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Archive for 2024
April 14, 2024
RAND PAUL: The Great COVID Cover-up: Shocking truth about Wuhan and 15 federal agencies.
How vast was the Great COVID Cover-up? Well, my investigation has recently discovered government officials from 15 federal agencies knew in 2018 that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was trying to create a coronavirus like COVID-19.
These officials knew that the Chinese lab was proposing to create a COVID 19-like virus and not one of these officials revealed this scheme to the public. In fact, 15 agencies with knowledge of this project have continuously refused to release any information concerning this alarming and dangerous research.
Government officials representing at least 15 federal agencies were briefed on a project proposed by Peter Daszak’s EcoHealth Alliance and the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
This project, the DEFUSE project, proposed to insert a furin cleavage site into a coronavirus to create a novel chimeric virus that would have been shockingly similar to the COVID-19 virus.
For years, I have been fighting to obtain records from dozens of federal agencies relating to the origins of COVID-19 and the DEFUSE project. Under duress, the administration finally released documents that show that the DEFUSE project was pitched to at least 15 agencies in January 2018.
What does this mean?
It means that at least 15 federal agencies knew from the beginning of the pandemic that EcoHealth Alliance and the Wuhan Institute of Virology were seeking federal funding in 2018 to create a virus genetically very similar if not identical to COVID-19.
Read the whole thing.
HOW IT STARTED: In 2015, Ashe Schow, then with the Washington Examiner wrote, “With all the attention being paid to college-aged social justice warriors and microagressions, one has to ask: What happens when all these delicate snowflakes enter the workforce?”
How it’s going: “NPR, New York Times are in immense turmoil with the world on the verge of global conflict,” Michael Goodwin wrote in the New York Post last night:
The world is [on] the verge of global conflict, America is splintered into angry factions and New York is sliding into hell.
On the other hand, the newsrooms of the New York Times and National Public Radio are in turmoil.
OK, that’s hardly as important as the widespread surge of violence and disorder, but we have to take good news where we find it.
And these internal media battles are good news because the lefty outlets are getting a taste of their own medicine.
Although the details differ, the common denominator is that insiders at both places are accusing management of bias and bigotry.
* * * * * * * *
Just 32% of Americans say they trust the media “a great deal” or “a fair amount,” according to Gallup, which says the number matches a historic low.
The eruption at NPR has been especially dramatic, thanks to a brave long-time reporter and editor who is torching the partisanship.
Meanwhile, the Gray Lady is finding that no matter how far left it goes, it’s never far enough to satisfy the staff radicals who demand that the paper embrace their agenda.
They want to rip away any pretense of neutrality and become hard-core advocates on behalf of extreme policies.
The NPR battle went public when veteran journalist Uri Berliner wrote an essay condemning what he called the “lack of viewpoint diversity” in his workplace.
He checked the political registrations of editorial colleagues in Washington, DC, and found 87 were registered Democrats, and none were registered Republicans.
Bingo.
The result of that built-in bias is a one-sided view of America, he writes for the Free Press:
“There’s an unspoken consensus about the stories we should pursue and how they should be framed. It’s frictionless — one story after another about instances of supposed racism, transphobia, signs of the climate apocalypse, Israel doing something bad, and the dire threat of Republican policies. It’s almost like an assembly line.”
He cites “bizarre stories” about how “bird names are racially problematic,” others justifying looting and claims that “fears about crime are racist.”
In September of 2020, the Washington Examiner ran the headline, “NPR regrets elevating pro-looting anti-Semite.” But why was this person “elevated” in the first place? Why would NPR be running pro-looting segments filled with softball questions? Now we know pro-looting is apparently a top-down position at NPR, or at least it was during that period of transition among our leftist betters in the spring of 2020, when their daydreams seemed to transform overnight from nationwide covid lockdowns to nationwide riots and destruction: NPR’s new CEO Katherine Maher haunted by woke, anti-Trump tweets as veteran editor claims bias.
The next day, she lectured her 27,000 followers on “white silence.”
“White silence is complicity,” she scolded.
“If you are white, today is the day to start a conversation in your community.”
The NPR job is Maher’s first position in journalism or media.
