Fresh off getting poked by the gracious host (I deserved it; bad choice of words on my part elsethread), let's go for the gusto here!
Let's talk about Surgisphere, shall we?
The Lancet, to much ballyhoo and left-leaning media cheering, publishes a study showing, purportedly, that the 'cocktail' (hydroxylchloroquine + zinc and something else I can't remember) isn't effective against Covid-19. Much hooting and sneering from the peanut gallery, since U.S. President Trump had suggested it as a possible treatment.
Skip ahead a week or two, and people start asking -questions- about the Lancet study. Turns out their data comes from a org called 'Surgisphere', whose origins seem... kinda murky. Anyone familiar with climate change shenanigans is probably getting a funny sense of deja vu.
And then Surgisphere just ... vanishes, as though they'd been crafted for one role and were no longer needed, especially with people asking why their science advisor was a SF/F author. The Lancet retracts their study, but the damage is done.
So the question is, cui bono? Who profits? Certainly Trump's political enemies (which covers most of the left side of the spectrum). There's also been questions about money raised; a competing treatment, Remdesivir, would be far more expensive and lucrative than the HCQ cocktail.
So, who's up for signing onto that mission to colonize Mars? Cause I gotta tell you, clown world is losing its charm.