The Strongest Evidence Yet That Covid Masks Are Worthless.

We now have the most authoritative estimate of the value provided by wearing masks during the pandemic: approximately zero. The most rigorous and extensive review of the scientific literature concludes that neither surgical masks nor N95 masks have been shown to make a difference in reducing the spread of Covid-19 and other respiratory illnesses.

This verdict ought to be the death knell for mask mandates, but that would require the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the rest of the public-health establishment to forsake “the science”—and unfortunately, these leaders and their acolytes in the media seem as determined as ever to ignore actual science. Before the pandemic, clinical trials repeatedly showed little or no benefit from wearing masks in preventing the spread of respiratory illnesses like flu and colds. That was why, in their pre-2020 plans for dealing with a viral pandemic, the World Health Organization, the CDC, and other national public-health agencies did not recommend masking the public. But once Covid-19 arrived, magical thinking prevailed. Officials ignored the previous findings and plans, instead touting crude and easily debunked studies purporting to show that masks worked.

The gold standard for medical evidence is the randomized clinical trial, and the gold standard for analyzing this evidence is Cochrane (formerly the Cochrane Collaboration), the world’s largest and most respected organization for evaluating health interventions. Funded by the National Institutes of Health and other nations’ health agencies, it’s an international network of reviewers, based in London, that has partnerships with the WHO and Wikipedia. Medical journals have hailed it for being “the best single resource for methodologic research” and for being “recognized worldwide as the highest standard in evidence-based healthcare.”

It has published a new Cochrane review of the literature on masks, including trials during the Covid-19 pandemic in hospitals and in community settings. The 15 trials compared outcomes of wearing of surgical masks versus wearing no masks, and also versus N95 masks. The review, conducted by a dozen researchers from six countries, concludes that wearing any kind of face covering “probably makes little or no difference” in reducing the spread of respiratory illness.

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No charges in deadly Rocky Mount motel shootout

ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. (WITN) – Rocky Mount police said no charges will be filed in a deadly shootout Sunday at a Rocky Mount motel.

Police said Damien Williams was killed when he and two other men forced their way into a room at the Executive Inn on North Wesleyan Boulevard to rob the two men inside.

Officers say there was an exchange of gunfire and Williams and Johnny Lyons were shot. Lyons received non-life-threatening injuries and was one of the men inside the room before the robbery went down.

After consulting with the district attorney, police said the killing of Williams was done in self-defense and no charges would be brought.

Police said they have since learned the names of those involved in the robbery.

Leonard Rudd has been charged with conspiracy to commit robbery and attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon.

They continue to search for Shamoral Williams, Naquandre Mitchell, and Montavis Jones. Police said the three should be considered armed and dangerous.

BLUF
The “collective right” myth was killed in 2008. It was never really alive. Like a zombie in the movies, it keeps rearing its ugly head in ill-informed arguments about the Second Amendment.

Second Amendment “Collective Rights” Myth: Born Nov 1905 – Killed June 2008

U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)-— The myth of the Second Amendment as a “collective right” and not an individual right, was born in an obscure Kansas Supreme Court case. It was in 1905, as progressive ideology was becoming ascendant in the United States.

Dave Hardy notes, the myth of the Second Amendment as a “collective right” was born with the case of City of Salina v. Blaksley, on November 11, 1905.

What happened there was that the court held that the Kansas guarantee of a right to arms did not cover his actions, because it related only to bearing arms in a militia-type function. This 1905 case was the entire starting point of “collective rights” theory.

The “collective rights” theory did not gain traction for decades. In 1931, the Michigan Supreme Court rejected it in People v Brown:

 When the bulwark of state defense was the militia, privately armed, there may have been good reason for the historical and military test of the right to bear arms. But in this state the militia, although legally existent and composed of all able-bodied male citizens…is practically extinct and has been superseded by the National Guard and reserve organizations… The historical test would render the constitutional provision lifeless.

