thelibertybeacon--2020-10-22--Letter to Congress Urging COVID-19 Origins Investigation

On October 6 , Children ’ s Health Defense board chairman Robert F. Kennedy , Jr. and president Lyn Redwood wrote to key members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives asking for a thorough Congressional investigation of the origins of the COVID-19 virus .
Please contact your Senators and Representatives urging them to ensure that a thorough investigation of COVID ’ s origins is launched immediately using our advocacy platform .
Since it first emerged in China in November of last year , SARS-Cov-2 ( COVID-19 ) has swept across the globe and ravaged communities throughout the United @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Americans have died from COVID-19 as of today , October 6 .
Millions of Americans have lost their jobs and thousands of U.S. businesses have shut their doors permanently .
Our children have had their education and lives disrupted .
This disease has reshaped our country .
We are writing to request that you fully investigate this matter of great importance to our nation and to the thousands of individuals and families who are members of Children ’ s Health Defense .
You serve on the House Science , Space , & Technology @ @ @ @ @ @ @ purview of your responsibilities on that Committee .
You have the jurisdiction and the duty to lead these investigations , to bring greater understanding and transparency to what happened , and to help the nation .
Defeating this pandemic should be our first priority but we should not be reticent to also ask questions about the virus itself .
As humans , we are driven to ask questions and explore the world around us .
That is why we have gone to the moon , it ’ s how we discovered penicillin , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to advance .
This inquisitive spirit that leads us to ask questions and research the problems that we face is the underlying foundation of science , freedom of speech , democracy , and western philosophy .
These are not our words , but rather they are the words of Anthony Fauci , director of the NIAID , in a 2012 letter to the microbiology journal mBio advocating for gain-of-function experiments .
Today , questions about the origin of COVID-19 have largely been dismissed without answers .
We believe Dr. Fauci laid out a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ full investigation today , particularly when you consider that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was doing the very type of research set forth in Dr. Fauci ’ s hypothetical scenario .
It would be unthinkable to not investigate the causes leading up to and contributing to the circumstances around the Three Mile Island , Chernobyl , or Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accidents .
Is it not strange that we have so quickly moved past the origin of this pandemic ?
We have a virus that has led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands @ @ @ @ @ @ @ global economic damage , and destroyed thousands of small businesses across America , and there is little serious consideration as to where this virus originated .
Common sense says that we should do everything possible to understand exactly how this novel coronavirus pandemic came about so that we may take steps to ensure that it will not and can not be repeated .
Some reputable scientists have raised the issue that the virus could have escaped from a lab as Dr. Fauci said was a possibility in 2012 .
Others have suggested that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ between animals and humans .
That may indeed be the case ; however , given the magnitude of the impact this pandemic has had on humankind , we need more than mere speculation or finger pointing about its origins .
It is our duty to ourselves , to our children , and to humanity to seek out and discover the truth .
A virus escaping from a lab and leading to a pandemic is not just a hypothetical horror story ; it is an historical reality—in 1977 , the H1N1 flu reappeared in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Scientists have identified this outbreak as the result of an escape from an unidentified lab .
Moreover , USA Today has done extensive reporting on other dangerous pathogens , including Ebola , SARS , and Anthrax , escaping from labs between 2004 and 2016 .
More recently ProPublica has reported on the exposures of researchers to chimeric coronaviruses at the University of North Carolina .
The National Academy of Science and the Federal Select Agent Program have both documented the risks of research being done on highly dangerous pathogens .
Some of these @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Fortunately , these escapes have rarely led to any infections , but we must take this investigation seriously because these pathogens represent some of the deadliest diseases humanity has encountered .
COVID 19 is the sentinel deadly warning of worse to come and we ignore its origins at our own peril .
COVID-19 first broke out in the city of Wuhan , in the shadow of the world ’ s leading coronavirus research lab , but the communist Chinese government originally labeled a neighboring wet market as the point of origin of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the virus started in the province as early as November 17th and that the market was only an early super spreader event .
The Huanan market in Wuhan is very far from the Yunnan province caves where similar coronaviruses were found but it is only a few miles from the Wuhan Institute of Virology which was performing coronavirus research on SARS-like viruses .
In order to determine the cause of COVID 19 , the first question to ask is “ do we know what research the scientists conducted at the Wuhan Institute of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ question with information from grants provided to the Wuhan lab and its very own scientific publications .
The Wuhan Institute of Virology is a biosafety level-4 lab that has made its reputation studying infectious diseases , particularly coronaviruses similar to SARS .
In fact , because coronaviruses are endemic to bats , Zheng-Li Shi , the virologist directing coronavirus research , was nicknamed China ’ s “ Bat Woman.
” As a part of their work , researchers in the Wuhan lab were engaged in engineering SARS-like viruses through what is known as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also know that U.S. taxpayer dollars through the National Institutes of Health were funding some of that work ( see below , NIH grant NIAID R01AI110964 that was awarded in 2014 via a third party – EcoHealth Alliance in New York ) .
[ 29 ] ain-of-function research takes existing pathogens and tries to make them more dangerous for humans with the ultimate goal being to prepare vaccines and therapeutics to combat future emergent viruses .
The Wuhan Institute of Virology was combining and manipulating SARS-like coronaviruses in the hopes of better understanding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and to prepare for new viruses that could emerge from bats .
In the course of this research they engineered new SARS-like viruses that were efficient at infecting humans cells through the same receptor that the SARS virus uses .
SARS-CoV-2 is this exact type of virus that Wuhan researchers were creating and storing .
In fact , the closest relative of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is the RaTG13 virus which is studied and stored exclusively at the Wuhan Institute .
Moreover , Ralph Baric , a leading U.S. coronavirus researcher , has pointed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a virus without leaving a trace .
He notes that SARS-CoV-2 was not engineered with any known published genetic information and that it is not possible to tell if it was engineered using an unpublished genetic sequence .
In the November 30 , 2017 , issue of the medical journal PLOS Pathogens , Zheng-Li Shi and other Wuhan researchers describe how they constructed chimeric novel coronaviruses – that is new genetically-engineered coronaviruses by combining the genetic materials from various known coronaviruses .
They show in the paper that three of these chimeric coronaviruses @ @ @ @ @ @ @ human cells .
In other words , they were potentially highly infectious to humans .
This paper also notes that it was partially funded by the 2014 U.S. National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease ( NIAID ) grant ( R01Al110964 ) provided to New York-based EcoHealth Alliance .
A number of other federal grants , in the amount of $ 53 million , have been awarded to EcoHealth from various federal agencies over the past decade .
The Wall Street Journal has reported that the NIH @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the information they have about the research resulting from their work relating to Wuhan and coronaviruses .
The US Congress and the American people have a right to know exactly what work their tax dollars supported in China .
Even without China ’ s assistance , much of this information may be obtained in greater detail , and by subpoena if necessary , from quarterly and annual reports , emails , meetings , and phone communications by the grant program managers and involved staff at NIAID and EcoHealth both between themselves and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ grant has raised additional questions ; it was awarded at the same time the United States was imposing a moratorium on gain-of-function research .
The NIH put this moratorium in place due to concerns of prior pathogen escapes from biosafety rated laboratories .
In 2015 , University of North Carolina virologists , who had previously been studying coronaviruses , published a paper with researchers in Wuhan .
As noted in the paper , this work was funded by a grant awarded prior to the moratorium .
These researchers at the Wuhan Institute of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ moratorium using grant money awarded to EcoHealth Alliance from NIAID .
The Wuhan Institute has performed groundbreaking studies of SARS and made tremendous gains in coronavirus research , but no lab is immune to safety failures or escapes .
In fact , the Washington Post reported that 2018 internal State Department memos outlined serious concerns about safety lapses at the Wuhan lab .
More recently , on September 15 , the Telegraph reported that “ an international team of scientists will examine the possibility SARS-CoV-2 leaked from a laboratory.
” The article also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will be Peter Daszak who is the President of EcoHealth Alliance which funded gain-of-function coronavirus research in the same Wuhan lab that he is being called to investigate .
While Dr. Daszak is a well-respected expert on emerging infectious diseases , there are clear conflicts of interest that must be addressed .
Given the destruction that this COVID-19 pandemic has caused , and the various issues raised above , the American people who have been harmed deserve a thorough investigation into the origins of this virus .
There are many questions that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our children and our parents deserve answers to .
Among them are : Did COVID-19 evolve naturally and if so , how did it so readily infect the human population ?
• If it evolved naturally , why did the outbreak occur more than 1,000 miles from where similar strains of bat coronaviruses are found in Yunnan caves ?
• The original SARS virus rapidly mutated after it entered the human population in 2002 and only stopped late in the pandemic but , from the beginning , SARS-CoV-2 ( the COVID-19 virus ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ populations suggesting a unique adaptation to the human host and transmission .
What are likely explanations for this stability ?
• Though scientists initially suspected that pangolins were the intermediate host , that theory has been rejected ; what other intermediate hosts explain the virus ’ adaptation to human transmission that has made it so dangerous ?
• Why , of all places , did the outbreak occur in the shadow of the Wuhan lab where coronavirus research was being conducted , if the outbreak and the lab have no connection ?
Did @ @ @ @ @ @ @ If so : • How did this happen ?
• What were the lab failures or safety protocols that were violated ?
• What measures can be taken to ensure that there is never again a pandemic with lab origins ?
Could COVID-19 be the result of gain-of-function research ?
And , if so : • Are there are other coronaviruses , being held at the Wuhan Institute of Virology or elsewhere , that are more similar to SARS-CoV-2 than RaTG13 is ?
• Has the Wuhan lab made all of the coronavirus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the scientific community to study ?
• What did officials at NIH , NIAID , EcoHealth Alliance and other U.S. entities know about the details of the gain-of-function research taking place at the Wuhan lab ?
• Do the NIH , NIAID , EcoHealth Alliance or anyone associated with these organizations know any details related to the possible origins of COVID-19 that have not been shared with the American people ?
• Should U.S. taxpayer money have been provided to the Wuhan lab given the safety protocol issues highlighted in U.S. government @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Did the NIH funding of gain-of-function research in Wuhan in 2014-2019 violate the letter or spirit of the U.S. moratorium on gain-of-function research that was put in place in 2014 ?
• Was the R01Al110964 grant from NIH to EcoHealth Alliance orchestrated in such a manner that it was intended to circumvent the U.S. moratorium on gain-of-function research ?
