On June 5 four Arab states – Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt – declared a soft war on Qatar. They had a long list of demands, ordering Qatar to weaken ties with Iran, expel Turkish military forces from the country and take other steps that would reduce Qatar’s influence in the region. They also demanded that Qatar close Al Jazeera, the Qatari-funded media network that, for years, has been critical of other Arab regimes. So far the Qatari government has resisted pressure to curb the activities of the network.

Inside the Juvenile Justice Center in Nashville, Tennessee is a steel door fitted with a high-security system. Push a button and the door unlocks, revealing another steel door with a slot for IDs. When that door buzzes, I walk through with video gear. I’m searched, as is the gear. An hour later, I hear the sound of shackles from down the hall, and a 16-year-old girl in an orange jumpsuit appears.

News coverage of the Manchester terrorist attack was sadly familiar: cellphone videos of screaming victims; details of first responders’ hectic efforts; “Was it terrorism?” guesswork; speculation about the perpetrator. In this case, the horror was amplified by so many of the killed and wounded being young people.

It was a somewhat surprising turn of events. Earlier in his presidency, Wilson coined the phrase “America First,” and his supporters proudly waved banners at the 1916 Democratic National Convention extolling, “He Kept Us Out of War.” Now Wilson was explaining that “Neutrality is no longer feasible or desirable where the peace of the world is involved.”

On Aug. 6, skateboarding was added to the list of new sports for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. [The Conversation]

In the aftermath of the 2016 U.S. elections, numerous accounts surfaced of nefarious content creators profiting by posting fake content on social media. The most successful engaged in “anti-Clinton fervor,” promoted Donald Trump’s candidacy and spread right wing news, all for profit. [The Conversation]

Hernán Galperin, University of Southern California, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism; Annette M. Kim, University of Southern California, and François Bar, University of Southern California, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism

Humans having been using stories or narratives to transmit crucial information for thousands of years. Despite that, Western medicine largely ignores the use of narrative and instead continues to rely on lists of dos and don’t’s, facts and figures to compel behavior change. [The Conversation]