25 thoughts on “News/Politics 5-8-21

  1. Only those fooled by the Lancet and it’s “official” story discarded this idea to start with.

    “This argument for taking the lab leak theory more seriously is pretty convincing”

    https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2021/05/07/this-argument-for-taking-the-lab-leak-theory-more-seriously-is-pretty-convincing-n388518

    “Earlier this week a science reporter named Nicholas Wade, who has worked for both Nature and the NY Times, published a lengthy piece on Medium titled “Origin of Covid — Following the Clues.” The piece can be broken into three parts. The first looks at what could be called the PR push to dismiss the lab leak theory. The second, about the kind of research taking place in the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the third part looks at the existing evidence and asks whether it fits more easily with the idea of a natural origin or with a lab leak.

    Let’s start with the PR aspect. Wade argues there were really two statements made by scientists early on that framed the lab leak idea as a kind of easily brushed off conspiracy theory. The first appeared in Lancet:

    “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 February 19, 2020, when it was really far too soon for anyone to be sure what had happened. Scientists “overwhelmingly conclude that this coronavirus originated in wildlife,” they said, with a stirring rallying call for readers to stand with Chinese colleagues on the frontline of fighting the disease…

    It later turned out that the Lancet letter had been organized and drafted by Peter Daszak, president of the EcoHealth Alliance of New York. Dr. Daszak’s organization funded coronavirus research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. If the SARS2 virus had indeed escaped from research he funded, Dr. Daszak would be potentially culpable. This acute conflict of interest was not declared to the Lancet’s readers. To the contrary, the letter concluded, “We declare no competing interests.”

    Daszak was one of the scientists sent to Wuhan as part of the WHO trip earlier his year. He has repeatedly dismissed the lab leak theory though both the Biden administration and WHO Director Dr. Tedros have refused to discount it. The second PR push came last March in Nature Medicine. I remember this one because I wrote about it at the time.

    Its authors were a group of virologists led by Kristian G. Andersen of the Scripps Research Institute. “Our analyses clearly show that SARS-CoV-2 is not a laboratory construct or a purposefully manipulated virus,” the five virologists declared in the second paragraph of their letter.

    Unfortunately this was another case of poor science, in the sense defined above. True, some older methods of cutting and pasting viral genomes retain tell-tale signs of manipulation. But newer methods, called “no-see-um” or “seamless” approaches, leave no defining marks. Nor do other methods for manipulating viruses such as serial passage, the repeated transfer of viruses from one culture of cells to another. If a virus has been manipulated, whether with a seamless method or by serial passage, there is no way of knowing that this is the case. Dr. Andersen and his colleagues were assuring their readers of something they could not know.

    It’s not just that the authors of the letter couldn’t know what they were claiming to know it’s that the two arguments they used to support their claims were full of holes. Here’s Wade’s explanation of just one of those claims:

    The authors’ basic assumption, not spelt out, is that anyone trying to make a bat virus bind to human cells could do so in only one way. First they would calculate the strongest possible fit between the human ACE2 receptor and the spike protein with which the virus latches onto it. They would then design the spike protein accordingly (by selecting the right string of amino acid units that compose it). But since the SARS2 spike protein is not of this calculated best design, the Andersen paper says, therefore it can’t have been manipulated.

    But this ignores the way that virologists do in fact get spike proteins to bind to chosen targets, which is not by calculation but by splicing in spike protein genes from other viruses or by serial passage. With serial passage, each time the virus’s progeny are transferred to new cell cultures or animals, the more successful are selected until one emerges that makes a really tight bind to human cells. Natural selection has done all the heavy lifting.

    Moving on to the second portion of the piece, Wade looks at some of the gain-of-function research that was being carried out in the Wuhan lab.

    Researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, led by China’s leading expert on bat viruses, Dr. Shi Zheng-li or “Bat Lady”, mounted frequent expeditions to the bat-infested caves of Yunnan in southern China and collected around a hundred different bat coronaviruses.

    Dr. Shi then teamed up with Ralph S. Baric, an eminent coronavirus researcher at the University of North Carolina. Their work focused on enhancing the ability of bat viruses to attack humans so as to “examine the emergence potential (that is, the potential to infect humans) of circulating bat CoVs [coronaviruses].”

    And by 2018 and 2019, Dr. Daszak was funding new gain-of-function research in the Wuhan lab which sounds like a recipe for creating SARS-CoV-2.”

    ———-

    And it was. And they did. The world has been suffering ever since.

