Even if John Stewart is Gone, We all Need to Keep taking on FOX and all the Media

I am going to put a lot of John Stewart videos in the comment section, like this one:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YO_om3iK9kE

• Reports Accuse Bill O’Reilly of False “War Zone” Claims

You probably heard the great news – after a few years of progressive activism, FOX finally cancelled Glenn Beck’s show–but the Boycott Must Go On!!

Ten years ago, Media Matters launched with a revolutionary mission: to systematically monitor the U.S. media for conservative misinformation every day, in real time. We’ve been calling out right-wing lies for a decade — and we’re not done yet. Will you contribute now to help us raise $10,000 for our 10th anniversary?

For ten years, we’ve successfully fought back against the bad actors that poison our media with right-wing lies and smears. It’s been an amazing beginning, and we couldn’t have done it without your support.

We’re in this for the long haul. Make an anniversary gift today to kickstart the next ten years of media accountability.

Dear Kevin,
You probably heard the great news – after two years of progressive activism, FOX finally cancelled Glenn Beck’s show.
Beck was targeted after he slandered President Obama by saying, “This president has exposed himself as a guy, over and over and over again, who has a deep-seated hatred for white people, or the white culture, I don’t know what it is… This guy, I believe, is a racist.”
Activists at ColorOfChange, Media Matters, StopBeck, FoxNewsBoycott, and of course Democrats.com responded with a boycott of advertisers on Glenn Beck’s show. Ultimately over 300 advertisers pulled their ads from Beck, costing FOX over $40 million.
Advertiser boycotts work! And it’s time to boycott all FOX News advertisers:
http://www.democrats.com/boycott-proactiv
We’re starting our boycott of all FOX News with Proactiv, which sells acne medicine to teenagers and young adults. Why?
First, there are lots of other acne treatments. Second, young adults above all are hurt by FOX News, which promotes right-wing policies on race, education, healthcare, the environment, and war. Let’s get our future leaders to lead the fight against FOX News!
Sign the petition to Proactiv and enter the email address of every young adult over 18 you know:
http://www.democrats.com/boycott-proactiv
Beyond President Obama, FOX regularly slanders nearly everyone: Democrats, unionized workers, the unemployed (including veterans and 99ers), environmentalists, feminists, blacks, Hiics, Jews, Muslims, progressives, scientists, and any other group it disagrees with.
FOX News broadcasts rightwing extremist slander, incitement to violence, political propaganda, and outright lies to promote its rightwing political agenda. This is not “news,” but rather a never-ending “war on news” – and it’s all documented in our petition.
Why would any decent company want to fund it? Tell Proactiv to stop advertising on FOX News:
http://www.democrats.com/boycott-proactiv
Thanks for all you do!
Bob Fertik

GLEN BECK ADMITTED in 2007, “I Am RACIST and Barack Obama is very White” THIS MAKES Boycotting FOX NEWS needed NOW

By Kevin Stoda

Dear, American supporters of the Fascist Oddball Xenophobic (FOX) news networks.

AMERICANS are getting less tolerant of your racism and stronghold on our major media.

For example, we have noted that in his 2007 TV program from FOX (See on You-Tube), Glen Beck admitted he himself was racist. Further, Beck then, in contrast to 2009, called Barrack Obama much more white than black. (Apparently, Beck now he has other nonsense to mush men’s minds.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0tgvWxC_6A

Using a major news platform to promote racism and to tell people to disrespect a whole presidential administration through mixed truths, outright lies, and xenophobia, is not to be tolerated any more.

On Democracy Now today, Amy Goodman asked Benjamin Jealous of the NAACP what he thought of Wal-Mart’s pull-out from advertising on the Glen Beck program on FOX.

NOTE: Goodman had simply asked , “The whole attack by Glenn Beck that drove this (resignation)? In your response from the NAACP to Van Jones, it says, ´The only thing more outrageous than Mr. Beck’s attack on Van Jones is the fact that there are sponsors that continue to pay him to provide this type of offensive commentary.` Do you support the continued boycott of companies like Wal-Mart of Beck’s show on Fox?”

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/9/8/white_house_environmental_adviser_van_jones

This is a particularly important point because Glen Beck´s HATE CAMPAIGN ON THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION led recently to a great American policy maker, Van Jones, quitting the government this week.

