The Weekly Town Crier (08/28/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (08/21/20).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “R.I.P. Quiet Riot drummer Frankie Banali” at AV Club.

Read “Justin Townes Earle Dead at 38” at Pitchfork.

• Read “Justin Townes Earle Died From ‘Probable Drug Overdose,’ Police Spokesperson Says” at Spin.

Read “Arizona coaching legend Lute Olson dies at age 85” at AZ Desert Swarm.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “To prevent the next Christian scandal, shrink the integrity gap” at Religion News Service. “Currently on a leave of absence from Liberty University because of some controversial social media posts, Falwell has also demonstrated that as a leader’s influence grows, so must his or her commitment to integrity.”

• Read “Liberty Trustees Hold Special Meeting, but Don’t Decide Whether to Remove Jerry Falwell Jr.” at Julie Roys.

• Read “Business partner of Falwells says affair with evangelical power couple spanned seven years” at Reuters. “Becki and I developed an intimate relationship and Jerry enjoyed watching from the corner of the room."

• Read “Jerry Falwell Jr. and the Evangelical Redemption Story” at The New York Review of Books. "The redemption stories peddled by the evangelical right are never about a sinner who repents after a lifetime of exploiting renters as a landlord, after being horribly racist to black people or abusive toward women."

• Read “Falwell says Fatal Attraction threat led to depression” at Washington Examiner.

• Read “Ready, Set, Trump: Big-Money Faith, Football, and Forgiveness at Jerry Falwell Jr.’s Liberty University” at The Ringer (from 12/2019). ‘Falwell is one of the bulwarks of the religious right, an heir to his father’s Moral Majority. His family has built its legacy on the intertwinement of faith and politics, fighting for prayer in schools and against gay marriage. Yet Falwell seems to be suggesting that his political activity is no longer guided by his Christian beliefs. So I ask how much his faith informs his political views. “Not at all,” he says.

• Read “Falwell denies reports of his resignation” at Politico.'

• Read “Liberty University says Jerry Falwell Jr. agreed to resign, then changed his mind” at NBC News.

• Read “Jerry Falwell Jr. resigns as head of Liberty University” by quoting Martin Luther King, Jr. at Boing Boing.

• Read “Jerry Falwell Jr. resigns as head of Liberty University, will get $10.5 million in compensation” at Washington Post.

• Read “Was Liberty’s Board Set up to Support Falwell or Liberty?” at Christianity Today.

• Read “Jerry Falwell Jr. May Be Owed $10.5 Million by Liberty University” at Wall Street Journal.

• Read “Let Liberty University Be A Lesson In Unchecked Power” by Karen Swallow Prior at Religion Unplugged.

• Read the opinion piece: “Jerry Falwell Jr.’s fall, Liberty University and the myth of the Moral Majority” at Religion News Service.

• Read “‘She was the aggressor’: Former Liberty student alleges sexual encounter with Becki Falwell” at Politico. “A former student at the evangelical university opens up about a 2008 incident with the wife of the school’s president.”

Read the opinion piece: “Let’s help evangelical Christians break free of the shame that drives them” at Baptist News.

Read “Confessing Complicity in Systemic Sin” at Christianity Today.

Read “Summer Unrest over Racial Injustice Moves the Country, But Not Republicans or White Evangelicals” at PRI

Read “Joe Biden’s acceptance speech caps off an unusually faith-filled Democratic National Convention” at Religion News Service.

Read “When What Is Lawful Is Lethal” at Christianity Today. “Structural sin may be legal, but that doesn’t make it right.”

Read “Turkey Turns Another Historic Church into a Mosque” at Christianity Today.

Read “More Than God-Talk” by Diana Butler Bass. “"A Field Guide to Religion and Politics.”

Read “This interview tells us a lot about John MacArthur and the movement he represents” at The Way of Improvement. “Watch what MacArthur does here. He equates biblical teaching with abortion, homosexual marriage, and transgenderism. That’s it. For MacArthur, biblical thinking about politics essentially comes down to these three things.”

Read “Evangelical Anti-Trafficking, Humanitarian and Denominational Organizations Petition Ivanka Trump to Protect Vulnerable Children” at World Relief.

Read “How has religion played a role in Donald Trump’s presidency?” at The Atlantic.

Read “Pastor, 16-Year-Old Girl Among Latest 11 Christians Murdered in Nigeria” at CBN

Read “How QAnon Conspiracy Is Spreading In Christian Communities Across The U.S.” at NPR.

• Read “QAnon Is a Wolf in Wolf’s Clothing” at Christianity Today.

• Read “Evangelicals are looking for answers online. They’re finding QAnon instead” at Technology Review. “How the growing pro-Trump movement is preying on vulnerable churchgoers to spread its conspiracy theories.”

Read “Trump’s Faithful: Franklin Graham, Navajo VP, Freed Pastor Andrew Brunson on GOP Convention Lineup” at Christianity Today.

• Read “Republican National Convention to include several conservative Christian speakers” at Religion News Service. “There’s nothing sheepish about this insidious internet demon.”

Read “American Evangelicalism isn’t patriarchal or feminized. It’s matrilineal” at Mere Orthodoxy. “Matrilineal societies are centuries old systems that organize community life so that the day-to-day activities of women are placed at the center of social thriving for successive generations.”

Read “'Let's Fix Our Eyes on Old Glory' - Pence Speech Draws Criticism From Some Faith Leaders” at CBN. “Pence, however, substituted the flag for Jesus, calling on Americans to support a second Trump term by saying  "let's run the race marked out for us. Let's fix our eyes on Old Glory and all she represents.”

Legal/Justice and Social Justice and Race or Gender or Sexism-Related Stuff:

Read “'Severe inhumanity': California prisons overwhelmed by Covid outbreaks and approaching fires” at The Guardian.

Read “Trump Cabinet officials voted in 2018 White House meeting to separate migrant children, say officials” at NBC News. “If we don't enforce this, it is the end of our country as we know it," said Trump adviser Stephen Miller, according to officials present at a White House meeting.”

Read “The scheduled execution of the only Native American man on federal death row is highlighting the Navajo Nation's struggle for sovereignty” at AZ Central.

Read “An RNC Speaker Said Cops Would Be 'Smart' to Racially Profile Her Own Son” at Vice. “"Statistically, my brown son is more likely to commit a violent offense over my white sons," anti-abortion activist Abby Johnson said in a YouTube video earlier this year.”

Read “Gov. Polis Calls Homeless Sweeps Near Capitol ‘A Relief’” at Denver CBS Local.

Read “‘Death is Everywhere’ Millions More Uyghurs Missing CJ Werleman 24 August 2020” at Byline Times.

Read “Alaska’s Attorney General Resigns Hours After We Published “Uncomfortable” Texts He Sent to a Younger Colleague” at Pro Publica.

Read “Guns Are Still Being Sold on Facebook Marketplace” at Wall Street Journal. “Firearm sellers are finding new ways to disguise weapon listings after lawmakers called on Mark Zuckerberg to better police the site’s Marketplace last year.”'

Read “Black Homeowners Face Discrimination in Appraisals” at New York Times. “Companies that value homes for sale or refinancing are bound by law not to discriminate. Black homeowners say it happens anyway.”

Read “U.S. cities sue federal government over untraceable 'ghost guns'“ at Reuters.

Read “Migrants Giving Up on America Are Using Coyotes to Smuggle Them Home” at Vice.

Read “We Need to Talk About the GOP’s ‘Black Friends’” at The Nation.

This week in traitorous, white-supremacist Confederate monuments (and/or Columbus monuments // and/or other “American monuments” // and/or weird Confederacy stuff):

Read “Hurricane Laura Topples Confederate Statue After Vote to Keep It” at NBC Chicago.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signs bill upping penalties on some protests” at News Channel 5.

Read “Teens4Equality and People's Plaza lead rally against Tennessee's new anti-protesting law” at The Tennessean.

Read “Protesters rally over fatal police shooting of Black man in Louisiana” at Axios.

Read “Violence in Portland after far-right groups rally” at Axios.

• Read “Feds in Portland Now Unrestrained in Removing Journalists at Protests” at Courtroom News.

Read “How rural organizers are building community connections and power” at The Forge.

Read “Chicago police arrest 13 people after tents are set up outside CPS headquarters to protest officers in schools” at Chicago Tribune.

Read “Armed COVID-19 Protests Exploit Open Carry Loophole” at Every Town Research.

Read “Dozens Arrested In Louisville Protest Calling For Justice For Breonna Taylor” at NPR.

• Read “What Breonna Taylor's mother thought of AG Daniel Cameron's Republican convention speech” at Louisville Courier-Journal.

Read “Jacob Blake handcuffed to hospital bed, father says” at

Read “Trump says Wisconsin governor to allow federal assistance in Jacob Blake protests” at Axios.

Read “Facebook takes down ‘call to arms’ event after two shot dead in Kenosha” at The Verge.

Read “17-year-old arrested after 2 killed during unrest in Kenosha” at Associated Press.

• Read “A 17-Year-Old Aspiring Cop Has Been Charged With Murder In Kenosha” at Vice. “Police arrested Kyle Rittenhouse, a onetime police cadet, whose social media accounts indicated an affinity for the "Back the Blue" movement.”

• Read “Facebook chose not to act on militia complaints before Kenosha shootingFacebook chose not to act on militia complaints before Kenosha shooting” at The Verge.

• Read “Kenosha police chief says 3 people wouldn't have been shot during protests if they weren't illegally out past curfew” at Insider.

  • Read “Kenosha Sheriff in 2018: ‘There’s Some People That Aren’t Worth Saving’” at Rolling Stone. “Sheriff David Beth called on shoplifters to be “warehoused” for life to stop “these males [from] going out and getting 10 other women pregnant.”

• Read the opinion piece: “Arrested, Charged And…Celebrated By The Right” at News and Guts. “With no denunciation, or even a mention from the president about his actions, a teenage boy who allegedly carried out a murderous spree is suddenly being hailed a hero by some.”

Read “Alleged 'Boogaloo' extremist charged in killing of federal officer during George Floyd protest” at NBC News.

Read “Protesters Try to Drown Out Trump Speech, Confront Sen. Paul” at NBC Washington.

Read “‘We’re more than just basketball players,’ Ray Allen says of sports boycotts” at PBS News Hour.

• Read “Kushner: NBA players are "very fortunate" to be "able to take a night off from work" at Axios.

• Read “NFL teams suspend practice over Jacob Blake shooting” at Axios.

• Read “NBA players decide to resume playoffs after boycott” at Axios.

This Week With The Police:

Read “The NYPD Is Withholding Evidence From Investigations Into Police Abuse” at Pro Publica.

Read “Blue Bloods: America’s Brotherhood of Police Officers” at Vanity Fair. “To understand the citadel of law enforcement, we must reckon with its unions—which resemble fraternities more than labor unions.”

Read “We Are Tracking What Happens to Police After They Use Force on Protestors” at Pro Publica.

Read “Black Family Who Had Phoenix Cop Pull Gun on Them Over 'Stolen Doll' to Receive $475K From the City” at The Root.

Education and The Learnings and School Re-openings:

Read “Career Advice The Pandemic Is Forcing Teachers Out Faster Than Ever, and We Might Not Recover” at We Are Teachers.

Read “Teachers could stay in classroom if exposed to COVID-19” at 12 News.

Read “Teachers shot by plastic pellets during training drill sue sheriff's department, officers” at Indy Star.

Read “New taskforce to examine ventilation in every NYC school classroom by next week” at NY Daily News.

Read “Parties, Basketball, Slip-and-Slides: ASU Student Employees Say Campus Is a Health Risk” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “Some Arizona students may have been exposed to COVID-19 during the first week” at AZ Central.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Maine CDC now links 53 COVID-19 cases to Millinocket wedding reception” at Press Herald.

Read “Ex-FDA chief rebukes Trump over claim that "deep state" has slowed virus treatments” at Axios.

• Read “Mark Meadows defends Trump's "deep state" attacks on FDA” at Axios.

Read “FDA, under pressure from Trump, authorizes blood plasma as Covid-19 treatment” at STAT News.

Read “Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh Terrorized By Neighborhood TikTok Influencers’ “COVID Parties” at Stereogum.

Read “F.D.A. ‘Grossly Misrepresented’ Blood Plasma Data, Scientists Say” at New York Times.

Read “American Airlines to lay off 17,500 frontline workers due to coronavirus travel slump” at USA Today.

Read “Why the economic value of a face mask is $56.14” at The Economist.

Read “Zoom weddings: A blessing in disguise?” at PRI.

Read “Crowd Shatters Glass To Get To Idaho House Session On Virus” at Associated Press.

Read “As His Mom Fought Covid-19, a Med Student Gained End-of-Life Insights” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Kentucky Man Accused Of Breaking Canada's COVID-19 Rules Faces $569,000 Fine” at NPR.

Read “Are U.S. medical experts being influenced by the Trump administration?” at PBS News Hour.

Miscellany Cultural Items:

Read “Pence on QAnon: "I dismiss it out of hand" at Axios.

• Read “QAnon looms behind nationwide rallies and viral #SavetheChildren hashtags” at NBC News.

• Read “Texas QAnon Supporter Used Car to Attack Strangers She Believed Were ‘Pedophiles’” at Right Wing Watch.

• Read “GOP leader: 'There is no place for QAnon in the Republican Party' at The Hill.

Read “National Enquirer Chief David Pecker Out After AMI Merger” at Daily Beast.

Read “Big Basin, Home To Majestic Coast Redwoods, Is 'Gone'“ at Alt1053.

Read “In secretly recorded audio, President Trump’s sister says he has ‘no principles’ and ‘you can’t trust him’” at News and Guts. “He has no principles. None.”....“His goddamned tweet and lying, oh my God,” she said. “I’m talking too freely, but you know. The change of stories. The lack of preparation. The lying. Holy shit.”

Read “Over 3.5 billion lack reasonably reliable access to electricity” at Axios.

Read “For $5,500, you can have your body composted in Washington for an environmentally friendly burial” at Religion News Service.

Read “Massive California wildfires expected to get worse as lightning, wind storms move in” at Los angeles Times.

Read “Jeff Bezos Becomes The First Person Ever Worth $200 Billion” at Forbes.

Read “Hurricane Laura smashes parts of Louisiana and Texas, killing 6 and leaving widespread wind damage” at CNN.

Internationalities:

Read “Satellite photos appear to show Chinese submarine using underground base” at CNN.

Read “Universal basic income seems to improve employment and well-being” at New Scientist. “Finland’s two-year test of universal basic income concluded that it doesn't seem to disincentivise working, and benefits recipients’ mental and financial wellbeing.”

Read “How Israel wages war on Palestinian history” at Mondo Weiss.

Read “Japanese PM Shinzo Abe to resign for health reasons” at Axios.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Sen. McSally urges supporters to donate to her campaign instead of buying a meal” at AZ Family.

Read “Kanye West’s Presidential Campaign Is Both Proceeding and Unraveling” at The Intelligencer. “I called up all of the electors Kanye West submitted in Virginia today. Of the 13 electors on the ballot, 7 were surprised to either be electors, to have signed anything connected with Kanye or both.”

Read “Kushner plans trip to Middle East to encourage more Gulf states to normalize with Israel” at Axios.

Read “Trump Changes Convention Schedule, Plans To Speak Every Night” at News and Guts.

Read “Barr says he's "vehemently opposed" to pardoning Edward Snowden” at Axios.

Read “Trump says the 2020 DNC was ‘gloomiest’ in history” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Pelosi says "of course" she would accept election results if Trump wins” at Axios.

Read “Former Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake Endorses Joe Biden For President” at KJZZ.

Read “Kellyanne Conway announces she's leaving the White House and George Conway is stepping away from Lincoln Project” at CNN.

Read “Key moments from Harris and Biden's first joint interview” at Axios.

Read “Poll Finds Just 13% of Voters Still Up for Grabs for Trump, Biden” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Richard Spencer Backs Joe Biden, Says 'MAGA/Alt-Right Moment is Over' at Newsweek.

Read “Trump campaign releases second-term agenda” at Axios.

Read “The psychological wage of liberalism was laid bare at the DNC” at Christian Century. “If democracy is a moral abstraction instead of an embodied struggle, it won’t survive.’

Read “Don Jr. Threw Some Shade At The Loch Ness Monster During His RNC Speech, And People Are Pissed” at Comic Sands.

Read “RNC Speaker Cancelled After Boosting QAnon Conspiracy Theory About Jewish Plot to Enslave the World” at Daily Beast.

Read “A fascist manifesto is gaining fans on the right, including state Sen. Roger Chamberlain” at Minnesota Reformer.

Read “Ex-Intel Chief: 'I Wish We Had Taken More Action' Against Russian Meddling” at NPR.

Read “'Country First': More than 100 former staffers of Sen. John McCain endorse Joe Biden” at AZ Central.

Read “Trump casts Biden as vessel for "wild-eyed Marxists" in 70-minute RNC speech” at Axios.

• Read “CNN adds second chyron to fact-check Trump's RNC speech” at Axios.

Read “Mike Pence hopes four years of subservience to Trump paves his political future” at Washington Post.

Read “House Democrats say subpoena for Trump's financial records meets Supreme Court's requirements’ at Axios.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “How Much of the Right Is a Financial Scam?” by David French at The Dispatch. “Steve Bannon’s alleged fraud is the tip of the con-artist iceberg.”

Read “What the Heck Are Trump “Boat Parades”—and How Is the Steve Bannon Arrest Connected?” at Slate.

Read “More Than 550,000 Primary Absentee Ballots Rejected In 2020, Far Outpacing 2016” at NPR.

• Watch “Postmaster says ‘no idea’ mailboxes, equipment being removed” at PBS News Hour.

• Read “Postal trucks sometimes travel across country - with no mail - after USPS cuts” at News Channel 5.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Pyramids Rebuilt: An Interview With Idris Ackamoor” at Passion of the Weiss.

Read “Van Morrison asks artists to speak out against socially distant concerts: 'Fight the pseudo-science'“ at Yahoo.

Read “New Pylon Box Set Announced” at Pitchfork. “The 4xLP collection includes the Georgia group’s two studio albums, unreleased tracks, and more.”

Read “John Doe of Punk Legends X Riffs on Their New Album and Not Winning Awards” at Phoenix New Times.

Movies/TV/Gaming/Etc.:

Read “Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Melissa Fumero Doesn’t Love the Look of Canada’s B99 Remake” at Vulture. The actress was disappointed to see the remake had rewritten two characters as white: 'I'm suddenly curious about the Latina population in Quebec'.

Read “Your guide to intelligent, nonviolent video games” at America Magazine.

Read “Theaters pitch consumers to return with new safety standards” at Axios.

Read “Sterling K. Brown: Black Actors Have Waited 'A Long Time To Be Fully Recognized'“ at NPR.

Read “Judge Tosses Age Discrimination Claim in ‘Simpsons’ Composer Alf Clausen’s Firing” at Variety.

Read “HBO Shares First Trailer for David Byrne’s ‘American Utopia’ Film, Directed by Spike Lee” at Relix.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “Boris Johnson and the revenge of the school librarian” at TES

Science/Animals/Technology/Environment/Etc.:

Read “An Elusive ‘Corpse Lily’ Bloomed Larger Than Ever Before in Indonesia” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “Asteroid heading our way day before presidential election” at New York Post.

Read “Bizarre Brains Of The Animal Kingdom” at Science World.

Read “Mystery human ancestor discovered, Ireland's most haunted mansion goes on sale, 1,300-year-old shipwreck uncovered” at All That’s Interesting.

Food Cultures:

Read “The Greek-Canadian Origins of the Hawaiian Pizza” at Gastro Obscura.

Misc. Oddities:

Read “Netflix Captures One Man’s Weird, Wonderful Mission to Contact Aliens by Playing Kraftwerk” at Daily Beast.

Read “David Bowie used to store his urine in the fridge to stop witches stealing it” at Far Out Magazine.

Local:

Read “Arizona Supreme Court says ballot measure to legalize marijuana can appear on November ballot” at AZ Central.

Read “Instagram deletes account advertising ASU COVID-19 parties” at KTAR.

Read “Maricopa County won't pursue charges over explicit photos of Arizona lawmaker sent to lobbyist” at AZ Central.

Read “NASCAR Legend Michael Waltrip Races into Phoenix to Open a New Brewery” at Phoenix Magazine.

The Weekly Town Crier (08/21/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (08/21/20).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “R.I.P. Todd Nance, Founding Drummer of Widespread Panic” at Relix.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Why Jerry Falwell Jr.'s social media 'yacht' posts were problematic for Liberty University” at Religion News Service. “Religion News Service verified that Jerry Falwell has liked a handful of images posted on Instagram showing young women—some who are Liberty students—in swimsuits and scantily clad outfits.”

• Read “Liberty Alumni Pastors Urge University Board to 'Permanently Remove' Jerry Falwell Jr. as President” at CBN News. “"The students of Liberty University need a chancellor and president that embraces the responsibility to live out their faith with integrity and passion both publicly and privately.”

• See Jerry Falwell Jr.’s workout routine to deal with all the stress he’s under.

Read “How Megachurches Spent Coronavirus Relief Funds” at Christianity Today. “Religious groups got $7.3B in forgivable loans. That financial security helped ministry teams focus.”

Read “The California Court of Appeal today set aside a lower court order that would have allowed indoor services to take place at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley” at Yubanet.

Read “Joe Biden Campaigns on Faith” at Christianity Today. ““He may not be the conservative Catholic that a lot of evangelicals would like him to be, but when he talks about his faith, it rings true,” said Richard Mouw, former president of Fuller Seminary.”

• Read “Joe Biden’s Catholic politics are complicated—but deeply American” at America Magazine.

• Read “By embracing faith, Joe Biden and the Democrats have the potential to transform American politics” at Religion News Service.

Read “QAnon: The alternative religion that’s coming to your church” at Religion News Service.

Read “It’s Not Enough to Broadcast a Service. Churches Need to Foster Community” at Christianity Today.

Read “Is the White Church Inherently Racist?” at New York Times. “White Christianity has not merely been a passive bystander in the construction of this nation’s racial caste system, it has been the primary cultural and religious institution creating, promoting and preserving it.”

Read “A New Face for Canadian Social Conservatism” at Christianity Today.

Read “Compassion begins in the eyes” at Christian Century.

Read “Americans want churches open but aren’t attending when they are open” at Baptist News.

Read “Evangelicals Call for Police and Criminal Justice Reform” at Christianity Today.

Legal/Justice and Social Justice and Race or Gender or Sexism-Related Stuff:

Read “President Donald Trump calls NBA players 'very nasty' and 'very dumb' for kneeling during anthem” at AZ Central.

Read “Facebook goes after Apple” at Axios. “Facebook is seeking to force a face-off with Apple over its 30% in-app purchase commission fee, which Facebook suggests hurts small businesses struggling to get by during the pandemic.”

Read “8 Years After Proving Racism Affected His Trial, North Carolina Inmate Taken Off Death Row” at Time.

Read “What we know about the killing of 5-year-old Cannon Hinnant” at Washington Post.

Read “Federal Appeals Court Throws Out California Ban On Large-Capacity Gun Magazines” at NPR.

Read “Portland Is Still Protesting. Where Is the Church?” at Christianity Today. “Christian leaders weigh when and how to engage in the city’s mounting clash over racial justice.”

Read “Dolly Parton Talks Black Lives Matter, Says 'Do We Think Our Little White Asses Are the Only Ones That Matter?' at The Root.

Read “Greece secretly sent away more than 1,000 migrants, abandoning them on the open sea” at Business Insider.

Read “President Trump's suburbs” at Axios. “President Trump cast an outdated vision of "the 'suburban housewife'" as he swiped this week at Joe Biden's newly minted running mate Kamala Harris — building on his months-long play to drive a wedge through battleground-state suburbs by reframing white voters' expectations.”

Read “Who Wrote The Pledge Of Allegiance — And Why Its History Is Controversial” at All That’s Interesting.

Read “Antifa crackdown is the new red scare” at The Real News.

Read “Jordan: Escalating Repression of Journalists” at Human Rights Watch.

Read “Russian opposition figure Navalny in coma after poisoning” at Politico.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “Far-right groups clash with anti-racism protesters in U.S. cities” at Axios.”Far-right and anti-racism groups have clashed in several U.S. cities — including in Portland, where Black Lives Matter protesters were targeted with paintball from a paintball gun as they marked their 80th straight day of protests, per local media.”

• Read “Proud Boys, antifa clash in downtown Kalamazoo” at The Detroit News.

Read “Maker of tear gas used on Washington, D.C., protesters will exit business” at CBS News.

This Week With The Police:

Read “FL Sheriff Who Threatened to Hunt Down Godless BLM Looters Faces Felony Charges” at Patheos.

Read “Millions in lawsuit settlements are another hidden cost of police misconduct, legal experts say” at ABC News.

Read ‘Cops Who Shot and Killed a Queer Black Man Won’t Be Charged’ at New, Now, Next. “Kawaski Trawick accidentally got locked out of his apartment while cooking and called 911 because he thought he may have accidentally started a fire. Fire Dept arrived & let him in. Police arrived & killed him in his doorway. They will not be charged.”

Read “The Infuriating History of Why Police Unions Have So Much Power” at Mother Jones.

Read “Campus cop whines after she’s fired for putting ‘KKK member’ in her Twitter bio: ‘Not one person had my back’ at Raw Story.

Education and The Learnings/School Re-Openings:

Read “Less Than A Week After Starting Classes, UNC-Chapel Hill Reports 4 COVID-19 Clusters” at NPR.

Read “UNC reverses plans for in-person classes after 130 students test positive for Covid-19” at CNN.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read ‘CDC director says U.S. could have "worst fall" ever if public health measures are not followed” at CBS News.

Read “One in three Americans say they won't get coronavirus vaccine” at The Hill.

Read “The cardiac threat coronavirus poses to athletes” at Axios. “Cardiologists are increasingly concerned that coronavirus infections could cause heart complications that lead to sudden cardiac death in athletes.”

Read “Trump eyes new unproven coronavirus "cure" at Axios. “A senior official told Axios, "The involvement of the Secretary of HUD and http://MyPillow.com in pushing a dubious product at the highest levels should give Americans no comfort at night about their health and safety during a raging pandemic."

Read “Sweden’s disease expert says just wearing face masks could be ‘very dangerous’” at New York Post. In case you, like me, do not like this headline, the full context is that he argues: “it’s “very dangerous” if people believe the coverings alone will stop the spread of the coronavirus.”

Miscellany Cultural Items:

Read “American Passports Are Useless Now” at The Atlantic.

Read “Cultural Marxism” at Hedgehog Review (from 2018).

Read “Facebook begins merging WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger infrastructures” at Axios.

Read “Japan’s Been Proudly Pacifist for 75 Years. A Missile Proposal Challenges That.” at New York Times.

Read “The Company Behind Fortnite Is Waging a Righteous War Against Apple” at Slate.

Read “Snapchat adds in-app voter registration targeted at young people” at Axios.

Read “750 million genetically engineered mosquitoes approved for release in Florida Keys” at CNN.

Read “Uber and Lyft get reprieve from court, won't shut down in California for now” at CNN.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Biden hits Trump for vow to block USPS funding: "He doesn't want an election"“ at Axios.

Read “Biden on track to beat Trump with Harris, as Dems eye the "next AOC" at MSNBC. “As Biden continues to beat Trump in the polls, Sen. Kamala Harris sparks a record-breaking $48 million in donations for Biden.”

• Read “Could Kamala Harris’s Presence on the Ticket Help Usher in a Third Reconstruction?” at The Nation.

Read “Iran foreign minister accuses Western countries of using Beirut blast to dictate policies” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Poll: Biden Expands Lead; A Third Of Country Says It Won't Get Vaccinated” at NPR.

• Read “Poll: 58% of Biden voters say vote is more "against" Trump than "for" Biden” at Axios.

Read “Trump tightens screws on ByteDance to sell Tiktok” at Axios.

Read “Trump administration looks to ease showerhead water flow rules” at PBS News Hours.

Read “Rep. Ilhan Omar Wins Congressional Primary” at NPR.

Read “Trump campaign to flood the web with ads during Democratic convention” at Axios.

Read “Mike Pompeo signs deal to send U.S. troops from Germany to Poland” at Axios.

Read “Trump says ‘No one will be safe in Biden’s America’ at NYPD event” at PBS News Hour.

Read “House Republicans Get Cranked Up” at Slate. “QAnon is headed for Capitol Hill.”

Read “Biden Faces A Convention Test, To Offer A Vision Beyond Beating Trump” at NPR.

Read “Puerto Rico governor loses primary” at Axios.

Read “O'Brien on deterring Russian meddling: "There’s almost nothing left to sanction" at Axios.

Read “Here are five questions to ask when analyzing political polls” at NBC News. “Not all political polls are created equally so here are five key questions to ask when reading them.”

Read “The ‘Rage Moms’ Democrats Are Counting On” at New York Times.

Read “Trump announces he'll posthumously pardon Susan B. Anthony, convicted of voting illegally as a woman in 1872” at ABC News.

Read “The Senate Intelligence Committee’s new Russia report, explained” at Vox.

Read “Bernie Sanders Becomes The “Party Unifier” at News and Guts.

Read “Effort appears to be underway to qualify Kanye West for the presidential ballot in Arizona” at AZ Central.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read ‘U.S. Postal Service Confirms It Has Removed Mailboxes in Portland and Eugene” at Willamette Week.

• Read “USPS removes mail collection boxes and reduces post office hours as critics accuse Trump administration of voter suppression” at CNN.

• Read “Obama: Americans could be "collateral damage" in Trump's war on mail-in voting” at Axios.

• Read “"He needs to cheat to win": Dems condemn Trump's USPS attacks” at Axios.

• Read “Postal service inspector general reviewing DeJoy's policy changes and potential ethics conflicts” at CNN.

• Read “Postal workers' union endorses Biden” at Axios.

• Read “Mail sorting machines across the country being removed, multiple reports say” at 12 News.

• Read “New Postmaster Hasn't Yet Met Election Officials About Mail-In Ballot Concerns” at NPR.

• Read “Postal Service Warns States – No Guarantee Ballots Will Arrive In Time To Be Counted” at News and Guts.

• Read “Trump says postmaster general wants to make USPS "great again” at Axios.

• Read “Phoenix Mayor Gallego stresses importance for Postal Service funding” at KTAR. “Absentee ballots have been an important part of voting in Arizona. We were one of the first states where anyone could vote by mail without an excuse."