    Oh, and our own govt is complicit, especially Fauci.

    Like

  2. This will have a rather chilling effect on our justice system. Mob rule, or real justice? We can’t have both. This is un-American, and a clear violation of a defendants right to their own expert witnesses.

    “Maryland A.G. To Appoint Panel To Audit Record of Chauvin Expert Witness Dr. David Fowler

    Chauvin had two experts who testified — one (Barry Brodd) had his house targeted and the other (Dr. David Fowler) his professional license attacked. This will make it difficult if not impossible for the three other officers awaiting trial to hire expert witnesses.”

    https://legalinsurrection.com/2021/05/maryland-a-g-to-appoint-panel-to-audit-record-of-chauvin-expert-witness-dr-david-fowler/

    “Dr. David Fowler, former Chief Medical Examiner of Maryland, was an effective expert trial witness for Derek Chauvin, not that it mattered in the end.

    Now there is an all-out professional mob targeting Fowler as punishment. On April 25, 2021, we reported how Chauvin Defense Forensic Expert Targeted By Maryland A.G. and Colleagues:

    Derek Chauvin’s use-of-force expert, Barry Brodd, was targeted after his testimony. His former home, which the perps apparently assumed was still his, was Vandalized and Smeared With Pig’s Blood.

    A different type of targeting now is directed at Chauvin’s forensic expert, Dr. David Fowler. You may recall that Fowler was a very effective witness, testifying that George Floyd had a sudden cardiac arrythmia due to atherosclerotic and hypertensive heart disease, during his restraint by the police….

    Dr. Fowler now is being targetted professionally, in moves which I predict are intended to render him unable to be an expert witness ever again, and even a vindictive attempt to pull his medical license.

    Now it’s happening, the threats are coming to fruition. The Washington Post reports that the Maryland Attorney General is planning to appoint a panel to audit Fowler’s cases:

    Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh’s office plans to appoint a panel of independent experts to audit and release a public report on all cases of deaths in police custody overseen by David Fowler, the state’s former chief medical examiner who testified in Derek Chauvin’s defense.

    In a statement Friday, Frosh (D) said his office would be “consulting experts, examining similar audits in other jurisdictions, and doing a preliminary review of [the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner] data and protocols.”

    The statement called on those who have been “affected by the focus of the audit or members of the public with interest or expertise” to submit comments or materials to the Office of the Attorney General….

    Fowler could not be immediately reached on Friday but said earlier he formed his opinion in collaboration with 13 other experts. He previously defended his work in a statement to The Washington Post: “I stand behind the outstanding work that all of our dedicated staff at the Maryland State Medical Examiner’s Office performed during my tenure as the Chief ME.””

    ——-

    It’s a witch hunt, plain and simple.

    Like

  3. Wheel him out, prop him up, but don’t you dare let him take questions or the jig is up, right?

    Yep. But hey, no more mean tweets, amiright? 🙂

    https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/05/07/white-house-press-secretary-jen-psaki-tells-biden-not-take-questions/4988801001/

    “President Joe Biden was fielding his fourth question from a reporter after delivering remarks on the pandemic last week when he apologized to the press corps.

    “Look, I’m sorry. This is the last question I’ll take,” Biden said. “I’m really going to be in trouble.”

    In trouble? Really?

    In fact, yes, White House press secretary Jen Psaki divulged in a podcast interview this week.

    Psaki told CNN’s David Axelrod that the communications shop frowns on Biden’s willingness to engage with reporters who shout questions during Biden’s public appearances.

    “That is not something we recommend,” Psaki said. “In fact, a lot of times we say `Don’t take questions.’ ”

    Like

  4. Enjoy the suck!

    Here’s a breakdown of those jobs numbers. Note that some of the worst are among Biden’s strongest supporters. I hope they’re enjoying it.

    ———–

    But hey….. 🙂

    Like

  5. Hey Linda…..

    Here’s an update. 🙂

    How dare they report on my crimes!

    https://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2021/05/08/baltimore-states-attorney-files-complaint-against-fox-station-for-reporting-about-her-n388581

    “Baltimore State’s Attorney files complaint against Fox station for reporting about her”

    “As we’ve discovered over the past six months or more, Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby has been making plenty of headlines, none of them very flattering. With the various “irregularities” showing up in her records, there is currently a grand jury investigation into the conduct of her office underway, along with an IRS audit of her and her husband’s tax records. Well, Ms. Mosby has had enough of these meddling reporters and their insinuations. She’s filed a complaint with the FCC over the Baltimore Fox News affiliate, accusing them of… well, I’m honestly not sure what she’s accusing them of. But it involves bias and persecution and, of course, racism. (Yahoo News)

    The Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office has filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission about the local Fox News affiliate television station, WBFF Fox 45. The complaint claims the station’s coverage of the office — and State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby in particular — is “slanted,” “misleading,” “racist” and “extremely dangerous.”