She was previously the CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation, the San Francisco-based nonprofit that hosts Wikipedia, after holding communications roles for the likes of HSBC, UNICEF and the World Bank.
Maher earned a bachelor’s degree in Middle Eastern and Islamic studies from New York University, according to her LinkedIn account, and grew up in Wilton, Conn. — a town that her mother, Ceci Maher, now represents as a Democratic state senator.
In 2022, we linked to a Substack by Josh Barro headlined, “Are There Any Adults at the Washington Post?”
You may have noticed a bizarre trend at organizations whose staffs are full of younger liberals: Internal disputes aren’t kept internal anymore but are aired in public, on social media or in the press, with rampantly subordinate staff attacking their colleagues or decrying managerial decisions in full public view — and those actions apparently tolerated from the top.
In the most extreme cases, you get meltdowns like the one at the Dianne Morales campaign for mayor of New York, where staff went on strike to demand, among other things, that the campaign divert part of its budget away from campaigning into “community grocery giveaways.” But it’s especially a problem in the media, where so many employees have large social media followings they can use to put their employers on blast — and where those employers have (unwisely) cultivated a freewheeling social media culture where it’s common for reporters to comment on all sorts of matters unrelated to their coverage.
Around the same time, Iowahawk tweeted this classic juxtaposition:
Which brings us back to question raised by Ashe Schow’s 2015 article. Berliner’s recent Free Press expose on NPR, the 2020 meltdowns at the New York Times and the ongoing craziness at the WaPo all lead to the same question: are there any adults staffing today’s DNC-MSM newsrooms? In 2015 Ben Rhodes of the Obama administration famously admitted the obvious: “The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old, and their only reporting experience consists of being around political campaigns. That’s a sea change. They literally know nothing.” But where are the adults who should be in charge of their journalistic Romper Rooms?
EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Flashback: Top Iranian Pentagon aide keeps security clearance despite ‘spying for Tehran’ accusation . “She was previously a key aide to the suspended Iran envoy Robert Malley, whose secret ties to Tehran sparked congressional uproar.”
CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS:
Shot: Judge Noreika: Dad not picking on Hunter.
To the extent that Defendant’s claim that he is being selectively prosecuted rests solely on him being the son of the sitting President, that claim is belied by the facts. The Executive Branch that charged Defendant is headed by that sitting President – Defendant’s father. The Attorney General heading the DOJ was appointed by and reports to Defendant’s father. And that Attorney General appointed the Special Counsel who made the challenged charging decision in this case – while Defendant’s father was still the sitting President. Defendant’s claim is effectively that his own father targeted him for being his son, a claim that is nonsensical under the facts here….
“Nonsensical” doesn’t quite capture it, but it will do.
Chaser: Cops Seize E Jean Carroll’s Unregistered Gun After National Pulse Report.
WE’LL BE TOLD THAT MOVING FROM A (DEMOCRATIC PARTY) GUBERNATORIAL APPOINTMENT TO ELECTION IS “ANTIDEMOCRACY” OR “AUTHORITARIAN” OR SOMETHING. Kentucky Strips Dem Governor of Senate Appointment Powers.
WHEN SATIRE ISN’T:
World In Shock As Murderous Terrorist State Ignores Warning From Impotent Old Man https://t.co/qRTEhkHL8b pic.twitter.com/43csk8EVOX
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) April 13, 2024
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Woke Stanford ‘math equity’ professor under scrutiny for alleged ‘reckless disregard of accuracy’ in research.
I DON’T KNOW WHICH PART OF THIS HEADLINE I LIKE BEST:
“Recreational use of erectile dysfunction drugs is rising — for doctors, it’s a hard no.”
Unless you are complete puritan, isn’t all use of ED drugs, um, recreational? And of course, being the glorious New York Post, getting the word “hard” in there was brilliant.
ROGER KIMBALL: The Battle Begins: Trump’s Trial Tests American Justice.
SUNDAY MORNING OPEN THREAD: How’s this experiment going?
JIGGERY-POKERY: Rebranding DEI: How Colleges Are Getting Around State Bans.
DON SURBER: Highlights of the week.
