I nominate Jonathan Turley for the column of the day in today’s New York Post. Professor Turley documents the confederacy of louts denouncing the Covid lab-leak hypothesis as, well, you know what. This is how he puts it (slightly edited) in what I nominate for quote of the day:

For years, the media and government allied to treat anyone raising a lab theory as one of three possibilities: conspiracy theorist or racist or racist conspiracy theorist.

He moves on to the related mandate for suppression and censorship. But what about the evident conspiracy of hacks and morons circulating the epithets in unison? Now there is a conspiracy to contend with. Professor Turley cites the analogues:

The categorical rejection of the lab theory is only the latest media narrative proven to be false. The Russian collusion scandal, the Hunter Biden “Russian Disinformation,” the Lafayette Park “Photo Op” conspiracy, the Nick Sandmann controversy, the Jussie Smollett case, the Migrant Whipping scandal.

This is the moral he draws from the story:

Censorship does not, as President Biden claims, save lives. It is more likely to cost lives by protecting approved views from challenge. It does not foster the truth any more than it fosters free speech. Whatever the origin of COVID-19 may be in China, the origins of our censorship scandal is closer to home.

Other morals can and should be drawn. His column gives us a lot of raw material with which to work. Whole thing here.