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Rolla Peace News

June 8, 2021
Dear Friends:
Editor's note: Please consider writing for our newsletter. It's always very exciting to be able to publish submissions from our readers.

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http://tomsager.org/Peaceletters/peaceletter060821.html

In this newsletter is:

1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, JUNE 10, 2021
2. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org)
          COVID-19 Origins — Revisited

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1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, JUNE 10, 2021

We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office, THIS THURSDAY, JUNE 10, FROM NOON TO 1:00 PM (and most subsequent Thursdays until Peace is established). Please join us this Thursday in saying NO WAR AGAINST PALESTINE or any other country. The temperature is predicted to be in the 80s. If you do not feel comfortable standing with us in front of the Post Office, please consider driving by and showing your support for our message by honking your horn and flashing a peace sign.

Note 1: Since there are so few of us, generally only 2, no need to cancel; but let's maintain social distancing.

Note 2: In case of inclement weather, vigils may be canceled or terminated early.

2. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org)

COVID-19 Origins — Revisited
“It must be mighty discouragin'
To lie to the left of the origin.”
—Tom Lehrer

British science writer, Nicholas Wade released a bombshell article last month that has revived interest in searching for the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 (SARS2) virus which has caused the COVID-19 pandemic. Wade's point seems well-argued — that accidental escape from a gain of function experiment at Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) is the most likely cause of the pandemic — although he doesn't rule out other hypotheses such as natural evolution.

Wade stresses that gain of function experiments into bat viruses at WIV were funded through the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases . Thus, these were really joint US-China experiments, although being conducted in China.

Gain of function refers to the enhancement of certain qualities of an organism through genetic manipulation, in this case, the ability to infect humans.

So let's call a spade a spade. These were experiments in bio-warfare, being performed under a different name. SARS2 might well be called a frankenvirus.

China and the United States are both signatories to the UN Biological Weapons Convention which prohibits the development of bio-weapons. Therefore, they had to claim that this is research into the ability of certain viruses to jump from animals to humans with the purpose of combatting or preventing the emergence of zoonotic diseases.

Wade writes:
“Why would anyone want to create a novel virus capable of causing a pandemic? Ever since virologists gained the tools for manipulating a virus’s genes, they have argued they could get ahead of a potential pandemic by exploring how close a given animal virus might be to making the jump to humans. And that justified lab experiments in enhancing the ability of dangerous animal viruses to infect people, virologists asserted.”
Ok. So why would the US and China collaborate on research into bio-weapons? Here I'm guessing, but I suspect each was looking to gain a jump on the other through access to each other's research and expertise. More than that, they buy each other's silence. We're all guilty here, so let's all keep our mouth's shut.

Back in July, 2020, I wrote:
“So let's assume for now that the COVID-19 virus was created in a laboratory. And let's assume the secret gets out.

“So far, 540 thousand have died of COVID-19. People all over the world have lost family and friends to this virus. Folks have had their whole lives disrupted. How are they going to respond to the knowledge that this scourge was visited upon them by a handful of scientists? Might they not torch a few ivory towers? Might they not liberate a few laboratories? Might they not scourge a few scientists?

“Indeed, scientists have a very strong interest in keeping the public from believing that they hold any responsibility for the COVID-19 pandemic.”

But secrets do get out. To quote Robert Burns, “The best laid schemes o' mice an' men Gang aft a-gley.”

Personally, I still favor the conjecture that I first stated in February, 2020 that SARS2 was created in a laboratory, probably a military laboratory in the United States, and released in China in an act of political or economic sabotage. The fact, which Wade brings out, that the United States knew so much about the gain of function experiments at Wuhan Institute of Virology lends credence to this conjecture. These experiments could easily have been repeated in the United States; and after the release — blamed on an accident at WIV.

China is certainly well-aware of this. China has claimed on multiple occasions that SARS2 might have been brought to China by the US military.

Regardless, it is past time for all biological labs to be open to international inspection. It is past time that the people of the world have a say in what kind of dangerous experiments with deadly viruses are performed in these laboratories. Viruses know no borders. They infect all of us, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. SARS2 has infected at least 174 million and killed at least 3.75 million.

          Note on the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Nicholas Wade's article was published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. In a box at the end the editors write, “As the coronavirus crisis shows, we need science now more than ever,” followed by a button that reads, “Support the Bulletin.” (That means give us money, in case you wondered.)

I beg to differ. As the Wade article makes plain, we almost certainly have scientists to thank for the current COVID-19 pandemic which has already killed over three million people. And scientists seem to have gone to great lengths to cover up their guilt.

Almost a century ago, Mohandas K. Gandhi formulated his seven social sins:
Wealth without work.
Pleasure without conscience.
Knowledge without character.
Commerce without morality.
Science without humanity.
Religion without sacrifice.
Politics without principle.
As a society, we seem to suffer from all seven; not the least of which is Science without humanity. I think what we need is a little less science and a lot more humanity.

          Note on the above Tom Lehrer quote:

This is an amazing pun. But then, Tom Lehrer is an amazing satirist. The quote
“It must be mighty discouragin'
To lie to the left of the origin.”

is from the song, There's a Delta for Every Epsilon (2:55), written decades before the COVID pandemic. It may refer to some other socio-political event or it may be a fortuitous accident.

In my very first post on COVID-19 (January, 2020), I linked to another Tom Lehrer song, I Got It from Agnes, which, among other things, underscores the importance of contact tracing.

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Wage peace,

Tom
yushasager (at) yahoo.com

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