TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 913.

UNEXPECTEDLY! Cost Of Cheapest ObamaCare Plans Is Soaring.

Contrary to expectations, the mandate really doesn’t seem to be doing much to get people to buy insurance, at least yet (the penalty is set to go up again this year, and that may get people to pay attention). The subsidies, on the other hand, clearly have a large effect, which is why the customer base for the exchanges is so disproportionately composed of folks who are getting large amounts of taxpayer assistance to buy insurance. Anything that increases the gap between the cost of the insurance and the subsidy they are getting is therefore worrisome, if you want the exchanges to get and stay healthy.

It is possible to find out what different rates are being charged by insurers in many states; I have a giant spreadsheet of the 2016 rate increases for those states that make them available, and boy does that make me popular at cocktail parties. Unfortunately, we still don’t know what rate increases people are facing, because we don’t know what individuals had in 2015, or what they’ll buy in 2016.

This is frustrating. But a consulting company, Avalere Health, has provided at least slightly more data than we had before, supplementing the administration’s release of the information on benchmark plans by looking at the cost of the cheapest Bronze and Silver policies. It’s still far more limited than one would like, but looking at those rates does give us additional information.

The biggest thing they tell us is that, as I suspected when I wrote about the CMS release, the whole bottom of the market is undergoing a fairly massive repricing. In most states, the cost of the cheapest Silver plan, relative to the cheapest one last year, rose even more than the benchmark rate. And in most states, the cost of the cheapest Bronze plan went up by more than the cost of the cheapest Silver plan.

Good news! You’re now required to buy health insurance that you can’t afford! Also, the deductibles are huge. . . .

HMM: Survey Finds Gamers Will Be Pivotal to 2016 Presidential Election.

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IF I WERE THE PRESIDENT, I’D USE THIS AS AN EXCUSE TO CANCEL THE FOOTBALL PROGRAM: Missouri football players to boycott season until university president steps down.

A VOICE OF SANITY: Female student pens scathing review of ‘rape culture’ for college course.

A pre-med student attending college in California has penned a scathing review of the current climate surrounding sexual assault on college campuses.

The student, who wishes to remain anonymous, wrote her essay in response to a public-health class assignment asking students to watch a video in which Emma Sulkowicz, the former Columbia University student who carried a mattress around protesting what she claimed was rape, discusses her mattress project. Students were asked a series of questions pertaining to the video, including “What do you think of her approach in responding to her case of rape?” (notice the absence of “alleged”) and “Look into her story and see how her alleged rapist responded. How do you think the university handled this delicate situation?”

The student responded by condemning Sulkowicz’s behavior as “a parody of all the worst parts of radical or ‘Tumblr’ feminists” and said she was “ashamed to even belong to the same species as her.” The student was outraged by Sulkowicz’s accusation, especially after having followed the accused student’s side closely.

“Not only was Emma’s false accusation abhorrent and did she inflict physical and emotional trauma on Paul [the man Sulkowicz accused], but her response to the widespread media attention is the most immature and attention-seeking action she could’ve possibly taken,” the student wrote.

True.

SHE’S RIGHT. FOR THAT, WE HAVE EVERY NEWS MEDIA ORGANIZATION IN AMERICA. Fiorina defends not correcting ‘black Muslim’ remark about Obama.

Carly Fiorina is defending her decision not to correct a man who characterized President Obama as a “black Muslim” at a diner in New Hampshire.

Fiorina said it wasn’t her job to defend the president, noting that he “isn’t on the ballot.”

“I’ve said on many occasions: President Obama tells me he’s a Christian; I take him at his word,” she said on Fox News on Friday. “But the truth is, President Obama isn’t on the ballot.”

The former Hewlett-Packard CEO said it’s her job to defeat Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in 2016.

“The person who’s on the ballot, who’s going to be on the ballot on the Democratic side, is Hillary Clinton,” Fiorina said.

“And so I talk about the issues that face our nation, and I talk about how it is that I can beat Hillary Clinton, because in the end, we have to win the White House,” she added.

While Fiorina was campaigning in New Hampshire on Friday, a man referred to Obama as a “black Muslim” and said “he doesn’t want this country to get ahead.”

Why would anyone think that?

ADDITION THROUGH SUBTRACTION? “Overall, there’s nothing wrong with the Democrats that losing the presidency probably won’t fix, and by the same token, the best way for the Republicans to risk their majorities in the Senate, House, and governorships is to win the White House in 2016,” claims a Vox.com article titled “The Democrats’ woes are overstated.”

Or as Matt Vespa paraphrases at Hot Air, “Democrats have been decimated at the state level, but a presidential loss could turn things around.”

But will Hillary be willing to take one for the team? (And note that in 2011, it was conservatives who were reading the following year’s tea leaves and writing “winning by losing” articles, such as Noemie Emery’s piece in the Washington Examiner titled “For 2012, GOP’s best hope may be losing.”)

TWO CNNs IN ONE!

● “Climate change is killing our sex drive, bringing down U.S. birth rate, study says.”

