
How to disrupt America's history of re-branding misinformation as 'science'
CNN
We are living in a dangerously unprecedented moment of misinformation-fueled distrust and division about Covid-19, writes historian Nicole Hemmer, but medical misinformation -- the deliberate spread of demonstrably untrue claims for politics or profit -- has been a feature of life in the US throughout the nation's history. Understanding that is key to addressing the near-total breakdown of hope for a return to normal, she argues.
But then came the Delta variant, and the vaccine resisters, and the state efforts to ban mask and vaccine mandates -- and suddenly what once felt like the beginning of the end revealed itself to be a momentary pause.

Federal regulators repeatedly granted appeals to remove Camp Mystic’s buildings from their 100-year flood map, loosening oversight as the camp operated and expanded in a dangerous flood plain in the years before rushing waters swept away children and counselors, a review by The Associated Press found.

Two of the most senior figures in the US government — Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the White House chief of staff — have been impersonated in recent weeks using artificial intelligence — a tactic that harnesses a rapidly developing technology that cybersecurity experts say is becoming the “new normal” in terms of cheap and easy scams targeting senior US officials.