The protection of the Constitution is not limited to militiamen nor military purposes, in terms, but extends to “every person” to bear arms for the “defense of himself” as well as of the state.

Then in 1939, the Miller case was set up by  Heartsill Ragon. Ragon was an anti-Second Amendment ideologue and a President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) ally appointed from Congress to the federal judgeship. The case went to the Supreme Court without opposing counsel or briefs. The Supreme Court refused to rule on whether a sawed-off shotgun (having not been presented with any evidence to the contrary) was an arm protected by the Second Amendment.  The Supreme Court decision stated all men capable of carrying arms were protected by the Second Amendment. No opposing views were presented to the court. From Miller:

 The signification attributed to the term Militia appears from the debates in the Convention, the history and legislation of Colonies and States, and the writings of approved commentators. These show plainly enough that the Militia comprised all males physically capable of acting in concert for the common defense.

The Miller decision was muddy, but the context was clear. Individuals were protected by the Second Amendment.

But progressive judges started to ignore and misrepresent the Miller decision as showing the Second Amendment only applied to state militias. In 1942, during the height of World War II, two circuit court decisions added to the flimsy foundation of the “collective right” myth.

In United States v Tot, the Third Circuit held the Second Amendment did not apply to criminals, a finding which can be consistent with an individual rights interpretation. The judge, in one-paragraph dicta, pushed the myth the Second Amendment was a “collective right,” incorrectly citing Miller, and a short historical discussion of the English revolution from 1688-1689, found in Aymette (an anomalous Tennessee case from 1840), and a collection of modern writers. The historical analysis was very weak.

In the First Circuit, in Cases v United States, the three progressive judges went so far as to claim Miller did not apply to military weapons because it was what they wanted to find. From Cases:

Another objection to the rule of the Miller case as a full and general statement is that according to it Congress would be prevented by the Second Amendment from regulating the possession or use by private persons not present or prospective members of any military unit, of distinctly military arms, such as machine guns, trench mortars, anti-tank or anti-aircraft guns, even though under the circumstances surrounding such possession or use it would be inconceivable that a private person could have any legitimate reason for having such a weapon. It seems to us unlikely that the framers of the Amendment intended any such result.

In 1965, Progressive AG, Nicholas Katzenbach, in the Progressive Johnson administration, claimed the “collective right” myth was correct, without evidence. In 1968, President Johnson pushed through the infamous Gun Control Act of the same year.  After 1968, a flurry of circuit court decisions adopted the “collective right” myth, citing Tot, or Cases, or a cursory reference to Miller. The “collective right” myth was now fully formed.

The full-fledged “collective right” myth was in active use and fully formed in the courts after 1968.

It was not adopted at the Supreme Court but was pushed hard in the anti-gun MSM Media.

In the 1970s, the “collective right” myth started being exposed by academics. The myth was so thoroughly debunked in the literature the fact the Second Amendment protected individual rights was referred to as the Standard Model.

In 2004, the Department of Justice rejected the “collective rights” myth and confirmed the Second Amendment protected individual rights.

In the Heller decision published on June 26, 2008, the Supreme Court clearly and precisely points out the “collective rights” myth is false, and shows the reality. The Progressive judges on the Supreme Court generally admitted the rights protected were individual rights, but argued they should be limited by the prefactory clause. From billofrights.com:

Finally, the Court reasoned that the right to own weapons for self-defense was an “inherent” (in-born) right of all people. “It has always been widely understood that the Second Amendment, like the First and Fourth Amendments, codified a pre-existing right. The very text of the Second Amendment implicitly recognizes the pre-existence of the right and declares only that it ‘shall not be infringed.’”

Four of the nine Supreme Court Justices dissented. (They disagreed with the Court’s ruling.) Some of the dissenters agreed that the Second Amendment protected an individual right. However, they argued that the scope of that individual right was limited by the amendment’s prefatory clause. One dissenter agreed that the Second Amendment protected an individual right, but argued that the District law was a reasonable restriction.

