Church Life Journal.

Read “Who was the Buddha? When we strip away the myths, such as his princely youth in a palace, a surprising picture of this enigmatic sage emerges” at Aeon.

Read “Christian influencer couple wants to resurrect young daughter who died, seeks $100k in crowdfunding” at Boing Boing.

Read ““Sort-Of Socialist” Church Pastor Accused of Sexual Misconduct” at Juicy Ecumenism.

Read “Chicago’s Top Prosecutor Tosses Out More Than 1,000 Marijuana Convictions Ahead of State Legalization Law” at The Root.

Read “Krispy Kreme, Panera Bread owner to give $5M to Holocaust survivors over family's Nazi ties The Reimann family learned that their ancestors used forced laborers in their factory under the Nazis during World War II” at NBC News.

Read “Gambian minister brought Myanmar to The Hague ‘in the name of humanity’” at PRI. “25 years after the Rwandan tragedy, here we are again, not doing anything to stop another ongoing genocide in Myanmar.”

Read “Dolly Parton statue may replace KKK leader memorial at Tennessee Capitol” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Wyoming Students Showed Up to Class in Bootleg KKK Robes Because of Course They Did: 'This Is Taught Behavior” at The Root.

Read “ICE Denied Arizona Detainees Proper Medical and Psychiatric Care” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “Despite Trump’s vow to revive the death penalty, support for capital punishment shrank in 2019” at Washington Post.

Read/watch “Texas judge sues after being warned for refusing to perform same-sex marriages” at 12 News.

Read “New Research Identifies Possible Mass Graves From 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre” at NPR.

  • Read “We changed how we refer to the 'Tulsa Race Riot.' Here's why” at Tulsa World.

Read “Why a Small Offense Shouldn’t Have Life-Altering Consequence Opinion: Nearly 10 years ago, I was arrested and detained in jail for 45 days after failing to appear in court for a low-level, non-violent offense. Today, I’m fighting so that others don’t have to go through what I did” at Texas Observer.

Read “Americans are drowning in medical debt, so this nonprofit is buying — and forgiving — it” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Amazon is delivering half its own packages as it becomes a serious rival to FedEx and UPS” at The Verge.

Read “Baby boomers are the most sensitive generation, new study says — and it shows exactly what the world is getting wrong about millennials” at Business Insider.

Read “President Obama: A world ruled by women would improve "just about everything” at Salon. “I'm absolutely confident that for two years, if every nation on earth was run by women, you would see a significant improvement across the board on just about everything... living standards and outcomes.”

Read “United States to fund gun-violence research after 20-year freeze Government spending deal includes $25 million for studies of firearm safety” at Nature.

Read “Why Some Men Still Dress Like They’re 16. It’s not because they’re lazy” at Slate.

Read “Archaeologists Discover Ancient Greek Royal Tombs Dating Back 3,500 Years” at NPR.

Read “Facebook, Instagram ban influencers from promoting guns and vaping” at Engadget.

Read “Germany bans gay ‘conversion therapy’ for minors” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Wakanda (fake Marvel country) listed as US trade partner on USDA website The fictional home of "Black Panther" appeared on an agricultural tariff tracker maintained by the USDA, NBC News reports” at 12 News.

Read “‘We are sending more foster kids to prison than college’” at Kansas City.com.

Read/Listen to “Fewer Students Are Going To College. Here's Why That Matters” at NPR.

Read “House Judiciary Committee Approves 2 Articles Of Impeachment Against Trump” at NPR.

  • Read “McConnell indicates he’ll let Trump’s lawyers dictate Trump’s impeachment trial” at Washington Post.

  • Read “Arizona Republican in denial about core impeachment detail” at MSNBC.

  • Read “Bill Barr is serving notice to DOJ officials that he’ll ruin them if they investigate Trump” at Raw Story.

  • Read “Dem. rep. expected to leave party over impeachment” at MSNBC.

  • Read “750+ historians add their voices on Impeachment” at Medium. “President Trump’s numerous and flagrant abuses of power are precisely what the Framers had in mind as grounds for impeaching and removing a president.”

  • Read “Russia’s State TV Calls Trump Their ‘Agent’ at The Daily Beast. “Russian commentators note, rightly, that “sooner or later, the Democrats will come back into power," and they’re already joking about offering Trump asylum.”

  • Read “President Trump Sends Pelosi Letter Protesting ‘Partisan Impeachment Charade’ at NPR.

  • Read “Matthews: This isn't a fact finding mission, it's a roll-call vote to see what party you're in” at MSNBC.

  • Read “Trump Should Be Removed from Office. It’s time to say what we said 20 years ago when a president’s character was revealed for what it was” at Christianity Today.

    • Read “Wake up, everybody: a response to the impeachment of Donald Trump from the AME Church” at Religion News Service. “"We take no solace in the fact that God's revelation about Trump's lack of Constitutional character and his divisive and destructive policies would push our nation away from democracy and toward dictatorship were right."

    • Read “If Trump is impeached, it will be hard for Senate Republicans to vote to convict him They need to do it anyway” at Christian Century.

    • Read as Franklin Graham tells the New York Times “My father (founder of the magazine) would be embarrassed ... There’s a liberal element within the evangelical movement. Christianity Today represents that.”

  • Read “Vladimir Putin Backs Trump, Calling Impeachment Charges ‘Completely Made Up” at NPR.

  • Read “To avoid removal, Trump only needs senators representing 7 percent of the country to support him” at Washington Post.

Read “Trump May Not Debate 2020 Democratic Nominee” at News and Guts.

  • Read “Trump says he'll do debates, but may bypa

  • Read “Vladimir Putin Backs Trump, Calling Impeachment Charges ‘Completely Made Up” at NPR.

Read “Trump May Not Debate 2020 Democratic Nominee” at News and Guts.

  • Read “Trump says he'll do debates, but may bypa”

  • Read “Vladimir Putin Backs Trump, Calling Impeachment Charges ‘Completely Made Up” at NPR.

Read “Trump May Not Debate 2020 Democratic Nominee” at News and Guts.

  • Read “Trump says he'll do debates, but may bypass commission that runs them” at 12 News.

Read “You Don’t Know Bernie” at Buzzfeed News. “Bernie Sanders — the guy who admits he can be grumpy and “nasty” and a “real son of a bitch,” the guy who’s known for giving the same speech over and over again — that guy is trying to win this campaign, maybe his last, by making people feel less alone.”

Read “U.S. Government Loses 2 Border Fence Funding Lawsuits” at KJZZ.

  • Read “Fox News poll finds a wealth tax is far more popular than Trump's wall” at The Week.

Read “New Kentucky Governor Restores Voting Rights to More Than 100,000 Formerly Incarcerated” at The Root.

  • Read “Pardons by Former Kentucky Governor Spark Outrage and Calls for Investigation” at Rolling Stone.

Read/watch as PBS News Hour wonders “Should the federal government be able to negotiate the prices of prescription drugs?”

Read “Appeals court strikes down ACA's individual mandate” at Axios.

Read as Rolling Stone wonders “What Do We Do With the Afghanistan Papers? Are Americans ignoring the revelation that their government lied to them, again, for decades about another endless war? Or have they mastered their ability to process their anger about such injustices?”

  • Read “The Whole Damn Thing Was A Lie” at Sojourners. “A confidential trove of government documents obtained by The Washington Post reveals that senior U.S. officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan throughout the 18-year campaign, making rosy pronouncements they knew to be false and hiding unmistakable evidence the war had become unwinnable.”

Read “This is How a Society Dies America and Britain are Textbook Examples of a New, Gruesome Phenomeon: Rich Nations Self-Destructing Into Poor Failed States” at Eand.

  • Read “‘This Feels Worse Than Trump’: Artists Voice Anguish After Boris Johnson’s Landslide Victory in the British General Election” at Artnet.

Read “Trump's War Pardons Are Sabotaging the Military Justice System Victims of America's war crimes had little means of accountability. Now, even that is being eviscerated” at ACLU.

Read “Mitch McConnell is in ‘Literal Violation of the oath’ he must take for impeachment trial, says government professor” at Newsweek.

  • Watch “Sen. Sherrod Brown says there’s “increasing talk” that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell should recuse himself in an impeachment trial: “He doesn’t have respect for the institution, although you’d think the Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate would” at MSNBC.

Read “Georgia purge removes nearly 309,000 voter registrations” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Conservative Radio Show Cancelled After Host Wishes a ‘Nice School Shooting’ Would Replace Impeachment Coverage” at The Root.

Read “Why Dyeing My Hair and Tattooing My Body Are Forms of Self-Care” at The Mighty.

Read “Grace at SantaLand: Why David Sedaris Is My Favorite Advent Reading” at Mockingbird.

Read “Opinion: Should It Be Illegal To Sleep Outside?” at NPR.

Read “Why Are So Many Gen Z Kids Becoming Furries? Furry influencers on TikTok are bringing the long-misunderstood subculture to a whole new generation” at Rolling Stone.

The 2019 “Best Of” Lists keep rolling in:

  • Read “Our 50 favourite albums of 2019” at Vinyl Factory.

  • Read “NPR Music Staff Picks: The Best Albums Of 2019” at NPR.

  • Browse “Aquarium Drunkard :: 2019 Year In Review".

  • Browse “J.C. Mosquito’s Best of 2019” at Something Else Reviews.

  • 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 “Jerry Garcia’s “Alligator” Guitar Sells for $420,000” at Jambands.com.

Read “The Clash: How London Calling still inspires 40 years on” at BBC.

  • Read “The Clash’s ‘London Calling’: 10 Things You Didn’t Know” at Rolling Stone.

  • Read “The Clash Never Failed Their Influences” at Consequence of Sound.

  • Read “The Clash Started a Rebellion by Defying Labels” at Consequence of Sound.

  • Read “You've Never Heard 'London Calling'?!” at NPR.

ReadAt The End Of The End of The Decade Lists“ by Marty Sartini Garner at The Outline. “Era-specific album lists are only really interesting because of the implicit arguments they make. I wrote about how this year’s Best Albums of the Decade lists upheld our cultural hegemony and highlight some problems with music criticism.”

Read “Yeasayer Call It Quits The Brooklyn indie band released its final album, Erotic Reruns, earlier this year” at Pitchfork.

