Weekly Wrap 3.13.15: The 10 Best Stories You Missed This Week | Sojourners

Weekly Wrap 3.13.15: The 10 Best Stories You Missed This Week

1. SAE, White Thugs, and American Traditions

"I am neither angry nor surprised by these white extremists getting caught doing what white extremists do. This is American tradition. These are the words embedded in the psyches of these white fraternity brothers before they can even speak."

2. This Is What A Little Over A Year Of Religious Women Breaking Down Barriers Looks Like

In honor of Women’s History Month, check out who made this list of top religious women upholding full gender equality.

3. Resisting ISIS

“The global response must be multifaceted. Still, as the international anti-ISIS coalition led by the United States considers nonmilitary options to “degrade and ultimately destroy” ISIS, it should focus on empowering local civil society in Syria and Iraq with targeted resources, technologies, and knowledge to build resilience and deny ISIS the moral and material support it needs to wield effective control.”

4. The Conservative Obsession with Moral Values Doesn’t Explain the Plight of the Working Poor

Research on both sides of the aisle has confirmed a quiet crisis in American life: over the last few decades, the social fabric of the poor and working class has come apart at the seams. ...A vocal cadre of conservatives have cohered around a theory of what happened: the post-1960s turn away from traditional moral values. But like any theory, it must fit the available data and it must be internally consistent. This one fails on both counts.”

5. How a Woman Learns to Talk

These things have been silenced: the tremendous spiritual power of sexuality, menstruation, breastfeeding, and birth; the shame-map of internalized emotional violence that holds these powers in check; the capacity — and obligation — of Gospel love to dissolve the boundaries of gender. ...To tell these things has been imund, forbidden. If you tell these things, you may be held responsible for all the feelings of all the people who are shaken in their boots by what you say.”

6. Becoming Jihadi John: How Did Mohammed Emwazi Go from Mild Youth to Islamic State Executioner?

Politico magazine traces the roots of the British man’s transformation to ISIS executioner, examining the difference between ideology-based and poverty-driven extremism.  

7. Nicaragua's Renewable Energy Revolution Picks Up Steam

“Renewables now generate nearly half of Nicaragua's electricity, a figure that government officials predict could rise to 80 percent within a few years. That compares to just 13 percent in the United States.”

8. How We’re Failing Syria

Twenty-one aid organizations released a report this week detailing the increasing violence, impoverishment, and despair of the Syrian people. It cites, “Huge increases in the number of people in need of humanitarian aid inside Syria; 1.33 million more children are in need and there has been a 31 percent increase among the population as a whole.”

9. Disturbing Fast Food Truth Not Exactly A Game-Changer For Impoverished Single Mom Of 3

The Onion’s satire nails the complicated tensions of food and poverty in the U.S. 

10. WATCH: Mean Tweets: Obama Edition

President Obama joined in on a Jimmy Kimmel classic bit on Thursday, reading aloud a handful of “mean tweets” aimed at him.​

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