THE MASK COMES OFF: Determined to defend face coverings, a Scientific American article dismisses scientific “rigor.”

In response, [Naomi Oreskes, a Harvard professor of the history of science] claimed that “[t]he Cochrane finding was not that masking didn’t work but that scientists lacked sufficient evidence of sufficient quality to conclude that they worked.” She continues, “Jefferson erased that distinction, in effect arguing that because the authors couldn’t prove that masks did work, one could say that they didn’t work. That’s just wrong.” But Jefferson didn’t simply say that masks don’t work; he said there’s “no evidence” they work. The burden of proof should be on the side of those advocating a medical intervention. Without remotely having met that burden, Oreskes asserts that masks do work. Cochrane, she writes, “gave the false impression that masking didn’t help.”

In fact, 16 RCTs have tested whether masks effectively reduce the spread of viruses. Not onehas found compelling evidence that they do. Two have found statistically significant evidence that masks are counterproductive—that they increase the spread of viruses—probably because masks are frequently moist or dirty, and people often touch them. As for non-RCT evidence, check out this chart by Ian Miller, which shows that mask-mandate and mask-free states registered almost identical Covid-19 case rates.

Surgical masks were designed to protect patients from having open wounds infected by medical personnel, not to prevent the spread of viruses. N95 masks were designed to protect workers from breathing in fumes, smoke, or dust. When N95s were worn in hospitals pre-Covid, it was usually to protect against the spread of tuberculosis bacteria, not to stop the spread of viruses. As an article on the National Institutes of Health website puts it, “Viruses are tiny. . . . Billions can fit on the head of a pin.” Bacteria are huge by comparison: “Bacteria are 10 to 100 times larger than viruses.” Trying to block a virus with a mask is like trying to keep mosquitos out of your yard with a chain-link fence.

Read the whole thing.

SHOCKER: Follow the Money: Antifa’s Financial Ties to Islamist Terrorism.

THE POWER LINE WEEK IN PICTURES: Insurrection Manque Edition.

GAZA AS THE MEDITERRANEAN HONG KONG: Now that’s a thought, courtesy of Issues & Insights.

INSERT PICARD FACEPALM JPG HERE: Comedian Sarah Silverman claims she was ‘stoned’ when she endorsed Israeli move to shut off Gaza’s water, electricity.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Conservative white professor falsely accused of harassing black student in viral video.

CHANGE: After It Lied About Israel, New York Times’ Verification Badge Removed By X.

In the wake of The New York Times’ false reporting , claiming the Israel Defense Forces bombed a hospital in Gaza, a report which was later totally debunked, X, formerly known as Twitter, removed the Times’ verification badge.

🚨 Breaking: @elonmusk removed New York Times' verification badge, following a flood of false information it published on the Israel-Gaza war 👇 pic.twitter.com/qljbsNRhlN

— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) October 20, 2023

The Times ran an article on October 17 that trumpeted, “Israeli Strike Kills Hundreds in Hospital, Palestinians Say.” The New York Times and CNN were also caught using images from different incidents that showed buildings that had been completely destroyed.

In one of its first tweets about the bomb at al-Ahli al-Arab hospital, The New York Times used a photo from a different bombing site.

I’ve traced the photo to Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, which is approximately 25 km from Gaza City where the hospital is located. https://t.co/TJj2HNU9mx pic.twitter.com/VHg8lnjaYP

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) October 18, 2023

As America’s Newspaper of Record observed on Wednesday: New York Times Patiently Awaiting Zoom Call From Hamas To See What They Should Print Today.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Nazis forbade my Jewish grandfather from journalism. Now this prof wants to kill me for being a Jewish journalist. “Campus Reform reported Thursday that Jemma Decristo, an associate professor at the University of California, Davis, apparently threatened death, home invasion, and kidnapping of Jewish journalists.”

Related: UC Davis prof ‘still employed’ after threatening Jewish journalists with death, home invasion, kidnapping.

NOT ANTI-WAR, JUST ON THE OTHER SIDE: The U.S. Gov’t Hired A Pro-Hamas PLO Spokeswoman To Handle Asylum Claims. “F*** Israel, the government, and its military. Are you ready for your downfall?” Department of Homeland Security officer Nejwa Ali said.

THE ENEMY WITHIN: Expel Hamas’ propagandists in Congress — and don’t give the terrorists taxpayer cash.

THEY LIE TO US BECAUSE THEY’RE ON THE OTHER SIDE: Ted Cruz rips wartime ‘lying’ from MSNBC, CNN, Rashida Tlaib.

EMPTY SUIT: Mitt Romney Admits He Didn’t Know Anything About Burisma During Trump’s Ukraine Impeachment.

