Trump Is Dismantling America’s Future (w/ Atul Gawande) | Mona Charen Show

Early on when Covid was spreading in Asia, it was clear that hospitals that wore masks had lower spread of Covid than those that did not.

Although older people were much more likely to die from Covid, lots of middle-aged people died too.

Operation Warp Speed saved millions of lives.

USAID saved millions of lives a year. Donald Trump and Elon Musk destroyed it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8p0c_TOI74

Do Cellphones Cause Cancer? RFK Jr.’s HHS Is Suppressing FDA Data Confirming Cellphone Safety.

“Do Cellphones Cause Cancer? RFK Jr.’s HHS Is Suppressing FDA Data Confirming Cellphone Safety.”

https://reason.com/2026/01/16/do-cellphones-cause-cancer-rfk-jr-s-hhs-is-suppressing-fda-data-confirming-cellphone-safety/

More Americans are picking higher-deductible Obamacare plans, possibly risking their health

“More Americans are turning to cheaper Obamacare plans to avoid premium sticker shock, according to preliminary data from states.

But the switch comes with a caveat: thousands in extra out-of-pocket costs that policy researchers say may make people hesitate to get medical care when they are sick or injured.

The subsidies’ expiration on Jan. 1 caused annual premiums to spike more than $1,000 on average for subsidized enrollees, according to one estimate from the health research organization KFF.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/04/more-americans-are-picking-higher-deductible-obamacare-plans-possibly-risking-their-health-00763306

Exercise Scientist Breaks Down RFK’s Polarizing New Food Pyramid

The new government food pyramid matters because it affects major government food programs and student lunches. Otherwise, not many people dutifully follow the government dietary recommendations. There have been several changes over time and in 2011 they got rid of the pyramid and replaced it with a plate, which makes sense because we more often eat food on a plate than in pyramid measurements.

Butter and cheese in the highest tier doesn’t make sense. They are okay in moderation, but are not good in high amounts, and the highest tier implies you should eat a lot of it. Not only is eating too much of them bad, they are easy to eat a whole lot of all at once, and are high in calories.

Whole grains are good! They shouldn’t be relegated below butter and cheese. Whole grains are hard to overeat, are associated with better health, and are per-calorie better for you than butter and cheese. Butter and cheese being in a higher tier than whole grains is backwards.

The new pyramid promoting: protein, vegetables, minimally processed food, and healthy fats is good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7TwGXK9g1A

MAHA Republicans Are Imposing New Food Labeling Mandates

“Seed oils have become a major target of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, whose figurehead is Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “Seed oils are one of the driving causes of the obesity epidemic,” according to Kennedy, who has accused fast-food restaurants that use seed oils of poisoning Americans.

But among nutrition experts, opinions about seed oils and health are much more mixed, with plenty suggesting they’re fine in moderation, are better than alternatives, or are unwisely treated as a unit despite the fact that different seed oils have different properties and effects on health.

There’s also mixed evidence on the effects of common food dyes and additives)”

https://reason.com/2025/12/22/maha-mandates-food-labels/

On the Origin of COVID: Research now shows it wasn’t a lab leak

Early on, there was a real disagreement between specialists on the origin on Covid, with some supporting natural origins and some supporting a lab leak. But that debate is now essentially over. With more data carefully examined, the evidence best supports natural origins.

The virus was initially repeatedly found in a specific animal market, and even a specific stall that appeared to be the source. For a lab leak to be the source, the person or people who leaked the virus would have to have repeatedly visited that market every time they leaked it and nowhere else so that it looked like that market was the source.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fjXhOXl7VU

New Vaccine Recommendations

“The HHS stressed on Monday that all 17 vaccines, including those no longer recommended for all children, will still be covered at no out-of-pocket cost to patients by government and private health insurance plans.”

https://reason.com/2026/01/06/new-vaccine-recommendations/

The big plan behind Kennedy’s overhaul of childhood vaccines

“In dropping government recommendations Monday that children routinely receive shots for four diseases, Kennedy’s allies believe they are closer to realizing a top priority: a country in which people who claim vaccine injuries can more easily sue vaccinemakers for millions in civil court.

Manufacturers of those vaccines would no longer be shielded from liability, the plan’s proponents assert, and could be driven from the market amid an influx of lawsuits alleging injuries from their products. In that scenario, the anti-vaccine movement would have a high-profile opportunity to shape the public narrative about childhood shots in courts nationwide.

Kennedy and Health and Human Services Department officials announced that longstanding recommendations that children receive flu, meningitis, hepatitis A and rotavirus vaccines were downgraded to a category known as “shared clinical decisionmaking,” meaning patients are encouraged to confer with health care providers before getting the shots.

In all, the number of “routine” vaccine recommendations — which assume vaccination as the default — have now been cut by a third, from 18 to 11, since 2024.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/07/the-big-plan-behind-kennedys-overhaul-of-childhood-vaccines-00713852