The lab-leak theory of Covid-19’s origins has leapt from ultra-right conspiracy theory to respectable opinion almost as fast as the virus itself allegedly flew from bats to humans. In Unherd, Bret Weinstein argues that the virus turning out to be man-made would be welcome news. Hopping across naturally from bats would, Weinstein contends, be vastly scarier.
Toppling a Communist Empire for $2.7 Million
Though widely thought of as focused on waterboarding terrorists or poisoning foreign potentates, it was by smuggling paper that the CIA achieved its most monumental triumph. R.M. Gerecht in a book review for The Washington Free Beacon charts how the late Cold War-era operation to flood Poland with Western books, magazines, printing supplies and audio recordings fatally weakened the country’s Communist dictatorship, setting the stage for the downfall of the entire Soviet empire. Total cost: US$2.7 million.