  • Read “Katie Hobbs asks Arizona AG to investigate Trump administration over USPS” at 12 News. “The timing of the changes prior to a major election where most will be mail-in voting is conspicuous, Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs said.”

• Read “Romney rebukes Trump on mail-in voting” at Axios. “Sen. Mitt Romney said on Friday that he's unaware of "any evidence that voting by mail would increase voter fraud," countering repeated claims from President Trump that mail-in voting will lead to rampant fraud.”

• Read “President Trump requests mail-in ballot for upcoming Florida primary, despite rhetoric” at News and Guts.

• Read “Pelosi Calls House Back From August Recess To Act On “Postal Sabotage” at News and Guts.

  • Read “Postmaster general to testify before Senate committee on Friday” at Axios.

• Read “USPS to Suspend Changes Until After Election” at Wall Street Journal. “Postmaster General Louis DeJoy says agency won’t remove equipment or cut hours amid congressional scrutiny ahead of an expected surge in mail-in voting.”

Read “Senate committee sought investigation of Bannon, raised concerns about Trump family testimony” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Trump And His Campaign Amplify Untrue 'Birther' Conspiracy Against Kamala Harris” at NPR.

• Read “AP Fact Check: Harris meets constitutional requirements” at Associated Press.

Read “One Tough Question For DOJ If Biden Is Elected: Whether To Prosecute Trump” at NPR.

Read “Feds Ignored Warnings of Border Wall Construction Impacts, Emails Show” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon arrested on fraud charges in border wall fundraising scheme”

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Elvis Costello Announces New Album Hello Clockface, Shares Latest Single” at Spin.

Read “Billie Eilish to Perform at 2020 Democratic National Convention” at Pitchfork. “The Chicks, Maggie Rogers, John Legend, Leon Bridges, and others are also set for the virtual DNC.”

Read “Kathleen Edwards Left Behind Roots-Music Stardom to Sell Coffee. Now She’s Back” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Two Men Charged with Murder of Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay” at Consequence of Sound. “Indictments come 18 years following the death of the iconic DJ.”

Read “A History of North American Death Metal in 30 Albums” at Treble.

Read “Student gets a D in art, picks up report card in amazing homemade GWAR costume” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Sun Kil Moon’s UK tour cancelled following allegations against Mark Kozelek” at Brooklyn Vegan.

• Read “Mark Kozelek: “I reject the false allegations and innuendo in the recent press” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Watch “Fiona Apple Narrates Video About ICE Arrests” at Pitchfork.

Read “Bruce Springsteen, Bob Weir, Lucinda Williams Set for Massive Joe Strummer Tribute Livestream” at Consequence of Sound. “Josh Homme, Beto O'Rourke, Jim Jarmusch, and Steve Buscemi are also expected to appear.”

Read “How the U.S. Postal Service Gave Us John Prine” at Rolling Stone. “Delivering the mail provided a steady job at a crucial time for one of America’s greatest songwriters.”

Read “Mariah Carey Announces Rarities Album, New Song Out This Week” at Pitchfork.

Read “Non-verbal teenager Tyler Hartfield writes music inspired by Nick Cave” at ABC.

Read “Tom Petty Estate Announces ‘Wildflowers & All The Rest’ Collection, Shares Video for “Wildflowers (Home Recording)” at Relix.

Movies/TV/Etc.:

Read “George Orwell's Animal Farm Is Becoming a Videogame” at Paste.

Read “The Ellen DeGeneres Show Fires 3 Producers Amid "Toxic" Work Environment Allegations” at Yahoo.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “How ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ Saved My Life” at The Millions.

Science/Animals/Technology/Environment/Etc.:

Read “Interstellar visitor 'Oumuamua could still be alien technology, new study hints” at Live Science.

Read “Pentagon unveils Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force” at Axios.

Food Cultures:

Read “How Former Samurai and Farmers Cultivated the First Japanese Apples” at Gastro Obscura.

Read “Krispy Kreme to open NYC flagship location next month with world’s largest 'Hot Light' after COVID-19 delay” at USA Today.

The Weekly Town Crier (08/14/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (08/14/20).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Lorenzo Wilson Milam, Guru of Community Radio, Is Dead at 86” at New York Times.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “What white evangelical Christians can't see when they see racism” at Religion News Service.

Read “GOP lawmaker calls on Falwell Jr. to resign over photo” at CNN.

• Read “Liberty Chancellor Falwell takes indefinite leave of absence” at WFIR News.

• Read “Jerry Falwell Jr. taking indefinite leave of absence from Liberty University amid calls to step down” at Religion News Service. "The Rev. Dwight "Ike" Reighard, a Liberty board member, told Religion News Service he was "concerned" about "recent events" and that the board's statement addressed "the beginning steps the University Board will more fully address in the days ahead."

• Read “To save Liberty University's soul, its board must reject Jerry Falwell's vision” at Religion News Service.

Read ‘Virtual worship has become the people’s work” at Christian Century. “Discovering the limits—and possibilities—of common prayer via Zoom.”

Read “Democrats plan interfaith service to kick off convention” at Religion News Service.

Read “The Importance of "And" by Diana Butler Bass. “The Forgotten Political Message of Christianity.”

Legal/Justice and Social Justice and Race/Racism or Gender or Sexism-Related Stuff:

Browse “Children’s Books by Black Authors” at the Conscious Kid.

Read “It's Time for American Leaders to Wake Up to the Threat of Climate Change for the Good of the Planet and Business” at Time.

Read “Louisiana man serving life for $30 drug sale set to be freed” at 12 News.

Read “Dallas Doctor Reflects on Being Treated as a 'Hero' in His Scrubs But 'Hated in a Hoodie'“ at People.

Read “Performative masculinity is making American men sick” at Vox. “The coronavirus has issued an undeniable taunt to American men on their home turf, and some have chosen to prove their virility through risk with no foreseeable reward. It’s a narrow vision of manhood that ignores other tropes like self-sacrifice and being a protector; performative masculinity for an audience of one that puts many more people at risk. And the solution would be so easy, if it weren’t left in the hands of the manliest men in the country.”

Read “New reports find Arizona at the top for kids testing positive for COVID-19” at 12 News.

Read “Russia’s approval of a COVID-19 vaccine is less than meets the press release” at Science.

Read “The Case for Abolishing the Department of Homeland Security” at Teen Vogue.

Read “Murder rate surges in big cities” at Axios.

Read “Trump: Biden, Booker would allow low-income housing to "invade" suburbia” at Axios. (RACiST)

Read “Trump says men may be "insulted" by Biden picking a woman for VP” at Axios. (SEXIST)

Read “Facebook steps up hate speech crackdown, removing 22.5 million posts in Q2” at Axios.

Read “Feds accuse Yale of discriminating against some applicants’ at Associated Press. “A Justice Department investigation has found Yale University is illegally discriminating against Asian-American and white applications.”

This week in traitorous, white-supremacist Confederate monuments (and/or Columbus monuments // and/or other “American monuments” // and/or weird Confederacy stuff):

Read Georgia city votes to remove pavilion where slaves were sold” at Al Jazeera.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “N.Y.P.D. Besieges a Protest Leader as He Broadcasts Live” at New York Times.

Read “Winfrey demanding justice for Breonna Taylor with billboards” at SF Gate.

Read “Phoenix records prove that police officers disproportionately use force against minorites.”

Read “‘I felt like my chest was on fire’: Photo shows Dallas police officer shooting protester with pepper-ball gun” at Dallas News.

Read “'Unprecedented' protests erupt in Belarus following election” at CNN.

Read “Viral Video Seemed To Show BLM Storming A Church. The Real Story Is Much Darker” at Buzzfeed News. “What people need to know is we’re not protesting churches. We’re protesting this church.”

This Week With The Police:

Read “Abolish the Police? Those Who Survived the Chaos in Seattle Aren’t So Sure” at New York Times.

Read “Police face new lawsuit, probes after Elijah McClain’s death” at Associated Press.

Read ‘Marion County deputies ordered not to wear masks” at OCALA.

Read “How police can use Brady lists to discredit whistleblowers” at ABC News 15.

School Re-Openings:

Read “I cannot lose another teacher’: Ariz. superintendent terrified over school reopening’ at MSNBC.

Read “Covid-19 Cases Among U.S. Children Jumped 40% in Late July” at Bloomberg.

Read “The Coronavirus Seems to Spare Most Kids From Illness, but Its Effect on Their Mental Health Is Deepening” at Time.

Read “Coronavirus prompts closing of Georgia high school in district with over 1K in quarantine” at NBC News.

Read “Florida's GOP governor compares reopening schools to the raid that killed bin Laden” at Business Insider.

Read “Ventilation should be part of the conversation on school reopening. Why isn’t it?” at PBS News Hour.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Antarctica is the last continent without COVID-19. Scientists want to keep it that way” at National Geographic.

Read “The Unique U.S. Failure to Control the Virus” at New York Times. “Slowing the coronavirus has been especially difficult for the United States because of its tradition of prioritizing individualism and missteps by the Trump administration.”

Read “Bill Gates on Covid: Most US Tests Are ‘Completely Garbage’” at Wired.

Read “Europeans Say COVID-19 Revealed America as 'Fragile,' Inconsiderate” at Newsweek.

Read “US tops 5 million coronavirus cases, continues to lead world in infections and deaths” at Fox News.

Read “Heart condition linked with COVID-19 fuels Power 5 concern about season's viability” at ESPN.

Read “Your View by Bethlehem heart transplant recipient: ‘I am in danger. Please wear a face covering.' at The Morning Call.

Read “Big Ten Votes to Call Off Football Season: Reports” at WCCO Radio.

Read “Fauci ‘seriously doubts’ the Russia vaccine is ready for widespread use” at National Geographic.

Read “Employees need masks even for at-home Zoom calls, Wisconsin agency says. Here’s why'“ at Kansas City Star.

Read “What Will It Take to Pass More COVID Relief Now?” at Slate.

• Read “Pelosi says Mnuchin told her White House is "not budging" on stimulus position” at Axios.

Read ‘Face masks with valves, vents banned from most US airlines” at 12 News.

Miscellany Cultural Items:

Read “LEGO is launching braille bricks for students across the US” at CNN.

Read “Lebanon PM Hassan Diab resigns amid anger over Beirut blast” at Al Jazeera.

• Read “Lebanon's government resigns as public anger mounts” at BBC.

Read “Twitter, George Soros, and Porn Subjective and Objective Realities” at The Margins. "A terrifying part of pandemic life is thinking about how, for so many of us, our understanding of reality is increasingly being shaped by algorithmically-curated, ad-funded digital representations."

Browse “17 Maps Of The United States That Made Us Say "Whoa" at Ranker.

Read “China's days as 'the world's factory' are over says iPhone manufacturer” at The Telegraph.

Read “The Strange Costumes of the Plague Doctors Who Treated 17th Century Victims of the Bubonic Plague” at Open Culture.

Read “CDC director warns high-school-age suicides and overdoses outpacing teen COVID deaths” at WND.

Read “Jake Paul says FBI raid on his home was ‘entirely related to the Arizona looting situation’ at The Verge.

Read “QAnon Followers Are Hijacking the #SaveTheChildren Movement” at New York Times.

Read “Why the Mauritius oil spill is so serious” at BBC.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “A ‘radical’ leftist who is ‘against God’? Trump paints Biden in a picture many don’t recognize” at Washington Post. “President Trump is increasingly trying to run against a Joe Biden of his own making. Rather than look for campaign ammunition in the former vice president’s long track record of politically vulnerable votes and policy proposals, Trump has instead chosen to describe Biden as a godless Marxist bent on destroying the country with a radical agenda that would make Che Guevara blanch.”

Read “Aides walk back Trump’s vow to "permanently" cut Social Security tax if he’s re-elected” at Salon.

Read ‘Trump says 1918 flu pandemic ‘probably ended the Second World War,’ which ended in 1945” at Military Times.

Read “U.S. Intelligence: China Opposes Trump Reelection; Russia Works Against Biden” at NPR.

Read “Trump signs executive orders enacting $400 unemployment benefit, payroll tax cut after coronavirus stimulus talks stall” at AZ Central.

• Read “Payroll Tax Delay To Boost Take-Home Pay, But Don't Spend It Yet” at NPR. “Critics say this particular relief measure is misguided since it benefits only people who are lucky enough to have a job still. What's more, because the tax relief is only temporary, workers are expected to repay the taxes next year.”

Read “In Historic Pick, Joe Biden Taps Kamala Harris To Be His Running Mate” at NPR.

• Read “If Kamala Harris is also of Asian descent, why does the press only label her ‘Black?’” at Poynter.

• Read “At least 11 women have vied for U.S. vice president. Here’s what happened to them” at National Geographic.

Read “U.S. budget deficit swells to $2.81 trillion” at Axios.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Trump gets millions from golf members. CEOs and lobbyists get access to president” at USA Today.

Read “New York Times: White House reached out to South Dakota governor about adding Trump to Mount Rushmore” at CNN.

Read “I Worked at a Polling Place for the Michigan Primary” at Slate. “There wasn’t much concern about masks. There was plenty about voter fraud.”

Read “DeVos: 'Yes,' Trump's leaked tape comments describe sexual assault” at CNN (from January 2017).

Read “'Friday Night Massacre' at US Postal Service as Postmaster General—a Major Trump Donor—Ousts Top Officials” at Common Dreams.

• Read “Postal Workers Decry Changes And Cost-Cutting Measures” at NPR. “"Mail is beginning to pile up in our offices, and we're seeing equipment being removed," said one postal worker.

• Read “We Cannot Hold an Election Without a Functional Post Office” at Slate. “Trump’s refusal to save the U.S. Postal Service is an attack on voting rights.”

• Read “The Post Office Is Deactivating Mail Sorting Machines Ahead of the Election” at Vice. “Good thing nobody's predicting a huge surge in mail any time soon.”

• Read “Trump says he’s blocking Postal Service funding because Democrats want to expand mail-in voting.”

Music-Related News and Such:

Browse “The Aquarium Drunkard Guide To Three Lobed Recordings”.

Read/watch “25 Years After Jerry Garcia’s Death, the Grateful Dead’s Popularity Endures” at San Francisco CBS.

Read “Bruce Hornsby Looks Back on Jerry Garcia’s Last Days: ‘I Miss Him So Much’ at Rolling Stone. “The sometime Grateful Dead pianist recalls his final shows with the group and what made Garcia “a great hang”

Read “The Scientific Benefits of Listening to New Music” at Pitchfork.

Read “Burna Boy Details New Album Twice as Tall Featuring Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Stormzy, More” at Pitchfork.

Read “Coronavirus Won’t Kill Independent Record Stores” at Vice.

Read “Mark Kozelek of Sun Kil Moon Accused of Sexual Misconduct by Three Women” at Pitchfork.

Read “How mid-2000s emo groomed underage girls and poisoned teen boys” at Medium.

Read “Peter Capaldi picks his 5 favorite punk songs of all time” at AV Club.

Read ‘Beck Teams With NASA for New Hyperspace Visual Album” at Pitchfork.

See “Patti Smith Shares Performance of “Grateful” In Honor of Jerry Garcia” at Jambands.

Read “The Stooges' most infamous performance comes back to life, thanks to unearthed tapes” at Detroit Free Press.

Read “John Legend, Variety’s Music Mogul of the Year: Big Business, Bigger Love” at Variety.

Read “Watch Trey Anastasio and The Roots Perform “I Never Needed You Like This Before” on ‘The Tonight Show’ at Relix.

“Watch Sufjan Stevens’ Video for New Song “Video Game” at Pitchfork.

Read “Neil Young Makes Stand Against Google and Facebook” at Jambands.

Read “Bob Mould Announces Career-Spanning Box Set” at Pitchfork.

Read “Herding Cats: Harlem 1958” at Downbeat. "Many jazz fans have seen the iconic image, but few know its complete backstory. On Aug. 12, 1958, graphic designer and fledgling photographer Art Kane took a 35mm photograph of 57 jazz musicians on the doorstep of a Harlem brownstone at 17 E. 126th St.”

Read “Why do people keep risking their lives to see shit bands?” at NME. “In the past few months, punters have put it all on the line to see – *checks notes* – The Chainsmokers, Static X and Smash Mouth. Wait, what?”

Read “The Black Music Action Coalition Wants to Hold the Industry Accountable” at Pitchfork.

Movies/TV/Etc.:

Read “High Fidelity Reboot Canceled By Hulu” at Pitchfork.

Read “Layoffs Start at WarnerMedia” at Variety.

Read “Quentin Tarantino’s Star Trek Movie Was a 1930s Gangster Film Set on Earth” at The Film Stage.

Books/Reading/Authors

Pre-order Jeff Tweedy’s newest book 'How To Write One Song’.

Read “The ‘Cancelling’ of Flannery O’Connor?” at Commonweal Magazine.

Read “Bob Woodward's new book details letters between Trump and Kim Jong-un” at Axios.

Design/Artsy Things:

See “Milton Glaser’s Stylish Album Covers for Bob Dylan, The Band, Nina Simone, John Cage & Many More” at Open Culture.

Meet “Morten Viskum: The Artist Who Paints With Severed Hands” at Cult of Weird.

Food Cultures:

Read “For Sale: Shipwrecked Whisky That Spent Decades Underwater” at Gastro Obscura. “Winning bidder take note: It is not safe to drink.”

Read “Postponement of weddings and other celebrations leads to a crash in champagne sales” at Boing Boing.

Local AZ:

Read “Statement from Mayor Jenn Daniels Regarding Resignation” at Gilbert.gov.

Read “It's official: This is Phoenix's hottest summer ever recorded” at AZ Central.

The Weekly Town Crier (08/07/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (08/07/20).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Wilford Brimley, 'Cocoon' actor who appeared in Quaker Oats commercials, dies at 85” at CNN.

Read “Chicago rapper FBG Duck killed in brazen daytime shopping attack” at BBC.

Read “R.I.P. Vern Rumsey of Unwound” at Treble.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Supreme Court Rejects Nevada Church’s Appeal to Reopen Like Casinos” at Christianity Today.

Read “Trump-Loving Anti-Mask Pastor Threatens Dunkin’ Donuts Employee With Assault” at Patheos.

“Ed Stetzer asked the U.S. Surgeon General, "What medical advice would you like churches to know?" Here's what he said: “Keep Your Distance.” Read "Keep Your Distance: Words of Advice for Churches from the Surgeon General” at Christianity Today.

Read “N. T. Wright: The Pandemic Should Make Us Humble—and Relentlessly Practical” at Christianity Today.

Read “Obeying God Rather than Men? What’s Really a Religious Liberty Issue?” at Christianity Today. “

Read “Jerry Falwell Jr. Just Deleted a Photo of Himself With His Arm Around a Woman and His Pants Undone and People Are Very Confused” at Second Nexus.

• Read “Jerry Falwell Apologizes For Pic Of Him With Unzipped Pants In Head-Scratching Interview” at Huff Post. “The influential evangelical leader said in a slurred voice, “I’ve apologized to everybody and I promised my kids, I’m gonna try to be a good boy from here on out.”

Read “Liberty University Poured Millions Into Sports. Now Its Black Athletes Are Leaving” at Slate. “One student was once told by an instructor: “Don’t be scared...I’m not going to pull out my whip and hit you with it.”

Legal/Justice and Social Justice and Race or Gender or Sexism-Related Stuff:

Read “An all-White jury convicted a Black man of rape in 1976. Now, lawyers say evidence was hidden from the defense” at WBTV.

Read “The myth of closing the racial wealth gap with individual accomplishment” at Axios.

Read “93-Year-Old Former Nazi Guard Convicted In One Of Germany’s Last Holocaust Trials” at All That’s Interesting. “Dey claimed he had been forced to serve as an SS guard, and was merely following orders placing him in that position.”

Read “PPP was not distributed equally across racial lines” at Axios.

Read “'Family Separation 2.0.' Parents in ICE Detention Have To Decide Whether to Keep Their Children or Release Them To Sponsors” at Time.

Read “A Black Lives Matter mural is set to be removed in Tulsa after the city received a request for a pro-police painting” at Insider.

Read “‘If The Players Won’t, I Will’: Hockey Fans Post Pictures Kneeling For Black Lives Matter” at Forbes.

Read “An Effort to Abolish Court Fees Grows in California” at Bloomberg.

Read “Louisiana Supreme Court upholds Black man's life sentence for stealing hedge clippers more than 20 years ago” at CNN.

Read “The mother of NSA leaker Reality Winner speaks out: 'Everything about her case has been so harsh and just cruel' at Business Insider.

Read “Why the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act is necessary” at Christian Century.

• Read “Trump’s reflections on John Lewis preview his own potential legacy” at Washington Post. “I don’t know. I really don’t know. I don’t know John Lewis. He chose not to come to my inauguration. He chose — I never met John Lewis, actually, I don’t believe.”

Read “Thousands rally in Turkey to demand end of violence against women” at Al Jazeera.

Read “Capital One fined $80 million for 2019 hack of 100 million credit card applications” at Washington Post.

Read “NY AG files lawsuit to dissolve the NRA after 18 month investigation” at American Military News.

Read “The Ghost of Margaret Sanger Planned Parenthood and the complexities of anti-racism.” at New York Times.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “Burns, bloody wounds, broken bones: Injuries mount at Portland protests” at Oregon Live.

This Week With The Police:

Read “L.A. County deputy alleges ‘Executioner’ gang dominates Compton sheriff station” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “East Hartford police union president says some department-issued pistols don’t shoot straight, a defect that could lead to ‘a needless tragedy’” at Hartford Courant.

Education and The Learnings:

Read “Michigan Court Frees Black Teenager Jailed for Missing Online Schoolwork” at Democracy Now.

• School Re-Openings:

• Read “A Georgia sleepaway camp's coronavirus outbreak is a warning for what could happen when schools reopen, CDC says” at CNN.

• Read “A Study Shows Children Can Carry Tons of Virus. What Does That Mean for Schools?” at Slate.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “COVID-19 Hospital Data System That Bypasses CDC Plagued By Delays, Inaccuracies” at NPR.

Read ‘Arizona Cardinals void season tickets for upcoming season amid COVID-19 outbreak” at 12 News.

Read “Trump says Fauci is "wrong" about coronavirus cases surge” at Axios.

Read “In GOP plan, you can't sue your employers for giving you COVID — but they can sue you” at Yahoo.

Read “Top Fed official: Short, sharp coronavirus lockdown will enable recovery” at Axios.

Read “More athletes opt out as U.S. struggles with coronavirus” at Axios.

Read “Our pandemic slowdown has been good for the planet What if we kept it going?” at Christian Century.

Read “'It is what it is,' Trump says of rising coronavirus death toll as he insists outbreak is 'under control'“ at AZ Central.

Read “The Unraveling of America Anthropologist Wade Davis on how COVID-19 signals the end of the American era” at Rolling Stone.

Miscellany Cultural Items:

Read “Florida 17-year-old charged with Twitter hack of Obama, Biden, Kanye, other high-profile accounts” at NBC News.

Meet Theo, the 7-year old boy who has been homeless his whole life at San Francisco Chronicle.

Read “James Murdoch exits News Corp. board” at Axios.

Read “Postage Stamps Honor Scholars and Novelist in Schomburg Center Collections” at New York Public Library.

Read ‘U.S. Postal Service Considers Downsizing, Senator and Union Leader Say” at Time.

Read “Disney Suffers Brutal Quarterly Earnings Due to Theme Park Closures” at Variety.

Read “Beirut blast: Hundreds injured in explosion - Red Cross” at BBC.

• See “Aerial footage shows scope of devastation after Beirut explosion” at NBC News.

Read “When Workers Can Live Anywhere, Many Ask: Why Do I Live Here?” at Wall Street Journal. “Coronavirus prompts Americans to reassess the need to reside near hot job markets.”

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Trump Gives Medical Stockpile A 'Kodak Moment' With New Loan To Make Drugs” at NPR. ‘The Trump administration said it plans to give a $765 million loan to Eastman Kodak – which has struggled to survive after digital cameras displaced film – so the company can manufacture ingredients used in pharmaceuticals.”

Read “Trump Keeps Criticizing Universal Vote By Mail. But The Nation Isn't Doing That” at NPR.

Revisit: “The Electoral College’s Racist Origins” from The Atlantic in 2019. “More than two centuries after it was designed to empower southern white voters, the system continues to do just that.”

Read “Citing Election Delay Tweet, Influential Trump Ally Now Demands His Re-Impeachment” at NPR.

Read “Biden campaign faith director talks Christian beliefs, outreach to evangelicals and systemic racism” at Christian Post.

Read “Biden will no longer travel to DNC to accept Democratic nomination amid pandemic” at ABC News.

Read “Protest leader Bush ousts 20-year US Rep. Clay in Missouri” at Associated Press.

Read “Pence blasts Chief Justice John Roberts as ‘disappointment to conservatives’” at Politico.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Soundtrack Of My Life: Spoon’s Britt Daniel Founder of the legendary alt-rockers talks love of The Beatles, Bee Gees and spending lockdown listening to Sleaford Mods” at NME.

Read “What Beyoncé Tells Us Without Saying a Word” at Vulture.

• Read “Beyoncé’s Black Is King Offers Awe-Inspiring Looks and Muddled Messages” at Pitchfork.

Read “The Rolling Stones to Release 1989 Trump-Promoted Concert as Live Album and Film” at Consequence of Sound. “Keith Richards infamously pulled a knife on Trump after he reneged on an agreement with the band.”

Read “Nick Cave on Living with Loss and the Central Paradox of Grief as a Portal to Aliveness” at Brain Pickings.

Read ‘Ishmael Butler on the 10 Best Shabazz Palaces Songs” at Treble.

Read “Radiohead’s Thom Yorke on the album that changed his life” at Far Out.

Read “The Who Will Launch Weekly “Join Together @ Home” Broadcast with 1982 Shea Stadium Show” at Relix.

Read “Neil Young Sues Donald Trump Campaign Over Unauthorized Use of His Music” at Pitchfork.

Read “Tom Petty Estate Shares Unheard ‘Wildflowers’ Track, “There Goes Angela (Dream Away)” at Jambands.

Movies/TV/Etc.:

Read “The Umbrella Academy Season 2 Swings into the ’60s: Review” at Consequence of Sound. “Netflix's fractured superhero family goes through the motions, but in the '60s this time.”

Read “'Mulan' will premiere on Disney+ September 4th for $30” at Engadget.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “Eric Metaxas is writing a memoir” at The Way of Improvement.

“Culture”/Design/Artsy Things:

Read “Tourist snaps the toes off 19th-century statue while posing for photo” at CNN.

Science/Animals/Technology/Environment/Etc.:

Read “"Zombie cicadas" infected with mind-controlling fungus return to West Virginia” at CBS News.

Read “Remembering the Astronaut Who Smuggled a Sandwich Into Space” at Atlas Obscura. “He got into a lot of trouble.”

Read “Why Some People Can Stay Sharp Even After Age 95” at Psychology Today.

Food Cultures:

Read “KFC Has Launched Its Own Lipstick – & It Tastes Like Hot Wings” at Bustle.

Misc. Oddities:

See “Here’s How 30 People React To A Sign On The Sidewalk Telling Them To ‘Commence Silly Walking’” at Bored Panda.

AZ Local:

Read “Lawsuit accuses Bikini Beans Coffee owners of stealing wages from employees” at 12 News.

The Weekly Town Crier (07/31/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (07/31/20).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Fleetwood Mac blues guitarist Peter Green dies at 73” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Ronald L. Graham, Who Unlocked the Magic of Numbers, Dies at 84” at New York Times.

Read “Regis Philbin, TV Host With the Most Congenial Demeanor, Dies at 88” at The Hollywood Reporter.

Read “Olivia de Havilland, star of 'Gone With the Wind,' dies at 104” at CNN.

Read “Former GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain dies of COVID-19” at MSNBC.

Read “Malik B. – Co-Founder of The Roots – Has Died” at Relix.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Multiracial Congregations May Not Bridge Racial Divide” at NPR.

Read “Evangelical, Midwestern, Southern churches most likely to be meeting in person again” at Religion News Service. “A new survey found that 7 out of 10 Protestant churches held an in-person service last week.”

Read “Supreme Court Rejects Nevada Church’s Appeal to Reopen Like Casinos” at Christianity Today.

Read “Sex Offenders Can Find Hope in Christ But Not Necessarily a Place at Church” at Christianity Today. “Most Christians believe offenders belong at worship. Most congregations aren’t prepared to welcome them.”

Read “Coronavirus, Conspiracy Theories, and the Ninth Commandment” at French Press. “A better political theology can make us less vulnerable to lies.”

Read “Rep. Ted Yoho removed from board of Christian charity over his comments about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez” at Washington Post.

Read “Faith in protest as young people find fervor on the street” at Associated Press.

Read “For Third-Party Christians, Some Things Are More Important Than Winning” at Christianity Today.

Read “Alabama Pastor Resigns After Praying at KKK Leader’s Birthday” at Christianity Today. “The pastor and state representative also posted a photo of himself standing in front of a portrait of the first KKK Grand Wizard and surrounded by Confederate flags.” “Baptist leaders said the controversy was not good for his church.”

Legal/Justice and Social Justice and Race or Gender or Sexism-Related Stuff:

Read “Sterilization abuse of Uighurs in China meets international legal criteria for genocide, experts say” at PRI.

Read “The World’s Most Technologically Sophisticated Genocide Is Happening in Xinjiang” at Foreign Policy.

Read “Alan Yang on anti-Asian bias: We're all 'fighting the same common enemy' at MSNBC.

Read “Confronting Racial Disparities in America, From Cradle to Grave: A Reading List” at Also A Carpenter.

Read “It's Time to Admit That the Department of Homeland Security Has to Go” at Esquire.

Read “‘Empowerment’ Selfies Are Burying a Turkish Women’s Rights Campaign” at KQED.

Read “LeBron James joins push to turn out ex-felon vote in Florida” at Politico.

Read “A Rare Look Inside Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Draws Legal Threats A new documentary peers inside the secretive world of immigration enforcement. The filmmakers faced demands to delete scenes and delay broadcast until after the election” at New York Times.

Read “The late Rep. John Lewis to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol next week” at News and Guts.

Read “US sued over expulsion of migrant children detained in Hampton Inns” at AZ Central.

Read “NBA players pick social justice jersey messaging” at Axios.

Read “Permission Required to Change Your Tampon” at ACLU.

Read “Bill by Sen. Tom Cotton targets curriculum on slavery” at Arkansas Online.

