The Verge⁠56%

White House deletes thousands of web pages about energy conservation as heatwave slams US ⁠69%

By Terrence O'Brien⁠58%

7/4/2026, 9:19:06 AM

BS Summary: This article contains 24 faulty reasoning types, including Biased Writer Voice, Confirmation Bias, and Appeal to Authority, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 42.1% saturation with 126 hits. Analysis detected 1,120 faulty-reasoning hits from 299 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 62.1% and a BS Rank of ⁠69% (6,863 of 21,887 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 68.60% of the article peer group.

The US Department of Energy reportedly deleted about 6,000 pages related to energy conservation as a historic heatwave tears across the country. 
The deletion was suspiciously timed, following Republican outrage over Mayor Zohran Mamdani asking New Yorkers to help reduce strain on the grid by setting their AC to 78 degrees. 
Republicans like Ted Cruz (who has famously fled severe weather in his home state), Nikki Haley, and Representative Nancy Mace (South Carolina) quickly pounced, framing the request as socialism and an act of war on women in menopause (the Republican Party is notoriously concerned about women’s health). 
Of course, this is pretty standard advice during a heatwave. 
It was the official stance of the Department of Energy that Americans should set their thermostats between 75 and 78 degrees, and Republican governors in deep red states like Texas have issued the same advice in the past — including current governor Greg Abbott. 
The deletions by the Trump administration are broad and indiscriminate. 
While pages that would support Mamdani’s request to lower thermostats were deleted, so too were pages about water conservation, types of insulation, and its solar decathlon challenge. 
The Internet Archive preserved the pages that have been lost. 
Temperatures topped 95 degrees for four straight days in New York City, including two days over 100 degrees. 
Those sorts of temperatures put significant strain on the electrical grid, especially when more people are home during a holiday weekend. 
Setting thermostats to 78 degrees can help prevent blackouts that would leave people without air conditioning and vulnerable to the heat. 
On average, extreme heat is responsible for more deaths in the US than floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes combined, according to data from the CDC and NOAA. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 24.4%Terrence O'Brien: 4.3%The Verge: 3.6%Confirmation Bias24.4%This article: 0.0%Terrence O'Brien: 0.1%The Verge: 1.3%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 13.4%Terrence O'Brien: 3.8%The Verge: 3.8%Availability Heuristic13.4%This article: 12.4%Terrence O'Brien: 0.8%The Verge: 1.3%Representativeness Heuristic12.4%This article: 0.0%Terrence O'Brien: 1.1%The Verge: 0.7%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 3.3%Terrence O'Brien: 0.8%The Verge: 1.7%Overconfidence Bias3.3%This article: 4.7%Terrence O'Brien: 8.9%The Verge: 6.2%Framing Effect4.7%This article: 0.0%Terrence O'Brien: 0.6%The Verge: 0.9%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 0.0%Terrence O'Brien: 0.3%The Verge: 0.5%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Terrence O'Brien: 0.3%The Verge: 0.4%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 7.0%Terrence O'Brien: 2.1%The Verge: 4.0%Optimism Bias7.0%This article: 0.0%Terrence O'Brien: 1.8%The Verge: 2.4%Pessimism Bias0.0%This article: 42.1%Terrence O'Brien: 12.1%The Verge: 9.7%Negativity Bias42.1%This article: 0.0%Terrence O'Brien: 1.0%The Verge: 1.5%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Terrence O'Brien: 0.4%The Verge: 0.8%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%Terrence O'Brien: 0.3%The Verge: 0.2%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 15.7%Terrence O'Brien: 0.7%The Verge: 0.6%In-Group Bias15.7%This article: 15.7%Terrence O'Brien: 1.5%The Verge: 0.4%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias15.7%This article: 15.7%Terrence O'Brien: 2.9%The Verge: 2.8%Halo Effect15.7%This article: 0.0%Terrence O'Brien: 0.6%The Verge: 