The Weekly Town Crier (10/02/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (10/02/20).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “In Memory of Mac Davis” at American Songwriter.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Trump Secretly Mocks His Christian Supporters” at The Atlantic. “Former aides say that in private, the president has spoken with cynicism and contempt about believers.” “The president's religious right base doesn't mind that he doesn't share their doctrinal beliefs or even belittles them — they care that he selects conservative justices who protect religious liberty and the unborn and that he fights for them.”

Read “The story behind Amy Coney Barrett’s little-known Catholic group People of Praise” at Washington Post.

Read “The Church Mothers Teach Us to Delight in Scripture” at Christianity Today. “Monica and Macrina didn't just influence Augustine and Gregory of Nyssa. They were biblical interpreters in their own right.”

Read “For Conservative Christian Women, Amy Coney Barrett’s Success Is Personal” at New York Times.

Read “Christian group raises over $500K for Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse” (EDITOR’S NOTE: This should read: “Christian” group raises . . . “

Read “Christians Struggled with Relational Health Prior to the Crisis—So What Has Changed?” at Barna.

Read “What Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination doesn’t mean” at Christian Century. “Don’t bother looking for the political significance of the Supreme Court nominee’s Catholicism. There isn’t any.”

Read “Ravi Zacharias’s Ministry Investigates Claims of Sexual Misconduct at Spas” at Christianity Today. “Three women have come forward with additional allegations against the late Christian apologist.”

Read “Making Your Church Manlier Won’t Make It Bigger” at Christianity Today. “History tells us that denominational growth has nothing to do with sex ratios in the pews.”

Read “Meet the new Justin Bieber: Popstar, husband, holy hugger” at Religion News Service.

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

Read “Racism has cost America $16 trillion this century alone” at WSMV Nashville.

Read ‘Indigenous Groups Protest Border Wall Construction At Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument” at KJZZ.

Read “The US government won't detail why TikTok is a security threat” at CNET.

Read “Ballistics don't support AG Cameron's claim Breonna Taylor's boyfriend shot officer” at Louisville Courier-Journal.

• Read “Officer Charged in Breonna Taylor Case Pleads Not Guilty” at Wall Street Journal.

• Read “Kentucky attorney general didn't recommend any homicide charges to Breonna Taylor grand jury” at The Hill.

Read “A lot of differences’: Experts address health disparities among Asian American subgroups” at Cronkite News.

Read “California will house transgender inmates by gender identity” at SF Gate.

Read “Federal court orders Texas prison system to provide hand sanitizer for some geriatric inmates during pandemic” at Texas Tribune.

Read “They Have Lost So Much But They Will Not Lose Their Right To Vote.' Advocates Fight To Enfranchise Americans Displaced by Wildfires” at Time.

Read “The 'Dindu' Conspiracy: Donald Trump, America and an Inanimate Object Called Whiteness” at The Root.

Read “This Indian Company Just Introduced a Period Leave Policy” at Global Citizen.

Read “Trump refused to condemn white supremacists. The debate didn't get any better from there” at Mashable. “"Proud Boys, stand back and stand by! But I'll tell you what, somebody's got to do something about antifa and the left." Drumpf went on to say: “This is not a Right Wing Problem," once again denying his own security officials.

• Read “A Pro-Trump Militant Group Has Recruited Thousands of Police, Soldiers, and Veterans” at The Atlantic. “....The

• Read “A Pro-Trump Militant Group Has Recruited Thousands of Police, Soldiers, and Veterans” at The Atlantic. “....The leaked database laid everything out. It had been compiled by Rhodes’s deputies as new members signed up at recruiting events or on the Oath Keepers website.... About two-thirds had a background in the military or law enforcement."

• Read “Right-Wing Domestic Terrorism Is On The Rise. Did The Warning Signs Evade Us?” at WBUR (from 07/2020).

• Read “Retailers Are Already Pulling 'Stand Back and Stand By' Merch From Online Shelves” at Vice.

Read "H. R. McMaster: ‘Condemning White Supremacists Should Be a Layup’” at The Atlantic.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

Read “US teen charged in Kenosha shootings fights extradition” at Al Jazeera.

Read “How The Protests Upended Portland’s Mayoral Race” at The Intercept.

This Week With The Police:

Read “Breonna Taylor’s death shocked the nation. In Louisville, many Black people are far from surprised” at Los Angeles Times.

• Read “AG Cameron to release Breonna Taylor grand jury records after juror complains he misled” at Louisville Courier-Journal.

Education and The Learnings // School Re-Openings

Read "Parents Knowingly Sent Kids With Coronavirus to School, Wisconsin Officials Say” at NBC New York. “Never in a million years did we imagine or think to account for parents deliberately sending their sick or symptomatic child to school," one health official said.”

Read “The Federal Government Promised Native American Students Computers and Internet. Many Are Still Waiting” at Pro Publica.

• Read “The federal government gives Native students an inadequate education” at AZ Central.

Read “60% of Portland State University students face housing, food instability” at Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump test positive for Covid-19” at CNN.

Read ‘Pope to UN: Use COVID crisis to come out better, not worse” at 12 News. “Pope Francis said the world has a choice to make as it emerges from the COVID-19 crisis and addresses the grave economic impact it has had on the most vulnerable.”

Read “Over 50 Million People Dually Affected by COVID-19 and Climate Disasters” at Global Citizen.

Read “No Job, Loads of Debt: Covid Upends Middle-Class Family Finances” at Wall Street Journal. “The pandemic is wreaking havoc in loan-laden white-collar workers’ households; ‘I will never claw my way out of this situation’.

Read “Democrats Unveil $2.2 Trillion Pandemic Relief Bill” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “The Coronavirus Mostly Spares Younger Children. Teens Aren’t So Lucky.” at The New York Times.

Read “Titans-Steelers NFL game postponed after positive COVID-19 tests: report” at The Hill.

Read “Trump’s Family Didn’t Wear Masks During Presidential Debate — Except On Social Media” at Huff Post.

Miscellany Cultural Items:

Read “Everybody Vs. the App Store: Why Companies Are Taking Issue With Apple’s Growing Revenue Engine” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Judge Rules Tucker Carlson Is Not a Credible Source of News” at Slate.

Read “Tracking the Major Wildfires Spreading Across Northern California” at Bloomberg.

Read “Brené Brown, Vulnerability, and The Trump Voter” at Book Riot.

Read “Military Suicides Up As Much As 20% During Coronavirus Era” at Huff Post.

Read “The Legacy of ‘Going Postal’” at Vice. “In the late 80s and early 90s, a spate of shootings by disgruntled postal workers became the primary way most Americans thought of the post office. They also shed light on an agency with a profoundly unhealthy work environment.”

Read “Thousands of Airline Jobs Hang in the Balance as Lawmakers Debate Aid” at Wall Street Journal.

Read “Disney cuts: What is life like after 'magic' job?” at BBC.

Internationalities:

Read “Ai Weiwei: 'Too late' to curb China's global influence” at BBC.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Guest Commentary: I served under six presidents — four Republicans, two Democrats — only one has failed to serve U.S. national security interests” at Denver Post.

Read “Why Arizona Is Tilting Blue: ‘The State’s Clearly in Motion’ at New York Times.

Read “57 percent of Americans think next president, Senate should fill Ginsburg vacancy” at The Hill.

Read “Sen. Cory Booker: This president is menacing our democracy” at MSNBC.

Read “Voter registration spiked in days immediately following Ruth Bader Ginsburg death” at The Hill.

Read “Cindy McCain ups support of Joe Biden, joins Democrat’s transition team” at KTAR.

Read “A debate that will live in infamy: That sweaty, red-faced liar is actually our president” at Salon.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Tillis says he has ‘grave concerns’ about voting by mail in NC after board settlement” at News Observer.

Read “The question of how Donald Trump’s Scottish resorts are financed just became even more urgent” at Slate.

Read “IRS: Sorry, but It’s Just Easier and Cheaper to Audit the Poor” at Pro Publica. “Congress asked the IRS to report on why it audits the poor more than the affluent. Its response is that it doesn’t have enough money and people to audit the wealthy properly. So it’s not going to.”

Read “Trump tax records show duplicity. That's devastating for his campaign.” at NBC News.

Read “Detainees at California’s for-profit ICE detention centers will soon be able to sue over abuse, harm” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Police took 10 guns from Trump associate’s Florida home after wife showed them bruises” at Miami Herald.

Read “DeJoy Says Mail Sorting Machines Were Stripped For Parts And Can't Be Reinstalled” at Yahoo.

• Read “Postal service ordered to stop cuts, federal judge says” at 12 News.

• Read “In NC, consequences of Postal Service slowdown extend beyond the mailbox” at WECT.

Read “Foreign Hackers Cripple Texas County’s Email System, Raising Election Security Concerns” at Pro Publica.

Read “Census Cuts All Counting Efforts Short By A Month” at NPR.

Read “Judge orders Georgia officials to provide backup paper poll books ahead of election” at The Hill.

Read “Weissmann: WH didn't fully cooperate with our investigation” at MSNBC. “Andrew Weissmann, former lead prosecutor for Special Counsel Robert Mueller, discusses how Trump manipulated the findings in the Mueller Report and why he says the findings from the NYT report are 'potentially indictable'.”

Read “Secretive group who bankrolled Brett Kavanaugh confirmation is now backing Amy Coney Barrett” at Salon.

Read “Money For Misinformation? Experts Say The First Domestic 'Troll Farms' Are Here” at WBUR.

Read “Trump’s ex-national security adviser says president is ‘aiding and abetting’ Putin” at Politico.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “The Quiet Return of Fleet Foxes and Sufjan Stevens” at Pitchfork.

• Read “Sufjan Stevens’s Cry of Despair and Prayer for Redemption” at New York Times.

• Read “'I have a sense of urgency': Sufjan Stevens wakes from the American dream” at The Guardian.

Read “Stone Roses’ Ian Brown Says COVID Was “Planned,” Releases Anti-Lockdown Song” at Stereogum.

Read “Bonnaroo Shares The Beastie Boys Final Concert” at Jambase.

Read “I Was Bullied for Being Arab. Nine Inch Nails Threw Me a Lifeline.” at New York Times.

Read “It's a bunch of clowns you voted in': Willie Nelson urges fans to 'Vote 'Em Out' in video” at AZ Central.

Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:

Read “‘Black Panther’ Mural With Chadwick Boseman Unveiled at Disneyland” at Variety.

• Read “Sienna Miller says Chadwick Boseman took a pay cut on 21 Bridges so she could make more money” (EDITOR’S NOTE: Now let’s lament a system in which this was necessary in the first place).

Read “Watch Trailer for New Doc on Nickelodeon’s Glory Days, ‘The Orange Years’” at Rolling Stone.

Design/Artsy Things:

Read “Studio Ghibli Puts Online 400 Images from Eight Classic Films, and Lets You Download Them for Free” at Open Culture.

Food Cultures:

Read “Why Are So Dang Many Potato Chip Brands From Pennsylvania?” at Gastro Obscura.

Read “Ireland’s Supreme Court rules Subway sandwiches have too much sugar to meet legal definition of bread” at Market Watch.

Misc. Oddities:

Read “The Rise and Fall of North Carolina’s National Hollerin’ Contest” at Atlas Obscura.

Local:

Read “Pedestrians in Arizona are more likely to be hit and killed than nearly any other state. Why?” at AZ Central.

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 (07/24/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (07/24/20).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Rev. C.T. Vivian, key civil rights leader, has died at 95” at Associated Press.

Read “Rep. John Lewis, who 'risked his life and his blood' as a giant of the civil rights movement, dies of cancer at 80” at USA Today.

• Read “When John Lewis Cosplayed at Comic-Con as His Younger Self” at New York Times. “For several years, Mr. Lewis would lead a group of children in a march across the San Diego Convention Center.”

• Read “Patience Is a Dirty Word “We do not want our freedom gradually,” John Lewis said, “but we want to be free now!” by Ibram X. Kendi at The Atlantic.

Read “J. I. Packer, ‘Knowing God’ Author, Dies at 93” at Christianity Today.

Read “Charles Evers, Businessman and Civil Rights Leader, Dies at 97” at New York Times.

Read “R.I.P. Emitt Rhodes, Power Pop Icon and Home Recording Pioneer Dies at 70” at Consequence of Sound.

Religion and Stuff:

Read “Atlanta Church Splits With SBC for Downplaying Racial Issues” at Christianity Today.

Read ‘Biden’s bid touts faith, courts even religious conservatives” at PBS News Hour.

Read “A Gospel reading for those who feel rejected by a broken world” at America Magazine.

Read “The pandemic calls for closed hymnals Forgoing congregational singing as a spiritual discipline” at Christian Century.

Read “I’m Awash in Christian ‘Content.’ But Am I Living Like Christ?” at Christianity Today.

Justice/Social Justice/Race/Equality and Such Related Stuff:

Read “GOP senator stops bill to make Juneteenth a federal holiday Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) claimed the new holiday would come at the expense of the American taxpayer, suggesting federal employee's lose a day of paid leave” at 12 News.

Read “This land is my land For generations, my family has owned a piece of untold Black history in Boley, Oklahoma. This year, I finally got to see it” at Chicago Reader.

Read “Rev. Dr. William Barber II: A Multi-Racial Coalition Is Necessary For This Moment” at Real News.

Read “GOP senator: Hispanics show 'less consistent adherence' to social distancing, mask-wearing” at The Hill.

Read “East Texas Town Removes Fence Between White, Black Cemeteries” at NBCDFW.

Read “Federal court rules DACA must be restored fully after Supreme Court ruling”

Read “Roger Stone calls Black radio host a racial slur on air” at NBC News. “"I did not. You're out of your mind," Stone replied when Morris W. O'Kelly questioned him about it.”

Read “Supreme Court deals blow to felons in Florida seeking to regain the right to vote” at Washington Post.

Read “No, The Civil War Wasn’t About “States’ Rights” — Just Slavery” at All That’s Interesting.

Read “Americans support Black Lives Matter but resist shifts of police funds or removal of statues of Confederate generals or presidents who were enslavers” at Washington Post.

Read “NBA debuts 'Black Lives Matter' painted on game court” at 12 News.

Read “Red Sox hang Black Lives Matter banner outside Fenway Park” at 12 News.

Read “Texas School Board Doubles Down on Hair Policy That Pushed Two Black Male Students Out of School” at The Root.

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

Read “Pentagon effectively bans Confederate flag from military installations” at Axios.

Read “Confederate monument outside Arizona Capitol to be moved, returned to donor” at AZ Central.

Read “Confederate monuments removed from Arizona Capitol as United Daughters of the Confederacy take action” at AZ Central.

Read “House Votes to Remove Confederate Statues From the Capitol' at The Root.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

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

• Read “The Authoritarian Operation in Portland Is Only a Dress Rehearsal” at Esquire.

• Read “Federal officers Trump sent to Portland teargassed protesters despite being told to leave by the mayor and the governor” at Business Insider.

• Read “What the Heck Are Federal Law Enforcement Officers Doing in Portland?” at Lawfare Blog.

• Read “Federal Agents Unleash Militarized Crackdown on Portland” at New York Times. “Federal authorities said they would bring order to Portland, Ore., after weeks of protests there. Local leaders believe the federal presence is making things worse.”

• Read “Oregon will sue federal police agencies, open criminal investigation into use of force” at Oregon Live.

  • Read “Oregon Attorney General sues DHS amid reports of unlawful detainment of Portland protesters” at NBC. “Ellen Rosenblum is asking for a restraining order to prevent officers with Homeland Security and other federal agencies from making any further arrests.”

• Read “Federal Officers Deployed in Portland Didn’t Have Proper Training, D.H.S. Memo Said” at New York Times.

• See “Federal police strike protester with baton, use pepper spray and tear gas outside courthouse in Portland” at Zane Sparling’s at Twitter.

  • Read “‘They just started whaling on me’: Veteran speaks out after video of federal officers beating him at Portland protests goes viral” at The Independent.

• Read “Presence, tactics of federal agents in Portland, Oregon, prompt questions and criticism” at PBS News Hour.

• Read “Portland Protests Grow Despite Violent Crackdown from Militarized Federal Agents & Local Police” at The Root.

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

• Read “Portland and the Paramilitarization of the Border Patrol” at Cato Institute.

• Read “Portland’s Wall of Moms Joined by Dads With Leaf Blowers Against Trump’s Police” at Truthout.

• Read “In Portland, A 'Wall Of Moms' And Leaf Blowers Against Tear Gas” at NPR.

  • Read “‘What choice do we have?’: Portland’s ‘Wall of Moms’ faces off with federal officers at tense protests’.

  • Read “'Wall Of Moms' Organizer Calls On Fellow Suburban Mothers, People In Power To Fight For Black Lives” at WBUR.

• Read “Portland’s Pretext: Barr’s Long History Manipulating Law to Put Federal Forces on U.S. Streets” at Just Security.

• Read “U.S. Homeland Security confirms three units sent paramilitary officers to Portland” at Reuters

• See Sergio Olmos’ Tweet: “It appears that federal officers, during dispersal, pepper sprayed the medical supplies in the tents”

  • Read “Portland Federal Agents Accused of War Crimes for Destroying Medical Supplies” at Newsweek.

• Read “A Photographer Says He's Traumatized By What He's Captured In Portland’ at Buzzfeed News. "Last night was the most horrifying thing I have ever experienced in my life."

• Read “Oregon officials decry arrests by federal agents in Portland” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Homeland Security sending 150 agents to Chicago this week” at The Hill.

• Read “Activists, officials slam Chicago police for alleged brutality in Columbus statue standoff” at Chicago Sun Times.

Read “I don't need invitations': Homeland Security chief says he has authority to deploy more feds to shut down protests across the US” at Business Insider.

Read Barr calls reaction to George Floyd's death 'extreme' at CNN.

Read ‘Men Charged With Murder Of Ahmaud Arbery Plead Not Guilty” at NPR.

Read “Police arrest 4, including organizers, at downtown Phoenix protest” at AZ Central.

Read “St. Louis couple charged for pulling, waving guns at protest” at Associated Press.

Read “In emerging role, chaplains are providing spiritual care for activists in movements across the nation” at Religion News Service.

Read “Trump Is the Problem. The Organizational Chart Doesn’t Matter. Federal agents are confronting protesters in Portland because voters chose a president with authoritarian instincts” at The Atlantic.

This Week With The Police:

Read “The Honolulu Cop Who Forced a Homeless Man to Lick a Urinal Is Going to Prison” at Vice.

Read “Why We Should Be Alarmed That Israeli Forces And U.S. Police Are Training Together” at Common Dreams.

Read “Portland protesters tear gassed as DHS head calls them 'violent'“ at Al Jazeera.

Read “‘They just started whaling on me’: Veteran speaks out after video of federal officers beating him at Portland protests goes viral” at The Independent.

Read “DPS trooper who killed Dion Johnson previously reprimanded for using stun gun on puppy, threatening ex-partner” at AZ Central.

Read “Pennsylvania Approves Police Reform Bill Requiring Employment Records From Officers Seeking New Jobs” at The Root.

Read “The Invention Of The Police” at The New Yorker.

Read “Phoenix police fired an officer charged with sexually assaulting handcuffed woman” at AZ Central.

Education and The Learnings:

School Re-opening news:

• Read “CDC Won't Release School Guidance This Week As Anticipated” at NPR.

• Read “Health Kim Reynolds Virus Outbreak Iowa General News Iowa governor overrides schools, requires in-person classes” at Associated Press.

• Read “Kids Get Coronavirus, But Do They Spread It? We'll Find Out When Schools Reopen”

• Read “Teachers Are Ready To Quit Rather Than Put Their Lives At Risk” at Buzzfeed.

• Read “Missouri governor’s comments on coronavirus, McCloskeys raise eyebrows” at St. Louis Dispatch. “These kids have got to get back to school.... And if they do get COVID-19, which they will — and they will when they go to school — they’re not going to the hospitals.... They’re going to go home and they’re going to get over it.”

• Read “Florida teachers union sues DeSantis, Corcoran over schools’ ‘reckless, unsafe reopening’ at Miami Herald.

• Read “Health care professionals and school board members warn Arizona governor returning to school isn't safe” at CNN.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

Read “We’re Learning More About How COVID Spreads. What You Need to Know Now. Transmission by aerosols helps explain why the virus spreads so much more indoors than it does outside” at The Dispatch.

Read “Georgia's Governor Issues Order Rescinding Local Mask Mandates” at NPR.