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/09/06/van-jones-resigns/

Mr. Jealous said, “We certainly support them (Walmart) choosing with their dollars who they’re going to support. I mean, it’s—Glenn Beck is somebody who’s told a seven-year-old girl, a seven-year-old black girl, that he would buy her a ticket back to Africa, that she needed to go back to Africa. And then he comes out, and he says that healthcare is the beginning of reparations. I mean, this guy plays the race card on a weekly basis. He does it very aggressive—you know, in a very hateful way.”

Recall, first, that Van Jones is one of the most important and thoughtful men in America—however, the FOX (Fascist Oddball Xenophobic) news network chose to support a man, like Glen Beck, rather than seeing that tens of millions of Americans need to get health care from promoters like Jones and that our America economy needs to move starting today to the kind of economy that its competitors worldwide are already doing.

http://www.alternet.org/environment/95963/what_will_the_green_economy_look_like/

Let’s quote the wisdom and influential words of Van Jones on the absolute necessity to green the American economy NOW!

“I think it’s really important to point out that we’re sort of at the end of an era of American capitalism, where we thought we could run the economy based on consumption rather than production, credit rather than creativity, borrowing rather than building, and also, most importantly, environmental destruction rather than environmental restoration.”

Jones continued, “We’re trying to make the case in this book that that era is over. We now have to move in a very different direction. And key to that will be basing the US economy not on credit cards, but based on clean energy and the clean energy revolution that would put literally millions of people to work, putting up solar panels all across the United States, weatherizing buildings so they don’t leak so much energy and put up so much carbon, building wind farms and wave farms, manufacturing wind turbines. We argue you could put Detroit back to work not making SUVs to destroy the world, but making wind turbines, 8,000 finely machine parts in each one, twenty tons of steel in each wind tower, making wind turbines to help save the world.”

Finally, Van Jones wisely noted, “So we think that you can fight pollution and poverty at the same time. We think that you can actually power our way through this recession by putting people to work, but we’re going to have to start building things here and re-powering, retrofitting, retooling America, and that that’s the way forward both for the economy, for the earth and for everyday people.”

Note: These statements came from a program on DN from October of last year:

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/10/28/van_jones_on_the_green_collar

Van Beck has written a book of the same title, The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems.

http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780061650758/The_Green_Collar_Economy/index.aspx

America needs such voices as Van Jones in government leadership in America—not Fascist Oddball Xenophobic (FOX) types.

Clean up the American airwaves of all its fascism and racism, today.

http://www.pittsburghurbanmedia.com/a-petition-against-fox-conservative-host-glenn-beck.aspx

NOTE: One way to change the noise of Fascist Oddball Xenophobic (FOX) media moguls is to support alternative media organizations

http://aan.org/alternative/Aan/index

and alternative monitoring websites.

http://americas.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/64380

Another way, is to demand that local radio and TV channels put better programming on, such as Democracy Now or news sources promoted by serious progressive journalists:

http://www.tacomapjh.org/progressive_news.htm

Counting Coups????

Tomgram: Nick Turse, Counting Coups
[Note for TomDispatch Readers: As we head into a steamy mid-August, TD is taking the weekend off. Next piece: Tuesday, August 15th. Tom]

You may have sensed it for a while. A significant group of American voters certainly did, since they elected a declinist president in 2016. Still, here’s the news of the month: the Pentagon has finally acknowledged it, too, as the title of a report from the U.S. Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute makes clear: At Our Own Peril: DoD Risk Assessment in a Post-Primacy World. The “study team” at that institute which focused on global risk and the U.S. military doesn’t actually use the phrase “American decline,” but their stand-in, a “post-primacy world,” will do. They offer a vision of a planet where the unique power of the United States, that once-upon-a-time “lone superpower,” that architect of the post-Cold-War global order, is slipping fast.

And believe me, if you listen to those researchers, the future couldn’t be more perilous. Unfortunately, to grasp their assessment of the global situation, you have to run a gauntlet of daunting Pentagonese (in effect, a pidgin version of English). Still, from the weaponization of planetary “hyper-connectivity” to the rejectionism of jihadists to the maneuvering of would-be great and not-so-great powers — you know the lineup: Russia, China, Iran, North Korea — it’s a landscape of increasing “risk” that they believe the U.S. high command should wrap its head around fast.

