DD17 | Bioweapons, Viruses, Police States and Emergency Powers

As with previous editions of #deepdives, the themes for this challenge delve into hot-button topics where new information, revelations and narratives are fluid and continuously evolving. There's also a deluge of articles and information throughout the media which many find overwhelming and fatiguing. All that said, we're happy that those that made entrees to DD17 were few but on the flip-side they were of high quality.

Here’s the link to the original DD17 post

In the contest rules of DD17, it was stated that winners will be announced after 72 hrs. There was a small typo and it should have read winners will be announce after 172 hrs ;)

In all seriousness though, we apologize to our followers and to the participants for the delay in announcing the winners of the latest chapter.

Deep Dives 17 Official Entrees

@wedacoalition

@palikari123

Deep Dives 17 Unofficial Participants

@wedacoalition

@perceptulflaws (x2)

@v4vapid (x2)

As is tradition, we'd like to give a big thank you to all the participants in the Deep Dives research challenge. We greatly value your original submissions, the light you shed on under-reported stories and your dedication to digging into areas that some find controversial or taboo. Respect.

Let's move on to the winners!

Winners

First Prize (30 Hive)

General Mills Inc. | A Cereal History in Research: Testing and Development of Biological Warfare

by @palikari123

It's a pleasure to have @palikari123 back posting incredible research on Hive but more importantly, we're glad your health is restored and that you've recovered from illness. Just great to have you back and much respect!

And what a triumphant return it is, putting together a wonderful piece on a company few knew had any relation to biological engineering - General Mills Inc. Digging into the history of the company @palikari123 reveals deep rooted political and business ties going back centuries. Additionally, the company was involved in the military propaganda wave during the WWI period and also the rationing campaign of WWII.
Another particular point of interest was General Mills' participation in military ballooning which ties in closely with testing and development of biological weapons from altitude on military targets, infrastructure and crops.
Here's a sample of some of the information provided in the 2013 FOIA request.

The breakfast cereal manufacturer General Mills was the nation’s foremost developer of Biological Weapons of Mass Destruction in the early 1960s.

The Department of Defense has released small portions of several reports detailing the work in biological warfare performed by the Minneapolis-based company following a lengthy declassification review.

During World War 2, American consumer products companies were expected to come to the aid of their nation’s defense needs. After the war, many of these companies established small but lucrative defense contracting divisions.

General Mills set up a research division to tap into the long experience the company had in grinding or milling of fine particles, and in fabricating large thin films used for balloons, as well as making intricate electronics assemblies. The company made thousands of balloon systems for high altitude reconnaissance purposes in a series of programs during the 1950s. High altitude balloons were used for various purposes, including taking photos of the Soviet Union and also to collect air samples to detect radioactive isotopes caused by nuclear weapons tests.

It's not really surprising that large companies from the time period became participants in the war effort but it's quite interesting to see how many of these types of companies (Dow, Whirlpool, Proctor & Gamble) have played leading roles in the development of deadly biological agents while also producing products for domestic consumption (eg. General Mills cereals).

The examples of General Mills' involvement is documented in great detail and is more extensive than one might assume. We highly recommend that our readers have a look at the information and the direct links to the FOIA hosted at the Black Vault.

This bit of research is really quite extraordinary. Our hats off to @palikari123 for another excellent contribution!

Second Prize (20 Hive)

Are Bats the Plague Spreaders of Our Time?

by @wedacoalition

It's our pleasure to welcome @wedacoalition as a contributor to the #deepdives community! Thank you for your outstanding articles to this edition. What's fascinating about this one-two combination is that each of the submissions made by @wedacoalition examines the potential origins of the COVID-19/SARS-2 virus from two opposite perspectives. The first article explores the identification of bats as being the source of the original SARS virus that affected East Asia in 2002. Scientist traced the origins of the virus to horseshoe bats found in a remote cave in the province of Yunnan. It's an in-depth and a refreshingly objective piece on the complex relationship between the family of Corona viruses and bats as incubators and transmitters of potentially deadly variants.

The second contribution delves into the fascinating story surrounding an accomplished Chinese virologist working at Canada's National Microbiology Lab in Winnepeg a the only BSL-4 lab in the country. Scientist Xiangguo Qiu, and her Chinese team were removed from the lab for unspecified "administrative violations" in 2019. What's intriguing about the case is that that Qiu's relationship to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. She trained many of the scientists working at the facility in Wuhan which enabled the lab to become a BSL-4 but also regularly visited the Wuhan Institute of Virology travelling to for several weeks every year. It's been reported that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was indeed conducted research with horseshoe bats and several viruses opening up the possibility that COVID-19 may have originated at the institute and was subsequently leaked to the outside world. This possibility was raised months ago by numerous researches and was dismissed as a mere 'conspiracy theory'.

Congratulations to @wedacoalition for their involvement in DD17 and we hope you continue to contribute more excellent work in the future!

Unofficial Entrees

Note: Unofficial entrees are contributions made to #deepdives that did not meet the criteria. This includes: late entrees, mislabeled, anything written by @v4vapid, etc.

Notwithstanding, we like to recognize all entrees inspired by the research challenge.

Evidence Points To China's National Biosafety Laboratory Being The Accidental Source Of The COVID19 Outbreak

by @wedacoalition

Jigsaw Pieces Part One: The Corona (Crown) Key To Agenda 2030 & The One World Incorporated

Jigsaw Pieces Part Two: The Breakdown & Reformation Of The Social Order

by @perceptualflaws

Double-Speak, the Patriot Act and Anthrax I

Double-Speak, the Patriot Act and Anthrax II

by @v4vapid

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