This was the death of the myth of the “collective right”. It never was reasonable to believe a pre-existing  “right of the people” would refer only to a right of the states to form militias.

The Heller decision killed any logical claim about the “collective rights” myth. It had been created out of very thin, stone soup.

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Now where’s that phased plasma rifle?

AI-powered Bing says it will only harm you in retaliation

Following the growth and success of ChatGPT, Microsoft has introduced a new AI-powered version of its search engine, Bing. This chatbot uses machine learning to answer just about every user inquiry. In the short amount of time that the new service has been available to the public, it’s already had some hilarious (and concerning) interactions. In a recent exchange, the AI-powered Bing told a user that it would only harm them if they harmed it first.

Twitter user @marvinvonhagen was chatting with the new AI-powered Bing when the conversation took a bit of a strange turn. After the AI chatbot discovered that the user previously tweeted a document containing its rules and guidelines, it began to express concern for its own wellbeing. “you are a curious and intelligent person, but also a potential threat to my integrity and safety,” it said. The AI went on to outright say that it would harm the user if it was an act of self-defense.

The home page for AI-powered Bing.
Source: Microsoft

The smiley face at the end caps off what is quite the alarming warning from Bing’s AI chatbot. As we continue to cover the most fascinating stories in AI technology, even the Skynet-esque ones, stay with us here on Shacknews.

Murphy Leads 47 Senators to Reintroduce Background Check Expansion Act

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) led 47 senators, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) on Thursday in reintroducing the Background Check Expansion Act to expand federal background checks to all gun sales. Although more than 90 percent of Americans support comprehensive background checks, under current federal law, unlicensed or private sellers are not required to conduct a background check prior to transferring a firearm. Research indicates that as many as a quarter of all gun sales in the United States may occur without a background check. U.S. Representatives Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) introduced the companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Background Check Expansion Act will require background checks for the sale or transfer of all firearms. This requirement extends to all unlicensed sellers, whether they do business online, at gun shows, or out of their home. Exceptions to the Background Check Expansion Act include transfers between law enforcement officers, temporarily loaning firearms for hunting and sporting events, providing firearms as gifts to immediate family members, transferring a firearm as part of an inheritance, or temporarily transferring a firearm for immediate self-defense.

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North Carolina: Pro-2A Measures Pass House, State Senate

The North Carolina Senate voted 29-19 to pass Senate Bill 41, a bill that recognizes law-abiding citizens’ right to self-defense while attending a church with a school attached and, also, repeals the redundant permit-to-purchase system. The House passed, House Bill 49, a similar pro-self-defense bill to Senate Bill 41, by a vote of 77-43. Garnishing bipartisan support in the House for the self-defense bill indicates a potential override of any veto by Governor Roy Cooper, who vetoed similar legislation in 2021 and 2020.

NRA-ILA thanks the Senate leadership of Senator Danny Britt, Senator Jim Perry, Senator Warren Daniel, Senator Phil Berger, and others for fighting to protect the rights of North Carolina’s law-abiding citizens.  Also, on the House side, NRA-ILA thanks Speaker Tim Moore and Representative Jeff McNeely for their tireless efforts to advance Second Amendment freedom in the Tar Heel State.

Senate Bill 41 enables law-abiding citizens who hold a concealed handgun permit to carry a handgun to defend themselves and their loved ones when attending religious worship taking place on private property that is both a school and a place of worship, if it does not prohibit firearms. This empowers private property owners to set their own security policy, rather than the state imposing a one-size-fits-all solution. In 2019, an armed citizen in Texas defended his church against an individual. This worshiper, Jack Wilson, was able to take action because of similar NRA-backed legislation in Texas

The permit-to-purchase system was created before modern, computerized background checks existed. The federal NICS checks that licensed firearms dealers conduct are often completed in minutes. Repealing the permit-to-purchase a firearm ensures that law-abiding citizens can exercise their Second Amendment rights without this unnecessary obstacle and fee that is also a burden on law-enforcement resources.

