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They could be found on the outskirts of Sirte, Libya, supporting local militia fighters, and in Mukalla, Yemen, backing troops from the United Arab mirates. At Saakow, a remote outpost in southern Somalia, they assisted local commandos in killing several members of the terror group al-Shabab.

“US Military Forces Deployed in 70 Percent of Worlds Nations”

In 2015 Special Operations Forces (SOF) were deployed in 147 of the world’s 195 nations, an increase of 80% since 2010. Commander General Joseph Votel told Aspen Security Forum July 2015, that more SOF troops were being deployed to more locations and operating more than at the height of the Afghan and Iraq wars. Since 2001 when budgets totaled $3 billion, the SOF budget has more than tripled, having risen to nearly $10 billion. Nick Turse reported for Tomdispatch, “America’s most elite troops are carrying out missions in 80 to 90 nations” (Censored 2017). In 2014, Special Operations Forces organized 75 training operations in 30 countries, a figure projected to increase to 98 exercises by the end of 2015. Corporate media has not covered the expansion around the world, and have not raised important questions about what these mission’s results are and if they are meaningful. The global presence of US military personnel is treated as the “unspoken background for more dramatic reports of specific military operations or policy decisions” (Censored 2017).

In 2016 the United States deployed special operators to China in addition to eleven countries surrounding it. Special Operations Command does not acknowledge sending commandos into Iran, North Korea, or Russia, but it does deploy troops to many nations that ring them. SOCOM was only willing to name only 129 of the 138 countries its forces deployed to in 2016. “Almost all Special Operations Forces deployments are classified,” said spokesman Ken McGraw “If a deployment to a specific country has not been declassified, we do not release information about the deployment.” According to SOC, 55.29% of special operations deployed overseas in 2016 were sent to the Middle East, which was a drop of 35% from 2006. On any given day, around 8,000 of SOC commandos can be found in more than 90 countries worldwide.

Source: The Nation is a US news outlet that was founded in 1865, making it one of America’s oldest weekly magazines. Their focus is on investigative reporting and debate about issues important to the progression of the community. The Nation is known as well written journalism, but often favors the left wing bias.

#joint special operations command

Native cutthroat trout, an iconic part of the mountain West, thrive in cold streams. But warmer weather has allowed invaders to move in — and it's killing off the cutthroats.

“Rising Carbon Dioxide Levels Threaten to Permanently Disrupt Vital Ocean Bacteria”

This article talks about a very specific scientific phenomenon that is being affected by climate change. “Trichodesmium is found in nutrient-poor parts of the ocean, where it converts nitrogen gas into material that can be used by other forms of life. From algae to whales, all life needs nitrogen to grow”. This Trichodesmium reacts strongly to increased levels of CO2 according to multiple sources in the article. The article does a good job of outlining credible sources, explaining the process in basic enough detail for the average reader to understand, and using similes to explain potential problems. “Imagine a car heading toward a cliff’s edge with its gas pedal stuck to the floor. That, Robert Perkins wrote, is a metaphor for “what climate change will do to the key group of ocean bacteria known as Trichodesmium.” This is a well written and informative article.

This article goes over the details about how climate change is affected a certain species of trout in northern Colorado. It cites multiple sources and experts about saying how nobody really knows what is going to happen but they are studying it as best they can to try and learn the effects of climate change on certain species. The article does a good job of quoting experts and explaining the problem so non-experts can understand the issue and the nuances associated with it. It also shows how different species are essentially at war with each other and its being increased because of climate change

Source: NPR is Americas public broadcasting and has a wide range of views associated with it. They stay unbiased, but since they are funded by the government people’s views range widely on NPR. NPR’s mission statement is “The mission of NPR is to work in partnership with Member Stations to create a more informed public — one challenged and invigorated by a deeper understanding and appreciation of events, ideas and cultures.”

US-backed Syrian fighters say they have taken six more districts in the city to the west of Raqqa.