Read “Tom Hanks Decals Are Popping Up in Toronto to Mark Your Social Distancing” at Exclaim.

Read “Woman who refused to wear mask wants half of $100,000 donated to Starbucks barista” at NBC4I.

Read “Banner Health utilizing 1,000 out-of-state workers for coronavirus response” (Arizona).

Read “Studies provide glimpse at efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines from Oxford-AstraZeneca and CanSino” at STAT News.

Read “As cases surge and poll numbers drop, Trump to resume White House coronavirus briefings” at ABC News. "Never been anything like it," he said, calling them "very successful."

Read “India coronavirus: Amarnath pilgrimage cancelled due to Covid-19” at BBC.

Read “Outbreak at Iowa pork plant was larger than state reported” at Associated Press.

Read “'Worse before it gets better.' Trump delivers sober warning in return to coronavirus briefings” at USA Today.

Read “Ohio, Minnesota Governors Issue Statewide Mask Mandates” at Daily Beast.

Read “Coronavirus Has Raged Inside American Prisons At A Higher Rate Than Rest Of Nation” At The Appeal.

Read “US surpasses 4 million reported coronavirus cases as hospitalizations near record” at CNN.

Miscellany Cultural Items:

Read “Queen knights 100-year-old who raised more than $40 million for U.K.'s National Health Service'“ at Axios.

Read “Near and Present Anarchy America’s death tango with state failure” at The Baffler.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Has Cancer Again, Says She Will Remain On The Court” at NPR.

Read ‘Mary Trump Describes Abusive Trump Family Home, Says She Will Vote For Biden” at NPR.

Read “DeSantis and Rubio Brutally Fumble Their Responses to Lewis’ Death” at Rolling Stone.

Read “White House portraits of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush moved from prominent space to rarely used room” at News and Guts.

Read “Pandemic surge damages Trump, boosting Biden's White House bid” at ABC News.

Read ‘Everytown Applauds House Democrats for Including Key Gun Safety Measures in Appropriations Package” at Everytown.

Read “Presidential Nominees Rarely Speak To Muslim Audiences. Biden Did Monday” at NPR.

Read “In unusual arrangement, deputy HHS secretary’s wife has been lobbying the agency on behalf of health care companies” at STAT News.

Read “With No Final Say, Trump Wants To Change Who Counts For Dividing Up Congress' Seats” at NPR.

Read “US accuses China of hacking coronavirus researchers, others” at Al Jazeera.

Read “The Billionaire Behind Efforts to Kill the U.S. Postal Service” at In The Public Interest.

Read “More than two dozen DC Bar members urge disciplinary probe of AG Barr” at The Hill.

Read “Ted Yoho apologizes after reportedly verbally accosting Ocasio-Cortez over stance on unemployment, crime in New York” at CNN. In case you’re wondering, this, fine upstanding Republican who protects “family values” called her "f**king bitch". Watch Ocasio-Cortez’s response here and here and here. “Mr. Yoho mentioned that he has a wife and two daughters. I am two years younger than Mr. Yoho's youngest daughter. I am someone's daughter, too. My father, thankfully, is not alive to see how Mr. Yoho treated his daughter."

Read “White House aware of Russian bounties in 2019” at Associated Press.

Read “President Trump Cancels Jacksonville Component Of Republican National Convention” at NPR.

This Week In Political Corruption:

Read “Two Trump Judges Broke Ethics Rules to Stop Up to 1 Million Floridians From Voting in November” at Slate.

Read 'Rep. Matt Gaetz Had a TV Studio Installed in His Father’s Home With Taxpayer Money and Other Possible Violations” at The Root.

Music-Related News and Such:

Read “Senators Introduce ‘Save Our Stages Act’ to Support Struggling Venues” at Jambands.

Read “The Stranger-Than-Fiction Secret History of Prog-Rock Icon Rick Wakeman” at Vanity Fair.

Read “Live music won’t return until 2022, Lollapalooza co-founder says” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Gillian Welch Announces Archival Collection, Shares New Songs” at Pitchfork.

Read “Mike Watt says he reunited with Porno For Pyros for first time in 24 years & filmed 4 songs” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Barns, breaks and barebones production: Recording Khruangbin’s Mordechai” at Music Tech.

Read “Laraaji’s music has emphasized stillness and calm for decades. Now the world is trying to get on his level” at Washington Post.

Read ‘US rockers REM to stream documentary of Stirling gigs to mark 21st anniversary” at The Daily Record.

Read “A Music Manager Suggested New Artists Should Only Release Singles and Everyone Is Pissed” at Exclaim.

Read “Why Do So Many People Love The Grateful Dead Now?” at Uproxx. (EDITOR’S NOTE: Genius is often ahead of its time).

• Read Pitchfork’s “The Grateful Dead: A Guide to Their Essential Live Songs” from 2017.

Read “Pavement joins Bandcamp (all five studio albums streaming)” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Kanye West Says New Album Is Out This Week The follow-up to Jesus Is King and Jesus Is Born arrives July 24” at Pitchfork.

Read “Kim Kardashian West Releases Statement on Kanye’s Mental Health” at Pitchfork.

Read “Burger Records Shuts Down Completely” at Pitchfork. “Following misconduct allegations, the tape label’s plan to rebrand and establish new leadership has reportedly fallen apart.” at Pitchfork.

Read “The Growlers’ keyboardist leaves band following sexual misconduct allegations against other members” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “The Cure say new LP will be their “most intense, saddest” yet…when they finish it” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Lady A Discusses Lady Antebellum Controversy on Desus & Mero” at Pitchfork.

Read “I Don't Want This Sullied by These Foul-mouthed Youngsters": An Interview With Old 97's” at Pop Matters.

Read “Howe Gelb :: Surrounded By Sound And Washed In Color” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Movies/TV/Etc.:

Browse “Every Episode of Psych, Ranked Eight seasons, two movies, and a whole bunch of cases” at Vulture.

Read “How Psych Evolved Through the Character of Carlton Lassiter” at Den of Geek.

Read “Ukraine President Ends Hostage Situation by Endorsing Joaquin Phoenix Film” at The Guardian.

Read “Blocked Busters: Disney Pushes 17 Movie Release Dates” at NPR.

Books/Reading/Authors

Read “Colson Whitehead Awarded 2020 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction” at Publisher’s Weekly.

Science/Animals/Technology/Environment/Etc.:

Read “Something Weird Happened to Men 7,000 Years Ago, And We Finally Know Why” at Science Alert.

Food Cultures:

Read “To Evade Pre-Prohibition Drinking Laws, New Yorkers Created the World’s Worst Sandwich” at Atlas Obscura. “It was everywhere at the turn of the 20th century. It was also inedible.”

Local:

Read “Phoenix May Use CARES Act Funds to Keep Homeless People Out of Alleys” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “Florida coronavirus cases surge for fifth day as Trump pledges outbreak will be under control” at Reuters.

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 (07/10/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (07/10/20).

We’ll Miss You:

Read “Ennio Morricone Dead at 91” at Pitchfork.

Read “Country rocker and fiddler Charlie Daniels dies at age 83” at Associated Press.

Religiony Stuff:

Read “White Evangelicals Have a Complicated Relationship with Christian Nationalism” at Christianity Today.

Read “The 'spiritual battle' over the Dakota Access pipeline” at Religion News Service.

Read “America Is in the Grips of a Fundamentalist Revival But it’s not Christian.” at The Dispatch.

Read “Search Results Web results Christian Leaders Call on U.S. Political Parties to Address Palestinian Rights” at Sojourners.

Read “Why Is Jesus Depicted As Being White?” at Ranker.

Read “Becoming less defensive about white privilege The Christian faith provides some tools for letting go of our defensiveness” at Christian Century.

Read “John Ortberg’s Church Says ‘No Evidence of Misconduct’ As More Details Emerge Megachurch pastor’s son named as the volunteer who confessed sexual attraction to children” at Christianity Today.

Read ‘Supreme Court Undercuts Access To Birth Control Under Obamacare” at NPR.

Read “Phoenix Church That Held Trump Rally Got Up to $2 Million in PPP Loans” at Christian Century.

The Section for Considering “Justice”/Race/Social Justice and things like that:

Learn about “The Real Story Of Thomas Jefferson’s Mistress And Slave, Sally Hemings” at All That’s Interesting.

Read “The intersectionality between BLM and ‘so-called’ Black on Black killings” at The Black Wall Street Times. “"It feels almost grotesque comparing the killings of people to try and make a point. I don’t like it at all. I’m only doing it because of the conversations I hear surrounding the two," Mike Creef says.”

Read “Judge Orders Dakota Access Pipeline To Shut Down” at Earth Justice.

Read “How cities failed the black middle class White people without a college education can still find better pay in big cities. But for black people without a college degree, moving to a city no longer guarantees entry to the middle class” at Washington Post.

Read “CAREN Act introduced by California lawmaker aims to outlaw racially motivated 911 calls” at 12 News.

• Read “White People Have Weaponized ‘I Feel Threatened’ the Same Way They Have Weaponized the Police” at The Root.

• Read “Amy Cooper charged for calling police on Black bird watcher in Central Park” at Axios.

• Read “Christian Cooper Says He Will Not Participate in Prosecution of the White Woman Who Threatened to Call 911 on Him” at The Root.

Read “Why Is This Happening? Explaining why Reality Winner is still in prison” at NBC News.

Read “Mississippi Election Commissioner Complains That 'Blacks' Are Registering to Vote” at The Root.

Watch “Frederick Douglass' Descendants Deliver His 'Fourth Of July' Speech” at NPR.

Read “George and Martha Washington enslaved 300 people. Let’s start with their names” at Washington Post.

Read “Trump’s push to amplify racism unnerves Republicans who have long enabled him” at Washington Post.

• Read “Trump slams possible Redskins, Indians name changes as "politically correct" at Axios.

• Read “Trump demands apology from Bubba Wallace” at Axios.

  • Read "Bubba Wallace responds to Trump attack: "Love over hate every day" at Axios.

  • Read “Tamara Keith and Amy Walter on public response to Trump’s race rhetoric” at PBS News Hour.

• Read “'Complete disaster': Trump's fraught ties with Native Americans on display at Mount Rushmore” at Politico.

Read “ICE tells students on visas they must leave US if schools go online-only” at The Hill.