You might not imagine that there could be dark humor in such a grim subject, but in that you would be wrong. The study team’s recommendations are so unexpectedly expectable — from a military that’s carried out the disastrous war on terror — that they should bring a sardonic smile of recognition to anyone’s face. I’m sure you won’t be surprised to learn that the study’s authors don’t expect that never-ending war to end anytime soon. In fact, they refer to this moment and the years to come ominously as the era of “Persistent Conflict 2.0.” And yet, to confront such a world, they firmly believe that what’s needed is… well, more. You know, just what the U.S. military and the national security state have been demanding from America’s politicians since 9/11 (and what Donald Trump has sworn to deliver): more of everything. More funding, more surveillance capabilities, and an expanded, upgraded military ready to take advantage of every new risk on the block, a force that must self-evidently be granted “maximum freedom of action” or what’s the point of giving it more of everything?

Here’s the crucial paragraph in their study:

“While as a rule, U.S. leaders of both political parties have consistently committed to the maintenance of U.S. military superiority over all potential state rivals, the post-primacy reality demands a wider and more flexible military force that can generate advantage and options across the broadest possible range of military demands. To U.S. political leadership, maintenance of military advantage preserves maximum freedom of action… Finally, it allows U.S. decision-makers the opportunity to dictate or hold significant sway over outcomes in international disputes in the shadow of significant U.S. military capability and the implied promise of unacceptable consequences in the event that capability is unleashed.”

And here’s a question that this crew of researchers miraculously don’t seem to have thought to ask: How has “more” worked out so far in the twenty-first century when it comes to the U.S. military’s “freedom” to act on an increasingly post-primacy planet? Hmm… you might want to check in with Afghans or Iraqis or Yemenis or Libyans or Syrians or, more recently, Filipinos, many living in the rubble of our wars, about just how “more” from the U.S. military has worked out for them. Or you might want to consider the findings of another study altogether, one TomDispatch’s Nick Turse considers today. It’s a study of what “success” looks like when you fund the U.S. military fulsomely and give it the maximum freedom to do just what it pleases. Tom

Can the Pentagon Win When Putsch Comes to Shove?
A Rare Pentagon “Success” Story
By Nick Turse

Winning! It’s the White House watchword when it comes to the U.S. armed forces. “We will give our military the tools you need to prevent war and, if required, to fight war and only do one thing — you know what that is? Win! Win!” President Donald Trump exclaimed earlier this year while standing aboard the new aircraft carrier U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford.

Since World War II, however, neither preventing nor winning wars have been among America’s strong suits. The nation has instead been embroiled in serial conflicts and interventions in which victories have been remarkably scarce, a trend that has only accelerated in the post-9/11 era. From Afghanistan to Iraq, Somalia to the Philippines, Libya to Yemen, military investments — in lives and tax dollars — have been costly and enduring victories essentially nonexistent.

But Amadou Sanogo is something of a rare all-American military success story, even if he isn’t American and his success was fleeting. Sanogo learned English in Texas, received instruction from U.S. Marines in Virginia, took his intelligence training in Arizona, and underwent Army infantry officer basic training in Georgia. Back home in his native Mali, the young army officer was reportedly much admired for his sojourn, studies, and training in the United States.

Click here to read more of this dispatch.

What to do and think about? America’s Public Lands and You

Environment Update

Keep Public Voices in Public Lands As Americans, we’re fortunate to share in the ownership of millions of acres of public lands, many of which are overseen by the Bureau of Land Management. However, the agency is changing how it develops land use plans, which could take away opportunities for public comment and reduce transparency.  Recommendations »

These 9 Facts Will Make You Rethink Sharks Sharks have been around for 400 million years—before even dinosaurs. But there’s much more to them than big teeth and summer blockbusters, as our eye-opening info shows. Surprise yourself »

Help Protect the Arctic America’s Arctic waters are already under stress from a changing climate and increasing industrial activities. Now, the U.S. Interior Department is considering offering these ocean areas for oil and gas leasing. Speak up to limit oil leasing »

South Atlantic Fish Havens Protected As of July 31, fish have some newly protected places to spawn off the coasts of Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina.  Map: See all 5 sites »

