CIA now backs lab leak theory to explain origins of Covid-19 :::: “Folks better make a decision whether or not they’re committed to stopping this extremist rightward fascist march...." ::: 'The Guardian' on Trump's Governance style

Donald Trump and his allies have “unleashed a sense of revolution” that the average American is unprepared for, warned Tara Setmayer, a former Republican communications director on Capitol Hill. 

“Folks better make a decision whether or not they’re committed to stopping this extremist rightward fascist march the country is on under Donald Trump and who he’s surrounded by.”

Republicans have claimed to be the party of “law and order” since the days of Richard Nixon but Trump, the first convicted criminal elected president, upended the biggest justice department investigation in history. 

A handful of Republican senators condemned his decision but most backed him or stayed silent – a tacit acknowledgment of his immense political capital. In his Fox News interview, Trump dismissed the violence against police as “very minor incidents”.

Setmayer, now chief executive of the Seneca Project, a women-led super political action committee, described the sweeping pardons as “one of the biggest betrayals of our law enforcement officers and anyone who swore to uphold an oath to the constitution in the history of this nation. What an affront and a despicable one at that.

“Frankly I blame all the people who are making excuses for him more than I blame Trump. 

Trump told us what he was going to do. A convicted felon pardoning felons isn’t all that surprising, is it? It’s all the other people and elected Republicans who know better who are making excuses for it. Shame on all of them.”

(The Guardian)  

CIA now backs lab leak theory to explain origins of Covid-19

Analysis released by new director, John Ratcliffe, suggests the agency believes totality of evidence makes a lab origin 

The CIA now believes the virus responsible for the coronavirus pandemic most likely originated from a laboratory, according to an assessment released on Saturday that points the finger at China even while acknowledging that the spy agency has “low confidence” in its own conclusion.

The finding is not the result of any new intelligence, and the report was completed at the behest of the Biden administration and former CIA director William Burns. It was declassified and released on Saturday on the orders of president Donald Trump’s pick to lead the agency, John Ratcliffe, who was sworn in as director on Thursday.

The nuanced finding suggests the agency believes the totality of evidence makes a lab origin more likely than a natural origin. But the agency’s assessment assigns a low degree of confidence to this conclusion, suggesting the evidence is deficient, inconclusive or contradictory. 

Instead of new evidence, the conclusion was based on fresh analyses of intelligence about the spread of the virus, its scientific properties and the work and conditions of China’s virology labs.

Lawmakers have put pressure on America’s spy agencies for more information about the origins of the virus, which led to lockdowns, economic upheaval and millions of deaths. 

It’s a question with significant domestic and geopolitical implications as the world continues to grapple with the pandemic’s legacy.

Republican senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, chair of the Senate intelligence committee, said on Saturday that he was “pleased the CIA concluded in the final days of the Biden administration that the lab-leak theory is the most plausible explanation” and he commended Ratcliffe for declassifying the assessment.

“Now, the most important thing is to make China pay for unleashing a plague on the world,” Cotton said in a statement.

Chinese authorities have dismissed speculation about Covid’s origins as unhelpful and motivated by politics. On Saturday, a spokesperson for China’s US embassy said the CIA report has no credibility.

“We firmly oppose the politicization and stigmatization of the source of the virus, and once again call on everyone to respect science and stay away from conspiracy theories,” embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said in a statement emailed to the Associated Press, reports 'The Guardian'. 

ends