Top all-time · #3999
Donald G. McNeil Jr.
Personal blog · donaldgmcneiljr1954.medium.compoliticshealth
Donald G. McNeil Jr.'s personal blog at donaldgmcneiljr1954.medium.com covers politics and health. Since 2021, 19 different Hacker News readers have linked it 24 times, most often “How I learned to stop worrying and love the lab-leak theory”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-01-08, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (11) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Donald G. McNeil Jr.'s Medium essays, including a piece on the lab-leak theory of COVID-19 origins and a four-part account of the NYT Peru N-word controversy he was involved in.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 11 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- How I learned to stop worrying and love the lab-leak theory7 people · 7 mentions · first linked 2021-05-17
- NYTimes Peru N-Word: My side of the story, in four parts3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2021-03-01
- /nytimes-peru-n-word-part-four-what-happened-in-peru-2a641a9b5e832 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2021-03-01
What Hacker News says?
https://donaldgmcneiljr1954.medium.com/
Comment linking /
on “No More Medium – Build Your Own Site (2019)”Submitted NYTimes Peru N-Word: My side of the story, in four parts as a story · 344 points
HN discussionIt's an interesting question because there has been a dominant narrative that back when there were only 3 channels and everyone trusted what Walter Cronkite said there was a lot more consensus. That was true in the sense that centre-left and centre-right points of view were expressed on all networks (by law because of the fairness doctrine), also because the cold war gave a broad framework for crafting a consensus w…
Comment linking /how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-lab-leak-theory-f4f88446b04d
on “The media's lab leak fiasco”Submitted The end of the pandemic is near as a story · 198 points
HN discussionAlso, Dr. Shi was trained by Ralph S. Baric of the University of North Carolina in building “chimera” viruses — taking, for example, the spike protein from a new virus and splicing it to the backbone of a known one like SARS. He invented “no-see-um” techniques that left no trace of the splice. From https://donaldgmcneiljr1954.medium.com/how-i-learned-to-stop...
Comment linking /how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-lab-leak-theory-f4f88446b04d
on “More Scientists Urge Broad Inquiry into Coronavirus Origins”Submitted How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Lab-Leak Theory as a story · 159 points
HN discussionYou can read McNeil's perspective: https://donaldgmcneiljr1954.medium.com/nytimes-peru-n-word-p... No one reasonable thinks he made a racist remark.
Comment linking /nytimes-peru-n-word-part-one-introduction-57eb6a3e0d95
on “Sir Kazuo Ishiguro warns of young authors self-censoring out of 'fear'”Submitted How I learned to stop worrying and love the lab-leak theory as a story · 136 points
HN discussionPart 2: https://donaldgmcneiljr1954.medium.com/nytimes-peru-n-word-p... Part 3: https://donaldgmcneiljr1954.medium.com/nytimes-peru-n-word-p... Part 4: https://donaldgmcneiljr1954.medium.com/nytimes-peru-n-word-p... The referenced story: https://www.thedailybeast.com/star-new-york-times-reporter-d... (Thanks djoldman and qnsi.)
Comment linking /nytimes-peru-n-word-part-four-what-happened-in-peru-2a641a9b5e83
on “NYTimes Peru N-Word: My side of the story, in four parts”Submitted Ring Vaccination Won’t Stop Monkeypox. Can Montreal? as a story · 7 points
HN discussionPart 2: https://donaldgmcneiljr1954.medium.com/nytimes-peru-n-word-p... Part 3: https://donaldgmcneiljr1954.medium.com/nytimes-peru-n-word-p... Part 4: https://donaldgmcneiljr1954.medium.com/nytimes-peru-n-word-p...
Comment linking /nytimes-peru-n-word-part-four-what-happened-in-peru-2a641a9b5e83
on “NYTimes Peru N-Word: My side of the story, in four parts”Submitted NYTimes Peru N-Word, Part Two: What Happened January 28? as a story · 4 points
HN discussionThe link should probably be to the specific URL for the referenced article rather than the author's overall Medium page. https://donaldgmcneiljr1954.medium.com/how-i-learned-to-stop...
Comment linking /how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-lab-leak-theory-f4f88446b04d
on “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Lab-Leak Theory”Submitted I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Lab-Leak Theory as a story · 3 points
HN discussionMore about her. "Also, Dr. Shi was trained by Ralph S. Baric of the University of North Carolina in building “chimera” viruses — taking, for example, the spike protein from a new virus and splicing it to the backbone of a known one like SARS. He invented “no-see-um” techniques that left no trace of the splice." source https://donaldgmcneiljr1954.medium.com/how-i-learned-to-stop... https://www.researchgate.net/public…
Comment linking /how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-lab-leak-theory-f4f88446b04d
on “Ctcctcggcgggcacgtag is unique to both SARS-CoV-2 and Moderna's 2015/2016 patents”Submitted Trump Backs Boosters. Clearly, Someone Did the Math for Him as a story · 3 points
HN discussionTo me, it appeared a blatant conflict of interest for the Times to let its contract negotiators also discipline the union’s negotiators. It felt like an attempt to intimidate the union. https://donaldgmcneiljr1954.medium.com/nytimes-peru-n-word-p...
Comment linking /nytimes-peru-n-word-part-three-what-happened-in-the-2019-investigation-6f8e9939a385
on “"I’ve kept silent on the Apple situation; they broke silence, so will I"”Submitted Ground the Planes as a story · 2 points
HN discussionFrom the reporter fired by the NYT following an unflattering daily beast, albeit full of apparent fabrications, story[1]: “. ..But we’re still jackals. We can befriend you for years, and then bite off your arm just as you’re offering us a treat. We can’t help it. It’s the nature of the job. At the highest levels, like Watergate, it’s about digging for the truth, no matter what corrupt government official it hurts. A…
Comment linking /nytimes-peru-n-word-part-one-introduction-57eb6a3e0d95
on “75 Years Ago, 'War of the Worlds' Started a Panic. Or Did It? (2013)”Here’s the best explanation I’ve found: “How I learned to stop worrying and love the lab leak theory.” https://donaldgmcneiljr1954.medium.com/how-i-learned-to-stop... Edit: part of the issue is “what is a lab leak?” It’s not a bio weapon, or a failed vaccine. The respectable “lab leak theory” is that the virus was identified in the wild, brought into a lab, but safety procedures were not followed. So it’s not a “Chi…
Comment linking /how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-lab-leak-theory-f4f88446b04d
on “The history of lab leaks”