When Joe Biden was vice president and in charge of looking into Ukrainian corruption, his son and his son’s business partner took extremely lucrative board positions with Burisma, a Ukrainian energy concern that was fighting off corruption investigations. The whole arrangement reeked to high heaven, and Trump was impeached for asking about Burisma in a phone call with Zelensky.

What happens next in the book is a shocking admission of profound ignorance from the senator, particularly considering his disdain for his Republican colleagues who did not fall for the impeachment. Romney admits to Hannity that even though he’s been signaling his support of the Democrat impeachment efforts, he actually has no idea what Burisma is. “How do you not know what Burisma is?” Hannity reportedly asks.

The next paragraph is Romney insulting Hannity, calling him jealous and stupid. Let’s observe here that Romney’s stated reason for not liking Trump is personal. He tells Coppins he is quite supportive of the conservative agenda advanced by Trump, but that he doesn’t like Trump because the former president is boorish and insults other people. It is absolutely true that Trump insults people he feels have betrayed him or who otherwise don’t support him. It is unclear why Romney, who has just used a friendly reporter to overload a book with similar insults, is so bothered by Trump doing it in a less passive-aggressive fashion than Romney does.

In any case, learning that Romney didn’t even know what Burisma was in the middle of the impeachment about Burisma that he voted for is not terribly surprising. But proud ignorance is not a virtue, and it’s certainly not principled.

He’s the kind of man who would put ketchup on wild-caught salmon. While calling Trump boorish.

THEY WEREN’T “SUCKERED,” THEY WERE COMPLICIT: Media suckered by Hamas’ hospital lie must stop trusting terrorists.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON ON ACADEMIA: Watching a Tired Script Play Out.

THE CORBYNIZATION OF THE FAR LEFT CONTINUES APACE: Israeli official slams Greta Thunberg after she backs Palestinians in Gaza.

In reaction, Arye Sharuz Shalicar, spokesman for the Israeli army, told POLITICO: “Whoever identifies with Greta in any way in the future, in my view, is a terror supporter.”

He added: “Because what Greta is doing, that she is now showing solidarity with Gaza while not saying a word about the massacres of Israelis, shows that she is actually not in favor of the Palestinians, but that she is sweeping the terror of the Palestinians or Hamas and Islamic Jihad under the table as if it did not exist.”

Arye Sharuz Shalicar later apologized for his remarks about Thunberg supporters and said, “I spoke out of a deep sense of pain and my words do not reflect my personal views or those of the IDF.”

Too bad — he got it right the first time: Greta Thunberg, milkshake duck.

It seems in Greta’s zeal to show her support for Palestinians, she accidentally included an antisemitic stuffed animal. Don’t you hate it when that happens to you? Cockburn is always embarrassed when he inadvertently includes antisemitic imagery laying around his house and it somehow finds its way into tweets supporting groups dedicated to wiping out a Jewish state. Happens to the best of us!

Heh, indeed.

COLLUSION: Pro-Israel Dem’s Foundation Gave $1 Million to Group With Palestinian Terror Links.

DEAL OF THE DAY: Ninja Foodi NeverDull Premium Knife System. #CommissionEarned

JIM TREACHER: There Are a LOT More Anti-Semites Out There Than I Thought.

I’m particularly fascinated by the bigots tearing down those posters of Israeli hostages. What do they think they’re accomplishing? How does it help the terrorists they revere? Hamas wants us to know they have those hostages!

Maybe it’s cognitive dissonance. Lefties want to think of themselves as the good guys. So, when presented with direct evidence that their heroes are holding innocent women and children hostage — the Jews they didn’t slaughter on Oct. 7 — these cretins fly into a rage. Seeing those human faces completely destroys their self-conception as champions of justice, so they literally tear down the source of their mental agony. It’s the only thing they can do to ease the pain.

After all, they can’t admit they’re wrong about anything. If they were capable of that, they wouldn’t be leftists.

Then there’s this blithering idiot:

The octopus is a nice touch: “She might be able to claim this was an accident with a more common stuffed animal that has nothing to do with anti-Semitism but … yeah. No:” ‘How Dare Jew’? Greta Thunberg Stands in Anti-Semitic Solidarity with Gaza Then Tries PULLING Post.

WELL, BYE. Former Oscars diversity chief on ‘micro- and macro-aggressions’ that led to exit.

I’VE SEEN THIS WITH A NUMBER OF FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES, TOO: Hamas Atrocities Red-Pilling Progressive Celebs.

ENDORSED: Woke left’s getting punished under its own rules: Don’t stop now!

