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--:-- Georgia Howe: This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. Between two-factor authentication, strong passwords, and a VPN, you try to be in control of how your info is protected. But many other places also have it, and they might not be as careful. That's why LifeLock monitors hundreds of millions of data points a second for threats. If your identity is stolen, they'll fix it. Guaranteed or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit LifeLock.com slash podcast for 40% off. Terms apply.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A new study suggests that wearing masks made little to no difference in preventing the spread of COVID-19. There are still a few people in public health and in medicine that pushed these idea that masks could protect people. And this Cochrane meta-analysis calls them out. We look at the parameters and why this study in particular stands out.
--:-- John Bickley: I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's February 11th, and this is your Saturday edition of Morning Wire. A leaked FBI memo shows that the Bureau was considering targeting what it called radical traditional Catholics. Why did the Bureau consider the group a threat, and how is it responding to the backlash?
--:-- Georgia Howe: And the forever sought-after middle seats in movie theaters are set to rise in price at certain theater chains. If you're looking to curb costs, you might sit off to the side or even closer to the screen itself. We break down the cost and the controversy.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. Do you love Morning Wire? Well, you can shop the collection at dailywire.com slash shop. Start today with your favorite podcast and coffee from your very own Morning Wire mug. Or rep the news you need to know with Morning Wire t-shirts, hoodies, and tote bags. That's dailywire.com slash shop.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A new study by one of the most well-regarded medical review organizations in the world finds that masks are largely ineffective at stopping the spread of flu and COVID. Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham joins us now to give us the details of this study.
--:-- Megan Basham: So, the big difference here is that it comes from the International Research Collaborative, the Cochrane Review, and that's based in Great Britain. And its publications are widely considered some of the most reliable in the world due to the fact that it does these systematic reviews of all of the sound data available.
--:-- Megan Basham: And what that means is it performs studies of studies and then offers comprehensive analysis. So Stanford professor of health policy, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, told me Cochran is considered the gold standard within the medical community. It covers basically every single important randomized trial on community masking going back decades.
--:-- Megan Basham: And the way that Cochran conducts reviews is very systematic. And the idea is to assess each study on the quality of the evidence provided by the study with preference given to randomized evidence because that is the study methodology that reduces bias the most.
--:-- Megan Basham: So for this meta-analysis, more than 12 medical experts reviewed 78 randomized control trials, and that included hundreds of thousands of participants all around the globe. All right, so a comprehensive review of dozens of studies. What did it find?
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, you know, I'll let Dr. Bhattacharya have the reveal on that. They found that when they focus on the highest quality evidence there is no support for the idea that community masking suppresses the spread of highly infectious respiratory viruses including the flu and COVID.
--:-- Megan Basham: So essentially, even after looking at five trials with different masks, it really didn't matter what kind of mask it was. The study showed they were not effective in stopping the spread. And in fact, it concluded that wearing them probably makes little or no difference. And that's a direct quote.
--:-- Megan Basham: Okay, so little to no difference. I've seen some reporting out there that claims that, you know, while the Cochrane Review is enormously respected, this particular study was flawed.
--:-- Megan Basham: Yeah, I noted that same thing. And one of the big claims that you're tending to see in all those stories is that the study only tested the efficacy of masks for mask wearers, not for the people around them. But I asked Dr. Bhattacharya about that, and he told me that it is flat out false.
--:-- Megan Basham: The review did include some studies on that. And in particular, he pointed to one that studied people who were living in very close quarters in tents while traveling to Mecca. So in that case, the researchers had some people wear masks and tested others who didn't. It still didn't find any mask effectiveness.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, previous Cochran reviews on the efficacy of masks were also skeptical about their effectiveness, but they weren't nearly as clear. And the lead author, Dr. Tom Jefferson of the University of Oxford, says that's because Cochran was facing political pressure to water down their results.
--:-- Megan Basham: So Jefferson says Cochran initially delayed the publication of his review in 2020 by seven months and that they then tempered the findings out of fear of reprisal because that review didn't offer the quote right answer.