    The complaint, filed by Baltimore City SAO Communications Director Zy Richardson, cites FCC guidelines stating that “rigging or slanting the news is [deemed] a most heinous act against the public interest.”

    Richardson also asserts “the news coverage of the WBFF persistently follows a disconcerting and dangerous pattern: beginning with a slanted, rigged, misleading or inflammatory headline; followed by a conspiracy theory; and supported with guest commentary from disgruntled ex-employees or political opponents that lend false credibility to their biased coverage or omission of facts.”

    What Mosby is accusing WBFF Fox 45 of is actually, you know… doing their jobs. Mosby is an elected official who has been placed in charge of an office with significant powers over the well-being of the residents of Baltimore and a sizable budget. Anything she does in her official capacity is the public’s business. And if she is engaged in any illegal or inappropriate activities, that is also of interest to the voters.

    Both Mosby and her husband, City Council President Nick Mosby (also an elected official subject to scrutiny by the press), have given WBFF plenty to report on. In March, a federal probe was launched into Mosby’s extravagant spending on what she claimed was business travel and various expenses associated with it. Mosby has also come under scrutiny for permanently halting all prosecutions for a number of non-violent crimes in Charm City. These are both clearly matters of public interest.”

    Like

  6. Consequences. 🙂

    https://amp.cincinnati.com/amp/4953443001

    “The Ohio Republican Party’s leaders called on Rep. Anthony Gonzalez to resign for voting to impeach former President Donald Trump, a stunning rebuke of one of their own.”

    “On Friday, the party’s governing board called on Gonzalez, R-Rocky River, to resign in a divided vote. They also voted to censure Gonzalez and nine other members of Congress for “their votes to support the unconstitutional, politically motivated impeachment proceeding against President Donald J. Trump,” according to the resolution.

    Gonzalez was one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, which left five people dead. He is the third to be censured for the vote by his state party, following Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney and South Carolina Rep. Tom Rice.

    Gonzalez joined Ohio’s four Democratic House members in the vote; none of the other 11 Ohio Republicans voted to impeach Trump.

    That decision distanced Gonzalez from fellow Republicans in Ohio, where Trump won by 8 percentage points in 2016 and 2020. He gained a primary challenger in former White House aide Max Miller, whom Trump endorsed.”

    Like

  7. Prominent Dem sleeps with Chinese Spy 2.0

    Who?

    Who else? 🙂

    “Hunter Biden May Have His Own Chinese Spy Scandal”

    I’d also note the FBI has had his laptop info for some time, yet they’ve done nothing.

    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2021/05/08/hunter-biden-n2589150

    “Hunter Biden’s “laptop from hell” shows he had a “flirty” relationship with his secretary, who worked for a Chinese Communist Party company where he conducted business. The Daily Mail has the details:

    After launching his multi-million-dollar joint venture with CEFC, Hunter was assigned a 29-year-old Chinese-American assistant, JiaQi Bao, who quickly struck up a close and intriguing relationship with her Biden boss.

    At first, emails show the New York-based Bao diligently scheduled flights, hotels and even doctor’s appointments for the president’s son.

    But mysteriously, the young assistant also sent him opposition research to help Joe Biden’s 2020 election bid, urged him to take cash from the joint venture’s accounts as the business collapsed and wrote flirty and personal messages and even ended up with Hunter’s military dog tags in her New York apartment – the same tags he can be seen wearing in home-made porn videos he recorded on his laptop.

    After partnering with Chinese oil giant CEFC in the multi-million-dollar deal, Bao was appointed as his secretary and assistant, acting as a go-between for his Chinese business partners, translating documents and performing clerical work for Hunter in the joint venture.

    According to Bao’s LinkedIn page, she has worked as an analyst and assistant in finance and private equity in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and New York since 2011.

    As CEFC started to collapse, Hunter Biden’s assistant encouraged him to withdraw money from the accounts held by the company. Further, the company’s Secretary General was known as the “spy chief of China.”

    Hunter and Joe Biden’s brother Jim partnered with CEFC in 2017, in a deal that was meant to generate billions of dollars and create a string of oil and gas projects in the Middle East and Europe.