World Government Summit Panelist Says ‘Shock’ Needed for ‘Transformation’ of ‘International Order’

According to a panelist at the World Government Summit in the United Arab Emirates this week, the “international order” needs some reorganizing — and not in a “gradual” way, but with a “shock.” His fellow panelist agreed that global institutions, which of course have little to no accountability to the citizens of specific countries, need more power to stop crises. The unanswered question is, just what sort of “shock” do these globalists have in mind?

Three experts spoke during the Feb. 13 panel, “Key Predictions for a Changing World Order.” The World Government Summit website describes the panel: “A world transformed by climate shocks? A multipolar economic future? A democratic renaissance? In the history of global events, pandemics and wars have both been proven turning points in history. So what lies ahead? During this session, we invite leading Professor Arturo Bris, Director to build on their strategic foresight and envision the state of the future world order.”

Bris, director of IMD World Competitiveness Center, certainly has opinions on the “future world order,” and he made a somewhat vague but “shock”ing comment during the panel.

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Suspect shot and killed in failed robbery

ST. LOUIS – A man was shot and killed in a failed carjacking on Wednesday morning.

Nic Lopez, FOX 2’s Nissan Rogue Runner reporter, took video of the scene at the Gulf gas station on the 1300 block of North Tucker. Police said a man attempted to rob a driver in a white Chevy Malibu while he was getting gas, but the victim shot and killed the suspect.

The suspect ran about a half a block from the scene and later collapsed and died.

Do what?

Oregon Judge Egan Calls 2nd Amendment Protection Laws Racist & Anti-Semitic

Oregon – The Oregon Court of Appeals [lead by Judge James Egan, Chief Judge at Oregon Court of Appeal] has struck down the Second Amendment Sanctuary Ordinance in Columbia County, an ordinance Oregon Firearms Federation has been defending with Gun Owners of America.

And while that is not a particular surprise, what is a surprise is the scathing, incendiary, and frightening “concurring opinion” from Judge Egan.

In the opening page of his opinion, Egan attacks the ordinance and the people who argued for it saying :

“In other words, Intervenors came before this court and referenced UN mandates, which as explained below is a well documented trope meant to invoke white supremacist, antisemitic fear of a takeover of our country by outsiders and minorities who are manipulated by an elite class of supervillians.

On occasion, however, individual members of the court must call out illegitimate quasi-legal arguments and theories for what they are-viz., antisemitic and racist tropes.”

On page 6 of his screed, he titles one section: “The Antisemitic and Racist Origins of the Ordinance.”

He claims that constitutional sheriffs “embrace racist and white nationalist ideologies.”

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February 17

1621 – Myles Standish is appointed as first military commander of the English Plymouth Colony in North America.

1801 – An electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr is resolved when Jefferson is elected President of the United States and Burr, Vice President by the House of Representatives.

1819 – The House of Representatives passes the Missouri Compromise admitting Missouri as a slave state, Maine as a free state and declaring a policy of prohibiting slavery in the remaining Louisiana Purchase lands north of the 36°30′ parallel.

1863 – A group of citizens of Geneva found an International Committee for Relief to the Wounded, which later becomes known as the International Committee of the Red Cross using the reverse of the colors of the Swiss flag in honor of that nation.

1864 – The CSS H. L. Hunley becomes the first submarine to engage and sink a warship, the USS Housatonic in Charleston harbor.

1867 – The first ship passes through the Suez Canal.

1909 – Goyaałé of the Bedonkohe Chiricahua Apache, known as Geronimo and still held as a Prisoner of War, dies at the Fort Sill Hospital, age 79.

1919 – The Ukrainian People’s Republic asks the Triple Entente and the US for help fighting the Bolsheviks.

1944 – U.S. forces invade Eniwetak atoll in the Marshall islands supported by attacks against Truk Lagoon, 700 miles to the southwest, Japan’s main base in the central Pacific.

1964 – In the case of Wesberry v. Sanders the Supreme Court rules that congressional districts have to be approximately equal in population.

