The Doctors Who Cry ‘Science’

The AMA aligns itself with the left on abortion, climate, transgenderism and affirmative action

By Allysia Finley. Excerpts:

"As Anthony Fauci later admitted, the 6-foot rule for social distancing “sort of just appeared” and “wasn’t based on data.”"

"Greenhouse-gas emissions from fossil fuels may contribute to rising temperatures, but they don’t harm public health, unlike pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter. Carbon dioxide is harmless to humans and vital to plants."

"The AMA  . . . argued . . . that racial preferences in college and medical-school admissions are a “medical imperative” bolstered by an “overwhelming body of scientific research” that shows minorities get better medical care from doctors of the same race. Such evidence is conflicting, and studies that the groups cite in their brief are poorly designed."

"The U.K. last year permanently banned the use of puberty-blocking hormones for most minors after a comprehensive review found thin evidence they improved the mental well-being of kids and that they carried safety risks including permanent bodily damage, infertility, blood clots and bone loss. The AMA brief elides such risks."

"The AMA and the rest of the medical establishment have cried science so many times to support their progressive views that many Americans no longer believe them on anything."  

A Copper Minefield of Obstruction

Will the Ninth Circuit follow the Supreme Court on NEPA and the Resolution Copper mine?

WSJ editorial. Excerpt:

"It takes on average an incredible 29 years to develop a mine in the U.S., the second longest in the world after Zambia. A major reason is lengthy environmental reviews, which inevitably draw lawsuits no matter how detailed they are. Republican Rep. Bruce Westerman of Arkansas and Maine Democrat Jared Golden are sponsoring legislation that would limit NEPA lawsuits." 

Explaining the Rise of Phantom ACA Patients

The problem isn’t real people with coverage they don’t use—it’s fraudulent sign-ups who never should have been subsidized.

Letter to The WSJ. 

"Profs. Amy Finkelstein and Matthew Notowidigdo miss the point: Poor public policy led to large numbers of phantom ObamaCare enrollees, not legitimate enrollees who use no healthcare services (“The Necessity of ObamaCare,” Letters, Aug. 20). The problem isn’t real people with coverage they don’t use—it’s fraudulent sign-ups who never should have been subsidized.

President Biden’s Covid credits, which made many plans fully taxpayer-subsidized, created perverse incentives. Bad actors rushed to maximize commissions by enrolling people regardless of eligibility. That led to fraudulent enrollment, with some unaware they were signed up and others covered elsewhere.

Using conservative assumptions, Paragon estimates that 6.4 million people who weren’t eligible were enrolled in a fully subsidized plan in 2025. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services data show the consequence: a spike in enrollees with no healthcare claims.

Thirty-five percent of exchange enrollees in 2024 had no medical claims, nearly double the pre-Covid share. More striking, 40% of those in fully subsidized plans with minimal cost-sharing didn’t use their plans to see a doctor or fill a prescription. This isn’t government subsidizing people with coverage who used no care. It’s government subsidizing millions of enrollees who don’t exist in the market. Insurers likely collected more than $40 billion in subsidies for nearly 12 million enrollees without a single claim in 2024—triple the pre-Biden levels.

Health insurance finances nearly all medical spending, including routine visits and prescriptions. In 2023, 85% of privately insured adults used their coverage to pay for care. The large and growing numbers of exchange enrollees using no healthcare is another reason to suspect mass phantom enrollment.

The scale of improper and phantom enrollment shows that Mr. Biden’s Covid credits inflated enrollment statistics, drained tens of billions from taxpayers, entrenched a costly regulatory structure and enriched insurers and enrollment middlemen. Congress should let them expire after 2025.

Brian Blase

Paragon Health Institute" 

A Deere in the Tariff Headlights

The farm equipment maker takes an earnings hit and lays off workers.

WSJ editorial. Excerpts:

"company is laying off 238 workers"

[they] "reported a 26% drop in net income and 9% decline in sales, owing to lower commodity prices and higher tariffs."