    But the joint venture collapsed the following year when CEFC’s secretary general Patrick Ho was arrested and later convicted of bribery in a US federal prosecution.

    Ho was suspected of working with the Chinese intelligence services, and had been monitored by federal law enforcement under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, court documents revealed.”

    ——-

    Note the part about Biden taking oppo research from the communist Chinese.

    Didn’t they try to impeach someone for something similar…?

    Who was that……?

    Like

  8. ———-

    Like

  9. In other words, things are pretty calm in America. The Republican party has embraced cancel culture as it seeks to squash any dissent or infidelity to Trump. People are spending money and stimulating the economy as opposed to the rich who hide their tax cuts/refunds in the Cayman Island and do nothing to stimulate the economy.

    Meanwhile conservatives complain that both there’s high unemployment and there’s not enough workers. Service and food industry jobs are going unfilled as no one is volunteering to work for poverty wages in facilities in which Covid outbreaks are common. Let’s face it; why work in a meat packing plant for $15 an hour given the health risks.

    Biden’s communication team is keeping a tight handle on Biden. This is how normal communication teams work — Trump had chopper talk where he pretended not to hear unpleasant questions or he called reporters nasty. The former is more polite at least.

    After Chavin was declared guilty, any defense lawyer is going to chase down verdicts based on his experts’ testimony in past cases. If an expert witness is on the losing end of a high profile trial, defense lawyers are going to question his previous testimony in state cases. Maryland is getting ahead of the game in assessing how tight these cases are.

    Like

  10. HRW, congratulations to your daughter. I looked at a few of the works–not my style. But I wanted you to know that someone did go and look at them.

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Thanks Cheryl. I put the link up because I thought it was a good reminder at least to me that the most important news is closest to home. Many times people react with doom, gloom, anger, or elation to news around the world and the political machinations in one capital or other when the truth is most people no matter the religion, ideology, nationality, ethnicity, etc have priorities that are far closer to home. They just want to take care of their loved ones and give opportunities to their children,

    Liked by 4 people

  12. HRW, the paintings told me that Natalie is sad. And yet confident. With a somewhat chaotic mind. Good to hear you and mom are her heart and brains! Sounds like she has lots of interests.

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Amen to wanting to give our love and care to our children.

    Congratulations to your daughter, HRW. That shows resourcefulness, her setting up a home studio when other studio space was not available.

    What other arts programs are at the school in addition to the visual arts? I’m guessing music and theatre and perhaps others?

    Liked by 3 people

  14. Her art has been her therapy and a means to work out her issues with her mom. The work you see is far more mature than her earlier work in first and second year — then she had distorted bodies, disembodied, knives in the bodies, etc. I went to a local exhibit she held and immediately recognized the paintings to be her mom, now its more about the space and reality that her mom provided or didn’t provide. There’s sadness and loneliness but there’s also the sense of the void or darkness an individual often faces.

    The school used to focus on traditional art — drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, but recently has moved into graphic design, advertising, animation, set design etc. I suppose they need to provide an employment path.

    I am a proud dad — her talent has always been artistic but had enough academic ability to get into a university program. She’s held a scholarship for four years — tuition paid; has sold several works ranging from $500 to 1100.

    As for the heart and brains statement — I think I’m the latter. She looks like her mom and now that she’s in her 20s I can see personality traits of her mom in her 20s.

    Liked by 2 people

  15. Congratulations, Proud Papa. There’s something so satisfying about seeing a child you raised yourself achieve success and a degree. 🙂

    It was interesting to examine her paintings. Even without knowing of her Eastern European heritage, I could see the influence in her paintings.

    They’re bold and strong with that dominant red demanding attention. I appreciated reading her descriptions–they helped me make better sense of the paintings. (I also read all endnotes, and usually examine the artist’s comments at an art gallery or museum, too!) I liked the sour cherries sitting on a chair with her mom’s shopping bag the best.

    Best wishes to her and I echo rkessler’s comment. Thank you for sharing her work.

    Liked by 2 people

  16. Thanks, when viewing the each piece you can click on the title for more information including size and price. If there’s no price than its not for sale which I think is the case of the cherries and bag. I like “Enter the Void” which has been sold for $1100!! and “Existential Dread”. Those two pieces are slightly different than the rest — there’s a few more like it in my house.

    I was at my parents today, my dad found it interesting but not mom — I think she prefers nature and accuracy whereas my dad understands artistic license.

    Liked by 3 people

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.