Read “Trump turns clock back 155 years with Confederacy-inspired election strategy” at CNN.

Read “Trump Campaign Vows to Protect Famed Statue — in Brazil” at News and Guts.’

Read “Why Christians Have a Reputation for Smashing Statues” at Christianity Today.

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

• Read “The creator of Mount Rushmore’s forgotten ties to white supremacy” at Washington Post.

• Read “It's Time To Tell the Truth About the Confederacy and its Symbols” at ACLU.

• Read “Baltimore protesters pull down Christopher Columbus statue, throw it into harbor” at 12 News.

• Read “Pentagon draft policy would ban Confederate battle flag displays” at PBS News Hour.

• Read “Top Senator Predicts Congress Would Reverse Trump Veto of Defense Bill Over Re-Naming Bases” at News and Guts.

• Read “Justin Timberlake says confederate monuments “must come down” & shares ACLU video in new post” at Brooklyn Vegan.

• Read “Virginia Governor Calls For Renaming Schools That Honor Confederate Leaders” at NPR.

• Read “Joint Chiefs chairman condemns Confederate symbols” at Axios.

Read “‘Some type of retaliation’? Statue of abolitionist Frederick Douglass torn down in New York” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Breonna Taylor warrant connected to Louisville gentrification plan, lawyers say” at Louisville Courier Journal.

Read “Transcripts Of Police Body Cams Show Floyd Pleaded 20 Times That He Couldn't Breathe” at NPR.

Read “An officer told George Floyd it took 'a lot of oxygen to talk,' body camera transcripts show” at CNN.

Read “Death of Robert Fuller, found hanging from a tree in Palmdale, is ruled a suicide” at Los Angeles Times.

This Week In Protest-Related News:

• Read “Antifa, explained What the militant left-wing movement actually believes — and why President Trump’s scapegoating of them during the George Floyd protests is dangerous” at Vox.

• Read “A Letter on Justice and Open Debate” at Harpers.

• Read “Activists speak out against upcoming executions: “One says Trump wants execution 'under his belt' heading into election” at Tribune-Star.

• Read “Martinez Residents Charged with Hate Crime After Defacing BLM Mural” at KQED.

• Read “'Scared, Confused And Angry': Protester Testifies About Lafayette Park Removal” at NPR.

• Read “'This Is Horrendous': US Military Confirms Bayonets Were Issued to Troops Responding to George Floyd Protests” at Common Dreams.

• Read “NYC Begins Painting Black Lives Matter Mural In Front Of Trump Tower” at NPR.

• Read “Tense moments erupt after man drives SUV into crowd of protesters in Paradise Valley” at 12 News.

This Week With The Police:

• Read “Los Angeles City Council Approves $150M in Cuts to Police Budget” at Democracy Now.

• Read “If Philando Castile Was a Threat, Then Black People are Never Safe” at The Witness.

• Read “Phoenix police shot and killed a man in a parked car, sparking renewed protests” at CNN.

• Read “Top California Democrats demand state party stop taking money from police unions” at San Fransisco Chronicle.

• Read “Columbus Police Removing 22 Officers From Columbus City Schools” WOSU2.

• Read “White, Black, and Blue: Christians Disagree Over Policing” at Christianity Today. “Black Christians overwhelmingly say police treatment is biased against them. Why don’t white evangelicals believe them?”

• Read “Trump has tried to claim Democrats want to eliminate police. Americans aren’t buying it.” at Washington Post. “Even two-thirds of Republicans reject the idea that “defund the police” means eliminating police entirely.”

• Read “Phoenix Pride plans to scale back police presence at festival, parade in November” at 12 News.

• Read “Pew poll: Americans support allowing citizens to sue officers for misconduct” at Axios.

• Read “150 Minneapolis police officers seeking disability for PTSD following riots” at Fox 9 News.

Education and The Learnings:

Read “Prioritizing Empathy and Anti-Racism in Schools” at PBS.

Read “Study on Harvard finds 43 percent of white students are legacy, athletes, related to donors or staff” at NBC News.

Read “States sue U.S. Department of Education over diverted virus relief funds for schools” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Betsy DeVos rejects part-time school reopening plan amid pandemic” at 12 News.

Read “President Trump threatens to cut federal aid from schools that don't reopen” at 12 News.

Read “White House Stumbles Over How Best To Reopen Schools, As Trump Blasts CDC Guidance” at NPR.

Read “CDC will not rewrite guidelines for reopening schools despite criticism from Trump” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Top Pediatrician Says States Shouldn't Force Schools To Reopen If Virus Is Surging” at NPR.

Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

• Read “How Coronavirus Is Changing July Fourth Celebrations, From Virtual Fireworks to Car Parades” at Wall Street Journal.

• Read “COVID-19 Is Killing the Soulmate Model of Marriage. Good. The silver lining for a post-coronavirus America: More married couples will be family-first” at Christianity Today.

• Read “As coronavirus rebounds, more patients are being hospitalized and capacity is stretched” at Washington Post.

• Read “'You sure you're going to make me wear a mask?’ Customer threatens store clerk with gun after being asked to wear mask” at KMBC.

• Read “WHO revises how COVID-19 can be transmitted” at Axios.

• Read “The US has 4% of the world's population but 25% of its coronavirus cases” at CNN.

  • Read “'We need to live with it': White House readies new message for the nation on coronavirus The effort to craft a clearer response comes after months of Trump downplaying the health crisis and mixed signals from the administration” at NBC News.

  • Read “Trump-connected lobbyists reap windfall in COVID-19 boom” at 12 News.

  • Read “Despite Rising Coronavirus Cases, Trump's Focus Appears To Be Elsewhere” at NPR.

  • Read “Cuomo accuses Trump of "enabling" the coronavirus surge” at Axios.

  • Read “US is still 'knee-deep' in the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, Fauci says” at CNN.

  • Read “FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn won’t confirm Trump’s promises on vaccine timing” at ABC News.

  • Read “Trump Health Secretary Says Health Care Workers Don’t Get Infected With COVID” at Truth Out.

  • Read “Tulsa health official: Trump rally "likely contributed" to coronavirus spike” at Axios.

  • Read “U.S. to advise health care workers to reuse PPE, says Pence” at PBS News Hour.

• Read “Houston mayor cancels Texas state Republican convention over coronavirus concerns” at Axios.

• Read “Florida teen dies after conspiracy theorist mom takes her to church ‘COVID party’ and tries to treat her with Trump-approved drug: report” at Raw Story.

• Read “'A Nightmare': Georgia Tech Faculty Push Back Against In-Person Reopening Plans” at NPR.

• Read “Calif. issues ban on singing in churches amid ongoing pandemic” at Christian Post.

• Read “'STOP GETTING TESTED' For Coronavirus, Ohio Politician Tells Constituents” at NPR.

• Read “Mexico closes border in Arizona as coronavirus cases in both countries surge” at MSN.

  • Read “5 Dutch Bros. Phoenix area locations shut down after employees test positive for COVID-19” at AZ Central.

  • Read “Residents of Mexican town block Americans from entering Their informal border wall follows an upswing in Covid-19 cases in Arizona” at Politico.

  • Read “FEMA is 'getting out of the testing business,' won't help in Arizona, Phoenix mayor says” at The Week.

  • Read “Arizona’s ‘Qanon Karen’ Destroys Target Face Mask Display. Claims Her $40k Rolex Pissed Off Staff” at TMZ.

  • Read “Phoenix Mayor Says The City Is In A 'Crisis Situation,' Needs Help” at NPR.

  • Read “1 In 4 Arizona COVID-19 Tests Come Back Positive” at KJZZ.

  • Read “Arizona is No. 1 global pandemic hotspot” at KGUN.

Read “Trump administration notifies UN of intent to withdraw from WHO” at Axios.

Read “China defends WHO, lashes out at US move to withdraw” at 12 News .

Read “Ivy League scraps college football and fall sports for 2020, will evaluate feasibility of playing in spring” at SBC Sports.

Read “British government to subsidize 50% off restaurant meals” at Axios.

Read “Costco Ken throws furious fit when asked to wear a mask” The Black Wall Street Times.

Read “Starbucks to require all customers to wear face masks” at 12 News.

Politics And Sucheries:

Read “Thousands of veterans fear "burn pits" exposed them to lethal disease” at CBS News.

Read “U.S. sanctions Chinese officials over Uighur human rights abuses” at Axios.

Read “Democracy Books Disappear From Hong Kong Libraries” at NDTV.

Read “Need A Polling Place With Social Distancing? 3 NBA Teams Offer Venues” at NPR.

Read “The Economy May Be Losing Its Impact On Presidential Elections” at NPR.

Read “Trump's Job Approval Rating Steady at Lower Level” at Gallup.

Read “Supreme Court says Manhattan prosecutors can obtain Trump's financial records” at Axios.

• Read “Trump rails against Obama, FBI, Senate GOP after Supreme Court ruling” at Axios.

Read “Trump Presses 'Cancel Culture' War, But Here Are 6 Numbers That Matter More” at NPR.

Read “TikTok users troll Trump campaign, flooding his official campaign app with thousands of one-star reviews” at Axios.

Read “Supreme Court Unanimously Rules States Can Require Electors To Back Popular Vote Winner” at News and Guts.

Read “Judge asks full appeals court to review panel's dismissal of Flynn case” at Axios.

Read “Michael Cohen Is Back In Jail” at Axios. “Trump’s former attorney is back behind bars after reportedly violating terms of his early release.”

Read “Kanye West Says He’s Running for President, But He Hasn’t Actually Filed Any Paperwork” at Pitchfork.

• Read “Kanye West Says He’s Done With Trump, Opens Up About White House Bid, Damaging Biden And Everything In Between” at Forbes.

• Read “Kanye West Disavows Donald Trump & Comes Out As Anti-Vaxxer In Wild Interview About Presidential Platform” at Steregum.

• Read “Billionaire Kanye West’s Company Gets Multimillion-Dollar PPP Loan From Trump Admin” at Daily Beast.

• Read “What unites Planned Parenthood, Kushner and Kanye? PPP loans” NBC News.

• Read “Elon Musk Retracts Support for Kanye West's Presidential Campaign” at Exclaim.

• Read “Family and Friends Believe Kanye’s Presidential Run is a Bipolar Episode” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Right-Wing Media Outlets Duped by a Middle East Propaganda Campaign” at The Daily Beast.