Were US government officials aware of the use of this grant for gain-of-function research in spite of the funding pause ?
• Did any other U.S. government grants to EcoHealth aid the gain-of-function research @ @ @ @ @ @ @ A lab that was involved in very risky “ gain-of-function ” We are not suggesting malintent .
Indeed , nobody at the Three Mile Island , Chernobyl , or Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facilities meant for a dangerous radiation leak to happen .
Harm and malevolence arise from silencing those who are demanding answers or failing to investigate the pandemic ’ s origin , mistakes made , and how best to prevent future events from recurring .
For most people currently alive , COVID-19 is the greatest destructive event of their lifetime , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ history .
China , by the nature of its communist political system , can not be relied on to thoroughly investigate this matter .
It falls upon the leadership of the U.S. Congress to accept its moral duty and God-given and legally pre-ordained responsibility to launch complete and transparent investigations .
The grants and publications which show that U.S.-funded coronavirus gain-of-function research was taking place at Wuhan are public and can not be ignored forever .
If we do nothing , history will hold us and our system of government accountable .
We @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the House Science , Space , & Technology Committee will take the steps necessary for a full and thorough investigation into the issues of the origin of the virus .
The Lancet COVID-19 Commission , which chose Daszak to lead their investigation into the origins of the virus , can not be trusted to effectively eliminate conflicts of interest from their investigation .
This shows the need for an independent investigation by the leaders that we have elected to guide us through crises such as these .
This investigation must begin in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the linked ( attached ) documents which substantiate the issues raised .
Cc : Senator Rand Paul , Senator Tom Cotton , Senator Ron Johnson , Senator Josh Hawley , U.S. Representative Jim Jordan , U.S. Representative Carolyn Maloney , U.S. Representative James Comer [ 1 ] “ Updated Estimates of the Impact of COVID-19 on Global Poverty , ” World Bank , accessed September 14 , 2020 , https : //blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/updated-estimates-impact-covid-19-global-poverty .
[ 2 ] CDC , “ Coronavirus Disease 2019 ( COVID-19 ) in the U.S. , ” Centers for Disease @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2020 , https : //www.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker .
[ 3 ] “ Impact of the Coronavirus ( COVID-19 ) Pandemic on The Employment Situation for August 2020 : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics , ” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics , accessed September 14 , 2020 , https : //www.bls.gov/covid19/employment-situation-covid19-faq-august-2020.htm .
[ 5 ] Anthony S. Fauci , “ Research on Highly Pathogenic H5N1 Influenza Virus : The Way Forward , ” MBio 3 , no .
5 ( October 9 , 2012 ) , https : //doi.org/10.1128/mBio.00359-12 .
[ 6 ] Xing-Lou Yang et @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a Novel Bat Coronavirus Closely Related to the Direct Progenitor of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus , ” Journal of Virology 90 , no .
6 ( December 30 , 2015 ) : 3253–56 , https : //doi.org/10.1128/JVI.02582-15 .
[ 7 ] “ NRC : Backgrounder on the Three Mile Island Accident , ” United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission , accessed September 14 , 2020 , https : //www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/3mile-isle.html .
[ 9 ] “ NRC : Backgrounder on NRC Response to Lessons Learned from Fukushima , ” United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : //www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/japan-events.html .
[ 13 ] Though written and published very early in the pandemic the following article by Andersen et al .
remains the only significant investigation into the origins of SARS-CoV-2 : Kristian G. Andersen et al.
, “ The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2 , ” Nature Medicine 26 , no .
4 ( April 2020 ) : 450–52 , https : //doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-0820-9 .
[ 14 ] Shing Hei Zhan , Benjamin E. Deverman , and Yujia Alina Chan , “ SARS-CoV-2 Is Well Adapted for Humans .
What Does This @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , May 2 , 2020 , 2020.05.01.073262 , https : //doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.01.073262 ; Jean Claude Perez and Luc Montagnier , “ COVID-19 , SARS and Bats Coronaviruses Genomes Unexpected Exogenous RNA Sequences , ” n.d. , 39 https : //osf.io/d9e5g/ ; “ Could COVID-19 Have Escaped from a Lab ?
, ” Boston Magazine , September 9 , 2020 , https : //www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2020/09/09/alina-chan-broad-institute-coronavirus/ .
[ 16 ] H. C. Kung et al.
, “ Influenza in China in 1977 : Recurrence of Influenzavirus A Subtype H1N1 , ” Bulletin of the World Health Organization @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) : 1 .
[ 17 ] Michelle Rozo and Gigi Kwik Gronvall , “ The Reemergent 1977 H1N1 Strain and the Gain-of-Function Debate , ” MBio 6 , no .
4 ( September 1 , 2015 ) : 1 , https : //doi.org/10.1128/mBio.01013-15 ; Joel O. Wertheim , “ The Re-Emergence of H1N1 Influenza Virus in 1977 : A Cautionary Tale for Estimating Divergence Times Using Biologically Unrealistic Sampling Dates , ” PLOS ONE 5 , no .
6 ( June 17 , 2010 ) : 1 , https : //doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0011184 [ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Bioterror Lab Mishaps Cloaked in Secrecy , ” USA TODAY , accessed September 14 , 2020 , https : //www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/17/reports-of-incidents-at-bioterror-select-agent-labs/14140483/ ; “ Inside America ’ s Secretive Biolabs , ” USA TODAY , accessed September 14 , 2020 , https : //www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/05/28/biolabs-pathogens-location-incidents/26587505/ ; Alison Young , “ Hundreds of Safety Incidents with Bioterror Germs Reported by Secretive Labs , ” USA TODAY , accessed September 14 , 2020 , https : //www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/06/30/lab-safety-transparency-report/86577070/ .
[ 19 ] Jessica Blake and Alison Young , “ Here Are Six Accidents UNC Researchers Had With Lab-Created @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 14 , 2020 , https : //www.propublica.org/article/here-are-six-accidents-unc-researchers-had-with-lab-created-coronaviruses .
[ 20 ] Board on Life Sciences et al.
, Gain-of-Function Research : Summary of the Second Symposium , March 10-11 , 2016 , ed .
Piers Millett et al .
( Washington , D.C. : National Academies Press , 2016 ) , https : //doi.org/10.17226/23484 ; Alison Hottes , Benjamin Rusek , and Fran Sharples , Biosecurity Challenges of the Global Expansion of High-Containment Biological Laboratories ( Washington , D.C. : National Academies Press , 2012 ) , https : //doi.org/10.17226/13315 ; “ Federal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Toxins List , ” accessed September 14 , 2020 , https : //www.selectagents.gov/SelectAgentsandToxinsList.html .
[ 21 ] Several of the outbreaks at UNC involved SARS-associated coronaviruses and one exposure in April 2020 was to lab-adapted SARS-CoV-2 .
Blake and Young , “ UNC Accidents with Lab-Created Coronaviruses ” https : //www.propublica.org/article/near-misses-at-unc-chapel-hills-high-security-lab-illustrate-risk-of-accidents-with-coronaviruses “ Six Accidents UNC Researchers Had ” https : //www.propublica.org/article/here-are-six-accidents-unc-researchers-had-with-lab-created-coronaviruses [ 24 ] “ Wuhan ’ s Huanan Seafood Market a Victim of COVID-19 : CDC Director – Global Times , ” accessed September 14 , 2020 , https : //www.globaltimes.cn/content/1189506.shtml ; @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Case Traced Back to November 17 , ” South China Morning Post , March 13 , 2020 , https : //www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3074991/coronavirus-chinas-first-confirmed-covid-19-case-traced-back .
[ 25 ] Xing-Yi Ge et al.
, “ Coexistence of Multiple Coronaviruses in Several Bat Colonies in an Abandoned Mineshaft , ” Virologica Sinica 31 , no .
1 ( February 2016 ) : 31–40 , https : //doi.org/10.1007/s12250-016-3713-9 .
[ 28 ] Chung-Chau Hon et al.
, “ Evidence of the Recombinant Origin of a Bat Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ( SARS ) -Like Coronavirus and Its Implications on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Journal of Virology 82 , no .
4 ( February 2008 ) : 1819–26 , https : //doi.org/10.1128/JVI.01926-07 ; Yang et al.
, “ Isolation and Characterization of a Novel Bat Coronavirus Closely Related to the Direct Progenitor of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus ” https : //doi.org/10.1128/JVI.02582-15 .
[ 29 ] Ben Hu et al.
, “ Discovery of a Rich Gene Pool of Bat SARS-Related Coronaviruses Provides New Insights into the Origin of SARS Coronavirus , ” PLoS Pathogens 13 , no .
11 ( November 2017 ) : e1006698 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Funding ” section for information on grant NIAID R01AI110964 .
[ 31 ] Lei-Ping Zeng et al.
, “ Bat Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Like Coronavirus WIV1 Encodes an Extra Accessory Protein , ORFX , Involved in Modulation of the Host Immune Response , ” Journal of Virology 90 , no .
14 ( 15 2016 ) : 6573–82 , https : //doi.org/10.1128/JVI.03079-15 .
[ 32 ] Yang et al.
, “ Isolation and Characterization of a Novel Bat Coronavirus Closely Related to the Direct Progenitor of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sarah Scoles , “ How Do We Know If a Virus Is Bioengineered ?
, ” Medium , August 5 , 2020 , https : //onezero.medium.com/how-do-we-know-if-a-virus-is-bioengineered-541ff6f8a48f .
[ 36 ] Hu et al.
, “ Discovery of a Rich Gene Pool of Bat SARS-Related Coronaviruses Provides New Insights into the Origin of SARS Coronavirus ” https : //doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1006698 .
[ 39 ] Betsy McKay , “ WSJ News Exclusive | NIH Presses U.S .
Nonprofit for Information on Wuhan Virology Lab , ” Wall Street Journal , August 19 , 2020 , sec @ @ @ @ @ @ @ [ 40 ] “ Doing Diligence to Assess the Risks and Benefits of Life Sciences Gain-of-Function Research , ” whitehouse.gov , October 17 , 2014 , https : //obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2014/10/17/doing-diligence-assess-risks-and-benefits-life-sciences-gain-function-research ; “ EcoHealth Alliance Funding ” https : //www.usaspending.gov/keyword_search/EcoHealth .