“Syria’s War Spurred by Contest for Gas Delivery to Europe, Not Muslim”

This article portrays a radical vision of the reasoning for the Syrian civil war. It continuously quotes a man by the name of Mnar Muhawesh who the article never identifies more than somebody that talked to Mint Press. The article outlines a vision of Europe, the US and other gulf states drawing up a plan to destabilize the region to install a regime more favorable to an oil pipeline to Europe. This article quotes Mnar, makes many assumptions, but provides no real evidence whatsoever to back up its claims. The article points out Wikileaks released cables backing up its claims, but did not quote anything from Wikileaks and once again provided no evidence. It is possible that this article is correct, but there are 1,000 assertions or plausible reasons that can be made about a situation as complex as the civil war in Syria and without any real evidence this article has no basis to back up its claims. This is just an opinion piece about a highly complex subject, there is nothing fundamentally wrong with opinion pieces, but when making certain claims as this article does, evidence is crucial.

This article shows recent advances forces have made in the fight against ISIS. It uses a very articulate map, multiple sources, multiple quotes, and is a factual piece. The article outlines the recent advance on the crucial city of Tabqa and shows exactly where the gains are, and how much progress is being made. No opinions are in the article, only quotes and facts and any assertion has been verified by multiple sources.

Source: BBC is public broadcasting from the UK. The BBC’s mission is “To enrich people's lives with programs and services that inform, educate and entertain.” While the BBC has an outstanding reputation in regards to news around the world, it is always smart to read with caution with any article that has to do with the UK and its allies since its funding comes directly from the government.

After years of working closely with the industry.

“Big Pharma Political Lobbying Not Limited to Presidential Campaigns”

This article goes into detail about campaign contributions and the amount of money spent on lobbying by pharmaceutical industries. The specific amounts of money are detailed in the article, like where it mentions “Since 2008, PhRMA has spent over $163 million on lobbying, making it the fifth largest lobbying spender in the nation” it goes on to outline other major industries that they outspend. It outlines nefarious actions that could be behind the large amount of capital being infused into campaigns and lobbying efforts, but fails to mention the pros of lobbying and how it is essential in today’s business and political environment to have eyes and ears in Washington. The article uses a quote from another author that says, “lobbying allows Big Pharma to take advantage of Washington’s revolving door and directly influence legislation.” This is a problem and obviously needs to be stated and addressed in an article about lobbying efforts, but the article should also mention the other side. Lawmakers often have little knowledge about pharmaceutical companies and their inner workings, nor do they possess the time to travel to each company and learn their methods. The article should point out how firms hire these lobbying groups to represent them and pass along crucial information to law makers when they are making new legislation.

This article talks about the revolving door often seen with congress and lobbying firms. John Boehner was once the third most powerful man in Washington and over his long career he received more money from tobacco groups than any other group. Only a short time after he retired he was hired by a major tobacco firm which seems like an obvious conflict of interest. This article details how John’s long and storied congressional career was often covered in smoke per se.

Source: Fortune is known for its business scoops and “Fortune 500”, they value reporting on business and what it takes to sustain business. Fortune is a business magazine and could potentially show its bias towards business interests. It is a centric orientated magazine and sometimes leans slightly to the right due to its business and ‘profit’ interests.

Long after research contradicts common medical practices, patients continue to demand them and physicians continue to deliver.

“Crisis in Evidence-Based Medicine”

In 2009 and again in 2015, two prominent medical journal editors raised questions and concerns about biomedical research. In 2009 Marcia Angell, a former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, stated “It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as editor of The New England Journal of Medicine” (Censored 2017). Study 329 in 2001, a now notorious clinical trial published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, reported that paroxetine, marketed as Paxil in the US, was safe and effective for treating depressed children and adolescents. More than 2 million US children were prescribed the drug by the end of 2002, but within a year of the original report, US Food and Drug Administration declared the drug a “failed trial” because further evidence indicated that children prescribed the drug were no better than those given the placebo.

David Epstein of the Atlantic discuses in his article “When Evidence Says No, but Doctors Say Yes” the reasoning behind why even after he research does not back or support certain medications or treatments, some Doctors are still inclined to prescribe certain medications to patients. He talks about how through the centuries medical researchers and scientists have pushed and tested the boundaries on medicine. In some cases, even after all the medical research and proved inconclusive of a certain medicine, pharmacies still go ahead with rolling out these medications even though they know they might be ineffective. Epstein makes the argument that there is no moving forward without trials and errors, and that some doctors see this as an opportunity to help an individual, or if it fails the motivation to look for better medicine in order to help more people.