Read “Here’s the most popular YouTube music video of the decade” at KTAR.

Read “Kanye West’s Opera Mary Coming to New York City” at Pitchfork.

Read “Remembering Joseph Hoo-Kim – the legendary roots producer and Channel One founder.”

Read “Hiss Golden Messenger review – songwriter is an anchor in a rudderless world” at The Guardian.

Read “'He was a musical warlock': reflecting on Frank Zappa's greatest album at 50” at The Guardian.

Read “Cox Communications Hit With $1 Billion Verdict in Music Copyright Suit” at Variety.

Listen “to the Full Version of The Smiths’ Historic First Recording “I Want A Boy For My Birthday” at Post-Punk.

Read “YouTube Plays Will Now Count Toward the Billboard Album Charts” at Pitchfork.

Read “Lee “Scratch” Perry’s first #1 on Billboard in 60yr Career” at Yardhype.

Read “'It's a Total Nightmare': Problems at Direct Shot Distributing Have Made New Vinyl and CDs Scarce” at Billboard.

Read “Radiohead upload their entire discography to YouTube” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “DC’s Legendary Punk Label Dischord Records Makes Its Entire Music Catalog Free to Stream Online” at Open Culture.

Read PBS’ profile of Tinariwen: “How this nomadic music group is bridging cultural divides.”

  • Watch a short profile of Tinariwen here at Holiday at the Sea: 'We made a career out of roaming'.

  • See Amadjar by Tinariwen on my 2019 Favorite music wrap-up.

Read “US Justice Department Reportedly Preparing Legal Action Against Live Nation” at Steregum.

Read “Chasing Ephemera: Entering the World of the Necks Michael McKinney offers an extensive guide to the veteran jazz trio at Passion of the Weiss.

Read “Ivan Conti’s Free-Thinking Samba Legacy” at Bandcamp and listen to “Aroeira” by Ivan 'Mamão' Conti on Episode 39 of the Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.

Read “John Frusciante Rejoins Red Hot Chili Peppers” at Relix.

Read “Iggy Pop, Public Enemy, Roberta Flack, Isaac Hayes, More Get Lifetime Achievement Grammys” at Pitchfork.

Read “Bill Kreutzmann Talks Hawaii Home, Jerry Garcia, More In Rare New Interview” at Live For Live Music.

Browse “An introduction to Parliament-Funkadelic in 10 records” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “Are Podcasts Threatening the Growth of the Music Industry?” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Insane hardcore show at a Denny’s restaurant gives new meaning to Super Slam: Watch The young promoter launched a GoFundMe campaign to pay for damages” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “George Benson: The Album That Changed My Life” at Jazzwise.

Read “Greta Thunberg Documentary Coming to Hulu in 2020” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Adam Driver Walks Out of NPR ‘Fresh Air’ Interview Over ‘Marriage Story’ Clip” at Daily Beast.

Read “Star Wars,' The Trilogy That NPR Turned Into Radio Drama” at NPR. “A long time ago, in an NPR far, far away, the network produced three radio dramas based on the original "Star Wars" trilogy.”

Read “Chris Frantz Talking Heads Memoir ‘Remain In Love’ Set For May 2020 Release” at Jambase.

Browse “17 Home Libraries That Look Like Something Out Of A Fairytale” at Bookish Buzz.

Read “In Acknowledgement of Acknowledgements: Dispelling the myth of the solitary genius” at Comment.

Read “Gibby Haynes of Butthole Surfers to Release Young Adult Novel About a Supernatural Dog” at Paste Magazine.

Read “The Far Side is officially online for the first time, with new comics to come” at The Verge.

Read “If Jane Austen Got Feedback From Some Guy In A Writing Workshop” at Buzzfeed. “Also, why five sisters? How about just two? Combine Jane and Kitty. Or, better, make one of the sisters a brother (named "Jim," maybe?), and then he could be the narrator who mentions his sisters from time to time! Like Hamlet!”

ReadGo Ahead in the Rain Will Make You Love A Tribe Called Quest Even More” at Pitchfork. “That insistence on evolving alongside the music we cherish is the book’s most rewarding sentiment.”

See “This Artist Turns Precious Moments Figurines Into Your Worst Nightmire” at Best Products.

Read “Salvador Dalí’s Tarot Cards Get Re-Issued: The Occult Meets Surrealism in a Classic Tarot Card Deck” at Open Culture.

Read “This new exhibit explores the work of Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “With exhibit on Abraham, Episcopal cathedral in Boston organizes interfaith conversation” at Christian Century.

See “The Psychedelic Beauty of Destroyed CDs” at Wired.

Read “The Smithsonian Just Opened a Manila Envelope and Discovered Four Yayoi Kusama Paintings It Had No Idea Existed” at Artnet.

Read “The Milky Way Sounds Like a Wacky Jazz Ensemble An astronomer translated the sounds of galactic gases into a piece of music” at Atlas Obscura.

Browse “All the Species Declared Extinct This Decade” at Gizmodo.

Read “In Our Brutal Modern World, Science Shows Our Brains Need Craft More Than Ever” at Science Alert.

Read “Invasive insect never-before seen in U.S. discovered at Port of Nogales The bug that was found during an inspection is part of the family of leafhoppers” at 12 News.

Read “Singing Mozart in the MRI shows how overtone singers can hit two notes at once” Aeon.

Read “How a White Lie Gave Japan KFC for Christmas One cunning business maneuver created a tradition and saved a franchise” at Atlas Obscura.

Browse Hop Culture’s picks for “The 20 Best Beer Label Designs of 2019.”

Read “The Return of Japan’s Female Sake Brewers Pushed out of brewing more than a century ago, they’re making a comeback” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “Ancient Egyptian 'head cone mystery' solved by archaeologists Researchers have long speculated about the purpose and meaning of pointy “head cones” depicted in Egyptian art. Now they’ve actually found the real thing” at National Geographic.

Read “The Story Behind ‘Green Boots’ Tsewang Paljor, Mount Everest’s Most Famous Dead Body” at All That’s Interesting.

See “Glowworm Tunnel An abandoned railroad tunnel is now filled with bioluminescent bugs” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “Why monsters haunt Christmas in Europe but not America” at QZ.

Read “Inside the New York Public Library’s Last, Secret Apartments” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “Red light cameras still going away, but speed radars may stay in Phoenix” at KTAR.

Read “Barrio Brewing Company turns over business to employees” at KOLD.

Read “SuperShuttle to end service to Phoenix airports in 3 weeks” at KTAR.

Read “Once affordable, Phoenix rents among fastest rising in US” at KTAR.

The Weekly Town Crier (12/13/19)

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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)

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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 (11/29/19)

Town  Crier.jpg

All the week’s News that’s fit to cry about (11/29/19).

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. Michael J. Pollard (05/30/39 - 11/21/19)

Read “A barbershop births a church of drug users, ex-cons, and homeless folks” at Christian Century.

Read “The Democratic Candidates’ Favorite Bible Verses” at Christianity Tod

Read “Grief Is Messy and Complicated How you support a friend in the midst of it doesn’t have to be” at Slate.

Read “Two Leading Republicans Praise God For Bringing Us Trump” at Rolling Stone

Read “Wayne Grudem Changes Mind About Divorce in Cases of Abuse Leading complementarian theologian says he no longer believes the Bible offers only two justifiable reasons for ending a marriage” at Christianity Today.

Read “High school outcasts: An increasing number of public school districts across the country are giving the boot to faith-based, pro-life, and politically conservative student groups” at World Magazine.

Read “A Hope for Thanksgiving: Assigning Grace Instead of Malice: I was saddened several years back to read some stuff that John Mayer said in an article for Rolling Stone magazine. He was basically racist and misogynist all in the same breath. It was heartbreaking for me... And then he announced his sobriety from alcohol. And I guess I thought, "there it is” at Mockingbird.

Read “Jim Wallis: White Nationalism Is Not Just Racist, It’s Anti-Christ at Sojourners.

Read “How local governments punish poor people with fines” at Christian Century.

Read “Uganda’s Escalating LGBT Crackdown Feels Eerily Familiar” at World Politics Review.

Read “Black male teachers have positive influence on students of all races’ at The State.

Read “What mercy in the criminal justice system could look like” at Christian Century.

Read “ICE arrests 90 more students at fake university in Michigan” at Detroit Free Press. “In early 2016, ICE created a fake university, built out a website saying it was authentic, and recruited an accreditation organization to vouch for it. Foreign students signed up, came here, and were arrested by ICE for ... attending a fake university.”

Read “Why are rural white Americans willing to prioritize cultural whiteness above all else?” at Christian Century.

Read “Philosopher Jacques Derrida Interviews Jazz Legend Ornette Coleman: Talk Improvisation, Language & Racism (1997)” at Open Culture.

Read/Listen to “Forgiving Student Debt Would Boost Economy, Economists Say” at NPR.

Read “Kenya Installs The First Solar Power Plant That Transforms Ocean Water Into Drinking Water” at Bored Panda.

Read “Saudade: the untranslatable word for the presence of absence” at Aeon.

Meet “Rachael Li, 9, Youngest Female US Chess Master Ever” at US Chess.

Read “Why Child Care Is So Ridiculously Expensive Three broad reasons obtaining care for kids now costs as much as buying a brand new Hyundai Elantra each year” at The Atlantic.

Read “Most Americans would pay more to avoid using plastic, poll says” at PBS News Hour.

Read “3 kids. 2 paychecks. No home. South of San Francisco, in a fertile corner of California that feeds much of the country, working families are sleeping in shelters and parking lots” at The California Sunday Magazine: In Salinas, CA, you can’t afford to rent an apartment if you make less than $30/hr.

Read “Profitable Giants Like Amazon Pay $0 in Corporate Taxes. Some Voters Are Sick of It.” at New York Times.

Read “The Road That Brought Conservatives and Republicans to This Point” at National Review.

Read/watch “'Not kings!': Judge issues stinging rebuke to Trump's impeachment stonewall” at MSNBC.

  • Read “Trump was briefed on whistleblower complaint before Ukraine aid was released” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Mike Pompeo Says Ukraine, 2016 Election Interference Should Be Investigated” at NPR.

  • Read/Watch “Nunes now implicated in Ukraine scandal” at MSNBC.