SHOW ME THE MONEY: Comer raises questions about $200k ‘direct payment’ from James Biden to Joe Biden in 2018.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said his panel has uncovered evidence that Joe Biden, in 2018, received a “$200,000 direct payment” from his brother James Biden and sister-in-law Sara Biden, and is demanding the president answer questions about “financial arrangements” with members of his family.

Comer, R-Ky., has been leading an investigation into the Biden family’s business dealings since January and whether President Biden was involved in those ventures or “personally benefited” from them.

Comer, in September, issued three subpoenas for the personal and business bank records belonging to both Hunter Biden and James Biden.

Comer, in a video posted to “X,” formerly known as Twitter, detailing his committee’s latest findings. Comer said the check was written by James Biden to President Biden as a “loan repayment,” but questioned the timing.

“Bank records obtained by the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability have revealed a $200,000 direct payment from James and Sara Biden to Joe Biden in the form of a personal check,” Comer states.

Comer explains that in 2018, James Biden “received $600,000 in loans from Americore —a financially distressed and failing rural hospital operator.”

“According to bankruptcy court documents, James Biden received these loans based upon representations that his last name Biden, could open doors; and that he could obtain a large investment from the Middle East based on his political connections,” Comer said.

“On March 1, 2018, Americore wired a $200,000 loan into James and Sara Biden’s personal bank account—not their business bank account,” he continued. “And then, on the very same day, James Biden wrote a $200,000 check from this same personal bank account to Joe Biden.”

Comer said James Biden “wrote this check to Joe Biden as a ‘loan repayment.’”

Ace of Spades adds, “As we keep seeing*, the Biden Crime Family takes its bribes in the form of “loans” which are not loans are so are never repaid.”

pic.twitter.com/tJUMLMD5iu

— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) October 20, 2023

* “We” doesn’t include low information voters still getting their news from the DNC-MSM: After Crying ‘No Evidence,’ ABC/CBS/NBC Ignore Direct Payment to Biden.

KAMALA DOESN’T CARE ABOUT DEAD JEWS, AND IN FRONT OF THE RIGHT AUDIENCE SHE DOESN’T HAVE TO PRETEND TO:

Two days after somberly standing behind Mr. Biden in the White House as he denounced the attack as “sheer evil,” Vice President Kamala Harris spoke on Oct. 12 to an auditorium filled with Latino and Black students at the College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas, as part of a fall tour focusing on young voters of color. For nearly an hour, she addressed pressing concerns such as climate change and student loans and offered a passionate defense of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. She made no mention of the attack in Israel.

Well, that whole mass-murder issue is hurting the Democrats so best to skate over it.

PROGRESS: U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Landmark NCLA Case Against Government Social Media Censorship.

For the second time in eight days, the U.S. Supreme Court has granted certiorari in one of NCLA’s cases. This afternoon the Court agreed to hear arguments over the Fifth Circuit’s grant of a preliminary injunction in Missouri v. Biden, a case brought on behalf of NCLA clients Drs. Jayanta Bhattacharya, Martin Kulldorff, and Aaron Kheriaty, and Ms. Jill Hines, alongside the Attorneys General of Louisiana and Missouri. The injunction would bar officials[i] from the White House, CDC, FBI, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and Surgeon General’s office from coercing or significantly encouraging social media platforms to censor constitutionally protected speech. The New Civil Liberties Alliance welcomes this opportunity to defend the First Amendment rights of our clients in the U.S. Supreme Court.

A Fifth Circuit panel last month upheld the key components of U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty’s July 4 preliminary injunction order, prohibiting named federal officials from coercing or significantly encouraging social media companies to suppress legal speech. That decision vindicated NCLA’s clients, who have been blacklisted, shadow-banned, de-boosted, throttled, and suspended on social media as part of the government’s years-long censorship campaign orchestrated by the White House, CDC, FBI, CISA, and Surgeon General—among others.

The Biden Administration’s censorship regime has successfully suppressed perspectives contradicting government-approved views on hotly disputed topics such as whether natural immunity to Covid-19 exists, the safety and efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines, the virus’s origins, and mask mandate efficacy. The vast, coordinated, and well-documented effort has silenced influential, highly qualified voices including doctors and scientists like Drs. Bhattacharya, Kulldorff and Kheriaty, as well as those like Ms. Hines who have tried to raise awareness of issues. Though the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily stayed the Fifth Circuit’s injunction today, NCLA believes the Justices are ultimately unlikely to permit the egregious First Amendment abridgements this case has exposed.

Let’s hope. Disclosure/reminder: I’m on the NCLA advisory board.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE: UPenn Donors Demand Ouster of School President Over ‘Palestine Writes’ Festival.