I'm reading Science Under Siege, by Michael E. Mann and Peter J. Hotez. You probably know of them as a climate scientist and public health physician who engaged in vaccine development. You probably also know that both of them have been subjected to continuous and mendacious attack by right wing lunatics.
It's tough to read because it's just so depressing, but it's important. Not that there's much in there I didn't already know but seeing it all pulled together and the connections among various atrocities delineated is illuminating. I may be inspired to comment on more of the content, but what strikes me today is the important, if not dispositive role of Russian meddling in our present predicament. The Russian economy is heavily dependent on fossil fuel (Russia has been called a gas station with an army), so a major motive for Russian interference in our political discourse, and its meddling to get Orange Julius elected, is denial of anthropogenic climate change. George W. Bush's friend Pooty Poot also uses antivax propaganda as a way of roiling the political climate and getting right wing nut jobs elected generally. We can thank Vladimir Putin for RFK Jr.
What is so infuriating is that the corporate media seems utterly unaware of this. They have allowed themselves to be used by Russian propagandists, and they seem to have no self-awareness that this is still going on. Or maybe they do and it's okay with them. Mann and Hotez extensively document these claims, so if you want to deny them I'll give you the citations. But believe me, there's absolutely no doubt about it.
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