Read “State Dept. releases docs that show how Giuliani's smear campaign against Yovanovitch reached Pompeo” at MSNBC.

  • Read “Giuliani Once Again Says He Has “Insurance” if Trump Throws Him “Under the Bus” at Slate.

Read “Diplomats question why U.S. military aid to Lebanon is being withheld” at PBS News Hour.

Read “The War-Crimes President When violence is directed at those Trump’s supporters hate and fear, they see such excesses not as crimes but as virtues” at The Atlantic.

Read “Navy Is Said to Proceed With Disciplinary Plans Against Edward Gallagher Top military officials threatened to resign or be fired if their plans to remove Chief Gallagher from the SEALs were halted by President Trump, administration officials said” at New York Times.

  • Read “Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer Forced Out Amid Controversy Over SEAL Case” at NPR.

Read “White House directed block of Armenian genocide resolution” at Axios.

Read “Trump Tax Records Reveal New Inconsistencies — This Time for Trump Tower” at Pro Publica.

As Michael Bloomberg enters the presidential race, read Boing Boing’s response: “Peak billionaire: a billionaire tries to purchase a party nomination to outflank anti-billionaires so he can run against another billionaire.”

Read “Sarah Huckabee Sanders: ‘I’ve Been Called’ to be the Next Governor of Arkansas” at The Root.

Read “Sacha Baron Cohen says what we all know: Facebook is profiting from Nazism” at AV Club.

Read “J.K. Rowling and Quentin Tarantino swear by pen and paper, and even science agrees that writing can make you more productive” at Business Insider.

See “The 2019 Beard & Mustache Championship In 30 Pictures” at Bored Panda.

Read “Pope Francis, In Visit To Hiroshima, Says Possession Of Nuclear Weapons Is 'Immoral'“ at NPR.

Read “Imagination is ancient” at Aeon.

Hear “U2’s Meditative New Song ‘Ahimsa’” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Neil Young’s unreleased album Homegrown will finally see light in 2020” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Is There Anything We Can All Agree On? Yes: Dolly Parton. At 73, the enigmatic country star is captivating a whole new generation and riding high as the subject of a podcast and the inspiration behind a Netflix series” at New York Times.

Read “Circle Jerks Tease 2020 Reunion Tour to Celebrate 40th Anniversary” at Rolling Stone.

Read “They Might Be Giants announce Flood 30th anniversary tour” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Tom Waits Challenged Our Preconceived Notions (Again) With ‘Glitter and Doom Live’ at Something Else Reviews.

Read “Curt Kirkwood of Meat Puppets says they've recaptured the chaos as reunion tour comes home” at AZ Central.

Read “Somebody paid Sugar Ray's Mark McGrath to break up with their boyfriend via Cameo” at AV Club.

Read “Jimmy Fallon Expresses His Love For Dead & Company On ‘The Tonight Show’ Following First Show At MSG” at Live For Live Music.

Read “Joe Henry Shares a Romantic 'Gospel' In the Wake of Cancer Diagnosis” at Billboard.

  • Read “Joe Henry and the Art of Disappearing Into a Song” at New York Times.

Read “Billboard Announces New Rules For Merchandise/Album Bundles” at Stereogum. The effort is an attempt to prevent artists from manipulating the charts.

Read “Beck Is Home Twenty-six years into his career, the musician visits the Los Angeles of his youth and says goodbye to the past.” at New Yorker.

  • Read “Beck Fears He Lost Entire Unreleased Albums In The Universal Warehouse Fire” at Stereogum.

  • Read “Beck: "I'm Not a Scientologist: After declaring 15 years ago, "Yeah — I'm a Scientologist," the singer takes an abrupt turn away from the organization following a divorce from second-generation Scientologist Marissa Ribisi” at Hollywood Reporter.

    • Read “Beck distancing himself from Scientology was a “pussy move,” Leah Remini says” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read/Listen to “Song You Need to Know: Leonard Cohen, ‘Puppets’” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Cornershop Announce First Album in 8 Years, Share New Song: Listen” at Pitchfork.

Read “Arlo Guthrie Looks Back on 50 Years of ‘Alice’s Restaurant” at Rolling Stone.

Read “In U2's 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For,' A Restless Search For Meaning” at NPR.

Read “Jeff Tweedy’s Chicago Home Reportedly Struck By Gunfire” at Stereogum.

Read “Morrissey to Release 13th Album “I Am Not A Dog On A Chain” in 2020” at Post-Punk.

Read ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ Producer Lands Authorized Michael Jackson Biopic” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Martin Scorsese working on documentary about 1970s New York City music scene” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Martin Scorsese has spent his entire career searching for God” at Vox. For Scorsese, Alissa Wilkinson writes for Vox, "people are imbued with both a human spirit and a spark of the divine; we’re not Jesus, but we’re 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 him, and what he struggled with, we struggle with, too."

Read “Christopher Walken Told Will Ferrell That the "More Cowbell" Sketch Ruined His Life” at Exclaim.

Read “Bill Cosby says he has “no remorse” in first interview from prison "It’s all a set up. That whole jury thing. They were imposters” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “The Uncertain Future of the World’s Largest Secondhand Book Market” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “Charles M. Schulz, Civil Rights, and the Previously Unseen Art of Peanuts” at Brain Pickings.

Browse “40 Children's Books Celebrating Native American and Indigenous Mighty Girls” at A Mighty Girl.

  • Browse “25 Books by Indigenous Authors You Should Be Reading” at Evangelicals For Social Justice.

Read “Grateful Dead’s Mickey Hart Drums to Own Beat in Mind-Blowing Paintings” at Broward/Palm Beach New Times.

Read “A Museum in Wales Had a Botticelli Right Under Their Noses and Didn’t Realize It Until This Helpful TV Art Detective Told Them” at Artnet.

Read “Thieves Stole Up to a Billion Dollars Worth of Jewels From Dresden’s Famed Treasure Museum, Escaping in a Limousine” at Artnet.

Read “FDA Calls Psychedelic Psilocybin a 'Breakthrough Therapy' for Severe Depression” at Live Science.

  • Read “A Single Dose Of Ketamine Might Help Heavy Drinkers, Study Finds” at NPR.

Read “How Your Negative Emotions Can Literally Make You Sick” at Medium.

Read “The Science of Gratitude (Won’t Make You Grateful)” at Mockingbird.

Read “2020 will be a defining year for America” at The Guardian.

Read “New Belgium Will be Acquired by Kirin-Owned Lion Little World Beverages” at Paste Magazine.

Read “A South African Couple Has Turned Elephant Dung Into Award-Winning Gin” Atlas Obscura.

Read “World's best sushi restaurant dropped from Michelin Guide after refusing to serve public” at The Telegraph.

Read “You Can Get a Full-Course Christmas Dinner in One Can” at Cosmopolitan.

Read/Watch “Bisbee library named best small library in nation” at KVOA.

Browse “Holiday Gifts: 5 Ways to Support Arts and Culture While You Shop” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “GOP proposal would increase in-state tuition at ASU, UA, NAU” at Arizona Mirror.

Read “Homeless Man Arrested for a Felony for Stealing a Burrito” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “Arizona saw children’s obesity drop after WIC required healthier foods” at Cronkite News.

Read “Pat McMahon Is Just Getting Started” at Phoenix New Times.

Read Glendale police officer suspended for punching man in face during traffic stop” at 12 News.

Read “This Arizona Husband-and-Wife Team Wants to Make a 4,000-Year-Old Product the Hottest Holiday Drink Superstition Meadery founders Jeff and Jen Herbert are betting you'll love mead, an alcoholic beverage that dates back to ancient times” at Inc.

The Weekly Town Crier (11/22/19)

Town  Crier.jpg

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.

ReadComic 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 (10/18/19)

towncrier.jpg

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (10/18/19 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 as Christianity Today considers “4 Unexpected, Counterintuitive Truths About Uncool Churches.”

Browse “7 Reasons Tom Schreiner (Tentatively) Holds to Amillennialism” at The Gospel Coalition.

Read Christianity Today’s report: “Christians Killed on Syria’s Front Lines While Trump defends US withdrawal, advocates fear “Turkey will complete the work that ISIS tried to do, in eradicating Christians from this region.”

Read as Ralph Reed claims “Christians ‘have a moral obligation to enthusiastically back’ Trump in 2020” at Market Watch.

Read Christianity Today’s report: “National Association of Evangelicals’ New President Hopes to Bring Together a Movement in Crisis.”

Read: “The Early Church Thrived Amid Secularism and Shows How We Can, Too The pre-Christendom church managed to avoid both isolationism and accommodationism. Their model gives us a map for post-Christendom challenges” at Christianity Today.

Consider “3 Christian Responses To A Celebrity Conversion” with Jared Wilson at Lifeway Voices.

Read “SBC President: We Failed to Heed Victims’ Voices: Hundreds of Southern Baptists recently convened to talk about sex abuse in their denomination. Here’s where the conversation went” at Christianity Today.

Read “A letter from Paul to Christians in the US Let me cut to the chase, brothers and sisters. Is this what you think living in Christ looks like?” at Christian Century.

Read Christianity Today’s piece: “Algeria Forces Christians Out of the Country’s Largest Churches.”

Read as CNN wonders: “Why Christian music's biggest stars refuse to change their tune for the Trump era.”

Wonder with Mike Frost “Sing Freedom! Why isn’t Christian music more revolutionary?”

Read as Christianity Today considers “Why We Still Need Christian Colleges As the liberal arts struggle, we should rally around Christian campuses that still embrace them.”

Read “The Owners of Hobby Lobby Are Returning Biblical Antiquities That Were Allegedly Stolen by an Oxford Professor This is the second time that the family and its Museum of the Bible have bought illicit antiquities” at Art.net.

Read “Number of Americans with no religious affiliation growing” at Christianity Today and read my piece: “The Religious "Nones" Learned It From Somewhere.”

Read GQ’s piece “Why Rich Guys Get Richer Off of Debt—While the Rest of Us Can Get Crushed by It”

Read as Glamour considers: “It’s Time to Stop Treating Parenting as a Mom’s Burden and a Dad’s Adorable Hobby.”

Read The Guardian’s piece: “Why this ‘genius’ scholar is mapping out the world’s largest jail system Kelly Lytle Hernández, who received the MacArthur ‘genius’ grant, views prison abolition through the eyes of rebels.”