“Over 1.5 Million American Families Live on Two Dollars Per Person Per Day”

Based on data from the US Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), income data from the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), additional data on family homelessness, and their own fieldwork in four study sites, including Chicago, Cleveland, and rural communities in Appalachia and the Mississippi Delta, Kathryn J. Edin and H. Luke Shaefer, sociologists and authors of the book $2.00/a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America, in 2011 more than 1.5 million US families lived on as little as two dollars per person per day. Green noted, “US media often neglect the experiences of the poor, making the study’s findings ‘startling for many’” (Censored 2017). Edin and Shaefer’s research critiques President Bill Clinton’s 1996 welfare reform initiative. Bernstein wrote, “anti-poverty policy in this country has evolved to be ‘pro-work,’” and “if you’re disconnected from the job market, public policy won’t help you much at all” (Censored 2017). Edin and Shaefer proposed three policy changes to address extreme poverty in the United States, the first being that policy must start by “expanding work opportunities for those at the very bottom of society” (Censored 2017). Second, “policy must address housing instability” (Censored 2017), which Shaefer described as both a cause and a consequence of extreme poverty. Thirdly, “families must be insured against extreme poverty even when parents are not able to work” (Censored 2017).

Cayman MacDonald at SEI Northeastern discuses in “Barely Getting By: Living on $2 a Day in America”, Kathryn J. Edin and H. Luke Shaefer’s findings that the US government considers the official poverty line for a family of three to be $16.50 per person per day, with “deep poverty” being $8.30 per person per day. In 1996 welfare legislation cut a 60 year program that gave cash assistance to families in need, imposed lifetime limits on aid, and subjected able-bodied adults to work requirements. Since the passing of Earned Income Tax Credit, which gives money back to working families each year, conditions have imporved. But there are still those who are having a hard time finding or holding down jobs, and the only assistance they have is from the government which comes in the form of food stamps and cannot be used for electricity or rent. Edin and Shaefer proposed a three step approach to fixing this problem, which will create more quality jobs and provide training services to help ensure the security of those jobs. With more and more Americans getting stuck into this $2-a-day poverty, Edin and Shaefer urge the need for our country to put new policies and plans into place.

Source: NU Social Enterprise Institute is a student run news website that highlights and talks about many issues the US faces. It is an opinion and fact based outlet that can have some biases based on the writer’s opinion, but is mainly known for just stating the facts as they see them.

NordVPN has observed a notable increase in inquiries immediately after the U.S. election and a stable growth of interest from Americans ever since.As .

“CISA: The Internet Surveillance Act No One is Discussing”

Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) was a law implemented and signed off by President Obama on December 18, 2015. Its intention is to “improve cybersecurity in the United States through enhanced sharing of information about cybersecurity threats, and for other purposes.” The act authorized the creation of a system of corporate informants which provides customers data to the Department of Homeland Security, which in turn would share this information with other federal agencies including Department of Commerce, Defense, Energy, Justice, the Treasury, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Anthony Romero of the American Civil Liberties Union criticized Congress for using the spending bill “to pursue their extremist agendas” (Censored 2017). He told the Guardian “sneaking damaging and discriminatory riders into a must-pass bill usurps the democratic process.” Evan Greer of Fight for the Future called CISA “a disingenuous attempt to quietly expand the US government’s surveillance programs. The final Senate version of the bill removed personal information protections that had been included in a previous version, alarming the privacy community. By providing a loophole in privacy laws, this would enable intelligence and law enforcement officials to engage in surveillance without warrants. The version of the CISA that was approved by the Senate with a vote of 74 to 21 in October 2015, Greenberg reports “creates the ability for the president to set up ‘portals’ for agencies like the FBI and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, so that companies hand information directly to law enforcement and intelligence agencies instead of to the Department of Homeland Security” (Censored 2017).

With President Trump now in the White House, many Americans are wondering what will happen next with internet security. Christian Hargrave wrote in “How the new US administration will effect Internet Privacy”, that not only the new President but the new administration is worrying the digital freedom supporters, with much of the worry coming from high-ranking national security position nominations. Attorney General nominee Jeff Sessions stated “national security and criminal investigators must be able to overcome encryption”. Hargrave suggests that Sessions is supporting the idea of government having full access to people’s data. With the passing of CISA in 2015, apparently having been created to protect companies from the growing corporate data breaches, a wave of protests from the tech community have emerged. Many believe this law is a “free pass to mass surveillance”. This act allows big tech companies to share their users’ information with the government without a warrant, “violating user privacy and bypassing legal accountability.”