Read “Publisher moves up release of book by Trump niece Mary Trump’s account describes the president as scarred as a child by a lack of parental attention” at News and Guts.

Read “The True Story Of The Alexander Hamilton-Aaron Burr Duel That Ended Their 15-Year Rivalry — And Hamilton’s Life” at All That’s Interesting.

Read “What the Lincoln Project Ad Makers Get About Voters (and What Dems Don’t) The Republicans of the Lincoln Project might have an advantage over Trump’s left-leaning opponents” at News and Guts.

Read “Trump's Drive On Division And Fear May Not Be A Winning Strategy Come November” at NPR.

Read “Vindman, Key Impeachment Witness, Retires Over 'Bullying, Intimidation' By Trump” at NPR.

Read “Democratic Task Forces Deliver Biden A Blueprint For A Progressive Presidency” at NPR. “A joint effort between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders to unify the Democratic Party ahead of the November election has published a 110-page policy wish list on matters ranging from climate change to healthcare to criminal justice reform.”

Read “Biden proposes $700 billion-plus ‘Buy American’ campaign” at 12 News.

Music-Related News:

Read “Neil Young Issues Open Letter To President Donald Trump” at Jam Base.

Read “Mandy Moore's Ex-Husband Ryan Adams Pens Grovelling Apology One Year After Sexual Harassment Expose” at Too Fab.

• Read “Mandy Moore & Karen Elson respond to Ryan Adams’ apology for abuse & sexual misconduct” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Neil Young blasts Trump for using his music at Mt. Rushmore” at Axios.

Read “Symphony of Souls :: On the Hippie Christian Folk of The Trees Community” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Read “UK Government Announces Nearly $2 Billion Stimulus Package For The Arts” at Live For Live Music.

Read “White out! Tony Herrington calls time on the monoculture that is the experimental sound and music industry” at The Wire.

Read “Synthpop Legends Erasure share analogue track “Shot A Satellite” from New Album “The Neon”” at Post-Punk.

Read “System of a Down's John Dolmayan Says Black Lives Matter Is a "Democratic Party Propaganda Tool" at Exclaim.

Read “How Ennio Morricone Changed the Way Movies Sound” at Pitchfork.

Browse “Sonic Youth album guide – a look back on all 16 studio albums” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Fiona Apple, Kim Gordon, Fleet Foxes, More Support Mask Benefit for Indigenous Communities” at Pitchfork.

Read/Listen “Willie Nelson Inhabits The Songs Of Others On 'First Rose Of Spring'“ at NPR.

Read “Lady A, Formerly Lady Antebellum, Sue Seattle Blues Singer Lady A” at Pitchfork.

• Read “17 Reactions To Lady A, FKA Lady Antebellum, Suing Anita White Because They Now Have The Same Stage Name' at Buzzfeed. "So Lady Antebellum changed their name to Lady A in order to be racially 'woke' but now they are suing the black singer that’s had that name for 20 years."

• Read “Blues Singer Lady A Responds to Lady Antebellum’s Lawsuit” at Pitchfork. ““If you want to be an advocate or an ally, you help those who you’re oppressing. And that might require you to give up something because I am not going to be erased.”

Read “A rare song recorded by Jimmy Page and Keith Richards is being officially released” at Led Zep News.

Read “Grateful Dead Launch New Podcast ‘The Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast’” at Jambands.

Movies/TV/Etc.:

Read “Jim Gaffigan To Star in Chuck Smith, Greg Laurie Biopic About the ‘Jesus People’ Movement” at Deadline.

Read “Martin Scorsese to Direct New Documentary on New York Dolls’ David Johansen” at Pitchfork.

Read “Disney is creating a new show with Colin Kaepernick The athlete and activist will share his story, along with other stories that deal with race and social injustice” at CNet.

Read “‘Hamilton’ Review: You Say You Want a Revolution The filmed version of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s founding-father Broadway musical arrives just in time — vital and more challenging than ever” at The New York Times. ““Hamilton,” which premiered at the Public Theater in early 2015 before moving to Broadway and then into every precinct of American popular culture, may be the supreme artistic expression of an Obama-era ideal of progressive, multicultural patriotism.”

Read “Matthew Cherry's 'Hair Love' Becoming HBO Max Animated Series” at Hollywood Reporter.

Read “'The Wonder Years' Is Being Rebooted with a Black Family” at Exclaim.

Design/Artsy Things:

Read “Our Cities Need Artists Now More than Ever. Here's Why” at Strong Towns.

Science/Animals/Technology/Environment/Etc.:

Read “Australia Has a Flesh-Eating-Bacteria Problem In the beach towns south of Melbourne, everyone, it seems, knows someone who’s been attacked” at The Atlantic.

Read “‘A Species That We Cannot Afford To Lose’: Hundreds Of Elephants In Botswana Found Mysteriously Dead” at WBUR.

Food Cultures:

Read “Moose Cheese A Swedish farm is the world's only producer of this rare, creamy delicacy” at Gastro Obscura.

Misc. Oddities:

Read “This 103-Year-Old Woman Is The Last Filipino To Preserve Ancient Tattoo Tradition” at Bored Panda.

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 (05/15/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (05/15/20).

Read “Died: Darrin Patrick, Who Used His Fall and Restoration to Help Struggling Pastors” at Christianity Today.

Read “Betty Wright, Iconic R&B Singer, Dead at 66” at Pitchfork.

Read “Little Richard, Founding Father of Rock Who Broke Musical Barriers, Dead at 87” at Rolling Stone.

Read “R.I.P. Andre Harrell, Hip-Hop Mogul and Founder of Uptown Records Dies at 57” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Jerry Stiller, Comedian With Enduring Appeal, Is Dead at 92” at New York Times.

Read “'Double Rainbow Guy' Paul Vasquez has died” at CNN.

Read “Roy Horn of Siegfried and Roy duo dies of coronavirus” at CNN.

Read “Largest Christian Radio Company Faces Financial Crisis Due to Coronavirus Downturn Salem Media makes cuts as more churches and ministries pull spending during the pandemic” at Christianity Today.

Read “Germany Just Banned Conversion Therapy for Minors” at New Now Next.

Read “Nearly 2000 former DOJ officials call for AG Barr to resign over Flynn case” at ABC News.

Read “White Man Who Wore KKK Hood to Store Won't Face Charges” at The Root.

Read “Ahmaud Arbery died for the indefensible principle of white control” at Religion News Service.

• Read “Ahmaud Arbery and the Trauma of Being a Black Runner” at Christianity Today.

Read/Watch“High school senior, mother say large group of armed people, including off-duty deputy, terrorized them in their home” at WCET.

Read “Trump Believes Giving Black Voters Access to Voting Is Stealing the Election” at The Root.

Read “Breonna Taylor’s Life Mattered The young EMT didn’t need to be a hero. She just needed to be alive” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Senate Votes to Allow FBI to Monitor Browsing History Without a Warrant Federal agencies no longer need probable cause to access your online browsing data” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “The many failures revealed by the Afghanistan Papers US officials have been lying about the war since it started. Why don’t we care?” at Christianity Today.

Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:

• Read “Trump says doing too much coronavirus testing makes the US 'look bad' as he pushes for the country to reopen” at Business Insider.

• Read “White House Rejects C.D.C.’s Coronavirus Reopening Plan” at New York Times.

• Read “Costco’s Mask Requirement Reminds Businesses The Customer Is Not Always Right” at Forbes.

• Read “Americans widely oppose reopening most businesses, despite easing of restrictions in some states, Post-U. Md. poll finds” at Washington Post.

• Read “Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: The Perils of Hollywood’s Reckless Social Media Posts” at Hollywood Reporter.

• Read/watch “Trump administration cuts funding for coronavirus researcher, jeopardizing possible COVID-19 cure” at CBS News.

• Read “CEOs, Farm Bureau President Told To Remove Face Masks Before Meeting With Mike Pence” at Huff Post.

• Read “The U.S. is exporting Covid-19 to Latin America. We should instead be working with our neighbors” at America Magazine.

• Read “Trump won't wear a mask in public because he's afraid he might look ridiculous and it will harm his reelection chances, report says” at Business Insider.

• Read “Unreleased White House report shows coronavirus rates spiking in heartland communities” at NBC News.

• Read "Dr. Anthony Fauci Said Reopening The Country Early Could Lead To Avoidable "Suffering And Death" at Buzzfeed News.

• Read “Coronavirus cases are on the rise in Texas and other states that reopened early, former FDA chief says” at CNBC.

• Read/Watch “Doctors Without Borders dispatches team to the Navajo Nation” at CBS News.

• Read “Cancel The Rent’ at The New Yorker. “If our government can spend trillions of dollars to bail corporations out of a worsening economic situation, then there is no reason why that same gesture cannot be extended to poor and working-class families.“

• Read “Bill Gates on how to fight future pandemics The coronavirus will hasten three big medical breakthroughs. That is just a start” at The Economist.

• Read “COVID-19 and The Mark of the Beast” at The Logos Academic Blog.

• Read “Americans more worried about reopening too quickly than not opening quickly enough, survey says” at USA Today.

• Read “Heavily Armed Protesters Gather Again At Michigan Capitol To Decry Stay-At-Home Order” at NPR.

• Read “Thousands of Americans Have Become Socialists Since March The Democratic Socialists of America have an estimated 10,000 new members—growth that organizers attribute, in part, to the coronavirus pandemic” at The Atlantic.

• Read “Trump Feared Testing Too Many People for Virus Would Spook Stock Markets, Says Report” at Daily Beast.
  

Read “Liberty University Dumps Its Philosophy Department” at The Way of Improvement.

Read “One For The History Books: 14.7% Unemployment, 20.5 Million Jobs Wiped Away” at NPR.

Read “Fight Over Vote-By-Mail Is ‘Spiritual Battle’ For ‘Control of the Free World,’ Says True the Vote Leader” at Right Wing Watch.

Read “Trump says Washington, DC, will never be a state — because of all the Democrats” at New York Post.

Read “Court Allows Emoluments Case Against Trump Over D.C. Hotel To Proceed” at NPR.

Read “After FBI Warrant, Sen. Richard Burr Steps Down As Intelligence Chairman” at News and Guts.

Read “QAnon Is More Important Than You Think: The Prophecies of Q. American conspiracy theories are entering a dangerous new phase” at The Atlantic.

