“No Evidence Covid-19 Came From a Lab”: The Media Blow Another Hole in Their Credibility

Manhattan Contrarian ^ | 29 May, 2021 | Jane Menton

[MtnClimber]

For a full year, the official media narrative was that there was “‘Exactly Zero’ Evidence Covid-19 Came From a Lab.” (That from the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy in May 2020) To suggest any such evidence might exist was a pure conspiracy theory. The scientific community had come to a consensus on the subject, one that had been fact checked by multiple independent news sources such as the Washington Post and Politifact. Facebook and Instagram flagged Tucker Carlson’s interview with a Chinese virologist who said the virus did not come from nature as “containing false evidence about Covid-19.” They view it as their duty to protect us from such falsehoods: leaving that information on the internet without qualifiers would recklessly contribute to the spread of misinformation.

It’s funny how many big news stories, especially those that may be politically sensitive, get framed with this type of hyperbolic language: “Fact-checked. We are absolutely certain, without a doubt, that there’s nothing more to see here.” That’s especially true if the story might lead a remotely curious person to question the official narrative. Stories such as Russia collusion, the Hunter Biden laptop, and voter fraud in the 2020 Presidential election. They pull the curtain closed to hide the truth and proceed to an elaborate song and dance number. Months or a year later, when the political tensions have dissipated or become irrelevant, then we’re allowed to have access to the information -- or, at least more of it. Maybe they’re hoping we’ve stopped paying attention by then.

But that makes it more important than ever that we keep paying attention. In the case of the Covid-19 lab leak, there is an abundance of articles from last year to this year that show the media’s 180 degree pivot. Not only do these articles make the media gaslighting obvious, they intensify my own sense that we are living in a censored environment that has many characteristics of an authoritarian regime.

A year ago, when the pandemic first began, a person could be accused of racism against the Chinese for even mentioning that there is a virology lab in Wuhan. Just two days ago, NYT science writer Apoorva Mandavilli deleted a tweet that said, “Someday we will stop talking about the lab leak theory and maybe even admit its racist roots.”

Here are some natural questions that might arise in this situation that one might expect journalism to address: Is it just a pure coincidence that there is a virology lab in the town where the disease arose? Did that lab just happen to be studying the very kind of virus that causes the disease? Given these extraordinary coincidences, wouldn’t an investigation be expected? Isn’t an authoritarian institution like the Chinese Communist Party intensely focused on suppressing critical information that might make them look bad? Instead of addressing these questions, the mainstream press spent their time accusing President Trump of fueling conspiracies and listing the experts who disagreed with him and extolling their qualifications.

Here is a small sampling of those articles from 2020:

Vox (April 2020): Nearly A Third of Americans Believe a Conspiracy Theory about the Origins of Coronavirus

Forbes (May 2020): Fauci, Top U.S. General, Throw Cold Water on Trump’s Coronavirus Claim

Top line quote: “Two high ranking government officials — Dr. Anthony Fauci and Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley — pumped the brakes on the controversial theory COVID-19 originated in a lab in Wuhan, China, even as President Trump and other administration officials rally around the claim without any public evidence”

Washington Post Fact Check (May 2020): Was The Coronavirus Released from a Wuhan Lab

Claim: [By President Trump] I will tell you, more and more, we’re hearing the story [that the new coronavirus emerged from a Wuhan lab].”

Claimed by: Donald Trump

Fact check by The Washington Post: Doubtful

The Guardian (June 2020): Ignore the Conspiracy Theories: Scientists Know Covid-19 Wasn’t Created in a Lab

Excerpt: “Suggestions that Covid-19 is a manmade virus are the latest chapter in a tale of blame, misinformation and finger-pointing. Cue the conspiracy theorists, marching out their narrative about the high-security BSL-4 lab in Wuhan, where mysterious experiments to design ‘frankenviruses’ led to the tragic global pandemic. Cue the genetic analyses pointing to ‘unexpected’ insertions in the code of A, G, T, and C that explain how this virus could not have evolved naturally. Cue political posturing against China, with calls for an inquiry, trade sanctions and even reparations.”

The author of this piece is Peter Daszak, President of EcoHealth Alliance which funded research experiments conducted by his collaborator Shi Zhengli, a virologist at the Wuhan Institute who specializes in SARS-like coronaviruses.

Politifact (September 2020): Tucker Carlson Guest Airs Debunked Conspiracy Theory That Covid-19 Was Created in a Lab

Their ruling: “The claim is inaccurate and ridiculous. We rate it Pants on Fire!”