Read “Santa Clara County will no longer seek death penalty, DA says” at Palo Alto Online.

Read “Tom Cotton calls slavery 'necessary evil' in attack on New York Times' 1619 Project” at The Guardian.

Read “House passes legislation to create Smithsonian Latino museum” at The Hill.

Listen to “'Rednecks For Black Lives' Urges Southerners To Fight For Racial Justice” at WBUR.

Read “America Has Been Addicted To Whiteness For 400 Years” by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove at Sojourners.

Read “The Poison of Male Incivility When a woman dares respond to it, she’s seen as “disruptive” at The Cut.

Read “Switzerland opens criminal case against FIFA boss Infantino” at Al Jazeera.

Read “Judge blocks Trump administration's "public charge" rule on immigrants during pandemic” at Axios.

Read “Republican senator deletes ad that made Jewish opponent’s nose bigger” at Forward.

Read “10 Ways Good White People Can Help Black America (If 'Good White People' Exist)” at The Root.

Read “Census Door Knocking Cut A Month Short Amid Pressure To Finish Count” at NPR. “The change increases the odds of an undercount of hard to reach groups, such as people of color.”

Read “ICE Agents Complain About Nazi Comparisons, Say They're Only Enforcing the Laws” at Newsweek. In related news,

• Read: “How the Nazi’s defense of ‘just following orders’ plays out in the mind” from PBS News Hour, originally posted in 2016.

• Read “Ex-Nazi concentration camp guard, living in U.S. since 1959, faces deportation”” at Washington Post. “Reached by phone, Berger, now 94, said he was ordered to work in the camp . . . “

This week in traitorous, white-supremacist Confederate monuments (and/or Columbus monuments // and/or other “American monuments” // and/or weird Confederacy stuff):

Read “Robert E. Lee high school in Virginia to be renamed for late Rep. John Lewis” at NBC News.

Read “Christopher Columbus statues taken down at 2 Chicago parks” at Yahoo.

Read “Virginia evicts Confederate monuments from its state Capitol” at The Black Wall Street Times.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “Protesters March for Release of Fellow Demonstrator” at Nashville Scene. “A Black Lives Matter protester who is experiencing homelessness has been held by the Davidson County Sheriff's Office for a week.”

Read “Black Lives Matter Organizer in Florida Facing Felony Charges for Snatching Flags at Pro-Trump Event” at The Root.

Read “In Portland, this rabbi leads the clergy resistance” at Religion News Service.

Read “Portland Mayor Tear-Gassed By Federal Police After Joining Crowd Of Protesters Calling For His Resignation” at Comic Sands.

See “A literal tear gas tornado in downtown Portland” on Twitter and remember, kids: Tear gas is illegal in war but legal for police . . .

Read “The Lead Federal Agency Responding to Protesters in Portland Employs Thousands of Private Contractors” at Medium. “Congress needs to shine a light on the use of private security firms, including ‘Blackwater’ legacy companies, in Trump’s response to ongoing civil rights protests.”

Read “How One of America’s Whitest Cities Became The Center of B.L.M. Protests.”

Read “'The first step': Yankees, Nationals players all kneel before national anthem in MLB opener” at USA Today.

Read “Trump Expands Deployment Of Federal Agents To End 'Explosion Of Shootings'“ at NPR.

Read “Massive Protests in Portland Continue After Judge Denies State Request for Restraining Order Against Federal Agencies” at Common Dreams.

Read “Police declare a riot at Seattle protests” at Axios.

Read “Fatal shooting at Black Lives Matter protest in Austin, Texas” at Axios.

Read “Riot Ribs to Transfer Leadership to Don't Shoot PDX” at Portland Mercury.

Read “Black armed militia demands swift decision in Breonna Taylor case” at WLKY.

See “Videos Show How Federal Officers Escalated Violence in Portland” at New York Times.

Read “Police declare riots as protests turn violent in cities nationwide; 1 demonstrator dead in Austin” at Yahoo.

Read “Philadelphia DA on federal agents: Trump is acting like an ‘authoritarian dictator’ at MSNBC. “"My dad volunteered and fought in WWII to fight fascism. I wouldn't be doing my part for this country if I didn't say the obvious: We have a president who is acting like an authoritarian dictator."

Read “Anti-fascists linked to zero murders in the US in 25 years” at The Guardian. “As Trump rails against ‘far-left’ fascism, new database shows leftwing attacks have left far fewer people dead than violence by rightwing extremists.”

Read “'Umbrella Man' was a white supremacist trying to incite George Floyd rioting” at Star Tribune.

Read “What The 'Wall Of Moms' Protests Say About Motherhood, Race In America” at NPR.

Read ‘AG Barr agrees he ‘misspoke’ about FBI arrests in Kansas City under Operation LeGend” at Kansas City.

Read ‘Portland protesters released from jail on condition they no longer attend protests” at Boing Boing.

Read “Minnesota Twins hold moment of silence for George Floyd at 8:46” at AZ Central.

Read “It’s like they’re testing it on us': Portland protesters say tear gas has caused irregularities with their periods” at Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Read “Federal Agents Will Begin Leaving Portland in a 'Phased Withdrawal,' Says Oregon's Governor” at Time.

Read “Analysts Say Armed Groups At Protests Raise Specter Of A 'Street War'“ at NPR.

Read “'It's About the Core Values of Black Lives Matter.' Portland Activists Are Trying to Remind People Why They Started Protesting to Begin With” at Time.

This Week With The Police:

Read “How the state uses “police morale” to divert from the violence inherent to policing” at Black Youth Project.

Read “NYPD admits it’s used unmarked vehicles to apprehend suspects for “decades” after “disturbing” video” at Slate.

Read “Federal encroachment on local police raises mission creep concern” at MSNBC.

Education and The Learnings:

Read “Chinese students who once set their sights on US schools now weigh other options” at PRI’s The World.

School Re-Openings:

Read “Many Arizona Grandparents Raising Grandkids Worried About Going Back To School” at KJZZ.

Read “CDC director concedes schools in ‘hot spots’ face tougher call on reopening” at Washington Post.

Read “GOP Senator Says They 'Can Kiss My A**' as Teachers, Unions Oppose School Reopenings Over COVID Concerns” at Newsweek.

Read “Ireland: Schools set to fully reopen before end of August” at BBC.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “As US passes 150,000 coronavirus deaths, experts at Johns Hopkins call for reset in national response” at CNN.

Read “Public health expert says ‘zero doubt’ most U.S. virus deaths were avoidable” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Fed chair warns path of the economy depends on path of coronavirus” at Axios.

Read “China Superspreader Gave COVID-19 to 71 People in a Single Elevator Trip” at Newsweek.

Read “A Doctor Who Specializes in Long-Term COVID-19 Effects Is Alarmed by What He Sees” at New York Magazine.

Read Fauci tells MarketWatch: I would not get on a plane or eat inside a restaurant” at Market Watch.

Read “McDonald’s to Require Face Masks in U.S. Restaurants” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “More than 60% disapprove of Ducey’s handling of pandemic, poll finds” at KTAR.

Read “Osteoporosis drug could be repurposed to fight Covid-19, say scientists” at The Telegraph.

Read “Would you like a side of glitter with that burger? Thanks to COVID-19, Houston is home to Texas’ first drive-thru strip club.” at CHRON.

Read “Fauci says family, including wife and daughters, receiving 'serious threats' at 12 News.

Read “Why casinos remain open despite experts saying gambling is a high risk activity during Arizona's COVID-19 spike” at AZ Central.'

Read “N.M. governor blasts Trump's virus response as "worst abdication" of duty” at Axios.

Read “Ex-CDC head: Total tests conducted is a "useless number" if results are delayed” at Axios.

Read ‘MLB faces its first coronavirus crisis with Marlins outbreak less than a week into season” at Washington Post.

• Read “MLB Temporarily Suspends Miami Marlins' Season After 15 Players Test Positive for COVID-19” at Time.

Read “Florida surpasses New York to become the state with the second highest number of coronavirus cases” at CNN.

Read “White House, Senate GOP race to finalize coronavirus package ahead of Monday rollout” at The Hill.

Read “Study identifies six different "types" of COVID-19” at CBS News.

Read “Reality Winner, former NSA contractor who leaked classified intelligence, contracts coronavirus” at Washington Examiner.

Read “Senate GOP coronavirus bill includes $29.4B for Pentagon” at The Hill.

Read “Senators Introduce Bill to Fund Independent Venues Struggling During COVID-19” at Rolling Stone.

See “Video compares droplet sprays when wearing different masks -- and no mask at all” at Boing Boing.

Read “Why these retail chains won't require customers to wear masks” at CNN. “they aren't introducing mask mandates because they are difficult to enforce, and they don't want to put their workers in the position of having to tell shoppers to put on facial coverings.”

Read “Pandemic Is Overwhelming U.S. Public Health Capacity In Many States. What Now?” at NPR.

Read “How Airlines Are Changing the Flying Process” at AARP.

Read “Rep. Gohmert Tests Positive for COVID-19, Cancels Trump Trip An eight-term lawmaker, Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas is often seen without wearing a mask” at Snopes.

• Watch “Kevin McCarthy accidentally calls Louie Gohmert "Congressman COVID" at Twitter.

Read “Can Masks Save Us From More Lockdowns? Here's What The Science Says” at NPR.

Read “Buddy, first dog to test positive for COVID-19 in the U.S., has died” at National Geographic.

Read “We Thought It Was Just a Respiratory Virus We were wrong” at University of California San Francisco.

Read “Retailers are canceling coronavirus hazard pay. That's a mistake” at CNN.

Read “Coronavirus pandemic pushes U.S. economy to worst-ever contraction” at Axios.

Read “How Jared Kushner’s Secret Testing Plan “Went Poof Into Thin Air” at Vanity Fair. “This spring, a team working under the president's son-in-law produced a plan for an aggressive, coordinated national COVID-19 response that could have brought the pandemic under control. So why did the White House spike it in favor of a shambolic 50-state response?” // “Most troubling of all, perhaps, was a sentiment the expert said a member of Kushner’s team expressed: that because the virus had hit blue states hardest, a national plan was unnecessary and would not make sense politically. “The political folks believed that because it was going to be relegated to Democratic states, that they could blame those governors, and that would be an effective political strategy,” said the expert.”

Read “Three-quarters of adults with COVID-19 have heart damage after recovery” at UPI.

This Week in Hydroxychloroquine News:

Read “Misleading Virus Video, Pushed by the Trumps, Spreads Online” at New York Times. “Social media companies took down the video within hours. But by then, it had already been viewed tens of millions of times.”

• Read “Trump’s New Favorite COVID Doctor Believes in Alien DNA, Demon Sperm, and Hydroxychloroquine” at Daily Beast.

• Read “Madonnna Heralds Demon Semen Doctor As “My Hero” Following Bizarre COVID-19 Presser” at Consequence of Sound.

• Read “Social media giants remove viral video with false coronavirus claims that Trump retweeted” at CNN.

• Read “Trump is retweeting complaints of censorship after Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter take down hydroxychloroquine video” at Business Insider.

• Read “No Evidence That Doctor Group in Viral Video Got Near COVID 'Front Lines' at Med Page Today.

• Read “'America's Frontline Doctors' may be real doctors, but experts say they don't know what they're talking about” at USA Today.

• Read “Who Are ‘America’s Frontline Doctors’ and Dr. Stella Immanuel?” at Snopes. “During the course of our investigation, we found a doctor who describes herself on Twitter as “God’s battle axe and weapon of war,” health care providers some of whose claimed credentials and affiliations could not be confirmed, and some questionable and outright dangerous claims regarding an unproven “cure” and preventative treatment for COVID-19.”

• Read “Fauci: Trials have "consistently" shown hydroxychloroquine is "not effective" at Axios.

• Read “Former FDA head Scott Gottlieb: "We can definitively say hydroxychloroquine doesn't work" at Axios.

• Read “Ohio Board of Pharmacy bans sale of hydroxychloroquine to treat coronavirus” at WKBN.

Miscellany Cultural Items:

Read “On Anthony Bourdain in a Tearing World” at The Millions.

Read “Culture, Claims ‘PAW Patrol’ Was Dropped, But It Wasn’t” at Deadline.

Read “Hi, my name is Karen. Embarrassed to meet you” at America Magazine.

Read “Former X-Factor Live star exposed as 'pure evil' serial rapist is jailed for life” at the Daily Record.

Read “A cyberpsychologist explains why you can't stop staring at yourself on Zoom calls (and everyone else is probably doing the same)” at Insider.

Read “Americans Aren’t Making Babies, and That’s Bad for the Economy” at Bloomberg.

Read “How America weaponizes motherhood” at Washington Post. “The experience of motherhood in America is a political question just as much as it is a question of flesh. We allow white mothers a sainthood not extended to other types of mothers.”

Read “Greta Thunberg Wins $1.15 Million Prize; Pledges to Donate All to Environmental Groups” at A Mighty Girl.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Fire at Arizona Democratic Party headquarters under investigation” at MSN.

Read “Russia satellite: Kremlin accuses US and UK of 'distorting' truth” at BBC.

Read “Twitter Finally Cracked Down on QAnon—but There’s a Catch” at Slate.

Read “Down In The Polls, Trump Pitches Fear: 'They Want To Destroy Our Suburbs' at NPR.

Read “Reagan Foundation Calls on Trump Campaign to Stop Using Ex-President’s Image to Raise Money” at Slate.

Read “Ocasio-Cortez calls for end to federal funding for military recruitment in schools” at The Hill.

Read “How Shannon Watts Says You Can Be A Mom And Advocate During Coronavirus” at Forbes.

Read “Record number of Black women are running for U.S. Congress” at NBC News.

Read “Democrats seek to shame Barr over politics at the Justice Department” at Washington Post.

Read “Biden says he will pick running mate by end of next week” at Washington Post.

Read “Trump: Republicans who oppose funding FBI building in stimulus "should go back to school" at Axios.

Read “Former President Obama to speak at Rep. John Lewis’ funeral” at News and Guts.

• Read “John Lewis’ Final Words Published” at News and Guts.

Read “Trump Tries To Appeal To 'Housewives' And White Suburbs, But His Views Seem Outdated” at NPR. “Whatever you call them, they're not in Trump's corner. Trump needs them back, and he's trying to use fear to do it.”

• Read “Trump Plays on Racist Fears of Terrorized Suburbs to Court White Voters” at New York Times.

Read “Pending Postal Service Changes Could Delay Mail And Deliveries, Advocates Warn” at NPR.

Read “AOC Introduces Measure to Stop the Military from Recruiting on Twitch” at Vice.

Read “More Than Half Of Young People Lack Resources To Vote By Mail” at NPR.

Read “Yankees surprised by Trump announcing plans to throw first pitch without invite” at The Hill.

Read “Senate adjourns without extending expiring unemployment benefits” at Axios.

Read “Postal Service backlog sparks worries that ballot delivery could be delayed in November” at Washington Post.

Read “Trump-backed postmaster general plans to slow mail delivery” at Fortune.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Trump floats delaying November election” at Axios.

• Read “2020 Election Live Updates: Republicans Reject Trump’s Suggestion to Delay Election, Something He Cannot Do” at New York Times

Read “Tax burden from the Pentagon budget authorized by the NDAA wipes out COVID stimulus payments” at Responsible StateCraft. “The new defense budget imposes a $4,711.11 cost on each tax filer. The average coronavirus stimulus check was $1,809.”

Read “White House Lies About Paw Patrol Being Cancelled While Criticizing So-Called 'Cancel Culture' for Cops” at The Root.

Read “Obese politicians signal corruption, study finds” at Eurasianet. “Post-Soviet nations with the biggest corruption problem have the biggest politicians.”

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “The Man Brian Eno Called ‘the Daddy of us all.” at New York Times.

Read “Grateful Dead, Dead & Company, Bob Weir and More To Be Featured on Rex Foundation and Jerry Garcia Family’s ‘Daze Between’ Livestream” at Relix.

Read “The Endurance of Bob Dylan’s Rough and Rowdy Ways” at Pitchfork.

Read “Marilyn Manson announces new album ‘We Are Chaos,’ shares video for title track” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Taylor Swift Has Been Working Toward ‘Folklore’ All Along” at Rolling Stone. “Her new album’s indie-folk touches fit into a career full of effortless reinvention.”

• Read “5 Takeaways From Taylor Swift’s New Album, folklore” at Pitchfork. “The superstar singer-songwriter teams up with Bon Iver and members of the National for her quiet, personal eighth album.”

• Read “Aaron Dessner Describes Keeping Taylor Swift Album Secret From His 8-Year-Old Daughter” at Stereogum.

• Read “Black-Metal Legend Ihsahn Calls Out Taylor Swift Over Album Artwork” at Consequence of Sound.

Read/Listen to “Reclaiming Boogaloo” at NPR. “Boogaloo was a music developed in the 1960s by Nuyoricans who were listening to American pop music, James Brown, Tito Puente and Machito – young folks bringing together disparate sounds and cultures to make their own. But recently, an informal network of white supremacists and other hate groups have adopted the word "boogaloo" to signify an impending race war or some other form of mass violence.”

Read “Bloodshot co-founder responds following allegations of unpaid royalties and plans to sell label” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read as Pitchfork considers “Bad Brains I Against I”. Each Sunday, Pitchfork takes an in-depth look at a significant album from the past, and any record not in our archives is eligible. Today, we revisit the hard-fought third album by the D.C. hardcore icons who played faster and better than everyone else.”

Read “Lalo Guerrero: The Forgotten Father Of Chicano Music” at Daily Chela.

Read “Rilo Kiley Will Reissue And Finally Stream Their 1999 Debut” at Stereogum. “After attending Rilo Kiley's first show, comedian Dave Foley of 'Kids In The Hall' and 'NewsRadio' funded the recording sessions for the band's 1999 debut, soon to be streaming for the first time. He recalls, "I was in a full on, pop music fan swoon."

Read “The Killers respond to allegations of sexual misconduct against band & crew members” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Amid a Racial Justice Reckoning, Pioneers of Rap, Reggae, and R&B Recount Their Struggles to Get Paid” at Pitchfork.

Read “Jerry Garcia’s “Pretzel” Guitar Resurfaces” at Relix.

Read “A Neil Young Time Capsule” at the New Yorker.

Read “Yo La Tengo announce socially distant shows at MASS MoCA, share Matmos collab” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Trent Reznor, Kamasi Washington, RZA, More Nominated for 2020 Emmys” at Pitchfork.

Read “New Orleans Musician Offers Kids Trumpets In Exchange For Their Guns” at NPR.

Browse “10 Best Quarantine Concerts Online” at New York Times.

Read ‘Pop music is getting faster (and happier)” at BBC. “The average tempo of 2020's top 20 best-selling songs is a pulse-quickening 122 beats per minute. That's the highest it's been since 2009.’

Read “Phish Lyricist Tom Marshall Hospitalized for Bacterial Blood Infection” at Jambands.

Read “Merge Records cuts ties with Ian Svenonius” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Want live music back? Wear a mask and call Congress” at Reader.

Read “Trey Anastasio Announces New Album, ‘Lonely Trip’” at Relix.

Read “MTV VMAs 2020: See The Full List of Nominees Here” at Pitchfork.

Read “Spotify CEO Daniel Ek says working musicians may no longer be able to release music only “once every three to four years” at The Fader.

Movies/TV/Etc.:

Read “Disney is remaking its classic 1973 Robin Hood film as a CGI Disney Plus exclusive” at The Verge.

Read “Wes Anderson’s New Movie The French Dispatch Pushed to 2021” at Pitchfork.

Read “Dystopian series ‘Watchmen’ leads all Emmy nominees with 26” at Associated Press.

Read “IMAX has lost $26 million due to coronavirus closures” at NME.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “Stuck in an imperial system that has outlived its promise Ross Douthat wonders what will get us beyond decadence” at Christian Century.

Design/Artsy Things:

Read “33% of U.S. museums are "not confident" they will survive next fall”

See “Design Inspiration: Bailey Elder” at Raven Sings The Blues.

Movies/TV/Etc.:

Read “Disney is remaking its classic 1973 Robin Hood film as a CGI Disney Plus exclusive” at The Verge.

Read “Universal and AMC strike historic movie distribution deal” at Axios.

Books/Reading/Authors/Podcasts:

Read “Michelle Obama to "Explore Meaningful Topics" in New Spotify Podcast Launching This Month” at Pop Sugar.

Design/Artsy Things:

Read “33% of U.S. museums are "not confident" they will survive next fall” at Axios.

Read “Is It Time to Repatriate Africa’s Looted Art?” at Foreign Policy.

Science/Animals/Technology/Environment/Etc.:

Read “No Longer in Shadows, Pentagon’s U.F.O. Unit Will Make Some Findings Public For over a decade, the program, now tucked inside the Office of Naval Intelligence, has discussed mysterious events in classified briefings” at New York Times.

Read “It’s Still Not Aliens The latest report on military study of UFOs is just as tantalizing—and unilluminating—as all the ones before” at Slate.

Read “Baboons 'carrying knives and chainsaw' spotted in safari park” at Yahoo.

Food Cultures:

Read “The 19th-Century Swill Milk Scandal That Poisoned Infants With Whiskey Runoff” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “Coca-Cola Entering Hard Seltzer Market With Topo Chico Hard Seltzer” at Paste.

Browse “The Best Burger in Every State” at The Daily Meal. What do you think of their picks?

Misc. Oddities:

Read “How to Outrun a Dinosaur” at Wired. “If, through some scientific malfunction, you found yourself transported 70 million years into the past, you might be safer from certain hungry reptiles than you think.”

Local:

The Weekly Town Crier (07/17/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (07/17/20)

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Judy Dyble 1949-2020 at DGM Live.

Read “R.I.P. Kelly Preston” at A.V. Club.

Read “Zindzi Mandela, Daughter of Nelson and Winnie Mandela, Dies at 59” at The Root.

Read “Grant Imahara, Host of 'MythBusters' and 'White Rabbit Project,' Dies at 49” at Hollywood Reporter.

Read “'The Magic School Bus' Series Author Joanna Cole Has Died” at NPR.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Moore, others ask Trump not to rescind DACA” at Baptist Press.

Read “Why Black Christians are bracing for a 'whitelash' at CNN.

Read “Andy Stanley Explains Why His Megachurch Won’t Gather on Sundays Until 2021” at Christianity Today.

Read “Re-Anarchizing Christianity Justice, The Politics of Scripture” at Political Theology Network.

Read “The Redemption of Interfaith Dialogue Three evangelicals wrestle with faithful witness in conversations with Muslims” at Christianity Today.

Read “Do I consider myself a Christian? I know one thing: there is holiness” at Christian Century.

Read “The “Purity” Hoax Elisabeth Elliot was the Evangelical sex guru because of a love story. Did it happen?” at Medium.

Read “Sudan Drops Death Penalty for Apostasy, Alcohol Ban for Christians” at Christianity Today.

Read the opinion piece “Roger Stone is saved” at Washington Post.

Read “The God of Good Manners? It’s easy to forget that God is both kingly and courteous” at Christianity Today.

Read “Finding God outside the church walls The Spirit is God’s wild card, played over and over again when old forms fail” by Barbara Brown Taylor at The Christian Century.

Read “What the Ministerial Exception Will Mean for Religious Employers” at Christianity Today.

Read “Social Justice, Critical Race Theory, Marxism, and Biblical Ethics Looking at Marxism and Critical Race Theory in light of the problem of racism in America” at Christianity Today.

Read “The church has no need to apologize for Paycheck Protection Program loans” at America Magazine.

Read “Comedian John Crist: ‘The Biggest Hypocrite Was Me’ The Christian viral video-maker is back online after confessing his “sexual sin and addiction” and seeking treatment” at Vox. “Local church leaders look to educate themselves and their congregations on racial injustice in the church and how Biblical teachings relate to the Black Lives Matter movement.”

Read “Columbia churches reflect on racial injustice and religion” at Vox. “Local church leaders look to educate themselves and their congregations on racial injustice in the church and how Biblical teachings relate to the Black Lives Matter movement.”

The Section for Considering “Justice”/Race/Social Justice/Immigration and somewhere in the middle:

Meet “Queen Nzinga, The West African Leader Who Fought Off Slave Traders” at All That’s Interesting.

Read “Young Asian American Christians Are Finding Their Voice on Racial Justice” at Christianity Today.

Read “A Liberal North Carolina Town Has Unanimously Voted to Give Its Black Residents Reparations” at The Root.

Read “Hispanic figures slam Goya Foods after CEO praises Trump” at Axios.

Read “What’s Behind Neil Gorsuch’s Stunning Win for Indigenous People” at Slate.

Read “Poetic Justice Is The Exonerated 5 Helping Paint The BLM Mural Outside Of Trump Tower” at Blavity.

Read “Green Berets add first woman to their ranks” at Axios.

Read “The 'Best of Nextdoor' Account Is Trying to Make the Site Less Racist” at Vice.

Read “ICE is offering a six-week course on how to arrest immigrants - including 'firearms and defensive training' - as critics warns they are using private citizens as their eyes and ears” at Daily Mail.

Learn about “Mary Bowser: The Former Slave Who Helped Bring Down The Confederacy” All That’s Interesting.

Read “Appeals court: 1st federal execution in 17 years can proceed” at 12 News.

Read “Redskins to retire team name Monday; new name to be revealed later” at Washington Post.

Read “George Soros' foundation to invest $220 million in racial justice efforts” at Axios.

Read “After Years of Advocacy, the House of Representatives Finally Cuts Funding to Trump’s Deportation Force” at ACLU.

This week in traitorous, white-supremacist Confederate monuments (and/or Columbus monuments // and/or other “American monuments” // and/or weird Confederacy stuff):

Read “Is the destruction of monuments a rewriting of history? Holding in tension our achievements and failures as a nation” at Christian Century.

Read “American History Is Not Canceled While Christians can’t erase the church’s slaveholding past, we can change the symbols, statues, and namesakes we celebrate” at Christianity Today.

Read “Statue of Black protester replaces toppled U.K. slave trader” at PBS News Hour.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “History Shows That Sustained, Disruptive Protests Work” at Yes!

Read “Over 600,000 Hong Kongers cast 'protest' vote against new security laws” at Reuters.

Read “Trump Dismisses Police Killing Outrage, Saying 'More White People' Killed Than Blacks” at NPR.

• Read “Trump says 'more white people' are killed by police, while studies show Black people are more likely to be killed” at AZ Central. “A Harvard analysis of deaths by police from 2013-2017 and published last month found Black men are more than three times more likely than white men to be killed by police.”

Read “Who are these federal officers sent to Portland to deal with protesters?” at KGW.

• See these “federal officers” disappear someone in Portland.

• Read “Trump Sent Cops to Portland and They're ‘Kidnapping People Off the Streets’ Camouflaged federal officers have been patrolling the streets, pulling protesters into unmarked cars and arresting them” at Vice.

• Read “Federal Law Enforcement Use Unmarked Vehicles To Grab Protesters Off Portland Streets” at Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Read “Leaked Documents Show Police Knew Far-Right Extremists Were The Real Threat At Protests, Not ‘Antifa’” at The Intercept.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Police Viewed Less Favorably, But Few Want To 'Defund' Them, Survey Finds” at NPR. “A Pew survey finds two-thirds of respondents think officers should be held legally accountable for using excessive force — but few say they would support cutting police budgets. The results were skewed by respondents' race and political persuasion.”

Read “LA Coroner Defies Sheriff, Releases Andres Guardado Autopsy Results” at Los Angeles CBS Local.

Read “Florida Cop Fired and Charged With Assault After Pointing Gun to Handcuffed Black Man’s Head for Not Giving His Name” at The Root.

Education and The Learnings:

Read “Los Angeles and San Diego Schools to Go Online-Only in The Fall California’s two largest districts made the joint call amid a White House push to get children back into classrooms” at New York Times.

Read “New York will use formula to determine if it's safe to reopen schools” at Axios.

Read “A Teenager Didn’t Do Her Online Schoolwork. So a Judge Sent Her to Juvenile Detention” at Pro Publica.

Read “Is School Safe? Will Districts Test For COVID-19? Answering Back-To-School Questions” at NPR.

Read “White House vows not to 'let the science stand in the way' of reopening schools as poll shows three-fourths of parents DON'T back Donald Trump's reopening demands” at Daily Mail.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “Merkel says pandemic reveals limits of 'fact-denying populism'.

Read “3 things the U.S. can do to stop coronavirus” at PBS.

Read “Gov. Doug Ducey says Arizona seeing signs coronavirus is flattening” at KTAR.

Read “The Toll That Isolation Takes on Kids During the Coronavirus Era” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter: "Please wear a mask to save lives" at Axios.

Read “Bill Gates calls for COVID-19 meds to go to people who need them, not 'highest bidder'“ at Reuters.

Read “How can we grieve with funerals on hold?” at The Atlantic.

Read “Dozens of Arizona bar owners suing Governor Ducey over executive order keeping bars closed” at 12 News. “Bar owners from Prescott to Phoenix to Tucson filed a lawsuit claiming that Executive Order keeping them closed isn't fair or constitutional.”

Read “CDC director: U.S. could get coronavirus "under control" in 4–8 weeks if all wear masks” at Axios.

Read “Missouri school district asks parents to sign COVID-19 ‘death’ waiver for children” at Raw Story.

Read “California orders sweeping rollback of open businesses as virus cases surge” at Axios.

Read “‘Don’t be a sheep’: Washington sheriff urges residents to defy mask order”at New York Post.

Read “New Zealand lifts all Covid restrictions, declaring the nation virus-free” at BBC.

Read “White House tells hospitals to bypass CDC on coronavirus data” at Axios.

Read “White House Strips CDC Of Data Collection Role For COVID-19 Hospitalizations” at NPR.

Read “A dangerous new chapter of the outbreak: Every state for itself” at Politico.

Read “Fauci is sidelined by the White House as he steps up blunt talk on pandemic” at Washington Post.

• Read “Fauci on who to trust amid coronavirus: "Stick with respected medical authorities" at Axios.

Read “'We Still Face Much Uncertainty': Pandemic Hammers Big Banks” at NPR.

Read “First COVID-19 vaccine tested in US poised for final testing” at Associated Press.

Read “8 world leaders demand equal access to coronavirus vaccine” at Axios.

Read “NPR Radio Ratings Collapse As Pandemic Ends Listeners' Commutes” at NPR.

Read “Why is There a Coin Shortage in the U.S.?” at Newsweek.

