The Not-So-Great Escape

Despite the many reassuring headlines saying things like "Chinese Continue To Deny That Genetically Modified Bat Virus Found In Wuhan Came From Wuhan Institute of Genetically Modifying Bat Viruses," a growing body of evidence suggests that our current pandemic is actually the biggest man-caused disaster in human history.

Science writer Nicholas Wade has done yeoman work in analyzing the available data (and writes about it in great detail here) and has come to the conclusion that while it's possible (barely) that the virus had a natural origin, the much greater likelihood is that SARS-CoV-2 escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology after they deliberately enhanced the virus's ability to infect human beings.

Among the damning pieces of evidence are reports that technicians in the Wuhan lab suddenly fell seriously ill (with some dying) just days before SARS-CoV-2 magically and spontaneously appeared near the lab. In hindsight, when multiple people in a virology lab suddenly fall ill when working with deadly new diseases, they shouldn't be sent home or to local hospitals. Oops!

So here we are, with 3 million dead (and counting), trillions of dollars in damages, and unprecedented social upheaval - and the likely cause was a screw-up in a lab which had already been criticized for poor security (which didn't keep Anthony Fauci from sending them millions of American tax dollars to play God with), followed by China's blackout on information which could have saved countless lives.

But there's good news and bad news. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 is far less lethal than some of the other manipulated Frankenstein viruses which could have escaped. The bad news is that absent strong and unified action from all nations, virology research labs are going to continue creating scores of nightmarish pathogens. 

And making mistakes.

BONUS: LIGHTNING ROUND

•  The US State Department issued a memo to our embassies worldwide encouraging them to fly "Black Lives Matter" flags on May 25th to commemorate the one-year anniversary of George Floyd's death. Presumably, embassies which didn't have a handy BLM flag could simply set fire to a standard American flag and use it as an ignition source to torch the embassy "BLM-style" itself.

• The Pentagon has created a working group to cull "extremists" out of the military. To head that group, they've hired a radical named Bishop Garrison who is on record as saying that anyone who voted for Trump (and there were at least 75 million of us) is just such an extremist (and racist and misogynist to boot). This being the case, wouldn't it be easier to disband the whole military rather than just removing the patriots? Then again, that may be the real plan.

• Speaking of the military, God only knows how many of our tax dollars were wasted on this animated recruitment video (widely mocked and quickly withdrawn) which emphasizes that what our military really needs is women who are just as strong as the two lesbian mothers who raised them. Yes, really.