--:-- Megan Basham: And Jefferson said that delay, and I'm going to just quote this verbatim, just happened to coincide with the time when all the craziness began, when academics and politicians started jumping up and down about masks.
--:-- Megan Basham: We call them strident campaigners. They are activists, not scientists. Quite a strong statement there from Jefferson.
--:-- Megan Basham: What about all the costs of mask mandates, whether financial and social or educational? Right. I mean, that has been the big pushback all along from all of those who argue that government officials imposed mandates without the proper evidence that masking was actually effective.
--:-- Megan Basham: And the studies on those costs that you mentioned, John, are just now starting to come in. And we do see now that it looks like child development and education, to name just a couple of key factors, were indeed negatively impacted, perhaps dramatically.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks, Megan. Yeah, anytime.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham. An FBI memo leaked this week by a whistleblower revealed the agency's potential targeting of so-called radical traditional Catholics associating the group with racially motivated violent extremism.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Hey, John. Yeah, so the memo dated January 23rd is from the FBI's Richmond office. It was reportedly reviewed and approved for release by the office's top lawyer.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: It basically warns agents that these so-called radical traditional Catholics who prefer the Latin mass could be associated with racially and ethnically motivated violent extremism.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: It also ties these supposed radicals to a, quote, adherence to anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ, and white supremacist ideology.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: The memo focuses on new mitigation opportunities for the feds by way of recruiting sources from within the Catholic Church stating that agents will and I quoting here continue to attempt to connect with radical traditional Catholic adherents both virtually via social media and in person at places of worship
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Now, a controversial so-called hate watchdog played a role here, correct?
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Yeah, it appears so. The FBI memo cites the Southern Poverty Law Center. The SPLC claims to monitor hate nationwide, but in recent years, the group has really shown itself to have clear bias against conservatives and Christians.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Even the Washington Post has openly questioned the group's fairness. The document also had citations from left-wing outlet Salon and an article from The Atlantic, which also leans left, trying to tie rosary beads to extremism.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: And for some reason, the Latin mass is cited. Yeah, there's a pretty healthy Latin Mass movement here, though it represents just a fraction of Masses performed at the around 17,000 Catholic parishes in the States.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: One Latin Mass directory showed 577 venues that hold these traditional Masses within the U.S. Pope Francis has really cracked down on these Latin Masses, claiming they hurt the unity of the Church.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: And there's been an effort largely in left-wing media to paint these participants as radical, seemingly because they generally hold more traditional values and conservative views.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Okay. What do we know about the leak and the former agent who brought this to the public?
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Well, recently suspended FBI agent Serafin exposed the memo this past week, and it was first reported by Uncover DC. Serafin still has a lot of ties to the FBI and said someone from within the agency, who is not Catholic, by the way, brought this to him concerned about the FBI's reach.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Now, Serafin was an agent for six years. He worked in numerous field offices in the counterterrorism division and helped conduct investigations of suspected domestic extremism and white supremacist plots.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: So he has a good deal of knowledge about the inner workings of the FBI. He told Fox News he believes the memo shows the Bureau's intent to start targeting other Christians, not just these traditional Catholic Christians.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: They are so desperate to find white supremacists that they're going to look at the Catholic Church. But I think if we're realistic about it, what they're doing is they have found a gateway in what they think is fringe Catholicism in order to move into Christians in general and declare them to be the criminals in this country or the potential terrorists.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Now, the FBI has responded. What was their response to this leak of the memo?
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Yeah, they did respond. They've now publicly disavowed it, admitting that it was a circulated official memo. The Bureau now says it does not meet their exacting standards.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Here's a key part of that statement. Quote, This particular field office product, disseminated only within the FBI, regarding racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism, does not meet the exacting standards of the FBI.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: The FBI went on to insist that they will never conduct investigative activities or open an investigation based solely on First Amendment protected activity.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Amanda, thanks for reporting. Yeah, anytime.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestigiacomo.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The theater chain AMC recently unveiled a new tiered pricing model that would charge more for prime seats and offer discounts for the front row. The move was blasted by critics as rewarding the rich and punishing the poor.