Read AV Club’s piece: “It’s been 10 years, but the Balloon Boy saga is only getting weirder.”

Read Time’s report: “Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge becomes first person to run a marathon in under two hours.”

Read Live Science’s report: “Angry People Think They’re Smarter Than They Are: Grouchy people are inclined to overestimate their smartness.”

Read Business Insider’s report: “The US needs 307,000 more teachers than it currently has — but few are taking the job due to low pay” and then go sport this bumper sticker.

  • Read CNN’s piece: “Desperate to fill teacher shortages, US schools are hiring teachers from overseas.”

Read/hear Nashville Public Radio’s report: “New Study Finds Gifted Programs Favor Wealth Over Ability.”

Read Okay Player’s report: “Queen Latifah To Be Honored With Award From Harvard University.”

Read “Why Intentionally Building Empathy Is More Important Now Than Ever” at KQED.

Read HuffPost’s piece: “The ‘Glass Floor’ Is Keeping America’s Richest Idiots At The Top Elites are finding more ways to ensure that their children never run out of chances to fail.”

Read Today’s report: “DeAngelo Williams sponsors 500 mammograms to honor mom who died of breast cancer.”

Read: “In ‘Dolly Parton’s America’ Podcast, Jad Abumrad Finds the Substance Behind the Sparkle” at No Depression.

Read Eco Watch’s report: “California Becomes First State to Ban Single-Use Hotel Toiletries.”

Read Rochester First’s report: “New Sam Adams beer is illegal in 15 states.”

Read NPR’s report: “3 Win Nobel Prize In Economics For Work In Reducing Poverty.”

Read “Indigenous Peoples’ Day: Rethinking How We Celebrate American History” at Smithsonian.

White Males, who make up 31% of the U.S. population, “Dominate Federal Court Nominations Again Under Trump Administration.” (via: Sojourners)

Read/Watch: “Woman killed in own home when Fort Worth officer shoots her, police and witness say” at the Star Telegram.

  • Watch NBCDFW’s report: “Fort Worth Officer Charged With Murder After Shooting That Killed Atatiana Jefferson.”

  • Watch CBSDFW’S report: “Former Fort Worth Police Officer Aaron Dean Charged With Murder For Shooting Atatiana Jefferson.”

Read Slate’s piece: “Donald Trump and Bill Barr Are Setting a Religious War Trap An attempt to deflect attention from the impeachment inquiry by goading the base.”

Read Mockingbird’s piece: “Preaching Politically in Turbulent Times: German theologian Rudolph Bultmann is often accused of "quietism" in the face of Nazi Germany, but in reality, his resistance to fight political fire with political fire begs strong questions about the church & state relationship.”

Erasing the lines between Church and State, the U.S. State Department’s official website touts “Pompeo “Being A Christian Leader.” Read more at News and Guts.

Read New York Times’ piece: “How ‘White Guilt’ in the Age of Trump Shapes the Democratic Primary The changing racial attitudes of white liberals are changing how 2020 candidates try to win votes.”

Read “Obama endorses Canada's Justin Trudeau for another term in spite of blackface scandal” at Salon.

Read PBS’ report: “MeToo leader launches hashtag to mobilize voters.”

Read Los Angeles Times’ report: “Jane Fonda is arrested in D.C. during climate change protest — exactly as she’d planned.”

Read Slate’s piece: “Beto O’Rourke Is Turning Into a Human Straw Man for Conservatives.”

Watch at MSNBC: “U.S. Attorney General William Barr, in a speech at Notre Dame Law School on Friday, apparently blamed drug abuse, violence, and mental illness on ‘secularists’ and society’s lack of Christian values.”

Read/Listen to WBUR’s piece: “California Bans Private Prisons And Immigrant Detention Centers.”

Read Time’s report: “California Democrats Spent $800,000 in Sexual Misconduct Legal Fees Involving Former Chairman.’

Read Politico’s piece: “Facebook Is Threatening Our Elections—Again A new policy gives politicians free rein to spread misinformation and inflame racial tensions.”

  • Read CNET’s report: Elizabeth “Warren runs a false Facebook ad to protest false Facebook ads Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren isn't happy about Facebook's policy that exempts politicians' posts from fact-checking.”

  • Read Politico’s report: “Inside Mark Zuckerberg's private meetings with conservative pundits.”

Read KTAR’s report “Anchor Shepard Smith leaves Fox News in surprise announcement.”

Browse “the best and worst states for taxes” at CNBC. Yay Arizona?

Read/hear NPR’s piece: “Exclusive: Turf War Blocked CFPB From Helping Fix Student Loan Forgiveness Program.”

Read USA Today’s opinion piece: “Message to evangelicals: Impeachment is about Donald Trump. It's not an attack on you.”

Watch MSNBC’s piece: “Bipartisan desire to impeach Trump rising.”

Read: “Trump Has Spent 278 Years Of Presidential Salary On Taxpayer Funded Golf Trips” at Politicususa.

Watch “G-7 will be held at Trump resort in Miami, Mulvaney says” at PBS News Hour: “The announcement comes at the same time the president has accused Joe Biden’s family of profiting from public office because of Hunter Biden’s business activities in Ukraine when his father was vice president.”

Read NPR’s report: “Prince's Estate Condemns Trump's Use Of 'Purple Rain' At Campaign Rally.”

Read Time’s report: “A Man Wearing a Colin Kaepernick Jersey Was Thrown Out of Trump's Minneapolis Rally. Here's What He Says Happened.'“

Read PBS’ report: “Trump rule may mean 1 million kids lose automatic free lunch.”

Read Reuters’ report: “Trump lawyer Giuliani was paid $500,000 to consult on indicted associate's firm.”

Read “A Definitive Guide to Turkey, the Kurds, and the Conflict in Northern Syria” at Preemptive Love.

Read “Read Trump’s full letter to Turkey’s Erdogan: ‘Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool!’ at PBS.

  • Read the Atlantic’s Op-Ed: “Why Turkey Treated Trump’s Letter as Trash There may be no more vivid illustration of how American leadership has declined in the world.””

Read Rolling Stone’s report: “Gruesome Video of Fake Trump Killing Media in Mass Shooting Played at One of His Resorts A doctored video depicts the president murdering his enemies, including CNN, Sen. John McCain and activist group Black Lives Matter.”

  • Read Esquire’s opinion piece: “The Sick Video Played at a Pro-Trump Conference Is a Glimpse of the Dark Energy in American Politics.”

Read: “Great Writers on the Power of Music” at Brain Pickings.

Read NME’s “opinion” “Live albums are pointless – so why do bands insist on releasing them still?”

Read CBC’s piece: “Thurston Moore on the influences behind his latest release, Spirit Counsel.

Read/hear NPR’s piece: “Kim Gordon Returns With New Collaborators On 'No Home Record'.

Read as NPR wonders “Why Is American Classical Music So White?: Cultural historian Joseph Horowitz views the racial history of classical music as a series of missed opportunities.”

Watch “Happy 100th birthday, theremin!” at PRI.

Read Live For Live Music’s report: “Teton Gravity Research Announces New Grateful Dead-Themed Action Sports Film.”

Read JamBase’s report: “Chris & Rich Robinson Reportedly Eyeing Black Crowes Reunion In 2020.”

Hear a new song/watch a new video from pianist Rachel Grimes.

Read “The Spirit of D.C. Punk in the Words of Women Musicians” at Smithsonian Folk Life.

Read Passion Of The Weiss’ piece: “Music as Counterargument: BBE collects untraceable Japanese jazz.”

Read Pitchfork’s report: “Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein Was an Answer on Jeopardy!”

Read “In Conversation with Bill Nace and Bill MacKay The two Bills talk music, robots, and a fear of air travel” at TalkHouse.

Listen to “Lee “Scratch” Perry and Brian Eno Share New Song “Here Come the Warm Dreads” at Pitchfork.

Browse “The 40 Best New Bands Of 2019” at Stereogum.

ConsiderArt Blakey's Legacy: A Rallying Cry And A Gathering Place” at NPR.

Read Pitchfork’s brief history of “Chillwave.”

Read: “Jimmy Eat World's Survival Guide: Frontman Jim Adkins On The Band's History You've Never Heard” at Billboard.

Read NME’s report: “Guitar sales soar following The Cure’s Glastonbury headline set.”

Read “Sudden Death Of A Young K-Pop Star Spurs Talk Of Action On Mental Health, Bullying” at NPR.

Read “Alan Sparhawk (Low) Interviews Mark Kozelek About His Collaboration with Petra Haden” at TalkHouse.

Read Jambands.com’s report: “Neil Young Shares Trailer for ‘Mountaintop’ Documentary, Announces Worldwide Screenings.”

Read “Thom Yorke, Brian Eno, David Byrne, More Address Climate “Hypocrisy” Musicians sign open letter arguing, despite industry’s “huge carbon footprint,” they must stand up for “systemic change” at Pitchfork.

Watch “Andy Cohen Tests Jimmy Fallon’s Grateful Dead Knowledge” at Youtube.

Read the New York Times’ piece: “WNYC Is Dropping ‘New Sounds’ After 37 Years. Musicians Are Mourning. The eclectic radio program that has influenced New York’s music scene since 1982 is going off the air.”

Read: “Oysterhead Tease Reunion with Cryptic Social Media Posts” at Relix.

Consider “The Legacy of Subhumans” at YabYum West.

Watch as Spafford “Plays All-Improv Sets In Bloomington” at JamBase.

Read PopMatters’ piece: “Wilco Builds 'Ode to Joy' on Durable Structures Worthy of Focus.”

Read NPR’s review of the new album ‘Two Hands’ by Big Thief: “'Two Hands' Captures Big Thief's Force And Intimacy.”

Read Treble’s “Album of the Week: “Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – ‘Ghosteen’.”

  • Read: “Nick Cave says he’s “repelled” by ‘woke’ culture’s “self-righteous belief” and “lack of humility” at NME: “I tend to become uncomfortable around all ideologies that brand themselves as ‘the truth’ or ‘the way’."

Read Brooklyn Vegan’s piece: “albums Pitchfork liked less over time, according to their decade list.”