[ 41 ] Richard D. Henkel , Thomas Miller , and Robbin S. Weyant , “ Monitoring Select Agent Theft , Loss and Release Reports in the United States—2004–2010 , ” Applied Biosafety 17 , no .
4 ( December 1 , 2012 ) : 171–80 , https : //doi.org/10.1177/153567601201700402 ; “ Inside America @ @ @ @ @ @ @ //www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/05/28/biolabs-pathogens-location-incidents/26587505/ ; Young , “ Hundreds of Bioterror Lab Mishaps Cloaked in Secrecy ” https : //www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/17/reports-of-incidents-at-bioterror-select-agent-labs/14140483/ .
[ 42 ] M. M. Becker et al.
, “ Synthetic Recombinant Bat SARS-like Coronavirus Is Infectious in Cultured Cells and in Mice , ” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105 , no .
50 ( December 16 , 2008 ) : 19944–49 , https : //doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0808116105 ; Vineet D. Menachery et al.
, “ A SARS-like Cluster of Circulating Bat Coronaviruses Shows Potential for Human Emergence , ” Nature Medicine 21 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : 1508–13 , https : //doi.org/10.1038/nm.3985 .
[ 43 ] Hu et al.
, “ Discovery of a Rich Gene Pool of Bat SARS-Related Coronaviruses Provides New Insights into the Origin of SARS Coronavirus ” https : //doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1006698 .
[ 45 ] Paul Nuki and Sarah Newey , “ Scientists to Examine Possibility Covid Leaked from Lab as Part of Investigation into Virus Origins , ” The Telegraph , September 15 , 2020 , https : //www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/scientists-examine-possibility-covid-leaked-lab-part-investigation/ .
[ 47 ] Ge et al.
, “ Coexistence of Multiple Coronaviruses in Several Bat @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : //doi.org/10.1007/s12250-016-3713-9 .
[ 48 ] Zhan , Deverman , and Chan , “ SARS-CoV-2 Is Well Adapted for Humans .
What Does This Mean for Re-Emergence ?
” https : //doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.01.073262 .
[ 49 ] Jimmy Lee et al.
, “ No Evidence of Coronaviruses or Other Potentially Zoonotic Viruses in Sunda Pangolins ( Manis Javanica ) Entering the Wildlife Trade via Malaysia , ” BioRxiv , June 19 , 2020 , 2020.06.19.158717 , https : //doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.19.158717 .
[ 51 ] Hu et al.
, “ Discovery of a Rich Gene Pool @ @ @ @ @ @ @ into the Origin of SARS Coronavirus ” https : //doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1006698 ; Michael J. Selgelid , “ Gain-of-Function Research : Ethical Analysis , ” Science and Engineering Ethics 22 , no .
4 ( 2016 ) : 923–64 , https : //doi.org/10.1007/s11948-016-9810-1 .
[ 52 ] Nuki and Newey , “ Scientists to Examine Possibility Covid Leaked from Lab as Part of Investigation into Virus Origins .
”

CHD’s Letter to Congress Urging COVID-19 Origins Investigation
By: The Children’s health Desense Team
On October 6, Children’s Health Defense board chairman Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and president Lyn Redwood wrote to key members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives asking for a thorough Congressional investigation of the origins of the COVID-19 virus.
Please contact your Senators and Representatives urging them to ensure that a thorough investigation of COVID’s origins is launched immediately using our advocacy platform.
October 6, 2020
Children’s Health Defense
1227 N. Peachtree Pkwy, Suite 202
Peachtree City, GA 30269
Congressman Bill Posey
2150 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Congressman Posey,
Since it first emerged in China in November of last year, SARS-Cov-2 (COVID-19) has swept across the globe and ravaged communities throughout the United States. [1] The CDC reports that 209,560 Americans have died from COVID-19 as of today, October 6. [2] Millions of Americans have lost their jobs [3] and thousands of U.S. businesses have shut their doors permanently. [4] Our children have had their education and lives disrupted. This disease has reshaped our country.
We are writing to request that you fully investigate this matter of great importance to our nation and to the thousands of individuals and families who are members of Children’s Health Defense. You serve on the House Science, Space, & Technology Committee and these matters fall within the purview of your responsibilities on that Committee. You have the jurisdiction and the duty to lead these investigations, to bring greater understanding and transparency to what happened, and to help the nation.
Defeating this pandemic should be our first priority but we should not be reticent to also ask questions about the virus itself. As humans, we are driven to ask questions and explore the world around us. That is why we have gone to the moon, it’s how we discovered penicillin, and it’s why science continues to advance. This inquisitive spirit that leads us to ask questions and research the problems that we face is the underlying foundation of science, freedom of speech, democracy, and western philosophy.
“Consider this hypothetical scenario: an important gain-of-function experiment involving a virus with serious pandemic potential is performed in a well-regulated, world-class laboratory by experienced investigators, but the information from the experiment is then used by another scientist who does not have the same training and facilities and is not subject to the same regulations. In an unlikely but conceivable turn of events, what if that scientist becomes infected with the virus, which leads to an outbreak and ultimately triggers a pandemic?” [5]
These are not our words, but rather they are the words of Anthony Fauci, director of the NIAID, in a 2012 letter to the microbiology journal mBio advocating for gain-of-function experiments. Today, questions about the origin of COVID-19 have largely been dismissed without answers. We believe Dr. Fauci laid out a scenario eight years ago that deserves a full investigation today, particularly when you consider that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was doing the very type of research set forth in Dr. Fauci’s hypothetical scenario. [6]
It would be unthinkable to not investigate the causes leading up to and contributing to the circumstances around the Three Mile Island, [7] Chernobyl, [8] or Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accidents. [9] Is it not strange that we have so quickly moved past the origin of this pandemic? We have a virus that has led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people—mostly the elderly [10] – caused severe global economic damage, [11] and destroyed thousands of small businesses across America, [12] and there is little serious consideration as to where this virus originated. [13] Common sense says that we should do everything possible to understand exactly how this novel coronavirus pandemic came about so that we may take steps to ensure that it will not and cannot be repeated.
Some reputable scientists have raised the issue that the virus could have escaped from a lab as Dr. Fauci said was a possibility in 2012. [14] Others have suggested that COVID-19 was a natural result of contact between animals and humans. [15] That may indeed be the case; however, given the magnitude of the impact this pandemic has had on humankind, we need more than mere speculation or finger pointing about its origins. It is our duty to ourselves, to our children, and to humanity to seek out and discover the truth.
A virus escaping from a lab and leading to a pandemic is not just a hypothetical horror story; it is an historical reality—in 1977, the H1N1 flu reappeared in China and swept across the globe. [16] Scientists have identified this outbreak as the result of an escape from an unidentified lab. [17] Moreover, USA Today has done extensive reporting on other dangerous pathogens, including Ebola, SARS, and Anthrax, escaping from labs between 2004 and 2016. [18] More recently ProPublica has reported on the exposures of researchers to chimeric coronaviruses at the University of North Carolina. [19] The National Academy of Science and the Federal Select Agent Program have both documented the risks of research being done on highly dangerous pathogens. [20] Some of these escapes have involved viruses similar to SARS-CoV-2. [21] Fortunately, these escapes have rarely led to any infections, but we must take this investigation seriously because these pathogens represent some of the deadliest diseases humanity has encountered. [22] COVID 19 is the sentinel deadly warning of worse to come and we ignore its origins at our own peril.
COVID-19 first broke out in the city of Wuhan, in the shadow of the world’s leading coronavirus research lab, but the communist Chinese government originally labeled a neighboring wet market as the point of origin of the virus. [23] Investigations have shown that the virus started in the province as early as November 17th and that the market was only an early super spreader event. [24] The Huanan market in Wuhan is very far from the Yunnan province caves where similar coronaviruses were found but it is only a few miles from the Wuhan Institute of Virology which was performing coronavirus research on SARS-like viruses. [25]
In order to determine the cause of COVID 19, the first question to ask is “do we know what research the scientists conducted at the Wuhan Institute of Virology?” We can answer this question with information from grants provided to the Wuhan lab and its very own scientific publications.
The Wuhan Institute of Virology is a biosafety level-4 lab that has made its reputation studying infectious diseases, particularly coronaviruses similar to SARS. [26] In fact, because coronaviruses are endemic to bats, Zheng-Li Shi, the virologist directing coronavirus research, was nicknamed China’s “Bat Woman.” [27] As a part of their work, researchers in the Wuhan lab were engaged in engineering SARS-like viruses through what is known as “gain-of-function” coronavirus research. [28] We also know that U.S. taxpayer dollars through the National Institutes of Health were funding some of that work (see below, NIH grant NIAID R01AI110964 that was awarded in 2014 via a third party – EcoHealth Alliance in New York).[29] G ain-of-function research takes existing pathogens and tries to make them more dangerous for humans with the ultimate goal being to prepare vaccines and therapeutics to combat future emergent viruses. [30] The Wuhan Institute of Virology was combining and manipulating SARS-like coronaviruses in the hopes of better understanding how the original SARS pandemic came about and to prepare for new viruses that could emerge from bats. [31] In the course of this research they engineered new SARS-like viruses that were efficient at infecting humans cells through the same receptor that the SARS virus uses. [32] SARS-CoV-2 is this exact type of virus that Wuhan researchers were creating and storing. In fact, the closest relative of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is the RaTG13 virus which is studied and stored exclusively at the Wuhan Institute. [33] Moreover, Ralph Baric, a leading U.S. coronavirus researcher, has pointed out that it is possible to engineer a virus without leaving a trace. [34] He notes that SARS-CoV-2 was not engineered with any known published genetic information and that it is not possible to tell if it was engineered using an unpublished genetic sequence. [35]
In the November 30, 2017, issue of the medical journal PLOS Pathogens, Zheng-Li Shi and other Wuhan researchers describe how they constructed chimeric novel coronaviruses – that is new genetically-engineered coronaviruses by combining the genetic materials from various known coronaviruses. [36] They show in the paper that three of these chimeric coronaviruses were found to be easily transmitted in human cells. In other words, they were potentially highly infectious to humans. This paper also notes that it was partially funded by the 2014 U.S. National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) grant (R01Al110964) provided to New York-based EcoHealth Alliance. [37] A number of other federal grants, in the amount of $53 million, have been awarded to EcoHealth from various federal agencies over the past decade. [38] The Wall Street Journal has reported that the NIH recently demanded that EcoHealth turn over all of the information they have about the research resulting from their work relating to Wuhan and coronaviruses. [39] The US Congress and the American people have a right to know exactly what work their tax dollars supported in China. Even without China’s assistance, much of this information may be obtained in greater detail, and by subpoena if necessary, from quarterly and annual reports, emails, meetings, and phone communications by the grant program managers and involved staff at NIAID and EcoHealth both between themselves and Wuhan.