Read “These States’ Leaders Claim to Be ‘Pro-Life.’ So Why Are So Many of Their Citizens Dying of COVID-19?” at Time.

Miscellany:

Read “Notre Dame to be restored as closely to original structure as possible” at Axios.

Read “Record Numbers Have Lost Their Health Insurance the Moment They Need It Most” at Slate.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “The Fair Labor Standards Act: What to Know and Why the U.S. Needs New Labor Laws” at Teen Vogue.

Read “Facebook considering political ad blackout ahead of election” at Axios.

Read “Fox host's writer quits after racist and sexist online comments revealed” at The Guardian.

Read “Trump Reportedly Suggested Selling Puerto Rico After Hurricane Maria” at Slate.

Read “Trump's failing culture wars” at Axios “Google search trends for “Crooked Hillary” and “Sleepy Joe” in the U.S.”

Read “Kanye West Reportedly Drops Out Of 2020 Presidential Race” at Hot New Hip Hop.

• Read “A ‘Kanye 2020’ Committee Just Filed With the FEC, But Is It Legit? Hours after rapper’s presidential run is rumored to be over, a supposedly Wyoming-based PAC files Statement of Organization” at Rolling Stone.

• Read “Kanye West Is Maybe Still Running for President After All” at Exclaim.

Read “Hamilton, In Fiction And History, Is Key To Understanding The Electoral College” at NPR.

Read “The once-mocked ‘Never Trump’ movement becomes a sudden campaign force” at Washington Post.

Read “What Are 2019’s Tax Brackets, and Who Gets Audited the Most?” at Pro Publica.

Read “In a Death, Details of More Russian Murder-for-Hire Plots” at New York Times. “In 2006, Russia legalized the targeted killing of 'terrorist' suspects abroad under authorizations that Russian officials like to compare to the legal justifications for American drone strikes."

Read “A Senate Takeover Is Very Much A Possibility For Democrats. Just Follow The Money” at NPR.

Read “Trump administration rescinds foreign student visa guidance” at Axios.

Read “Signed, Sealed, Undelivered: Thousands Of Mail-In Ballots Rejected For Tardiness” at NPR.

Read “'It was only done to make me look bad': Trump denounces border wall section funded by supporters” at AZ Central.

Read “Biden unveils $2 trillion clean energy and infrastructure plan” at Axios.

Read “South Dakota Is Sharing Driver's License Info To Help Find Out Who's A Citizen” at NPR.

Read “Jeff Sessions loses Alabama Senate primary runoff” at Axios.

Read “Pelosi calls for Trump to invoke Defense Production Act” at PBS News Hour.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Trump commutes Roger Stone's sentence” at Axios.”President Trump has commuted the sentence of his longtime associate Roger Stone. Stone was sentenced in February to 40 months in prison for crimes including obstruction, witness tampering and making false statements to Congress.”

Read “Schiff: Trump commuting Stone an appalling attack on rule of law” at MSNBC

Read “Robert Mueller speaks out on Roger Stone commutation” at Axios.

Read “The Roger Stone Case Shows Why Trump Is Worse Than Nixon” at New Yorker.

Read “Roger Stone Clemency Latest Example Of Trump Rewarding His Friends, Scholars Say” at NPR.

Read “President Trump has made more than 20,000 false or misleading claims” at Washington Post.

Read “Kansas Rep. Steve Watkins charged with voter fraud” at Axios.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “The Revolution Will Be TikTok’d” at Pitchfork.

Read “Blues Singer Lady A: ‘I Should Not Have to Bend to Band’s Will Because They’ve Got Money’” at Rolling Stone.

• Read “Lady A Explains Why Co-Existence With Country Band Will Not Work: “Lady Antebellum Has Erased Me From Every Platform” at Stereogum.

Read “The Many Electronic Surprises To Be Found In The Nation's Vast Archive Of Folk Music” at NPR.

Read “Jerry Garcia’s Army Record Uncovered, Describing the Guitarist as “Willfully Disobedient,” An “Irresponsible, Immature” Soldier” at Relix.

Read “Bob Geldof Reflects On Live Aid, 35 Years Later” at NPR.

Read “Billy Martin Discusses Unorthodox Route To New Album, ‘G U I L T Y’” at Live For Live Music.

Read “Canadian Vinyl Sales Are Down in 2020 — and It's Not Just Because of COVID-19” at Exclaim.

Read “How Avant-Garde Legend Cecil Taylor Inspired Idris Ackamoor’s Psychedelic Jazz” at Bandcamp.

Read “Arcade Fire’s Will Butler Announces New Album Generations, Shares Song” at Pitchfork.

Read “Oumou Sangaré Proves Why She's the Songbird of Wassoulou” at Okay Africa.

Read “Nike Confirms Grateful Dead Sneaker Collaboration, Sets Release Date” at Jambands.

Read “A Band Like Us Doesn’t Have Deep Pockets”: Galactic’s Robert Mercurio Explains Uncertain Future of NOLA’s Famed Tipitina’s Club” at Jambands.

Read “An interview with Ian Curtis | Fully transcribed for the first time—Says he’s a fan of Bauhaus” at Post-Punk.

Read “Vinyl Nick Cave figure with a glowing red right hand is being released” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Movies/TV/Etc.:

Read “Robert De Niro's Lawyer Says He "Will Be Lucky If He Makes $7.5 Million This Year" at Exclaim.

Read “Richard Linklater's making an animated movie about the moon landing for Netflix” at AV Club.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “Flannery O’Connor’s Grotesque Grace” by Karen Swallow Prior at Think Christian.

Design/Artsy Things:

Watch “Banksy paint COVID-19 art on London Underground system” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Science/Animals/Technology/

Books/Reading/Authors

Design/Artsy Things:

Science/Animals/Technology/Environment/Etc.:

Food Cultures:

Read “A Pirate Botanist Helped Bring Hot Chocolate to England” at Gastro Obscura.

Read “The Lost Art of Growing Blueberries With Fire” at Gastro Obscura.

Misc. Oddities:

Read “FAA Documents Offer Unprecedented Look Into Colorado Drone Mystery Hundreds of pages of documents provide consistent detailed descriptions of the drones and conclude the military wasn't behind the operation” at The Drive.

Read “Inside Lenin’s Mausoleum And The Best-Preserved Corpse On Earth” at All That’s Interesting.

Local:

Read “This Underground Hike In Arizona Will Take You Through A Lava Tube” at When In Your State.

Read “Arizona Minimum Wage Earners Would Need To Work 70 Hours A Week To Afford Housing” at KJZZ. “To afford a two-bedroom home, Arizonans now need to earn at least $21.10 per hour. That’s up more than $1.50 from last year.”

The Weekly Town Crier (07/03/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (07/03/20).

Read ‘Milton Glaser, Master Designer of ‘I ♥ NY’ Logo, Is Dead at 91” at New York Times.

Read “Marc Orleans of Sunburned Hand of the Man Has Died” at Pitchfork.

Read “Carl Reiner, longtime comedy legend, dies at 98” at CNN.

Read “Controversy and Coronavirus Keep Church Plants Out of Schools” at Christianity Today.

Read “I’m Not Hateful, You Are Judge me? You don’t even know me!” by David French at The Dispatch.

Read “Israel Orders Christian TV Channel to Stop Broadcasting GOD TV argues application for new Shelanu channel in Hebrew was forthright, decries decision as political” at Christianity Today.

Read “This is a moment of reckoning on race for White Christians” at CNN.

Read “Will International Religious Freedom Survive the Trump Administration? The president’s executive order elevates its priority in US foreign policy. Nine experts assess the strategy’s longevity” at Christianity Today.

Read “White Supremacist Ideas Have Historical Roots In U.S. Christianity” at NPR.

Read “Black Lives Matter in the Bible From Genesis to Revelation, racism runs counter to everything Scripture teaches” at Christianity Today.

Read “White, Black, and Blue: Christians Disagree Over Policing Black Christians overwhelmingly say police treatment is biased against them. Why don’t white evangelicals believe them?” at Christianity Today.

Read “87 Percent of Practicing Christians See the U.S. as a Leader to the World” at Barna.

Read “Supreme Court Dismisses State Ban on Public Funding for Religious Schools” at Christianity Today.

• Read “Taxpayers Shouldn’t Have to Fund Religious Education: How Today’s Supreme Court Decision Further Erodes the Separation of Church and State” at ACLU.

Read “Pastors Worry About Patriotism But Still Favor July 4th Displays”at Facts and Trends. “53% of Protestant pastors say their congregation sometimes seems to love America more than God.”

• Read Mark Noll on “Christian Patriotism” for Christianity Today in 1986. “Is This Land God’s Land?”

Read “Researcher: Most Evangelicals Support Women in Church Leadership” at Christianity Today.

Read “Why Evangelicals Support Trump—and Why They Shouldn’t Worry about ‘Christianophobia’ is understandable. But Trump is no true ally—and his immorality, race-baiting, and sexism give his Christian supporters a bad name” at The Bulwark.

Learn about “The Sand Creek Massacre: When U.S. Forces Slaughtered As Many As 200 Unsuspecting Native Americans” at All That’s Interesting.

Read “CBP Is Using Pandemic As Cover For Deportations, Advocates Say” at Sojourners.

Read “Trump Retweets Video Of Apparent Supporter Saying 'White Power' at NPR.

• Read “'Indefensible': Trump slammed for sharing video where supporter yells 'white power' at protesters” at AZ Central.

• Read “It Took 3 Hours to Delete the President’s ‘White Power’ Tweet Because No One Could Reach Him. He Was Out Golfing...During a Pandemic” at The Root.

• Browse “How Trump talks about race” at PBS.

• Read “Black Lives Matter mural in front of Trump Tower a 'symbol of hate,' Trump tweets” at 12 News.

Read “US soldier accused of sending information to neo-Nazi group as part of plot to attack his unit” at The Hill.

Read “Disguised Sacha Baron Cohen Crashes Far-Right Rally With “Inject Obama With The Wuhan Flu” Sing-Along” at Stereogum.

Read “Hair weaves from Chinese prison camps seized” at AP.

Read “3 States Abruptly Make Protesting Fossil Fuel Pipelines a Felony” at Green Matters.

Read “We have been through this before.’ Why anti-Asian hate crimes are rising amid coronavirus” at PBS News Hour.

• Read “Asian American churches hold march through Chinatown, calling for unity with Black communities” at Chicago Sun Times.

Read “Why We Never Talk About Black-on-Black Crime: An Answer to White America’s Most Pressing Question” at The Root.

Read “Mike Pence explains why he refuses to say "Black lives matter" at Axios. “Vice President Mike Pence told CBS that he won't say the words "Black lives matter" because he believes the leadership of the BLM movement is pushing a "radical-left agenda."

• Read "Trump: Painting 'Black Lives Matter' On 5th Avenue Would Be 'Symbol Of Hate' at NPR.

• Read “'Black Lives Matter' to be painted on NBA courts” at 5 News Online.

George Floyd:

• Read “New Jersey Corrections Officer Seen Mocking George Floyd's Death on Track to be Fired” at The Root.

Elijah McClain:

• Read “Cops in Riot Gear Stormed a Violin Vigil for Elijah McClain” at The Cut.

• Read “Colorado Police Officers Under Investigation For Photos At Elijah McClain Memorial” at NPR.

This Week In Protest News:

• Read “On Stonewall anniversary, the NYPD launched a brutal unprovoked attack on LGBTQ people As Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted about honoring Stonewall, the NYPD was unleashing pepper spray on LGBTQ people dancing in celebration” at LGBTQ Nation.

• Read “Couple points guns at protesters marching to call for St. Louis mayor to resign” at 12 News.

• Read “Troops were issued bayonets in DC unrest” at Associated Press.

This week in traitorous, white-supremacist Confederate monuments (and/or Columbus monuments // and/or other “American monuments” // and/or weird Confederacy stuff):

• Read “Native Americans protesting Trump July 3 trip to Mount Rushmore Many Indigenous American activists say the Rushmore memorial is as reprehensible as the many Confederate monuments being toppled around the nation” at 12 News.

• Read “Meet The Confederados, The Confederate Loyalists Who Fled To Brazil After The Civil War” at All That’s Interesting.

• Read “Mississippi lawmakers vote to remove rebel emblem from flag” at Fox 4 News.

• Read “Mississippi governor signs bill into law removing Confederate symbol from state flag” at NBC News.

• Read “Trump’s Message to African-Americans Unhappy With Monuments to Slave Owners: ‘You Have to Learn’ History” at Media-Ite.

• Read “Boston to remove statue of slave kneeling before Lincoln” at Associated Press.

• Read “Homeland Security sets up task force to protect monuments, statues” at 12 News.

• Read “President Trump says he'll veto defense bill to keep Confederate base names” at 12 News.

• Read “Columbus, Ohio, Takes Down Statue Of Christopher Columbus” at NPR

• Read “Some Arizona Veterans Call On Ducey To Remove Confederate Monument.”

Read “Read "Three Words. 70 Cases. The Tragic History of ‘I Can’t Breathe.’ The deaths of Eric Garner in New York and George Floyd in Minnesota created national outrage over the use of deadly police restraints at New York Times.

This Week With The Police:

• Read “House approves sweeping police reform package that would ban chokeholds, end qualified immunity after George Floyd death at AZ Central.

• Read "City Council OKs charter amendment to remove Minneapolis Police Department. “The Minneapolis City Council on Friday unanimously approved a proposed amendment would remove requirements for the city to maintain a police department from the city’s charter. The 12-0 vote is step toward putting the issue in front of Minneapolis voters on the November ballot.”

• Read “Miami Cop Arrested And Charged After Tasing A Pregnant Woman On Her Stomach And Lying On The Police Report” at Blavity.

• Read/Watch “How the Philadelphia Police Tear-Gassed a Group of Trapped Protesters” at New York Times.

• Read “Landlords Use Police to Stop Tenants From Organizing” at Jacobin Magazine.

• Read “Police Unions: What to Know and Why They Don’t Belong in the Labor Movement” at Teen Vogue.

• Watch “How Cop Shows Lie to You | The Daily Social Distancing Show” by Trevor Noah at Youtube.

• Read “Two San Jose School Districts End Contracts with Local Police” at San Jose Inside.

• Read “ACLU of Oregon files class-action suit against PPB, city” at KOIN.

• Read “Philadelphia officials announce moratorium on tear gas following NYT investigation” at The Hill.

• See an interactive map of police violence in the United States. So far, “Police have killed 576 people in 2020.”

• Read “Hoover police officer fired over Facebook photo of protester in crosshairs” at Al.com

• Read “‘We are just gonna go out and start slaughtering them’: Three cops fired after racist talk of killing black residents” at Washington Post.

• Read “L.A. council advances plan to replace LAPD officers with social workers on non-violent police calls” at KTLA.

• Read “L.A. cuts LAPD spending, taking police staffing to its lowest level in 12 years” at Los Angeles Times.

• Read “Congress Urged to Repeal Program That Transfers 'Weapons of War' to Local Police” at Common Dreams.

Read “NFL to play Black anthem before national anthem” at Associated Press.

Read “Was It All for This? The Failure of the Conservative Legal Movement” at The Public Discourse.

• Read “Supreme Court strikes down restrictive Louisiana abortion law that would have closed clinics” at Washington Post.

• Visit “The Louisiana Clinic At The Center Of Abortion Case Before Supreme Court” with NPR.

• Read “Have Pro-Lifers Lost the Supreme Court Fight? What's ahead for abortion opponents after another frustrating decision” at Christianity Today.

Read ““Reality” is constructed by your brain. Here’s what that means, and why it matters. What the science of visual illusions can teach us about our polarized world” at Vox.

Weekly Coronavirus Roundup

• Read “Scottsdale nightclub Riot House charged for failing to enforce social distancing, mask requirements Several other Old Town Scottsdale businesses are under investigation and may be charged for similar violations, a Scottsdale police spokesman said” at AZ Central.

• Read “How Arizona ‘lost control of the epidemic’” at Washington Post.

  • Read “Inside the COVID-19 ICU: Valley nurses share what they see as cases rise in Arizona” at 12 News.

  • Read “Tempe mayor-elect tests positive for coronavirus” at 12 News.

• Read “If president, Biden would make Americans wear face coverings in public during pandemic The presumptive Democratic nominee's comments came amid a surge of coronavirus cases in several states” at 12 News.

• Read “CDC says coronavirus cases in U.S. may be 10 times higher than reported” at MSNBC.

• Read “Judge Orders ICE To Free Detained Immigrant Children Because Of COVID-19” at NPR.

• Read “In Mexico City, the Coronavirus Is Bringing Back Aztec-Era ‘Floating Gardens’” at Atlas Obscura.

• Read “Parties — Not Protests — Are Causing Spikes In Coronavirus” at NPR.

  • Read “Black Lives Matter protests have not led to a spike in coronavirus cases, research says’ at CNN.

  • Read “Little Evidence That George Floyd Protests Spread Coronavirus in U.S., Experts Say” at ABC7.

  • Read “Why researchers say protests have not contributed to rise in COVID-19 cases” at 12 News.

• Read “Workers removed thousands of social distancing stickers before Trump’s Tulsa rally, according to video and a person familiar with the set-up” at Washington Post.

• Read “Revived Mount Rushmore Fireworks Will Feature Trump But No Social Distancing” at NPR.

• Read “This chart shows the link between restaurant spending and new cases of coronavirus” at CNBC.

• Read “Tennessee Concert Attracts Packed Crowd With No Masks Or Social Distancing” at Stereogum.

  • Read “Festival organizer defends packed, maskless crowd at Chris Janson show” at Brooklyn Vegan.

  • Read “The Pandemic Is Still Killing People. Why Is Country Music Putting on Concerts?” at Rolling Stone.

  • Read “Chase Rice responds to criticism over his TN show with packed, maskless crowd” at Brooklyn Vegan.

  • Read “Jason Isbell Blasts Chase Rice & Other “Country Stars”: “Some Are So Broke They’ve Decided To Do Shows This Weekend” at Whiskey Riff.

  • Read “Vanilla Ice Cancels 4th of July Concert: “I Didn’t Know the Numbers Were So Crazy!” at Consequence of Sound.

• Read “Global coronavirus death toll exceeds 500,000” at Axios.

• Read “Fake News and the Politicization Of Science Could Cost Lives” at Sojourners.

• Read “U.S. Pediatricians Call For In-Person School This Fall” at NPR.

• Read “Poll: 30% of Americans say they trust Trump to get facts right on coronavirus” at Axios.

• Read “Kansas becomes latest state to make wearing masks in public mandatory” at Axios.

• Read “Sen. McConnell Says Americans Must Have 'No Stigma' In Wearing Face Masks” at NPR.

• Read “Fauci warns U.S. could see 100,000 new coronavirus cases per day” at Axios.

• Read “Goldman Sachs says a national mask mandate could slash infections and save economy from a 5% hit” at CNBC.

• Read “South Dakota governor: "We will not be social distancing" at July 3 event with Trump” at Axios. "We will have a large event on July 3. We told those folks that have concerns that they can stay home, but those who want to come and join us, we'll be giving out free face masks, if they choose to wear one. But we won't be social distancing."

• Read “European Union formally bars U.S. travelers due to coronavirus threat” at MSNBC.

• Read “CDC expert warns U.S. has "way too much virus" to contain outbreak” at Axios.

• Read “Model Predicts Tens of Thousands of Lives Could be Saved if Almost Everyone Uses Masks” at US News.

• Read “Young people of color more likely to be hospitalized for coronavirus” at Axios.

• Read “Florida is "not going back" on reopening, governor says” at Axios.

• Read “Coronavirus ‘Incarnates’ Biblical Teachings in French Evangelical Leader President of CNEF and COVID-19 survivor explains his renewed confidence to defend the faith and French evangelical churches, as well as why his mother now calls him “Lazarus” at Christianity Today.

• Read “A's join Giants and offer MLB fans option to buy cardboard cutouts of themselves for empty stadiums” at CBS Sports.

• Read “Army Halts SERE Course after 90 Students Test Positive for Coronavirus” at Military.

• Read “The US Public Paid to Develop This COVID-19 Drug. It Will Cost $3,000 a Dose” at Jacobin Magazine.

• Read “This fall, going back to school will be a luxury few families can afford” at The Gazette.

• Read “Texas governor mandates face masks in public spaces” at Axios.

• Read “White House to 'seriously consider' second stimulus check, Treasury Secretary says” at 12 News.

• Read “The gift of nurturing small things during isolation” at Christian Century.

• Read “More than 40 Bay Area school principals exposed to coronavirus during in-person meeting” at San Fransisco Chronicle.

• Read “Closing bars to stop coronavirus spread is backed by science” at Associated Press.

Read “Attorney General Barr Says DOJ Acts Independent Of Trump's Interests” at NPR.

Read “Atlanta Hawks Arena To Host Voting Site, Team Challenges Rest Of NBA To Follow” at NPR.

Read “Oklahoma Votes For Medicaid Expansion Over Objections Of Republican State Leaders” at NPR.

Read “Judges rule Donald Trump CANNOT use $2.5 billion in military cash to build his border wall - days after he signed a new section” at Daily Mail.

• Read “Appeals court rules funding for Trump border wall construction ‘unlawful’” at NBC News.

Read “Trump’s Latest Comments About Blacks Thanking Him for His ‘Law and Order’ Approach Is Right Out of the Slave Master’s Playbook” at The Root.

Read “Trump renews vow on preexisting conditions after urging court to overturn ObamaCare” at The HIll.

Read “Spies and Commandos Warned Months Ago of Russian Bounties on U.S. Troops The recovery of large amounts of American cash at a Taliban outpost in Afghanistan helped tip off U.S. officials” “Spies and Commandos Warned Months Ago of Russian Bounties on U.S. Troops The recovery of large amounts of American cash at a Taliban outpost in Afghanistan helped tip off U.S. officials” New York Times

• Read “Russian spy unit paid Taliban to attack US troops, US intelligence says It couldn’t be determined whether Russian bounties paid to Taliban fighters resulted in any American combat deaths in Afghanistan” at Fox News.

• Read “Top Republican demands answers from White House over reports of Russian bounties” at Axios.

• Read “GOP senator demands accountability over reports of Russian bounties on U.S. troops” at Axios.

• Read “White House briefs Republicans on Russian bounties Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are calling for all lawmakers to be briefed, not just GOP members” at Politico.

• Read “AP sources: White House aware of Russian bounties in 2019” at Associated Press.

• Read "President Trump tweets that Russia bounty allegations are 'Fake News'“ at 12 News.

• Read “Top Democrat introduces amendment to sanction Putin for alleged Russian bounties” at News Break.

Read “Russians back reforms that could let Putin rule through 2036, officials say” at Axios.

Read “Veterans Group Accuses Donald Trump Of Acting Like A Traitor” at News and Guts.

Read “House approves statehood for DC in 232-180 vote” at The Hill.

Read “Tribes, environmentalists sue to stop rollback of Clean Water Act protections” at AZ Central.

Read “r/The_Donald banned from Reddit as Trump suspended from Twitch” at Brooklyn Vegan.

• Read “Reddit Bans The_Donald, Forum Of Nearly 800,000 Trump Fans, Over Abusive Posts” at NPR.

Read “From pandering to Putin to abusing allies and ignoring his own advisers, Trump’s phone calls alarm US officials” at CNN.

Read “Amy McGrath wins Kentucky Democratic Senate primary” at Axios.

Read “Colorado Supreme Court upholds state’s ban on large-capacity gun magazines State’s prohibition on magazines that hold more than 15 rounds adopted after Aurora theater shooting” at Denver Post.

Read “Biden calls on Trump to wear a mask, limit rallies amid coronavirus surge” at Axios. "The crisis is real and it’s surging, Mr. President. America knows that this crisis isn’t behind us, even if you don’t."

• Read “Hundreds Of Former Bush Officials Unite To Endorse Joe Biden” at NPR.

• Read “Biden Faces Pressure To Pick A Black Running Mate. But Warren Remains A Top Contender” at NPR.

Read “McConnell warns Democrats not to change filibuster rule” at The Hill.

Read “Judge temporarily blocks publication of tell-all book by Trump's niece” at Axios.

Read “AOC’s brand was groundbreaking. Now it’s inspiring copycats around the world” at Fast Company.

Read “GOP Candidates Open To QAnon Conspiracy Theory Advance In Congressional Races” at NPR.

Read “A 10% cut to the US military budget would help support struggling American” by Bernie Sanders at The Guardian.

Read “Wave Of Young Judges Pushed By McConnell Will Be 'Ruling For Decades To Come' at NPR.

Read “Starbucks stops advertising on ALL social media while Pepsi joins the growing list of companies boycotting Facebook as pressure grows on sites to crack down on 'hate speech'“ at Daily Mail.

Read “Zuckerberg Loses $7 Billion as Firms Boycott Facebook Ads” at Bloomberg.

• Read “Mark Zuckerberg reportedly said Facebook is 'not gonna change' in response to a boycott by more than 500 advertisers over the company's hate-speech policies” at Business Insider.

Read “The Indebted Dead Tracing the history of the Grateful Dead folktale and the evolving obligations of being alive” at Lapham’s Quarterly.

Read “The cost of giving birth in America is now more than an average month’s salary” at Motherly.

Half-year-end Half-lists:

• Browse “The 33 Best Albums of 2020 So Far” at Treble.

• Browse “The Best Of 2020 – Halftime Report A list of 72 Albums we've enjoyed from January to June” at Uncut.

• Browse “Exclaim!'s 33 Best Albums of 2020 So Far”.

• Browse “NPR Music's 25 Favorite Albums Of 2020 (So Far)” at NPR.

• Browse “Post-Trash's Best of 2020: A Mid-Year Report”.

• Browse “The 50 Best Albums of 2020 So Far” at PopMatters.

Read “Trey Anastasio on the Power of Live” at Relix.

Read “Dean Wareham interviews Pete Kember, aka Sonic Boom The Luna/Galaxie 500 singer chats with his old friend, Sonic Boom of Spacemen 3 and Spectrum” at Talk House.

Read “Sufjan Stevens Announces New Solo Album 'The Ascension'“ at NPR.

Read “New True Crime Podcast to Explore Deaths and Disappearances of Deadheads” at Jambands.

Read “With New Albums, Bob Dylan, Neil Young And Willie Nelson Are As Relevant As Ever” at NPR.

Read “Rolling Stones Threaten Trump With Lawsuit Over Rally Music “This could be the last time Trump uses any Jagger/ Richards songs on his campaigns,” band’s rep says” at Rolling Stone.

Browse “The 50 Greatest Bassists of All Time From funk masters to prog prodigies and beyond, we count down the players who have shaped our idea of the low-end theory” at Rolling Stone.

Browse “40 Years of Experimental Dub Label On-U Sound Records: Nine Essential LPs” at Bandcamp.

Read “John Prine Named Illinois’ First Honorary Poet Laureate” at PItchfork.

Read ‘Roland and Korg fined £5.5 million” for price fixing at Wire.

Read “Back-stabbing, bullying, busking: how The Clash disintegrated” at Louder Sound.

Read “One Eleven Heavy interview” at It’s Psychedelic, Baby. “Transatlantic psychedelic rock resurrecting the joyful, altered reminiscence of the first wave of Cosmic American Music.

Read “Radio Is Quietly Scrubbing the Word ‘Urban,’ Sources Say Insiders say radio giant iHeartMedia and radio analytics company Mediabase are poised to remove the word, which has been controversial in industry-wide discussions around systemic racism” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Ford-Wyoming Drive-In was top-grossing movie theater in nation over weekend” at Freep.

Read “Beavis and Butt-Head Are Returning With New Episodes Mike Judge is resurrecting his beloved Gen X cartoon as part of a new deal with Comedy Central” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Drawing on Walls: An Wondrous Illustrated Homage to Keith Haring, His Irrepressible Art of Hope, and His Beautiful Bond with Children” at Brain Pickings.

Read “The Origins of Warhol’s Brillo Boxes” at Warholiana.

Browse “5 Best Routes for a Cross-Country Road Trip” at The Discoverer.

Read “Arizona reps. Debbie Lesko, Paul Gosar push for Peoria to be home base of Space Force” at 12 News.

The Weekly Town Crier (06/26/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (06/26/20).

Read “Complementarians in Closed Rooms Aimee Byrd, Beth Moore, and private words that reveal a pressing problem” at Christianity Today. “When we see the words of some complementarians outed from a Facebook group, it reminds us we all have a responsibility to root out misogyny.” (EDITOR’S NOTE: What is the difference between Complementarianism and Patriarchy?)

Read “Leaving Liberty After a decade of declining black enrollment on campus, a tweet set off several recent departures among black students and staff” at Christianity Today.

• Read “I Suppressed So Much of My Humanity in Being Here” What it’s like to be black at Liberty University” at Slate.

Read “Why are so many white Christians suddenly standing up for racial justice? It might help that our pews aren’t available to sit in and pray” at Christian Century.

Read “Dozens of Christian College Faculty Eliminated in Spring Budget Cuts” at Christianity Today.

Read “In an interview with EWTN, Trump hails ‘tremendous letter of support from the Catholic Church’” at America Magazine.

Read “The ‘Over There’ Era of Missions Is Over Nowadays, the Western church needs to send ambassadors to its own culture” at Christianity Today.

Read “We reversed Trump’s immigration policy once. We’re back to fight ‘Remain in Mexico.’ at Religion News Service.

Read “Black Practicing Christians Are Twice as Likely as Their White Peers to See a Race Problem” at Barna.

Read “Brazil’s massive replica of the Temple of Solomon The Pentecostals of the Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus have a mighty vision” at Christian Central.

Read “Did Race and Racism Exist in the Middle Ages?” at Not Even Past.

Read “Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben deserve retirement. They're racist myths of happy Black servitude. The mascots were intended to let white consumers indulge in a fantasy of enslaved people as submissive, self-effacing, loyal and contentedly pacified” at NBC News.

Read “Fact check: Father of modern gynecology performed experiments on enslaved Black women” at USA Today.

Read “Who Wrote ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’? Inside The Little-Known True Story” at All That’s Interesting.

• Read “Tulsa Athletic to no longer play “The Star-Spangled Banner” at The Black Wall Street Times. “Tulsa Athletic, an American soccer team based in Tulsa and part of the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL), announces the club will no longer play the “The Star-Spangled Banner” and will play a new song of that's more inclusive and representative of today's America, “This Land Is Your Land” by Woody Guthrie, at all home matches.”

• Read “Pro Softball Players Quit After Manager Brags To Trump About Her Team Standing For The National Anthem” at PercoLately.

