Stationary bikes at home are now encouraged.
By Andrew Jankowski @ Willamette Week
Tag: news
Making friends out of foes
Ontario Premier Doug Ford
By Sarah Miller Llana @ The Christian Science Monitor
The System
Confederate flags and swastikas
“Operation Gridlock” — a large-scale demonstration organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition and the Michigan Freedom Fund, a conservative group linked to the family of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
By Quint Forgey @ Politico
Lawsuit accuses Liberty University of ‘profiting’ from the coronavirus pandemic
The class-action lawsuit was filed Monday by “Student A,” who, according to her lawyers, chose to remain anonymous “out of fear of retaliation and harassment.”
By Konstantin Toropin and Daniel Burke @ CNN
The other cheek
“I don’t think God wants Christians to just sit back and not protect what they believe in and protect the people they have a fiduciary responsibility to protect.” Liberty University President Jerry Falwell,
By Kate Riga @ Talking Points Memo
Covid-19 is ravaging the music world
A dispiriting couple of weeks in the lives of music fans have now climaxed with the death of Bill Withers, whose lean, leathery-tough vocals on such pop classics as “Ain’t No Sunshine,” “Use Me,” “Just the Two of Us” and “Lean on Me” were deeply woven into the soundtracks of several generations’ lives.
Opinion by Gene Seymour @ CNN
“Ukraine, Disinformation, & the Trump Administration” by Fox News
A Fox News internal document is critical of pro-Trump Fox regulars for spreading ‘disinformation.’
By Will Sommer, Maxwell Tani, Andrew Kirell @ The Daily Beast
Trump questions why NPR exists
Both NPR and PBS operate independently and are not censored or controlled by government officials, differentiating them from other nations’ propaganda outlets, such as Russia’s RT.
A recent Pew survey showed that 31 percent of U.S. adults trust NPR, while 10 percent distrust the media outlet. ABC News is the most-trusted media organization in the U.S., with 48 percent saying they trust the outlet. It was followed by NBC News and CNN (both at 47 percent). CBS News was ranked third (at 45 percent).
By Jason Lemon @ Newsweek
Jim Lehrer, Respected Anchorman for PBS, Dies at 85
“I’ve always seen this as a preserve of serious news. It’s not magic, and it’s not saintly. We’ve been doing it for 36 years, and we’ll continue doing it. Others won’t. That’s their problem.”
By Cheryl Cheng @ The Hollywood Reporter
PBS Newshour remembrance
C-SPAN Radio
The C-SPAN app may be downloaded here as well.
Lawmaker accuses Justice Department of blocking whistleblower disclosure
Giuliani snorted, “If the president of the United States said to the president of Ukraine ‘investigate the corruption in your country that has a bearing on our 2016 election’, isn’t that what he’s supposed to do?”
By Mark Hosenball and Jonathan Landay @ Reuters
Right-Wing Star Andy Ngo Exits Quillette After Damning Video Surfaces
The writer and photog is out of a job after being caught in incriminating undercover footage with right-wing activists. His former employer insists the two events aren’t related.
By Will Sommer @ Daily Beast
Slow Journalism
Just the thing for an August afternoon
By Doyle McManus @ Los Angeles Times
Real Clear Politics Lauds Snopes New Satire Label
Sort of
By Bill Zeiser @ Real Clear Politics
Proud Boys and Antifa Playact Protest in Portland
Leavening the mood is a quartet in chef’s toques, carrying signs that read WHITE FLOUR and WIFE POWER. “We’re standing up to white supremacy with a little humor, highlighting the absurdity,” one says before asking if she can “anoint” me with a sprinkling of flour. Kudos to these folks and others who dressed up and brightened the day.
By Nancy Rommelmann @ Reason
Social media’s conspiracy theory problem isn’t going away
And it doesn’t help that we have a president who routinely endorses, or retweets, conspiracy theories, ensuring they stay in the public eye even longer.
By Brian Resnick @ Vox
FBI document warns conspiracy theories are a new domestic terrorism threat
The FBI acknowledges conspiracy theory-driven violence is not new, but says it’s gotten worse with advances in technology combined with an increasingly partisan political landscape in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election.
By Jana Winter @ Yahoo News
New 5-year deal for PBS CEO, new YouTube pact for public TV
Paula Kerger, who joined the Public Broadcasting Service as president and CEO in 2006, told a TV critics meeting Monday that she committed to stay in the job for five more years because of her belief in “the purpose and power of public television.”
By Lynn Elber @ ABC News
Removal of 27 kids from Montana ranch ‘may be the tip of the iceberg,’ lawmaker says
For more than a decade, religious-affiliated private treatment homes were unregulated and unlicensed. It took only three weeks after a new state law went into effect for the state to crack down.
By Alex Johnson @ NBC News
This news article reminds me of some of the themes reflected in the Bundyville podcasts.
See also Fox News and Star Tribune
Associated Press names Sally Stapleton to manage new global religion team
A $4.9 million grant from the Lilly Endowment for the AP’s new religion team represents one of the biggest investments in religion news coverage in decades.
Race Against the Past
Portland, Oregon
CBS News (28:39)
“There’s a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive.”
By Nell Greenfieldboyce @ NPR
Scientists restore some function in the brains of dead pigs.
Oregon Senate backs switch from electoral college to popular vote
By Rebecca Falcorner @ Axios
The state would join 14 others and the District of Columbia in the National Popular Vote interstate compact if the Oregon House approves the bill and signs it into law.
Survey says!
Religious “nones” now outnumber Evangelicals @ World Religion News
A pun upon “nones,” undoubtedly.
Evidence of improper voting raises questions about Methodist gay clergy vote
By Jack Jenkins @ Religion News Service
United Methodist Church officials admitted this week that some of the votes cast during its recent special session on sexuality may have been invalid.
Southern Poverty Law Center fires co-founder, declines to say what he’s alleged to have done
By Michael Brice-Saddler @ The Washington Post
“I think the Southern Poverty Law Center is a very fine group and I devoted nearly 50 years of my life to it and I’m proud of its work,” Dees told the AP. “About being fired, all I can say is it wasn’t my decision and I wish the center the best.”
Fox News under fire
By Sara Fischer @ Axios
A series of damning reports over the past week has forced Fox News to issue statements addressing its values and judgement as a news company.
Planet 9 from outer space
By Chris Ciaccia @ Fox News
Evidence of the solar system’s missing link.
‘Buddhism under threat’: Thai election gives platform to radicals
By Panu Wongcha-um @ Reuters
Thai Buddhism itself is divided into two fraternities: the Mahanikaya of the masses and the more conservative Thammayut, bound to the establishment and more influential…
a rare intempestivity 