The timing of the 2014 grant has raised additional questions; it was awarded at the same time the United States was imposing a moratorium on gain-of-function research. [40] The NIH put this moratorium in place due to concerns of prior pathogen escapes from biosafety rated laboratories. [41] In 2015, University of North Carolina virologists, who had previously been studying coronaviruses, published a paper with researchers in Wuhan. [42] As noted in the paper, this work was funded by a grant awarded prior to the moratorium. These researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology later continued their work after the moratorium using grant money awarded to EcoHealth Alliance from NIAID. [43] The Wuhan Institute has performed groundbreaking studies of SARS and made tremendous gains in coronavirus research, but no lab is immune to safety failures or escapes. In fact, the Washington Post reported that 2018 internal State Department memos outlined serious concerns about safety lapses at the Wuhan lab. [44]
More recently, on September 15, the Telegraph reported that “an international team of scientists will examine the possibility SARS-CoV-2 leaked from a laboratory.” [45] The article also reports that the leader of this team will be Peter Daszak who is the President of EcoHealth Alliance which funded gain-of-function coronavirus research in the same Wuhan lab that he is being called to investigate. [46] While Dr. Daszak is a well-respected expert on emerging infectious diseases, there are clear conflicts of interest that must be addressed.
Given the destruction that this COVID-19 pandemic has caused, and the various issues raised above, the American people who have been harmed deserve a thorough investigation into the origins of this virus. There are many questions that the American people, the US Congress, our children and our parents deserve answers to. Among them are:
Did COVID-19 evolve naturally and if so, how did it so readily infect the human population?
If it evolved naturally, why did the outbreak occur more than 1,000 miles from where similar strains of bat coronaviruses are found in Yunnan caves? [47]
The original SARS virus rapidly mutated after it entered the human population in 2002 and only stopped late in the pandemic but, from the beginning, SARS-CoV-2 (the COVID-19 virus) has remained very genetically stable in human populations suggesting a unique adaptation to the human host and transmission. What are likely explanations for this stability? [48]
Though scientists initially suspected that pangolins were the intermediate host, that theory has been rejected; what other intermediate hosts explain the virus’ adaptation to human transmission that has made it so dangerous? [49]
Why, of all places, did the outbreak occur in the shadow of the Wuhan lab where coronavirus research was being conducted, if the outbreak and the lab have no connection?
Did COVID-19 escape from the Wuhan lab? If so:
How did this happen?
What were the lab failures or safety protocols that were violated?
What measures can be taken to ensure that there is never again a pandemic with lab origins?
Could COVID-19 be the result of gain-of-function research? And, if so:
Are there are other coronaviruses, being held at the Wuhan Institute of Virology or elsewhere, that are more similar to SARS-CoV-2 than RaTG13 is?
Has the Wuhan lab made all of the coronavirus genomes that it has sequenced publicly available for the scientific community to study?
What did officials at NIH, NIAID, EcoHealth Alliance and other U.S. entities know about the details of the gain-of-function research taking place at the Wuhan lab?
Do the NIH, NIAID, EcoHealth Alliance or anyone associated with these organizations know any details related to the possible origins of COVID-19 that have not been shared with the American people?
Should U.S. taxpayer money have been provided to the Wuhan lab given the safety protocol issues highlighted in U.S. government documents and U.S. newspaper reporting? [50]
Did the NIH funding of gain-of-function research in Wuhan in 2014-2019 violate the letter or spirit of the U.S. moratorium on gain-of-function research that was put in place in 2014?
Was the R01Al110964 grant from NIH to EcoHealth Alliance orchestrated in such a manner that it was intended to circumvent the U.S. moratorium on gain-of-function research? Were US government officials aware of the use of this grant for gain-of-function research in spite of the funding pause?
Did any other U.S. government grants to EcoHealth aid the gain-of-function research taking place at the Wuhan lab? A lab that was involved in very risky “gain-of-function” [51]
We are not suggesting malintent. Indeed, nobody at the Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, or Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facilities meant for a dangerous radiation leak to happen. Harm and malevolence arise from silencing those who are demanding answers or failing to investigate the pandemic’s origin, mistakes made, and how best to prevent future events from recurring. For most people currently alive, COVID-19 is the greatest destructive event of their lifetime, and is a defining time point in world history. China, by the nature of its communist political system, cannot be relied on to thoroughly investigate this matter. It falls upon the leadership of the U.S. Congress to accept its moral duty and God-given and legally pre-ordained responsibility to launch complete and transparent investigations. The grants and publications which show that U.S.-funded coronavirus gain-of-function research was taking place at Wuhan are public and cannot be ignored forever. If we do nothing, history will hold us and our system of government accountable.
We trust that you, your office, and the House Science, Space, & Technology Committee will take the steps necessary for a full and thorough investigation into the issues of the origin of the virus. The Lancet COVID-19 Commission, which chose Daszak to lead their investigation into the origins of the virus, cannot be trusted to effectively eliminate conflicts of interest from their investigation. [52] This shows the need for an independent investigation by the leaders that we have elected to guide us through crises such as these. This investigation must begin in earnest and with haste.
Please review the linked (attached) documents which substantiate the issues raised.
Sincerely,
Robert Kennedy, Jr., Chairman
Children’s Health Defense
Lyn Redwood, RN, MSN, President
Children’s Health Defense
Cc: Senator Rand Paul, Senator Tom Cotton, Senator Ron Johnson, Senator Josh Hawley, U.S. Representative Jim Jordan, U.S. Representative Carolyn Maloney, U.S. Representative James Comer
References:
[1] “Updated Estimates of the Impact of COVID-19 on Global Poverty,” World Bank, accessed September 14, 2020, https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/updated-estimates-impact-covid-19-global-poverty. [2] CDC, “Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the U.S.,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, March 28, 2020, https://www.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker. [3] “Impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic on The Employment Situation for August 2020: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics,” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, accessed September 14, 2020, https://www.bls.gov/covid19/employment-situation-covid19-faq-august-2020.htm. [4] “Yelp: Local Economic Impact Report,” Yelp Economic Impact Report, accessed September 14, 2020, https://www.yelpeconomicaverage.com/yelp-coronavirus-economic-impact-report. [5] Anthony S. Fauci, “Research on Highly Pathogenic H5N1 Influenza Virus: The Way Forward,” MBio 3, no. 5 (October 9, 2012), https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.00359-12. [6] Xing-Lou Yang et al., “Isolation and Characterization of a Novel Bat Coronavirus Closely Related to the Direct Progenitor of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus,” Journal of Virology 90, no. 6 (December 30, 2015): 3253–56, https://doi.org/10.1128/JVI.02582-15. [7] “NRC: Backgrounder on the Three Mile Island Accident,” United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, accessed September 14, 2020, https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/3mile-isle.html. [8] “NRC: Backgrounder on Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Accident,” United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, accessed September 14, 2020, https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/chernobyl-bg.html. [9] “NRC: Backgrounder on NRC Response to Lessons Learned from Fukushima,” United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, accessed September 14, 2020, https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/japan-events.html. [10] “COVID-19 Provisional Counts – Weekly Updates by Select Demographic and Geographic Characteristics,” CDC Provisional Counts, September 9, 2020, https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm. [11] “Coronavirus: The Economic Impact – 10 July 2020 | UNIDO,” accessed September 14, 2020, https://www.unido.org/stories/coronavirus-economic-impact-10-july-2020#story-start. [12] “Yelp: Economic Impact Report” https://www.yelpeconomicaverage.com/yelp-coronavirus-economic-impact-report. [13] Though written and published very early in the pandemic the following article by Andersen et al. remains the only significant investigation into the origins of SARS-CoV-2: Kristian G. Andersen et al., “The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2,” Nature Medicine 26, no. 4 (April 2020): 450–52, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-0820-9. [14] Shing Hei Zhan, Benjamin E. Deverman, and Yujia Alina Chan, “SARS-CoV-2 Is Well Adapted for Humans. What Does This Mean for Re-Emergence?,” BioRxiv, May 2, 2020, 2020.05.01.073262, https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.01.073262; Jean Claude Perez and Luc Montagnier, “COVID-19, SARS and Bats Coronaviruses Genomes Unexpected Exogenous RNA Sequences,” n.d., 39 https://osf.io/d9e5g/; “Could COVID-19 Have Escaped from a Lab?,” Boston Magazine, September 9, 2020, https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2020/09/09/alina-chan-broad-institute-coronavirus/. [15] Andersen et al., “The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2” https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-0820-9. [16] H. C. Kung et al., “Influenza in China in 1977: Recurrence of Influenzavirus A Subtype H1N1,” Bulletin of the World Health Organization 56, no. 6 (1978): 1. [17] Michelle Rozo and Gigi Kwik Gronvall, “The Reemergent 1977 H1N1 Strain and the Gain-of-Function Debate,” MBio 6, no. 4 (September 1, 2015): 1, https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.01013-15; Joel O. Wertheim, “The Re-Emergence of H1N1 Influenza Virus in 1977: A Cautionary Tale for Estimating Divergence Times Using Biologically Unrealistic Sampling Dates,” PLOS ONE 5, no. 6 (June 17, 2010): 1, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0011184 [18] Alison Young, “Hundreds of Bioterror Lab Mishaps Cloaked in Secrecy,” USA TODAY, accessed September 14, 2020, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/17/reports-of-incidents-at-bioterror-select-agent-labs/14140483/; “Inside America’s Secretive Biolabs,” USA TODAY, accessed September 14, 