Read “Why some people are willing to challenge behavior they see as wrong despite personal risk” at PBS. “Psychologists describe those who are willing to defend their principles in the face of potentially negative social consequences such as disapproval, ostracism and career setbacks as “moral rebels.”

Read “Never Forget, America’s Mass Lynching: 237 Black Sharecroppers Were Murdered In Arkansas” at Black Westchester.

Read “'World should know what is happening' to children in ICE detention: Mother testifies "It is painful for me to relive this experience and remember that suffering." at ABC News.

Read “We still don’t know just how much was lost in the Tulsa massacre of 1921” at QZ.

Read “The History of Racism Is Not Past” at Sojourners.

Read “'Black Lives Matter' is About More than the Police” at ACLU.

Read “A Call For Reparations: How America Might Narrow The Racial Wealth Gap” at NPR.

Juneteenth:

• Read “Why Juneteenth is a holiday every American should celebrate” at Denison Forum.

• Read “On Juneteenth, look to the biblical prophets and the Black Lives Matter movement” at America Magazine.

• Read “Juneteenth and the Meaning of Freedom Emancipation is a marker of progress for white Americans, not black ones” at New Yorker.

• Read “Honoring the 'Mother of Juneteenth' in Portland, Clara Peoples” at KGW.

• Read “Senators propose bill to make Juneteenth a federal holiday Juneteenth is currently recognized by 47 states and the District of Columbia as a state holiday or observance” at NBC News.

Read “How Did We Get Here? 163 years of The Atlantic’s writing on race and racism in America” at The Atlantic.

Read/Listen to “'An Extraordinary Moment': Angela Davis Says Protests Recognize Long Overdue Anti-Racist Work” at WBUR.

Read “Black Lives Matter is inspiring demonstrations all over Latin America” at America Magazine.

Read “13 Microaggressions Black People Deal With All The Time” at Huff Post.

Read “Bubba Wallace responds after FBI says noose found in stall there as early as Oct. 2019” at 12 News. “"The image that I have, that I have seen hanging from my garage is not a garage pull," Bubba Wallace said in an interview with CNN. "From the evidence that we have, that I have, it's a straight-up noose."

Read “High court justices press attorneys over high-capacity magazine ban” at VT Digger.

Read “Mark Taylor: Black men are hanging themselves to start ‘civil war’ that will stop Trump’s reelection” at Dead State.

Read “Antisemitic incidents in Colorado continue to rise as attacks against American Jews reach all-time highs, new report shows” at MSN.

Read “Supreme Court blocks Trump from ending DACA in big win for Dreamers” at NBC News.

Read “NASA names headquarters after first Black female engineer Mary W. Jackson” at Axios.

Read “The US Government Kills Black People with Impunity Both at Home and Abroad” at The Nation.

Read “U.S. Soldier Charged With Plotting to Let Neo-Nazis Ambush Read “NASA names headquarters after first Black female engineer Mary W. JacksonHis Army Unit” at Time.

Read “Tennessee Tennessee Republicans approve six-week abortion ban in surprise vote Ban beginning at six weeks, which is before most women know they are pregnant, is blatantly unconstitutional” at The Guardian.

Read “Looking for black-owned restaurants in Arizona? Here are more than 50 around metro Phoenix” at AZ Central.

Read “What We Know About the Killing of Elijah McClain” at The Cut.

Ahmaud Arbery:

• Read “Ahmaud Arbery murder suspects indicted on murder charges” at Axios.

George Floyd:

• Read “Opinion Why Did Cup Foods Call the Cops on George Floyd?” at New York Times.

• Read "Scottsdale Councilman Apologizes to George Floyd's Family for Mocking 'I Can't Breathe' at Phoenix New Times.

Breonna Taylor:

• Read “One of the officers involved in the shooting of Breonna Taylor is being fired, Louisville mayor says Interim Police Chief Robert Schroeder calls actions of Brett Hankison a "shock to the conscience" at Salon.

• Read “Mayor Fischer announces initiation of termination procedures against LMPD Officer Brett Hankison” at LouisvilleKY.gov.

This week in traitorous, white-supremacist Confederate monuments (and/or Columbus monuments):

• Read “SEC tells Mississippi it has to change its flag, or risk losing host rights for championship events” at CBS News.

• Read “Mayor Fischer announces initiation of termination procedures against LMPD Officer Brett Hankison” at LouisvilleKY.gov.

• Read/Listen to “Confederate Monuments Continue To Come Down In Racial Justice Protests” at WBUR.

• Read “Washington, D.C.'s only Confederate statue sacked during protest” at Axios.

• Read “Confederate Speaker Portraits To Be Removed From The U.S. Capitol On Juneteenth” at NPR.

• Read “President Trump tries to tie statue destruction to Democrats” at 12 News.

  • Read “President Trump says 'learn from history' instead of removing statues President Trump spoke out after an attempt Monday night to bring down a statue near the White House of Andrew Jackson, one of Trump's favorite presidents” at 12 News.

  • Read “President Trump threatens anyone destroying statues could face 10 years in prison” at 12 News. “President Trump said he's 'authorized' the arrest of anyone 'who vandalizes or destroys' monuments or statues.”

    • Read "Twitter flags ANOTHER Donald Trump tweet for 'abusive language' after he threatened protesters trying to topple Andrew Jackson statute outside the White House with 'serious force' at The Daily Mail.

• Read “'I did the right thing:' Man arrested on suspicion of painting Arizona Confederate memorial speaks out” at AZ Central.

• Read “We need to do more than topple (some) statues” at America Magazine.

• Read “Miss. Baptists ask for removal of Confederate symbol from state flag” at Kentucky Today.

  • Read “Walmart bans Mississippi state flag due to Confederate symbol” at Axios.

• Read “Minnesotans Petition To Replace St. Paul’s Columbus Statue With A Prince Monument” at Live For Live Music.

• Read “Slavery advocate’s statue removed in South Carolina” at PBS News Hour.

• Read “Dixie Chicks Change Name to The Chicks” at Pitchfork.

This Week in Protest News:

• Read “Armed Vigilantes Antagonizing Protestors Have Received A Warm Reception From Police” at The Intercept.

• Read “Phoenix church leads 'White Silence is Violence' march” at 12 News.

• Read “Over 3,500 people take part in Tokyo’s first official Black Lives Matter march” at Time Out.

• Read “Police Turned Richmond, Virginia Into a War Zone Last Night” at Vice.

• Read “Chicago Police Illegally Denied Protesters Right To Attorney, Phone Call, Top Public Defender Says” at Block Club Chicago.

• Read “Police shoot flash-bang grenades, pepper balls at protesters outside Phoenix Trump rally” at AZ Central.

This Week With the Police:

• Read “NYC's 1975 Nightmarish Cop Propaganda Pamphlet” at Cracked.

• Read “Nextdoor Ends Its Program for Forwarding Suspicions to Police” at Bloomberg. “Forward to Police,” one of several Nextdoor programs to strengthen law enforcement relations, has been criticized for elevating racial profiling.

• Read “Hundreds of Police Officers Belong to Racist Facebook Groups” at The Root.

• Read “The ‘Warrior Cop’ Is a Toxic Mentality. And a Lucrative Industry. Police are paying firms that preach extreme vigilance and deadly force.” at The Trace.

• Read “Why Are Cops Putting Kids in Cuffs? Federal funding, zero tolerance, and lack of choice encourage the creeping criminalization of student misbehavior” at Reason.

• Read “Shake Shack, "poisoned" cops, and how the press falls for police propaganda Break the dependence on police information” at Press Run.

• Read “APA Urges Closer Partnerships Between Police, Behavioral Experts To Stem Racial Incidents” at American Psychological Association.

• Read “Six lessons for police reform from the Catholic Church" at America Magazine.

• Read “Who caused the violence at protests? It wasn’t antifa’ at Washington Post.

• Read “Lawmakers in New Mexico back mandatory police body cameras” at 12 News.

• Read “Beyond Reform The Senate stalls out before doing anything about police abuse.” at Slate.

• Read “Above the Law: The Data Are In on Police, Killing, and Race” at The Public Discourse.

• Read “Minneapolis Council members draft charter amendment to replace existing police department” at Minneapolis Reformer.

• Read “National Teachers Union Wants Police Out Of Schools” at Cap Con.

• Read “Should cops who shoot someone be tested for drugs and alcohol? Metro Council may demand it” at Louisville Courier-Journal.

• Read “Demilitarization of Police Means Disrupting the Army-to-Police Pipeline” at Jacobin Magazine.

• Read “Democrats Vow To Block GOP Police Reform Bill Unless Republicans Agree To Negotiate” at NPR.

• Read “Florida police caught using mug shots of black men for target practice” at MSNBC.

• Read “Anonymous digs up vast tranche of U.S. police documents” at Axios.

• Read “The urgent need for deep changes in American policing Are the police meant to protect people? Or to fight them?” at Christian Century.

• Read “How the Phoenix Police Department Spends Its $745 Million Budget. “The city wants to give the force an additional $24 million. But the department is still failing to solve crimes, and officers have shot 212 people between 2011 and 2018, killing about half” at The Appeal.

Read “Wrongfully Arrested Because Face Recognition Can’t Tell Black People Apart” at ACLU.

Read “Minneapolis Park Board declares parks are ‘refuge’ for homeless” at Minnesota Reformer.

Read “Brett Favre says Colin Kaepernick will be considered a hero like Pat Tillman” at TMZ.

Read “Boston Lawmakers Vote To Ban Use Of Facial Recognition Technology By The City” at NPR.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup

• Read “Apple Closes Retail Stores in Four States as Coronavirus Cases Rise Apple said it would close stores near Naples, Fla; Charlotte, N.C.; in Greenville, S.C.; and in Arizona” at Wall Street Journal.

• Read “Ducey will let Arizona cities decide on mandating mask wearing, announces new rules for businesses” at AZ Central.

• Read “Phoenix will require masks starting Saturday. Refusing to wear a face covering could bring a $250 fine” at AZ Central.

• Read “The Karens Are Giving Us a Hard Time Now” A waiter at a reopened restaurant explains how dining works in a pandemic” at Slate.

• Read “Maricopa County sends mandate to every resident in the county: Wear a mask no matter what city, town or area you live in” at AZ Central.

• Read “Treasury to release names of some businesses that received PPP loans” at Axios.

• Read “Yes, Wearing Masks Helps. Here's Why” at NPR.

• Read “Six Trump campaign staffers test positive for coronavirus ahead of Tulsa rally” at Axios.

• Read “Rep Andy Biggs believes mandatory face masks are tyranny. Yeah, he said that, tyranny” at AZ Central.

• Read “Phoenix Megachurch Hosting Trump Rally Says It Has Special Coronavirus-Killing Air System” at Phoenix New Times.

• Read “Phoenix Mayor Gallego: Mask policy won’t be enforced at Trump event” at KTAR.

• Read “Spain opens border to tourists; Trump wants less testing” at AP News.

• Read “President Trump suggests he urged slowing of coronavirus testing” at 12 News.

• Read “White House Defends Trump's Use Of Racist Term To Describe Coronavirus” at NPR.

• Read “German Federal Government Pledges $169 Million For Live Events Industry With “Restart Culture” Initiative” at Live FOr Live Music.

• Read “Amid threats and political pushback, public health officials are leaving their posts” at Washington Post.

• Read “Why Native Americans took Covid-19 seriously: 'It's our reality' Coronavirus is novel to the world, but the impact on native communities is anything but a new experience” at The Guardian.

• Read “The pandemic has deepened my insomnia—and my prayers As I lie awake, it seems right to join those who address God with different names than I use” at Christian Century.

• Read “Young people in the US South and West are increasingly getting coronavirus” at CNN.

• Read “Years of potential life lost” is the most sobering and sad Covid-19 statistic I’ve seen” at Vox.

• Read “EU prepares to ban American travelers as borders reopen on July 1” at Axios.

• Read “Coronavirus has brought US 'to its knees', says CDC director” at The Guardian.

• Read “You Can Order A Face Mask Customized With The Rest Of Your Face On It” at Crafty.diply.

• Read "We Still Don't Fully Understand The Label 'Asymptomatic'

• Read “Protest against mask mandates, led by Scottsdale councilman, underway in Old Town” at AZ Central.

• Love your neighbor, wear a mask.

• Read “Hospitals issue joint call to wear masks in public: ‘Wearing a mask is not a political statement’” at News Break.

• Read “Rubio: 'Everyone should just wear a damn mask' at The Hill.

• Read “Nike Turned Away a Public Health Official From Its Warehouse Days After a Worker With COVID-19 Died” at Pro Publica.

• Read “Study Finds Black Lives Matter Protests Didn't Lead to Growth in Coronavirus Cases” at The Root.

• Read “The U.S. divide on coronavirus masks” at Axios. “Mask-wearing has become the latest partisan division in an increasingly politically divided pandemic.”

• Read “Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro was ordered by a federal judge on Tuesday to wear a face mask outside or be fined” at Axios.

• Read “What Parents Can Learn From Child Care Centers That Stayed Open During Lockdowns” at NPR.

• Read “Texas family shaken after 18 relatives test positive for COVID-19 following surprise birthday party.” at KSDK. “Three are now hospitalized, including two elderly family members and one woman battling breast cancer.”

• Read “With COVID-19 Cases Rising, Some States Slow Their Reopening Plans” at NPR.

Read “CBS Reporter Becomes Internet Hero After Asking Trump Why He Keeps Hiring 'Wackos And Liars'“ at ComicSands.

• Read ““William Barr Poses The Greatest Threat… To Our Rule Of Law” at News and Guts.

  • Read “Powerful US attorney who investigated Trump associates refuses to step down after Barr pushes him out” at CNN.

  • Read “House Judiciary panel preparing to subpoena Barr” at Politico.

• Read “Politics Influenced Justice Department In Roger Stone Case, DOJ Lawyer Tells Hill” at NPR.

• Read “Prosecutor to tell Congress of pressure from ‘highest levels’ of Justice Dept. to cut Roger Stone ‘a break’” at Washington Post.

• Read “Judge says Bolton can publish book despite efforts to block it” at 12 News.

• Read “Stephen Colbert To John Bolton: “How Could You Be Naive?” at News and Guts.

• Read “Appeals court orders dismissal of Michael Flynn's criminal case The decision was made, even though Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to prosecutors in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation” at 12 News.

Read “In Arizona, Republicans worry about losing traction with independent voters In a state that could prove pivotal in both the presidential race and the fight for Senate control, Republicans are concerned about a shrinking base” at NBC News.

Read “A new Trump proclamation will block foreign workers It could affect hundreds of thousands of foreigners stranded abroad” at Vox.

Read "Trumps lose attempt to gag Mary Trump from publishing tell-all book as a judge dismisses petition for a protective order saying their claims are 'fatally defective' at NPR.

Read “Biden to accept nomination at pared-down Milwaukee convention” at Axios.

• Read “Biden Takes Dominant Lead as Voters Reject Trump on Virus and Race” at New York Times.

• Read “Trump Is Struggling To Run Against A White Guy” at The Atlantic.

Read “Devin Nunes can’t sue Twitter over statements by fake cow, judge rules’ at Fresno Bee.

Read “Black Progressives Appear To Surge In Primaries, While Trump-Backed Candidates Lose” at NPR.

Read “More Than 100 Veterans Sign Letter Condemning Sen. McSally” at KJZZ.

Read “24-Year-Old Easily Tops President Trump's Pick In N.C. Republican Primary” at NPR.

Read “Zuckerberg says he’s ‘disgusted’ by Trump’s rhetoric. It’s just crocodile tears” at Washington Post.

Read “Alaska's 'Into the Wild' bus, known as a deadly tourist lure, has been removed by air” at CNN.

Read “Philly shuts down dumpster pools: 'We are not screwing around' at USA Today.

Read “Bill Cosby’s appeal of sex-crime conviction accepted by state supreme court” at USA Today.

Read “Okayplayer CEO Abiola Oke Resigns, Company Cites Recent Allegations” at Exclaim.

Read “Tom Petty’s Family Blasts Trump For Using His Music At Tulsa Rally” at Stereogum.

Read “K-Pop Stans Take Credit For Ruining Trump’s Tulsa Rally” at Stereogum.

Read “Jefferson Airplane to Receive Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2021” at Jambands.

Read “There is Now An Official Grateful Dead Deodorant” at Relix.

Half-year-end Half-lists:

• Browse “The 33 Best Albums of 2020 So Far” at Treble.

• Browse “The Best Of 2020 – Halftime Report A list of 72 Albums we've enjoyed from January to June” at Uncut.

• Browse “Exclaim!'s 33 Best Albums of 2020 So Far”.

Read “Toil and Trouble: Uncle Tupelo’s ‘No Depression’ Turns 30” at No Depression.

Read “'I Have Had No Prouder Moment in Music': Run the Jewels On Capturing the Sound of American Rage” at Esquire.

Read “Sammy Hagar Is Willing to “Get Sick and Even Die” to Kickstart the Concert Industry Again” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Barcelona opera house reopens with performance to 2,292 plants” at CNN.

Read “More Than 50 Years Ago Thelonious Monk Played A High School In California. Now The Album’s On Vinyl Everything You Need To Know About The Newly Discovered Lost Monk Album” at Vinyl Me Please.

Read “John Prine Scores First No. 1 Single with Final Recording “I Remember Everything” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Nick Cave Explains Why He Doesn’t Write Protest Songs” at Stereogum.

Read “Paul McCartney Calls on Schools to Cease Serving Meat-Only Lunches "No one needs to eat meat, so it shouldn't be mandatory to serve it in schools" at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Warren Haynes Pens Op-Ed ‘A Change Is Gonna Come—Oh, Yes It Will’, Shares Accompanying Playlist” at Jambands.

Read “Dixie Chicks Change Name to The Chicks” at Pitchfork.

Browse “The Story of ’80s Texas Punk in 9 Photographs” at Pitchfork.

Read “'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' Creators Scrap Season 8, Plan to Start over Amid Police Brutality Protests” at Exclaim.

Read “Large iguana found in freezer of pizza restaurant in Florida.

Read “Large iguana found in freezer of pizza restaurant in Florida” at Boing Boing.

Read “An exploitative digital cult born from Facebook meme groups is imploding” at AV Club.

Read “Tourist's photo showing creature rising from water sparks online claims that it could be 'one of the best ever' pictures of Loch Ness Monster” at The Daily Mail.

The Weekly Town Crier (06/19/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (06/19/20)

Read “Legendary Batman writer, Denny O'Neil dies at age 81” at Games Radar.

Read “Evangelicals perfected cancel culture. Now it’s coming for them” at Religion News Service.

Read “Jesus Was Divisive: A Black Pastor's Message To White Christians” at NPR’s Code-Switch. “Of course, they are willing to sacrifice black and brown bodies to hear a full-throated hymn.”

Read “Apartheid’s Roots Nourished By Religion” from January 1985’s Chicago Tribune.

Read and Sign an “Open Letter to Our Nations’ Lawmakers on Systemic Racism” from The Poor People’s Campaign. "The question before us is whether America can be what it has promised to be." We will not stop until we can all breathe.

Read “Most US Pastors Speak Out in Response to George Floyd’s Death Survey finds many still worry discussing race is “too political” at Christianity Today.

Read “Before protests, black Americans said religious sermons should address race relations” at Pew Research.

Read “A Brief History of People Using Romans 13 to Justify White Supremacy” at The Root (originally published 2018).

Read ‘In landmark case, Supreme Court rules LGBTQ workers are protected from job discrimination” at NBC News. “The decision said Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which makes it illegal for employers to discriminate because of a person's sex, also covers sexual orientation and transgender status”

Read “Supreme Court blocks Trump’s bid to end DACA, a win for undocumented ‘Dreamers’” at Washington Post.

Read “Number of Refugees World-Wide Has Doubled in Past Decade Nearly 80 million people were displaced from their homes at the end of 2019, according to the U.N.’s refugee agency” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Colonialism’s Cages: When Indigenous People Were Placed In Human Zoos” at All That’s Interesting.

HAPPY JUNETEENTH!

• Read “The meaning of Juneteenth and how we should commemorate it today” at MPR News.

• Learn about Juneteenth at Teen Vogue.

• Read “Trump claims he made Juneteenth "very famous" at Axios. “I did something good: I made Juneteenth very famous." The president claimed that "nobody had ever heard" of the June 19 celebration before he planned a rally in Tulsa on that day.”

• Read “Juneteenth: A Truer Independence Day The official end of slavery in America more fully embraces the self-evident truth of all people as created equal” at Christianity Today.

• Read “Juneteenth – 7 Books for Kids!” at Englewood Review of Books.

• Read “Amid Calls for a General Strike, Labor Will Shut Down 29 Ports on Juneteenth” at Truthout

Learn about Medgar Evers.

Learn about Ruby Bridges.

Learn about “The Trail Of Tears: Government-Approved Ethnic Cleansing That Removed 100,000 Native Americans From Their Ancestral Lands” at All That’s Interesting.

Read “Top Military Leaders Acknowledge Black and Hispanic Service Members Get Treated Unfairly in Its Justice System” at Newsweek.

Read “Top State Department official resigns in protest of Trump’s response to racial tensions in the country” at Washington Post.

Listen to “'Lean Into Discomfort' When Talking About Race” at WBUR.

Read “The Unmistakable Black Roots of 'Sesame Street' at Smithsonian.

Read “Aunt Jemima brand to change name, remove image that Quaker says is 'based on a racial stereotype' at NBC News.

• Read “Aunt Jemima's logo has changed 6 times, and its history is rooted in racial stereotypes and slavery — check out how the brand started and evolved over 130 years” at Business Insider.

Read “Is Genocide Happening In Nigeria As The World Turns A Blind Eye?” at Forbes.

Read “Beyond Berets: The Black Panthers as Health Activists” at US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health.

Learn about the “Boogaloo movement” at CNN.

• Read “The 29-Year-Old Bodybuilder Behind the Armed Effort to Reopen Texas A month ago Philip Archibald was stuck inside his Dallas home, unable to work. Now he commands a heavily armed network of anti-lockdown vigilantes, some with extremist leanings” at Texas Monthly.

• Read “Members of armed civilian group arrested, suspected gunman identified after man is shot at Albuquerque protest” at Washington Post.

This week in traitorous, white-supremacist Confederate monuments (and/or Columbus monuments):

• Read “George Floyd's uncle calls on South Dakota police department in his hometown to remove Confederate flag from their logo” at Daily Mail.

• Read “Trump's history of defending Confederate 'heritage' despite political risk” at ABC News. (EDITOR’S NOTE: You don't get to call yourself "The Party of Lincoln" while defending Confederate symbols.

• Read “Taylor Swift Speaks Out Against Tennessee’s Confederate Monuments” at Stereogum.

• Read “Tennessee just showed that white supremacy is alive and well; Honoring a former Confederate general and KKK grand wizard in 2019 is outrageous” at Washington Post.

• Read “Is this the end for public monuments to the Confederacy?” at PBS News Hour. "While some argue the monuments honor Southern ancestors, Lecia Brooks of the Southern Poverty Law Center says most went up either early in the 20th century or during the civil rights era, as racist groups like the Ku Klux Klan flexed their muscle.”

• Read "NASCAR’s Bubba Wallace on banning the Confederate flag and a new generation of fans” at PBS News Hour.

• Read “Cities Are Removing Racist & Confederate Statues That Protesters Have Targeted” at Now This!

• In modern-day Confederate news, Read: “Mitch McConnell: We paid for 'sin of slavery' by electing Obama” at USA Today.

• Read “Statue of Josephus Daniels, publisher and white supremacist, removed from Raleigh square” at The News and Observer.

• Read “Columbus To Remove Christopher Columbus Statue At City Hall” at WOSU.

• Read “Letting Go Of The Lost Cause: Confederates Were Racist Traitors The Civil War ended 155 years ago. We need to finally correct the historical record. The Confederates were racist traitors and should not be celebrated” at Rantt Media.

• Read “Kingston Decides to Swap One George Clinton for Another” at Hudson Valley River News.

This Week in Protest News:

• Read “'Riots', 'mobs', 'chaos': the establishment always frames change as dangerous” at The Guardian.

• Read “Tear Gas: An Investigation. What it is, how it is abused and why you should care” at Amnesty.org.

• Read “What the Heck is Going On In Seattle?” at Medium.

• Read “Fox News runs digitally altered images in coverage of Seattle’s protests, Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” at Seattle Times. (EDITOR’S NOTE: MAYBE, Just Maybe, Fox “News” isn’t news after all but propaganda?”

• Read “Trump draws rebukes for suggesting 75-year-old protester pushed to the ground in Buffalo was part of a ‘set up’ at Washington Post.

• Read “As protests continue, black women activists are leading again” at PBS News Hour.

• Read “The Small-Town Antifa Invasion That Never Came Hundreds of people in Klamath Falls, Oregon, rallied with guns and bulletproof vests in response to a Facebook rumor” at Slate.

• Read “US law enforcement surveilled protests with drones, spy planes” at Al Jazeera.

  • Read “AOC Wants to Know Why the Hell a Predator Drone Was Spying on Protesters The military-grade Predator B drone was far outside the 100-mile operational zone of Customs and Border Protection” at Vice.

• Read “Kneeling Protest, Once a Flashpoint, Now a Widespread Symbol of Solidarity Four years after Colin Kaepernick was shunned, demonstrators, police and lawmakers embrace the gesture” at Wall Street Journal.

• Read “The George Floyd demonstrations turned into a movement when the protesters began to sing It was as if the spirituals of the Civil Rights waited, just below the surface, to surge forth once more” at Dallas News.

• Read “Black Lives Matter is Winning, and They Don’t Need Advice from the Liberal Establishment” at Due Dissidence.

• Read “Cornel West on US protests: The chickens have come home to roost Activist and scholar talks to Middle East Eye about the Black Lives Matter movement and the roots of neoliberalism that need to be dismantled” at Middle East Eye.

George Floyd:

• Read “George Floyd’s Autopsy and the Structural Gaslighting of America” at Scientific American. “The weaponization of medical language emboldened white supremacy with the authority of the white coat. How will we stop it from happening again?”

Breonna Taylor:

Read “Sen. John Cornyn’s distorted interpretation of ‘systemic racism’ displayed what a lot of Americans don’t get about it. A witness at Tuesday’s Senate Judiciary hearing on policing reform offered a lesson on what it means” at Washington Post.

This Week With the Police:

• Read “Unarmed professionals will now respond to non-criminal police calls in San Francisco to reduce 'police confrontations' at Yahoo.

• Read “Atlanta officer who fatally shot Rayshard Brooks has been terminated” at

• Read “Police Have Long History of Responding to Black Movements by Playing the Victim” at Truthout.

• Read “Defunding the Police Will Actually Make Us Safer Policing in this country evolved from slave patrols. It has never been a neutral institution” at ACLU.

• Read “'I can't breathe,' Oklahoma man tells police before dying. 'I don't care,' officer responds. Newly released video of the 2019 incident shows officers restraining Derrick Scott, 42, who is heard asking repeatedly for his medicine and saying he can’t breathe” at NBC News.

• Read “Why Minneapolis Was the Breaking Point Black men and women are still dying across the country. The power that is American policing has conceded nothing” at The Atlantic.

• Read “They Were the Authority and I Didn’t Argue With Authority” In an era before rape kits, Sue Royston decided to fight for justice even though the police doubted her, the prosecution discouraged her, and those around her dismissed her story” at Pro Publica.

• Read “Seattle Council Bans Police Use of Crowd Control Weapons” at New York Times.'

• Read “Lawsuit: Arizona's Use Of Private Prisons Violates The U.S. Constitution” at KJZZ.

• Read “'Hey Siri, I'm getting pulled over' - iPhone shortcut helps record police interactions An iPhone shortcut that allows users to automatically record their interactions with the police is gaining popularity” at ABC 7.

• Read “Defund The Police? Columbus Police Account For More Than A Third Of City's Budget” WOSU.

This Week In Prison Abolition:

• Read “What Is Prison Abolition? The movement that is trying to think beyond prisons as a tool to solve society’s problems” at The Nation.

• Read “Is Prison Necessary? Ruth Wilson Gilmore Might Change Your Mind” at New York Times.

• Read “What Abolitionists Do” at Jacobin Magazine. “Prison abolitionists aren't naive dreamers. They're organizing for concrete reforms, animated by a radical critique of state violence.”

• Read “The Challenge of Prison Abolition: A Conversation” at History Is A Weapon. A conversation between Angela Y. Davis and Dylan Rodriguez.

Read “Autopsy report says Rayshard Brooks was shot twice in the back, lists manner of death as homicide” at CNN.

• Read “Ex-Atlanta Police officer who killed Rayshard Brooks charged with felony murder” at CNN.

Read “A short history of black women and police violence” at The Conversation.

Read “The Sacrifice Black Children Shouldn’t Have to Make This country prizes Black children’s precocity — insists on it, even, much of the time” at The Cut.

Read “Law Professor On Misdemeanor Offenses And Racism In The Criminal System” at NPR.

Read “Loving Day: 53 years after the Supreme Court overturned laws banning interracial marriage Mildred and Richard Loving took their case to the highest court after they were arrested for living together as an interracial married couple in Virginia” at WFAA.

Read “‘A change is gonna come’: Reimagining public safety” by Jim Wallis for Religion News Service.

Read “In U.S., 87% Approve of Black-White Marriage, vs. 4% in 1958 Ninety-six percent of blacks, 84% of whites approve” at The Guardian.

Read “Starbucks to allow baristas to wear Black Lives Matter attire and accessories after social media backlash” at CNBC.

Read “Transgender Health Protections Reversed By Trump Administration” at NPR.

Read “How some researchers are using data science to fight sex trafficking” at America Magazine.

Read “John Cleese Blasts the BBC After 'Fawlty Towers' Episode Gets Removed for Using the N-word "We were not supporting [these] views, we were making fun of them... If people are too stupid to see that, what can one say?" at Exclaim.

Read “'There Is No Neutral': 'Nice White People' Can Still Be Complicit In A Racist Society” at NPR.

Read “Making people aware of their implicit biases doesn’t usually change minds. But here’s what does work” at PBS News Hour.

Read the history of NYPD Challenge Coins at Research and Destroy.

• Read “Stories about people who have the right to remain silent, but choose not to exercise that right—including police officer Adrian Schoolcraft, who secretly recorded his supervisors telling officers to manipulate crime statistics and make illegal arrests” at This American Life.

Read “Federal Executions Set To Resume After Nearly 2-Decade Hiatus” at NPR.