"many U.S. manufacturers rely to some extent on imports of components and raw materials. Caterpillar Inc., another great U.S. manufacturer, has said tariff-related costs could reach $1.5 billion in 2025"

"U.S. trade policy is now far from reciprocal as Mr. Trump imposes tariffs even on countries (50% on Brazil) with which the U.S. has a trade surplus."

[there are] "damage across the economy in higher costs from new border taxes and fewer sales from retaliatory trade measures" & "lower exports to China"

"The overall U.S. agricultural trade deficit hit a record in the first half of this year, rising to $28.6 billion." 

How to Beat the High Cost of Cooling

Biden climate rules made air-conditioning more expensive. Trump and Congress can reverse them.

By Ben Lieberman. Excerpts:

"The Energy Department’s latest efficiency standard for these systems  [home air conditioners]took effect in 2023 and knocked the most affordable models off the market."

"the Biden EPA issued a rule requiring that systems manufactured after Jan. 1, 2025, use refrigerants that meet new climate-change requirements. This mandate has increased costs by $1,500 per system on average"

"These and other regulations, combined with nonregulatory factors such as higher materials costs and rising wages for service technicians, have dramatically increased the cost of buying and installing a new system. A homeowner replacing a 15-year old system that likely cost around $5,000 at the time of installation now faces a price tag “in the $13,000 to $14,000 range”" 

Age-Verification Rules Can Be Tricky

See How Tech Is Tackling the New Age-Verification Rules: Selfies, government IDs and AI are all being used by companies in efforts to adhere to new laws and regulations aimed at protecting children by Ann-Marie Alcántara of The WSJ. Excerpts:

"Age-verification technology—much of it outsourced to third-party providers like Yoti, Incode and Persona to prevent excessive data collection—isn’t always accurate. Legitimate users have complained about being locked out of their accounts. User error is a problem as well, with some failing to provide the proper identification.

Families sometimes willingly give underage kids access. And often, they just don’t know what the kids are up to. Tech-savvy kids find workarounds, such as using VPN services that mask their location."

"People fudge these documents constantly, from pasting a different picture to uploading a high-quality fake ID—sometimes even generating one with AI" 

"The other problem with photo IDs is it assumes that someone will have one and not all people do"

"But it isn’t always easy to tell that the so-called parents are being truthful."

"The verifying process can be hard to get right."

"And the rise of manipulated, deepfake video makes the job even harder"

"But it’s hard enough just differentiating between users in the first place, said Ricanek. “We’re assuming that everybody has their own personalized individualized account and that doesn’t happen as well.”" 

Mexico’s Cartels Are Exporting Their Bloody Rivalry to Ecuador and Beyond

The two most powerful drug rings are locked in a turf war over control of a key South American smuggling route. The bodies are piling up.

By Ryan Dubé of The WSJ. Excerpts:

"Corruption flourished as drug traffickers bought off judges, politicians and state security officials, prosecutors said. “They realized that the weak spot in the region was Ecuador,” said Fausto Salinas, former head of Ecuador’s police. 

Sinaloa joined with Telmo Castro, an Ecuadorean army captain who used military vehicles to transport cocaine from the border with Colombia to the Ecuadorean coast, according to Ecuadorean police. Mexican pilots picked up the drugs at clandestine runways.

Castro earned about $600,000 a load, Jorge Cifuentes, a Colombian who was one of Sinaloa’s top cocaine suppliers, said during the 2018 U.S. trial of Sinaloa boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. Castro was killed in prison in 2019."

"The Choneros took over the route when Prado was arrested in Colombia in 2017. He was extradited to the U.S., where he pleaded guilty in 2018 to drug smuggling. In his absence, the Choneros expanded their work for Sinaloa across coastal Ecuador."

"'In 2022, traffic officials in Manta pulled over a black Chevrolet Tahoe carrying $7 million in drug money. The officials kept the cash and released the driver, a Mexican Jalisco member." 

"Macías oversaw the Choneros from prison. Armed inmates protected him as he moved among amenities including a private gym and a pool with ducks."