Why We Need Better Flood Protection Now Floods are becoming more frequent and severe across the U.S. How can we protect our communities while also safeguarding against habitat loss? Our new two-part podcast series explains.  Listen to part 1 »

More From Pew

Deep-Sea Coral Discovery Shows Need to Protect Ocean off New England

Red Snapper Fishing Season Probably Coming Soon to U.S. South Atlantic

Scientist Discovers Secret Lives of Fish—by Peering Into Their Eyes

Illegal Fishing Threatens Far More Than Ocean Health

In the News

Under Trump, Recreational Anglers Feel Tide Turning in Their Favor on Red Snapper USA Today

Why Our Large-Scale National Monuments Should Stay Intact The Hill

Whales, Seals Once Decimated by Hunting Return to Remote Islands News Deeply

Can Congress Bring the National Flood Insurance Program Above Water? The Atlantic

Stupid is a s stupid does–American leaders need to stop being both Stupid and Dangerous

Kevin,

This week Donald Trump escalated the volatile situation surrounding North Korea’s nuclear weapons program by saying North Korea will “face fire and fury like the world has never seen” if it continues to threaten the United States. Today, he doubled down and claimed that statement “wasn’t tough enough” and “it’s about time someone stuck up for the people of our country.” [1]

This is dangerous. The threat of a devastating war – one far deadlier than anything most of us have seen in our lifetimes – is growing by the minute. Frankly, it’s terrifying.

Thankfully, more and more voices for sanity and peace are speaking up. Just hours ago, 60 members of Congress sent a letter telling the President to stop these irresponsible and dangerous statements and support crucial diplomacy. [2] Now it’s time to add our voices and show the world a massive outcry demanding a diplomatic solution and an end to Trump’s reckless rush towards a nuclear war. 

Sign the petition demanding diplomacy first with North Korea, and then pass it along to your friends.

A war on the Korean peninsula would be a humanitarian disaster of enormous magnitude. A violent conflict would put millions of lives at risk and we simply cannot allow it to happen.

The path out of crisis with North Korea involves dialogue, building trust, and diplomacy. Bellicose rhetoric and aggressive threats are counterproductive and make finding a path to an agreement more difficult. We learned from the Iran nuclear deal that the tools of diplomacy are powerful, but we must not derail progress with careless attempts at intimidation.

The simple truth is we have to make a choice. Do we support actually resolving the challenges posed by North Korea’s nuclear weapons – a solution that can only be achieved through tough diplomacy – or are we going to rush headlong into a disastrous war of choice that could kill millions?

That’s an easy choice. Join us in demanding diplomacy.

Our movement was built trying to stop deadly wars of choice, conflicts just like this. We are still living with the disastrous consequences of George W. Bush talking tough and acting stupid in Iraq. We can’t let Donald Trump make an even bigger mistake in North Korea. Now is the time to stop a deadly and devastating war, and it’s going to take all of us to stop it.

Sign now to stop the insanity and say no to a war with North Korea.

Thank you for working for peace,

Amy, Ben, Stephen, and the Win Without War team

 

Sources:

1. Trump on North Korea Feud: ‘Fire and Fury’ not Tough Enough,” NBC News, August 10, 2017http://act.winwithoutwar.org/go/343?t=5&akid=727%2E283243%2E0FHG1v

2. Members of Congress Letter to Tillerson, August 10, 2017 https://act.winwithoutwar.org/go/344?t=7&akid=727%2E283243%2E0FHG1v

Donate

Win Without War is a project of the Center for International Policy.
2000 M Street NW, Suite 720, Washington, DC 20036
(202) 232-3317 | info@winwithoutwar.org

Abandoning the bodily resurrection of Jesus leaves us with a cold faith

So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.  1 Corinthians 15:42-44 Abandoning the bodily resurrection of Jesus leaves us with a cold faith, no forgiveness of sins, and no future hope. Our spiritual bodies will not be non-physical, but they will be  animated by the Spirit to be powerful, glorious, and imperishable.

Dr Mick Pope is a lecturer in meteorology, with a PhD from Monash University. He also has degrees in maths, physics and theology. Mick is an ecotheologian with Ethos: EA Centre for Christianity and Society and has written a number of book chapters and papers on ecotheology, ecomission and the intersection of science and the Christian faith. He recently wrote A Climate of Hope: Church and Mission in a Warming World with Claire Dawson.