2020, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/05/28/biolabs-pathogens-location-incidents/26587505/; Alison Young, “Hundreds of Safety Incidents with Bioterror Germs Reported by Secretive Labs,” USA TODAY, accessed September 14, 2020, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/06/30/lab-safety-transparency-report/86577070/. [19] Jessica Blake and Alison Young, “Here Are Six Accidents UNC Researchers Had With Lab-Created Coronaviruses,” ProPublica, accessed September 14, 2020, https://www.propublica.org/article/here-are-six-accidents-unc-researchers-had-with-lab-created-coronaviruses. [20] Board on Life Sciences et al., Gain-of-Function Research: Summary of the Second Symposium, March 10-11, 2016, ed. Piers Millett et al. (Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 2016), https://doi.org/10.17226/23484; Alison Hottes, Benjamin Rusek, and Fran Sharples, Biosecurity Challenges of the Global Expansion of High-Containment Biological Laboratories (Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 2012), https://doi.org/10.17226/13315; “Federal Select Agent Program – Select Agents and Toxins List,” accessed September 14, 2020, https://www.selectagents.gov/SelectAgentsandToxinsList.html. [21] Several of the outbreaks at UNC involved SARS-associated coronaviruses and one exposure in April 2020 was to lab-adapted SARS-CoV-2. Blake and Young, “UNC Accidents with Lab-Created Coronaviruses” https://www.propublica.org/article/near-misses-at-unc-chapel-hills-high-security-lab-illustrate-risk-of-accidents-with-coronaviruses “Six Accidents UNC Researchers Had” https://www.propublica.org/article/here-are-six-accidents-unc-researchers-had-with-lab-created-coronaviruses [22] “Federal Select Agent Program – Select Agents and Toxins List.” https://www.selectagents.gov/SelectAgentsandToxinsList.html. [23] “Seafood Market Closed after Outbreak of ‘Unidentified’ Pneumonia – Global Times,” accessed September 14, 2020, https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1175369.shtml. [24] “Wuhan’s Huanan Seafood Market a Victim of COVID-19: CDC Director – Global Times,” accessed September 14, 2020, https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1189506.shtml; “China’s First Confirmed Covid-19 Case Traced Back to November 17,” South China Morning Post, March 13, 2020, https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3074991/coronavirus-chinas-first-confirmed-covid-19-case-traced-back. [25] Xing-Yi Ge et al., “Coexistence of Multiple Coronaviruses in Several Bat Colonies in an Abandoned Mineshaft,” Virologica Sinica 31, no. 1 (February 2016): 31–40, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12250-016-3713-9. [26] “Wuhan Institute of Virology,” accessed September 14, 2020, http://english.whiov.cas.cn/. [27] Jon Cohen, “Wuhan Coronavirus Hunter Shi Zhengli Speaks Out,” Science 369, no. 6503 (July 31, 2020): 487–88, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.369.6503.487. [28] Chung-Chau Hon et al., “Evidence of the Recombinant Origin of a Bat Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)-Like Coronavirus and Its Implications on the Direct Ancestor of SARS Coronavirus,” Journal of Virology 82, no. 4 (February 2008): 1819–26, https://doi.org/10.1128/JVI.01926-07; Yang et al., “Isolation and Characterization of a Novel Bat Coronavirus Closely Related to the Direct Progenitor of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus” https://doi.org/10.1128/JVI.02582-15. [29] Ben Hu et al., “Discovery of a Rich Gene Pool of Bat SARS-Related Coronaviruses Provides New Insights into the Origin of SARS Coronavirus,” PLoS Pathogens 13, no. 11 (November 2017): e1006698, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1006698. See the “Funding” section for information on grant NIAID R01AI110964. [30] Board on Life Sciences et al., Gain-of-Function Researchhttps://doi.org/10.17226/23484. [31] Lei-Ping Zeng et al., “Bat Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Like Coronavirus WIV1 Encodes an Extra Accessory Protein, ORFX, Involved in Modulation of the Host Immune Response,” Journal of Virology 90, no. 14 (15 2016): 6573–82, https://doi.org/10.1128/JVI.03079-15. [32] Yang et al., “Isolation and Characterization of a Novel Bat Coronavirus Closely Related to the Direct Progenitor of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus.” https://doi.org/10.1128/JVI.02582-15. [33] Andersen et al., “The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2” https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-0820-9. [34] “Possibile creare un virus in laboratorio senza lasciare traccia? La risposta dell’autore della chimera del 2015 di cui parlò Tg Leonardo,” L’HuffPost, September 14, 2020, https://www.huffingtonpost.it/entry/e-possibile-creare-un-virus-in-laboratorio-senza-lasciare-traccia-la-risposta-dellesperto_it_5f5f3993c5b62874bc1f7339. [35] Sarah Scoles, “How Do We Know If a Virus Is Bioengineered?,” Medium, August 5, 2020, https://onezero.medium.com/how-do-we-know-if-a-virus-is-bioengineered-541ff6f8a48f. [36] Hu et al., “Discovery of a Rich Gene Pool of Bat SARS-Related Coronaviruses Provides New Insights into the Origin of SARS Coronavirus” https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1006698. [37] Peter Daszak, “Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence,” GrantToMe, accessed September 14, 2020, https://grantome.com/grant/NIH/R01-AI110964-06. [38] “EcoHealth Alliance Funding,” accessed September 14, 2020, https://www.usaspending.gov/keyword_search/EcoHealth. [39] Betsy McKay, “WSJ News Exclusive | NIH Presses U.S. Nonprofit for Information on Wuhan Virology Lab,” Wall Street Journal, August 19, 2020, sec. US, https://www.wsj.com/articles/nih-presses-u-s-nonprofit-for-information-on-wuhan-virology-lab-11597829400. [40] “Doing Diligence to Assess the Risks and Benefits of Life Sciences Gain-of-Function Research,” whitehouse.gov, October 17, 2014, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2014/10/17/doing-diligence-assess-risks-and-benefits-life-sciences-gain-function-research; “EcoHealth Alliance Funding” https://www.usaspending.gov/keyword_search/EcoHealth. [41] Richard D. Henkel, Thomas Miller, and Robbin S. Weyant, “Monitoring Select Agent Theft, Loss and Release Reports in the United States—2004–2010,” Applied Biosafety 17, no. 4 (December 1, 2012): 171–80, https://doi.org/10.1177/153567601201700402; “Inside America’s Secretive Biolabs” https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/05/28/biolabs-pathogens-location-incidents/26587505/; Young, “Hundreds of Bioterror Lab Mishaps Cloaked in Secrecy” https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/17/reports-of-incidents-at-bioterror-select-agent-labs/14140483/. [42] M. M. Becker et al., “Synthetic Recombinant Bat SARS-like Coronavirus Is Infectious in Cultured Cells and in Mice,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105, no. 50 (December 16, 2008): 19944–49, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0808116105; Vineet D. Menachery et al., “A SARS-like Cluster of Circulating Bat Coronaviruses Shows Potential for Human Emergence,” Nature Medicine 21, no. 12 (December 2015): 1508–13, https://doi.org/10.1038/nm.3985. [43] Hu et al., “Discovery of a Rich Gene Pool of Bat SARS-Related Coronaviruses Provides New Insights into the Origin of SARS Coronavirus” https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1006698. [44] Josh Rogin, “Opinion | State Department Cables Warned of Safety Issues at Wuhan Lab Studying Bat Coronaviruses,” Washington Post, accessed July 31, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/14/state-department-cables-warned-safety-issues-wuhan-lab-studying-bat-coronaviruses/; “State Department FOIA Results,” accessed September 15, 2020, https://foia.state.gov/Search/Results.aspx?caseNumber=F-2020-05255. [45] Paul Nuki and Sarah Newey, “Scientists to Examine Possibility Covid Leaked from Lab as Part of Investigation into Virus Origins,” The Telegraph, September 15, 2020, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/scientists-examine-possibility-covid-leaked-lab-part-investigation/. [46] “Dr. Peter Daszak,” EcoHealth Alliance, accessed September 30, 2020, https://www.ecohealthalliance.org/personnel/dr-peter-daszak. [47] Ge et al., “Coexistence of Multiple Coronaviruses in Several Bat Colonies in an Abandoned Mineshaft” https://doi.org/10.1007/s12250-016-3713-9. [48] Zhan, Deverman, and Chan, “SARS-CoV-2 Is Well Adapted for Humans. What Does This Mean for Re-Emergence?” https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.01.073262. [49] Jimmy Lee et al., “No Evidence of Coronaviruses or Other Potentially Zoonotic Viruses in Sunda Pangolins (Manis Javanica) Entering the Wildlife Trade via Malaysia,” BioRxiv, June 19, 2020, 2020.06.19.158717, https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.19.158717. [50] “EcoHealth Alliance Funding” https://www.usaspending.gov/keyword_search/EcoHealth. [51] Hu et al., “Discovery of a Rich Gene Pool of Bat SARS-Related Coronaviruses Provides New Insights into the Origin of SARS Coronavirus” https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1006698; Michael J. Selgelid, “Gain-of-Function Research: Ethical Analysis,” Science and Engineering Ethics 22, no. 4 (2016): 923–64, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-016-9810-1. [52] Nuki and Newey, “Scientists to Examine Possibility Covid Leaked from Lab as Part of Investigation into Virus Origins.”
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thelibertybeacon--2020-10-22--Starmer: If Boris Goes, Is This All There Is? Rock and a Hard Place

The Washington Post , the publication that brought to light ‘ The Watergate scandal , ’ revealed to its American readers a conspiracy that shook a nation .
The same newspaper also brought to light the truth about the Trilateral Commission , an organisation with dark connections to what ’ s termed the ‘ Deep State , ’ the title of that publication being : Behind closed doors , they meet hidden away .
Some call them “ the shadow government , ” “ the Establishment , ” the “ global elite ” that runs the world .
There are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Commission , a 47-year-old organisation that helps in making them easy work .
They range from anti-democratic , anti-Christian or anti-worker , and that it is scheming ultimately to abolish the sovereignty of nations and establish one-world government !
However , sometimes you don ’ t need conspiracy theories because the truth is far more shocking .
Most reporters/journalists or commentators tend not to explore or bring to light anything remotely conspiratorial .
It ruins reputations and allows others the ability to scorn at the readership .
Real investigative journalism died a very @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are spoon fed directly from the ‘ fourth estate ‘ for the mainstream our views are channelled directed and manipulated .
George Orwell writes : “ If publishers and editors exert themselves to keep certain topics out of print , it is not because they are frightened of prosecution but because they are frightened of public opinion.
” In this country , intellectual cowardice is the worst enemy a writer or journalist has to face , and that fact does not seem to me to have had the discussion it deserves .
It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 4 decades , mainstream media has been consolidated from dozens of competing companies to only six .