0.2%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Terrence O'Brien: 0.0%The Verge: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Terrence O'Brien: 1.3%The Verge: 1.8%Recency Bias0.0%This article: 3.3%Terrence O'Brien: 0.9%The Verge: 0.4%Primacy Effect3.3%This article: 0.0%Terrence O'Brien: 0.0%The Verge: 0.1%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 15.7%Terrence O'Brien: 3.4%The Verge: 1.1%Ad Hominem15.7%This article: 15.7%Terrence O'Brien: 1.0%The Verge: 0.3%Straw Man15.7%This article: 23.4%Terrence O'Brien: 6.1%The Verge: 4.0%Appeal to Authority23.4%This article: 9.0%Terrence O'Brien: 1.1%The Verge: 1.6%False Dilemma9.0%This article: 0.0%Terrence O'Brien: 1.6%The Verge: 1.2%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Terrence O'Brien: 0.4%The Verge: 0.2%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 19.1%Terrence O'Brien: 5.9%The Verge: 6.8%Hasty Generalization19.1%This article: 0.0%Terrence O'Brien: 0.4%The Verge: 0.2%Red Herring0.0%This article: 14.7%Terrence O'Brien: 1.3%The Verge: 0.7%Bandwagon14.7%This article: 7.0%Terrence O'Brien: 6.6%The Verge: 4.2%Appeal to Emotion7.0%This article: 0.0%Terrence O'Brien: 1.5%The Verge: 1.1%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 16.7%Terrence O'Brien: 3.5%The Verge: 2.3%Post Hoc (False Cause)16.7%This article: 0.0%Terrence O'Brien: 0.3%The Verge: 0.2%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Terrence O'Brien: 0.5%The Verge: 0.8%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%Terrence O'Brien: 0.0%The Verge: 0.3%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Terrence O'Brien: 0.2%The Verge: 0.3%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 0.0%Terrence O'Brien: 2.7%The Verge: 3.6%Anecdotal0.0%This article: 0.0%Terrence O'Brien: 0.1%The Verge: 0.1%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 9.7%Terrence O'Brien: 2.6%The Verge: 2.2%Ambiguity (Equivocation)9.7%This article: 0.0%Terrence O'Brien: 0.0%The Verge: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Terrence O'Brien: 0.1%The Verge: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Terrence O'Brien: 0.2%The Verge: 0.1%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Terrence O'Brien: 0.0%The Verge: 0.2%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Terrence O'Brien: 0.2%The Verge: 0.2%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 16.4%Terrence O'Brien: 3.2%The Verge: 2.6%Unattributed Quote16.4%This article: 9.7%Terrence O'Brien: 2.9%The Verge: 1.4%Quote-first Misdirection9.7%This article: 36.8%Terrence O'Brien: 11.4%The Verge: 10.8%Biased Writer Voice36.8%This article: 22.7%Terrence O'Brien: 2.0%The Verge: 1.1%Indoctrination22.7%This article: 0.0%Terrence O'Brien: 3.5%The Verge: 1.6%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Terrence O'Brien: 0.1%The Verge: 0.1%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Terrence O'Brien: 3.7%The Verge: 4.2%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

299 words analyzed.

Speakers

3speakers34%attributed speech197writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 14 words • 100.0% coverageUS Department of Energy • 22 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 29 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 47 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 10 words • 100.0% coverageUS Department of Energy • 44 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 10 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 27 words • 100.0% coverageInternet Archive • 10 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 18 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 21 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 21 words • 100.0% coverageCDC and NOAA • 26 words • 0.0% coverage
100%flagged-word coverage
66 attributed words65% of attributed speech100% writer coverage
0%30.0%60.0%Biased Writer Voice-55.8 ptsWriter: 55.8%US Department of Energy: 0.0%0.0%Indoctrination-34.5 ptsWriter: 34.5%US Department of Energy: 0.0%0.0%Unattributed Quote+19.6 ptsWriter: 13.7%US Department of Energy: 33.3%33.3%Quote-first Misdirection-14.7 ptsWriter: 14.7%US Department of Energy: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.