Are you Celebrating Social Security?

Kevin, In the 82 years this week since FDR signed Social Security into law, it has become the cornerstone of our promise to our seniors — a commitment that our seniors must not live in abject poverty. And yet, many Republicans today attack the promise of Social Security, propose harsh cuts, and even want to put those critical funds at risk in the stock markets. Let me be clear, Kevin, as long as I’m standing, I’ll fight those attacks.  We’re going to keep our promises to our seniors. Period. Chip in now — and let’s take back the Senate. We must elect Democrats who will fight for Social Security and for our seniors. Jeff Express Donate: If you’ve stored your info with ActBlue, we’ll process your contribution instantly: $7 $15 $34 $65

Jeff Merkley for Oregon.

News you can share from Abu Alex

This is Mohamad, 3 years old, son of Bilal Hathaleen. I remember in 2014 going out to Um al-Khair after a home demolition. Bilal, holding Mohamad, then only 3 months old, simply asked “How is a father suppose to take care of his son in this life.” All but one of the houses in Um al-Khair has pending home demolitions.

Cody O’Rourke A Conversation with Tareq Hathaleen The rooster crows at the break of dawn, and out of reflex we spring to attention and nervously survey the rocky hillsides of South Hebron looking for Israeli military jeeps. The picturesque nature of the landscape eludes us as we struggle to discern whether a home demolition will occur here today, or if we might catch an hour more of sleep. This is how mornings begin in the embattled Palestinian village of Um al-Khair – the act of enduring home demolitions thirteen times over the last few years has a way of stoking a sense of paranoia that is not easily escaped. This paranoia is not just rooted in the trauma of having Israeli armed personnel invade and close off the entranceway into the village, or watching helplessly as they toss your few belongings out and bulldozers prepare to rip apart entire swaths of your village. Though this trauma is real and understandably affects the lives of these village residents, the paranoia in Um al-Khair is rooted in more than this ominous history. “Sometimes I think the worst part of the home demolition isn’t the demolition itself. It’s the waiting,” said Tareq Hathaleen, 22 from the village of Um al-Khair. “They gave us a demolition order in the beginning of May this year. So since May, we go to bed at night wondering if this will be the last night we get to sleep in our homes and we wake up every morning wondering if we must quickly prepare for a demolition. Sometimes we just pray that they would come to destroy the homes – so we can just get it over with.” Living with this trauma has layers of effects on an individual’s life. It can influence a person and alter the possibilities of their life. But when the trauma impacts a whole community and the entirety of the local family structure, the impact is dramatic. I’ve known Tareq for about a decade. When we first met, he was about 12 years old and could barely speak English. Now, he is finishing up his degree in English Teaching Methods at Hebron University. “I am a Bedouin. My family, which is part of the Jahalin tribe was forcibly evicted from al-Arad inside of Israel in 1948 – a land that we had lived on for generations. When we came here to Um al-Khair, my grandfather bought this land for 100 camels – basically everything he owned at the time. When we came here, and after Israel occupied this land with their military, that basically ended the way of our life,” said Tareq. “We, as Bedouins, are people who move place to place with our herds and live off the land. Now, we can’t go anywhere because of all the barriers. Now, when I talk to other Bedouins, they laugh at me when I tell them we don’t own camels and I don’t know how to handle one.” Tareq talks at length about the ways his community has changed as a result of living under military rule. He says that he took it upon himself to pursue a degree in English not only so that he could tell the story of his village and talk about the injustice of living under a military occupation, but also to empower his community. “We are a simple people. For generations, we’ve lived in tents and lived off the land. But now, I am going to school so I can teach others in our community to speak English so they can share their stories of living under Israeli military rule,” Tareq continued. “We had to leave behind a big part of our culture, just so we could pursue justice.”

UM AL-KHAIR #SOLIDARITY Tareq shares his thoughts on what it is like to live life knowing his community could be demolished any day. Click Here.