Browse “Deaf People Show How To Swear In Sign Language, And It’s Shamefully Entertaining” at Design Your Trust.

Read “Live Nation Planning to Resume Concerts at “Full Scale” Beginning in 2021 In the short term, the concert promoter will experiment with fan-less or reduced-capacity shows” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Supreme Launches Daniel Johnston Clothing Line” at Pitchfork.

Read “Brian May taken to hospital after tearing buttock muscles while gardening” at The Guardian.

Read “Nirvana, Siouxsie and the Banshees, David Bowie and Hundreds More Peel Sessions Hit YouTube” at Flood.

Read “Coachella Radius Clause Lawsuit Dismissal Reversed Oregon-based promoter Soul'd Out Productions can now re-file their anti-trust suit in U.S. District Court” at Pitchfork.

Read “Jason Isbell Discusses New Album ‘Reunions’ On ‘CBS This Morning’” at JamBase.

Read “Laurie Anderson and Michael Stipe on Music, Art and New Chapters “You’ve got to fall on your face to sit at the table,” says the erstwhile R.E.M. frontman” at New York Times.

Read “'I found the roots of electronic music in a cupboard!': the tale of India's lost techno pioneers” at The Guardian.

Read “My Cymbals Were Melting”: Bill Kreutzmann Joins Carrie Fisher, Ad-Rock and Nick Offerman in ‘Have A Good Trip’ Which Debuts Today” at Relix.

Read “Listen to Iggy Pop Read a Bedtime Story About His Dog” at Pitchfork.

See “Salvador Dalí’s Illustrations for The Bible (1963)” at Open Culture.

Read “Original Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater Games Getting Re-Released for PS4, XBOX One, and PC” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “An ASU researcher is working on a virus that's harmless to humans, but kills cancer cells” at AZ Central.

Read “Stanford scientists created a sound so loud it instantly boils water” at CNet.

See “Musician who loves danger invents a flame-throwing trombone” at Classic FM.

Read “Arizona Schools Plan For The Possibility Buildings May Not Open This Fall” at KJZZ.

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 (04/10/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (04/10/20)

Read “John Prine 1946 – 2020” at JamBase.

Read “Hal Willner, Music Producer and ‘SNL’ Veteran, Dies at 64” at Variety.

Read “Mort Drucker, Master of the Mad Caricature, Is Dead at 91” at New York Times.

Coronavirus Weekly Roundup:Education:

• Read: “I’ve Spent 27 Years in Solitary Confinement. Here Are Some Tips on Making the Best Use of Time Alone” at Mother Jones.

• Read “Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp admits he just learned asymptomatic people can spread coronavirus” at NBC News.

• Read “Liberty University student tests positive for Covid-19 after Falwell reopens campus Nearly a dozen students showed symptoms of coronavirus after Jerry Falwell Jr defied calls for closures and invited them to return” at The Guardian.

• Read “As coronavirus death rates multiply, these monks are giving away caskets” at Religion News Service.

• Read “The coronavirus pandemic is exposing the myth of self-reliance The people we deem invisible are holding us together right now” at Christian Century.

• Read “Fox News Is Preparing to Be Sued Over Coronavirus Misinformation Polls show that Trish Regan, Sean Hannity, and others successfully bamboozled viewers about coronavirus. Now, Fox is reportedly lawyering up for a potential legal backlash” at Vanity Fair.

Read “President Obama & Marilynne Robinson: A Conversation in Iowa” at The New York Review of Books.

Read “Sen. Elizabeth Warren Calls For National Voting Overhaul” at NPR. “Sen. Elizabeth Warren is unveiling a plan that includes $4 billion in new elections funding and that would require 30 days of early voting and a mail-in ballot to be sent to every registered voter in the country.”

Read “Bernie Sanders drops out of the 2020 race, clearing Joe Biden's path to the Democratic nomination” at CNN.

Read “Everybody Loses: Tiger King, Greek Tragedy, and Spectacle as Entertainment” at Christ and Pop Culture.

Read “Why Do We Even Listen to New Music? Our brains reward us for seeking out what we already know. So why should we reach to listen to something we don’t?” at Pitchfork.

“Listen to Henry Rollins’ 4-Hour Radio Show The Cool Quarantine” at Pitchfork.

Read “When I Get To Heaven”: A Candid Conversation with John Prine” at Relix.

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 (03/20/20)

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 (03/06/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (03/07/20).

Read “Pioneering theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson dies at 96” at PBS News Hour.

Read “R.I.P. James Lipton, Host of Inside the Actors Studio Dead at 93” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Churchgoers turn their backs on Bloomberg during service” at CNN.

Read “Three Cheers for Socialism Christian Love & Political Practice” by David Bentley Hart at Commonweal Magazine.

Read “5 Reasons Capitalism is not Christian” at Mike Frost.

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 “Confederate Flags, Symbols Officially Banned From All Marine Corps Installations at The Root.

Read “Virginia becomes first Southern state to pass an LGBTQ nondiscrimination law Lawmakers approve Virginia Values Act, sending it to Gov. Ralph Northam for his signature into law” at Metro Weekly.

Read “Trump’s Praise for Modi on India’s ‘Incredible’ Religious Freedom Doesn’t Match Our Research The Evangelical Fellowship of India documents 300-plus cases of Christian persecution by Hindu nationalists each year. Muslims have it even worse” at Christianity Today.

Read “How to talk to your kids about race: This video nails it 'The worst conversation adults can have with kids about race is no conversation at all” at Click Orlando.

Read “Tucson mayor, councilwoman: No Confederate flags at rodeo parade” at AZ Central.

Read “Research Ties Historic Black Names to Longer Life In late 1800s and early 1900s, African-American men with distinctively black names lived longer than their peers, new study finds” at Wall Street Journal.

Read/Listen to “'Whiplash' Of LGBTQ Protections And Rights, From Obama To Trump” at NPR.

Read “Someone is using cat stickers to cover racism in Manchester” at The Manc.

Read “Rush Limbaugh is under fire for claiming the coronavirus is a 'common cold' being 'weaponized' to bring down Trump” at Insider.

Read “Corona Beer Is Losing Millions To Coronavirus To be clear, you cannot get Coronavirus from drinking Mexican beer” at Fatherly.

Read “Chris Matthews Retires From MSNBC” at The Hollywood Reporter.

Read “No, You Do Not Need Face Masks To Prevent Coronavirus—They Might Increase Your Infection Risk” at Forbes.

• Read “Born-again Christians immune from Coronavirus says NZ pastor” at Free Thinker.

• Read “Nigerian prophet to embark on journey to China to battle coronavirus” at Legit.

• Read “Bill and Melinda Gates Pledge $100 Million to Coronavirus Response” at Global Citizen.

• Read “America's patchwork, for-profit healthcare system poised to worsen coronavirus outbreak Those with poor insurance have a financial disincentive to seek medical help — which will only worsen the crisis” at Salon.

Read “Bloom: A Touching Animated Short Film about Depression and What It Takes to Recover the Light of Being” at Brain Pickings.

Read “Australian Associated Press: News agency to close after 85 years” at BBC.

Read “Black Engineer Invents Gloves That Turn Sign Language into Audible Speech” at Black Business.

Read “Fox News Analyst Brit Hume Got A Hilarious Lesson On Why You Should Close Your Tabs When Taking A Screenshot Of Your Internet Browser” at Comic Sands.

Read “Should Economy Air Travelers Have The Right To Sit Next To Their Kids?” at WBUR.

Read “Apple to Pay Upwards of $500 Million for Intentionally Slowing Old iPhones Apple might owe you $25” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “School policy forbids kids from saying 'no' when asked to dance One mom is fighting back on behalf of her 11-year-old daughter” at Today.

Read “Pro-Life Democrats Remind Candidates They Exist Ahead of the South Carolina primary, religious voters’ push for a “diversity of opinions” on abortion gets little reception from presidential hopefuls” at Christianity Today.

Read “Sanders can’t lead the Democrats if his campaign treats them like the enemy What Bernie needs to learn from Biden” at Vox.

Consider Jello Biafra’s 2020 Presidential Endorsement(s).

• Read “Neutral Milk Hotel’s Jeff Mangum Endorses Bernie Sanders in Rare Public Statement” at Pitchfork.

• Read “Kim Gordon’s New Bernie Sanders Ad Is an Absurd Recipe Video “What’s Cooking America?” encourages voters in Super Tuesday states to vote for Sanders” at Pitchfork.

• Read “Cedric Bixler-Zavala Denounces Former Bandmate Beto O’Rourke for Endorsing Joe Biden Former The Mars Volta and Foss member instead announced his support for Bernie Sanders” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Pete Buttigieg To Suspend Presidential Campaign” at NPR.

• Read “Klobuchar is ending her presidential bid, will endorse Biden” at PBS News Hour.

• Read “Elizabeth Warren, Once a Front-Runner, Drops Out of Presidential Race” at New York Times.

• Read/Listen/Consider “Are Women Candidates Held To A Different Standard Than Men?” at WBUR.

Read “Rep. John Lewis: “We Must…Vote Like We Never, Ever Voted Before” at News and Guts.

Read “Trump suggests his supporters vote in another Democratic primary, this time in South Carolina” at CNN.

Read “Arizona House passes bill that would allow police at polling stations” at KTAR. Welcome to the Police State you never wanted.

Read “How Voters Psych Themselves Out and Choose the Wrong Candidate” at Psych Central.

Read “Texas Has Closed Hundreds of Polling Stations—Most of Them in Places Where Black and Latinx Populations Are Growing” at The Root.

Read “How Going To A Dead & Company Concert With A Stranger Helped Me Heal After Losing My Son “I hate crowds and loud rock music, but I was being offered a gift: the chance to learn more about my son all these years after he was taken from me” at Huff Post.

Wonder “Why So Many Medieval Manuscripts Depict Violent Rabbits?” at Sad and Useless.

Read “Public Enemy Part Ways With Flavor Flav Flavor Flav recently issued a cease and desist over Public Enemy performing at a Bernie Sanders rally in Los Angeles” at Pitchfork.

• Read “Public Enemy “did not part ways w/ Flavor Flav over his political views,” they say” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” Remains Private Property, Court Rules” at Pitchfork.

Read “Going Deep With Damien Jurado” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Read “Thom Yorke Announces Rare Solo Acoustic Performance Massive Attack invited him to open at All Points East” at Pitchfork.