Source: App Developer Magazine is a media company that focuses on providing news, bylines, articles, thought-leadership, and media coverage to the mobile app development software industry around the globe. It is a well-known media blog within the tech community that is not known for leaning one way or the other.

As a group, black Americans have made the greatest gains - over some of the highest hurdles and in a very short span of time - of any racial group in mankind’s history. What’s the evidence?

“Censored 1977: Myth of Black Progress”

Reports during the 1970s claimed that half the black population was less than twenty-four years old, and that one out of ten young black people in the ghettos will never have a job that provides them with enough funds to support their family. Since then, media outlets have covered less on the ever-growing wage gap and inequalities that blacks face, a more on the black community’s crime or and large scale urban violence. In a poll conducted by CBS in July 2014, found that of the 1,009 adults who were questions whether or not they believed there had been progress made in getting rid of racial discrimination since the Civil Rights Movement, 19% of those polled said there hadn’t been much progress. However, when the poll was broken down by racial identity, only 59% of black Americans believed progress had been made, compared to 82% of whites. NAACP’s Criminal Justice Fact Sheet included that “black Americans constitute nearly 1 million of the 2.3 million people incarcerated in the United States, while black Americans make up less than 15 percent of the overall population” (Censored 2017).

“As a group, black Americans have made the greatest gains - over some of the highest hurdles and in a very short span of time - of any racial group in mankind’s history. What’s the evidence?” Walter Williams of Amarillo Globe-News asks this question in his article “Black Progress Overlooked for Political Correctness”. William’s claims a big issue that our nation faces is how these gains can be extended to the other one-third of the black population whom have not been able to see these amounts of gain. He thinks a big part of the solution should be to eliminate public and private policy that might reward inferiority, for example the welfare state. Williams believes the way out of this gap is through education and the continuation of funding for black urban communities.

Source: Amarillo Global News is a combination of newspapers and online articles that cover local and global news. They are not known for being biased nor leaning towards one side or another, being that a lot of their articles are opinion based.

Eight men own the same wealth as the 3.6 billion people who make up the poorest half of humanity, according to a new report published by Oxfam today to mark the annual meeting of political and business leaders in Davos.

“Censored 2015: Half of Global Wealth Owned by the 1 Percent”

Oxfam International is a nonprofit organization that aims to eliminate poverty, and in January 2015 published a report stating that 1% of the global population will own more wealth than the rest of the 99% combined by 2016. This report provided evidence that extreme inequality is brought on by the political choices and economic policies determined by the power elite. “Oxford calculated that taxing billionaires just 1.5 percent of their wealth ‘could raise $74 billion a year, enough to fill the annual gaps in funding needed to get every child into school and to deliver health services in the world’s poorest countries’” (Censored 2017). Much of the corporate news coverage of this topic was either brief or aired at odd hours. As of 2016, more corporate media are reporting on the widening gap. Polls have shown that the majority of Americans believe income inequality is too high and something needs to be done, but a study done by economist Ray Fisman found that most politicians are unwilling to create policies that reduce inequality.

After releasing the report in 2015, Oxfam released another article in January 2017 stating that “Just Eight Men Own Same Wealth as Half the World”. Anna Ratcliff of Oxfam states that “eight men own the same wealth as the 3.6 billion people who make up the poorest half of humanity. In another Oxfam report, ‘An economy for the 99 percent’, the gap between the rich and the poor is much greater than anticipated. Big businesses and the super-rich are continuing to fuel inequality by dodging taxes, driving down wages and using their power to influence politics. Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam International, said “It is obscene for so much wealth to be held in the hands of so few when 1 in 10 people survive on less than $2 a day. Inequality is trapping hundreds of millions in poverty; it is fracturing our societies and undermining democracy.” The rich are accumulating wealth so quickly that the world could see its first trillionaire in about 25 years. Oxfam put this into perspective by saying “you would need to spend $1 million every day for 2738 years to spend $1 trillion.” Byanyima says “Governments are not helpless in the face of technological change and market forces. If politicians stop obsessing with GDP, and focus on delivering for all their citizens and not just a wealthy few, a better future is possible for everyone.”

Source: Oxfam is a global movement working to end the injustice of poverty. It is an organization that works on eliminating poverty, discrimination and injustice in more than 90 countries. They focus on those in poverty and shining a light on the powerful whom they believe are accountable. In the past few years, Oxfam has been noted for its political bias towards the left although they claim to have political neutrality.

