In the weeks before the November 2020 election and subsequent Capitol insurrection, podcasts and Facebook postings lit up with allegations of massive voting fraud and calls for violence to address the spreading myth of a stolen presidential election. Social media companies, including Google and YouTube, allowed the use of their platforms to spread the myth and whip up pre-insurrection hysteria. And recent investigations indicate social media companies had the technology to intervene but didn’t. Misinformation sites flourished, including one formed by a Missourian, United Conservatives for America, with more than 11,000 group members on Facebook. 

Two high-profile criminal cases at opposite ends of the country are putting a much-needed focus on the legalities — or illegalities — of lying. Americans for too long have justified lying as a tolerable offshoot of the brash entrepreneurial spirit that spurred industry and created $2 trillion tech empires like Apple and Microsoft. Fake it till you make it became accepted as a legitimate route to success, as if duping investors was somehow admirable.

We are sticking our heads into the sand regarding the reality of omicron, and the results may be catastrophic.

When Joe Biden took over as president, millions of Americans were relieved to finally have a leader who could be counted on to consistently shepherd the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic in a coherent and fact-driven way. But Biden’s record has been far from spotless.

As the seemingly (but not-for-certain) less severe omicron variant elbows out delta and political leaders across America try to stave off fresh hospitalizations and deaths, one sound we aren’t hearing is a clamor for schools to close and give way to remote learning after the Christmas vacation.