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The ADVANCE, March 8, 2023/Page 6A Stye Aiiuancg OPINIONS “I honor the man who is willing to sink Half his repute for the freedom to think, And when he has thought, be his cause strong or weak, Will risk t’other half for the freedom to speak.” -James Russell Lowell editorials The Greatest Cover-up in Human History By Ben Shapiro First, it was sup posedly a conspiracy theory. Then, it was banned. Finally, it was true. The so-called “lab leak” theory of the origins of C0- VID-19 — the the ory that COVID-19 originated in at the Wuhan Institute of Vi rology and then was unintentionally loosed — was always the most probable explana tion for the outbreak of the deadly virus. After all, as Jon Stewart correctly joked in 2021, “’Oh, my God, there’s a novel respi ratory coronavirus overtaking Wuhan, China. What do we do?’ ‘Oh, you know who we could ask? The Wuhan novel respi ratory coronavirus lab.’ The disease is the same name as the lab. That’s just a little too weird, don’t you think?” But for well over a year, it was consid ered verboten to mention the lab leak the ory. When Senator Tom Cotton, R-Ark., posited the possibility of a lab leak in Feb ruary 2020, he was roundly mocked by the media. The New York Times headlined, “Senator Tom Cotton Repeats Fringe The ory of Coronavirus Origins.” Scientific American headlined — in March 2022! — “The Lab-Leak Hypothesis Made It Harder for Scientists to Seek the Truth.” Facebook actively quashed attempts to disseminate the theory; Dr. Anthony Fauci went on national television and downplayed the theory. Why? Two reasons are obvious. The first: powerful institutions had a stake in down playing the Chinese origins of the virus in order to shift blame to the rest of the world. Certainly, that was China’s game: In all likelihood, COVID-19 was spreading in China as early as October 2019, and the government covered it up for months. But that was also the game of the World Health Organization. Members of the American government like Fauci also had a stake in smothering questions about American funding for gain-of-function research in Wuhan. Then there’s the second reason: all the wrong people were repeating the lab leak theory. As one of MSNBC’s resident hacks, Mehdi Hasan, admitted on Twitter, “The simple reason why so many people weren’t keen to discuss the ‘lab leak’ theory is be cause it was originally conflated by the right with ‘Chinese bio weapon’ conspira cies and continues to be conflated by the right with anti-Fauci conspiracies. Blame the conspiracy theorists.” As Nate Silver correctly noted, “The Bad People thought the lab leak might be true, therefore as journalists we couldn’t be expected to actu ally evaluate the evidence for it.” Herein lies a lesson: A huge number of people have decided that there are a cadre of people who are so vile that any opinion they touch is immediately toxified beyond investigation. Claims are not to be evalu ated on their own merits; instead, we can simply determine whether a claim ought to be supported based on those who posit it. This helps to explain why political cross over has become nearly impossible: We’re not judging the claims of our opponents; we’re judging each other. And this means that we can discard any argument simply by dint of the fact that we don’t like the person offering it. Among members of the general popu lation, this is a problem, but not a funda mental one. But among those who pose as “experts” — the people who are supposed to serve as guides for people who out source their political information, from media to scientific institutions — it’s a fatal error. After all, experts are supposed to be impartial adjudicators of the evidence. That’s their entire job. We can evaluate on our own who we don’t like — but we often need help to determine whether an argu ment has merit or not. When experts be come “just like us,” they undermine their raison d’etre. And that’s precisely what happened with COVID-19. Whether it was ignoring the actual evidence regarding masks and mask mandates, the evidence regarding post-vaccination transmissibility or the ev idence regarding the lab leak theory, ex perts decided that the wrong people had to be ignored. But they were wrong. And now they have no credibility left. Ben Shapiro, 38, is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School, host of "The Ben Shapiro Show," and co-founder of Daily Wire+. He is a three-time New York Times bestselling author: his latest book is The Authoritarian Moment: How The Left Weaponized America's Institutions Against Dissent. To find out more about Ben Shapiro and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators, com. COPYRIGHT 2023 CREATORS.COM. Georgia House aiming to fix medical cannabis program By Dave Williams Bureau Chief Capitol Beat News Service Legislation that would increase participation in Georgia’s medical cannabis program in an effort to re solve lawsuits filed by los ing bidders sailed through the state House of Repre sentatives Monday. House Bill 196, which passed 170-2, would in crease the number of medi cal cannabis production licenses the state awards to 15, up from the current six. That would allow the nine companies that went to court after they were de nied licenses a new oppor tunity to compete. The General Assem bly first legalized posses sions of cannabis oil for medicinal purposes back in 2015. However, it wasn’t until 2019 that lawmakers passed legislation allowing commercial businesses to grow marijuana indoors, convert the leafy crop into low-THC cannabis oil and sell the product at dispen saries they own. The 2019 law cre ated a state commission to oversee the program by issuing six licenses to win ning bidders, two Class 1 licenses allowing marijua na to be grown in spaces up to 100,000 square feet. Class 2 licenses were to be awarded to the other four for a smaller growth space of up to 50,000 square feet. The two Class 1 licens es have been awarded. The winning bidders, Botanical Sciences LLC and Trulieve Georgia, are ramping up their operations in Glen- nville and Adel, respec tively. But the remainder of the program is lagging be cause of the court cases. “Let’s fix the system,” state Rep. Alan Powell, R- Hartwell, the bill’s chief sponsor, urged House law makers