Dr. Sanjay Gupta is one of my heroes. He is a neurosurgeon, a journalist and an author. I have just about finished his book on the brain and found out yesterday he is already having another book out next week. Does this guy ever sleep? His new book is about COVID called World War C. I am sure it will be good but I am not sure I want to read it since I have been reading about this disease and the pandemic a lot lately. As he is making his round promoting his book on CNN and other places, I do have something I disagree with him.
Gupta was asked whether he thinks COVID was leaked from the Wuhan Lab. He said as a scientist he believes that most likely it was from nature and not leaked from a lab. But he went on and said that it bothers him that if it is not leaked, why doesn't China make it transparent to the rest of the world? He pointed out that a small pox outbreak had happened in a UK lab and they admitted to it at that time. I agree with transparency, but how do you prove a negative?
China let the WHO into the lab. They did not find any evidence. But could they have hidden any evidence or erased them? Yes, of course they could have. But if there was no leak, how do they prove that there was no leak? It is like if I accuse you of murder but you must prove to me that you did not commit it. You may have an alibi but if I don't believe your alibi, what can you do? In this case, what evidence can China come up with that show there was no leak? Even if they have evidence, the Western media would not buy it anyway.
That is why China tries to deflect by calling on the U.S. to be transparent about the shutting down of Fort Detrick lab in the U.S. during 2019. What was leaked there, China wanted to know. Of course, the U.S. is not going to allow WHO to go into Fort Detrick to investigate due to national security concerns. So China said that they have national security concerns as well. So there is no apparent resolution in this and that is why when Biden asked the CIA to come up with the answer in a few weeks, it was laughable.
On a lighter note, the Dodgers finished with the second best record in baseball but has to play a wild card game against a surging Cardinals team. If they win, they get the Giants who has the best record. So one of the top two teams in baseball will be out after the division round. Does not seem fair, but it is what it is. They had an abundance of starting pitchers before the season but with all the injuries, I am sure how far they can go anyways. Kershaw is out again so Urias with have to start and can't be used in big relief situations like last year. So will see. The Giants earned the division title though. They just played great, way above expectations.
There's this conspiracy theory that the virus came from a lab that won't die. I don't really know what to think about this. I mean, it makes more sense than election rigging that's for sure. As far as denying it, what do you expect each country to do? I couldn't imagine any country that would admit to anything like this.
ReplyDeleteAs far as MLB goes, I had no idea that the Giants won the division. It seemed like the Dodgers were playing so well that I just assumed they were going to win it. It's too bad that if the Dodgers win that they will have to play the Giants. At least it'll be a one game series so they won't be tired.
Hard to believe the NBA is starting again. Seems like Brooklyn and the Lakers are the two top teams. I will pick Golden State if Thompson can come back and get back in playing shape.
-LBOAYM
I used to trust CNN but not any more. Couple of days ago on its website, the headline news was that of a former Chinese policeman who told CNN that he used to arrest innocent Uyghurs in Xinjiang and tortured them. CNN said that it cannot independently verify his story. But that was sloppy journalism at best and down right deceiving at worst. This guy had testified in the Uyghur tribunal in July in England where he said that he did not participate in any torturing nor did he know of any torturing or sexual abuse as alleged by some witnesses. Obviously any good journalist would have known about this previous testimony and would have challenged him on this as this interview and his testimony are contradictory. Both cannot be true.
ReplyDeleteSo right after that interview was aired, the story was off the headline on the website and put to the very bottom of the website in small letters. Usually any headline would stay at or near the top for days. This tells me that some people must have challenged CNN and they could not keep it in the headline. Or they knew this was not true but that the story had served its purpose. Most people in the Western world saw or read this would have believed that the torturing and abuses were true. So it would have served the purpose of the Western narrative regardless of the veracity of this interview. I will write something in the future about the Xinjiang situation later.
The NBA is up for grabs this season. I think there are several teams who can win and it all depends who can stay healthy. I would agree that if GS is all healthy they have a chance although it is unlikely that Thompson, Curry and Green are as good as they were a few years ago. One thing in their favor is that they have been out of the playoffs in the past couple of seasons so they have fresher legs than some of the contenders.
Another example of Western media bias this week. It was reported that Chinese fighter planes were going over Taiwan's air defense identification zone in record numbers this week. But ADIZ is not same as a country's airspace which is only 12 nautical miles. The ADIZ is established by about 20 countries and the U.S. has a ADIZ of 200 miles. Taiwan also claims an ADIZ of well over 100 miles which means that part of it is inside China. So technically, before the planes took off from China, it is in Taiwan's ADIZ already. China's ADIZ encompasses Taiwan island itself. The Western media has criticized that being aggressively drawn. Obvious double standard.
ReplyDeleteThe Wall Street Journal and others reported this week that the U.S. has dozens of marines stationed in Taiwan since 2020. This is an obvious provocation since the U.S. only recognize one China and technically it is invading China territory with armed force. Interestingly, this was reported by non U.S. media last year but the U.S. denied it. Now it is reported in mainstream media and the U.S. is giving a non denial. So basically, it has given the go ahead for the WSJ and other U.S. media to publish it. This seems to be another provocation to see if China respond. So far China has not unless you count the higher number of planes flying over Taiwan's ADIZ. They have not taken the bait, believing that a few marines make no difference. They have complained in the past about arms and plane sales to Taiwan because those can make a difference. But if they respond aggressively, who knows what would happen next. One thing for sure, a war between the two countries will be very bad for Chinese Americans.
On a more serious note, the Dodgers are playing the Giants in a postseason game for the first time in history. Given the history of this rivalry, we may see fights in the stands and outside of the stadium. We have seen fights even in regular season games. This maybe dangerous for Chinese Americans in both cities!