Sen. Rand Paul was suspended from YouTube this week for a video rant about Covid masks, in which he urged viewers to "resist" mandates.

CNN anchor Erin Burnett , in a discussion about Sen. Paul, took the somewhat extraordinary step of acknowledging that his comments specifically about mask effectiveness were not dissimilar from those of medical professionals such as Dr. Anthony Fauci or Dr. Michael Osterholm.

Paul said in the weekend video that “most of the masks you get over the counter don’t work,” and quoted two peer-reviewed articles that questioned the value of wearing cloth masks.

“I will point out, Paul did say in the video — not the part that YouTube says they’re banning him for — but in the video, that he believes N95 masks do work,” Burnett noted. “Other medical experts, including Dr. Osterholm, are now raising red flags about cloth masks.”

Osterholm, a former adviser to President Joe Biden’s transition team, told CNN in a previous interview that he believed “the face cloth coverings that people wear are not very effective in reducing any of the virus movement in or out.”

Burnett also referenced a 2020 email from Dr. Fauci. “Back in early 2020, obviously, before the delta variant, Dr. Fauci did say in an email the typical mask you buy in the drugstore is not really effective in keeping out virus which is small enough to pass through the material,” she said.

It is difficult and even risky to dissect Covid guidance in any space, but especially in media. And it's hard in general to draw a fine distinction the way the CNN anchor did so effectively here.

Burnett  singled out specific comments to make a salient point about public confusion over masks. A good job and worthwhile.

A former National Enquirer editor who used the tabloid to protect Donald Trump and Harvey Weinstein has returned to media with a new glossy Hamptons magazine.

Dylan Howard left Enquirer parent company American Media Inc. last year, and his comeback is detailed in a fresh New York Times report. Despite landing a new gig, however, things are not all rosy for the media executive: he is said to have been kicked off of dating app Bumble.

The Times’ Rachel Abrams reports that "the dating app Bumble, which removed his profile earlier this year after a woman complained about his work for Mr. Weinstein."

That alleged “work” for Harvey Weinstein, the Hollywood producer currently serving a 23-year prison sentence for rape, involved trying to suppress allegations of sexual assault against him and digging up dirt on his accusers.

Howard also helped suppress stories of alleged Trump affairs — including former Playboy model Karen McDougal, whose story the Enquirer bought and then buried (known as a “catch and kill”). The Enquirer was fined $187,500 for violation election laws with that payment, which was made during Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016. Howard, meanwhile, was not prosecuted after he cooperated with the feds.

Oh, and Jeff Bezos accused Howard of blackmailing him with nudes.

Despite those controversies, Howard has partnered up with Italian magazine franchise Grazia to run its US operation, which has launched a free glossy The Grazia Gazette: The Hamptons.

At a launch party for the new magazine, held at the Surf Lodge in Montauk, the Times reported that guests didn’t know “much about the man behind the event.”