Monday. “Let’s get it moving and go forward.” In an effort to avoid future legal tangles, Pow ell’s bill calls for putting the state commission that over sees the medical cannabis program under contracting rules set by the Georgia De partment of Administrative Services. Appeals would be referred to Georgia’s State wide Business Court. The bill also would allow the commission to increase the number of dis pensaries that sell medical cannabis as the number of Georgia patients eligible for cannabis oil increases. For every 5,000 patients added to the state regis try, an additional Class 2 license could be awarded. An additional Class 1 li cense would be authorized for every 10,000 additional patients. The bill now moves to the state Senate. At UGA, bad decisions bring tragic consequences The Be loved Woman Who Shared My Name used to tell her grand sons, “You are free to make any decision you wish. Just re member that with those deci sions come con sequences, good or bad.” I thought about those wise words while ponder ing some very bad decisions that have cost two people their lives and have cast a pall over my alma mater. Chandler LeCroy, 24, a recruiting specialist for the University of Georgia football team, and Devin Willock, 20, an offensive lineman, were killed in the early morning hours of Jan. 15 in a car crash after celebrating UGA’s second consecutive national football champi onship. Two other passengers, recruit ing staff member, Tory Bowles, 26, and offensive tackle Warren McClendon, 21, survived. It has been determined that LeCroy was driving an unauthorized Athletic Department vehicle and racing with UGA football star Jalen Carter. Her car went off the road, snapped two power poles and hit several trees before com ing to rest at the edge of an apartment complex. Police investigators described the crash as a combination of “alcohol impairment, racing, reckless driving and speed.” LeCroy’s blood alcohol level was .197 — twice the legal limit — and she was traveling 104 mph when the crash occurred. Carter, who has been pro jected as a top pick in the upcoming NFL draft, at first denied being involved and told police that he was a mile away when the crash occurred. He reportedly left the scene of the crash before emer gency personnel arrived and returned to the scene two hours later. Carter has been charged with two misdemeanors — reckless driving and racing. The warrant alleges that he was racing his 2021 Jeep Cherokee Track- hawk against LeCroy’s (or the Athletic Department’s) 2021 Ford Expedition. Carter posted a $4,000 bond, issued a statement saying he will be exonerated and headed back to the NFL combine in Indianapolis. He didn’t mention the part about supposedly lying to the po lice. At this point, UGA seems para lyzed and unsure what to do or say. So far, they haven’t said much of anything. I suspect the lawyers are running things because you can bet your bottom dollar there are going to be a lot of lawsuits coming from this tragic incident, and their reaction is usually to say nothing. That is a bad strategy because it allows the public to establish its own narrative and puts the institution on the defen sive. I would suggest that somebody in the administration and the athletic de partment get in touch with the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Com munications, where I generously fund an excellent crisis communications pro gram. They would be willing and able to help. Although sometimes a prophet is By Dick Yarbrough without honor in its own country, or in this case, its own university. In the meanwhile, the general per ception — and like it or not, perception quickly becomes reality in the court of public opinion — is that our football program is out of control. Sadly, this is not the first time UGA football players have made headlines for the wrong rea sons. And don’t tell me that bad things also occur in football programs at other schools. That’s like the Trump crowd trying to justify to me the Jan. 6 Capitol riots because some thugs in downtown Atlanta burned police cars and looted stores. The University of Georgia isn’t any other school. It is first and foremost an academic institution and a good one that is getting better. While we all de light in the success of the football pro gram, it cannot be allowed to over shadow the university’s mission of aca demic excellence. And right now, it is doing just that. Kirby Smart has done an outstand ing job of recruiting top athletes from across the country to come play football at the University of Georgia and the re sults speak for themselves — two na tional football championships in a row. But he needs to remind them that when they put on that helmet with the iconic “G,” they represent more than an oppor tunity to play professional football. They represent his alma mater and mine and many of yours. Make us proud on the field. Don’t embarrass us off the field. There is a cloud hanging over the University of Georgia today because somebody didn’t follow the admonition of the Beloved Woman Who Shared My Name: “You are free to make any deci sion you wish. Just remember that with those decisions come consequences, good or bad.” I hope somebody in Ath ens will heed her words. For two young people, it’s too late. You can reach Dick Yarbrough atdick@ dickyarbrough.com; at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139 or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dickyarb. sl,t A&uancE (The Advance Publishing Co., Inc) 205 E. First Street, Vidalia, GA 30474 Telephone: (912) 537-3131 FAX: (912) 537-4899 E-mail: theadvancenews@gmail.com The Advance, U. S. P. S. #659-000, successor to The Advance and The Lyons Progress, entered weekly at Vidalia, GA Post Office. Periodical Postage paid at Vidalia, GA 30474 under Act of Congress, March 4, 1886. 205 East First Street, Wm. F. Ledford, Sr. Publisher. Subscription Rates per year: $40.00 in county, $55.00 out of 304 zip code. (POSTMASTER: send address changes to The ADVANCE, 205 E. First St., Vidalia, GA 30474). Copyright © 2023, Advance Publishing Co., Inc. All rights reserved. The design, concept and contents of The Advance are copyrighted and may not be reproduced in part or whole without written permission from the publisher. R.E. 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