Every election season, the American landscape turns into a conversation. Lawns become small stages, and rectangular signs planted in the grass announce loyalties, fears, hopes, and frustrations long before a single vote is cast. In Missouri this year, that familiar ritual has spread into an unexpected place: the front yards of churches. Faith communities, like other tax-exempt nonprofits, are not allowed to endorse political candidates, and most pastors know this. But they are permitted to take positions on ballot measures, and so many congregations across the state have begun to decorate their property with the same kind of glossy, brightly…

In a world where seeing is no longer believing, the art of protecting reputation has become a high-stakes battle against machines designed to deceive. This was the urgent message delivered by Vice President Kashim Shettima on Thursday in Abuja, as he opened the Duke Masterclass on Definitive Strategies in Robust Crisis Management. Standing before an audience of communication professionals, policymakers, and business leaders, Shettima painted a sobering picture of the modern information landscape—one where fabricated videos, cloned voices, and manipulated images can go viral in minutes, destroying years of trust before the truth even has a chance to emerge. “If…