HearBob Dylan Perform ‘Lenny Bruce’ for First Time in 11 Years Former Pearl Jam drummer Matt Chamberlain joins Dylan’s touring band along with guitarist Bob Britt” at Rolling Stone.

Read “How One Of Music's Biggest Stars Almost Disappeared, And How Her Legacy Was Saved: Sister Rosetta Tharpe, a forebear of rock and roll, was nearly erased from history” at NPR.

Read Jambands.com’s report: “Lost Dr. John Album, ‘Big Band Voodoo,’ Set for Release.”

Read as Brooklyn Vegan wonders if “Hole’s mid-’90s lineup finally reuniting?”

HearSufjan Stevens Shares Hushed Piano Instrumental 'IV'“ at NPR.

Read Consequence of Sound’s report: “Cassette tape production delayed due to global material shortage Cassette sales in the US went up 23% in 2018.”

Read Consequence of Sound’s report: “Eddie Van Halen undergoing throat cancer treatment in Germany: Report.”

Read Vinyl Factory’s report: “HMV opens flagship store in Birmingham, with 25,000 records.”

Watch “The Trailer For The David Bazan Documentary Strange Negotiations” at Stereogum.

Read Rolling Stone’s Q&A with Kim Gordon “on the Upside of Airbnb and Being Cool, Not Cold The former Sonic Youth bassist talks new album “No Home Record” and not being the godmother of grunge.”

ReadBeck Announces New Album 'Hyperspace,' Shares Two Singles” at NPR.

Read NME’s report: “Manic Street Preachers tease release of ‘The Holy Bible’ live film.”

ReadPharrell Williams talks about realizing that "Blurred Lines" was "rapey" at AV Club.

Read Pitchfork’s report: “Notorious B.I.G., Whitney Houston, Nine Inch Nails Nominated for Rock Hall of Fame 2020 Soundgarden, T. Rex, Kraftwerk, Motörhead, Dave Matthews Band, and more are on the institution’s long list of nominees.”

ReadDevendra Banhart :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview.”

Consider “The Language I Learned From Cassettes” at NPR.

Read as Magnet declares Wet Tuna’s new album Water Weird, “Essential New Music.”

R.I.P. Robert Forster.

R.I.P. Harold Bloom, “A Rare Best-Selling Literary Critic.”

R.I.P. Elijah Cummings.

See “OuijaZilla: The World’s Largest Ouija Board” at Cult of Weird.

Read Rolling Stone’s piece: “Bryan Cranston on ‘El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie’ The actor reflects on the legacy of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, his friendship with Aaron Paul, and whether he’d ever revisit his most famous character one more time.”

Read Paste’s picks for “The 30 Best Documentaries of the 2010s.”

Read CNet’s report: “Kevin Feige takes over as Marvel Chief Creative Officer -- now what?”

Read AV Club’s report: “Studio Ghibli movies are coming to HBO Max.”

Read as Rolling Stone considers “‘Fight Club’ at 20: The Twisted Joys of David Fincher’s Toxic-Masculinity Sucker Punch.”

Read Netflix announces an animated TV version of celebrated comic series Bone” at AV Club.

Watch a 1983 interview with Kurt Vonnegut. In this interview: “iconoclastic writer of science fiction and satire—discusses his family history, how he got his start as an author, his obsession with the betrayal of humankind by science, and his vision of technology gone mad.”

See “The Public Library: A Photographic Love Letter to Humanity’s Greatest Sanctuary of Knowledge, Freedom, and Democracy” at Brain Pickings.

Read Vox’ piece: “A champion of the unplugged, earth-conscious life, Wendell Berry is still ahead of us The writer and farmer’s impassioned arguments on farming, technology, and the urban-rural divide have taken on a new urgency.”

See “Artist Uses 100,000 Banned Books To Build A Full-Size Parthenon At Historic Nazi Book Burning Site” at Bookish Buzz.

ReadBooker T. Jones, Soul’s Ultimate Sideman, Takes the Lead at Last In a new memoir, “Time Is Tight: My Life, Note by Note,” the Stax studio wizard and acclaimed producer tells his own story and finds his voice” at New York Times.

Read Rolling Stone’s report: “Stephen King’s House to Become Museum and Writers’ Retreat.”

See “Da Vinci's Forgotten Design for the Longest Bridge in the World Proves What a Genius He Was. It would have been held together by compression only” at Live Science.

Read/Listen to “How Psychedelic Substances Can Help Treat Anxiety, Depression And Other Mental Illnesses” at WBUR.

Read/Listen to “A Drug Was Made For Just One Child, Raising Hopes About Future Of Tailored Medicine” at WBUR.

See “Photos Reveal Emotional Look Inside the Abandoned Fukushima Exclusion Zone” at My Modern Net.

Read Mysterious Universe’s piece: “Twenty New Moons Have Been Discovered Orbiting Saturn, Breaking Jupiter’s Record.”

Read: “How to Disappear: The Art of Listening to Silence in a Noisy World: “Silence is the presence of time undisturbed. Lessons in the art of listening to silence in a noisy world from acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton, who has spent 35 years recording Earth's quietest nooks of nature’ at Brain Pickings.

Read/Hear NPR’s report: “How Magic Mushrooms Can Help Smokers Kick The Habit.”

Read/Watch “Can ultrasound be used to fight Alzheimer’s?” at PBS.

Read “Most Things You Worry About Will Never Actually Happen Persistent worrying is pointless. Here’s how to stop doing it” at Elemental.Medium.

See “The Stunning Astronomical Beadwork of Native Artist Margaret Nazon” at Brain Pickings.

Read Art.net’s piece: “How Curators Are Addressing Gauguin’s Dark Side in a New Show at the National Gallery in London Art museums are grappling with how to display great works by artists who abused their models.”

Read about “The Little-Known Visual Art of E.E. Cummings” at Brain Pickings.

Read Art.net’s report: “Paul McCartney Has Donated a Remarkable Trove of Pictures Taken by His Late Wife to the Glasgow Museums—See Them Here.”

See a “Recycled Skateboard Eames Lounge Chair” at Uncrate.

See “Dice containing bloody teeth and other oddities” at Boing Boing.

Read “The Japanese Bakeries Still Selling Fortune Cookies Although widely considered Chinese American, the well-known treat was invented in Japan” at Atlas Obscura.

See “Dead man pranks funeral-goers by screaming from coffin in pre-recorded message as he’s lowered into the ground” at NY Daily News.

Read “How to Do Nothing with Nobody All Alone by Yourself: A Timely Vintage Field Guide to Self-Reliant Play and Joyful Solitude” at Brain Pickings.

Read Phoenix New Times’ piece: “The Smell of Hickman's Chicken Poop Is Killing This Rural Arizona Community.”

Read KTAR’s report: “Curt Schilling decides against running for Congress in Arizona.”

Read AZ Central’s report: “Filipino fast-food chain Jollibee is coming to Arizona. Here's what we know.”

Read KVOA’s report: “Arizona has the most deaths due to mosquito-spread disease.”

Read Phoenix New Times’ report: “Zombi Apothecary and Conjure Co. Isn't the Same Old Bell, Book, and Candle Store: The unusual store has its grand opening this weekend.”

Read KJZZ’s report: “Harkins Theatres Popcorn Hits Arizona Grocery Store Shelves.”

Read KJZZ’s report: “Arizona's Superintendent Aims To Repeal Ineffective English Immersion Law.”

The Weekly Town Crier (10/11/19)

The Weekly Town Crier.jpg

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (10/11/19 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.

RIP Rip Taylor.

Read “Social Justice Is A Christian Tradition - Not A Liberal Agenda at Sojourners.

Read Christianity Today’s piece: “Teacher’s Lawsuit Reflects Evangelical Educators’ Dilemma Over Transgender Pronouns A fired French instructor says the school board’s policy didn’t allow for compromise.”

Read as Facts and Trends wonders: “When Is It OK To Walk Away From Toxic People in Ministry?” My guess is that it should be a lot sooner than most people would admit, but read the piece for yourself.

Read as Jim Wallis wonders “And Who Is Your Neighbor: “How can so many white Americans, most of whom call Jesus 'Lord,' be so disconnected from the meaning and implications of perhaps Christ’s most famous teaching?”

Read Mike Frost’s piece: “New kinds of churches really are the hope of the future.”

Read “How Augustine responded to the problem of evil without solving it When we make sense of suffering, we lose our ability to protest against it” by James K.A. Smith at Christian Century.

Read “The Utter Strangeness of Christ’s Divinity” at Mockingbird.

Read Christianity Today’s piece: “Make a Joyful Silence Unto the Lord Why quiet is essential to corporate worship.”

Read: “Ancient Megalopolis Uncovered in Israel Was the 'New York City' of Its Time Period” at Live Science.

Watch as MSNBC wonders “What image portrays our national mood today?"

Read: “I Used to Be Homeless—and Here’s What Everyone Gets Wrong About It” at MSN.

ReadLeo Tolstoy on Kindness and the Measure of Love “Nothing can make our life, or the lives of other people, more beautiful than perpetual kindness” at Brain Pickings.

Read AV Club’s report: “HBO is adding mental health disclaimers before certain shows.”

Read Washington Post’s piece: “Researchers say there’s a simple way to reduce suicides: Increase the minimum wage.”

Read “Corporations and guns: How companies are reshaping the gun control debate” at CBS News.

  • Read/watch ABC7NY’s report: “Dick's Sporting Goods destroyed $5 million worth of assault weapons.”

Read Christianity Today’s opinion piece: “David Was a Rapist, Abraham Was a Sex Trafficker What we miss when we downgrade Old Testament abuse stories to sexual peccadilloes.”

Read: “Undermining Human Rights In The Name of Religious Freedom: The Pompeo commission is at odds with Jesus' radically egalitarian teachings.” at Sojourners.

Read Juicy Ecumenicism’s piece: “Why the Red Letter Christian Movement Is Not Growing.”

Read Slate’s report: “Polish men under 40 now think the biggest threat to the country is LGBT people: The Horrifying Campaign Against LGBTQ People in Poland—and How the U.S. Has Made It Worse.”

Watch “as An Animated Michael Sandel Explains How Meritocracy Degrades Our Democracy” at Open Culture.