CNN documentary "Children for Sale: The Fight to End Human Trafficking" looks at underage victims of sex trafficking and what can be done to help them.

“Modern-Day Child Slavery: Sex Trafficking of Underage Girls in the US”

Human trafficking is the second-fastest-growing criminal enterprise after drug trafficking, according to the US Department of Justice. With minors constituting half the victims in the US, in 2015 over 4,100 of the 5,544 trafficking cases reported to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center’s hotline involved sex trafficking. In 2014 a study done by Urban Institute found that “the underground commercial sex economy in the US produced multimillion-dollar profits” (Censored 2017). Researchers at Urban Institute looked at 8 major cities in the US and estimated that in each city the underground sex economy was worth between $39.9 million and $290 million in 2007. In a study of 134 cases involving underage prostitutes, 113 buyers were convicted with the average sentence being three years in prison, but most only serving 1.5. Reportedly, 26% of those convicted served no time at all. According to FAIR Girls, an antitrafficking organization, 70-75% of the girls whom they had assisted after being taken out of prostitution came from foster care systems. Although there are laws in place to criminalize adults who purchase sex with a minor, many of the girls are still being treated as criminals rather than victims. Most sex trafficking stories are covered in local news and focus on specific events, rather than a broader social context such as prosecuting the buyers and the penalties that girls are facing.

According to National Human Trafficking Resource Center, last year alone more than 3,500 sex trafficking cases were reported. Leif Coorlim and Dana Ford of CNN reports in “Sex Trafficking: The New American Slavery”, that under federal law, anyone under 18 years of age induced into commercial sex is a victim of sex trafficking. Urban Institute cited that in 2007 Atlanta’s illegal sex industry generated around $290 million a year, and claimed that some Atlanta traffickers make an estimated $32,000 a week alone. Sgt. Torrey Kennedy with the DeKalb County Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Unit said it’s not unusual for a teen selling sex to deny that she’s working for someone, even if it’s against her will. If a girl is willing to go to a safe home, Georgia laws give authorities the opportunity to grant leniency, but if she declines their hands are tied and they have no choice but to take her to jail.

Source: Cable News Network (CNN) is an American news that describes itself as a “24-hour global multi-platform network”. It is widely known as a left-center biased in reporting and sometimes uses sensational headlines. Based off of user reviews and thoughts on the CNN website, not the television news channel, people thought their news reports were either centered or leaning more towards the left.

Tech waste in Asia has increased 63% in five years.

“Global Epidemic of Electronic Waste”

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, the US generates an estimated 3.14 million tons of electronic waste annually, and about 40% of this goes to be recycled. In a 2016 study by the Basel Action Network (BAN), found that nearly one-third of these devices are exported to developing countries, where the dismantled recycled equipment contaminates the environment and its workers, 81% of them being women and children. In July 2014 BAN installed a tracking device into 200 used, nonfunctional computer devices, delivered the equipment to public electronic waste recycling drop-off sites around the US, and followed where each piece went. In May 2016, BAN discovered that 32% of the devices were exported to other countries to be recycled, and based off of laws of the places where the electronics went, it was estimated that 31% were likely to be illegal shipments. BAN reported that most of the equipment went to Hong Kong, but also noted that it went to ten different countries including Taiwan, Pakistan, Mexico, Thailand, Cambodia, and Kenya. E-waste can release a deadly concoction of toxins if disposed improperly, but the Us only restricts e-waste exports of one component, cathode ray tubes. Although many US states prohibit dumping of electronic waste, there is no federal law the regulates e-waste.

“In Asia, electronic trash has reached new heights” states Selena Larson in “Gadget Trash is Piling up in Asia”. With shorter lifespans in technology, and more people who can afford to buy them, we have seen a 63% increase in electronic waste in the past five years, according to a study from the United Nations University. Between 2010 and 2015 the globe created over 12.3 million tons of e-waste. A large amount of tech products often contains lead and mercury that are toxic to humans and the planet, and the main process of getting rid of these products is to place them in landfills which can cause chronic health issues as well as irreversible damage to the planet.

Why are women more impacted by climate change? - this guest blog post is adapted from a talk Ghalia Fayad, Arab World Programme Leader, Greenpeace Mediterranean gave at The WEN Forum on 22nd March 2017.