Read “Skate or die! How skate-punk took over the world” at Louder Sound.

Read “Elkhorn” by Scott Elingburg at Analogue.

Read “Garcia Peoples and live taping in New York” at Wired.

Read/Listen to “Zia Records Turns 40: How The Phoenix Record Store Has Survived Revolutionary Music Industry Changes” at KJZZ.

Read “A Radical Act: Canadian Musicians in Conversation About Being Sober in an Industry Built on Booze” at Exclaim.

Watch “Bob Weir And Wolf Bros: Tiny Desk Concert” at NPR.

Read “The Archive Of Contemporary Music — And Its 3 Million Recordings — Is Leaving NY” at NPR.

Read “Genesis Set to Reunite For Arena Tour: Report Phil Collins, Tony Banks, and Mike Rutherford are getting back together for the first time in 13 years” at Consequence of Sound.

Mine the rich depths of “sweetblahg 2019 year in review”.

Read “It's hopeful and generous': Thurston Moore's experimental record shop” at The Guardian.

Read “MELVINS' BUZZ OSBORNE: 10 ALBUMS THAT MADE ME From David Bowie to Redd Kross, sludge-grunge stalwart shares stories behind records that shaped his life” at Revolver.

Read “Genesis Reunite for Tour The classic '80s lineup gets back together for several UK dates” at Pitchfork.

Read “Schitt’s Creek Cast to Take Final Bow with Farewell Tour The beloved series is currently in its sixth and final season” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Garth Brooks elicits wrath of Trump supporters after wearing Barry Sanders jersey Unfortunately for Brooks, Barry Sanders shares a last name with Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Hillary Clinton to start a podcast” at CNN.

Read “Post Malone Says He Gets Face Tattoos Because He’s Insecure About His Looks "I'm a ugly-ass motherf*cker," the rapper admitted” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “I Read My Way Out: My Year Of Reading Copiously and Therapeutically.”

See “Smithsonian Places 2.8 Million Historic Images Into the Public Domain” at My Modern.net.

Read “The most massive explosion since the Big Bang was just spotted in deep space” at BGR.

Read “The Exiled Prince Behind Los Angeles’s Only Fresh-Pasta Food Truck Bend the macaro-knee” at Gastro Obscura.

Read “Sorry, Texas and New Mexico. Arizona loves Mexican food the most, website says” at AZ Central.

Read “Brits, Beers, and Blokes: An Oral History of George & Dragon English Pub” at Phoenix New Times.

Read/Listen to “'Not One Drop Of Blood': Cattle Mysteriously Mutilated In Oregon” at NPR.

The Weekly Town Crier (02/28/20)

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (02/28/20).

Read “Monkees Singer and Bassist Peter Tork Dead at 77” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Katherine Johnson, one of NASA's 'Hidden Figures,' dies at 101” at 12 News.

Read “Mazzy Star’s David Roback Dead at 61 The producer and instrumentalist also co-founded the bands Rain Parade and Opal” at Pitchfork.

Read “Clive Cussler, million-selling adventure writer, dies at 88 Clive Cussler was an adventure writer and real-life thrill-seeker” at 12 News.

Read “This Political Moment: A Way Forward in a Divided Age. Conflict is opportunity, my friend says optimistically.”

Read “SEC Charges Son of John MacArthur & Grace to You Board Member with Fraud” at Julie Roys.

Read “Internal report finds that L’Arche founder Jean Vanier engaged in decades of sexual misconduct” at America Magazine.

Read “Why Christ wouldn't aspire to ‘Christic Manhood’” at Religion News Service.

Read “Misogyny in Baptist Higher Education” at Baptist Voices.

Read “I Really Want to Skip Church” at Mockingbird. "As much as I’d love to tell people: 'Church should be your excuse for missing everything else,' I’m acutely aware of two things: (1) Church might be the reason you are missing love, grace, and mercy in your life; and (2) Church might be a lot more work than you can handle at the moment."

Read “Must Pro-Life Mean Pro-Trump? We have placed too much faith in the political calculus and not enough faith in God’s power” at Christianity Today.

Read “The “Music from Saharan WhatsApp” Series is an Experiment in Immediacy” at Bandcamp and browse my own posts about “Music from Saharan WhatsApp.”

Read “Conservative columnist and political commentator David Brooks awarded Calvin University’s Kuyper Prize” at MLive.

Read “Pope Francis: Give Up Trolling For Lent” at Sojourners.

Read “25 Black Theologians Who Have Grown Our Faith Scholars and authors reflect on the significance of African American leaders in the church” at Christianity Today.

Read “Dialoguing Across Difference: Abortion & Big Tent Theology” at Red Letter Christians.

Read “How Stephen Miller Manipulates Donald Trump To Further His Immigration Obsession. Donald Trump’s senior adviser has been the true driving force behind this Administration’s racist agenda. How far will he go?”

Read “Women and Girls Contribute Trillions of Dollars in Unpaid Labor Every Year The world’s 22 richest men have more wealth than all of the women in Africa” at Global Citizen.

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

Read “White Supremacist Group Arrested for Murder Plot, Found to Have More Targets in Mind Than Previously Known” at The Root.

Read “Survivors of Japanese Internment Speak Out Against Immigrant Detention” at Our Prism.

Read “Harvey Weinstein Taken to Hospital for Chest Pains Hours after being found guilty of rape” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “America's Mental Health Crisis Hidden Behind Bars” at NPR.

Read “Religion may be good for your health! People of faith are less likely to fall or feel ill compared to non-believers, official stats reveal” at Daily Mail.

Read “New Zealand Has Lifted 18,400 Children out of Poverty: Report” at Global Citizen.

Read “9th Circuit Denies Request To Vacate Arpaio Guilty Verdict” at KJZZ.

Read “The Last Slave Ship Survivor Gave an Interview in the 1930s. It Just Surfaced” at History.

Read “Colonialism’s Cages: When Indigenous People Were Placed In Human Zoos” at All That’s Interesting.

Read “What is döstädning, or Swedish Death Cleaning, and why is it causing such a decluttering buzz?” at Yahoo News.

Read “It’s Time to Let the Five Stages of Grief Die The five stages of grief are ingrained in our cultural consciousness as the natural progression of emotions one experiences after the death of a loved one. However, it turns out that this model is not science-based, does not well describe most people's experiences, and was never even meant to apply to the bereaved” at McGill.

Read “Supreme Court Pipeline Fight Could Disrupt How The Appalachian Trail Is Run” at NPR.

• Read “The Forest Service says the Appalachian Trail isn’t “land” in a pipeline fight at SCOTUS” at Quartz.

Read “Inspired by Little Free Libraries, a free pantry helps feed hungry neighbors in St. Paul” at Star Tribune.

Read “How To Give Advice: Less Fixing, More Listening” at NPR.

Read “Steve Jobs' signature is the star of retro Apple gear collection at auction An original 1983 Apple Macintosh is going for $25,000” at CNet.

Read “Korn’s Brian “Head” Welch Opens Wellness Spas Inspired by the Rigors of Touring” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Italy Just Became the First Country to Require Schools to Teach Climate Change” at Global Citizen.

Browse “The Worst Things Michael Bloomberg Has Said About Women” at The Cut.

Read “Nevada Democratic Party asks caucus volunteers to sign confidentiality agreements” at CNN.

Read “Buttigieg Warns Against Sanders As The Democratic Nominee” at NPR.

Read “Admiral William McRaven: We Should Be Frightened, Deeply Afraid” at News and Guts. “When good men and women can’t speak the truth, when facts are inconvenient, when integrity and character no longer matter, when presidential ego and self-preservation are more important than national security — then there is nothing left to stop the triumph of evil.”

Read “Pompeo appeared to coordinate with Giuliani on Ukraine, new documents show” at Yahoo News.

Read “With An Election On The Horizon, Older Adults Get Help Spotting Fake News” at NPR.

Read “The Trump Era Proves That Women’s Studies Matters” at Ms. Magazine.

Read “'It's About Time': House Approves Historic Bill Making Lynching A Federal Crime” at NPR.

Read “Why Millennials Refuse to Let Go of Physical Media The last generation to know life before the internet hasn't fully switched over to streaming” at Inside Hook.

Read “Public Enemy Will Perform at Bernie Sanders’ Los Angeles Rally” at Paste.

Read “And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out Turns 20” at Stereogum.

Read “Robbie Robertson (The Band) Talks with M.C. Taylor (Hiss Golden Messenger) on the Talkhouse Podcast They talk road-dogging with Dylan, scoring for Scorsese, and creating the seminal Music from Big Pink” at Talk House.

Read “Jerry Lee Lewis Returns to Music: ‘I Thought I Would Never Play Again’ After a stroke last year robbed him of use of his right hand, the Rock and Roll legend thought his piano-playing days were over. Now, at 84, he just recorded a new album” at Rolling Stone.

Read “For the Record(s): There's No Shame in Owning a Crosley” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “Rebecca Foon Gets Honest and Raw with the Gorgeous 'Waxing Moon' at PopMatters.

Read “Mavis Staples Reflects on the Stax Years: Watch New Episode of 'Memphis Masters' at Billboard.

Read “Don Letts: ‘Punk was a refuge from racism’” at The Guardian.

Watch ‘Wetlands Preserved: The Story of an Activist Nightclub’ with Bob Weir, Phish, The Roots and More” at Relix.

Read “Yeasayer Suing Kendrick Lamar and the Weeknd Over Black Panther Song A new lawsuit alleges that “Pray For Me” infringes on the band’s 2007 song “Sunrise” at Pitchfork.

Read “The “Music from Saharan WhatsApp” Series is an Experiment in Immediacy” at Bandcamp and browse my own posts about “Music From Saharan WhatsApp.”

Read “Neil Young wants to tour historic venues but is struggling to find many still in operation He thinks that new arenas feel “soulless" at NME.

Read “One of Rock’s Most Doomed Romances Started on the Floor of Portland’s Scuzziest Punk Club No one at Satyricon who saw the two tangled bodies grappling in front of the jukebox could’ve known what they were witnessing” at Williamette Week.

Read “'It sounded like the future': behind Miles Davis's greatest album On the 50th anniversary of Bitches Brew, one of the contributing musicians and the director of a new documentary share their thoughts on the record” at The Guardian.

