:shocked-pikachu:

    • sooper_dooper_roofer [none/use name]
      ·
      edit-2
      2 years ago

      If I told any type of normie in 2016 that civilization is going to collapse soon they would all think I was insane

      I literally told people in 2015 that Trump is going to run and win, and they literally did call me stupid, and they kept calling me stupid until it was November 2016, then they just pretended I never said anything

      If I told libs in 2019 that we're about to enter a mega-recession because the yield curve inverted, they'd probably call me insane

      If I told you in December 2019 that we're about to see the biggest pandemic in over 100 years, probably 95% of even this website would've called me insane

      And here we are, it's been only a few years. There are no limits or impossibilities

      • FirstToServe [they/them]
        ·
        2 years ago

        I literally told people in 2015 that Trump is going to run and win, and they literally did call me stupid, and they kept calling me stupid until it was November 2016, then they just pretended I never said anything

        I didn't have this problem because I used their disbelief to extract gambling money from them

      • Rod_Blagojevic [none/use name]
        ·
        2 years ago

        They still think you're insane, and I don't blame them. Watching the crisis unfold really is unbelievable.

      • Castor_Troy [comrade/them,he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        If I told any type of normie in 2016 that civilization is going to collapse soon they would all think I was insane

        I still think you're insane in 2022 for thinking that. The rest of these things, sure. But this isn't collapse of civilization.

    • kidleviathan [he/him, they/them]
      ·
      edit-2
      2 years ago

      I kept this thought in the back of my mind specifically because I knew I would sound completely insane trying to explain it to anyone.

      It's pretty fuckin weird right?

      Like even by 2022 online leftist standards?

      • Rod_Blagojevic [none/use name]
        ·
        2 years ago

        It's extremely weird. Imagine if this level of energy and resources was devoted to creating common prosperity.

        • crime [she/her, any]
          ·
          2 years ago

          There's nothing inherently wrong with theorizing about conspiracies, and the mainstream opinion of conspiracy theories all being batshit garbage for creepy weirdos is the result of an op

    • Thomas_Dankara [any,comrade/them]
      ·
      2 years ago

      While the U.S. is providing support for Ukraine, the labs are owned and operated by the Ukrainian government

      :debord-tired: the old "hands off" approach . I suppose IBM simply "provided" punch card machines for the nazis to carry out their genocidal pre-holocaust censuses that enabled them to track and round up unwanted demographics.

    • ElGosso [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      I love this shit

      The claim: The Pentagon "finally comes clean" and "admits...that there are 46 U.S. military-funded biolabs in Ukraine"

      Politifact: The 46 facilities referenced in the articles and in the government’s fact sheet are owned and operated by Ukraine, and information about the facilities’ existence has been made publicly available by the Pentagon for some time.

      :so-true: "We already knew about the biolabs, so they weren't 'admitting' to it." God I hate Politifact.

    • FactChecker [any]
      ·
      2 years ago

      This is the kind of thing I live for!

      The US funds biolabs in Ukraine

      FALSE: Okay, first off, those biolabs are merely funded by the US, not actually operated directly by the US, so just clearly that first claim is false. Secondly, those biolabs definitely are not in any way weapons programs associated with the US military. The Pentagon said they're not weapons programs. So that claim that in retrospect was not made, is also false. Two for two on falsehoods so far. What else do we have?

      Oh! Check out this Very Offal Fact Sheet that we the Pentagon released in March 2022, shortly after the invasion! It clearly states that the biological laboratories that the US doesn't fund but does fund but doesn't operate directly are for cooperative threat reduction. Another Big Lie right there. No I will not explain.

    • sooper_dooper_roofer [none/use name]
      ·
      2 years ago

      We need to intentionally mutate the viruses into the most dangerous possible forms, because how else will we know how they might act when they naturally evolve into these forms?

    • Thomas_Dankara [any,comrade/them]
      ·
      edit-2
      2 years ago

      the vaping illness, the war games in Wuhan, the pandemic readiness drills at the World Economy Forum, the US government quietly admitting it was in the USA months earlier than previously thought (but not pointing out that this was earlier than the first death in Wuhan). I got sicker than I ever have in my life after a trip in August 2019. Wonder if I caught some of that "vaping illness" despite not vaping?

      Covid was also a convenient way to kill off a lot of the ICE detainees without having to resort to the methods of the third reich. "Died of pandemic in ICE center" has a plausible deniability to it that "shoved them into gas chambers" does not. Thousands of people in ICE custody died of Covid. There were countless headlines about no showers, no toothbrushes, lice in the beds, too many people per square foot and other terrible hygienic conditions. The US government also outsourced the ICE detention to subcontractors, so that got blamed on the individual companies in charge of these facilities rather than the agency itself. Centralize the suffering. Decentralize the blame.

      • happybadger [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        When the vapers lost their sense of smell and taste, they called it vape tongue because it was such a distinctive symptom. When I lost the same in a mild case of COVID it was unique to any sensory dulling I've had from illnesses before and was the distinct symptom beyond the cough/aches.

        I'm totally on board with the mysterious vaping disease being COVID. I think it was Italy that had mysterious pneumomia deaths later in 2019 too.

        • kidleviathan [he/him, they/them]
          ·
          2 years ago

          I thought the vaping illness was linked to a bad batch of ∆9-THC cartridges which used vitamin E to thin out the distillate. I could def be wrong, lemme look back into it.

          • sooper_dooper_roofer [none/use name]
            ·
            2 years ago

            I thought the vaping illness was linked to a bad batch of ∆9-THC cartridges which used vitamin E

            This is false, it's a common counterargument. There were vape pneumonia cases where there was no vitamin E additive. Nathan Rich goes over this in detail.

          • forcequit [she/her]
            ·
            2 years ago

            I do remember reading about bootleg carts causing some trouble back then for sure

      • sooper_dooper_roofer [none/use name]
        ·
        edit-2
        2 years ago

        the pandemic readiness drills at the World Economy Forum

        They did the same for monkeypox too.
        https://www.nti.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/NTI_Paper_BIO-TTX_Final.pdf
        https://i.imgur.com/6Lrv53i.png

        funny how that keeps happening

        And yea, COVID was a very convenient way to kill off lots of refugees, pensioners, etc.

        It was also a very good cover for the inevitable recession (the yield curve inverted in late 2018). So instead of "look our economic system is failing AGAIN", we have the excuse of "we're good, except COVID fucked it up"

        And of course it allowed the rich to buy all of their stocks at rock-bottom prices and cement themselves even further

        • dismal [they/them, undecided]
          ·
          2 years ago

          what the he’ll is a yield curve? do you have anything to read that pertains to that….(like articles or something)

          • forcequit [she/her]
            ·
            2 years ago

            supply/demand curve but it's all money

            Sorry nothing constructive to add

          • sooper_dooper_roofer [none/use name]
            ·
            2 years ago

            https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Yield_curve_20180513.png

            longer maturity (x axis) = larger payoff (y axis). If the government is borrowing your money for a longer time, (this is what "buying a bond" is, it's just you giving the gov a loan) then it's only natural that they pay you more at the end of the deal

            it's "healthy" that the curve is shaped the way it is, because it means long term investments make more money, which means everyone expects good things in the long-term future.

            this curve is dictated by the forces of the market, just like stock prices.
            sometimes, and very rarely, it inverts, meaning the long-term bonds start paying less than the short-term ones. This is bad because it means people expect bad things in the future, and opt for short-term bonds instead.

            almost every time this "inversion" happens, it is followed by a recession within 2 years. Something like 7 out of 8 inversions were immediately followed by recessions (8/9 if you include the covid crash)

      • Oso_Rojo [he/him, they/them]
        ·
        2 years ago

        I know it’s anecdotal but I got weirdly sick in November of 2019. It stands out because I went to the doctor and they had no idea what I had, and just recommended cold medicine and rest (thank you US health care). I was coughing for weeks and I still wonder if it was COVID.

        • DonaldJBrandon [none/use name]
          ·
          2 years ago

          My SO had the same issue in November 2019 and after some scans she had lung wall thickening. Had no idea what it was, still don't but we suspect it was covid

      • BigLadKarlLiebknecht [he/him, comrade/them]
        ·
        2 years ago

        This ol’ classic too - https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/health-officials-to-give-update-after-respiratory-illness-sickens-dozens-at-virginia-retirement-community/135890/

  • Cascadia_ [they/them]
    ·
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    What is the Department of War Defence doing studying dangerous pathogens? :thinkin-lenin:

  • Rojo27 [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Clearly this is Russian misinformation. This straight from Rus... oh. Oh no :angry-hex:

  • SoyViking [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    We have no biolabs in Ukraine!

    Our biolabs in Ukraine don't do any military stuff!

    The military stuff done in our biolabs in Ukraine is purely defensive!

      • OgdenTO [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        The contagious ones were only used on very carefully controlled attacks against confirmed terrorists.

    • BynarsAreOk [none/use name]
      ·
      2 years ago

      "Yes it was a weapons program but it was strictly necessary to defeat our enemies, there is no price high enough for democracy!"

  • Leon_Grotsky [comrade/them]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I don't understand why they lied in the first place, like this would have all been memory-holed if they had stuck with the "had to do something with all those Soviet bioweapons scientists we had laying around" excuse

    • ElChapoDeChapo [he/him, comrade/them]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Yeah, projecting America's sins on the designated enemy nations works pretty well so I wonder why they wouldn't play that card here

  • cawsby [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Every country in the world that has ruminants or grain crops has biolabs like these to handle anthrax spores and other scary shit.

    This is the same sort of story that makes it sound like China released Covid-19 because they were studying bat coronaviruses.

    The US doesn't even trust most NATO members with biological warfare research there is no way in hell they would trust Ukraine.

    • Z_Poster365 [none/use name]
      ·
      2 years ago

      So why is the Pentagon funding it, and why is it staffed with foreigners with diplomatic immunity?

      • Z_Poster365 [none/use name]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Also the US doesn’t shit where it eats. They aren’t going to be having dangerous experimental pathogens in the core where it could blow up in their face. They will put them on the peripheries bordering their rivals.

        There’s a reason the US invades nations in the Middle East and Africa on the other side of the world, and not Mexico or Cuba. It’s not good business to destabilize and destroy your neighbor, much better to do your imperial looting far away where the damage spills over to other nations and there’s less chance of blowback

        • ClimateChangeAnxiety [he/him, they/them]
          ·
          edit-2
          2 years ago

          They aren’t going to be having dangerous experimental pathogens in the core where it could blow up in their face

          looks at Ft Detrick suspiciously 👀

        • Frank [he/him, he/him]
          ·
          2 years ago

          They aren’t going to be having dangerous experimental pathogens in the core where it could blow up in their face.

          Fort Detrick is literally right there. CDC Atlanta works with the scariest diseases that have ever existed.

        • replaceable [he/him]
          ·
          2 years ago

          There’s a reason the US invades nations in the Middle East and Africa on the other side of the world, and not Mexico or Cuba.

          They did invade cuba in the bay of pigs invasion and nearly did it with the actual army during the missile crisis

          • jack [he/him, comrade/them]
            ·
            2 years ago

            But importantly, they've not actually done it. Bay of Pigs had US training and logistical support, but the US is not going to do an invasion of its neighbor with its own military. Plus, that was 60 years ago, and the US military has only become more cowardly since.

      • cawsby [he/him]
        ·
        edit-2
        2 years ago

        I'm seeing grants for lab modernization, monitoring old nuke/bio/chem weapon storage, and repairing secure sites with samples on the USA today article and the DW article on the biolab theory.

        The US has an 800k acre facility biowarfare research area in the Dugway Proving grounds that does all sorts of crazy shit - stuff beyond VX was developed there. Some of the ground is so fucked up they have to use bunnysuits to walk outside when the wind blows. Dugway is where the DoD have tested all known chemical/bio weapons, why would they change now ? The DoD doesn't care about the few Mormons and Native Americans who live nearby with higher cancer rates. The military folks really don't need to use Ukraine to do nasty shit, they'll do it right here in the states.

        • Z_Poster365 [none/use name]
          ·
          2 years ago

          You haven’t explained why the Pentagon is handling these civilian agricultural biolabs and not the CDC, NIH or an agricultural or civilian group. Nor why they use foreign researchers with diplomatic plates

          • cawsby [he/him]
            ·
            2 years ago

            I have no idea how American government procurement works but it looks like these DoD grants are specifically for countries with the possibility of proliferation from old Soviet programs.

            Link to the Grant Fact Sheet.

            DoD’s CTR Program began its biological work with Ukraine to reduce the risk posed by the former Soviet Union’s illegal biological weapons program, which left Soviet successor states with unsecured biological materials after the fall of the USSR.

            I have no idea how diplomatic status works on DoD programs dealing with bioweapon storage. Is having diplomatic status unusual?

            • Z_Poster365 [none/use name]
              ·
              edit-2
              2 years ago

              If that was true they would phase the labs out as Soviet scientists retire. Instead they keep the work going and bring in foreign scientists.

              This shit doesn’t add up, it stinks, the US lied and denied them until cornered & the US has a history of using bio warfare

              I don’t buy any of this and find it much more likely and simple that they are simply doing bio weapon research

          • cawsby [he/him]
            ·
            2 years ago

            I never implied the US was currently doing bioweapons research at Dugway; however, if the US was doing bioweapons research that is where they would do it not in Ukraine or any other place.

      • Z_Poster365 [none/use name]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Don’t forget proven and documented biological warfare waged in Korea, Vietnam and against Cuban crops

    • 20000bannedposters [love/loves]
      ·
      edit-2
      2 years ago

      What if i told you the usa released COVID in China cuz they thought it would wreck them. But instead, like everything America does now, it back fired and wrecked the USA

  • DivineChaos100 [none/use name]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Fail to see when they did deny the biolabs tbh, even this article cites Nuland admitting they exist. The more interesting part is what they did in them (according to Russians they were creating a virus that only infects people with Russian genes).