Unreported Truths

Last year, England began offering gay and bisexual (aka gay) men a vaccine for gonorrhea, the sexually transmitted bacterial infection often called “the clap.” Though not fatal, gonorrhea is unpleasant and increases risk for HIV. Like other sexually transmitted diseases, it is far more common in gay men. English authorities offered the vaccine, originally designed for meningitis, after studies showed it cut infections by about 40 percent.

The motto of New York-Presbyterian — the dominant hospital chain in Manhattan — is: Amazing Things Are Happening Here.

How could they have missed this? How could they ALL have missed it? I need to get it out. NOW. I’ve had that thought before. But never for a story about the President of the United States, a man covered by hundreds of news organizations. Saturday, July 6, 2024. I was searching White House visitor logs for potential physician visits to Joe Biden - and finding, to my shock, that a Parkinson’s disease specialist had come to the West Wing repeatedly.

(Back to healthcare soon, but this is too critical and timely to miss.) — Graham Platner’s campaign to become Maine’s next senator is imploding as allegations of sexual misconduct and assault pile up against him. Planter’s campaign is on life support and may not last the day. The biggest loser, besides Platner himself, will likely be The New York Times — which again has shown it has one reporting standard for Democrats, another for Republicans.

International soccer is notoriously corrupt. Infamously corrupt. How corrupt? In 2015, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn indicted nine officials at FIFA, the Swiss federation that owns the World Cup soccer tournament, on bribery charges.1 How corrupt? The 2018 World Cup was played in Russia. The 2022 cup was in Qatar — in December, because Qatar is too hot for soccer in summer, when the tourney should be played. Both countries allegedly bribed officials to win the chance to host. How corrupt?

If Unreported Truths has seemed light this week, I apologize. I was in Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker, the world’s largest poker tournament. Even if you have never touched a card, you may have heard of the WSOP “Main Event,” the $10,000 buy-in tourney that’s drawn fortune-seekers to the desert since 1970. Other tournaments now have higher entry fees, but the Main remains poker’s championship, with the biggest prize pool.

None of us are angry enough about the American medical system. Ryan Werner, an Unreported Truths reader from Utah, just sent me this note: I’m sending you an email I received from Intermountain Healthcare’s Foundation (and my quick reply)… Attached was a fundraising email titled, “Can you give $5 to help a patient at Primary Children’s?” Yes, Ryan, you have a chance to make a meaningful difference in the life of a child! Who wouldn’t want to do that? Are you a good person, Ryan?

Yesterday, the New York Times celebrated Father’s Day with an article by a trans “man” about how his daughter had helped him accept his top surgery. True story. I don’t mean to pick on Zach Ellams, the author, who clearly enjoys being a parent. But in running an essay called “What I Learned About Parenting as a Trans Dad” on Father’s Day the Times put a stick in the eye of real fathers. (It was good for sales of The Fatherhood Manifesto, though.) Was the decision to offend intentional?

I am so tired of having to fact-check legacy media lies about the mRNA shots. But they won’t stop, so I can’t. On Monday, scientists released a paper claiming Covid booster jabs might reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes by 7 percent. The findings come from observational real-world data, not a randomized clinical trial. In such studies, small risk differences must be viewed with extreme skepticism.1 And that’s just what the Washington Post did! Kidding, bro.

No surprise, Sunday’s article about 10 possible fixes for American healthcare sparked lots of reader suggestions, from minor to radical. I may run a second list with your ideas (or host a chat to discuss the issue). But I was struck by how many of you pushed one seemingly simple change: requiring open pricing for medical procedures, services, and drugs whenever possible. This suggestion came up more than any other, even restricting drug advertising. I agree.