Maybe the coronavirus emanated from a China research lab after all, say US and UK intelligence

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/04/14/maybe-coronavirus-resulted-fro.html

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I’d find this possibility far more convincing if it was being bandied about pretty much anywhere but the highest levels of the Trump administration.

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It’s reached trial balloon stage, that’s for sure.

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Right? I want the well informed opinions of people who live in reality and have a shred of credibility.

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Oh good, anonymous sources by way of Yahoo News

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Nice theory. Cui bono?

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Maybe someone is reading Boingboing.net.

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“at the highest level” means “it fell out of Trump’s puckered face-hole at some point, and now we have to pretend to take it seriously because otherwise he’ll throw a tantrum and fire us.”

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I really didn’t expect this place to start falling into Crackpot Theory Land.

Can we stop publishing unfounded bullshit please?

I would like to hear some experts somewhere besides the Trump Administration weigh in on something like this before we consider some bullshit like this.

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I have always secretly wished somebody would respond to me with that .gif.

Thanks!

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I’m still convinced that we’re totally screwed by climate change before anything else. The viruses are still going to get us (and no; antibiotics don’t work on them), but it won’t be from a lab…

This pot is simmering, and it’s about to boil over:

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More to the point, what difference does it make now? Unless Trump was also created in a Chinese bio-lab.

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It’s possible. After all…have you ever seen his long-form birth certificate?

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So now Trump trusts the Intelligence community?

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They say “the administration”.

That concerns me.

The CIA et al can deliver accurate intel, but they can’t force the president to listen to it

Also, let’s not forget there are similar rumors about Lyme disease. (I could not find a good source, so I am cautioning these are rumors and not facts).

But even if it was an accident, we should probably tread lightly. I would not be surprised if at some point, the US also had a biological agent escape.

As much as I hate totalitarianism, this isn’t the time to assign blame.

Especially since if the release of an engineered virus was malicious the Chinese would probably not do it in China.

Also the cynical part of me thinks if they did mess around with crazy stuff, they’d do it in Xinjiang since they care less about those folks. Not Hubie province.

(Much like how the nastier national labs in the USA are far from major population centers. Not going to be reckless and be specific.)

So TL;DR: I’m skeptical of the headline’s claim, and regardless I think we need to focus on fighting the pandemic, not assigning blame. We can take it to the UN afterwards if necessary, but for now, we focus on saving the world we all inhabit.

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One of my favorite natsec reporters writes for Yahoo so let’s not get too heated, but yes, anonymous sources are not ideal.

Due to the OPM breach + creeping panopticon (in both states) we have very little intel on this issue

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2hp1h1

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I can totally believe that some people in this administration believe this, but that doesn’t mean it is in any way related to reality.

All it would take is one asshole on Fox News spouting off nonsense and suddenly Trump thinks it might be a bioterror attack.

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