Read The Intercept’s opinion piece: “Dear Ellen: The Problem With George W. Bush Is Not His Beliefs — It’s His War Crimes.”

Watch MSNBC’s report: “Two businessmen who helped Giuliani go after Biden in Ukraine arrested on campaign finance charges.”

Read NPR’s report: “After China Objects, Apple Removes App Used By Hong Kong Protesters.”

Read CNBC’s report: “The cost of Trump’s tariffs has fallen ‘entirely’ on US businesses and households.”

  • Read Pro Publica’s report: “How Trump’s Tariffs Are Creating Jobs — for Canadians.”

Read Rolling Stone’s report: “The Richest Americans Are Now Paying a Lower Tax Rate Than the Working Class The U.S. government isn’t just failing to address inequality. It’s driving it.”

Read NBC’s report: “House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings subpoenas White House for Ukraine documents.”

  • Browse “A Running List Of Republicans Criticizing Trump's Ukraine Scandal” at HuffPost.

  • Sign Faithful America’s petition arguing that Christians should not support Trump.

  • Read Rolling Stone’s report: “Trump Blames Rick Perry for ‘Perfect’ Ukraine Call “I didn’t even want to make the call,” the president said while tossing the energy secretary under the bus.”

  • Read/watch “2nd whistleblower comes forward after speaking with IG: Attorney” at ABC News.

  • Read “Kelli Ward to hold anti-impeachment Arizona events for Trump campaign” at AZ Central.

  • Read “New York judge rules Trump must turn over tax returns for hush money investigation” at ABC News.

  • Read NPR’s report: “Trump Administration Says It 'Cannot Participate' In Impeachment Inquiry: The Trump White House said in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and three House committee chairman that it would not comply with their requests for witnesses and documents in their impeachment inquiry.”

    • Watch MSNBC’s report: “The White House says it will no longer cooperate with the House impeachment inquiry.”

  • Read “Law and Crime’s” report: “Scottish Government Says Trump Org Refuses to Pay Legal Bills After Losing Wind Farm Lawsuit.”

  • Read Religion News Service’s report: “Christian leaders call for Day of Prayer in support of impeachment inquiry.”

  • With the White House refusing to cooperate, Read NPR’s piece: “Who Sets The Rules? When Is It Real? And Other Big Questions On Impeachment.”

Read as “Pence Makes Clear There Is No Daylight Between Him and Trump” at MSN.

  • Read New York magazine’s piece: “Pence: I Participated in the Ukraine Plot But Only As a Patsy.”

  • Watch as Colbert plays: “Mike Pence: He’s Either ‘Corrupt or Dumb’.

Read NPR’s report: “Trump Bars Immigrants Who Cannot Pay For Health Care.”

  • Read/Listen to “From Snakes To Spikes, Reporters Reveal Trump's Extreme Border Proposals: When efforts to build a border wall stalled, President Trump suggested other options — including building a trench filled with snakes and alligators, according to a forthcoming book.” at NPR.

  • Read NPR’s report: “Twitter Analysis Shows How Trump Tweets Differently About Nonwhite Lawmakers.”

Read Christianity Today’s report: “Syrian Christians to US: ‘Don’t Abandon Us Now’ After surviving a civil war and ISIS attacks, the Christian minority fears a Turkish takeover in Kurdish border region.”

Read/Listen to: “Whistleblower Explains How Cambridge Analytica Helped Fuel U.S. 'Insurgency'“ at NPR.

Read “Judge rips into Trump Education chief Betsy DeVos over student debt: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, was supposed to stop collecting on former Corinthian Colleges students’ loans and forgive the debt.“ at LA Times.

Read Phoenix New Times’ report: “County Assessor Paul Petersen Indicted for 'Horrible Crimes' Involving Adoptions.”

  • Read a follow-up piece: “8 Pregnant Women Found in Home of County Assessor Accused of Adoption Scheme.”

Read “'God Is Not Going to Put It in Your Lap.' What Made Fannie Lou Hamer’s Message on Civil Rights So Radical—And So Enduring” at Time.

Read Chicago Tribune’s report: “A puzzling number of men tied to the Ferguson protests have since died.”

Read “The Ritual of American Racism” at Paris Review.

Read “I've never told anyone': Stories of life in Indian boarding schools” at MNPR.

Read “Joshua Brown, key witness in Amber Guyger murder trial and neighbor of Botham Jean, shot to death in Dallas” at CNN.

  • Read The Root’s report: “Police Allege Joshua Brown, Witness in Amber Guyger Trial, Was Victim of Botched Interstate Drug Deal.”

Read NPR’s report: “South Carolina Sheriff Candidate: I Wore Blackface 10 Years Ago.”

Read Shane Claiborne’s opinion piece at RNS: “Let’s not ask Botham Jean’s family to choose forgiveness over justice.”

Read The Root’s report: “Baltimore’s Top Prosecutor Marilyn Mosby Moves to Throw Out Nearly 800 Cases Involving Tainted Cops.”

Read “The Banality of Evil: Hannah Arendt on the Normalization of Human Wickedness and Our Only Effective Antidote to It” at Brain Pickings.

Read Christianity Today’s report: “Judge: U of Iowa Officials Have to Pay for Repeated Discrimination Against Christian Groups The recent ruling in favor of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship was the second time the court called out inconsistent policies on campus.”

Read/Listen to “Grab The Train At Grace Jones, Get Off At Yoko Ono: Exploring NYC's New 'City Of Women' Map” at WBUR.

Read: “Street art is a crime Why is the metropolitan elite celebrating this vandalism?” at Spiked.

Read “The 5 richest men in the US have a staggering combined wealth of $435.4 billion. That's more than 2% of America's GDP” at Business Insider.

Read “The Soul of an Octopus: How One of Earth’s Most Alien Creatures Illuminates the Wonders of Consciousness” at Brain Pickings.

Read: “Nostalgia for a Less Innocent Time: On the glory and depravity of hair metal” at Paris Review.

Read Stereogum’s piece: “Goodbye, iTunes: Once-Revolutionary App Gone In Mac Update.”

Browse Pitchfork’s picks for “The 200 Best Songs of the 2010s.”

  • Browse Pitchfork’s picks for the “The 200 Best Albums of the 2010s.”

  • Browse “Remembering the Weirdest Album Launch Stunts of the 2010s” at Pitchfork.

Browse Paste’s picks for “The 100 Best Albums of the Decade.”

R.I.P. Ginger Baker.

Read Noisey’s piece: “Wilco Haven’t Just Endured, They’ve Gotten Better 'Ode To Joy’ cements their legacy as the greatest band of our time.”

  • Read Vulture’s piece “Wilco’s Ode to Joy Is a Thrilling New Beginning for the Band.”

  • ReadWilco, Forever In Competition With Its Own Best Work, Tries Shifting The Stakes” at NPR.

  • Listen to “Wilco in 10 Songs A sad yet quirky scrapbook into the wonderful world of Chicago's finest rockersWilco in 10 Songs A sad yet quirky scrapbook into the wonderful world of Chicago's finest rockers” at Consequence of Sound.

  • Read Pitchfork’s reivew of “Ode to Joy” written by friend Jason Patrick Woodbury.

  • Read NPR’s piece: “Wilco's Jeff Tweedy On Finding Joy In A Complicated World.”

Browse as “Guitarist Bill Frisell Picks His Favorite Blue Note Albums” for Jazziz.'

Read/Listen to “Listen to former R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe’s debut solo single, ‘Your Capricious Soul’ at NME.

  • HearR.E.M’s Gripping New Remix of Kurt Cobain Tribute ‘Let Me In’ Track will appear on Monster‘s upcoming 25th anniversary reissue at Rolling Stone.”

Read: “Grateful Dead’s Mickey Hart Remembers Robert Hunter: ‘You Can’t Replace Him’” at Rolling Stone.

Read a profile of Finnish “band” Paavoharju: “"Paavoharju is not a real band," says Lauri Ainala. "Never was."

Read: “Mind Matters: Musicians on How Meditation Keeps Them Focused and Free” at No Depression.

Read Post-Punk’s report “Dead Can Dance Announce North and South American Tour Celebrating Life & Works.”

Read KTAR’s report: “Three Arizona stores to participate in Cassette Store Day.”

Watch: “Take an exclusive first-look at INXS performing ‘New Sensation’ in restored ‘Live Baby Live’ concert film and album.”

ReadNick Cave and the Bad Seeds – ‘Ghosteen’ review: a beautiful account of harrowing grief” at NME.

  • Read the Guardian’s review: “Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Ghosteen review – a heavenly haunting.”

  • Read NME’s review of “Nick Cave live at Tennessee Performing Arts Centre, Nashville: extraordinary honesty and coruscating one-liners.”

  • Read AV Club’s review: “On Ghosteen, Nick Cave invites us into his bright abyss.”

  • Read Pitchfork’s review.

  • Read Consequence of Sound’s review.

Read Live For Live Music’s report: “Trey Anastasio Documentary, ‘Between Me & My Mind’, Headed To Streaming Platforms.”

ReadRihanna Calls President Trump ‘Mentally Ill,’ Talks New Album and Why She Wouldn’t Play the Super Bowl” at Variety: Rihanna explains why she'll never play the Super Bowl: “For what? Who gains from that? Not my people. I just couldn’t be a sellout. I couldn’t be an enabler. There’s things within that organization that I do not agree with at all"

HearTears for Fears Perform Selections from Songs From The Big Chair in 1985” at Paste.

Read “Kurt Cobain’s ‘Unplugged’ Sweater Heads to Auction Again, Never Been Washed” at Rolling Stone.

Read as Quietus interviews Suede front man Brett Anderson.

Read “So Many Roads with Mike Vallely (by Mike Vallely) at Relix: A pro skateboarder straddles the line between Black Flag and the Good Ol’ Grateful Dead.”

Read Rolling Stone’s profile of Ramblin’ Jack Elliott: “The Last Folksinger Ramblin’ Jack Elliott befriended Woody Guthrie, hung out with the Dead, and hit the road with Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue. At 88, this self-made cowboy is still on the move.”

Read “Ezra Koenig & Justin Vernon Talk Playing Beer Pong Together, Touring Hardships On Time Crisis” at Stereogum.

Read/listen to “The Story Of José Feliciano's World Series Guitar” at NPR.