Read “These companies are giving their employees time off for Juneteenth A growing list of companies have decided to make Juneteenth, which commemorates the ending of slavery in America, a paid company holiday” at 5 News Online.

Read/Listen to “A 'Forgotten History' Of How The U.S. Government Segregated America” at NPR.

Read “University of California divests from fossil fuels, puts $1 billion into clean energy” at Cronkite News.

Read “Study: 70% of Facebook users only read the headline of science stories before commenting” at Science Post.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

• Read “#TheArizonaWay doesn’t include a plan to stop spiking COVID cases” at Arizona Mirror.

• Read “CDC warns U.S. may reimplement strict coronavirus measures if cases go up ‘dramatically’” at CNBC.

• Read “‘The direct result of racism’: Covid-19 lays bare how discrimination drives health disparities among Black people” at Stat News.

• Read “Our masked future Wearing a mask all the time affects how we interact with each other. But how?” at Vox.

• Read “After six months of coronavirus, how close are we to defeating it?” at The Guardian.

• Read “Argentina pastor turns church into bar in protest at uneven coronavirus restrictions” at The Guardian.

• Read “Florida fired its coronavirus data scientist. Now she’s publishing the statistics on her own” at Washington Post.

• Read “FDA revokes authorization for hydroxychloroquine” at Market Watch.

• Read “How Independent Music Venues Are Fighting for Their Existence” at Pitchfork.

• Read “Pence Tells Governors to Repeat Misleading Claim on Outbreaks” at Washington Post. In other words: “Pence Tells Governors to Lie Like He Does . . . “

• Read “Fauci said US government held off promoting face masks because it knew shortages were so bad that even doctors couldn't get enough” at Business Insider.

• Read “Partygoers have been packing Arizona bars. Now the state is a coronavirus hot spot” at Los Angeles Times.

• Read “Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey: Arizonans Must Learn To Live With The Coronavirus” at KJZZ.

• Read “Record spike in new coronavirus cases reported in six U.S. states as reopening accelerates” at Reuters.

• Read “Judge Orders Trump Administration To Give Tribes Their COVID-19 Relief Funds The Treasury Department was planning to sit on $679 million in emergency aid that was due to go to tribal governments months ago” at Huff Post.

• Read “'It may save your life': Facing virus surge, more U.S. states mandate masks” at Reuters.

Read “There’s No Going Back to ‘Normal’ Once we accept, and grieve, that our old way of life is gone, we can build a better future” at The Atlantic.

Read “When Donald Trump tried to stage a coup: Was June 1 the turning point? Last week our president tried to send the Army into America's streets. Aides pushed back, but it was a close call” at Salon.

Read “Bolton Says Trump Impeachment Inquiry Missed Other Troubling Actions at New York Times. “Mr. Bolton also adds a striking new allegation by saying that Mr. Trump overtly linked trade negotiations to his own political fortunes by asking President Xi Jinping of China to buy a lot of American agricultural products to help him win farm states in this year’s election. Mr. Trump, he writes, was ‘pleading with Xi to ensure he’d win. He stressed the importance of farmers, and increased Chinese purchases of soybeans and wheat in the electoral outcome.’”

• Read “Trump asked China’s Xi to help him win reelection, according to Bolton book” at Washington Post.

Read “Facebook Removes Trump Ads With Symbol Used By Nazis. Campaign Calls It An 'Emoji' at NPR.

Read “Twitter labels Trump video tweet as manipulated media, continuing its cra

Read “Twitter labels Trump video tweet as manipulated media, continuing its crackdown on misinformation The label marks the fourth time Twitter has added labels to the president’s tweets” at Washington Post.

Read “Democrats also gain from the border wall The militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border was always a bipartisan effort, with symbolism that’s useful to both parties” at High Country News.

Read “History says Trump's low approval rating is unlikely to move” at CNN.

Read “Biden running mate search zeroes in on group that includes at least four black women” at Washington Post.

Read “Poland Accidentally Invades Czech Republic In 'Minor Misunderstanding' at NPR.

Read “For Fans Of: Sonic Boom’s “All Things Being Equal” at Bandcamp.

Read “Understanding Blackness to understand Black art” at The Wire. “Does the diversity of your record collection reflect the diversity of your real social life or approach to the world?”

Read “Lady Antebellum Is Now ‘Lady A.’ But So Is a Blues Singer Who’s Used the Name for 20 Years “This is my life. They’re using the name because of a Black Lives Matter incident that, for them, is just a moment in time,” says the original Lady A, a 61-year-old black singer who’s released multiple records under the name” at Rolling Stone.

Read “David Crosby: ‘Trump Is Far More Dangerous Than Nixon’ “My democracy that I love so much is failing and being abused to death,” Crosby says” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Bob Dylan Has a Lot on His Mind” at DNYUZ.

Read “Trouser Press’ entire ’70s/’80s magazine run now available online for free” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “The Prescient Power of ‘Jagged Little Pill’ Maybe Alanis Morissette was angry, but mostly she was lucid” at Tidal.

Read “Lemmy Kilmister Biopic in the Works” at Pitchfork.

Read “2020 Americana Music Award Nominations Reflect Roots Music’s Rich Diversity” at No Depression.

Read “GET TO KNOW… SAMMY BRUE” at DIY Magazine.

Watch “David Bowie blast MTV for not playing enough Black artists in 1983” at Brooklyn Vegan. “It occurred to me, having watched MTV over the last few months, that’s it’s a solid enterprise, really. It’s got a lot going for it. I’m just floored by the fact that there are so few black artists featured on it. Why is that?"

Read “The Roots and Michelle Obama to Host Virtual Music Festival” at Pitchfork.

Read “Rose City Band: Summerlong review – a gorgeous record” at The Guardian.

Read “Bob Dylan Has Given Us One of His Most Timely Albums Ever With ‘Rough and Rowdy Ways’” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Michael Stipe, Chad Smith and other rock stars featured in trailer for 'Creem' magazine documentary” at ABC News Radio.

Read "Neal Casal Music Foundation Launches With Tribute Album to Late Guitarist Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, and Billy Strings cover Casal’s songs on ‘Highway Butterfly’; a book of the musician’s photos is also on tap” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Live Nation Wants Artists to Take Pay Cuts and Cancelation Burdens for Shows in 2021” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Inside Out makes the profound case that sadness is good” at AV Club.

Read “Inside Out makes the profound case that sadness is good” at AV Club.

Read “Meet Hercules, One of America’s Early Celebrity Chefs Heralded for his food, the enslaved cook headed the first presidential kitchen” at Gastro Obscura.

Read “Phoenix artists fighting racial injustice with public murals Around town, murals are starting to appear supporting a message of equality” at 12 News.

Read “Roll The Windows Down And Take A Drive Down Kayenta-Monument Valley Scenic Road In Arizona” at Only In Your State.

Read “There may be more than 36 intelligent alien civilizations in the Milky Way, scientists say” at CBS News.

Read “Surge Letter To Churches - June 2020” at Surge Network.

The Weekly Town Crier (06/12/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (06/12/20)

Read “Bonnie Pointer, Pointer Sisters Singer, Dies at 69” at Spin.

Read “When Christians won’t acknowledge racism, protest becomes church” at Religion News Service.

Read “An open letter to my fellow white Americans” at America Magazine.

Read “Why White Evangelicals Won’t Rise To This Moment” at Colorblind Christians. ““It is probably not possible for evangelical leaders to please at once the enthusiastic Trump supporter and the black lives matter protestor. If the past is prologue, white evangelical elites are likely to try to thread the needle anyway. Crucial to their calculations will be the knowledge that there are far more Trump supporters in their midst than black lives matter activists.”

Read “Unliked Likes: Pastor Chris Hodges, Church of the Highlands, and Twitter's Wrath Some social media "likes" gets Church of the Highlands kicked out of some public schools they were renting, but such cancel culture is the wrong answer” at Christianity Today.

Read “A Person You Flee At Parties; Donald And The Devil” by David Bentley Hart at First Things.

Read the opinion piece “Ignore the optics. Trump’s executive order could jump-start the cause of global religious freedom” at America Magazine.

Read “The Christian Martyrdom Movement Ascends to the White House A former professor of Kayleigh McEnany, Trump’s new press secretary, explores her enduring obsession with religious persecution and death” at New Republic.

Read “Is There a Religious Left? Why progressive activism rooted in faith is so often misconstrued” at The New Yorker.

Read “Tim Keller Asks for Prayers for Pancreatic Cancer The New York pastor and author announced his diagnosis Sunday and begins chemo next week” at Christianity Today.

Read “Justice Too Long Delayed It’s time for the church to make restitution for racial sin” at Christianity Today.

Read "A Soul Check for White Christians In the words of MLK, "There comes a time when silence is betrayal” at Christianity Today.

This week in the president’s Bible-Photo-Fiasco:

• Read “What I’d like to say to President Trump about the Bible I’d tell him a secret I learned from Eugene Peterson” at Christian Century.

• Read “Catholic Archbishop Criticizes Trump's Visit To St. John Paul II Shrine” at NPR.

• Read/Watch “The crackdown before Trump’s photo op What video and other records show about the clearing of protesters outside the White House” at Washington Post.

• Read “More than 1,250 former Justice Dept. workers call for internal watchdog to probe Barr role in clearing demonstrators from Lafayette Square” at Washington Post.

• Read “Breaking News: The top U.S. military official, General Mark Milley, apologized for taking part in President Trump’s walk to a church photo op. “I should not have been there.” at New York Times.

Read “African American Alumni Call on Jerry Falwell Jr. to Step Down Thirty-five faith leaders who went to Liberty University released a letter criticizing the college president's rhetoric, including his recent blackface mask tweet” at Christianity Today.

• Read “Liberty’s Jerry Falwell Jr. apologizes for tweet; director of diversity resigns” at Washington Post.

Read “Raise your signs and voices. Then raise your church's race awareness” at Religion News Service.

• Read “Preaching Against Racism Is Not a Distraction from the Gospel The pulpit gives a record of our witness” at Christianity Today.

• Read “White Pastors: Our Decision to Show Up Matters It takes humility to be an ally. Even if we make mistakes, we need to do it” at Christianity Today.

• Consider “When protest becomes prayer” at America Magazine.

Browse “Anti-Racism For Kids 101: Starting To Talk About Race” at Books For Littles.

Read “There Is a Stench’: Soiled Clothes and No Baths for Migrant Children at a Texas Center” at New York Times.

Read “Native Americans Want to be Included in Race Talks” at Voice Of America.

Read “Drake University grad gets Merriam-Webster Dictionary to update 'racism' definition” at Des Moines Register.

Read “An Empirical Analysis of Racial Diiferences in Police Use of Force” by Roland G. Fryer, Jr. at https://scholar.harvard.edu/.

Learn about the Tulsa Race Massacre (1921) at History.

• Meet “The Last Surviving Witness To The Tulsa Race Riot Of 1921” at NPR’s Codeswitch.

Learn about the Rosewood Massacre (1923) at History.

Read “Hundreds of Thousands Sign Petitions Urging the U.S. Government to Declare KKK a Terrorist Group” at Newsweek.

Read “The Familial Language of Black Grief Black people feel the pain and loss of black life as if it were our very own blood that had been brutalized—because it easily could have been” by Jemar Tisby for The Atlantic.

Read “Ohio State Sen. Steve Huffman, a Republican, has been fired from his position as an emergency room doctor after using racist language to question whether people of color are disproportionately affected by the coronavirus because of poor hygiene” at Cleveland.com.

Read “The White House is preparing a speech on race relations written by Stephen Miller, who crafted the Trump Administration’s immigration plan along the southern border with Mexico” at American Urban Radio Networks.

In the “You mean this didn’t exist before” category, read: “Band-Aid launches bandages for different skin tones.

This week in traitorous, white-supremacist Confederate monuments (and/or Columbus monuments):

• Read “U.S. Marine Corps Orders Confederate Flag Ban Including on Bumper Stickers, Mugs And T-Shirts” at Newsweek.

  Read/watch Tennessee "lawmakers vote down removal of Nathan Bedford Forrest bust” at WSMV.

• Read “Protests Are Bringing Down Confederate Monuments Around The South” at NPR.

• Read “NASCAR’s Bubba Wallace wants Confederate flags banned from races” at Fox 59.

• Read “NASCAR bans Confederate flags from all racetracks” at ESPN.

• Ever wonder “Is There a Racist Monument In Your Town? Check This Map to Find Out The Southern Poverty Law Center has tracked Confederate monuments for years, but the map has taken on a new utility now” at Vice.

• Read “What Are We to Do With Cinematic Monuments to the Confederacy?” at Vulture.

• Read “Protesters Topple Jefferson Davis Statue In Richmond, Va.” at NPR.

• Read “J. D. Greear Urges SBC to Retire Historic Gavel from Slaveholding Preacher” at Christianity Today.

• Read “'Homage To Hate': Pelosi Calls For Confederate Statues Removed From U.S. Capitol” at NPR.

• Read “Black Lives Matter Protesters Topple Slave Trader Statue and Dump It in Harbour The much-hated statue of 17th century slave trader Edward Colston now lies at the bottom of Bristol Harbour” at Vice.

• Read “Congress Heads Toward Clash With Trump Over Removal Of Confederate Symbols” at NPR.

• Read “Cuomo declines to call for removal of Christopher Columbus statue” at The Hill.

• Read “Beheaded Christopher Columbus Statue In Boston Will Be Removed From North End Park” at Boston CBS.

• Read “Tennessee Republicans Rally To Preserve Statue And Holiday For KKK Founder” at Forbes.

This Week in Protest News:

• Read “Why these protests are different There have been uprisings against police brutality and racism before, but this is the country at its exasperation point” at Vox.

• Read “Police abolitionists find fuel in the protests As more people lose faith in the state, organizers offer alternatives” at Chicago Reader.

• Read “DC Mayor has “Black Lives Matters” painted in massive letters on street leading to The White House” at Brooklyn Vegan.

• Read “Kanye West joins Chicago protests after donating $2M to families of Floyd, Taylor & Arbery” at Brooklyn Vegan.

• Read “Phoenix Police Chief Marches With Protesters, Faces Criticism” at KJZZ.

• Read “Show Taper/Defense Attorney Represents George Floyd Protesters Pro Bono Dan Lynch, founder of NYCTaper, has been offering pro bono services to arrested demonstrators” at Rolling Stone.

• Read “Iowa City protest leader jailed after unlawful assembly case” at Associated Press.

• Read “Officers slashed tires on vehicles parked amid Minneapolis protests, unrest” at Star Tribune.

• Read “Mitt Romney Joins Evangelical Racial Justice March in DC” at Christianity Today.

• Read “The New White House Fence Is Getting Covered In Protest Art” at DCist.

• Read "Amherst man pushed by police responds after Trump tweet: 'Black Lives Matter' at Democrat and Chronicle.

• Read “Ohio protester dies two days after exposure to tear gas, pepper spray”

• Read “Understanding the LRAD, the “Sound Cannon” Police Are Using at Protests, and How to Protect Yourself From It” at Pitchfork.

• Read “How The Antifa Fantasy Spread In Small Towns Across The U.S. Rumors of roving bands of Antifa have followed small protests all over the United States. Why are people so ready to believe them?” at Buzzfeed News.

• Read “Rev. Al Sharpton criticizes Trump's response to peaceful protesters” at MSNBC.

• Read “White Signs at Black Protests The jovial, jokey messaging I have witnessed at New York protests illustrates my profound discomfort with how I feel white people are approaching this critical moment” at Vanity Fair.

• Read “All Lives Matter protesters re-enacted George Floyd's death as a Black Lives Matter march went by” at CNN.* *(Editor’s Note from Holiday at the Sea: This has nothing to do with asserting that "All Lives Matter" and everything to do with White Supremacy.)

• Read “The 'Concerned Citizen Who Happens To Be Armed' Is Showing Up At Protests” at NPR.

• Read “Amazon pauses police use of its facial recognition tech for a year” at Reuters.

  Read “Microsoft says it won’t sell facial recognition software to police until there’s a national law ‘grounded in human rights’ at CNBC.

George Floyd:

• Read “Trump says he hopes George Floyd ‘looking down’ and seeing today’s jobs numbers as ‘a great day for him’ at The Independent.

• Read “George Floyd protests: Trump says ‘MAGA loves the black people’ after being accused of stoking racial violence” at The Independent.

• Read “Texas GOP chairwoman faces calls to resign after she pushed a conspiracy theory that George Floyd's death was staged to hurt Trump” at Daily Mail.

• Read “Minneapolis Will Ban Chokeholds After The Killing Of George Floyd” at Buzzfeed News.

• Read “Megachurch pastor Joel Osteen joins Black Lives Matter march with the family of George Floyd” at Charity Institute.

• Read “'Stop the pain': George Floyd's brother testifies on policing reform Philonise Floyd appeared before the House Judiciary Committee' at ABC News.

Breonna Taylor:

• Read “FBI opens an investigation into the death of Breonna Taylor” at ABC News.

• Read “Louisville police release the Breonna Taylor incident report. It's virtually blank” Courier-Journal.

• Read “Rand Paul introduces Justice for Breonna Taylor Act to ban "no-knock" warrants” at Axios.

Read “Racial Injustice has Benefited Me - A Confession” by Phil Vischer (Veggie Tales).

Read “A Look At Housing Inequality And Racism In The U.S.” at Forbes.

Read “Dear Companies: Your BLM Posts Are Cute But We Want To See Policy Change” at Forbes.

Read “Starbucks Won't Let Employees Wear Gear That Supports Black Lives Matter Because It Is Political Or Could Incite Violence” at Buzzfeed News.

Read “The Head Of CrossFit Has Stepped Down After Telling Staff On A Zoom Call, “We're Not Mourning For George Floyd” In a recording obtained by BuzzFeed News, Greg Glassman can also be heard sharing wild conspiracy theories about Floyd and the coronavirus” at Buzzfeed News.

Read “NFL players spoke, and Roger Goodell responded. Now what? Here's what we know” at ESPN.

Read “Rex Chapman: If fewer opportunities come from me speaking out about racism, ‘so be it’” at MSNBC. "I've been in cars with black friends on my way to NBA games before, high school games," says fmr. NBA player Rex Chapman. "Been pulled over, guns are drawn. It's a way different experience than being pulled over in a car full of white people."

Read “The Embarrassment of Democrats Wearing Kente-Cloth Stoles” at The New Yorker.

• Read “A Thoughtful Rumination on Lawmakers' Performative Wearing of Kente Stoles to Unveil the Justice in Policing Act of 2020” at Very Smart Brothas.

Read “For Black Americans, Using Social Media Means Risking PTSD” at Slate.

Read “School’s Food Drive to Help Those Affected By Looting in Minneapolis Turns Into Tsunami of Grocery Bags Deliveries” at Good News Network.

Read “White Supremacists Take on Trappings of Religion” at Christianity Today (originally published in 1986).

Read “Reading James Baldwin can help heal the wounds of racial division” at America Magazine.

Read “5 Questions About Reparations: Answered” at Ben and Jerrys'.

Read “Nike to recognize Juneteenth as an annual paid holiday” at Yahoo.

Read “Air Force general confirmed as first black military service chief in American history” at 5 News Online.

Read “Ella Jones To Become The First Black Female Mayor Of Ferguson” at Elle.

Read “Candace ‘Black Karen’ Owens’ GoFundMe Account Suspended Over George Floyd Comments” at The Root.

Read “Michael Jordan's brand donates $100 million to organizations fighting racism against black people" at CNBC.

Read “Walmart CEO in email condemns racial violence and pledges $100 million to address systematic racism” at Business Insider.

This Week With the Police:

• Read “American police shoot, kill and imprison more people than other developed countries. Here's the data” at CNN.

  • Read “Protests spread over police shootings. Police promised reforms. Every year, they still shoot and kill nearly 1,000 people” at Washington Post.

  • Read “Barr Says There Is No Systemic Racism in Policing The attorney general’s remarks, which mirrored those of other administration officials, came as the president was scheduled to meet with law enforcement officials at the White House” at New York Times.

  • Read “San Francisco may stop hiring cops with records of misconduct” at PBS News Hour. (Emphasis mine).

  • Read “Florida police organization offers to hire 'Buffalo 57,' 'Atlanta 6' cops who were fired, resigned over police misconduct” at ABC7 Chicago.

  • Read “Brevard sheriff ‘embarrassed,’ suspends lieutenant who tried to recruit cops from departments accused of brutality” at Orlando Sentinel.

  • Read “Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Jeff Merkley propose creating a national database of cops with a record of misconduct” at Business Insider.

  • Read “Confessions of a Former Bastard Cop” at Medium. “I acted as a violent agent of capitalism and white supremacy. Under the guise of public safety.”

  • Read “Minneapolis Police Chief Takes on Union, Promises Reform” at New York Times.

• Read/Watch “Minneapolis City Council members intend to defund and dismantle the city's police department” at CNN.

  • Read “Defund the police? Here’s what that really means” at Washington Post.

  • Read “Confessions of a Former Bastard Cop” at Medium.

  • Read as Joe Biden argues for more ineffective incrementalism: “Biden: We must urgently root out systemic racism, from policing to housing to opportunity Federal dollars should not go to departments that violate people’s rights or turn to violence as a first resort, but I don't support defunding police” at USA Today.

  • Consider this Tweet from Johnathan Wilson-Hartgrove: “If you’re uncomfortable w/ calls to “defund the police,” consider that calls for smaller government over the past 40 yrs have meant defunding education, public health & anti-poverty programs.”

• Read “New York passes bill to unveil police disciplinary records” at PBS News Hour.

• Read “Democrats Unveil Police Reform Legislation Amid Protests Nationwide” at NPR.

• Read “Police unions dig in as calls for reform grow” at CNN.

• Read “Jami Resch steps down as Portland police chief, asks African American lieutenant to fill the job” at Oregon Live.

• Read “All 57 members of Buffalo's Emergency Response Team RESIGN in 'disgust' over the suspension and criminal probe of two cops for shoving a peace activist, 75, to the floor during protests” at Daily Mail.

• Read "Former Chief Of Reformed Camden, N.J., Force: Police Need 'Consent Of The People' at NPR.

• Read “This city disbanded its police department 7 years ago. Here's what happened next” at CNN.

• Read “‘Cops’ Canceled By Paramount Network, ‘Live PD’ Return Evaluated By A&E” at Deadline.

• Read “Oakland school board and superintendent back elimination of district police” at San Francisco Chronicle.

Read “America is changing, and so is the media The media has gone through painful periods of change before. But this time is different” at Vox.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

• Read “U.S. Hits 2 Million Coronavirus Cases As Many States See A Surge Of Patients” at NPR.

• Browse “Average Daily New Cases per 100,000 people.”

• Read “Arizona's Largest Hospital System Nearing ICU Bed Capacity” at KJZZ.

• Read “Survey: Many Arizonans Still Reluctant To Resume Normal Activity After Coronavirus” at KJZZ.

• Read “Former Arizona health director: State could need new stay-at-home order” at KTAR.

• Read “Covid-free New Zealand: There are now ZERO active Covid-19 cases in the country” at The Spin Off.

• Read “14 states and Puerto Rico hit highest seven-day average of new coronavirus infections” at Washington Post.

• Read as Slate wonders “How Much Should You Be Worried About a COVID-19 Spike From the Protests?”

• Read “Alarm grows as Arizona continues with days of high case increases, deaths and hospitalizations: 28,296 cases, 1,070 known deaths” at AZ Central.

• Read “NYT Poll: Most Epidemiologists Wouldn’t Attend A Concert For A Year Or More” at Stereogum.

• Read “Lollapalooza Canceled Due to COVID-19 The Chicago festival will instead offer a weekend-long livestream” at Consequence of Sound.

• Read “Maricopa County urges masks and individual precautions to slow the increasing spread of COVID-19” at AZ Central.

• Read “U.S. Hits 2 Million Coronavirus Cases As Many States See A Surge Of Patients” at NPR.

• Read “Harvard health expert anticipates 200,000 US coronavirus deaths by September” at The Hill.

Read “Colin Powell announces he'll vote for Biden, saying Trump "lies all the time" at CBS News.

Read “George W. Bush and Mitt Romney won't support Trump in 2020, while some GOP officials consider voting for Biden” at Yahoo.

Read “Trump to restart MAGA rallies this month despite coronavirus The president and his team believe the massive protests in recent weeks will make it harder for critics to single him out” at Politico.

Read “That Trump Tweet? Republicans Prefer Not to See It.” at Yahoo.

Read “Market Meltdown: Dow Dives 1,800 Points On Worries Of 2nd Coronavirus Wave” at NPR.

Read “Is This the Last Stand of the ‘Law and Order’ Republicans? A punitive brand of conservatism embraced by Trump and some GOP hardliners is rapidly falling out of step with public opinion” at Politico.

Read “Justice in Policing Act: What’s included in Democrats’ police reform bill?” at MSNBC.

Read “Sen. Susan Collins Loses Endorsement Of Major Gun Control Group Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund supported the Maine Republican in 2014. This year, they’ve thrown their support behind Democrat Sara Gideon” at Huff Post.

Read “Don Jr. cost taxpayers at least $75,000 with hunting trip to Mongolia to shoot the world's largest sheep” at Daily Mail.

Read “The Case of Reality Winner” at Texas Orator.

Read “Georgia Betrays Its Voters Again” at The New Yorker.

Read “FCC failed to monitor Chinese telecoms for almost 20 years: Senate report” at Ars Technica.

Read “A Closer Look: The CARES Act Sent You a $1,200 Check but Gave Millionaires and Billionaires Far More” at Pro Publica.”

Read “Outsider Tapped in Flynn Case Calls Justice Dept. Reversal a ‘Gross Abuse’ of Power A former federal judge said that the attorney general gave special treatment to a presidential ally, undermining public confidence in the rule of law” at New York Times.

Read “Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Denies Impropriety in Firing State Department Watchdog” at Time.

Read “Zoom closed account of U.S.-based Chinese activist “to comply with local law” at Axios.

Read “Fed Officials Project No Rate Increases Through 2022 Central bank says it will maintain current pace of asset purchases to sustain growth” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Trump administration proposes toughest asylum rules yet” at Axios. Under new asylum rules, the U.S. will now reject asylum seekers looking for protection from: - terrorists - gangs - 'rouge' government officials It's now effectively near-impossible to receive asylum in the U.S.

Read “As Trump Administration Restricts Legal Immigration, It’s Expanding A Class of Vulnerable Guest Workers. Farmworker and labor advocates say these workers are among the most exploited in the country” at The Appeal.

Read “Tom Morello, Serj Tankian Address Disillusioned Fans Who’ve Just Learned Their Music Is Political at Stereogum. And read my Tweet: “I just don't understand all these people who somehow thought a band called Rage Against The Machine would support their "Conservative" worldview. I would ask: "Who are these people," but unfortunately, they all drive big trucks with blue-stripe license plates in my neighborhood.”

Read “Sex Pistols' John Lydon Reveals He's Now a Full-Time Carer for His Wife with Alzheimer's "For me, the real person is still there. That person I love is still there every minute of every day, and that is my life" at Exclaim!

Read “90% of Independent Music Venues Could Close Due to COVID-19 The National Independent Venue Association is asking Congress for longterm financial assistance” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “The Dalai Lama to Release Album of Teachings and Mantras, Shares First Song “Compassion”: Listen” at Pitchfork.

Browse “This Is How I Feel: A Playlist By Young Black Listeners We asked: Is there one song helping you address your feelings right now?” at NPR.

Read “Third Man Records Unearth Original Stooges Lineup’s Final Concert for Live LP Live at Goose Lake: August 8th, 1970, featuring a full Fun House performance, marks bassist Dave Alexander’s last gig with band” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Watch Flaming Lips Perform “Race for the Prize” in Bubbles on Colbert The entire band and a live audience are all in the same room, and they’re all in individual bubbles” at Pitchfork.

Read “‘We Are Regretful And Embarrassed’: Lady Antebellum Changes Its Name To Lady A” at Pittsburgh CBS.

Read “The Power and Necessity of African American Literature” at Christ and Pop Culture.

Read “The Underground Kitchen That Funded the Civil Rights Movement Georgia Gilmore’s cooking fueled the Montgomery bus boycott” at Gastro Obscura.

Read “Planned Obsolescence: The Products You Buy are Designed to Break” at ACH News.

Read “That Fresh Sea Breeze You Breathe May Be Laced With Microplastic Researchers have discovered that the ocean is burping tiny plastic particles, which then blow onto land—and potentially into your lungs” at Wired.

Read “Coca-Cola and Carlsberg Will Switch to Plant-Based Bottles That Break Down Within a Year” at My Modern Met.

Read “Arizona 'Karen' is slapped in face by woman after screaming at her to 'go back to your own country' in racist rant at gas station” at The Daily Mail.

Read “Live Music Has Returned to Some Metro Phoenix Bars – Here’s What We Know” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “Tempe Mural Memorializes Local Musicians Lost — From Chester Bennington to Doug Hopkins” at Phoenix New Times.

The Weekly Town Crier (06/05/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (06/07/20)

Read “Amid pandemic, the Wichita Kenyan community unites virtually through food and family” at Religion News Service.

Read “'Cannabis burned during worship' by ancient Israelites - study” at BBC.

Read “‘How long, O Lord?’ Psalm 13 is the cry of black Americans” at America Magazine.

Read “Dear Evangelicals, You Must Know What You’ve Done To be Healed” by Kyle J. Howard.

Read “Southern Baptists see historic drop in membership” at Washington Post.

Read “Bishop at DC church outraged by Trump visit: 'I just can't believe what my eyes have seen' at CNN.

• Read “Peaceful Protesters Were Gassed Outside The White House So Trump Could Get A Photo Op At A Church” at Buzzfeed News.

• Read “Ahead of Trump Bible photo op, police forcibly expel priest from St. John’s church near White House” at Religion News Service.

• Read “The Bible Is Not a Prop. Its Teachings, Though—about the Gospel and Justice—Are What We Need Right Now A Bible in a photo opp was not the Bible we needed” at Christianity Today.

• Read “Barr personally ordered removal of protesters near White House, leading to use of force against largely peaceful crowd” at Washington Post.

• Read “The president is dragging the church into a culture war. We shouldn’t let him” at America Magazine.

• Read “An 'ANTIFA' Twitter account that called for looting 'white hoods' was actually run by white nationalist group Identity Evropa” at Business Insider.

• Read “American Bible Society leader: Don’t use the Bible as a political ‘prop’” at Religion News Service.