“Understanding Climate Change and Gender Inequality”

Georgie Johnson of Greenpeace’s Energydesk stated that “we need to understand climate change through the lens of gender inequality. Johnson claims that based on preexisting social and economic inequalities, climate change has a different impact on men and women. Based on a 2014 European Study, women are more likely than men to be concerned about climate change, but that ironically international efforts to address climate change do not include women. Because of this, resulting policies do not take into account challenges that climate change poses for women and girls. For example, “women made up 61 percent of fatalities caused by Cyclne Nargis in Myanmar in 2008, 70-80 percent in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, and 91 percent in the 1991 cyclone in Bangladesh” (Censored 2017). Johnson suggested that this could be due to women not being able to swim, and in more unequal societies where women are not allowed to be in public spaces without their husband and required to stay home, could lead women to ignore warning signs to seek safe shelter. It is also important to note that survivors of these crisis are more subject to sexual assault and domestic abuse. Secondly, Johnston stated that women can offer “incredibly powerful solutions to climate change” because they comprise almost three-quarters of the global poor.

Ghalia Fayad, Arab World Program Leader of Greenpeace Mediterranean, argued for recognition of gender inequality issues and what is has to do with climate change in “Why Are Women More Impacted by Climate Change?” As an Arab woman living in the culture, she realizes and sees the impact that climate change is having on women around the world. Women face huge inequalities as it is such as job opportunities and education, and when it comes to climate plans women are almost completely left out of the decision process. A recent study by the Environmental Justice Foundation “revealed that by the year 2050 the number of people fleeing the impacts of climate change could reach 150 million. 80% of these climate refugees will be women and children.” Fayad discuses some of the reasons why women are more likely to be victims of this disparity. One reason is that women in developing countries spend more time on domestic labor and less on school or paid work, causing for them to have less access to land, money and technology, compared to men. She also argued that five times more women die from natural disasters than men, which can be due to cultural and financial restraints on mobility, making them more vulnerable to disasters. With increased droughts comes challenges in food security and loss on income, which effect 45-80% of women in rural countries who represent the agricultural workforce. But aside from all the hardships women face in disasters, they are becoming positive agents to climate change too. Many women are taking action to protect the environment and their communities against climate change, even though they are underrepresented and hardly have a voice in drafting policies and implementing changes.

Source: Women’s Environmental Network is a feminist network that focuses on advocating for women’s rights, environmental action, and encouraging participation in change and accepting the social responsibility of humans living on this planet. It is a widely known credible source that looks to help and diminish the gender gap and create a more sustainable and equal world.

At ALA Midwinter, the YALSA Board was pleased to adopt the position paper “The Library’s Role in protecting Teens’ Privacy” written by Mary K. Chelton. Libraries play an integral role in protecting…

“FBI’s New Plan to Spy on High School Students Across the Country”

As of January 2016, the FBI is instructing High Schools across the country to report any students who criticize government policies and “Western corruption” in order to discover any potential future terrorists. They issued a set of guidelines that the schools need to follow in order to determine who is a possible suspect. Under these guidelines, they “warn that young people who are poor, are immmigrants, or talk about travel to “suspicious” countries are more likely to commit violence” (Censored 2017). Sarah Lazare reported in AlterNet that the new guidelines depict US high schools as “hotbeds for extremism”. The FBI claimed that “the youth possess inherent risk factors” and describes high school students as “ideal targets” for recruitment by violent extremists. It is suggested that these guidelines are directly targeted towards Muslim-American students, with repeated exaggeration on “immigrant” populations, as well as religious and cultural differences. With the implementation of these guidelines, this puts school officials in a dilemma of choosing between upholding students’ rights to freedom of expression or keeping their schools safe.

In February 2017, the Young Adult Library Services board described the role in protecting students’ rights to privacy. After the FBi guidelines were placed forth, YALS adopted a position paper “The Libraries Role in protecting Teens’ Privacy”written by Mary K. Chelton. They were concerned that these guidelines were so broad that almost every teen would fit its description. The YALS article suggests the importance of the role of the library and how it is their job to help protect the privacy of teens both in and out of school. Within the position paper, Chelton suggests several plans of action that would help protect the privacy rights of teens, including educating teens and parents about their rights into library services and programming, staying up to date on privacy and surveillance issues, and make a commitment to reach out and serve at-risk youth in the community.

