the reagan/carter 'october surprise' theory seems pretty likely to be true.
going back to 1857: president buchanan did some behind-the-scenes meddling with the dred scott case.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Wednesday, October 17, 2012 3:39 PM (ten years ago)
I actually didn't realize the October surprise theory wasn't accepted fact (can't remember where I first heard it), but this is pretty conclusive: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/18/us/politics/jimmy-carter-october-surprise-iran-hostages.html
― rob, Sunday, 19 March 2023 15:38 (one year ago) link
Good overview of how a lot of discourse about Covid got dismissed as conspiracy theory:
https://jacobin.com/2023/03/covid-19-pandemic-lab-leak-conspiracy-theory-scientific-method-partisan-politics-evidence/
― o. nate, Sunday, 19 March 2023 20:18 (one year ago) link
Oh hey you're back with that
― hootenanny-soundtracking clusterfucks about milking cows (Neanderthal), Sunday, 19 March 2023 20:20 (one year ago) link
The scientific community never ruled out lab leak, but believed it's not the most likely origin.
The people arguing lab leak weren't arguing for its consideration, they were arguing that it happened and wanted the scientific community to embrace it
― hootenanny-soundtracking clusterfucks about milking cows (Neanderthal), Sunday, 19 March 2023 20:21 (one year ago) link
Ok sure
― o. nate, Sunday, 19 March 2023 20:25 (one year ago) link
it has been an odd few years because the lab leak thing was one of the first things I heard about covid (in late 2010 when it was "everyone in wuhan is saying sars is back") and the Chinese dissident communities (for all their various faults) have stuck with it ever since, while opinion in the west seems to bubble and sway on the basis of very little evidence one way or the other. it helps if you already knew wuhan as being well-known for this I guess.
― Camaraderie at Arms Length, Sunday, 19 March 2023 20:30 (one year ago) link
lol 2019 not 2010, my arthritis is flaring up terribly and I can barely type on this stupid phone
https://www.theintrinsicperspective.com/p/the-ufo-craze-was-created-by-government
― xyzzzz__, Monday, 12 June 2023 20:24 (eleven months ago) link
The "War on Drugs" was started by the Nixon Administration as a way to crack down on Black people and "hippies."
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Monday, 12 June 2023 20:57 (eleven months ago) link
xp I posted earlier in the what are you reading thread about the ufo book I'm in the middle of. Just picked it up for the first time today and the chapter I started leads with the skinwalker ranch. Coincidence? Or conspiracy?
― ledge, Monday, 12 June 2023 21:09 (eleven months ago) link