The United States has opted out of a proposal by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development that would have created a standardized test to determine students’ abilities to identify fake news. This should be a no-brainer, but unfortunately the people currently in charge of our government are “no-brainers,” and they prefer students who can’t tell fact from fiction. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.

Farron Cousins is the executive editor of The Trial Lawyer magazine and a contributing writer at DeSmogBlog.com. He is the co-host / guest host for Ring of Fire Radio. His writings have appeared on Alternet, Truthout, and The Huffington Post. Farron received his bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of West Florida in 2005 and became a member of American MENSA in 2009. Follow him on Twitter @farronbalanced