One month after we thought we have The Freedom to Blame China, some “objective journalists” try to make us return to the belief that, bats being bats, it’s much more likely to have come from them, rather than from the harmonious Chinese society.

👉 It’s not Chinese collusion, but journalism: Lindsay Beyerstein: The Case Against the Covid-19 Lab Leak Theory:

Despite the allure of this contrarianism, though, 20 years of post-SARS research into the origins and spread of bat coronaviruses point to a natural origin for Covid-19. Upon closer inspection, the so-called “new” evidence that has entranced pundits is neither new nor compelling. Lab leak theory proponents are also glossing over serious flaws in their proposed narratives of Covid-19’s origin. And loose talk about a lab leak elevates tensions between China and the United States, undermining the collaborative research we need to understand this pandemic and prevent the next one.

Looks like something Uncle Xi Jinping would have written.

👉 There’s also this talk: This Week in Virology 774: Kristian Andersen, Robert Garry, and the deleted SARS-CoV-2 sequences. With all the professional expertise of the participants, and not discussing other topics (such as this opinion article that had to be dumbified for the NYT to accept it), one thing is clear: these people favor the wet market theory, not the lab one.

👉 The BBC chimes in; Victoria Gill, science correspondent: Covid origins: Scientists weigh up evidence over virus’s origins. According to the article, we’re to blame “Crowded, unhygienic live animal markets”; but it’s almost sure it comes from “wild bats”!

Not everyone agrees. In response to Lindsay Beyerstein:

The truth will never be known. By the way, who killed JFK, after all?