WHO's report makes laboratory origin seem like the MOST likely explanation, not the least. There is more hard evidence to disprove all of the other theories. Labs are "ruled out" solely because China says so.
The WHO report is an amazing read. 120 pages, and basically one page that says "lab origin is very unlikely because China told us all of its labs are super safe and none of them were researching coronaviruses." The recommended follow-up is to hassle every OTHER lab in the world.
Everything firm - i.e. not because the Chinese Communists say so - in the WHO report argues against the OTHER theories of Covid-19 origin. They can't find any animals to back up the zoonotic theories. Nothing really lines up with the "human ate a pangolin who ate a bat" ideas.
But laboratory origin? Totally ruled out on the ChiCom say-so. The WHO team visited for a couple of hours and talked to coached witnesses. One of the Wuhan labs relocated right when the pandemic started, but it's totally not worth investigating because China says so.
This report should be a global scandal. It reinforces every criticism of China's malign influence over WHO and the coronavirus investigation. The report never should have been released - WHO should have just said "no real investigation was possible due to Chinese secrecy." /end
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At the same time the Left was sneering at ordinary people for being too obsessed with money and materialism, they were using gigantic amounts of money - much of it pilfered from us through taxes and gov't spending - to destroy our society and remake it in their image.
For all their pious sermons about the Evil Dollar and rising above material concerns to achieve spiritual fulfillment, leftists are the most money-grubbing people in the world. Their "movement" is fueled by mountains of cold hard cash, not popular appeal.
One suspects the decades of leftist sermons against the sins of money and materialism were largely intended to make gullible middle-class people stop valuing their income and assets, making it easier for the Left to seize them. And seize they did, on a staggering scale.
A coldly rational and impartial observer, comparing the outcomes between states and counties, would have no choice but to conclude that masks make the coronavirus pandemic WORSE.
Another possibility is that masks have very minimal benefits, which are completely overwhelmed by other factors in different locations - but in comparisons were other factors seem nearly identical, states with strict mask mandates and high compliance tend to fare worse.
This seems like an awfully important point to resolve, doesn't it? Shouldn't we be urgently digging into this "mask paradox" with every scientific tool at our disposal? We are not just urged, but often FORCED to wear them. We should determine if they're worse than useless.
"Universal basic income," under any label, means you work for the State and the State owns you. Politicians have no reason to fear voters who depend on them for food.
The idealistic model for universal income is a small, homogenous country with a very modest government and a small political class. In THEORY, such a state could implement UBI as the ONLY government welfare program. It would still be dangerous, but the danger would be limited.
Why is a homogenous population important? Because the lack of serious internal conflicts means the State would be less inclined to use UBI as political weapon. Why is a small population important? Because big governments are INEVITABLY more corrupt.
When Dems wish to deny a hugely popular policy like voter-ID, they use their media to trick supporters of the policy into feeling weird, alone, and isolated. It's a preference cascade in reverse, engineered with massive support from biased media.
A preference cascade happens when people realize they aren't alone and isolated, that huge numbers of fellow citizens - maybe even a vast "silent majority" - hold positions that have been portrayed as unpopular or even criminal by the dominant powers in society.
Someone speaks up, stating the forbidden truths no one is supposed to utter, and suddenly the silent majority comes out of hiding and finds its voice. Until that moment, people were afraid to speak, fearful they were completely surrounded by regime supporters and informers.
While doddering Joe Biden rambles about using his super diplomacy skills to write a strongly worded letter about human rights to Beijing, China is using economic blackmail to force foreign companies to recant their objections to slave labor.
Democrat foreign policy, especially Obama and Biden's, is all about announcing conferences and writing letters, never about taking aggressive action to protect America's interests. Holding a meeting and issuing a joint statement is the OBJECTIVE, not a means to an end.
There is never any real thought given to translating these Strongly Worded Letters into effective action against aggressive and brutal regimes. The summit photo op is the end of the story. Whatever happens in the real world is not the Democrat's fault.
The flexibility of its alleged principles - i.e. sexual harassment is the worst of sins but Clinton, Cuomo, etc. get free passes - is a vital feature of totalitarianism. It's about power, not principle. Totalitarian elites are never held to their own ostensible standards.
Absolute principles, enforced vigorously and without regard to political privilege, tend to limit power. Laws that apply to everyone equally tend to be less oppressive because the elite, their allies, and their favored constituencies don't want to live under them.
As every corner of life is politicized, mobilized, and weaponized under totalitarian ideologies, the elite always reserve free passes and exemptions for themselves and their friends. Exemptions are among the most valuable commodities politicians sell to top financial supporters.