Business Insider (October 2020): 23% of Americans Think the Coronavirus was Created in a Chinese Lab. Here’s Why That Conspiracy Theory Is Bogus.

And one year later, May 2021, Politifact has retracted its factcheck “pending a more thorough review.” They’re not alone; across the news world, practically in unison, the media are suddenly willing to discuss the possibility that Covid-19 escaped from a lab and weigh the evidence. Is it because President Trump has been safely defeated for re-election, or because the truth has become just too obvious to suppress? Headlines from just the past few weeks:

Medium (May 2, 2021): Following the Origins of Covid

This article, by former New York Times science writer Nicholas Wade, is credited for opening Pandora’s box.

Business Insider (May 14, 2021): A Lab Leak in Wuhan Remains a Viable Theory for the Coronavirus Origin

Washington Post Opinion (May 6, 2021): Congress is Finally Investigating the Lab Accident Covid-19 Story

NY Post: The Theory That Covid-19 Escaped from a Lab May Not be So Far-Fetched

This one is also by Nicholas Wade, and notes Peter Daszak’s funding for coronavirus research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and then shows how he tried to cover his own tracks.

Excerpt: “We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin,” a group of virologists and others wrote in The Lancet on Feb. 19, 2020, when it was really far too soon for anyone to be sure what had happened…. It later turned out that the Lancet letter had been organized and drafted by Peter Daszak.

Where was this information a year ago and why did they hide it from us?

A person with natural curiosity will have questions about that too: was it so politically critical that the establishment remove Trump from office that whatever he said, they needed to dispute? Were our health functionaries, including Fauci, trying to cover their own butts regarding their involvement in coronavirus research? Are we in so deep with the Chinese that we are afraid to cross them?

The media have defended their fact-checkers and experts as the guardians against misinformation in our information-abundant world. They want us to listen to and trust the “authorities,” those who have access to more, and better, and possibly non-public information. But the media are actively creating the environment of distrust they continually bemoan. There are only so many times you can smear your dissenters as crazy conspiracy theorists, but then have to admit they might be right, before those people will start to assume that’s always the case.

A few days ago, David Frum wrote for The Atlantic that “Pro-Trumpers” are turning the “coronavirus lab-leak theory into a potent political tool.” He goes on to say that Republicans have no desire to seek the truth, and therefore the only way to beat the Republicans, who he argues are the only ones trying to politicize this situation, is to tell the truth. He writes: “if the truth is ambiguous, then it’s OK to say that too.”

I disagree with everything he wrote except for that last line: lay out the facts, tell us what you know and what you don’t know, then trust people to draw their own conclusions. Anytime the press is unwilling to do that, I start to suspect they have too much at stake. And then I want to know what’s behind the curtain.

It makes me wonder: how long will it be until we’re allowed to ask questions about the most secure election in U.S. history? The press has been dead wrong time and again, from the “Russia collusion” story to the Hunter Biden laptop. And now it’s the Covid-19 origins. They’ve blown a hole in their credibility each time. After this latest 180 degree pivot, the momentum is on our side. Let’s keep holding their feet to the fire until we get answers.

[MtnClimber]

I don’t plan on living in the clown world false reality of the left. They will have to get used to hearing truth from others. If they insist on doxing and canceling those who don’t go along with their false reality then it will be time for the gloves to come off.

[Sirius Lee]

What I don't get is how Freepers can look at the last four years of 24/7 agenda driven deep state propaganda and lies coming out of the MSM, and yet still completely believe the number of deaths attributed to WuFlu, or the safety and efficacy of the experimental shots being pushed so vehemently by those same mockingbirds.

"They lie about everything, oh, except this one thing."

[The_Media_never_lie]

Not only do these articles make the media gaslighting obvious, they intensify my own sense that we are living in a censored environment that has many characteristics of an authoritarian regime.

---

Author is on the right track, but a little bit off.

We are living in a censored environment authoritarian regime that has many characteristics of an authoritarian regime censored environment.

[Liaison]

Always follow the money.

I had a university instructor tell me over a decade ago if I wanted grant money for research I has a great chance of getting funded if I found a way to add global warming (leading theory at the time) research to it. I did not take the bait. Ever since then I have been highly skeptical of all research that contains environmental conclusions, especially those that do not have alternative conclusions.

[mewzilla]

Credibility?!

What Credibility!?

[Jacquerie]

Half of DC is on the take from the Chicoms.

Accusing them of bio warfare is bad for business.