Read “New Order and Pet Shop Boys Announce Co-Headlining Tour The new wave legends will play 11 shows together this fall” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “City Of Liverpool To Open Memorial Garden In Honor Of George Harrison” at Live For Live Music.

Read “This black female musician you may not know has written songs you probably do’ at Good Morning America.

Read “RZA Shares New EP of Guided Meditation Songs” at Pitchfork.

Read “Revisiting Talk Talk, A Band Worried About Being A 'Laughing Stock'" at NPR.

Read “'She exists out of time': Umm Kulthum, Arab music's eternal star” at The Guardian.

Read “Heavy Rain: The Exodus of Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry” at Please Kill Me.

Watch “More Than 400 Classic Korean Films Free Online Thanks to the Korean Film Archive” at Open Culture.

Read “Sinclair stations are airing a dramatic special fearmongering about socialism, and it’s hosted by former Trump aide Sebastian Gorka” at Media Matters.

Read “The One Where the Friends Reunion Is Officially Happening on HBO Max” at Vulture.

Read “'Just Mercy' Wins Big At NAACP Image Awards” at BET.

Read “Daredevil 'Mad' Mike Hughes Killed In Crash Of Homemade Rocket” at NPR.

Read “Greg Kinnear to Make Broadway Debut as Atticus Finch in 'To Kill a Mockingbird'" at Hollywood Reporter.

Read “We’re gonna do economic activity—without money!”: Inside the criminal glamour of the San Francisco Diggers with Kent Minault” at Diggers Docs.

Read “Turkish Trash Collectors Built a Library of Discarded Books” at Global Citizen.

See “Thousands of life jackets worn by refugees attached to pillars at Minneapolis Institute of Art” at Twin Cities Pioneer Press.

Read “Surrealism Was a Decidedly Feminine Movement. So Why Have So Many of Its Great Women Artists Been Forgotten?” at Art Net.

Read “Scientists Found a Plastic Grocery Bag in the Ocean's Deepest Trench The bag was spotted in the Mariana Trench at a depth of 36,000 feet” at Global Citizen.

Read “An Iceberg Triple The Size Of San Francisco Breaks Off Antarctica's Most Endangered Glacier” at WBUR.

Read “Survival Of The Friendliest: How Our Close Friendships Help Us Thrive” at NPR.

Read “A New Theory On Time Indicates Present And Future Exist Simultaneously” at Science Philes.

Read “This 8-Year-Old Mexican Girl Won a Prize for Making a Solar Heater From Recycled Objects” at Global Citizen.

Read “You Cannot Heal Your Way Out of Being Human And you were never meant to” at Human Parts.

Read “A woman took 550 times the usual dose of LSD, with surprisingly positive consequences” at CNN.

Read “The Planet Is Doomed Unless We Stop Eating So Much Meat, UN Warns” at Global Citizen.

Read “Supermarkets in Thailand Are Replacing Plastic Packaging With Banana Leaves” at Global Citizen.

Read “C.S. Lewis’s Greatest Fiction Was Convincing American Kids That They Would Like Turkish Delight What would the perfect fantasy treat look like? Depending on where you’re from, probably not this” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “The Creepy Small Town In Arizona With Insane Paranormal Activity” at Only In Your State.

Read “Arizona Leads The Nation In Auto Glass Insurance Claims” at KJZZ.

Read “The 25 Best Places To Eat & Drink In Phoenix” at The Infatuation.

Read “Students walk out of Centennial High School after former principal resigns” at 12 News.

The Weekly Town Crier (02/21/20)

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

Read “DJ and producer Andrew Weatherall has died” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “Pete Buttigieg On Faith ‘As A Source of Unity’ And Its Role In The 2020 Election.”

Read “James Cone looked evil in the face and refused to let it crush his hope Antiblackness is outrageous, but it does not have the last word” at Christian Century.

Read/watch “Christians surprise Pride parade marchers with signs apologizing for anti-LGBTQ views” at 10tv.

Read “Will the Real Pro-Life Political Party Please Stand Up?” by Shane Claiborne at Red Letter Christians.

Read “There is beauty and joy at the end of life, too” at Globe And Mail.

Read “Deliver Us, Lord, From the Startup Life In the Midwest, Christian entrepreneurs are searching for relief from the corrosive grind of company-building—while some faith leaders preach the gospel of crushing it” at Wired.

Read “Trump critic Russell Moore, ERLC to face scrutiny by Southern Baptists” at Religion News Service.

Read “First Asian American sheriff in California vows to protect immigrants from Trump policies” at AZ Central.

Read “The No. 1 reason you’re still broke even if you received a pay raise last year” at Market Watch. “When adjusted for cost of living increases, real wages actually declined 1.3% since the end of 2017.”

Read “At the border, “law and order” looks a lot like chaos Trump’s new policies are creating confusion and misery” at Christian Century.

Read/Watch “Why Trump’s outreach to black voters is raising ethical questions” at PBS News Hour. “"It seems like the president suggested that the scholarship for Janiyah Davis was part of a government program. But then we found out that it was paid for by the personal charity of one of his employees," says Donald Sherman of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.”

Read “Trump Administration To Waive Contracting Laws To Build Border Wall” at KJZZ.

Read “Primary Season Is Here And 'Hispandering' Is Back” at NPR.

Read “The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Will Officially Become a Part of Oklahoma School Curriculum Beginning in the Fall” at The Root.

Read “There Is Not Some Separation Between Jesus and Justice.' How Rev. William J. Barber II Uses His Faith to Fight for the Poor” at Time.

Read “Psychology shows it’s a big mistake to base our self-worth on our professional achievements” at Quartz.

Read “Boy Scouts seek bankruptcy under wave of new sex abuse lawsuits” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “If we can't stop active shooter drills, let's at least do them without traumatizing kids” at AZ Central.

Read “US ranks lower than 38 other countries when it comes to children's wellbeing, new report says” at CNN.

Read “A Second School in California Will Be Named After Michelle Obama Michelle Obama Elementary School opens its doors in August” at Global Citizen.

Read “Arizona charter school principal pleads guilty in $2.5 million enrollment scheme” at AZ Central.

Read “Trump Calls For End To Student Loan Forgiveness Program” at Forbes.

Read “To promote success in schools, focus on teacher well-being” at Brookings.

Read “Children stage mass-walkout after teachers were forced to quit for being gay” at Metro.

Read/Watch “Poverty is a winning issue for 2020” at CNN.

Read “'Just Plain Ugly': Proposed Executive Order Takes Aim At Modern Architecture” at NPR.

Read “1,100 Former DOJ Employees Call On Barr To Resign After Intervening In Stone Case” at NPR.

• Read “Federal judges' association calls emergency meeting after DOJ intervenes in case of Trump ally Roger Stone” at USA Today.

Read “2.5M Pounds Of Radioactive Waste Illegally Dumped In Oregon Landfill” at OPB.

Read “Greece Elected an Environmentalist as Its First Woman President Katerina Sakellaropoulou gained support across party lines” at Global Citizen.

Read “Bloomberg set to debate in Nevada after qualifying in new poll” at The Hill.

Read “Trump Commutes Sentence Of Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich” at NPR.

• Read “Trump Threatens to Sue ‘Everyone All Over the Place’ Another morning, another Twitter outburst” at Rolling Stone.

• Read “How Much Has the Government Spent at Trump’s Properties? It Won’t Say” at ProPublica.

Read “Japan’s Lost-and-Found System Is Insanely Good” at City Lab.

Read “The Next Smithsonian Might Be A Women's History Museum” at NPR.

Read “The gloriously unhinged progressive pushback against the Babylon Bee The humor may or may not be to your taste but it’s hardly about to bring the republic crashing down in a slurry of ignorance” at Spectator USA.

Read “Court Records Confirm Works From Nirvana, Elton John And Others Damaged In 2008 Fire” at NPR.

Read “Grateful Dead To Release 15-CD ‘June 1976’ Box Set” at Jambands.com.

Read “New Adventures with The Kernal” at Sound And Soul.

Read “Facing Hearing Loss, Huey Lewis Releases What 'May Be' His Last Album” at NPR.

Read “New Musical ‘Get Up, Stand Up! The Bob Marley Story’ to Open in London in 2021” at Rolling Stone.

Read “The Day The Music Became Carbon-Neutral” at The New Yorker.

Read “An Attempt To Explain The “Difficult” Neil Young Records” at Vinyl Me Please.

Read “Neil Young Pens Open Letter to Donald Trump: ‘You Are a Disgrace to My Country’ Now an American citizen, Young rails against the president” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Henry Rollins To Voice Tri-Klops In Netflix’s He-Man Reboot” at Stereogum.

Read “Feature-Length Ronnie James Dio Documentary Is Being Made The film is being produced by BMG and will span the singer's illustrious career” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Watch More Than 400 Classic Korean Films Free Online Thanks to the Korean Film Archive” at Open Culture.

Read “The Original Renegade A 14-year-old in Atlanta created one of the biggest dances on the internet. But nobody really knows that” at New York Times.

Read “LeBron James to release his first children's book this summer” at Entertainment Weekly.

See “This Graffiti Artist Makes Walls Appear Transparent Using Nothing But Spray Paint” at Bored Panda.

See “Portraits of “Most Beautiful Chickens on the Planet” Capture Their Underrated Beauty” at My Modern Net.

Read “Improving the prognosis of health care in the USA” at Science Direct.

Read “Scientists detect an unexplainable radio signal from outer space that repeats every 16 days” at AZ Central.

Read “Generations of Handwritten Mexican Cookbooks Are Now Online North America’s largest-known Mexican cookbook collection inspires both tears and restaurant dishes” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “Arpaio Leads in Sheriff’s Race Cash, But Just 1 in 8 of His Donors Are Arizonans” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “Lawmaker would ban students from listing dormitories on voter registration” at AZ Central.

Read “Caverns Grotto In a 345-million-year-old cave that's 200 feet underground, dinner awaits.” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “7 Arizona Locations On Pier 1 Imports Store Closing List” at KJZZ.

Read “Arizona Governor, GOP Lawmakers End Sanctuary City Ban Push” at KJZZ.

The Weekly Town Crier (02/14/20)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Weekly Town Crier (02/07/20)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read “State of the Church” at Barna.

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

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

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

Read “Capitalism Is Incompatible With Christianity” at Sojourners.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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