MOTHER JONES DAILY: Trump’s New Census Directive Is Almost Certainly Unconstitutional, We just watched Republicans whitewash Black history—again, Bombshell whistleblower interview: ICE detention center used tricks to conceal COVID outbreak, The last-ditch effort to stop Florida's century-old campaign of racist disenfranchisement, We are officially living in crazytown, Your Coronavirus Antibodies May Not Last for Long. Here’s What That Means., Straggly Recordings of Live Shows 21JUL20

 

July 21, 2020

Bonjour,

Today is Tuesday, July 21. It is the Christian feast day of Victor of Marseilles, a third-century Roman soldier who refused to worship the god Jupiter. While Vic was being tortured in prison he converted some of his guards to Christianity. They were beheaded. Then he was crushed by a millstone and, to add insult to injury, also beheaded. 

The past was very bad! If someone showed up on my doorstep with a one-way time machine to the past, I would call the authorities. But you know what also isn't champagne and strawberries? The present. As Kevin Drum said yesterday, "We are officially living in Crazytown."

Au revoir,

—Ben Dreyfuss

 

Trump’s New Census Directive Is Almost Certainly Unconstitutional

His memorandum would exclude undocumented immigrants when drawing congressional districts.

BY ARI BERMAN

 

We just watched Republicans whitewash Black history—again

BY NATHALIE BAPTISTE

Bombshell whistleblower interview: ICE detention center used tricks to conceal COVID outbreak

BY NOAH LANARD

The last-ditch effort to stop Florida's century-old campaign of racist disenfranchisement

BY ABIGAIL WEINBERG

We are officially living in crazytown

BY KEVIN DRUM

 

Your Coronavirus Antibodies May Not Last for Long. Here’s What That Means.

First, know it’s really not that surprising.

BY JACKIE FLYNN MOGENSEN

 

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SOME GOOD NEWS, FOR ONCE

Straggly Recordings of Live Shows

I was wondering yesterday if I’ll ever mosh again. Or, more to the point, if we’ll ever mosh again. Will the pit ever open UP? By the time the pit does OPEN UP, will my old frail bones (and fully developed mind) be comfortable colliding with the youths at some half-assed punk show? (Do I have to do the thing where I go, “Obviously this is low priority”?) Ahem: Obviously this is low priority.

But I was thinking this was because I don’t—and never did—really like moshing. I wouldn’t choose it. It often happened, and I was there, and then you’re moshing. A lot of going to live shows was basically like this—a collection of not good but very fun stuff: your favorite artist reduced to the quality of LOUD; new friend, call him stranger A, sweating on you; paying $7 for a beer that tastes like plastic.

Do you miss that too?

If so, I’ve been finding a balm in scratchy live performances of artists I like. I find in them a dose of the unexpected. And, as I live increasingly online, I find in them a respite from ill-fitting perfection in the optimized spaces I traverse digitally.

One of my favorites for this is Ryley Walker—an artist who uploads a ton to Patreon. You can pay a few bucks and join me. I’ve enjoyed “Live at Shibuya 7th Floor, Tokyo, Japan” and “Live in Paris @ Mona Bismarck American Center June 1 2017.” Walker interlaces his songs, sometimes long acoustic riffs, with chitchat that I find amusing. It’s nice to hear a human, you know?

Or you can listen to a few examples of Bob Dylan singing terribly, which I enjoy. Here’s “Pancho and Lefty,” and this concert from 1984 has horrific quality, and he just stops playing a song at 19 minutes for no reason. Great. I don’t want to be fully pleased at the moment. For me, there’s a certain cheeriness in seeking out the random and slightly broken but tolerable.

That’s the good news I got for you. Sorry, the real news is…hard to mine at the moment.

—Jacob Rosenberg