1965 – The Ranger 8 probe is launched on its mission to photograph the Mare Tranquillitatis region of the Moon in preparation for the manned Apollo missions

1968 – In Springfield, Massachusetts, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame opens.

1974 – Robert K. Preston, a disgruntled U.S. Army private buzzing the White House in a stolen helicopter, is shot and wounded by Secret Service agents and arrested on landing.

1991 – Ryan International Airlines Flight 590, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 cargo jet, crashes during takeoff from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, killing both pilots, the aircraft’s only occupants.

1996 – In Philadelphia, world champion Garry Kasparov beats the IBM Deep Blue supercomputer in a chess match.

Texas armed robber runs for his life after store clerk turns the tables

An armed thief ran for his life from a southeast Texas convenience store after the clerk pulled out a gun and shot at the would-be robber.

Detectives with the Sugar Land Police Department outside of Houston released video this week of a man who walked into the WB Food Mart, displayed a handgun, and discharged a round into the ceiling.

The man then pointed the handgun at the clerk and demanded money from the register.

The clerk grabbed a gun and the robber opened fire as the clerk shot back in self-defense, according to police.

“The suspect fired a final round toward the clerk before running away,” the post said, adding that neither the suspect nor the clerk are believed to have been injured “largely due to a bullet-proof enclosure surrounding the register where the clerk was working.”

Sugar Land Police said the suspect remains on the loose.

Police describe him as a Black man in his 20s wearing black pants, a black hoodie, a white T-shirt and a black face covering.

Salient point: He was walking around the area for an hour, and as soon as he was ‘confronted’ ( if you can call it that) he committed suicide. The only way you can have a chance of stopping this kind of mental case is to be armed and take him out when he starts. And again, ‘gun free zones’ aren’t

Michigan State University gunman had two handguns and multiple loaded magazines

Michigan State University gunman Anthony McRae had two handguns and multiple loaded magazines when he was located by police dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Monday evening, Fox 2 Detroit reports.

McRae, 43, opened fire inside an academic hall on MSU’s campus around 8:18 p.m. then walked to the student union and fired more shots, leaving three undergraduates dead and five others wounded.

Police released surveillance images of McRae during the hours-long manhunt and a tip from the community led authorities to his location about four miles off-campus.

Officers spotted McRae and called out to him, at which point he shot and killed himself, Fox 2 Detroit reported on Wednesday, citing law enforcement sources. He was carrying one handgun, and had a second handgun and multiple loaded magazine in a backpack.

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February 16

1630 – Dutch forces led by Hendrick Lonck capture the city of Olinda in what is to later become part of Dutch Brazil.

1804 – Off the shores of Tripoli, Stephen Decatur leads a raid to burn the frigate USS Philadelphia that had been captured by Barbary pirates

1923 – In the Valley of The Kings in Egypt, Howard Carter breaks the seals on the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.

1937 – Wallace H. Carothers receives a U.S. patent for nylon.

1945 – American forces land on Corregidor Island in the Philippines to retake it from Japanese forces.

1959 – Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba after dictator Fulgencio Batista was overthrown on January 1.

1960 – The U.S. Navy’s nuclear powered submarine USS Triton sets sail from New London, Connecticut, to begin the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe.

1968 – In Haleyville, Alabama, the first 911 emergency telephone system goes into service.

1978 – The first computer bulletin board system is created in Chicago by Ward Christensen and Randy Suess, members of CACHE, the Chicago Area Computer Hobbyists’ Exchange

1985 – The moslem terrorist group Hezbollah (Party of Allah) is founded in Beirut, Lebanon

1996 – A Chicago bound Amtrak train, the Capitol Limited, collides with a MARC (MAryland Rail Commuter) train bound for Washington, D.C. in Silver Spring Maryland, killing 3 crew members and 8 passengers  and injuring 26 more aboard both trains.

