Every Friday, we will publish a short list of a few articles that have caught our attention. This is what we’re reading this week:
A new dimension of cyber-bullying takes place on Twitter:
One such post is an article on white supremacist website, The Daily Stormer. “How to be a Ni**** on Twitter” breaks down methods for creating a fake account in order to take “revenge on Twitter” for banning Andrew Auernheimer’s white supremacist ads and for blocking Jared Wyand’s account for anti-Semitic tweets. The secondary goal, the article notes, is to “create a state of chaos on twitter, among the black twitter population, by sowing distrust and suspicion, causing blacks to panic.”
Trump signs an executive order that likely won’t bring back jobs to the coal industry, definitely will contribute to accelerated global warming, and will fail to meet the terms of the Paris Agreement:
And though the percentage of coal mining jobs dropped sharply, economists said that was not driven by the Clean Power Plan. Rather, they blamed two key forces: an increase in the production of natural gas, which is a cheaper, cleaner-burning alternative to coal, and an increase in automation, which allowed coal companies to produce more fuel with fewer employees. The rollback of Mr. Obama’s regulations will not change either of those forces, economists say.
A look at what Trump and Obama have in common; and also what they don’t:
There are differences between the two presidents, of course. Obama got to the White House despite the lingering racism in American life and politics. Trump stoked that racism and gleefully rode it into Washington.
What is a president without his credibility?
If President Trump announces that North Korea launched a missile that landed within 100 miles of Hawaii, would most Americans believe him? Would the rest of the world? We’re not sure, which speaks to the damage that Mr. Trump is doing to his Presidency with his seemingly endless stream of exaggerations, evidence-free accusations, implausible denials and other falsehoods.
Some curious advice from the Department of Homeland Security on how to respond to an active shooter:
What is worth asking, though, is why DHS is using workplace trainings to promulgate false accounts about prior terror attacks and to decry “political correctness” as an impediment to workplace safety.
Check out the latest book by our very own Editor-in-Chief, Dan Rhodes, Organizing Church: Grassroots Practices for Embodying Change in Your Congregation, Your Community, and Our World. Available for purchase on Amazon!
Herein lies our disappointment. Despite what obviously can be done and what could be done by organizing bodies, why aren’t more churches (particularly the dominant, white, evangelical, or mainline churches) working toward this incredibly attainable vision? Dan and I continue to expect the church to incarnate, not just discuss, what it is called to be. We recognize that we will not achieve full perfection, but we also yearn to see congregations embrace their potential. When we reflect on our calls to ministry, a common script quickly emerges. We look for a church that is so strange, so counter-culturally inclusive, so counter-intuitively free of fear and concern of self-preservation, so unique in vision that it can, in partnership with many allies, establish a beloved community in this world that reflects the jubilee of Israel that Mary hailed at hearing news of her conception, and that Jesus declared at his coming.