MxM News

Quick Hit:

In a move rattling the climate establishment, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced steps to repeal the Obama-era “endangerment” finding. The announcement coincided with the release of a landmark Energy Department report aiming to reintroduce scientific uncertainty into the climate conversation. The Wall Street Journal’s Kimberley A. Strassel praised the effort as a pivotal moment in the rise of a “scientifically armed and debate-ready climate right.”

Key Details:

• Chris Wright stated, “Climate change is real, and it deserves attention,” but urged a reassessment of alarmist narratives.
• The report was authored by five respected scientists, including a former Obama administration official.
• Findings include that climate change poses risks but also benefits, such as improved agricultural productivity, and that extreme weather events show no historical increase.

Diving Deeper:

Writing in The Wall Street Journal, columnist Kimberley A. Strassel hailed the July 29 remarks by Energy Secretary Chris Wright and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin as the long-overdue “rise…of a scientifically armed and debate-ready climate right.” The pair’s announcement in Indiana—targeting the 2009 “endangerment” finding that empowered sweeping climate regulations—was paired with the release of a new Energy Department report that confronts the so-called climate “consensus” with sober scientific inquiry.

The report, titled A Critical Review of Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Emissions on the U.S. Climate, has already triggered an outcry from mainstream media, especially The New York Times, which denounced the authors as “skeptics” who “misrepresent” data and “undermine” established views. But as Strassel points out, the attack conspicuously avoided using the favorite pejorative of climate alarmists—“denier.” Why? Because, she writes, “the report…doesn’t deny the climate is changing.”

Indeed, as Secretary Wright explained in his introduction, “Climate change is real, and it deserves attention.” Yet the report emphasizes what’s often excluded from public discourse: uncertainty. The analysis argues that models are “all over the map,” that human impact on warming remains difficult to isolate due to “natural variability, data limitations, uncertain models and fluctuations in solar activity,” and that U.S. climate policy—even drastic measures—will yield “negligible effect on global temperatures.”

Among the report’s conclusions—backed by peer-reviewed literature—are that global warming carries benefits (such as enhanced crop yields), and that there’s no discernible increase in the intensity or frequency of extreme weather events across the U.S. It also states that “climate change is likely to have little effect on economic growth.” These facts run counter to the doomsday narratives pushed by leftist bureaucrats and Biden-aligned media outlets, which have relentlessly portrayed climate change as an “existential” threat to justify government overreach.

Strassel frames the shift as a necessary realignment of the GOP’s climate posture. For years, she notes, conservatives tried various angles—denying warming, focusing on the economic toll of leftist policies, promoting an “all of the above” energy mix—but were marginalized as unserious. Wright’s move, she argues, signals a return to fundamentals: “challenge the notion of ‘consensus’… reinject forgotten factors into the debate (cost, competing priorities) and in general ensure Americans have the whole picture.”

This realignment, Strassel contends, couldn’t come at a more crucial time. “What’s become obvious in recent years—thanks to the taste of it we got with the Biden administration—is that climate hysteria is one of the greatest threats to freedom in modern times.” She warns that Biden’s climate agenda has been used as a Trojan horse for central control—over vehicles, food, consumer goods, and even where Americans are permitted to live.

Strassel concludes with a hopeful note: “The right this week debuted its new strategy, and Americans received the bigger scientific picture. Long may that healthy, vigorous debate—the essence of good science—continue.” The effort by Wright and Zeldin may mark a turning point, not just in energy policy, but in the fight for scientific integrity and political freedom.

MxM News

Quick Hit:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Saturday that thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative used in flu shots, is now banned in the U.S. The move caps a 20-year fight, with Kennedy accusing health agencies of ignoring overwhelming evidence of harm.

Key Details:

• Kennedy confirmed the ban in a video message, declaring he was “proud to finally deliver on a long-overdue promise” to eliminate mercury exposure from vaccines.
• Thimerosal, which contains ethylmercury, has long been used in multi-dose flu shots despite research identifying it as a neurotoxin, carcinogen, mutagen, and reproductive toxicant.
• The updated CDC recommendation, approved in June and enacted last week, prohibits thimerosal in all U.S. vaccines. Mercury-free, single-dose flu shots will remain available.

After more than 20 years of delay, I’m proud to finally deliver on a long-overdue promise: protecting our most vulnerable from unnecessary mercury exposure. pic.twitter.com/rYF5BN8JYj

— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) August 2, 2025

Diving Deeper:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Saturday announced the complete removal of thimerosal from all vaccines in the United States, marking the culmination of a 20-year campaign to eliminate mercury from the nation’s vaccine supply.

In a video message shared to X, Kennedy declared, “I’m proud to finally deliver on a long-overdue promise: protecting our most vulnerable from unnecessary mercury exposure.” The compound, which contains ethylmercury, had been used for decades in multi-dose vaccine vials as a preservative.

According to Kennedy, the CDC continued to allow thimerosal in flu shots administered to pregnant women and children, even after research repeatedly identified it as a dangerous neurotoxin. “The amount of ethylmercury in the flu shot that CDC just banned under my order is 25,000 times the EPA’s safety level for drinking water,” he said.

He pointed to a 2001 congressional hearing where FDA official William Egan admitted under oath that thimerosal’s safety had never been studied in humans. Kennedy also cited a later study showing the compound can remain in the brain for nearly three decades.

Several peer-reviewed studies were referenced in Kennedy’s remarks. A 2017 CDC-funded study found a 7.7-fold increase in miscarriages among women who received the flu shot during pregnancy. That same year, JAMA published research showing a heightened risk of autism spectrum disorders among children whose mothers had received the shot during the first trimester.

“Why were we injecting this toxin into babies and pregnant women?” Kennedy asked. “Federal and state laws classify expired thimerosal vaccines as hazardous waste. Yet they were good enough to put into your bloodstream?”

Despite being targeted for years as an “anti-vaxxer” by pharmaceutical companies and legacy media outlets, Kennedy never relented. “I’ve spent 20 years trying to get mercury out of vaccines,” he said. “I spent four years trying to get mercury out of fish, and nobody called me anti-fish.”

The CDC formally adopted the new recommendation last week after approval in June. Flu vaccines will remain available in mercury-free, single-dose forms, and manufacturers have confirmed their ability to meet demand without the use of thimerosal.

Kennedy framed the decision as part of a broader effort to reform public health institutions and praised President Trump for his role in “remaking FDA and CDC” into agencies that prioritize public safety over industry pressure.

He also extended his call to international health organizations, urging an end to the use of mercury-based preservatives in vaccines distributed to children in developing nations. “We urge the World Health Organization and GAVI to stop their programs of injecting mercury into more than 100 million Black and brown babies in developing countries annually,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy cast the moment as a pivotal step toward medical transparency and accountability. “This decision sends a clear message,” he concluded. “The days of ignoring the science are over. The days of putting profits ahead of people are over.”