Read “University of Kansas apologizes after Snoop Dogg brings pole dancers, money gun "We made it clear to the entertainers' managers that we expected a clean version of the show" at Consequence of Sound.

Read/listen to NPR’s piece: “In U2's 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For,' A Restless Search For Meaning.”

Read Consequence of Sound’s piece “Josh Homme announces Desert Sessions Vol. 11 & 12 Featuring Les Claypool, ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears, and more.”

Read “How Funk Band Vulfpeck Sold Out Madison Square Garden Without a Manager or Big Label” at Billboard.

Read “Philip Glass: ‘Everyone needs a technique, whether they’re a plumber or a cook’” at Irish Times.

Read Reverb Is For Lover’s review of One Eleven Heavy’s Desire Path.

Read about the time “Kim Gordon was sent to ‘Disney jail’ for smoking weed at Disneyland” at Dazed.

Read Rolling Stone’s report: “Sinead O’Connor Plots First North American Tour in Six Years Irish singer details February West Coast run, Midwest, East Coast dates in March, April.”

Read as NPR wonders “All Ears: Music That Maps A Personal History Of Place: Place is never singular. Always layered, the meaning of a place can change based on tiny shifts in perspective. Can music bring these layers together?”

Read Something Else Reviews’ review of the recently released John Coltrane album “Blue World.”

Read “How a Newspaper Article Saved Thousands of Black Gospel Records From Obscurity” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “A History Of The U.K.’s Earthshakingly Bass-Heavy Sound System Culture In 10 Tracks".

Read TalkHouse’s: “On Joker, Fight Club and the Danger of Self-Fulfilling Cautionary Tales Filmmaker Adam Kritzer examines the seductive and deeply problematic vision of Todd Phillips' new movie, and Fincher's classic which preceded it.”

Consider Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse-Five At 50” with Iowa Public Radio.

  • Listen to “Hear a Radio Opera Narrated by Kurt Vonnegut, Based on His Adaptation of Igor Stravinsky’s 1918 L’Histoire du Soldat” at Open Culture.

Read “In 'Horror Stories,' Liz Phair Writes Of 'The Haunting Melodies' In Her Head” at NPR Books.

Meet the “Badass Female Librarians” who “Delivered Books On Horseback in 1930’s at Bookish Buzz.

Read Variety’s report: “Live-Action ‘Inspector Gadget’ Movie in Development at Disney.”

Read The Verge’s report: “Disney is reportedly banning Netflix ads across its entertainment TV networks.”

Read Wired’s report: “Dyson Sucks the Air Out of Its Electric-Car Dreams The British household-products maker had promised to invest $2.5 billion in EVs. Now, it says it can't produce one that's “commercially viable.”

See “Ghost sculptures in the Castle of Vezio in Lake Como, Italy.”

Read 12 News’s report: “This bar sells drinks by the hour, not the glass For an average price of $10 per hour, customers can drink as much as they can handle, the bar said.”

See “The Fascinating Science of How Trees Communicate, Animated” at Brain Pickings.

Read “New north Phoenix bookstore Enchanted Chapters caters to children with autism” at AZ Central.

Read “Glenlivet's seaweed pouch Scotch pods are a triumphant testament to the power of stupid” at AV Club.

Read “The Secret to Shopping in Used Bookstores First Step: Surrender All Expectations” at Lit Hub.

Read AV Club’s review: “Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal is a harsh reminder that the food chain can’t be beat.”

Read Art News’s report “Actress Jessica Lange Is Paying Homage to Bob Dylan With a Stunning Set of Photographs Taken Along Highway 61. See Her Photos Here.”

Read Rolling Stone’s report: “On the Scene at America’s First Public Cannabis Cafe After years of anticipation, Lowell Café has opened in West Hollywood. For the staff and the patrons, it’s a whole new kind of experience.”

Read as National Geographic wonders “To save birds, should we kill off cats?”

Read PBS’ piece: “Record number of colleges stop requiring the SAT and ACT amid questions of fairness.”

Browse “5 Eateries With Dope House-Made Hot Sauce in Metro Phoenix” at Phoenix New Times.

Read/listen to “The Lasting Legacy Of Bob Ross And His Colorful World Of 'Happy Accidents” at NPR.

Read “A Brief History of the ‘Danse Macabre’" at Atlas Obscura.

Read Atlas Obscura’s piece reminding us poor Americans that we’ve never tried real Wasabi.

Read “Scientists hope to digitally unravel scrolls charred by Vesuvius with light 10 billion times brighter than the sun” at CNN.

Read/Listen to “Arthritis Foundation Releases Guidelines For Patients Who Want To Use CBD To Manage Pain” at NPR’s Here and Now.

Read CNBC’s report: “Researchers find e-cigarettes cause lung cancer in mice in first study tying vaping to cancer.”

Read The Telegraph’s report: “Folklore is dying out due to rise of social media, National Trust warns.”

Watch CBS’s piece: “California teen holds birthday parties for homeless children.”

Read Phoenix New Times’ piece: “9 Haunted Restaurants and Bars in Greater Phoenix.”

Read Atlas Obscura’s piece: “The Macabre Art of Baking ‘People Pot Pies’ Crafting skin and flesh from the sweet and tasty.”

Read AZ Central’s piece: “This Phoenix brewery is one of the fastest growing companies in the US. Meet the founder.”

Read/Listen to: “'Not One Drop Of Blood': Cattle Mysteriously Mutilated In Oregon” at NPR.”

Read Mysterious Universe’s report: “Strange Image Captured In North Carolina Woods Is Believed To Be Bigfoot.”

Read KTAR’s report: “Arizona ranked worst state in the country for teachers.”

Read Phoenix New Times’ report: “Arizona Lost 10 Percent of Its Licensed Foster Homes Last Year, Report Finds.”

The Weekly Town Crier (10/04/19)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about 10/04/19 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/Watch CBS DFW’s report: “Dallas Jury Finds Former DPD Officer Amber Guyger Guilty Of Murdering Botham Jean.”

  • Read NPR’s report: “Brandt Jean's Act Of Grace Toward His Brother's Killer Sparks A Debate Over Forgiving.”

  • Read “The Perverse Spectacle of Black Forgiveness” at Jezebel.

  • Read “What the Amber Guyger Case Reveals About White America” by Andre Henry at Medium.

  • Read “Botham Jean’s Brother’s Offer of Forgiveness Went Viral. His Mother’s Calls for Justice Should Too” at Christianity Today.

Browse Colossal’s piece: “Gross Domestic Product: Banksy Opens a Dystopian Homewares Store.”

See “The Paintings of Miles Davis” at Open Culture.

Seeking to answer the age of question of whether you can “jump the shark” underwater, AZ Central reports: “Playing for the sharks: Kiss announces exclusive – but affordable – underwater concert.”

Read BBC’s report: “Single malt Scotch whisky targeted by United States tariffs.”

Read “Tommy Stinson on the Replacements' New Box Set and Outdrinking Metallica” at Rolling Stone.

Read about the new Senate report that found: “The NRA acted as a "foreign asset" for Russia in the period leading up to the 2016 election — providing more political access than previously known,” at NPR.

  • Read New York Times’ report: “N.R.A.’s LaPierre Asks Trump to ‘Stop the Games‘ Over Gun Legislation in Discussion About Its Support.”

HearSnoop Dogg Cover Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds’ “Red Right Hand” at Post-Punk.

Read “They’re Using Us as Props for the Show” Former employees at Relevant, a hip evangelical culture magazine, have sparked a sprawling conversation about race and Christian office politics.” at Slate.

Read “Sure, we'd listen to a podcast about America through the legacy of Dolly Parton” at AV Club.

ReadCreed’s Human Clay Turns 20” which begins with the classic line: “Among other things, Creed’s second album holds the distinction as the only piece of recorded music I’ve been punched in the face over.”

ReadKim Gordon on her first solo album, anxiety, and finding inspiration in Cardi B” at Entertainment Weekly.

Read about Robert Smith’s time with Siouxsie and the Banshees.

Read Christianity Today’s report: “Two Nigerian Evangelicals Executed in Boko Haram Video.”

Read “Chicago’s Hidden Indie Rock Archive Over three decades, Aadam Jacobs obsessively documented Chicago’s indie rock scene. Today, the future of his roughly 10,000 live recordings is unclear” at WBEZ.

Read as Christianity Today considers a recent Pew study: “Evangelicals Trust Faith Leaders, Police More Than the General Public Pew Research found the only leaders that evangelicals are more skeptical of are journalists.”

Read about a laundry detergent that claims to smell like “Whiskey” and “Bonfire.”

Read Atlas Obscura’s piece: “Centralia Ghost Town Church A mine fire has been burning under the deserted town since 1962, but this church is still going strong.”

ReadBlack Crowes Drummer Steve Gorman’s New Book: 7 Wildest Tales About the Band ‘Hard to Handle: The Life and Death of the Black Crowes’ paints a picture of a group in constant turmoil” at Rolling Stone.

Read Pitchfork’s review of the new Hiss Golden Messenger album “Terms of Surrender.”

ReadJ Mascis on the Nineties, Nirvana, and Dinosaur Jr.’s Forgotten Masterpiece” at Rolling Stone.

I’m not a “Wine Geek,” but I like Sake, so browse “A Wine Geek's Guide to Sake, for Beginners” at Paste.

Read IGN’s report: “Spider-Man Is Officially Back in the MCU Following Sony, Disney Announcement.”

Read this 2017 report and wonder why people weren’t as upset by this as by people confessing to plants: “'Make America Great Again' Sung to Trump by Church Choir, Copyrighted for Church Services.”

Read as Rolling Stone wonders: “Why Everyone Is Freaking Out About ‘Joker’ Is the Joker backlash mere moral panic, or does the movie actually sympathize with incel culture?”

Read New York Times’ report that the White House ambassador to Ukraine has resigned.

Read about the “Man (who) drank 7 beers before turning himself in, but there was no warrant for his arrest.”

Read Out’s report: “Arizona Governor Says Christians Shouldn't Have to Serve Gays.”

Browse a “Latino and Hispanic Theologian Book List” at Starke College and Seminary.

Read AV Club’s report: “Trump tweeted out a Nickelback meme and Nickelback got Twitter to take it down so thanks, Nickelback.”