Hundreds of channels , websites , news outlets , newspapers , and magazines , making up ninety percent of all media is controlled by very few people—giving people the illusion of choice .
But in the interest of democracy , we should always have an informed society .
Almost every democratic theorist or democratic political actor sees an informed electorate as essential to good democratic practice .
Citizens need to know who or what they are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to represent us , and who and what their associations are .
The very reason we have a members ’ interests bill .
It should , therefore , be very concerning when we find that the Labour Party Leader is a member of an organisation that believes that we the people have too much freedom , too much democracy .
An organisation that believes the working class , the masses should be removed from any democratic process , leaving the issues of democracy and government to the Elite , the establishment .
It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ members to understand that Sir Keir Starmer is a member of such an organisation , a very powerful undemocratic organisation that advocates a ‘ New World Order , ‘ one in which the people ’ s role in government and democracy is greatly reduced .
The foundations of a new world order In 1973 , David Rockefeller and Zbigniew Brzezinski founded the Trilateral Commission .
Involving highly influential people from business and politics in the US , Western Europe , and Japan , the Commission was soon perceived as constituting an embryonic or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ governance and body of international diplomacy should be considered a product of overlapping elite networks that merge informal and formal spheres across national borders .
An organisation that was created to spread neoliberal free-market values across the globe , that now finds itself having to recreate its form and mission to manage the spread of nationalism , populism and protectionism , all of which they vehemently oppose .
Critics accuse the Commission of promoting a global consensus among the international ruling classes in order to manage international affairs in the interest of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ umbrella .
Preposterous , say members of the Trilateral Commission .
It is merely a “ discussion group ” on world affairs , composed of high-level corporate and public-policy types from North America , Western Europe and Japan .
The commission seeks only to promote international cooperation , for the betterment of everybody .
Nothing sinister .
Its annual reports and task force papers are available for the public to read .
Its membership list isn ’ t secret .
Just ask and the commission will send you stuff .
Anyone who can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ York phone number .
Still , plenty of ordinary , educated people have no idea what the Trilateral Commission is or what it does , even though its former members include some very prominent people including US presidents Jimmy Carter , George Bush and Bill Clinton , to name but a few .
The Trilateral Commission is led by three regional chairs for Europe , North America and the Asia-Pacific regions .
The regional chairs have several deputies and an executive committee .
The entire membership meets annually in rotating locations to consider @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and national meetings are held throughout the year .
Regional headquarters are in Washington , D.C. , Paris and Tokyo .
The Trilateral Commission wields its power economically and politically .
It is sometimes considered a “ rich men ’ s club ” with few women members .
The Trilateral Commission espouses support for private enterprise , economic freedom and stronger collective management of global problems .
Its members include influential current politicians , banking and business executives , media , civic , and intellectual leaders and several union chiefs .
The Trilateral @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the G7 summits between the leaders of the world ’ s largest economies .
Members have held key positions in U.S. administrations and in the governments of other member countries .
1 .
What power have you got ?
2 .
Where did you get it from ?
3 .
In whose interest do you exercise it ?
4 .
To whom are you accountable ?
5 .
How can we get rid of you ?
” — Tony Benn Sir Keir Starmer seems to be doing a good job at pitching @ @ @ @ @ @ @ He and his supporters claim he will “ unite the party ” while making a point to emphasise his so-called “ Left-wing credentials ” .
You may hear that in his twenties he edited a Trotskyist magazine .
Or that he was the defence barrister for the miners out on strike in 1984/5 .
That he stood alongside McDonalds ’ workers on picket lines .
But there is one association Sir Kier Starmer and his supporters are not talking about… .
The Trilateral Commission , of which Starmer is a member .
Other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ such as AT & T and ITT .
Oil companies such as Mobil and Exxon , but also the top C.E.Os of the Chase Manhattan Bank , First Chicago Corp , General Electric , TRW , Archer Daniels Midland , Pepsi , RJR Nabisco , Nissan , Toshiba , Fuji Bank and Goldman Sachs .
Starmer ’ s name first appeared on the membership list of the Trilateral Commission in April 2019 .
Out of 650 MP ’ s , he was the only one invited to become a member .
These perhaps @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sir Keir would see as an ideal photo opportunity , to be used in his campaign highlighting his “ lefty credentials ” .
What we have is Sir Keir Starmer as part of an organisation that Holly Sklar , who edited a book on the organisation entitled “ Trilateralism : The Trilateral Commission and Elite Planning for World Management ” , identifies as the commission that “ represents the interests of multinational corporations and banks ” .
This means it is contrary to the interests of so-called ‘ non-developed ’ countries and workers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ kept low .
It wants voters kept apathetic and polarised .
Sklar states that the Trilateral Commission is not a “ conspiracy ” and is not “ omnipotent… But that doesn ’ t mean it ’ s not influential.
” And the Commission set out to economically “ co-opt ” OPEC to persuade the Saudis to put their petrodollars into Western banks and to purchase Western arms , rather than investing in the ‘ developing ’ world .
How elites on both sides of the political spectrum have undermined our social , political @ @ @ @ @ @ @ says the Trilateral Commission ’ s aim is to bring about a moderation in democracy to allow only the elite to vote .
A backwards step in democracy and the working class movement .
Social critic and academic Noam Chomsky has criticised the Commission as undemocratic , pointing to its publication The Crisis of Democracy , which describes the strong popular interest in politics during the 1970s as an “ excess of democracy ” .
Chomsky described it as one of the most interesting and insightful books showing the modern democratic system not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but controlled by elites .
Two documents came out right in the mid- ’ 70s , which are quite important .
They came from opposite ends of the political spectrum , both influential , and both reached the same conclusions .
One of them , at the left end , was by the Trilateral Commission—liberal internationalists of three major industrial countries , and basically the Carter administration .
That is the more interesting one [ The Crisis of Democracy , a Trilateral Commission report ] .
The American rapporteur Samuel Huntington of Harvard @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when , as he put it , Truman was able to run the country with the cooperation of a few Wall Street lawyers and executives .
Then everything was fine .
Democracy was perfect .
But in the ’ 60s they all agreed it became problematic because the special interests started trying to get into the act , and that causes too much pressure and the state can ’ t handle that .
We have to have more moderation in democracy .
“ The cure for democracy is more democracy.
” He said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this democracy is less democracy.
” This is the liberal establishment .
This is a consensus view of the liberal internationalists and the three industrial democracies .
They—in their consensus—concluded that a major problem is what they called , in their words , “ the institutions responsible for the indoctrination of the young.
” The schools , the universities and churches are not doing their job .
They ’ re not indoctrinating the young properly .
The young have to be returned to passivity and obedience , and then democracy will be fine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Now , what do you have at the right end ?
A very influential document , the Powell Memorandum , came out at the same time .
Lewis Powell , a corporate lawyer , later Supreme Court justice , produced a confidential memorandum for the US Chamber of Commerce , which has been extremely influential .
It more or less set off the modern so-called “ conservative movement.
” The rhetoric is kind of crazy .
We won ’ t go through it , but the basic picture is that this rampaging @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have to use the resources that we have to beat back this rampaging New Left , which is undermining freedom and democracy .
Connected with this was something else .
As a result of the activism of the ’ 60s and the militancy of labor , there was a falling rate of profit .
That ’ s not acceptable .
So we have to reverse the falling rate of profit , we have to undermine democratic participation , so what comes next ?
Neoliberalism , which achieves exactly those results .
Chomsky says @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , they “ let their hair down ” and talked about how the public needs to be reduced to its proper state of apathy and obedience .
Essentially liberal internationalists from Europe , Japan and the United States , the liberal wing of the intellectual elite .
The Trilateral Commission are concerned with trying to induce what they call a “ more moderation in democracy ” —turn people back to passivity and obedience so they don ’ t put so many constraints on state power and so on .
In particular , they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are concerned about the institutions responsible for the indoctrination of the young ( that ’ s their phrase ) , meaning schools , universities , church and so on—they ’ re not doing their job , [ the young are ] not being sufficiently indoctrinated .
They ’ re too free to pursue their own initiatives and concerns and you ’ ve got to control them better .
An example of Government influence Barack Obama appointed eleven members of the Trilateral Commission to top-level and key positions in his administration within his first @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a very narrow source of international leadership inside the Obama administration , with a core agenda that is not necessarily in support of working people in the United States .
Obama was groomed for the presidency by key members of the Trilateral Commission .
Most notably , Zbigniew Brzezinski , co-founder of the Trilateral Commission with David Rockefeller in 1973 , has been Obama ’ s principal foreign policy advisor .
According to official Trilateral Commission membership lists , there are only eighty-seven members from the United States ( the other 337 members @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , within two weeks of his inauguration , Obama ’ s appointments encompassed more than 12 percent of Commission ’ s entire US membership .
Trilateralist Brent Scowcroft has been an unofficial advisor to Obama and was mentor to Defense Secretary Robert Gates .
And Robert Zoelick , current president of the World Bank appointed during the G.W .
Bush administration , is a member .
Jason Cridland and David Hitchen from the Dorset Eye write : In 2019 the Commission published a report with the express aim of becoming more en vogue @ @ @ @ @ @ @ right-wing neoconservative governments and parties has meant that the free market has come under attack .
Neoliberalism and neoconservatism was always a contradiction ( as Thatcherism and Reaganism found out ) and the lurch to the political right has had a negative effect upon the ideals of the economic right .
The Trilateral Commission has sought to reinvent its doctrine in the face of increasing suspicion , certainly of globalisation and its impacts upon nation-states but also in cases in which some people have become increasingly aware of the deep state in which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund ( IMF ) are significant parts .
To add to their problems , there are those whose behaviour could somewhat tarnish their already suspect reputations , including amongst the most prominent Jeffrey Epstein , former hedge fund manager and convicted sex-trafficker Birds of a feather , flock together.
’ It is almost certain that some current and former members of the elitist Trilateral Commission who participated in Epstein ’ s follies are likely very nervous that he would ‘ flip ’ and expose their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ This , of course , has now been ‘ avoided ’ as Jeffrey Epstein ‘ officially ’ took his own life in August 2019 .
LINK Let ’ s take a closer look at Mr. Epstein .
One of the most surprising things about Epstein is that he was a member of some of the most powerful and influential groups in the US .
He was a member of : Aside from Clinton , who are the people that Epstein was associated with ?
