An interesting article from Politico discussing the origin of the pandemic.

[Mike 03]

2. This is electric third rail stuff:

A little-noticed study was released in early July 2020 by a group of Chinese researchers in Beijing, including several affiliated with the Academy of Military Medical Science. These scientists said they had created a new model for studying SARS-CoV-2 by creating mice with human-like lung characteristics by using the CRISPR gene-editing technology to give the mice lung cells with the human ACE2 receptor — the cell receptor that allowed coronaviruses to so easily infect human lungs.

After consultations with experts, some U.S. officials came to believe this Beijing lab was likely conducting coronavirus experiments on mice fitted with ACE2 receptors well before the coronavirus outbreak—research they hadn’t disclosed and continued not to admit to. In its January 15 statement, the State Department alleged that although the Wuhan Institute of Virology disclosed some of its participation in gain-of-function research, it has not disclosed its work on RaTG13 and “has engaged in classified research, including laboratory animal experiments, on behalf of the Chinese military since at least 2017.” That, by itself, did not help to explain how SARS-CoV-2 originated. But it was clear that officials believed there was a lot of risky coronavirus research going on in Chinese labs that the rest of the world was simply not aware of.

There are some revelations in Bob Woodward's second Trump book Rage having to do with the US/China relationship and the coronavirus that, when I read it, I thought would cause a reassessment of this subject, if not some headlines, but it was ignored, maybe because of all the other bombshells in that book (and I didn't want to write about it either). At the time of the outbreak, China completely shut down domestic travel in and out of Hubei province, but it continued to allow people inside Hubei province to fly to the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States. So, while I really really don't want to believe any of this, there are some strange things.