Although the Israeli Civil Administration legally acknowledges the purchase of land by his grandfather, the fact of living next to an Israeli settlement – a settlement deemed illegal under both International and US law – essentially means that Tareq’s family has no legal right to develop their land. “While our tribe has had many troubles and faced a lot since the Israeli army attacked us and drove us from our land, our family has had a really difficult time from about 1980 onward,” Tareq explained. “In 1980, that is when the Israelis confiscated this land next to us and started to build the illegal settlement of Carmel. At first, it was nothing. Now, look at it – it is a city. They even have their own chicken factory next door. Since the settlement was developed, our homes have been destroyed multiple times, we’ve been continually harassed by the military while shepherding our goats and sheep, and my brother is permanently disabled because he was attacked by a soldier and hit over the head.” Tareq points out the disparity in the quality of life between the Israeli settler community and his own Palestinian community in Um al-Khair. The illegal settlement of Carmel enjoys electricity, clean running water, paved roads, access to public transportation, security services and access to the internet. “For us, it is hard. We wonder where the justice is. Even their chickens next door enjoy air conditioning and fresh water, while for us if we try to dig a well – it could be demolished by the Israeli military,” he said. Tareq admits that it is difficult to live life and deal with this imbalance. While he has dreams of employment and marriage, what he wants most is for those who come to his land to listen to his story and take action. “For us, we are a simple people. We pray and are grateful for what the God has given us. The only thing that we want in this community is for those people who come here is to retell this story and stand up for justice in the best way they know,” said Tareq. “We don’t even expect them to be victorious. Because we know how hard it is to find justice. We only want them to try.” Click here for full article. Please share.

Cody & Alex I’ve been working on and off in the Holy Land since 2005. I’ve worked with ICAHD, DCI-Palestine, and HIRN and the Holy Land Trust. If you like my work and would like to contribute, and have an extra 10 dollars a month? Make a small contribution. You can also email me back at codyorourke@gmail.com.

More about Cody

What are we doing to end insanity in our lifetime, Americans?

Connecting the 3 Abrihamic Traditions

Understanding the Invisible: Hagar the First Person to Name the Most High God She gave this name to Yahweh who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” Genesis 16:13 Hagar was invisible a maidservant of Sarah given to Abraham to help conceive a child, we have no record of Hagar’s feelings about this. Hagar was also an Egyptian woman living in a strange land and she was thrown into the wilderness out of Sarah’s home with a child. Many womanists of faith look to Hagar as our heroine because her invisibility reminds us of what we endure in American society. Hagar is also a heroine to Muslims as she gives birth to Ishmael. Hagar is the first person recorded in the Bible as naming God. She names God in gratitude that he sees her when others did not. This seeing the invisible is something that God specializes in and as followers of the gospel we should too.

Onleilove Chika Alston is the Founder of Prophetic Whirlwind: Uncovering the Black Biblical Destiny, a research ministry dedicated to uncovering the Black foundations of the Bible. She is also a speaker, writer and Executive Director of PICO-Faith in New York a federation of 70 congregations dedicated to Building the Beloved City through organizing for justice. A native of East New York, Brooklyn she currently lives in Harlem and has five brothers and sisters. Her book Prophetic Whirlwind: Uncovering the Black Biblical Destiny Volume 1 will be published in late 2017.

SEVEN WOMEN SCIENTISTS YOU SHOULD KNOW–and what about those Kennedys?

THE SLIPPERY POLITICAL LEGACY OF THE KENNEDYS

BY AIDA AMOAKO

Donald Trump’s campaign slogan was borrowed from Reagan, and his volatile relationship with the press recalls Nixon’s. But it’s the Kennedy playbook that Trump aspires to emulate, at least in terms of the appearance of his administration. What does the lasting appeal of the Kennedy administration and family tell us about the modern presidency?

Read more

SEVEN WOMEN SCIENTISTS YOU SHOULD KNOW BY LAUREN HALDEMAN Seven groundbreaking women scientists (in biology, nuclear physics, medicine, ecology, and more) illustrated—and fully cited in JSTOR.

SMARTPHONES ARE DESTROYING AN OLDER GENERATION BY ALEXANDRA SAMUEL Their effects on teens are well-covered, but you know what smartphones and social media are really great for? Tuning out your children.

THE STRANGE HISTORY OF MASONS IN AMERICA BY PETER FEUERHERD The centerpiece of many a paranoid theory, the Masons are, in reality, just a colonial-era fraternal order…or are they?