[Liaison]

However, I should have stayed on topic but COVID-19 and environmental research both have the problem where you have to follow the money and you will see who benefits. When you have state prestige (power) and large egos on the line the rise in topic importance and coverups are measured on logarithmic scales (log10 anyone?).

[absalom01]

I have to give a certain grudging respect to the MSM, silicon valley social media monopolies, the Democrat aparat, and the permanent bureaucracy on their message discipline.

They all were perfectly coordinated, from January of last year, on the best narrative to “get Trump”, and by extension, the deplorable masses who selected him as their leader and spokesman. Every step of the way, at each twist and turn, they had everyone signing from the same sheet of music. I don’t subscribe to true “conspiracy theories”, because people are blabbermouths and would spill the beans, but they didn’t need a conspiracy. They had a common set of cultural understandings, a common enemy (us), and in their minds, the moral high ground.

That’s going to be a difficult challenge to overcome, though we can, and must continue the resistance.

And perhaps I can offer one reason that plenty of FReepers will recognize that the election was stolen, and that CCP Compromised Joe is a disaster, but still accept that quite a few Americans suffered an early death at the hands of the Commie Crud. For months, the cooler heads have been saying “look at the excess death numbers. that’s the only number they can’t fake”. And sure enough, something came for a lot of people, mostly over 70 years of age, and mostly already sick with something else as well, but the numbers line up ~ 600K more than would be predicted by history.

Those deaths are real, and the CCP is to blame. Well, the CCP and their collaborators and enablers in Albany and Sacramento. People should be angry about that, but their anger should be directed at those culpable, not those, like President Trump, who moved mountains to minimize the harm.

Now, China, and the Democrat Junta need to be made to pay.

[Grampa Dave]

Explosive study claims to prove Chinese scientists created COVID

British Professor Angus Dalgleish and Norwegian scientist Dr. Birger Sørensen wrote they’ve had primary evidence 'of retro-engineering in China'

A bombshell new study claims to have proof that Chinese scientists created COVID-19 in a lab and then tried to reverse-engineer versions of the virus to make it look like it evolved naturally from bats.

British Professor Angus Dalgleish and Norwegian scientist Dr. Birger Sørensen wrote they’ve had primary evidence "of retro-engineering in China" since last year, but were ignored by academics and major medical journals, The Daily Mail reported Saturday, citing the soon-to-be-published study.

The study concludes: "the likelihood of it being the result of natural processes is very small." The virus is still killing 12,000 people a day around the world.

POMPEO SAYS WUHAN LAB WAS ENGAGED IN MILITARY ACTIVITY ALONGISDE CIVILIAN RESEARCH

Dalgleish is a London oncology professor known for breakthrough work on a vaccine for HIV. Sørensen is a virologist and chair of the pharmaceutical company Immunor, which developed a coronavirus vaccine candidate called Biovacc-19. Dalgleish also has a financial stake in that company.

It was during their COVID-19 vaccine research that the pair came across "unique fingerprints" indicating the virus didn’t come from nature, they said. The telltale clue: a rare finding in the COVID-carrying virus of a row of four amino acids, which give off a positive charge and bond to negative human cells.

INTEL COMMUNITY ‘AGGRESSIVELY’ INVESTIGATING COVID-19 ORIGIN

"The laws of physics mean that you cannot have four positively charged amino acids in a row," Dalgleish told the Daily Mail. "The only way you can get this is if you artificially manufacture it."

They also tracked published Chinese research, some done working with American universities, to show how the tools to create the virus were allegedly built. A good part of the work reviewed involved "gain of function" research, which involves manipulating natural viruses in a lab to make them more infectious, allowing scientists to study their potential effect on humans.

The U.S. put a moratorium on such research in 2014. But it’s impossible to know if $600,000 funding for medical research in China was used for gain of function research, Dr. Anthony Fauci told Congress last week.

British Professor Angus Dalgleish and Norwegian scientist Dr. Birger Sørensen wrote they’ve had primary evidence 'of retro-engineering in China'

https://www.foxnews.com/world/explosive-study-claims-to-prove-chinese-scientists-created-covid

[nagant]

The lies should have been patently obvious when the people SCREECHING that Trump was a racist for claiming that China created COVID were claiming instead that COVID came from filthy Chinese wet markets.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Good, appropriate edits. (What was your html for the through-line format?)

[clearcarbon]

[The_Media_never_lie]

https://www.tutorialspoint.com/How-to-mark-strikethrough-text-in-HTML

[sauropod]

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