- The Biden White House pressured Facebook and Instagram to censor Covid facts, including its origin.
- Now we know: Scientists who signed a paper claiming a natural origin for Covid turn out not to have believed it themselves. (WSJ)
- The real DeSantis record: In 2020 Florida had the tenth lowest age-adjusted Covid death rate in the country, which was nearly 20% lower than California’s. (WSJ)
- When did people stop being drunk all the time? From the Middle Ages to the pre-industrial era, the average person consumed about a liter of beer a day, around four times as much as consumption in modern beer-drinking countries. HT: Tyler
- DEI training doesn’t work: 30 years of data from more than 800 U.S. companies show that mandatory diversity training programs have practically no effect on employee attitudes — and may even backfire.
- An estimated 795 000 Americans become permanently disabled or die annually because dangerous diseases are misdiagnosed. Just 15 diseases account for about half of all serious harms. HT: Arnold Kling
Category: Saturday Links
Saturday Links – 25 July 2026
- Cato study: Economic liberalization leads to higher economic growth after a lag.
- Gallup: 24% of U.S. workers stay in unwanted jobs solely to keep health insurance coverage. (Statnews)
- Update on UK health care: Between September 2024 and August 2025, around 79,130 names were removed from NHS waiting lists across 127 acute trusts because patients had died before reaching the front of the queue. Of those, 28,908 had been waiting longer than the 18-week statutory standard, and 7,737 had waited more than a year.
- About 25% of the U.S. population is estranged from, or has cut ties with, a close relative at any given time—and 10% is estranged from a parent or child. Are therapists to blame?
- One thing Trump got right on trade:
“The administration is building what could become the foundation of a global trading system for the age of artificial intelligence.”
Saturday Links – 18 July 2026
- Where does AARP get its money? What difference does that make?
- Is sunlight really an antidepressant?
- Coming soon: betting on clinical trials and regulatory approvals. (Statnews)
- 2027 Marketplace Rule: bronze plans will be allowed to have Out-of-pocket exposure of up to $15,600 for an individual and $31,200 for a family beginning in 2027.
- 25 health care systems are dropping Medicare Advantage plans.
Saturday Links – 11 July 2026
- Were the Dark Ages really all that dark?
- Most expensive state for health insurance (cost/median monthly household income): West Virginia. Least expensive state: Maryland.
- The bad news on single payer heath insurance.
- Why the Medicare Trustees failed to predict the cost-increasing consequences of the IRA bill.