Source: YALS is the official blog of the Young Adult Library Services Association that features blogs written by members of the association. Their main goal is to provide a space for publishing information about new emerging practices for library services with teens. This is a blog that focuses on the support of teen services and the continuation of creating and supporting the youth.

The threat warnings that George W. Bush’s White House received—and ignored—prior to the 9/11 terrorist attacks were more dire than previously known.

“CIA Warned Bush Administration of Terrorist Attack Prior to 9/11”

It is reported that the George W. Bush Administration ignored CIA warnings of an attack in the months leading up to 9/11. Chris Whipple reported in Politico that “starting in spring 2001, the CIA ‘repeatedly and urgently’ warned the White House that an attack was imminent” (Censored 2017). Cofer Black, the former director of the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center, and George Tenet, the former director of the CIA reportedly presented a plan in spring 2001 to the Bush Administration in aimed at ending the threat of al-Qaeda. The plan, known as “Blue Sky Paper” purposed CIA and military forces be placed into the Afghan sanctuary and launch a paramilitary operation that would create a bridge with Uzbekistan. The White House responded with “We’re not quite ready to consider this. We don’t want to start the clock ticking” (Censored 2017). After calling a meeting with Bush’s National Security Advisor, Condoleezza Rice, Tenet strongly recommended that they get ready for attacks that were coming within the next few months or even weeks.

In the past few years, more and more information about how much exactly the Bush Administration new of the 9/11 attacks is being released. In a 2015 an article by Chris Whipple published in Politico, describes how former chief of the CIA counterterrorism center, Cofer Black and former CIA director George Tenet tried to warn the White House of the attacks that were yet to come. Jeremy Stahl reports in “The Pre-9/11 Warnings Bush’s Team Ignored Were Way More Intense Than We Thought”, that Black had been meeting and giving warnings to the administration for months. “It was very evident that we were going to be struck, we were gonna be struck hard and lots of Americans were going to die”, Black told Politico. Stahl writes that the White House had received unspecific warnings of an imminent attack before 9/11, and that just one month before the attack Bush received a top secret brief titled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.” which described how Osama bin Laden had been planning to hijack planes and attack New York.

Source: Slate is a daily online news outlet that focuses on general-interest publication that offers analysis and commentary about politics, news, business, technology and culture. The site has been awarded with National Magazine Award for General Excellence Online. They have been noted by the people to be highly biased towards liberal causes through story choices and wording. They tend to use credible information but is known for twisting the headlines in order to increase clicks

Six years after it suffered a nuclear meltdown, Fukushima appears to have returned to a semblance of normalcy. But there is still a long way to go in terms of cleaning up the site. Martin Fritz reports.

“No End in Sight for Fukushima Disaster”

Even five years after the 9.0 earthquake that destroyed the nuclear power plant at Fukushima, reports of radioactive material and waste being dumped into the Pacifica Ocean are still coming in. In what is being dubbed as one of the most catastrophic industrial events to happen in the history of mankind, officials are warning the public that this problem is not going to go away anytime soon. Referencing Chernobyl, Arnold Gundersen, a former nuclear industry senior vice president, says “you can pinpoint the exact time and day they started… but they never end” (Censored 2017). Although the plant is shut down, uncontrolled fission is still generating heat and requires cooling. The cooling is producing hundreds to thousands of pounds of radioactive water. The Tokyp Electric Power Company (TEPC) has no plan for safely dealing with all the contaminated water, allowing much of it to be released into the Pacific Ocean. TEPC reports that they are pumping 300 tons of groundwater to the surface for treatment each day before placing it in storage, and that officially no water is released into the ocean until it is tested for radioactive content, but many experts are skeptical. The radiation levels are reaching to 50 percent increase just 1,600 from San Francisco’s boarders, but US officials claim it is far below what the government considers dangerous. Although this will undoubtedly affect ocean life, Japanese officials are keeping their citizens “in the dark” and not warning them of the effects it could have on them and their health.