• Read “Amid protests, US Faith leaders engage racism and politics” at AP News.

• Read “Trump Favorability Slips Among White Catholic and Non-College Americans During National Unrest” at PRRI.

Read “Liberty University’s Director of Diversity Retention Has Resigned” at The Way of Improvement.

• Read “Black Liberty U. alums rebuke Falwell after blackface tweet” at AP News.

Browse “Antiracism Books for Christians – A Reading Guide” at Englewood Review of Books.

Browse “75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice” at Medium.

Unrest erupts worldwide in response to systemic racism in the U.S. manifesting in police brutality:

• Read “Pentagon puts military police on alert to go to Minneapolis” at Associated Press.

• Read “The History Behind 'When The Looting Starts, The Shooting Starts' at NPR.

• Read “The Revolution Will Not Be Videoed What Paul and Silas might have said about George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor and and and …” at Christianity Today.

• Read “Why Do They Riot? Rioting & The Overflow of Racial Trauma” by Jemar Tisby.

• Read “JAY-Z Called Minnesota Governor About Justice for George Floyd, Issues Statement” at Pitchfork.

• Read “Killer Mike Delivers Emotional Speech to Atlanta Protesters at Mayor’s Press Conference” at Pitchfork.

• Read “In Some Cities, Police Officers Joined Protesters Marching Against Brutality” at Forbes.

• Read “Cities on Edge as Fires Burn Near White House” at New York Times.

• Read “Music Industry to Observe ‘Blackout Tuesday’ in Solidarity with Nationwide Protests” at Relix.

• Read “A Reporter’s Cry on Live TV: ‘I’m Getting Shot! I’m Getting Shot!’” at New York Times.

• Read “Op-Ed: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Don’t understand the protests? What you’re seeing is people pushed to the edge” at Los Angeles Times.

• Read “As cities burned, Trump stayed silent — other than tweeting fuel on the fire” at Washington Post.

• Read “Protest, Uprisings, and Race War” at Counter Punch.

• Read “Martin Luther King Jr.’s scorn for ‘white moderates’ in his Birmingham jail letter” at Washington Post.

• Read “The terror of wearing both a press badge and black skin’: Black journalists are carrying unique burdens” at Washington Post.

• Read “What Does “Blackout Tuesday” Actually Mean for the Music Industry?” at Pitchfork.

  • Read “What Major Music Companies Actually Did on “Blackout Tuesday” at Pitchfork.

• Read/Watch “Thousands protest in downtown Phoenix for 4th straight night, people being detained” at AZ Family.

• Read “When Rioting Is the Answer” at Time.

• Read “The additional violence of George Floyd’s autopsy report” at Christian Century.

• Read “Minneapolis police union president releases letter criticizing city leaders following civil unrest” at KSTP.

• Read “The DEA Has Just Been Authorized to Conduct Surveillance on Protesters” at Buzzfeed News.

• Read “Trump calls governors ‘weak,’ urges them to use force against unruly protests” at Washington Post.

• Read “Colin Kaepernick sets up legal defence fund for George Floyd demonstrators” at The Independent.

• Read “Minnesota Files Discrimination Complaint Against Minneapolis Police Department” at NPR.

• Read “How to Safely and Ethically Film Police Misconduct” at Teen Vogue.

• Read/Watch “Massive protests defy local curfews, Trump threats” at MSNBC.

• Read “All four former officers involved in George Floyd's killing now face charges” at CNN.

• Read “Social media cracks down on sick challenge mocking George Floyd’s death” at New York Post.

• Read “If You Are White And Anti-Racist, This Non-Optical Allyship Guide Is Required Reading” at Vogue.

• Read "A Soul Check for White Christians In the words of MLK, "There comes a time when silence is betrayal” at Christianity Today.

• Read “‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ Cast, Showrunner Donate $100,000 to National Bail Fund Network” at Variety.

• Read “They Wanted A War, They Got One” Inside Trump’s Militarized Occupation of Washington D.C.”

• Read “Institutionalized Racism: A Syllabus How can we help students understand George Floyd’s death in the context of institutionalized racism?” at Daily JSTOR.

• Read “Final autopsy report reveals George Floyd had CORONAVIRUS but died from 'cardiopulmonary arrest' after Minneapolis cop knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes” at Daily Mail.

• Read "Jimmy Carter on George Floyd protests: 'Silence can be as deadly as violence' at CNN.

• Read “New Yorkers Said ‘F**k The Police,’ So The Police Rioted A historic uprising against police brutality in the city has seen the arrest of nearly 2,000 people, including me” at Huff Post.

• Browse “Resources in the Fight Against Police Brutality and Systemic Racism” at Pitchfork.

• Read “3 more Minneapolis officers charged in George Floyd death, Derek Chauvin charges elevated” at NBC News.

• Read “The Problem With Research on Racial Bias and Police Shootings” at City Lab.

• Browse “Antiracism Books for Christians – A Reading Guide” at Englewood Review of Books.

• Read “1968-2020: A Tale Of Two Uprisings” at NPR.

• Read “Tear Gas Is Way More Dangerous Than Police Let On — Especially During the Coronavirus Pandemic In the middle of a respiratory pandemic, law enforcement agencies have used tear gas in especially dangerous ways. The chemical agent also seeps into homes, contaminates food, furniture, skin and surfaces, and can cause long-term lung damage” at Pro Publica.

• Read “A Dubious Legal Doctrine Protects Cities From Lawsuits Over Police Brutality” at Slate.

• Read “Floyd Protesters Met With Armed Bystanders During Indiana March” at Time.

• Read “Law Enforcement Seizes Masks Meant To Protect Anti-Racist Protesters From COVID-19” at Huff Post.

Protests against police violence . . . produce more police violence?

• Atlanta

• Buffalo

• Chicago

• Denver, CO

• Detroit

• Fort Wayne, IN

• Houston

• Las Vegas

• Louisville

• Minneapolis

• Minneapolis

• New York

• New York

• Salt Lake City

• San Jose, CA

Read “A church returns land to American Indians “This is decolonized land,” a young woman said. “This is a liberated zone” at Christian Century.

• Read “Standing Rock Tribe Wins in Court After Years of Perseverance” at Earth Justice.

Read “Virginia governor to announce removal of Lee statue” at AP News.

• Read “Robert E Lee statue: Virginia governor announces removal of monument” at BBC.

Read “K-Pop Fans Have Hijacked #WhiteLivesMatter on Twitter to Teach Racists a Lesson” at News 18.

Read “Study: White people react to evidence of white privilege by claiming greater personal hardships” at Raw Story (from 2015).

Read “Minneapolis Police Union President: “I’ve Been Involved In Three Shootings Myself, And Not A One Of Them Has Bothered Me” at The Intercept.

Read “White New York socialite calls police on black woman for sitting on a bench” at Indy 100.

Read “Racism, Police Violence, and the Climate Are Not Separate Issues” at New Yorker.

Read “Ahmaud Arbery was boxed in by 2 trucks as he tried to escape, suspect used racial slur as he stood over body, evidence revealed in court shows” at Chicago Tribune.

Read “No, I'm not okay By Neal Lester, PhD.” at Ahwatukee Foothills News.

Read “Portland Public Schools will discontinue regular presence of school resource officers” at KATU.

Read “Breonna Taylor lived and died in a part of the U.S. where rights do not matter” at America Magazine.

Read “Atlanta-Based Organization Advocates For Rest As A Form Of Social Justice” at NPR.

Read “Putin decides to announce federal emergency due to fuel spill in Norilsk at RBC.

Read “About Face Death and surrender to power in the clothing of men” at Popula.

Weekly Coronavirus Roundup

• Read “Social Distancing Is Not Enough We will need a comprehensive strategy to reduce the sort of interactions that can lead to more infections” at The Atlantic.

• Read “Praying in a church is more important than buying flatpack furniture” at The Telegraph.

• Read “A pastor’s pandemic diary” at Christian Century.

• Read “Hydroxychloroquine, a drug promoted by Trump, failed to prevent healthy people from getting covid-19 in trial” at Washington Post.

• The U.S. death toll passes 110,000.

Read “What comes after the ‘Trumpocalypse’? America has a chance to be reborn” at The Star.

• Read “Donald Trump Appears to Have Committed Felony Voter Fraud” at Slate.

• Read “Trump, Lacking Clear Authority, Says U.S. Will Declare Antifa a Terrorist Group” at New York Times.

• Read “'I wish you the best': US military adviser resigns after Trump's controversial photo op at church” at Business Insider.

• Read “James Mattis Denounces President Trump, Describes Him as a Threat to the Constitution In an extraordinary condemnation, the former defense secretary backs protesters and says the president is trying to turn Americans against one another” at The Atlantic.

• Read “History Will Judge the Complicit Why have Republican leaders abandoned their principles in support of an immoral and dangerous president?” at The Atlantic.

Read “Iowa Rep. Steve King defeated in GOP primary” at Axios.

Read “Colorado Democrats Announce a New Bill To Hold Law Enforcement More Accountable As mass demonstrations against police brutality continue throughout America, a group of Centennial State lawmakers has put forth a set of legislative solutions” at 5280.

Read “Carole Baskin wins control of Tiger King star Joe Exotic's former zoo” at Yahoo.

Read “Formation of The Bob Weir Band-Fall 1977 (Enter Brent)” at Lost Live Dead.

Read “Music Industry to Observe ‘Blackout Tuesday’ in Solidarity with Nationwide Protests” at Relix.

Hear “Bob Mould Rage Against the President and Evangelicals on ‘American Crisis’ Track will appear on artist’s upcoming Blue Hearts LP, due out this fall” at Rolling Stone.

Read “This Is How Much More Money Artists Earn From Bandcamp Compared to Streaming Services” at Pitchfork.

Read “The Apollo Theater Schedules Free ‘Let’s Stay In Together’ Benefit with Dionne Warwick, Gary Clark Jr., Warren Haynes and More” at Relix.

Read “Sturgill Simpson Announces Livestream Show At Empty Ryman Auditorium” at Jambands.

Read “The Osbick Bird: Edward Gorey’s Tender and Surprising Vintage Illustrated Allegory About the Meaning of True Love” at Brain Pickings.

Read “The Court Case That Killed the ‘Ladies Menu’ Upscale restaurants once listed prices only for men” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “How ‘Shoebox Lunches’ Made Black Travel Possible During Jim Crow Humble shoeboxes allowed African-Americans to dine with dignity” at Atlas Obscura.

Browse “The extraordinary Polaroid diary of German filmmaker Wim Wenders” at Far Out Magazine.

Support FilmBar Online.

Read “10 Black-Owned Businesses To Support In Downtown Phoenix” at DTPHX.

Read “First Amendment Lawsuit Filed Over Terrorism Lesson At Scottsdale Community College” at Fronteras Desk.

The Weekly Town Crier (05/29/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (05/29/20).

Read “Jimmy Cobb, The Pulse Of 'Kind Of Blue,' Dies At 91” at NPR.

Read “William H. Lamar IV: It's not just the coronavirus -- bad theology is killing us” at Faith and Leadership.

Read “White Woman Calls Cops On Black Man Over Dog Leash Dispute In Viral Footage The man said he’d asked her to leash her dog. The woman is heard saying she would tell police “there’s an African American man threatening my life” at HuffPost.

Read “4 Minneapolis Police Officers Fired Over George Floyd Death The move comes after a video showed an officer kneeling on the neck of Floyd, an unarmed Black man, on Monday” at HuffPost.

• Read “We must confront the inconsistent laws that allow black lives to be taken with impunity” at Washington Post.

• Read “Chaotic Minneapolis protests spread amid emotional calls for justice, peace” at Washington Post.

• Read as the current president calls protesters “thugs” and threatens to shoot them, prompting Twitter to put a warning label on his public communications. This is America.

Read "Angélique Kidjo on Africa Day: 'We demand not to be at the mercy of our circumstances anymore.' at Okay Africa.

Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

• Read “The Price of American Arrogance It’s not just Trump. We need to overhaul our approach to foreign policy to avoid another disaster like the coronavirus” at Slate.

• Read “Trump Suggests Virus Death Count Is Inflated. Most Experts Doubt It” at New York Times.

• Read “Trump ordered states to open churches. Can he do that? The Justice Department's own actions show just how little power the president has to force the outcome he wants” at Politico.

• Read “Nearly half of Twitter accounts pushing to reopen America may be bots” at Technology Review.

• Read/Watch “Calif. Design Firm Working on Protective Suit for Concerts and Clubbing The suit includes a N95 filter as well as snap-in canisters for drinking and vaping” at NBC Washington.

• Read “An Incalculable Loss” at New York Times.

• Read “'We All Feel At Risk': 100,000 People Dead From COVID-19 In The U.S.” at NPR.

• Read “This Is So Unfair to Me”: Trump Whines About His COVID-19 Victimhood as Campaign Flails” at Vanity Fair.

• Read “Our Daily Breather: Steve Reich Composes During The Coronavirus Crisis” at NPR.

• Read “As Covid-19 cases rise in 17 states, Americans still divided on whether masks should be mandated” at CNN.

• Read “WHO Halts Hydroxychloroquine Trial Over Safety Concerns” at NPR.

• Read “Coronavirus may never go away, even with a vaccine Embracing that reality is crucial to the next phase of America’s pandemic response, experts say” at Washington Post.

Read “On weekend dedicated to war dead, Trump tweets insults, promotes baseless claims and plays golf” at Washington Post.

Read “Twitter adds label to Trump's misleading tweets about mail-in-ballots It's the first time Twitter has slapped a warning label on the president's tweets” at CNET.

• Read “Stung By Twitter, Trump Signs Executive Order To Weaken Social Media Companies” at NPR.

Read “How Hitler Controlled the Press” at University of North Texas.

Read “Were They Real? See Which Historical Figures May Not Have Existed” at Definition.com.

Read “The Countermelodies That Changed Us: A Lifetime Of Loving Indigo Girls” NPR.

Read “Kendrick Lamar Thinks Like A Jazz Musician” at NPR.

Read “13th Floor Elevators: A Visual History” at Aquarium Drunkard.

See “Bob Dylan’s 1974 Classic “Forever Young,” Illustrated” at Brain Pickings.

Read “Idris Ackamoor and The Pyramids announce new album Shaman” at Pan-African Music.

Read “The Black Crowes to Kick Off ‘Budweiser Stage At Home’ Series” at Jambands.

Read “Nike SB Preps New Grateful Dead “Dancing Bear” Collection” at Relix.

Read “Grimes Is Selling a “Fraction of Her Soul” at Online Art Exhibition” at Pitchfork.

Read “The Remaking of Steve Buscemi” at GQ. “In 2019, Buscemi lost his wife of over 30 years. In a rare interview, Hollywood's most beloved misfit opens up about anxiety, loss, and the hard work of getting through it all.”

Read “Thanks to Bookshop, There Is No Reason to Buy Books on Amazon Anymore Independent bookstores, and booksellers, get a lifeline just when they need it most” at Inside Hook.

Read “Herd Of Fuzzy Green 'Glacier Mice' Baffles Scientists” at NPR.

Read “Controversial study shows rats prefer jazz to classical music, when on drugs” at Classic FM.

Read “Necco Wafers candies make a sweet comeback after 2-year absence” at Today.

Read “Under Pandemic Prohibition, South Africans Resort to Pineapples A strict lockdown has meant a spike in homebrewing” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “Why Supporters Are Working to Save Palabras Bilingual Bookstore” at Phoenix New Times.

The Weekly Town Crier (05/22/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (05/22/20).

Read “Jorge Santana (of Malo and brother of Carlos), RIP” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Fred Willard, Comic Actor Who Thrived in Ensembles, Dies at 86” at New York Times.

Read “Ravi Zacharias Dies of Cancer The famous apologist was 74” at Christianity Today.

Read “Carlos Santana's brother, guitarist Jorge Santana, dead at 68” at Fox News.

Read “Al Mohler, Southern Baptist leader, says he was ‘stupid’ to defend slavery in 1998 CNN interview” at Religion News Service.

Read “When States Don't Talk with Churches about Covid Timetables, Tensions Increase” at Christianity Today.

Read “Despite Bad News, Evangelical Philosophy Is Flourishing” at Christianity Today.

Read “‘Laudato Si’’ was not enough. The Vatican needs to prioritize climate change” at America Magazine.

Read “Churches obsessed with their right to reopen are missing the point Genuine Christian faith is larger than the US Constitution” at Christian Century.

Read “We’re all monks now” at America Magazine.

Read “At New York hospital, a friar watches over those dying: ‘The miracle is to let go’” at Washington Post.

Read “Jane Roe’s Deathbed Confession: Anti-Abortion Conversion ‘All an Act’ Paid for by the Christian Right” at Daily Beast.

Read “Writer Anne Rice: 'Today I Quit Being A Christian'“ at NPR.

Read “'Sleeping While Black': Louisville Police Kill Unarmed Black Woman” at NPR. #BreonnaTaylor

Read “Ahmaud Arbery’s lynching begs America to respond What would it take to stop seeing neighbors as intruders and threats?” at Christian Century. #AhmaudArbery

Read “Meet The Woman Who Led Denmark to Cut Food Waste By 25% in 5 Years Selina Juul isn’t a politician. But she’s leading Denmark’s food waste revolution” at Global Citizen.

Read “Hacker Group Leaks Confidential Lady Gaga Files, Threatens to Next Take Down Donald Trump” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “After My Wife Died I Was Consumed by Both Grief and Paperwork. We Must Work Together to Change the Medical System” at Time.

Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

• Read “Obama team left pandemic playbook for Trump administration, officials confirm” at PBS News Hour.

• Read “Replace Trump And Bolster The CDC, A Leading Medical Journal Urges” at NPR.

• Read “Defying all odds, the world's last Blockbuster thinks it can outlast the pandemic” at AV Club.

• Read “Michigan Coronavirus Cases Jump By Over 1,000 As Armed Anti-Lockdown Protesters Shut Down Capitol.”

• Read “'A Lot To Be Hopeful For': Crisis Seen As Historic, Not Another Great Depression” at NPR.

• Read “The Pandemic as God’s Judgment Does the biblical pattern of disaster and discipline with a call to repent apply to COVID-19?” at Christianity Today.

• Read “'Us Vs. Them' In A Pandemic: Researchers Warn Divisions Could Get Dangerous” at NPR.

• Read “Coronavirus Brings Beer Drinkers Back to Bud Light Craft brewers face a reckoning as Americans opt for value and familiarity with brands like Miller Lite and Coors Light” at Wall Street Journal.

• Read/Watch “US coronavirus death toll passes 90,000 but influential model lowers its prediction” at CNN.

• Read the AZ Central opinion piece: “State won't name nursing homes where seniors are dying because it's .... bad publicity?”

• Read “Where Do White Evangelicals Get Their Coronavirus News? The White House While most agree with the response from public health officials, confidence in the Trump administration outweighs the news media” at Christianity Today.

• Read “Reports: Inexperience and cronyism slowed Kushner-led efforts to procure medical supplies” at CNN. “The volunteer group was also told to prioritize leads from "VIPs," including political allies, conservative journalists and associates of Trump, outlets reported.”

• Read “Trump threatens to halt WHO funding, review U.S. membership” at Reuters.

• Read “Covid-19 lockdowns could drop carbon emissions to their lowest level since World War II. But the change may be temporary” at CNN.

• Read “Aiming for novelty in coronavirus coverage, journalists end up sensationalizing the trivial and untrue” at The Conversation.

• Read “Pakistan Is Giving Tree-Planting Jobs to Workers Unemployed Due to COVID-19” Global Citizen.

• Read “U.S. Could Have Saved 36,000 Lives If Social Distancing Started 1 Week Earlier: Study” at NPR.

Read “Send Nudes": A New Study Shows How Often Boys Pressure Girls For Explicit Photos” at A Mighty Girl.

Read “Social, Political Animals: Embodied Learning and the Limits of Online Education” at Public Discourse.

Read “Tell Me How This Is Not Terrorism People with firearms forced the civil government of the state of Michigan to shut itself down” at Esquire.

Read “Trump, Unveiling Space Force Flag, Touts What He Calls New 'Super-Duper Missile' at NPR.

As we move into campaign season, let’s not forget:

• Read “How Donald Trump Shifted Kids-Cancer Charity Money Into His Business” at Forbes (from 2017).

Read “The Prophecies of Q American conspiracy theories are entering a dangerous new phase.” at The Atlantic.

Read “Democrats Bet Health Care Will Deliver 2020 Victories” at NPR. “"Democrats are betting that Americans will vote for the party of health care over the party of drinking bleach.

Read “Trump says administration will continue legal fight to eliminate Obamacare” at CNN.

Read “Trump wants payroll tax holiday to mitigate coronavirus economic pain” at Reuters.

Read “Texas mayor says women can't pray at city council meetings in email to fellow councilmember” at WFAA.

Read “Monopoly was invented to demonstrate the evils of capitalism” at Aeon.

Read “Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 and 2 remaster soundtrack revealed - and it's missing a few classics” at EuroGamer.

Read “Live Nation to trial socially distanced shows in New Zealand” at NME.

Read “This Is What America’s First Socially Distanced Concert Looked Like” at Stereogum.

Read “Jeff Tweedy, Sharon Van Etten Join Daniel Johnston-Inspired Mental-Health Initiative Hi, How Are You Project asks people to spread awareness of mental health by simply asking others ‘Hi, how are you?’ at Rolling Stone.

Read “Dirty Projectors’ David Longstreth Reflects on ‘Workingman’s Dead’” at Relix.

Read “Americana ‘Wunderkind’ Sammy Brue Opens Up About Balancing Fame And Youth” at American Songwriter.

Read “Neil Young’s Lost 1975 Album ‘Homegrown’ To Be Released in June” at Relix.

Read “The Complicated Legacy of Joy Division’s Ian Curtis We honor the life of the tortured frontman by living and enduring as long as possible” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Jason Molina's 'Eight Gates' To Get A Posthumous Release In August” at NPR.

Read “Massive Attack's 3D raises £106,000 for Bristol food banks with art print fire sale” at The Guardian.

Read “Wu-Tang Clan Selling “Protect Ya Hands” Sanitizer For every purchase, a bottle will be donated to a homeless shelter in Canada” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “He Thinks He is Pink Floyd”: Roger Waters Calls Out David Gilmour Over Use of Pink Floyd Website” Jambands.

Read “A 3,350-Song Playlist of Music from Haruki Murakami’s Personal Record Collection” at Open Culture.

Read “How the Coronavirus Is Affecting America’s Vinyl Record Industry” at Pitchfork

Read “Grab a book. It’s good for your health. That’s one good thing about sheltering in place” about Christian Century.

Watch “Missouri Penguins Enjoy 'Morning Of Fine Art' At Local Museum” at NPR.

Read “Antidepressant Microbes In Soil: How Dirt Makes You Happy” Gardening Know How.

Read “Are Creative People Crazier? Yes, being "a little bit" bipolar or schizophrenic is linked to creativity” at Psychology Today.

Read “Peyton Manning, Drew Holcomb and others launch top-shelf Tennessee bourbon whiskey” at Tennesean.

Read “Ducey Asks Businesses To Self-Police On Safety Protocols” at KJZZ.

Read “From the Grand Canyon to Stevie Nicks, here are 130 reasons why The Republic loves Arizona” at AZ Central.

The Weekly Town Crier (05/01/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (05/01/20).

Read “BREAKING: Fela's Ex-drummer, Tony Allen, Dies In France” at Sahara Reporters.

Read “Knock Knock. It's Weird Evangelical Twitter. Online, millennial Christians embrace the absurd” at Christianity Today.

Read “Can Staying Home Help Us Regain a Sense of Place? How rediscovering creation around us can deepen our connection with God” at Christianity Today.

Read “America's billionaires have become even richer since Donald Trump became president, and it says a lot about the country's record-high wealth gap” at Business Insider.

Read “Microsoft Word now flags double spaces as errors, ending the great space debate” at The Verge.

Read Pentagon Officially Publishes Tom DeLonge’s UFO Videos Confirming what DeLonge's known since Enema of the State -- that "Aliens Exist" at Consequence of Sound.

Read “'This is no damn hobby': the 'gangsta gardener' transforming Los Angeles” at The Guardian.

Read “The Great Gatsby and Catch-22 among classic books banned from Alaska classrooms Works from Maya Angelou, Joseph Heller, Tim O'Brien, Ralph Ellison and F Scott Fitzgerald erased from curriculum” at The Independent.

Read “Land O’Lakes quietly gets rid of iconic Indian maiden mascot” at Minnesota Reformer.

Read “We are living in an apocalypse” by David Dark at American Magazine.

Your Weekly Coronavirus News Roundup:

• Read “Tom Cotton: Ban Chinese students from learning science so they can’t ‘steal’ coronavirus vaccine” at Raw Story.

• Read “Miami goes seven weeks without a homicide for first time since 1957” at CBS News.

• Read the opinion piece “Lysol and UV Rays: Running A Pandemic Like A Reality TV Show” at Empty Wheel.

• Read “Tennessee Restaurants Reopen As State Sees Biggest 1-Day Jump In COVID-19 Cases” at NPR.

• Read “How Some Phoenix Record Labels Are Surviving the Coronavirus” at Phoenix New Times.

• Read “States Warn That Workers Will Lose Unemployment If They Refuse To Return To Jobs” at The Intellectualist.

• Read/Watch “The dangerous global flood of misinformation surrounding COVID-19” at PBS News Hour.

• Read “How Are Rich People Getting Richer During the Coronavirus Pandemic? Jeff Bezos has reportedly made another $25 billion since the beginning of the year” at GQ.

• Read/Listen to “Grief is Everywhere in the Age of COVID-19” at WNYC.

• Read “King Crimson’s Robert Fripp Launches “Music for Quiet Moments” Quarantine Series” at Consequence of Sound.

• Read “THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS 'I Am Mourning The Loss': Two-Thirds Of Artists Report They're Now Unemployed” at NPR.

  • BUY MUSIC, SUPPORT ARTISTS (Listen to music. Love Your Neighbor): Beginning this Friday, May 01, Bandcamp will again waive their revenue share for everything sold. Until otherwise stated, they will be doing this on the first Friday of each month. Please use these chances to support artists during this difficult time.

Read/Listen to “How Will Chief Justice And Supreme Court Conservative Majority Affect 2020 Election?” at NPR. “Chief Justice John Roberts has worked hard to persuade the public that the Supreme Court justices are fair-minded legal umpires — not politicians in robes. But that image was tarnished by the Court's decision on Wisconsin's election earlier this month.”

Read “Here are the largest public companies taking payroll loans meant for small businesses” at MSNBC.

• Read “U.S. Citizens Married To Immigrants Are Blocked From Getting Stimulus Checks” at Yahoo.

Read “Trump’s History With the Word Sarcasm Is Littered with Excuses and Ignorance When Trump uses the sarcasm excuse, it’s because he knows he’s gone too far but can’t bring himself to admit it” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Nancy Pelosi Endorses Joe Biden: “The Personification Of Hope And Courage, Values, Authenticity And Integrity” at News and Guts.

Read “Hillary Clinton Endorses Joe Biden” at News and Guts.

Browse the 2017 piece “11 Warning Signs of Gaslighting Gaslighting is a manipulation tactic used to gain power. And it works too well” at Psychology Today.

Read “I Love Phish Concerts, and I Can’t Wait for Them to Come Back”: Trey Anastasio Speaks About Quarantine, Tour Plans and ‘Sigma Oasis’ in New Interview” at Jambands.

Watch “Post Malone Performs Nirvana Covers With Travis Barker” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Quarantine Creativity Interview Series: Ethan Miller” at Savage Henry.

Read “Library of Congress Launches Open-Source Hip-Hop Sampling Tool Producers will have access to the library's vast audio collection, which dates back more than a hundred years” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “This Is Heartbreaking For Us": Amoeba Music's Original Hollywood Location Permanently Closed” at Okay Player.

Read “Tori Amos Believes the Muses Can Help A conversation about music, politics, and what you learn about America from being on the road” at New Yorker.

Read “How Do You Sell Concert Tees Without Concerts? Merch Companies Are Up Against a Wall “I was thinking this is a bulletproof business,” says one of many merch execs who have lost their biggest revenue stream” at Rolling Stone.

Read “PJ Harvey, Nick Cave, More Sign Letter Calling for Creative Industry Funding From UK Government” at Pitchfork.

Read “It Has to Be About Need :: The Mysteries of Lucinda Williams’ Good Souls Better Angels” at Aquarium Drunkard.

• Read “Lucinda Williams on the Music That Made Her The venerable singer-songwriter talks about the artists and albums that have meant the most to her—Sade, Audioslave, Tricky—five years at a time” at Pitchfork.

Read “Live Nation Updates Ticket Refund Policy” at Jambands.

Read “Stephen Malkmus on Traditional Techniques :: We’re Just Going To Wing It” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Read “Charlie Parker's Story to Be Told in Graphic Novel 'Chasin' the Bird' at The Hollywood Reporter.

Read “European Cities Launch Drive-In Concert Series With Great Success” at Live For Live Music.

Read “Watch Fiona Apple Give a Rare TV Interview on Democracy Now!” at Pitchfork.

BUY MUSIC, SUPPORT ARTISTS (Listen to music. Love Your Neighbor): Beginning this Friday, May 01, Bandcamp will again waive their revenue share for everything sold. Until otherwise stated, they will be doing this on the first Friday of each month. Please use these chances to support artists during this difficult time.

Read “For this year only, movies that had to go streaming will still be eligible for Oscars” at AV Club.

Read “AMC Theatres Refuses to Show Universal Films Following VOD Release of Trolls World Tour Universal seemed to imply that the commercial success of Trolls was proof that VOD was the way of the future” at Consequence of Sound

Read “Museums are sharing their creepiest objects in apparent attempt to digitize ancient curses” at AV Club.

Read “In Thailand, Funeral Cookbooks Preserve Recipes and Memories Though their origins are tragic, the books provide invaluable inspiration” at Atlas Obscura.

The Weekly Town Crier (04/24/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (04/24/20).

Read “Henry Grimes, Bassist of Avant-Garde Pedigree and a Storied Return, Dies of COVID-19 at 84” at WBGO.

Read “Tex Earnhardt, colorful founder of car dealership empire, dies at 89” at AZ Central.

Read the opinion piece “Mohler's turn to Trump is the crowning flip-flop of his career” at Religion News Service.

Read “Grieving Is Leading I’d done everything I could think of to keep the church running. But I’d forgotten to mourn” at Christianity Today.

