More than likely started in the Chinese lab

[bigsky]

https://www.propublica.org/article/senate-report-covid-19-origin-wuhan-lab

This is from the US senate, pro publica and, weirdly, Vanity Fair.

I’m angry again. Millions dead, All the denials. We have not gotten to whatever the US role in the financing and cover up might be. And I still wonder, “accidental or deliberate?”

You might think this is political. I dunno. But I put it on Keith’s page for a reason.

Years ago I put up a post asking if you were reconsidering your trip to the SEC tournament due to the chinese flu. Travel and attendance to populated spreader events continues to be a conundrum today. Even a crowded restaurant is problematic for those with compromised immune systems. This lab changed the world for the far worse.

[bigsky]

From the US Senate report, “the hypothesis of a natural zoonotic origin no longer deserves the benefit of the doubt, or the presumption of accuracy.” The available evidence doesn’t fit the patterns of previous outbreaks, it states, including outbreaks of SARS in 2003 and avian influenza in 2013.”

[bigsky]

“Is there any evidence to suggest a mechanical failure in biocontainment during the time in question? -were biological safety cabinets used and appropriately certified? -Exhaust air filtration systems working correctly?”

The questions were apt. Two and a half months earlier, according to the interim report, procurement officials at the WIV posted a call for bids on a government website seeking a costly air incinerator. The post was dated Nov. 19, 2019, the very day that the visiting CAS safety official arrived to address a “complex and grave” situation there.“

[dan_bgblue]

There was never any doubt in my mind, and no doubt that the WHO investigation was merely a coverup of what occurred at the lab.

[bigsky]

Well if it is on the political board bow….Why did this get at all political, nationally, back in the day? Because Trump called it Kung Flu? Because Orange man bad?

Castigated “ because science” people who said this earlier lost jobs and were banned from social media.

This report is not about “manufactured virus” but a natural virus studied in a lab that got loose, implied here by bad equipment.

Also, not touched on is whether any of the work in this lab was funded by our country.

Why “market vs lab” got so angrily political is likely found in the answers to that last question.

[bigsky]

People who sounded the alarm on how serious this was also didn’t want hear anyone mention it could be a lab leak.

And people who said it was like the flu mostly were sure it was a lab leak.

Because the former drank all the media kool aid and the latter knew we were being lied to.

Yet it was and is serious and it was from the lab. Surety when the media is the lapdog of power is just another way of fooling yourself.

[Doc]

Mad? I am not mad as knowing the origin would not have altered the course and direction of the response.

Am disappointed though, that we were lied to, and placed so much power and faith in Dr Fauci. Am disappointed that it is highly likely we helped finance the development. I would not be shocked if it's release was not "accidental" but rather a trial run

[dan_bgblue]

Department of Energy, why the DOE, I have no clue? but they announced this morning that it was their opinion that the virus escaped from the Wuhan lab, and was not spread from a natural source in the wild. The gov finally had the guts to say so.

[dan_bgblue]

Biden administration steps up and supports China (https://www.foxnews.com/media/national-security-adviser-jake-sullivan-no-definitive-answer-intelligence-community-lab-leak-theory)

[bigsky]

Talked about this in October. Now it’s in the WSJ, but “low confidence.”

Sure sign it’s true: Brandon’s Administration obfuscating.

[dan_bgblue]

Little bit more corroborating info, the FBI has joined the DOE, and the evidence obtained by the DOE will soon be shared with us.

Two U.S. agencies, the FBI and the Department of Energy, now agree that COVID-19 likely emerged from a leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Since the Energy Department’s assessment is based on new information which will be shared, other official groups will presumably arrive at the same conclusion.

Linkage (Two U.S. agencies, the FBI and the Department of Energy, now agree that COVID-19 likely emerged from a leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Since the Energy Department’s assessment is based on new information which will be shared, other official groups will presumably arrive at the same conclusion.)

[bigsky]

And make no mistake, this is not just about the Wuhan clinic doing work financed by Fauci et al and the chinese govt being responsible for the deaths and miseries of millions world wide. This is about the media, mainstream and social, and the government colluding to drive people from public life and discredit them, people who insisted that this possibility should be considered. And sternly lecturing me about “attacking”” the fourth estate of newspapers and mainstream media and “not trusting the science.” And now I wonder; how much of that was due to being beholden to chinese masters and money?

[bigsky]

https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/the-energy-department-lab-investigating-covid-knows-what-its-talking-about/


This is the answer to Dan’s “why this department?”.

[CitizenBBN]

Yeah, this was never the obvious truth from the outset....

Vast global pandemic starts in the immediate area of a lab studying that exact virus, and all information and knowledge about anything related to the outbreak is immediately and violently repressed by a totalitarian government which runs said lab, and US sources who approved American money to fund that lab also suppress and obfuscate as much as possible, and this is all just a coincidence?

Of course big tech jumped right in bed with big government on this one to label anyone with any common sense in this matter a "fringe conspiracy theorist".

B/c anyone who might find a big oil spill in a river right next to an oil refinery and then thinks it's pretty likely the oil came from the refinery must be a nut job.