Read Washington Post’s report: “POTUS told Russian officials in an Oval Office meeting that he was unconcerned about Moscow’s interference in the election because the US did the same in other countries, an assertion that prompted alarmed officials to limit access to the remarks.”

  • Read Slate’s piece: “Trump Implies Whistleblowers Should Be Executed, Which May Conflict With Rules Protecting Whistleblowers.”

  • Read AZ Central’s report: “Jeff Flake: 'At least 35' GOP senators would vote to remove Trump if vote was private.”

  • Read New York Times’ opinion piece: “The Whistle-Blower Knows How to Write His complaint offers lessons on how to make a point.”

  • Read USA Today’s piece: “Poll: Only 4 in 10 Republicans think Trump mentioned Biden on Ukraine call even though he acknowledged doing so.”

  • Read Religion News Service’s report: “Franklin Graham on impeachment: ‘Our country could begin to unravel’.

  • Read Slate’s report: “Robert Jeffress Goes All In on “Civil War” The evangelical pastor and Trump loyalist has had quite a week.”

While we’re on the topic of impeachable offenses, read News and Guts’ report: “Stunning NYT Report Alleges Donald Trump Wanted To Find Ways To Injure Migrants.”

  • See Jack Jenkins’ Tweet: “:: stares at phone for several minutes :: . . . “The President once considered shooting migrants in the legs to slow them down at the southern border, the New York Times reports.”

  • Read the New York Times’ report which includes details such as “electrified, flesh-piercing wire on the wall, alligators & snakes in a pit.”

    • Read Aaron Niequist’s Tweet: “The loudest voices defending a serial liar caught in his web of lies are Christians. Just let that sink in. Those who claim the name of the Way, Truth, and Life are actively defending the embodiment of corruption, lies, and greed. Jesus weeps” and weep with Jesus.

Read The Verge’s report: “Elizabeth Warren says Facebook has ‘repeatedly fumbled’ its responsibility to democracy.”

  • Listen as Facebook’s Mark Zuckerburg explains “Why Mark Zuckerberg thinks a President Elizabeth Warren would 'suck' at CNN.

Read Vice’s piece: “'Freaks and Geeks' Understood That Popular Kids Aren't Cool At All: Twenty years ago, 'Freaks and Geeks' steered clear of the jock-cheerleader cliches to tease out high school's most relatable anxieties.”

Read Consequence of Sound’s report: “Mexico listens to more music than any country worldwide: “Mexicans listen to 25.6 hours of music a week, eight hours more than the global average.”

Read KXAN’s report: “‘True love will find you in the end’ billboard appears along I-35 honoring late Daniel Johnston.”

Read Washington Post’s opinion piece: “The ‘Billy Graham Rule’ serves only to impede careers, not affairs.”

Read Christianity Today’s piece: “Is Racial Justice Becoming a Priority for Evangelical Voters? LifeWay Research measures political support for the issue for the first time,” which finds that “85 percent of US evangelicals say they “will only support a candidate who demonstrates personal integrity,” which causes great confusion because it may just mean that “85 percent of US evangelicals lie when taking surveys.”

Consider “The case against sermon-centric Sundays” by Skye Jethani at Premier Christianity.

Read as Eric Metaxas describes what Republicans are currently doing while ascribing it to Democrats: “Cultural elites in America have slowly persuaded themselves...that they are right on a number of issues. & if it means going around the electoral process, if it means going around the usual procedure that they’re going to do what they must” at Religion News Service.

Read: “Why the liberal West is a Christian creation Christianity is dismissed as a fairy tale but its assumptions underpin the modern secular world.” at New Statesman.’

Read Consequence of Sound’s report: “Metallica postpone tour as James Hetfield enters rehab "Our brother James has been struggling with addiction on and off for many years"

Read Time’s report: “CDC Says for First Time That THC Could Be Behind Vaping Deaths and Illnesses.”

Read as Paste wonders: “Is Bob’s Burgers a Low-Key Adaptation of Stanley Tucci’s Movie Big Night?”

Watch “John Turturro licks a fresh bowling ball in the all-Italian trailer for his movie about The Jesus” at AV Club.

SeeMiles Davis' Illustrations Drive A Classic Recording In New Video For 'Moon Dreams'“ at NPR.

Read “Finding a faith that is stronger than death — or my family’s rejection: My problem wasn’t with religion. It was with bad religion” by Heidi Hall at Religion News Service.

Read Christianity Today’s report: “Evangelical Advocates Feel the Sting of More Trump Refugee Cuts It’s the third consecutive year that the administration has reduced resettlement totals to record lows. Under the Trump administration, the US refugee resettlement program has fallen to a quarter of previous size, and fewer persecuted Christians and other religious minorities are making it to safety in the US.”

The marketing says: “Never lose your drink in the dark again with this light up insulated drink wrap.” We say it’s a glow-in-the-dark Koozie.

See “The Strange and Stranger Things at the 2019 International UFO Congress” at Phoenix New Times.

Read as Psychology Today wonders: “Do You See Your Partner’s Sacrifices? We may only accurately detect a partner’s sacrifice about half the time.”

Read “Consistent Doodles: 40,000-Year-Old Symbols Found in Caves Worldwide May Be the Earliest Written Language” at Open Culture.

Read Wall Street Journal’s essay: “Religion for Adults Means Embracing Complexity If you think you’ve outgrown your childhood faith, you might just need to discover the real depth of its teachings.”

Read Tim Keller’s Op-Ed piece at The New York Times from 2018: “How Do Christians Fit Into the Two-Party System? They Don’t The historical Christian positions on social issues don’t match up with contemporary political alignments.”

Read Justin McRoberts and Scott Erickson’s 5-day Bible reading plan to accompany their new book May It Be So (which I profiled here).

Watch Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s TED Talk: “How craving attention makes you less creative.”

Read The Atlantic’s piece: “What a New Theory of Attention Says About Consciousness Filtering out distractions might be more important for the brain than highlighting important information.”

Read Vulture’s report: “Netflix Orders Stranger Things 4, Teasing a World Beyond Hawkins.”

ReadCormac McCarthy on how to write a scientific (or any kind of) paper” at Boing Boing.

Read Brooklyn Vegan’s report: “Victory Records acquired by Concord.”

ReadAldous Huxley on the Transcendent Power of Music and Why It Sings to Our Souls” at Brain Pickings.

Read “The Black Woman Who Biked Across the US Alone During the 1930s Jim Crow Era Despite pervasive racism and the weight of the Great Depression, Bessie Stringfield found freedom on the open road” at Vice.

Read Pew Research Center’s findings: “Independents often are portrayed as political free agents with the potential to alleviate the nation’s rigid partisan divisions. But the reality is that most independents are not all that “independent” politically.”

Read Consequence of Sound’s report: “Kanye West says he’s done making secular music, new album features no cursing The born-again Christian will only be releasing gospel music going forward.”

Read “The myth of the golden age of reading Even before the digital age, book-lovers were always prone to distraction” at Prospect Magazine.

Read Exclaim’s report: “Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love's Former Seattle Home Is Up for Sale.”

Read The Spectator’s piece: “In praise of cultural elitism We have become so tolerant of each other’s taste that taste no longer matters.”

Read as Neuroscience News wonders: “Why do older people hate new music?”

Read about and participate in University of California’s research finding: “When it comes to politics, you’re not as rational as you think.”

Read Mic’s opinion piece: “Greta Thunberg's U.N. speech prompted ugly insults — proving her critics can't fault her actual message.”

I'm glad to see them getting the press, but it's weird to me that Pitchfork considers 75 Dollar Bill to be an "overlooked" album this year. Where have they been looking? Browse Pitchfork’s list of “overlooked” 2019 albums and, while you’re at it, peep my first post so far about 75 Dollar Bill to sample some of the music.

Read “HALL IN THE FAMILY: A Conversation With Incoming Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Chairman John Sykes” at Hits Daily Double.

Read Christianity Today’s piece: “Pastors Don’t Do It For The Money, But Having Enough to Retire Would Be Nice.”

Read Phoenix New Times’s profile of The Rhythm Room. One of the best and long-standing Phoenix venues for live music. Remember seeing Mumford and Sons there? No, because it was sold out and packed and I was there and you weren’t!

Read about the Forth Worth public libraries doing away with late fines.

Read AZ Central’s report: “Original Alice Cooper group reunion to headline Christmas Pudding with Joe Bonamassa.”

Read The Wrap’s piece: “Fox News Host Todd Starnes Out After Suggesting Democrats Worship Pagan God Moloch.”

Read “Album Of The Week: Wilco Ode To Joy” at Stereogum.

R.I.P. “Kim Shattuck of The Muffs, rest in peace Read More: Kim Shattuck of The Muffs.”

Browse “A Snapshot of the Values, Views & Faith of Hispanic Americans” at Barna.

Read “A Wreng Among The Pornographers” by Charles Bissell of The Wrens. “As you probably know, my friend & favorite musician person, Will of Okkervil River, has been doing a subscription series of live albums spanning the Okkervil career so far (also available individually) and that he’s just released Vol. 6, A Wren Among the Pornographers. You may not know that that wren is me - I was the Okkervil guitar-for-hire spring/summer of ’08, and chiefly for that tour, opening up for the the New Pornographers.

Read “Her Side of the Story: Debbie Harry Talks About Her Life in Blondie in Her New Book” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “Michael Stipe to release debut solo single ‘Your Capricious Soul’ this weekend” at Slicing Up Eyeballs.

Listen to “The Friends Theme but it's Clapping Music by Steve Reich” at Youtube.

See Aldi’s “Cheese Advent Calendar.”

Read “City on mute When you stare at your phone or use Uber to navigate your neighbourhood, you flatten the rich texture of urban life” at Aeon.

Read/Listen to “Reasons To Be Cheerful: A Conversation With David Byrne” at NPR.

Stream Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ new 11-track double LP, “Ghosteen” consisting of Cave's "fever dreams"

Read Artsy’s report: “Arts Sector Contributed $763.6 Billion to U.S. Economy—More Than Agriculture or Transportation, New Data Shows.”

Browse “5 Strategies to Demystify the Learning Process for Struggling Students” at KQED.

Read as Exclaim wonders “Is David Lynch Working on More 'Twin Peaks'?”