Read the opinion piece: “Evangelicals Have Abandoned the Character Test. The Competence Test is Next” by David French at The Dispatch.

Read “Good News? Are T4G/TGC Leaders Starting To Change Their Gospel? Is T4G shifting on the gospel? Looks like it” at Jesus Creed.

Read “Now Is the Time to Think About Nuclear Weapons Pope Francis condemns deterrence and the New START Treaty is set to expire. Where should Protestants stand?” at Christianity Today.

Read “Episode Eight (Daniel Smith of Danielson, Adam Again, Dylan’s Foul Murder, Salute to Prine and Withers)” at True Tunes.

Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

• Read “Member of church that bused in members to defy social distancing order dies of COVID-19” at LGBTQ Nation.

• Read “Trump claims it's his call on when to 'reopen' the country. He's wrong. Only the states can give shutdown orders, and only the states can lift them, legal scholars say. Many governors agree” at NBC News.

• Read the opinion piece: “COVID-19 is accelerating the Republican Party’s descent into authoritarianism” at Salon.

• Read the opinion piece “Coronavirus didn't bring the economy down — 40 years of greed and corporate malfeasance did” at Business Insider.

• Read “The Betsy DeVos connection to the protests against Covid-19 precautions in Michigan” at Eclectablog.

• Read “Kentucky sees highest spike in coronavirus cases after lockdown protests” at New York Post.

• Read the opinion piece: “These People Aren’t Freedom Fighters—They’re Virus-Spreading Sociopaths The “liberate America” protesters claim they just want to make their own choices about their health and safety, but they really want to force others to risk their lives” at The Nation.

• Read "Bon Jovi Cancel Entire 2020 Tour with Bryan Adams Due to Coronavirus Pandemic "This will enable ticketholders to get refunds to help pay their bills or buy groceries" at Consequence of Sound.

• Read “Here in Sweden we're playing the long game, and listening to science not fear” at The Telegraph.

• Read/Watch “NBC News/WSJ Poll: Nearly 60% of Americans support keeping stay-at-home restrictions” at MSNBC.

• Read “How Musicians Are Fighting Coronavirus by Turning Merch Into Masks” at Pitchfork.

• Read “After Fauci urged caution in reopening the economy, Fox News turned to Dr. Phil for a second opinion” at Washington Post.

• See “Video shows nurse facing down Colorado protester against stay-at-home order” at NBC News.

• Read “Oregon town plans to deliver masks, door-to-door, to every resident in midst of coronavirus outbreak” at Oregon Live.

• Read “Gov. Brian Kemp sets Georgia on aggressive course to reopen, putting his state at center of deepening national debate” at Washington Post.

• Read “Trump suggests 'injection' of disinfectant to beat coronavirus and 'clean' the lungs” at NBC News.

• Read “In New York’s largest hospital system, 88 percent of coronavirus patients on ventilators didn’t make it” at Washington Post.

• Read “Trump reverses course, says it's 'too soon' for Georgia Gov. Kemp to reopen state” at NBC News.

• Read the opinion piece “We Are Living in a Failed State The coronavirus didn’t break America. It revealed what was already broken” at The Atlantic.

• Read “DOJ Would Support Legal Action If Governors' Restrictions Go 'Too Far,' Barr Says” at NPR.

• Read “Parks and Recreation’ Cast Reuniting for One-Off COVID-19 Charity Episode” at Rolling Stone.

• Read/watch “Trump suggests 'injection' of disinfectant to beat coronavirus and 'clean' the lungs” at NBC News.

Read “Virginia governor makes Election Day a holiday and expands early voting” at CNN.

Read “Trump says he will sign executive order temporarily suspending immigration into US” at The Hill.

Read “Mail-in voting doesn't benefit either party or invite more fraud, study says” at UPI.

Read “The Erosion of Deep Literacy” at National Affairs.

Read “Joe Pera Talks with You David Bazan (Pedro The Lion) on the Talkhouse Podcast” at Talkhouse.

Read “The Cure’s ‘Seventeen Seconds’ is a cold, eerie post-punk masterpiece” at Treble Zine

See “Kermit The Frog & Jim James Duet On ‘Rainbow Connection’At Newport Folk” at Jambase.

Read “Betting it all on 311” at AV Club.

Read Pitchfork’s first 10.0 rating in a decade: “Fiona Apple Fetch the Bolt Cutters.”

Read “Blanks And Postage: How To Build A Diving Bell, or Tape-Hunting Tips For Quarantined Gormandizers” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Read “Back To Sun City :: Sir Richard Bishop, Clandestine Quartet, Sun City Girls The Sun City Girls saga came to a sad end with the death of drummer Charles Gocher in 2007. But the band’s bizarre, inspiring spirit lives on in the recent work of SCG co-founders Rick and Alan Bishop (as well as a recommended live show just unleashed from the vaults)” at Aquarium Drunkard, and watch Sun City Girl’s Cloaven Theater right here.

Read “Alison Pill on the ‘Devs’ Finale and What’s Next for Katie” at Variety.

Read “Spike Jonze’s New Beastie Boys Movie Is No Fun” at Pitchfork.

Read “ Ozone hole three times the size of Greenland opens over the North Pole” at Live Science.

Read “How Arizona native Courtney Marie Andrews' new music video honors her Bisbee music mentors” at AZ Central.

Read “With the Live Music Industry at a Standstill, Indie Venue Owners Are Banding Together” at Phoenix New Times.

The Weekly Town Crier (04/17/20

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (04/17/20)

Read “Brian Dennehy, Burly Actor in 'First Blood,' 'Cocoon' and 'Death of a Salesman,' Dies at 81” at Hollywood Reporter.

Read “The pope just proposed a universal basic income. Is the United States ready for it?” at The Atlantic.

Read “On Christians Spreading Corona Conspiracies: Gullibility is not a Spiritual Gift” at Christianity Today.

Read “In Florida, Pro Wrestling Deemed Essential Business” at News and Guts.

Read “White House Seeks To Lower Farmworker Pay To Help Agriculture Industry” at NPR.

Read the opinion piece “The plague of Donald Trump” by Sarah Kendzior at Globe and Mail.

Read “Trump says Republicans would ‘never’ be elected again if it was easier to vote President dismissed Democratic-led push for voter reforms amid coronavirus pandemic during Fox & Friends appearance” at The Guardian.

WATCH: “Cuomo pushes back against Trump’s authority to re-open the economy” at PBS News Hour.

Read “The Woman Accusing Biden of Sexual Assault Filed a Report to Police. Here’s What You Need to Know” at Vice.

Read “Virginia governor makes Election Day a holiday and expands early voting” at CNN.

Read “Scotland's claim to fame as birthplace of the F-word revealed” at Scotsman.

Read “Speed: The Infinite Soup Can, Psychic Visigoths and The Beatles Going Fast” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

• Read “Dave Grohl’s Pandemic Playlist The Foo Fighters front man picks a song for your every quarantine mood” at The Atlantic.

• Read “What Does Apple Music’s $50 Million COVID-19 Fund Mean for Indie Labels? Reps from Saddle Creek, Partisan, Don Giovanni and others have mixed feelings about the tech giant's relief effort” at Pitchfork.

• Read “Record Stores: Coronavirus ‘Could Be the Death Knell’ For Indie Retailers Most shops were already scraping by, but many look for hope as the pandemic forces their doors closed” at Rolling Stone.

• Read “Trump Removed the Head of the Coronavirus Bailout Oversight Board. Its Members Could Be Next” at Pro Publica.

• Read “Sturgill Simpson Confirms COVID-19 Diagnosis Following Frustrating Attempts to Get Tested” at Billboard.

• Read “Belfast pub delivering pints of freshly-poured Guinness door-to-door during lockdown” at Irish Post.

• Read “The Police Power of the States to Control a Pandemic, Explained The federal government has the resources, but it’s the states that have the power” at The Dispatch.

• Read “A Month After Emergency Declaration, Trump's Promises Largely Unfulfilled” at NPR.

• Read the Opinion Piece: “The Huge Cost of Waiting to Contain the Pandemic As the numbers show, the timing of social distancing can have an enormous impact on death tolls” at New York Times.

• Read “Tax change in coronavirus package overwhelmingly benefits millionaires, congressional body finds” at Washington Post.

• Read “Virginia pastor who defiantly held church service dies of coronavirus” at New York Post.

• Read “Live Concerts Won’t Return Until “Fall 2021 at the Earliest,” Health Expert Warns” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “The Mountain Goats Release New Album Songs for Pierre Chuvin: Listen John Darnielle’s first boombox album since 2002’s All Hail West Texas” at Pitchfork.

Read “Sturgill Simpson Pens Emotional Goodbye To John Prine” at Whiskey Riff.

• Read “John Prine: The Last Days and Beautiful Life of an American Original His wife, Fiona, son Jody, and others remember a big-hearted genius who championed new artists and made the most of the small things in life” at Rolling Stone.

• Read “John Prine, A Beacon of Middle America by Erin Osmon at No Depression.

• Read/Watch/Listen “John Prine :: Sessions At West 54th” Aquarium Drunkard.

Read “'Indian Sun: The Life and Music of Ravi Shankar' (excerpt)” at Pop Matters. “Ravi Shankar was bemused by the Beatles and others using the sitar in rock music.”

Read “Ticketmaster changes refund policy amid COVID-19 outbreak” at Lambgoat.

Read “David Nelson Reflects on Writing and Recording with Robert Hunter” at Relix.

Read “Spacemen 3’s Peter Kember On Analog Synths, Plant Life, And His New Album as Sonic Boom” at Vinyl Me Please.

Read “How Independent Music Could Suffer If Trump Kills the U.S. Postal Service” at Pitchfork.

Read “‘Robin Hood’ Animated Film Getting Disney Remake” at Variety.

Read “Carole Baskin Feels ‘So Angry’ That Tiger King Made Her Look Like a Husband-Murderer” at Vulture.

Read “Wes Anderson Lists Movies to Watch In Quarantine The veteran filmmaker is also a big fan of Jimmy McGill” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Beverly Cleary, Creator of Mighty Girl "Ramona Quimby," Celebrates Her 104th Birthday” at A Mighty Girl.

Hear “Christopher Walken reads Where The Wild Things Are” at For Reading Addicts.

Read “How Orange (the Fruit) Inspired Orange (the Color) Until the Renaissance, the English language had no word for yellow-red” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “When the Government Banned PBR, Pabst Made Cheese Instead Selling dairy products helped the brewery survive Prohibition” at Atlas Obscura.

The Weekly Town Crier (04/03/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (04/03/20).

Read “Remembering Doug Clark, a mysterious icon of the Phoenix punk music underground” at AZ Central.

Read “Ellis Marsalis, New Orleans jazz piano legend hospitalized with coronavirus symptoms, dies” at Nola.

Read “R.I.P. Bill Withers, “Lean on Me” and “Lovely Day” Singer, Dies at 81 The legendary crooner passed away from heart complications” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger Dead at 52 From COVID-19” at PitchforkI.

Consider “Should Christians Participate in Boycotts?” with Alan Noble at Christian Research Institute.

Coronavirus Weekly Roundup:Education:

• Read “A coronavirus outbreak in jails or prisons could turn into a nightmare Experts warn prisons and jails aren’t ready for a pandemic — and that could hurt everyone else too” at Vox.

• Read “Rodney Howard-Browne, Megachurch Pastor Who Flouted Virus Rules, Arrested” at The Daily Beast.

• Read “Liberty University Brings Back Its Students, and Coronavirus Fears, Too The decision by the school’s president, Jerry Falwell Jr., to partly reopen his evangelical university enraged residents of Lynchburg, Va. Then students started getting sick” at the New York Times.

• Read “Hobby Lobby Closes Stores, Slashes Salaries Following 'God Is in Control' Remarks and Social Media Has Thoughts” at PopCulture.

• Read “Over 1,200 people attend Louisiana church service, defying coronavirus ban: "We will continue" at CBS News.

• Read “Roy Moore, ex-Alabama chief justice, to aid Central church defying coronavirus order” at The Advocate.

• Read “Some evangelicals deny the coronavirus threat. It’s because they love tough guys. White evangelical conservatives don’t take the novel coronavirus seriously because they believe in a muscular Christianity” at Washington Post.

• Read “Christianity Offers No Answers About the Coronavirus. It's Not Supposed To” at Time

• Read “John Prine Hospitalized With COVID-19 Symptoms” at Jambands.

• Read “I'm a Doctor Recovering From COVID-19. I Can't Get Over the Government's Callousness for Human Life” at Time.

• Read “General Electric Workers Launch Protest, Demand to Make Ventilators GE workers who normally make jet engines say their facilities are sitting idle while the country faces a dire ventilator shortage” at Vice.

• Read “Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey issues statewide stay-at-home order” at KTAR.

• Read “ Honeywell Hiring 500 in Phoenix to Make Millions of N-95 Masks Each Month” at Phoenix.gov.

• Read “Netflix's Tiger King star Joe Exotic hospitalised after contracting coronavirus in prison” at The Mirror.

• Read “Brian Kemp Is What You Get When Allegiance to Trump Is All That Matters Georgia’s Republican governor announced his reversal on social distancing policies with a stunning admission” at The Esquire.

• Read “Florida officials: Arrested pastor not exonerated by new order listing religious services as ‘essential’ at Religion News Service.

Read “Bernie Sanders says he’s staying in the presidential race. Many Democrats fear a reprise of their 2016 defeat” at Washington Post.

Read “Last Call: Neal Casal and the Dangerous Thing We’re Afraid to Talk About” at Premier Guitar.

Read “Robert Plant interview: my life after Led Zeppelin. It's been a long time since Robert Plant fronted the biggest band in the world, and now, at 71, he’s enjoying the fourth decade of a successful solo career” at Louder Sound.

Read “The My Generation: An Oral History Of Myspace Music Myspace changed the way we discovered music and fell apart after conquering the world” at Stereogum.

Read “Miles Davis’ ‘Bitches Brew’ At 50” at Tidal.

Check out “Stevie Wonder :: @ The Rainbow Theatre — London, 01/31/74” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Listen and Download “Herbie Hancock & the Headhunters :: 1974 – Bremen, Germany” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Read “Chuck D Says Flavor Flav’s Public Enemy Firing Was a Hoax to Promote New Album” at Pitchfork.

Read “Hasbro releases every episode of 80’s G.I. Joe animated series on YouTube” at Arrow In The Head.

Read “You Can Now Binge-Watch Every Single Episode of The French Chef with Julia Child” at Taste Of Home.

See “20+ People Who Discovered Their Art History Doppelgängers at Museums” at My Modern Net.

See “Incredibly Realistic Paintings Look Like They’re Wrapped in Plastic Film” at My Modern Net.

See “Museum Asks People To Recreate Paintings With Stuff They Can Find at Home, Here Are The Results” at Sad and Useless.

Read “Gannett, publisher of The Arizona Republic, announces unpaid furloughs” at AZ Central.

Read “Arizona arts telethon has tons of content for all ages. Here's how to stream it this week” at AZ Central.

The Weekly Town Crier (03/27/20)

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

Read “Legendary country singer Kenny Rogers dies at 81” at CNN.

Read “Tres Warren Of Psychic Ills Dead At 41” at Stereogum.

Read “Mike Longo, Prominent Jazz Pianist Known For His Tenure with Dizzy Gillespie, Dies at 83” at WBGO.

Read “Albert Uderzo, a creator of French hero Asterix, dies at 92” at Art Canvas.

Read “Ray Mantilla, Percussionist Who Blazed a Trail in Both Jazz and Latin Music, Is Dead at 85” at WBGO.

Read “Sax maestro Manu Dibango has died from Covid-19, aged 86” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “Playwright Terrence McNally, 81, dies of coronavirus-related complications” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Dear Liberty University board: Please stop Jerry Falwell Jr. before it’s too late” at Religion News Service.

• Read “Jerry Falwell Jr. is inviting some students back to Liberty University amid pandemic, argues he’s ‘protecting’ them” at News and Guts.

Read “If you can’t go to confession, take your sorrow directly to God, pope says” at Crux News.

Read “Robert Jeffress suggests that Tim Keller is a “wimpy Christian” who has “cloaked” his “cowardice in theology” at The Way of Improvement.

Coronavirus Weekly Roundup:

• Read “Coronavirus: Rough sleepers in London given hotel rooms” at BBC.

• Read “Vinyl Delivery? How Local Record Stores Are Adjusting to Coronavirus Concerns” at Phoenix New Times.

• Read “‘I’m going to keep pushing.’ Anthony Fauci tries to make the White House listen to facts of the pandemic The infectious disease researcher has become America’s most trusted coronavirus expert” at News and Guts.

• Watch “How to practice #SocialDistancing, according to the films of #WesAnderson. Edited by Luís Azevedo” at Little White Lies’ Youtube page.

• Read “Spit On, Yelled At, Attacked: Chinese-Americans Fear for Their Safety As bigots blame them for the coronavirus and President Trump labels it the “Chinese virus,” many Chinese-Americans say they are terrified of what could come next” at The New York Times.

• Read “DOJ Wants to Suspend Certain Constitutional Rights During Coronavirus Emergency The Department of Justice has secretly asked Congress for the ability to detain arrested people “indefinitely” in addition to other powers that one expert called “terrifying” at Rolling Stone.

• Read “Volunteers produce 3D-printed valves for life-saving coronavirus treatments 101 Volunteers made the valves for about $1” at The Verge.

• Read “R.E.M's Mike Mills on why It's the End of the World resonates during the COVID-19 pandemic Social Sharing For the record, he still feels fine” at CBC.

• Read “Trump says he wants the country 'opened up and just raring to go by Easter'" at CNN.

• Read “White supremacists encouraging their members to spread coronavirus to cops, Jews, FBI says” at ABC NEWS.

• Read “Arizona national-forest campgrounds are closed due to coronavirus. Here's what we know” at AZ Central.

  • Read “National Park Service to waive entrance fees at open parks to aid social distancing” at CNN.

• Read “Conservative churches need to get the social distancing memo” at Religion News.

• Read “How Panic Buying Affects Our Personal Finances For many, it will lead to overspending, credit card debt, and greater anxiety” at Psychology Today.

• Read “Target Spends $300 Million To Give Raises, Paid Leave To Workers” at Forbes.

• Read “How the Pandemic Will End The U.S. may end up with the worst COVID-19 outbreak in the industrialized world. This is how it’s going to play out” at The Atlantic.

• Read “Senate Passes $2 Trillion Coronavirus Relief Package” at NPR.

• Read “NY Gov. Cuomo Counters Trump: Don’t Put a Dollar Figure on Human Life” at News And Guts.

• Read “Fact Check: Trump Compares Coronavirus To The Flu, But It Could Be 10 Times Deadlier” at NPR.

• Read “The coronavirus is now the American virus As deaths and infections mount, our historic failure to stop the outbreak will become a dark lesson” at The Verge.

• Read “#GenX is Trending on Twitter Because of How They're Handling Coronavirus—Here's Why” at Parade.

• Read “The U.S. Now Leads the World in Confirmed Coronavirus Cases Following a series of missteps, the nation is now the epicenter of the pandemic” at New York Times.

• Read “Jackson Browne Tests Positive for COVID-19, Shares New Song “A Little Soon to Say” at Jambands.

Read “Wisconsin Humane Society Finds Home for Every Animal Up for Adoption: 'We’re Near Tears'“ at Yahoo.

Read “GOP Congressman Blasts Sen. Richard Burr For Suspicious Stock Sale” at News and Guts.

Read “Federal Reserve to lend additional $1 trillion a day to large banks” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Beatles’ Iconic Abbey Road Crosswalk Gets Repainted Because Nobody Is Outside The London landmark, which is usually clogged with tourist traffic, gets a fresh coat” at Pitchfork.

Read “The lost art of deep listening: Choose an album. Lose the phone. Close your eyes” at Yahoo News.

Watch “Neil Young’s Stunning First Fireside Session Got a Little Weird: Watch Including performances of "Vampire Blues", "Razor Love", and "Tell Me Why" at Consequence of Sound.

Read “The Never-Ending Couch Tour: How Livestreams and Social Media Have Already Transformed Live Music” at Pitchfork.

Read “Sinéad O'Connor Is Still In One Piece” at Washington Post.

Read “Musicians Earned $4.3 Million From Bandcamp on Friday Nearly 800,000 items were sold on the day the site waived its revenue shares” at Pitchfork.

Read “Track By Track: African Head Charge - Songs Of Praise Ahead of the mighty reissue of the dub ensemble's back catalogue, band leader Bonjo guides us through one of his favourite albums...” at Ransom Note.

Read “Nine Inch Nails Release Two New Albums ‘Ghosts V - VI’ For Free Download” at Revolver.

Read “Montreux Jazz Festival Releases More Than 50 Full Sets from Johnny Cash, Nina Simone, Marvin Gaye” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Should Music’s Biggest Companies Be Doing More to Help Right Now? Spotify, Amazon, Warner Music Group, and other major music companies are donating to coronavirus relief — but how do the acts stack up against meaningful measures elsewhere in the industry?” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Bob Weir Shares “Gymming Playlist” for Active Deadheads” at Jambands.

Read “Wes Anderson Made His ‘French Dispatch’ Cast Watch These 5 Movies Before Filming Wes Anderson fans might want to prioritize watching these five French classics before the July 24 release of "The French Dispatch." at Indie Wire.

Read “Japan’s Toei Launches YouTube Channel for Classic Tokusatsu Shows” at Variety.

Read “David Lynch Is Coming to Disney+ in April, So Get Your Children Ready” at Indie Wire.

Read “Using Art to Expose What Government Hides: An Interview With Laurie Anderson” at The Nation.

See the “‘Where’s Waldo’ Coronavirus Edition Is Here And It’s A Tad Easier To Spot Waldo Than Usual” at Bored Panda.

See “Rooms From Famous Paintings Brought to Life With Realistic CG Renditions” at My Modern Met.

Read “The Oregon Creamery Making Vodka From Milk” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “KEZ will bring a little cheer to the airwaves with Christmas music. Here's when to tune in” at AZ Central.

The Weekly Town Crier (03/20/20)

All the week's news that's fit to cry about (03/20/20)

Read “Genesis Breyer P-Orridge Dead at 70 The Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV co-founder was diagnosed with leukemia in 2017” at Pitchfork.

Read/Listen to “Survey: White Evangelicals See Trump As 'Honest' And 'Morally Upstanding'“ at NPR. And stay tuned for more news from the Isaiah 5:20 channel soon!

Read “White Christians: Trump May Not Be a Good Person, But He Is a Good President New Pew Research data details the mixed feelings among Trump’s faithful supporters” at Christianity Today.

Read “Why outbreaks like coronavirus spread exponentially, and how to ‘flatten the curve’ at Washington Post.

• Read “America Is a Sham Policy changes in reaction to the coronavirus reveal how absurd so many of our rules are to begin with” at Salon.

• Browse “Coronavirus: Updated List of Tours and Festivals Canceled or Postponed Due to COVID-19” at Pitchfork.

  • Read “Record Store Day 2020 Postponed Due to Coronavirus Concerns The global music event has been moved from April to June” at Pitchfork.

  • Read “Coronavirus Should Be a Turning Point for the Music Industry” at Vulture.

• Read “Trump Dissolved Pandemic Response Team Because He Doesn't Like Having People Around "When You Don't Need Them" at Paste.

• Read “He Has 17,700 Bottles Of Hand Sanitizer And Nowhere To Sell Them. Amazon cracked down on coronavirus price gouging. Now while the rest of the world searches, some sellers are holding stockpiles of sanitizer and masks.

• Read “Racist Attacks Against Asians Continue to Rise as the Coronavirus Threat Grows” at People.

• Read/Listen to “When School Is The Safest Place For Kids; Concerns Over School Closures For Low-Income Students” at KJZZ.

• Read “AMC Theatres to Close All U.S. Locations as Cinemas Across the Country Go Dark” at Hollywood Reporter.

  • Read “NBCUniversal Breaks Theatrical Window, Will Make Movies Available On Demand Immediately” at Hollywood Reporter.

• Read “Amazon Will Cease Stocking Vinyl Records Due to Coronavirus The retail giant needs to make room on its shelves for more essential items” at Consequence of Sound.

  • Read “Bandcamp Waives Revenue Shares to Support Musicians During COVID-19 Outbreak The platform will not collect their cut of sales for 24 hours on March 20 in an attempt to “put much needed money directly into artists’ pockets” at Pitchfork.

• Read “Coronavirus Could Decimate Touring Musicians’ Livelihoods” at Rolling Stone.

• Read “America begins drinking at home With states and cities shutting down bars and restaurants, the government response to the coronavirus outbreak enters a new phase” at Politico.

• Read “Need to stock your pantry? These L.A. restaurants are temporarily flipping to corner stores.” at Time Out.

• Read “Russia deploying coronavirus disinformation to sow panic in West, EU document says” at MSN.

Read “Moog and Korg make synth apps free to help musicians stuck at home” at Engadget.

In honor of Phil Lesh’s 80th birthday listen to the official “In The Phil Zone” mix from the Grateful Dead at Spotify.

Download the new John McLaughlin, Shankar Mahadevan, Zakir Hussain album for free at Bandcamp.

Read “You can now download over 300,000 books from the NYPL for free” at Time Out.

The Weekly Town Crier (03/13/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (03/13/20).

Read “Jazz Pianist McCoy Tyner 1938 – 2020” at Jam Base.

Read “Rosalind P. Walter, the first 'Rosie the Riveter', dies at 95” at Upworthy.

Read “Rolls-Royce promotes exclusive Mass with pope — for $155,000” at Religion News Service.

• Read “Rolls-Royce offer for private Pope Francis meeting ‘does not exist anymore’” at Catholic News Agency.

Read “All Non-Consensual Sex Will Be Considered Rape Under Spain’s New Law The "only yes means yes" law aims to ban all sexual violence in the country” at Global Citizen.

Read “‘This is absolutely abhorrent’: Nazi flag at Sanders rally sparks outcry, concerns about safety” at Washington Post.

Read “Gender study finds 90% of people are biased against women” at BBC News.

Read/Watch “Harvey Weinstein sentenced to 23 years in prison” at Yahoo.

Read “Chelsea Manning Is Freed” at Common Dreams.

Read “Child homelessness highest in more than decade, feds say” at New York Post.

Read/Listen to “When Xenophobia Spreads Like A Virus” at NPR.

• Read/watch “Costco Will Stop Offering Free Samples & Our Shopping Trips Will Not Be the Same” at Yahoo.

• Read “Televangelist Jim Bakker Ordered to Stop Selling Fake Coronavirus Cure” at Consequence of Sound.

• Read “Italy suspends mortgage payments during coronavirus shutdown” at The HIll.

• Read “Austin’s South by Southwest Festival Canceled Due to Coronavirus” at The Wall Street Journal.

• Read “Coachella Moved to October 2020 Due to Coronavirus” at Consequence of Sound.

• Read “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony Postponed” at Spin.

• Browse “Coronavirus: Cancellations and Postponements” at Relix.

• Read “Trump's mismanagement helped fuel coronavirus crisis” at Politico.

• Read “Arizona Governor Declares State of Emergency on Coronavirus, With Nine Cases So Far” at Phoenix New Times.

• Read “Tom Hanks Tests Positive for Coronavirus While Working on Elvis Presley Movie” at Pitchfork.

Read “Mandatory vasectomy at 50 or after 3 kids? Alabama bill proposes it” at 12 News.

Read “Virginia General Assembly passes bill capping monthly costs of insulin to $50” at 12 News.

Read “Trump administration quietly cuts funding to the nation’s poorest schools” at Yahoo News.

Read “GOP-appointed judge orders unredacted copy of Mueller report as he questions Barr’s “credibility” A federal judge calls out Barr for making “distorted” and “misleading” statements about Robert Mueller’s findings” at Salon.

Read “Michael Bloomberg Drops Out Of Primary After Reportedly Spending More Than $500 Million” at Forbes.

Read/Listen to “What Democratic Socialism Means In The U.S.” at WBUR.

Read “The Body Politic Electric: Walt Whitman on Women’s Centrality to Democracy” at Brain Pickings.

Read “Federal Court Sides With House In Fight Over Mueller Grand Jury Materials” at NPR.

Read “Wu-Tang Clan Are for the Infants: New Wu-Tang Lullaby Album Coming in April It's the 100th album by Rockabye Baby” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Woman-Owned Record Shop Sonidos! Wants To Build An Inclusive Corner In The Region’s Vinyl Scene” at DCist.

Read “Remembering Sparklehorse’s Mark Linkous 10 Years Later A look at the unlikely triumphs of the Virginia singer/songwriter's eerily beautiful music” at Spin.

Read “When We Celebrate John Coltrane, We Celebrate McCoy Tyner, Too” at Rolling Stone.

Read “After 25 Years, Jimmy Eat World Isn’t Just Surviving” at Christ and Pop Culture.

Read “On hobbies, habits, and creative work Musician Stephen Malkmus on the value of chill music in crazy times, the pleasures of falling into old man mode, and understanding the ways your creative process evolves over time” at The Creative Independent.

Read “My father said I should be looking after the cows': the first female Tuareg guitarist” at The Guardian.

Read “Tony Iommi Says Michael Bolton Once Auditioned for Black Sabbath Bolton has consistently dismissed the story as a rumour” at Exclaim.

Read “Stephen Malkmus on His New Folk Album, Pavement Reunion, Bernie Sanders, And More” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Wilco and Sleater-Kinney Announce Tour The rock giants will play shows together this summer” at Pitchfork.

Read “How does Nationals closer Sean Doolittle stay calm in big moments? The Grateful Dead” at NBC Sports.

Watch “Dawes Covers Grateful Dead Live at Relix” at Youtube.

Read “The Kids in the Hall Revived by Amazon for New Season Lorne Michaels will return as executive producer for an eight-episode run” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “The Substance Summit: A Previously Unseen Fax From Hunter S. Thompson To Keith Richards” at Ranker.

Read “Mister Rogers Thought Farts Were Hilarious — And Often ‘Ripped One’ To Amuse His Wife” at All That’s Interesting.

Read “How a Potato Is Fueling the Fight to Protect a National Monument Indigenous farmers in Utah are championing an ancient spud” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “The Origins of GORP” at REI.

Read “This Brave Man Protests Annoying Everyday Things With Funny Signs” at Sad and Useless.

Read “In Palestine, Protecting One of the World’s Oldest Olive Trees Is a 24/7 Job Salah Abu Ali often sleeps beneath his ancient charge” at Atlas Obscura.