[MickintheHam]

follow the logic.

[bigsky]

“Former CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield: "Based on my initial analysis of the data, I came to believe and I still believe today that it indicates that COVID-19 more likely was the result of an accidental lab leak than a result of a natural spillover event." Tweet from CSPAN

May not be engineered, may or may not have been “accidental” but it came from the lab.

[CitizenBBN]

“Former CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield: "Based on my initial analysis of the data, I came to believe and I still believe today that it indicates that COVID-19 more likely was the result of an accidental lab leak than a result of a natural spillover event." Tweet from CSPAN

May not be engineered, may or may not have been “accidental” but it came from the lab.
Count on it.

one of the first things that got conflated was that not being engineered meant it didn't come from a lab. that's not the case at all.

I can accept it was not "engineered" like a bioweapon. Given we know gain of function was going on I'm less sure that it wasn't tampered with at all, but OK.

That doesn't mean that poor procedures didn't lead it to getting loose.

My guess is it was an accident only b/c why release it right next to the lab studying that virus? It's so obvious. You'd release it a) in some other country, or b) some area away from such research. The Chinese are smarter than that.

But I have no doubt it came from that lab, and was very likely an accidental release that the Chinese covered up for PR reasons and the US covered up b/c we're dumbass enough to be funding their research at that lab, and gain of function research no less.

Fauci is a politician just like any senior bureaucrat, a chief of police, etc., and he (and the others involved) knew how it was going to play for him and the NIH and the government in general if it was found that we could trace that release back to US funding, so he had it buried and dismissed.

[dan_bgblue]

https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/the-energy-department-lab-investigating-covid-knows-what-its-talking-about/


This is the answer to Dan’s “why this department?”.

That is a great article. Thanks very much for sharing the link.

[dan_bgblue]

It's been 3 years since COVID lockdowns. But we still haven't learned from these 3 mistakes

Linkage (https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/3-years-since-covid-lockdowns-we-still-havent-learned-these-3-mistakes)

[dan_bgblue]

WHO not happy with lack of forthrightness from the Chinese (https://www.foxnews.com/world/china-called-world-health-organization-covid-origin-data)

[DanISSELisdaman]

I wouldn't be surprised at all if it was deliberately released. China had so much to gain by it and could afford to lose a few million people since they are over populated already.

[bigsky]

https://redstate.com/jenvanlaar/2023/04/18/breaking-former-dni-ratcliffe-testifies-that-wuhan-lab-is-responsible-for-spawning-a-global-pandemic-n733070

[bigsky]

a new Senate report concluded that the leak happened earlier than first thought, and that US-funded virus weaponization was taking place in Wuhan.

[CitizenBBN]

The Chicoms aren't spending their money or ours on pure research or anything to help the world or their people. They don't do anything out of the goodness of their heart or for scientific curiosity.

Do I think this strain was engineered? No, evidence is that it wasn't.

Do I think they were doing gain of function research and that they would look at military options for it but it got loose b/c they had poor procedures? yes.

[dan_bgblue]

US taxpayer funds flowed to Chinese entities that conducted coronavirus research before COVID pandemic: GAO

Do we all remember the number of times that the little, lying weasel Fauci told the press and also told members of congress that that the USA had not contributed any money to the Wuhan laboratory for virus research?

Linkage (https://www.foxnews.com/politics/us-taxpayer-funds-flowed-chinese-entities-conducting-coronavirus-research-covid-pandemic-gao)

[bigsky]

The head chinese researcher guy was patient zero! But of course we were all racist conspiracy theorists to believe that in 2020

[bigsky]

US taxpayer funded gain of function research in China led directly to the deaths of millions. The head researcher was patient zero.

Think about that.

[dan_bgblue]

Linkage (https://www.foxnews.com/media/ex-cdc-chief-very-disappointed-fauci-handled-hunt-covid-origin)

The little scuzbucket lied to Senator Rand Paul multiple times under his questioning before the Senate. (https://www.foxnews.com/politics/rand-paul-fauci-masks-vaccine-immunity)

"Tony and I have been friends for a long time, but I'm very disappointed in how he's responded to this," Redfield said. "Largely, I think it's grounded in his advocacy for gain-of-function research."

"I think, as you know, he's a strong advocate for gain-of-function research, and I'm a strong advocate for a moratorium on gain-of-function research."

Redfield cited a new report from two Twitter files journalists who reported the first three humans to come down with COVID were three scientists involved in gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Hubei, China.

One of them was the monikered "Bat Lady" — Shi Zhengli — while another was reportedly a chief researcher named Ben Hu, according to investigative reporter Matt Taibbi and former independent California gubernatorial candidate Michael Shellenberger.

"The investigative report that you're just talking about suggests that these three scientists were the initial infections in November — although I think there was evidence for infections back in early September also — but it's of note that they were the key scientists that were leading the gain-of-function research in that laboratory," Redfield said.