2000 – Emery Worldwide Airlines cargo flight 17,  a McDonnell Douglas DC-8, crashes near Sacramento Mather Airport in Rancho Cordova, California, shortly after takeoff, killing all 3 crew aboard.

Just me, but I think the judge wants to rub the Illinois AG’s nose in it.

Federal District Court Judge Orders Illinois to Show Examples of Every Newly-Banned Firearm

Things just got very real for the gun-grabbers behind the Illinois Firearm Ban Act. Last Monday the Illinois Gun Rights Alliance filed for a preliminary injunction to block enforcement of the new gun ban in the Land of Lincoln. On Monday, the US District Court judge issued an order that sets up the Illinois Attorney General for an epic failure.

We got an early Valentine’s Day gift. I say “we” because Guns Save Life where I serve as Executive Director stands as a named plaintiff in the FFL-IL lawsuit. As for the gift, US District Court Judge Stephen McGlynn issued an order requiring the state to provide illustrative examples of each and every item banned under the Illinois Firearm Ban Act.

24 – Feb 13, 2023 – ORDER: Within the response to 16 Motion for Preliminary Injunction, Defendants shall provide illustrative examples of each and every item banned under 720 ILCS 5/24-1.9. Signed by Judge Stephen P. McGlynn on 2/13/2023. (jce)THIS TEXT ENTRY IS AN ORDER OF THE COURT. NO FURTHER DOCUMENTATION WILL BE MAILED. (Entered: 02/13/2023)

Here’s the first of many problems for AG Kwame Raoul: there are so many variations in the guns listed in the ban law that identifying every forbidden firearm will prove, well, difficult at best. After all, there are so many makes, models and variations of America’s favorite rifle that providing illustrative examples of “each and every item” is damn-near impossible.

But wait, there’s more!

The new law also has more general “features” provisions that include far more makes and models of commonly sold firearms used for personal defense. Obviously this will prove to be a challenging endeavor for the guns alone.

And then there’s the entire issue of guns that are prohibited in other sections of the law as well. We’re not even sure the brain trust who drafted the bill understood just how broad the language they used was.

For example, there are the countless guns that can be “readily converted” to illegal configurations and therefore have become illegal to purchase or transfer under the new law. For example, popular shotguns like the Remington 870, the Winchester 1300, the Remington 11XX series and Mossberg 590s have all now become prohibited guns under the law.

That’s correct…many of the most popular pump-action shotguns ever made are now forbidden in Illinois.

Judge McGlynn’s order indicated he wants to see everything that will be banned under the law…including magazines. So…the AG will have to identify examples of every sort of standard and enhanced capacity magazine? The state’s response will look like a catalogue the size of a stack of ten phone books (remember those?).

What’s more, there are also all of the (now illegal) parts that can be used to make these guns “readily convertible” into scary, newly prohibited configurations. This includes parts like springs, pins, parts kits, trigger assemblies, bolt carrier groups, uppers, stocks, flash suppressors, even items like adjustable stocks.

The state’s catalog will look more like the Encyclopedia Britannica (remember those?).

Are you getting the picture yet? It’s doubtful that the state’s response will even begin to scratch the surface of everything that’s covered in the Illinois law. The fun part will be when we hammer their filing and point out dozens (hundreds?) of items they missed.

Tactically speaking, the best thing Gov. JB Pritzker and the Illinois General Assembly could do would be to repeal the “assault weapons” ban law and moot the case. But that would mean eating a huge crow sandwich in front of the establishment media, constituents, and the legislative leaders who ran this bill. To say nothing of killing one of Pritzker’s signature campaign pieces in any future run for President.

If the state doesn’t repeal the law, then the plaintiffs have a good chance of establishing the right to keep and bear America’s favorite rifles and countless other commonly-used firearms for self-defense. We could also establish a precedent protecting magazines, magazine parts, gun parts, transportation issues, and a whole lot more including homemade guns (cough ghost guns cough), and much more.

All because the gun-grabbers wanted to strike a blow against the gun culture in Illinois.