Powerful associates , including Bill Clinton , Donald @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their conduct scrutinised in the wake of the ongoing scandal .
Mr Mandelson , who was friends with Epstein ’ s former lover Ghislaine Maxwell , was staying on the island of Saint Barthelemy when the pictures were taken .
But it is suggested the two may have met on other occasions .
In 2011 , Virginia Roberts – who claims she was a sex slave to Epstein – said that she was introduced to Mr Mandelson at a dinner party at the financier ’ s house in New York .
She said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ knowing Tony Blair , but he did know Peter Mandelson .
I remember him being at the house in New York and I was introduced to him at a dinner party .
One of Britain ’ s most powerful politicians wasn ’ t afraid to phone Jeffery Epstein looking for a favor — even while the pedophile was behind bars for sex crimes , according to a new documentary .
A new “ Dispatches ” documentary set to air on Britain ’ s Channel 4 Monday claims Lord Peter Mandelson was Labour Business @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — then cooling his heels in a Florida jail after pleading to procuring an underage prostitute — trying to arrange a meeting with the boss of JP Morgan bank , according to The Sun .
The pedo and the politician were seemingly so close that Epstein even had a pet name for the UK cabinet member — calling him “ Petie , ” according to the report .
LINK “ I must say I was astonished that a British Cabinet minister at that time , probably the most powerful man other than the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ jail , ” a friend of Epstein ’ s who revealed the call told the documentary .
Here are some of the people that have current ( past ) membership in elite organizations .
Members of all three ( CFR , Trilateral , Trilateral N.A . )
include : Democracy has to be about more than just casting a vote .
An informed society creates a better more open democracy .
A democracy that does not have an informed public is destined to decay .
Unjust legislation would be passed , laws would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fall to corruption .
ER : Which is exactly what we are seeing with the state of the UK Parliament , a state of affairs that Keir Starmer is doing nothing to rectify , as he incites his MPs not to vote against the government , effectively rubber stamping the elite-driven agenda behind Boris .
See the articles we linked to in the introduction .
Published to The Liberty Beacon from EuropeReloaded.com

In reality, anyone who is prepared to humiliate themselves and listen to a moral entrepreneur lecture them about their bias and unwitting racism can pass their unconscious bias training.
All you have to do is nod your head, acknowledge that you, along with all white people, are unwittingly racist and confess to a time when you used your white privilege, and you will get your course certificate. As Starmer no doubt understands, what’s important about the ritual of unconscious bias training is your willingness to participate and subjugate yourself to a few hours of humiliation.
It is the woke equivalent of an old-fashioned confessional. A willingness to be humiliated indicates that you are prepared to be reborn as a re-educated white person. It is not a particularly expensive ritual and in return you are rewarded with a certificate that indicates that you are a person of virtue.
It is a symptom of the moral disorientation of the British establishment that they feel compelled to demonstrate their willingness to be trained out of their biases. Recently, it was announced that MPs will be made to take anti-racist training at work in parliament. At a time when the nation struggles to deal with a pandemic and the economy is in ruins, our members of parliament will line up like like naughty pupils line up to acknowledge their unconscious biases!
While some MPs have been hesitant to show up at a training course, Starmer has beaten them to the punch. He had an early lead over the rest because Starmer boasted back in early July that he would sign up for unconscious bias training at the first opportunity. He stated:
‘I think everybody should have unconscious bias training. I think it is important. There is always the risk of unconscious bias and just saying ‘Oh well it probably applies to other people, not me’ is not the right thing to do.’
He also added that that he was going to introduce unconscious bias training for all the officials in his party. And to underline his enthusiasm, Starmer declared: “I’m going to lead from the top on this and do that training first.”
Starmer’s enthusiasm for training was provoked by his concern that unless he did something to demonstrate he was on the side of the angels, his anti-racist credentials would be questioned by his woke supporters.
Just before he showed his willingness to sign up for the first available training course, he made the unpardonable error of describing the Black Lives Matter protests as a ‘moment.’ He later tried to correct himself by saying that he had meant to describe the movement as a “defining moment” and was not suggesting it was a “fleeting moment[ii].
However, Starmer’s half-hearted apology was not good enough. Labour MP Florence Eshalomi stated that his ‘choice of words [was] wrong,’ and it was only a matter of time before an army of race entrepreneurs would jump on the bandwagon and denounce the Labour leader’s unwitting racism. Heading for the re-education class was his way of asking for forgiveness. No doubt when he arrived and was instructed to jump, his response was ‘how high?’
So what is this unconscious bias that white people need to be trained out of? Unconscious bias is the original sin of white people. It implies that even if you think you are anti-racist, you are not free from your unconscious biases. Race entrepreneurs argue that they know better than you what is really going on inside your head. Therefore, it does not matter what your think or say, they get to decide what’s on your mind. And their aim is to control how you should think and express yourself.
The promotion of unconscious bias workshops has nothing to do with fighting real racism. It is about indoctrination and mind control. It might seem like a harmless exercise of playing along with the demands of woke culture. But the institutionalization of these workshops calls into question your right to think for yourself. And that’s a truly dangerous development.
Source
********
The Washington Post, the publication that brought to light ‘The Watergate scandal,’ revealed to its American readers a conspiracy that shook a nation. The same newspaper also brought to light the truth about the Trilateral Commission, an organisation with dark connections to what’s termed the ‘Deep State,’ the title of that publication being:
Behind closed doors, they meet hidden away. Some call them “the shadow government,” “the Establishment,” the “global elite” that runs the world.
They call themselves simply …
‘The Trilateral Commission’
There are plenty of conspiracy theories about the Trilateral Commission, a 47-year-old organisation that helps in making them easy work. They range from anti-democratic, anti-Christian or anti-worker, and that it is scheming ultimately to abolish the sovereignty of nations and establish one-world government! However, sometimes you don’t need conspiracy theories because the truth is far more shocking.
BEWARE THE TRILATERAL COMMISSION!
Most reporters/journalists or commentators tend not to explore or bring to light anything remotely conspiratorial. It ruins reputations and allows others the ability to scorn at the readership. Real investigative journalism died a very long time ago. Today, we are spoon fed directly from the ‘fourth estate‘ for the mainstream our views are channelled directed and manipulated.
George Orwell writes: “If publishers and editors exert themselves to keep certain topics out of print, it is not because they are frightened of prosecution but because they are frightened of public opinion.” In this country, intellectual cowardice is the worst enemy a writer or journalist has to face, and that fact does not seem to me to have had the discussion it deserves.
It is no secret that over the last 4 decades, mainstream media has been consolidated from dozens of competing companies to only six. Hundreds of channels, websites, news outlets, newspapers, and magazines, making up ninety percent of all media is controlled by very few people—giving people the illusion of choice.
But in the interest of democracy, we should always have an informed society. Almost every democratic theorist or democratic political actor sees an informed electorate as essential to good democratic practice. Citizens need to know who or what they are voting for, who we are choosing to represent us, and who and what their associations are. The very reason we have a members’ interests bill.
It should, therefore, be very concerning when we find that the Labour Party Leader is a member of an organisation that believes that we the people have too much freedom, too much democracy.
An organisation that believes the working class, the masses should be removed from any democratic process, leaving the issues of democracy and government to the Elite, the establishment.
It is therefore incumbent on all Labour Party members to understand that Sir Keir Starmer is a member of such an organisation, a very powerful undemocratic organisation that advocates a ‘New World Order,‘ one in which the people’s role in government and democracy is greatly reduced.
The foundations of a new world order
In 1973, David Rockefeller and Zbigniew Brzezinski founded the Trilateral Commission. Involving highly influential people from business and politics in the US, Western Europe, and Japan, the Commission was soon perceived as constituting an embryonic or even shadow world government.
This global governance and body of international diplomacy should be considered a product of overlapping elite networks that merge informal and formal spheres across national borders.
An organisation that was created to spread neoliberal free-market values across the globe, that now finds itself having to recreate its form and mission to manage the spread of nationalism, populism and protectionism, all of which they vehemently oppose.
Advocates of a new world order
Critics accuse the Commission of promoting a global consensus among the international ruling classes in order to manage international affairs in the interest of the financial and industrial elites under the Trilateral umbrella.
Preposterous, say members of the Trilateral Commission. It is merely a “discussion group” on world affairs, composed of high-level corporate and public-policy types from North America, Western Europe and Japan. The commission seeks only to promote international cooperation, for the betterment of everybody. Nothing sinister.
Its annual reports and task force papers are available for the public to read. Its membership list isn’t secret. Just ask and the commission will send you stuff. Anyone who can dial directory assistance can get its New York phone number.
Still, plenty of ordinary, educated people have no idea what the Trilateral Commission is or what it does, even though its former members include some very prominent people including US presidents Jimmy Carter, George Bush and Bill Clinton, to name but a few.
The Trilateral Commission is led by three regional chairs for Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific regions. The regional chairs have several deputies and an executive committee. The entire membership meets annually in rotating locations to consider their strategies and organisational platform. Regional and national meetings are held throughout the year. Regional headquarters are in Washington, D.C., Paris and Tokyo.
The Trilateral Commission wields its power economically and politically. It is sometimes considered a “rich men’s club” with few women members. The Trilateral Commission espouses support for private enterprise, economic freedom and stronger collective management of global problems. Its members include influential current politicians, banking and business executives, media, civic, and intellectual leaders and several union chiefs.
The Trilateral Commission’s agendas sync with those of the G7 summits between the leaders of the world’s largest economies. Members have held key positions in U.S. administrations and in the governments of other member countries.
Five questions for politicians
“Five questions for politicians:
1. What power have you got?
2. Where did you get it from?
3. In whose interest do you exercise it?
4. To whom are you accountable?
5. How can we get rid of you?” — Tony Benn
Sir Keir Starmer seems to be doing a good job at pitching himself as being on the Left. He and his supporters claim he will “unite the party” while making a point to emphasise his so-called “Left-wing credentials”.
You may hear that in his twenties he edited a Trotskyist magazine. Or that he was the defence barrister for the miners out on strike in 1984/5. That he stood alongside McDonalds’ workers on picket lines.
But there is one association Sir Kier Starmer and his supporters are not talking about….
