Lab Leak?
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Politi"fact" backtracks. I thought "facts" were, you know, something true, and immutable. That's why they're called "facts" and not "opinions."
But, be that as it may....
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/politifact-retracts-wuhan-lab-theory-fact-check
Later, in Sept. 2020, Dr. Li-Meng Yan, a virologist and former postdoctoral fellow at the University of Hong Kong, repeated the theory on Fox News, saying, "I can present solid scientific evidence to our audience that this virus, COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 virus, actually is not from nature. It is a man-made virus created in the lab."
PolitiFact gave her a “pants on fire rating.”
Now, months later, major news organizations are backpedaling, publishing corrections and reports conceding that their initial assessments may have been premature. PolitiFact, which has as much egg on its face as anyone, has retracted its article awarding Dr. Yan a “pants on fire rating.”
“When this fact-check was first published in September 2020,” the group said this week in an editor’s note, “PolitiFact’s sources included researchers who asserted the SARS-CoV-2 virus could not have been manipulated. That assertion is now more widely disputed.”
The note adds, “For that reason, we are removing this fact-check from our database pending a more thorough review. Currently, we consider the claim to be unsupported by evidence and in dispute.”
The original fact-check is still available on PolitiFact’s website for, as the group says, “transparency and archival purposes.”
The editor’s note fails to explain why, exactly, they chose to believe their sources over others. What hard evidence did PolitiFact’s sources provide that led them to believe Dr. Yan was indisputably wrong? Not even a little wrong — "pants on fire" wrong.
For that matter, what evidence did the Washington Post have when it accused Cotton of pushing a “conspiracy theory”?
These media outlets were so certain the lab theory was wrong. They were so certain Cotton and others couldn’t possibly be right. Their misplaced certainty had them practically tripping over themselves to declare the theory a lie and a falsehood, even though they had no evidence proving anything of the sort.
“The possibility of a laboratory accident or inadvertent leak having caused the coronavirus outbreak must not be ignored,” the Washington Post’s editorial board said in January. “The genetic makeup of the coronavirus is similar to a variant found in bats. Research into bat coronaviruses was being conducted by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which collected samples from a mine in Yunnan province in 2012 and 2013.”
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It always struck me that this was possible, but most scientists I've read about say this is naturally occurring and it almost certainly didn't happen this way.
Sorry to be cynical, but I guess that wouldn't make as interesting an article.
@doctor-phibes said in Lab Leak?:
It always struck me that this was possible, but most scientists I've read about say this is naturally occurring and it almost certainly didn't happen this way.
Sorry to be cynical, but I guess that wouldn't make as interesting an article.
The scientists in this field are hardly disinterested disinterested observers. If it comes out as a lab leak, this affects all of them when it comes to grants and funding. As noted in the original article, the manipulation of these viruses is pretty widespread in their community.
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Too far from the epicenter of the pandemic for the Wuhan Virus to where the supposed host resides. Secondly, the Chinese have been living with and eating these bats for centuries.
No I understand a bit about mutations and fully realize that a disease that formally only resided in bats could transmit over to humans (i.e. Monkeys/Ebola in Africa), but I also know that there are two biolabs in Wuhan, one of which is probably working of Gain Of Function virus weaponization.
So, I've always been pretty convinced about the Duck Argument. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, etc. I don't think of zebras when hearing hoofbeats (hey, a twofer!). So, I think the probability pretty high that it came from the Wuhan lab.
The question I really would like to know, was it a naturally occurring virus the Chinese found and it leaked out while studying it, or is it a weaponized variant that got loose?
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If it's a weapon, it's a pretty shit one. How many weapons are designed to primarily kill old overweight people?
I was only joking
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If it's a weapon, it's a pretty shit one. How many weapons are designed to primarily kill old overweight people?
@doctor-phibes said in Lab Leak?:
If it's a weapon, it's a pretty shit one. How many weapons are designed to primarily kill old overweight people?
We are not a good enemy to have. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if lefties and communists the world over have murderous plans specifically targeted at us.
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If it's a weapon, it's a pretty shit one. How many weapons are designed to primarily kill old overweight people?
@doctor-phibes said in Lab Leak?:
If it's a weapon, it's a pretty shit one. How many weapons are designed to primarily kill old overweight people?
Maybe, maybe not.
Maybe the Chinese found the transmission ability they wanted, but not quite the symptoms they needed.
OTOH, if you could saturate an urban center with the virus, you render their healthcare system ineffective in days.
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Huh??
Look at the results, if Covid was deliberately released. It's not difficult to go through the various impacts of a "what if" game.I don't believe it was deliberately released. No human could be that horrible, to either demand it to be done, or released by one sick MF.
But I would really like to know, what happened, where it is now OK to talk about a possible leak, when up to now it has been forbidden, or you're racist.
What changed, I wonder?
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If it's a weapon, it's a pretty shit one. How many weapons are designed to primarily kill old overweight people?
@doctor-phibes said in Lab Leak?:
If it's a weapon, it's a pretty shit one. How many weapons are designed to primarily kill old overweight people?
It cost our economy 15-20 trillion dollars and while we were distracted they got Hong Kong, built several islands consolidating their hold on the South China Sea, expanded their belt and road and then told us as the pandemic ended they were equal to us.
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Based on what I am reading here and the sentiment it is arousing.....
So what's stopping the US from building an international coalition of the willing and taking out the Chinese communists one and for all? Apparently they have no credible military allies and are essentially isolated politically. Yes, it will cost the US a few more trillion dollars or so, but it'll boost the economy by getting people back to work in well paid manufacturing jobs.
A good start would be to bring these articles and similar and select information to the UNSC and present the findings. Hell, it could prove to be the yellow cake or smoking gun giving cause for this next world tour of US military adventurism.
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In fairness, killing all the old people is an economic boon to a country.
Education is extremely important.
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So now you're saying the US and its western allies should be sending a big Thank You card to Xi?
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You'll have to do better than that. I don't believe you. Never have.
That post was parody, but I'm not going to tell you of what.
Yes, I was aware that it was a parody. Sadly I found it neither clever or amusing. I wonder why? But then, since my return to this forum about a year ago, I don't find your posts very clever or amusing at the best of times. It's really too bad, there was a time that you came across as talented and intelligent. Now you just come across as common and I do not believe much that you write. I'll just leave it at that.
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You'll have to do better than that. I don't believe you. Never have.
That post was parody, but I'm not going to tell you of what.
Yes, I was aware that it was a parody. Sadly I found it neither clever or amusing. I wonder why? But then, since my return to this forum about a year ago, I don't find your posts very clever or amusing at the best of times. It's really too bad, there was a time that you came across as talented and intelligent. Now you just come across as common and I do not believe much that you write. I'll just leave it at that.
You'll have to do better than that. I don't believe you. Never have.
That post was parody, but I'm not going to tell you of what.
Yes, I was aware that it was a parody. Sadly I found it neither clever or amusing. I wonder why? But then, since my return to this forum about a year ago, I don't find your posts very clever or amusing at the best of times. It's really too bad, there was a time that you came across as talented and intelligent. Now you just come across as common and I do not believe much that you write. I'll just leave it at that.
Thanks for leaving it at that, before it became insulting. That was big of you.