Six years after the disaster, TEPC claims that “the radiation is now as low as in the Tokyo’s Ginza shopping district”. Martin Fritz reported in “The Illusion of Normality in Fukushima”, the illusion of normality is quickly dissolved as soon as visitors see the reactors and the dosimeters that indicated “radiation levels of around 160 to 170 microsieverts per hour – nearly 2,00 times above what is considered safe. Since the disaster, the clean-up work seems evident with new concrete poured and buildings starting to rise, but once you see the torn walls and broken down buildings that still stand one realizes the clean-up is far from over. It’s expected to take 30 to 40 years in order to completely clean the Fukushima plant, and will likely cost an estimated $189 billion in total. TEPC manager, Okamura, says they are “struggling with four major problems”. They are having issues with “Reducing the radiation at the site, stopping the influx of groundwater, retrieving the spent fuel rods and removing the molten nuclear fuel.”

Source: Deutsche Welle is a German based international broadcast that is rooted in European culture and is known for its news and that promotes exchange and understanding between the worlds cultures and people. After some research multiple reports and people have accounted DW as being a fair and reliable news source that does a good job of using independent and quality journalists.

Turkey is hosting more refugees than any other country, yet Syrians remain vulnerable.

“Corporate Exploitation of Global Refugee Crisis Masked as Humanitarianism”

As of June 2015 the UN reported over 60 million people worldwide are now refugees, meaning 1 out of every 122 people was a refugee or asylum seeker. The saddest part about this being that half of them were children. The highest count of people being from Syria (about 11.5 million) and the rest coming from countries such as Africa, Asia and Colombia, still with a large amount of unreported cases. The extent of this is covered in corporate media, how these refugees are being exploited is going uncovered. In February 2016, Sarah Lazare published an article on AlterNet talking about the World’s Bank solution to this problem. “Under the guise of humanitarian aid,” Lazare wrote, “the World Bank is enticing Western companies to launch ‘new investments’ in Jordan in order to profit from the labor of stranded Syrian refugees. In a country where migrant workers have faced forced servitude, torture and wage theft, there is reason to be concerned that this capital-intensive ‘solution’ to the mounting crisis of displacement will establish sweatshops that specifically target war refugees for hyper-exploitation” (Censored 2017). The World Bank referred to these shops as “social economic zones” (SEZs) and is encouraging corporations to invest their companies into five zones they plan on placing along the Syrian border. Their hope is that it will “help alleviate hardships” that the refugees have faced and take a different approach to this addressing this issue. Aside from these SEZs, Lazare reported that “the history of Jordan’s existing special economic zones (operated under a variety of names) is marred by human trafficking, torture, and wage theft, ‘often in the service of U.S. companies’” (Censored 2017). Reporters are suggesting that these SEZs are less about helping refugees and more about keeping them out of Europe and other surrounding countries. Recently Turkey made an agreement with the European Union to help keep millions of refugees entering from Europe, and in return the EU gave them $3.3 billion as a thanks for keeping the flow of refugees down. Turkey has also applied to be a part of the EU, which would allow the right for 75 million Turks to enter Europe without visa restrictions, but Glen Ford of Black Agenda Report suggests that “Europeans will never accept Turkey into the fold, because it is a Muslim and not-quite-white.”

Lisa DiCarlo reports in “The False Assimilation of Syrian Refugees in Turkey” that as of April 2017, Syrian refugees are still being used and abused throughout Turkey and other surrounding countries. With the influx of refugees, governments are scrambling to try and find a place for everyone as well as work, but it is not the type of productive and humane work that Western countries are reporting. Refugees are being exploited, underrepresented and unassimilated to the countries that they have taken refuge in. DiCarlo says that Turkey has “absorbed more than 3 million refugees, a figure that keeps climbing from last year and makes the country the world’s largest host community for displaced Syrians.” With the ever growing Islamaphobia and high walls the West is creating, it is getting harder and harder for these refugees to find work or a steady and safe place to live. Western corporations are now taking advantage of this epidemic and creating sweatshops and factories in these countries in order to use the cheap labor. Most of the workers in these shops are getting paid little to nothing, with an estimated 400,000 children out of school, most of them have no choice but to work in these shops. While Turkey is containing most of the Syrian refugees, it has not been able to shield them from exploitation or provide them with the resources necessary to thrive.

Source: U.S. News and World Report is an American news magazine focusing on political, economic, health and education stories. In recent years it became known for its country ranking system and reports on American colleges, graduate schools and hospitals. They have been reported to be more on left side or lean towards moderate liberal bias. People have noted this site for being generally trusted, but may require further investigation into their articles.

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