A SECRETLY GAY MARRIAGE BY AMY HUGHES Narratively: Colorado’s first gay marriage happened more than a century ago, when a lovable rogue named Helen Hilsher — posing as “Jack Hill” — married her sweetheart.

WHAT WE’RE READING AROUND THE WEB BY THE EDITORS JSTOR Daily editors select stories that bridge the gap between news and scholarship. This week’s picks cover transgender troops, immigration, and Southern cooking.

NEW: Suggested Readings, JSTOR Daily’s weekly roundup of well-researched stories from around the web, now has its own newsletter. Sign up to receive our Suggested Readings newsletter straight to your inbox every Tuesday.

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“The only thing strong enough to move you from the first half of life to the second half is faith in the midst of suffering, the ability to bear darkness and uncertainty, to carry the mystery of paradox.”

Sound the Alarm: A Liturgy for Troubling Times

 Britney Lee

 August 14, 2017

 Church Life, General, Practical Justice, Theology

“The only thing strong enough to move you from the first half of life to the second half is faith in the midst of suffering, the ability to bear darkness and uncertainty, to carry the mystery of paradox.” -Fr. Richard Rohr

In the evenings, when my feet are sore from the day’s work and the clothes from Sunday’s chores are souring half-dried in the washer, I turn off the dreadful news so that I might stir the mac and cheese, and chase my son’s dump truck, and not face the worries of the world. Folks are tired, of this I’m certain.

As we gallop down our hall, I think about my Twitter feed and the weight that I’ve absorbed just from reading commentary of current events and the festering wounds of our history. “I’ve got to stop following so many melancholic activists,” I consider just seconds before remembering that they’re the ones who are teaching me how to not look away. It’s so important to not look away right now.

But people are weary and nervous. Folks are tired of riding the yo-yos of policy scares and rumors of war, tired of explaining why they matter, tired of loose lips and hateful tones and violent threats, tired of divisions and extremes. They’re tired of watching humans be treated as less than human, tired of wondering if the Church is going to make it, if our country’s going to make it. Tired of trying to figure out what power and purpose and time they actually have to do anything. Tired of bad news. Desperate for good.

In response to this exhaustion, I wrote a call and response liturgy for the fighters of the good fight who feel constantly bombarded with the waves of a suffering world right now. This is for anyone who may need the jolt of a communal voice willing to say again that we’re not yet done here — that God’s not yet done here. I wrote it for the foolishly hopeful, the irrationally resolved, those who woke up today — despite it all — ready to look for the overlooked and love them with all they’ve got. Those who (as Dorothy Day talked about) embraced the merciful morning with a willingness to cast their pebble into the pond. So “let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:24-25)

Sound the Alarm: A Liturgy for Troubling Times

Calling all residents of life’s second half
Who have known a death that did not kill them
Come those with very little left to lose
And those holding most things loosely but love
ALL: We need you.

Come all of you almost-indifferent and undone
Who are wielding disappointment into vigor
Come those who fell asleep in the soul’s dark night
But have awakened to a chest full of hope
ALL: We need you.

Come with your words–old, eaten, and new
Come, though uncertain about where it’s all headed
Come with your long aching need to be heard
And you who are new to the listening
ALL: We need you.

Come resolved to creatively find third ways
Come committed to not rushing out of tension
Come with eyes unwilling to overlook injustice
And a heart unwilling to forego celebration
ALL: We need you

Come ragamuffin, radical, rebel, repressed
Come you who were wrong and willing to say it
Come refusing to deny the stories of your people
Come with the salve of God’s grace as your map
ALL: We need you.

Come marchers, intercessors, artists and prophets
Come newcomers and those who have tried, tried again
Get close, get close, get closer right now
Draw near, ask questions, sing songs, take steps
ALL: We need you, together.

And together, we’ll be patient and mercifully kind
Not envying, boasting, prideful or rude
Not selfish, short-fused, score-keeping, or spiteful
But rejoicing in the goodness of what’s to be shared
ALL: We need you. We need you together.

Because together the movement keeps going
Sound the alarm, because love cannot fail
Come resisters, revolutionaries, the meek who get the earth
There will indeed be a story to tell 

And it is this: That when the Light was threatened
All God’s people said, “Let’s go.”
ALL: Let’s go.