Finally, the Arizona Supreme Court upheld the state’s ban on abortion, which dates to 1864 when it was a territory. Reversing Roe sent abortion back to the states, where it belongs. Kari Lake gasped, spun 180 degrees and called for reinstating abortion.
In doing so, she aborted her campaign. She is one of the many, many Republican hacks who for decades would just string pro-lifers along. Now she finds herself hated by both sides.
I get that losing the Arizona Senate race won’t help Republicans take back the Senate but until such time as Republican senators show they are something better than opportunists who prey on conservative hopes, I really cannot care. I should. I want to. But nyah. They didn’t build the wall. They saddled Trump with deep state backstabbers. They jailed J6 protesters. They are letting a grandmother go to prison for praying in the Capitol.
Lake can go jump in the, well, lake.
Or as America’s Newspaper of Record reports: Kari Lake Announces Plan To Lose Another Election But This Time While Supporting Baby Murder.
In response, Lake’s comm team demonstrated that they are laser-focused on the Big Issues Driving America in 2024: Kari Lake’s team spent all night arguing with The Babylon Bee and it was a sight to behold.
In accordance with the prophecy:
https://t.co/ZDtIoDbLt9 pic.twitter.com/p8R0n0DdYL
— Kyle Mann (@The_Kyle_Mann) April 12, 2024
Related: “Politicians could be cowards under Roe v. Wade. Arizona’s abortion ban changes that,” Jon Gabriel writes. “The old Roe v. Wade order allowed politicians to be cowards. They could talk tough on abortion while hiding behind justices’ robes when voters asked them to back up their rhetoric. Those days are gone. Every state senator and representative now needs to put their vote where their mouth is. Do they support a total abortion ban, a 15-week ban, or no bans at all? No doubt, this makes many of them uncomfortable. Oh well. That’s the job they signed up for.”
DEAL OF THE DAY: Apple AirPods (2nd Generation) Wireless Ear Buds. #CommissionEarned
JAMES LILEKS: Art That’s Just for Me: What will the rise of artificial intelligence do to visual media?
In 10 years, there will be movies about every single person who boarded the Titanic. In the style of Robert Altman. In the style of Martin Scorsese. In the style of Steven Spielberg. There will be 100,000 fan-fic Star Wars movies as bad as the TV shows, all starring the person who dictated the scenario. There will be a subculture of people who exhaust the creative world of “Twin Peaks” with endless vignettes, and one or two will get it exactly right. In the end, we will watch our own movies more than others, and the theatrical experience will have gone from the great shared silver screen in the communal dark, to niche streaming, to watching our own particular curiosities and desires played on our own glowing rectangles. Millions of hours of movies, made for an audience of one.
I think it will take more than a decade to get AI powerful enough to make Star Wars movies as bad as the TV shows. To paraphrase Isaac Asimov, such dreck smacks of genius: A lesser mind would be incapable of it.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND APPLICATIONS: “If existential risk follows from technological innovation alone (as with the atomic bomb), then we should be paying attention to what the leading-edge engineers are achieving—the records that are falling in the sport of AI. But if existential risk will only come from how the technology gets applied, then we need to pay attention to what application developers and consumers are up to, and their process of adapting new technology is slower.”
TAMARA KEEL: Gun-Totin’ Trends.
April 13, 2024
SMART DIPLOMACY! (CONT’D):
In trying to have it both ways Biden got nothing. Now a wider war is inevitable. Blinken's policy is in shambles. The failure was from the top. We need a new strategy. The old one is dead.
— wretchardthecat (@wretchardthecat) April 14, 2024
"Though this be method, yet there is madness in't."https://t.co/nsvYRmzWWx
— wretchardthecat (@wretchardthecat) April 14, 2024
HE’S RIGHT, YOU KNOW:
There is no country that is consistently attacked by their enemies + then told to use restraint when defending themselves (despite superior military) more than Israel. I want peace for all innocents in Middle East. I also fully support Israel's right to exist + defend itself.
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) April 14, 2024
OPEN THREAD: Party like it’s Saturday night.
THE NEW SPACE RACE: China moving at ‘breathtaking speed’ in final frontier, Space Force says.
WELCOME TO WORLD WAR OBAMA:
