Fauci Hearings

[ken_sylvania]

I think one concern is that he might give an inaccurate answer.

I think the other concern is that he might truthfully say what he knows, but some congressman could take various things he said and wrote or things they read somewhere, and then claim that he was lying.

I think that could very well happen. I still don't see how that could trigger 5th Amendment protections. The 5th Amendment is supposed to protect against being forced to testify against ones self, not protect against prosecutors twisting a witness' words to claim that they lied.

I don't know that twisting would be necessary. For example: Fauci might say that contributing funds to a Chinese lab had no connection with the virus leaking out of the lab. Those who believe that the lab leaked the virus could say that this was untrue. It really comes down to he said, she said.

True enough. Although if a person is testifying about such things it seems to me it might be better to say "I'm not aware of any such connection" rather than to say "there is no connection." But yes, I agree with your point.

[Judas Maccabeus]

I think one concern is that he might give an inaccurate answer.

I think the other concern is that he might truthfully say what he knows, but some congressman could take various things he said and wrote or things they read somewhere, and then claim that he was lying.

I think that could very well happen. I still don't see how that could trigger 5th Amendment protections. The 5th Amendment is supposed to protect against being forced to testify against ones self, not protect against prosecutors twisting a witness' words to claim that they lied.

I don't know that twisting would be necessary. For example: Fauci might say that contributing funds to a Chinese lab had no connection with the virus leaking out of the lab. Those who believe that the lab leaked the virus could say that this was untrue. It really comes down to he said, she said.

Even the best-run lab is vulnerable to a leak. The last case of smallpox was from a very well-run lab in the UK, and the victim was a photographer who did not have access to the lab. I was in school at the time this broke; there was a one-day safety review. We were not working with pathogens at the time. I would suspect a lab leak as well, but how may never be determined. Even the 1978 incident was never conclusively traced.

[JohnH]

Even the best-run lab is vulnerable to a leak. The last case of smallpox was from a very well-run lab in the UK, and the victim was a photographer who did not have access to the lab. I was in school at the time this broke; there was a one-day safety review. We were not working with pathogens at the time. I would suspect a lab leak as well, but how may never be determined. Even the 1978 incident was never conclusively traced.

Fauci's claims are that this wasn't a lab leak, though.

[Judas Maccabeus]

Even the best-run lab is vulnerable to a leak. The last case of smallpox was from a very well-run lab in the UK, and the victim was a photographer who did not have access to the lab. I was in school at the time this broke; there was a one-day safety review. We were not working with pathogens at the time. I would suspect a lab leak as well, but how may never be determined. Even the 1978 incident was never conclusively traced.

Fauci's claims are that this wasn't a lab leak, though.

If he claims that for certain, it boggles my mind how he could actually know that. He has an awful lot at stake in it being a spontaneous event crossover. I doubt that and have known Chinese Ph.Ds who would kill their mother for a breakthrough paper. The quest for the “iron rice bowl “ is that strong. The pressure is incredibly intense.

[JohnH]

Even the best-run lab is vulnerable to a leak. The last case of smallpox was from a very well-run lab in the UK, and the victim was a photographer who did not have access to the lab. I was in school at the time this broke; there was a one-day safety review. We were not working with pathogens at the time. I would suspect a lab leak as well, but how may never be determined. Even the 1978 incident was never conclusively traced.

Fauci's claims are that this wasn't a lab leak, though.

If he claims that for certain, it boggles my mind how he could actually know that. He has an awful lot at stake in it being a spontaneous event crossover. I doubt that and have known Chinese Ph.Ds who would kill their mother for a breakthrough paper. The quest for the “iron rice bowl “ is that strong. The pressure is incredibly intense.

I mean, he's been claiming that since 2020, including, back then, denouncing anyone who does think it as a lab leak as some kind of conspiracy theorist who doesn't trust science.

So I think we should take him at his word: back then, the penalties for disagreeing with the "official" narrative on Covid were rather harsh. You can read it for yourself here:

https://www.paul.senate.gov/wp-content/ ... ackage.pdf

[Bootstrap]

Fauci's claims are that this wasn't a lab leak, though.

If he claims that for certain, it boggles my mind how he could actually know that. He has an awful lot at stake in it being a spontaneous event crossover. I doubt that and have known Chinese Ph.Ds who would kill their mother for a breakthrough paper. The quest for the “iron rice bowl “ is that strong. The pressure is incredibly intense.

I mean, he's been claiming that since 2020, including, back then, denouncing anyone who does think it as a lab leak as some kind of conspiracy theorist who doesn't trust science.

So I think we should take him at his word: back then, the penalties for disagreeing with the "official" narrative on Covid were rather harsh. You can read it for yourself here:

https://www.paul.senate.gov/wp-content/ ... ackage.pdf

Um, that's not a transcript of Fauci in his own words. That's Rand Paul's claims. If you are relying on Rand Paul and other politicians to tell you what Fauci said in his own words, I think you should reconsider your sources.

I have not found evidence that Fauci said in 2020 that anyone who entertained a laboratory accident was a conspiracy theorist. I have not found evidence that Fauci said the lab leak hypothesis was impossible, I see him using probabilistic language like “strongly leaning” and “strongly indicates”.

In his 2024 congressional interview, Fauci explicitly said that a laboratory accident was “a possibility” and was not inherently a conspiracy theory. IF you want to see Fauci in his own words, you can read that here:

https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/ ... i-Memo.pdf

[JohnH]

Um, that's not a transcript of Fauci in his own words. That's Rand Paul's claims. If you are relying on Rand Paul and other politicians to tell you what Fauci said in his own words, I think you should reconsider your sources.

Are you claiming the diary is fake?

Boot, I remember 2020. Claiming it was a lab leak put one squarely in the "you aren't credible and are a conspiracy theorist" camp. Don't try to rewrite history or pretend those things didn't happen.

Of course, those who took extreme positions want to just conveniently forget it all:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/09/opin ... emory.html

[Szdfan]

Um, that's not a transcript of Fauci in his own words. That's Rand Paul's claims. If you are relying on Rand Paul and other politicians to tell you what Fauci said in his own words, I think you should reconsider your sources.

Are you claiming the diary is fake?

Boot, I remember 2020. Claiming it was a lab leak put one squarely in the "you aren't credible and are a conspiracy theorist" camp. Don't try to rewrite history or pretend those things didn't happen.

Of course, those who took extreme positions want to just conveniently forget it all:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/09/opin ... emory.html

The question is whether Fauci ever said that the lab leak was a conspiracy theory, not whether other people did.

[Bootstrap]

Um, that's not a transcript of Fauci in his own words. That's Rand Paul's claims. If you are relying on Rand Paul and other politicians to tell you what Fauci said in his own words, I think you should reconsider your sources.

Are you claiming the diary is fake?

I'm saying that Fauci's public statements did not say what you claim. And for a public official, I think that's what counts, it's how he conducted himself in office.

I haven't read the entire diary, but diary entries often leave out a LOT of stuff because the person writing it already knows the context. And we don't typically put people on trial for thoughts they express in a private diary.

Boot, I remember 2020. Claiming it was a lab leak put one squarely in the "you aren't credible and are a conspiracy theorist" camp. Don't try to rewrite history or pretend those things didn't happen.

I remember you getting arrested for spray painting babies orange.

I doubt that either of our memories are accurate, but neither is about the subject, and if you really want to comment on something I said, point to the original post, don't give me this vague memory spiel. Your memory isn't worth much without pointing to the actual wording. This isn't how I write or think or the kind of thing I would say.

[ohio jones]

Boot, I remember 2020. Claiming it was a lab leak put one squarely in the "you aren't credible and are a conspiracy theorist" camp. Don't try to rewrite history or pretend those things didn't happen.

I only checked the megathread, but we might have made it through 2020 without anyone here making that claim.