--:-- Christian Toto: Well, for years and years, you would pay a certain price and you'd go to the theater and you basically pick any seat you want to sit in for that movie But now it going to be a little different with AMC Theaters at least starting later this year You going to pay a certain price and that mean you be in a certain section of the theater
--:-- Christian Toto: So if you want to pay a premium you get the best seats in the house. So I think any time there's change of that significance, there's a controversy. So some people were outraged by it, a lot of anger on social media, and some of the reporting on it has been a little bit snarky.
--:-- Christian Toto: And I think that's a sign that, hey, maybe not everyone's going to be on board with this change. Now, there were a few celebrities that spoke out about this, and they seem to suggest that this was a class issue.
--:-- Christian Toto: Can you tell us about that?
--:-- Christian Toto: Yeah, I think the biggest star to really complain about the whole situation was Elijah Wood. Of course, we know him best from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. And he said exactly that, you know, this is going to be better for people who are well off and worse for people who are just kind of living paycheck to paycheck.
--:-- Christian Toto: He said, you know, there's a real popular streak when it comes to the movies, you pay a ticket, you sit anywhere you want. You could have the best seat in the house if you want. If you get there early, that will change with this new plan.
--:-- Christian Toto: And I think that's what he was addressing. And I think he really hit a nerve with it as well.
--:-- Christian Toto: How much of a difference in the price will there be between the good seats and the front row seats?
--:-- Christian Toto: I don't believe so. Some media outlets are reporting one to two dollars more. So that's not a significant fee. But, you know, the economy is struggling right now. And sometimes people say, well, you know, maybe theaters is one area where I can cut it back.
--:-- Christian Toto: Now, I personally really enjoy theaters, but the past few times that I've gone, I've sensed that they are struggling.
--:-- Christian Toto: What are the long-term trends for theaters?
--:-- Christian Toto: I think you're seeing people shying away from theaters more and more. Honestly, I've talked to a lot of people over the years, and the one thing they say consistently to me is, I just don't go to the movies that much anymore, at least not as much as I used to.
--:-- Christian Toto: And that was before the pandemic. Another factor here that people don't talk about enough is that a lot of movies that are fairly new and even successful on the big screen are going to video-on-demand services pretty early.
--:-- Christian Toto: The recent hit, Megan, which is a successful horror movie, just a few weeks after it opened in theaters, you could pay for it at home via different video-on-demand services.
--:-- Christian Toto: So I think with that in play, more and more people will say, gosh, I'd like to see that movie, but I'm just going to wait a week or two and then see it at home.
--:-- Christian Toto: Now, do you anticipate this is going to bring more people to the movies once they're a little bit cheaper or if there's a cheaper option?
--:-- Christian Toto: I don't think this is going to have a positive effect on the industry, honestly. I think some people may stay away. I think others may think, I don't want to pay an extra surcharge. Movie price is already very expensive.
--:-- Christian Toto: And I think it's going to be a bit of a confusing model because not every theater is going to have this system in place. You know, Regal Cinemas doesn't have it at the moment. Some independent movie houses are not going to use this model.
--:-- Christian Toto: So I think it's going to cause more confusion than anything else. And also, you know, if you pay extra to see a movie and it's a clunker, you might be even madder at the whole process.
--:-- Georgia Howe: All right. Well, Christian, thanks so much for reporting. Thank you.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was Daily Wire Hollywood correspondent Christian Toto.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Another story we're tracking this week. The CDC has now added COVID vaccines to its routine immunization schedule for both children and adults.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The public health agency now recommends that children between six months and 15 months old receive a two-dose or three-dose primary series and booster.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The CDC is recommending a three-dose series for children who are, quote, moderately or severely immunocompromised.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for listening to Morning Wire. We created this show to bring more balance to the national conversation.
--:-- Georgia Howe: If you love our show and you stand with our mission, please consider subscribing, leaving us a five-star rating, and most importantly, sharing our podcast with a friend.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, that's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back this afternoon with more of the news you need to know.
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