[Hoot Gibson]

Larry O'Connor is a local libertarian talk show host on WMAL radio in Washington. He makes some great points in his recent column about COVID-19 being an act of war by China, whether the release of the virus was accidental or not.

OPINION
China's Act of War

[Image: https://media.townhall.com/townhall/reu/...9f8fdc.jpg]
Larry O'Connor
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Posted: Jun 01, 2021 11:00 AM

As the mainstream, corporate media scrambles to catch up to the reality of the so-called "Wuhan Lab Leak Theory" this week, it would be informative for us all to take a step back and look at the reality of this issue with clear heads and sober minds.

Yes, this is a journalistic scandal, no doubt about it.

The fact that the lead New York Times reporter covering the virus and pandemic openly opined on social media that the "lab leak" story is at its roots racist tells us everything we need to know about the startling lack of curiosity for the past year and a half over the origins of the virus that has crippled the world's economy and been responsible for the death of untold millions.

After deleting the "Wuhan leak story is racist" tweet, Apoorva Mandavilli provided a corporate-approved message that, in fact, "(t)he origin of the pandemic is an important line of reporting that (her) colleagues are covering aggressively." 

One is only left with the impression that Ms. Mandavalli just revealed that her colleagues at The New York Times are "aggressively" covering an inherently racist line of inquiry on the Covid-19 story, but we'll leave her with her professional struggles for the time being.

Of course, this is also a social media/Big Tech scandal of the highest regard as Facebook has now announced that it will no longer delete posts that questioned whether the virus could have been man-made and leaked (deliberately or not) from the Wuhan lab. 

Facebook will no longer take down posts claiming that Covid-19 was man-made or manufactured, a company spokesperson told POLITICO on Wednesday, a move that acknowledges the renewed debate about the virus’ origins.

Politico seems to have "buried the lede" here. The real headline should read: "Facebook has been systematically deleting factual posts because they've made the Chinese communists look bad." But why should we be surprised? Facebook systematically deleted factual posts about Hunter Biden because it made the Democrats look bad. Variations on a totalitarian theme, my friend. Same as it ever was. 

This is also a scandal of the scientific community as the origins of this virus would aid in investigating, preventing, and treating this virus. Lives could be saved by knowing everything there is to know about Covid-19, and leading scientists (including those charged with setting American health policy) appear to have abandoned this line of inquiry for political purposes.