—CNN headline, this past Friday.

● “Ted Turner Wants Population Reduction Through China’ s ‘One Child Policy.'”

—Headline linking to a YouTube clip of Turner’s 2008 appearance on the Charlie Rose Show talking population control, which has long been one of Turner’s obsessions. As the CNN founder told Rose, “We’re too many people. That’s why we have global warming. We have global warming because too many people are using too much stuff. If there were less people, they’d be using less stuff.”

Related: Actual New York Times headline and subhead: “The Ozone Hole Is Mending. Now for the ‘But.’ — Scientists Say Ozone Hole’s Repair May Worsen Global Warming.”

Doesn’t everything? (And yes, last year, the New York Times also went down the same Malthusian “Reducing Carbon by Curbing Population” route as Turner.)

IF YOU STRIKE ME DOWN. . . Carson thanks ‘biased media’ for $3.5M fundraising haul.

Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson claims his campaign has pulled in $3.5 million in fundraising dollars this week thanks to “biased media” coverage.

“We the People have made 10,000 donations each day this week, raising $3.5M this week alone. Thank you biased media,” Carson tweeted Saturday.

Carson’s dig at the media comes amid heightened scrutiny of the his extraordinary life story as he has risen to the top of the GOP primary polls.

Punch back twice as hard.

CONSERVATIVES NEED TO RALLY AROUND BEN CARSON: “As a group we have to say: ‘Enough of this. We won’t allow you to destroy conservative minorities any longer.’”

OLD WOMAN YELLS AT CLOUDS: Hillary Clinton: Climate change has contributed to refugee crises, including Syria.

Related: Video shows Hillary Clinton boarding private jet just hours after launching global-warming push – and she’s using a FRENCH aircraft that burns 347 gallons of fuel every hour!

IT’S ALWAYS NICE to make Twitchy.

INSOMNIA THEATER (SILVERGLATE EDITION): This week our beloved co-founder of FIRE, Harvey Silverglate, decided to step down from his position as chairman of FIRE’s Board of Directors. Harvey served as chairman for ten years and will remain an active board member. I encourage everyone to read Harvey’s official comments on the founding of FIRE, his ten years as Chairman, and what his future holds.

On a personal note, Harvey is the man who found me post-law school and brought me to FIRE. He has been a mentor and friend to me ever since, and I am deeply honored to know him.

This week’s video features Harvey discussing the importance of free speech and academic freedom, as well as Harvard’s deception when it comes to academic freedom.

SEE THE DISCUSSION IN THE COMMENTS: Why Are Middle-Aged Whites Dying At Such High Rates?

NOPE: For You, Volkswagen, Ze PR Battle Iz Not Yet Over. I recommend the stage-3 Hillary Clinton Defense. Stage 1: We didn’t do anything. Stage 2: If we did, it was a mistake. Stage 3: Emissions laws are stupid and nobody could be expected to understand them.

UNSETTLED SCIENCE: Peer Review Fraud on the Rise at Scientific Journals: Two large publishers of scientific journals have retracted more than 100 papers in the last year. Every successful system accumulates parasites. Western science has been very, very successful.

WELL, WITH THE WORST POLITICAL CLASS IN HISTORY, THERE’S PLENTY TO BE ANGRY ABOUT: Americans’ Mood Darkened by Widespread Anger, New WSJ/NBC News Poll Finds.

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THE 21st CENTURY IN A SINGLE HEADLINE: “War memorial to be left blank for fear of mistakes.”

RICHARD FERNANDEZ: Western Pacifism Has Driven Warfare Underground, At Some Cost. “The infrastructure to support the secret wars has been growing over the years. The rise of foreign and domestic surveillance deserves an essay all to itself. But today, a network of secret bases, landing strips, agents in place, spotters and communications networks has been laid over the length and breadth of the Middle East, South Asia and Africa. Fleets of unmarked planes, swarms low visibility drones and and secret warriors make up a ghostly army that is endlessly engaged.”

It might have been easier, safer, and cheaper, to deliver a sound, brutal defeat at the front end. And by “might have been,” I mean “would have been.”

ROGER KIMBALL: People Of Color At Yale. “Of all bogus politically correct phrases, I think ‘people of color’ is the most reliably emetic. What, after all, does it mean?”

It means people who are privileged on campus by virtue of their pigmentation.

JOURNALISM: NY Times Public Editor Acknowledges Errors in Nail Salon Expose In Response to Reason’s Reporting. But notice their excuse for taking so long: “Until now, The Times has not responded to that series because editors believe they defended the nail salon investigation fully [to a previous critique] and because they think the magazine, which generally opposes regulation, is reporting from a biased point of view.”

Epistemic closure, anyone?

FRONTIERS IN HYPOCRISY: Bernie Sanders bashes “unregulated” Uber, uses it for 100% of his taxi rides.

HEH: Take a bow Obama, Democrats: You’re becoming this year’s best gun sales team.

Also, this is a clever reverse-psychology tactic to get people to arm up against the alien invasion.