The Trilateral Commission, of which Starmer is a member. Other members include top executives of multinational conglomerates such as AT&T and ITT. Oil companies such as Mobil and Exxon, but also the top C.E.Os of the Chase Manhattan Bank, First Chicago Corp, General Electric, TRW, Archer Daniels Midland, Pepsi, RJR Nabisco, Nissan, Toshiba, Fuji Bank and Goldman Sachs.
LINK Trilateral membership January 2020
Starmer’s name first appeared on the membership list of the Trilateral Commission in April 2019. Out of 650 MP’s, he was the only one invited to become a member. These perhaps aren’t the sort of people Sir Keir would see as an ideal photo opportunity, to be used in his campaign highlighting his “lefty credentials”.
What we have is Sir Keir Starmer as part of an organisation that Holly Sklar, who edited a book on the organisation entitled “Trilateralism: The Trilateral Commission and Elite Planning for World Management”, identifies as the commission that “represents the interests of multinational corporations and banks”. This means it is contrary to the interests of so-called ‘non-developed’ countries and workers the world over. It wants wages kept low. It wants voters kept apathetic and polarised.
Sklar states that the Trilateral Commission is not a “conspiracy” and is not “omnipotent… But that doesn’t mean it’s not influential.” And the Commission set out to economically “co-opt” OPEC to persuade the Saudis to put their petrodollars into Western banks and to purchase Western arms, rather than investing in the ‘developing’ world.
Noam Chomsky: Neoliberalism Is Destroying Our Democracy
How elites on both sides of the political spectrum have undermined our social, political, and environmental commons.
Chomsky on Crisis of Democracy by Trilateral Commission
Noam Chomsky says the Trilateral Commission’s aim is to bring about a moderation in democracy to allow only the elite to vote. A backwards step in democracy and the working class movement.
Social critic and academic Noam Chomsky has criticised the Commission as undemocratic, pointing to its publication The Crisis of Democracy, which describes the strong popular interest in politics during the 1970s as an “excess of democracy”.
Chomsky described it as one of the most interesting and insightful books showing the modern democratic system not to really be a democracy at all but controlled by elites.
Two documents came out right in the mid-’70s, which are quite important. They came from opposite ends of the political spectrum, both influential, and both reached the same conclusions. One of them, at the left end, was by the Trilateral Commission—liberal internationalists of three major industrial countries, and basically the Carter administration. That is the more interesting one [The Crisis of Democracy, a Trilateral Commission report]. The American rapporteur Samuel Huntington of Harvard looked back with nostalgia to the days when, as he put it, Truman was able to run the country with the cooperation of a few Wall Street lawyers and executives. Then everything was fine. Democracy was perfect.
But in the ’60s they all agreed it became problematic because the special interests started trying to get into the act, and that causes too much pressure and the state can’t handle that.
“THE CURE FOR DEMOCRACY IS MORE DEMOCRACY.” HE SAID,
“NO, THE CURE FOR THIS DEMOCRACY IS LESS DEMOCRACY.
We have to have more moderation in democracy.
“The cure for democracy is more democracy.” He said, “No, the cure for this democracy is less democracy.”
This is the liberal establishment. This is a consensus view of the liberal internationalists and the three industrial democracies. They—in their consensus—concluded that a major problem is what they called, in their words, “the institutions responsible for the indoctrination of the young.” The schools, the universities and churches are not doing their job. They’re not indoctrinating the young properly. The young have to be returned to passivity and obedience, and then democracy will be fine. That’s the left-leaning end.
Now, what do you have at the right end? A very influential document, the Powell Memorandum, came out at the same time. Lewis Powell, a corporate lawyer, later Supreme Court justice, produced a confidential memorandum for the US Chamber of Commerce, which has been extremely influential. It more or less set off the modern so-called “conservative movement.” The rhetoric is kind of crazy. We won’t go through it, but the basic picture is that this rampaging left has taken over everything. We have to use the resources that we have to beat back this rampaging New Left, which is undermining freedom and democracy.
Connected with this was something else. As a result of the activism of the ’60s and the militancy of labor, there was a falling rate of profit. That’s not acceptable. So we have to reverse the falling rate of profit, we have to undermine democratic participation, so what comes next? Neoliberalism, which achieves exactly those results.
Chomsky says that as it was an internal discussion, they “let their hair down” and talked about how the public needs to be reduced to its proper state of apathy and obedience. Essentially liberal internationalists from Europe, Japan and the United States, the liberal wing of the intellectual elite.
The Trilateral Commission are concerned with trying to induce what they call a “more moderation in democracy”—turn people back to passivity and obedience so they don’t put so many constraints on state power and so on. In particular, they were worried about young people.
They are concerned about the institutions responsible for the indoctrination of the young (that’s their phrase), meaning schools, universities, church and so on—they’re not doing their job, [the young are] not being sufficiently indoctrinated. They’re too free to pursue their own initiatives and concerns and you’ve got to control them better.
An example of Government influence
Barack Obama appointed eleven members of the Trilateral Commission to top-level and key positions in his administration within his first ten days in office. This represents a very narrow source of international leadership inside the Obama administration, with a core agenda that is not necessarily in support of working people in the United States.
Obama was groomed for the presidency by key members of the Trilateral Commission. Most notably, Zbigniew Brzezinski, co-founder of the Trilateral Commission with David Rockefeller in 1973, has been Obama’s principal foreign policy advisor.
According to official Trilateral Commission membership lists, there are only eighty-seven members from the United States (the other 337 members are from other countries). Thus, within two weeks of his inauguration, Obama’s appointments encompassed more than 12 percent of Commission’s entire US membership.
Trilateral appointees include:
* Secretary of Treasury, Tim Geithner
* Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice
* National Security Advisor, Gen. James L. Jones
* Deputy National Security Advisor, Thomas Donilon
* Chairman, Economic Recovery Committee, Paul Volker
* Director of National Intelligence, Admiral Dennis C. Blair
* Assistant Secretary of State, Asia & Pacific, Kurt M. Campbell
* Deputy Secretary of State, James Steinberg
* State Department, Special Envoy, Richard Haass
* State Department, Special Envoy, Dennis Ross
* State Department, Special Envoy, Richard Holbrooke
Trilateralist Brent Scowcroft has been an unofficial advisor to Obama and was mentor to Defense Secretary Robert Gates. And Robert Zoelick, current president of the World Bank appointed during the G.W. Bush administration, is a member.
Connections to the Dark side
Jeffrey Epstein reportedly hanged himself in his cell (Image: Reuters)
Jason Cridland and David Hitchen from the Dorset Eye write: In 2019 the Commission published a report with the express aim of becoming more en vogue. The rise of Trump and other right-wing neoconservative governments and parties has meant that the free market has come under attack. Neoliberalism and neoconservatism was always a contradiction (as Thatcherism and Reaganism found out) and the lurch to the political right has had a negative effect upon the ideals of the economic right.
The Trilateral Commission has sought to reinvent its doctrine in the face of increasing suspicion, certainly of globalisation and its impacts upon nation-states but also in cases in which some people have become increasingly aware of the deep state in which the Tripartite Commission, Davos, Bilderberg, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are significant parts.
To add to their problems, there are those whose behaviour could somewhat tarnish their already suspect reputations, including amongst the most prominent Jeffrey Epstein, former hedge fund manager and convicted sex-trafficker
Birds of a feather, flock together.’ It is almost certain that some current and former members of the elitist Trilateral Commission who participated in Epstein’s follies are likely very nervous that he would ‘flip’ and expose their debauchery, if not their sexual felonies.’ This, of course, has now been ‘avoided’ as Jeffrey Epstein ‘officially’ took his own life in August 2019. LINK
Let’s take a closer look at Mr. Epstein.
One of the most surprising things about Epstein is that he was a member of some of the most powerful and influential groups in the US.
He was a member of:
The Council on Foreign Relations The Trilateral Commission Trilateral North American Group
profile
Aside from Clinton, who are the people that Epstein was associated with?
Prince Andrew Alan Dershowitz Larry Summers Donald Trump Ehud Barak Eliot Spitzer Kevin Spacey Peter Mandelson
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/06/30/the-billionaire-pedophile-who-could-bring-down-donald-trump-and-hillary-clinton.html
Powerful associates, including Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and Prince Andrew, have had their conduct scrutinised in the wake of the ongoing scandal.
Mr Mandelson, who was friends with Epstein’s former lover Ghislaine Maxwell, was staying on the island of Saint Barthelemy when the pictures were taken.
Peter Mandelson shopping with Jeffrey Epstein on December 27, 2005, in St. Barts
But it is suggested the two may have met on other occasions.
In 2011, Virginia Roberts – who claims she was a sex slave to Epstein – said that she was introduced to Mr Mandelson at a dinner party at the financier’s house in New York.
She said: “I never heard of Jeffrey knowing Tony Blair, but he did know Peter Mandelson. I remember him being at the house in New York and I was introduced to him at a dinner party.
One of Britain’s most powerful politicians wasn’t afraid to phone Jeffery Epstein looking for a favor — even while the pedophile was behind bars for sex crimes, according to a new documentary.
A new “Dispatches” documentary set to air on Britain’s Channel 4 Monday claims Lord Peter Mandelson was Labour Business Secretary in 2009 when he called Epstein — then cooling his heels in a Florida jail after pleading to procuring an underage prostitute — trying to arrange a meeting with the boss of JP Morgan bank, according to The Sun.
The pedo and the politician were seemingly so close that Epstein even had a pet name for the UK cabinet member — calling him “Petie,” according to the report. LINK
“I must say I was astonished that a British Cabinet minister at that time, probably the most powerful man other than the Prime Minister, was calling Jeffrey in jail,” a friend of Epstein’s who revealed the call told the documentary.
Here are some of the people that have current (past) membership in elite organizations.
Members of all three (CFR, Trilateral, Trilateral N.A.) include:
David Rockefeller Sr., Harold Brown, John Deutsch, Mortimer Zuckerman, Richard Holbrooke
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Democracy has to be about more than just casting a vote. An informed society creates a better more open democracy. A democracy that does not have an informed public is destined to decay. Unjust legislation would be passed, laws would be unequally enforced and elected officials would fall to corruption.
ER: Which is exactly what we are seeing with the state of the UK Parliament, a state of affairs that Keir Starmer is doing nothing to rectify, as he incites his MPs not to vote against the government, effectively rubber stamping the elite-driven agenda behind Boris. See the articles we linked to in the introduction.
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Published to The Liberty Beacon from EuropeReloaded.com