Redfield called the failure to commence a serious scientific investigation into the dueling hypotheses — a lab leak versus a natural animal-to-human transmission — at the Bethesda, Md.-based National Institutes of Health in early 2020 "one of the biggest disappointments" of the pandemic.

[CitizenBBN]

It has been obvious from the start to anyone with some common sense that the virus originated in the lab in some form or fashion. It wasn't necessarily artificial or a bioweapon but the sheer coincidence that this virus would show up in Wuhan right next to a lab studying that virus but yet be totally unrelated is simply too unlikely.

The far more likely and simple explanation is that this was being studied and poor procedures, which we know were poor at the lab based on state department documents, led to a breach and someone got infected.

I'm curious what Pedro thinks about it, obviously we discussed that the virus does not seem to be engineered, but I am curious if it could have been made more potent or virulent from the gain of function research.

Of course it would take none of that for it to infect a human once isolated if containment was lost.

There was never any doubt IMO it came from the lab. The only questions remaining surround gain of function and the kind of research being done, but it came from that lab.

FWIW I also do not believe it was an intentional release. The Chinese are too smart for that. They tried to blame an American soldier for it even with it coming from Wuhan, but if they really wanted to release such a thing for some reason they would have done it in another country as part of an intelligence operation. This was an accident, but it was absolutely their accident to own.

[CitizenBBN]

It has also been obvious from the start that Fauci has been in full coverup mode of this entire debacle, b/c he knew a) the US was funding Chinese labs including this one, b) gain of function research (which is very scary to the general public even if he thinks its a good idea) was being done and funded and thus c) if it got out NIH was directly funding research that led to this pandemic through a breach at that lab, he would be roasted as would NIH.

He also knows it would lead to calls to end this kind of grant process where US taxpayer dollars go through these iterations of grants and end up in the hands of our enemies, including in this case even military research.

We are funding our enemies, and he knew it and knew what this would all do to him and NIH and gain of function funding and funding in general if it got out. Him and everything he believes in would be hung out to dry, so he covered it up as much as he possibly could.

Rand Paul is a bit "fringe-y" at times, but he has been dead right about Fauci and NIH and this funding process from the start.

[dan_bgblue]

IMO, Fauci was making too much money out of this deal to risk giving it up, so he lied thru his teeth to milk it for all he could get. Then when the kitchen got too hot, he "retired", but the media, the NIH, and the WHO were still covering the up whole truth and were unwilling to ever become honest participants.

[bigsky]

Yeah I agree about Fauci. He lied to Senator Paul multiple times. He subverted the express prohibition.

But my real lesson about this is the power the press and politicians had to cancel and demean and disparage and discredit those who spoke the truth about this virus.

Is social media causing division? Yeah, for those who pay attention. But that is minimal in the population. The actual villains are found in the bureaucracy, Fauci et al, and their close ties to the mainstream media. President Ike warned of the military industrial complex but tirns out this alliance is worse. The “sources say” lie is incredibly effective, especially when it is used on thr populace. Look at the Russia hoax. And the constant drumbeat of ever more effective advertising involving every bit of our daily life has made most of us almost knee jerk responsive. The isolation of DC and Maryland/Va counties establishes a meritocracy based on selling the brand.

The untouchable unaccountable bureaucrat and the dedicated justice warrior media. Then the social media echo chamber. They were inspired due to their hatred of Trump and the people who voted for him. They have been incredibly effective in dividing and cashing in. What was the payola from the drug companies? The unholy alliance has not changed or backed off; if anything they are accelerating and intensifying.

Who cares about who was right now that everything is back to (whatever this current state of America is)?

Hardly anyone I know even has the conversation about patient zero, or Fauci and his lies to us or congress or the drug companies windfall or who killed millions of people!

And there is a huge machine trying to make sure it stays that way.

[CitizenBBN]

Great post Jeff.

I'm not sure which is more terrifying, that this unholy alliance exists and is growing, the fact that so many on the Left are cheering for it to become even more manipulative and powerful, or the fact that once these things are 6 months old no one seems to care about the violations of our founding principles that occurred.

The entire Russia/Trump thing was a complete hoax perpetrated by the most senior officials of this country and their political and media allies. The pandemic clearly came from a failure at a lab in China that was at least in small part funded by US taxpayers (probably as well as taxpayers from other nations). Fauci clearly lied outright, as have numerous officials over the past some years, yet not only will they go unpunished, few even seem to care that they lied at all.

[dan_bgblue]

Senator Rand Paul is still digging. Administration agencies are not providing information being requested by Senate committees.

Linkage (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hpmt9--fXNg)

[dan_bgblue]

He is calling Fauci a liar once again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpunBDLAyeE

[CitizenBBN]

Give Paul his due, he's been a pitbull on this issue and he has now been proven completely correct.

[bigsky]

Yes I believe it can be reliably inferred from all that is coming out, Shellenberger and WSJ, that the Communist scientist that Fauci was paying to do gain of function research was patient zero for this pandemic.

It is the Fauci Flu.

[dan_bgblue]

It is the Fauci Flu.

I truly wish the little weasel had been the first victim of his own creation and that the infection had been permanently debilitating.