The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2

 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0820-9

 It is improbable that SARS-CoV-2 emerged through laboratory manipulation of a related SARS-CoV-like coronavirus. As noted above, the RBD of SARS-CoV-2 is optimized for binding to human ACE2 with an efficient solution different from those previously predicted^7,11. Furthermore, if genetic manipulation had been performed, one of the several reverse-genetic systems available for betacoronaviruses would probably have been used¹⁹. However, the genetic data irrefutably show that SARS-CoV-2 is not derived from any previously used virus backbone²⁰. Instead, we propose two scenarios that can plausibly explain the origin of SARS-CoV-2: (i) natural selection in an animal host before zoonotic transfer; and (ii) natural selection in humans following zoonotic transfer. We also discuss whether selection during passage could have given rise to SARS-CoV-2.

 

 

Tucker Carlson criticizes Facebook for censoring interview with Chinese virologist

 https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/tucker-facebook-censor-chinese-virologist

"Instagram, which Facebook also owns did the same thing. Twitter suspended Dr. Yan's account entirely. It did not explain why. Nor did the tech companies explain how they would know more about disease transmission than an MD, PhD virologist like Dr. Li-Meng Yan. Instead, Facebook and Instagram linked to three so-called fact checks which supposedly proved Yan was lying.

 Carlson also defended Yan and her research. "COVID-19 is not from nature, she said. It was created in a lab in Wuhan, China. The Chinese government intentionally unleashed it on the world. Those are her claims. Are they true? We have no way of verifying them. We do know that Dr. Li-Meng Yan is not a quack," Carlson said.

 "She’s authored peer-reviewed papers on coronavirus transmission in both Nature Magazine and The Lancet. Those are two of the most respected publications in all of science. Her paper on the origin of COVID-19, which she has published online, is not frivolous. In it, she points to specific evidence for the claims that she makes. She identifies so-called cut sites which are frequently used in genomic engineering that would allow scientists to swap in sequences from other viruses to create what she described last night as a Frankenstein bioweapon."

 

Facebook and Instagram Flag Tucker Carlson Virus Posts

 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/16/business/media/facebook-instagram-tucker-carlson-virus-posts.html

 The social media platforms warn viewers that the Fox News host’s interview with a Chinese virologist contained “false information” about Covid-19.

Tucker Carlson guest airs debunked conspiracy theory that COVID-19 was created in a lab

 https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/sep/16/li-meng-yan/tucker-carlson-guest-airs-debunked-conspiracy-theo/

 "It’s hard to be shocked in a moment like this, but you have succeeded in shocking me," Carlson said at the end of the interview. "Unfortunately, this is not the forum for the details of your research; I don’t have the grounding necessary to ask you the right questions."

Scientists do. The consensus of the scientific community and international public health organizations is that the coronavirus emerged from bats and later jumped to humans.

But the doctor’s interview on "Tucker Carlson Tonight" quickly took off, inspiring a rash of social media posts parroting her claims.

 Scientists worldwide have publicly shared the genetic makeup of the coronavirus thousands of times. If the virus had been altered, there would be evidence in its genome data.

But there isn’t. In March, several microbiology, infectious disease and evolutionary biology experts wrote in Nature — a respected scientific journal — that the genetic makeup of the coronavirus does not indicate it was altered. 

Our ruling

During an interview on Fox News, Yan said the coronavirus "is a man-made virus created in the lab."

The genetic structure of the novel coronavirus, which has been shared by thousands of scientists worldwide, rules out the possibility that it was manipulated in a lab. Public health authorities have repeatedly said the virus was not created in a lab. Scientists believe the coronavirus originated in bats before jumping to humans. Experts have publicly rebuked Yan’s paper, and it’s unclear whether it was peer reviewed.

The claim is inaccurate and ridiculous. We rate it Pants on Fire!

 

Why Donald Trump is Trying to Reach Latino Voters

 https://time.com/5889556/donald-trump-latino-voters/

 Nobody expects Trump to win the Latino vote. In 2016 he won 28%. In some states with large Latino populations, he did slightly better; in Florida, Nevada, and Arizona he notched 35%, 29%, and 31% respectively, according to CNN’s exit poll. This year, polling suggests he’s in the same range, despite policies that have hurt Latinos. There’s a chance he could maintain or even gain ground in these states, especially Florida. Recent polling by Equis Research, a progressive Hispanic research firm, for example, has Trump at 37% in Florida, 26% in Nevada, and 29% in Arizona.

FULL The 11th Hour with Brian Williams MSNBC 9/16/20 | MSNBC News Sept 16, 2020

Does Donald Trump ‘endanger’ Jews? - opinion

 https://www.jpost.com/opinion/does-donald-trump-endanger-jews-opinion-642550

  The warning was sounded early this week by an unlikely squad of messengers: An Evangelical Christian; a former Soviet Jewish refugee; a former PR man for Russian President Vladimir Putin; the president’s former lawyer, a notorious dirty trickster; and a highly respected Jewish leader who said US President Donald Trump “threatens American democracy.”

 

Stumping for a sweet new term, Trump tells US Jews ‘We love your country also’

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/stumping-for-a-sweet-new-term-trump-tells-jews-i-love-your-country/#gs.ft4nd3

 US President Donald Trump appeared to suggest again that American Jews are loyal to Israel, as he urged community leaders to get out the vote for him in a brief pre-Rosh Hashanah phone call Wednesday. Trump signed off the 20-minute call by telling the Jewish leaders, “We really appreciate you… We love your country also.”

'A fire hose of lying:' Trump town hall fact check

Dr. Gupta Responds To Trump’s Comment On Herd Immunity: For It To Work, ‘People Will Die’ | MSNBC

Trump's Town Hall Fail, Woodward's Book and Mattis' Devastating Assessment, "Trump Dangerous/Unfit"

Bill Barr Sinks to New Low, Uses Justice Department to Try to Kill Trump’s Rape Defamation Suit

Barr says calls for coronavirus lockdown are the 'greatest intrusion on civil liberties' other than slavery in US history

 https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/16/politics/barr-justice-department-speech/index.html

 Attorney General William Barr suggested on Wednesday that the calls for a nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus were the "greatest intrusion on civil liberties" in history "other than slavery."

The comments came minutes after he slammed the hundreds of Justice Department prosecutors working beneath him, equating them to preschoolers, in a defense of his own politically tuned decision making in the Trump administration.

Donald Trump has done 1 thing *really* well as President

 https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/16/politics/donald-trump-international-standing-pew-poll/index.html

 Donald Trump once pledged that, if elected president, he would put America first and spend no time at all worried about what the rest of the world thought about us. Mission accomplished!

A new Pew poll of 13 foreign countries reveals that perceptions of America have dropped drastically in recent years.

A few examples:

* In the United Kingdom, 83% had a favorable view of the US in 2000. Now just 41% feel the same way, the lowest number ever in Pew data.

 

Trump and his backers will cite the Pew data as evidence that other countries just don't like it when the US stops letting itself be taken advantage of and stands up for itself.