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~ Featuring ~
Gene Editing Is Here. It's an Enormous Threat
by Marc A. Thiessen
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Pompeo on Iran missile test: 
'We are accumulating risk of escalation'
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{washingtonexaminer.com} ~ Iran tested a ballistic missile capable of delivering multiple nuclear warheads throughout the Middle East and into Europe... Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Saturday. “As we have been warning for some time, Iran’s missile testing and missile proliferation is growing,” Pompeo said in a bulletin on the test. “We are accumulating risk of escalation in the region if we fail to restore deterrence.” That’s technical rhetoric for the possibility that Iran will feel emboldened to take even more aggressive actions in the region, eventually triggering a broader conflict. And the launch comes just days before Pompeo travels to Europe to meet the top diplomats of every NATO member, including the European officials who opposed President Trump’s withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal, so the launch will likely play into his defense of the American position in Brussels.“This test violates U.N. Security Council resolution 2231 that bans Iran from undertaking ‘any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology,’” Pompeo said, referring to the resolution that implemented the 2015 nuclear agreement. Pompeo’s team already has been laying the groundwork for a debate over Iran at the meeting in Brussels next week. Brian Hook, the special envoy for Iran, cited the development of ballistic missiles in a Thursday briefing in Washington...
Deadlock in border wall fight 
as government shutdown looms
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{washingtonexaminer.com} ~ Republicans left town Friday without any idea how they can reach a spending deal in a week that gives President Trump his $5 billion in border wall funding... and yet can also be passed in the Senate. Trump has threatened to veto any bill that doesn't include his $5 billion, but Democrats say they'll only accept the $1.6 billion approved in a bipartisan bill in the Senate. That's setting up the possibility of a partial government shutdown, since several agencies won't have funding past Dec. 7 without a new spending bill. But Congress hasn't gotten anywhere so far. “No developments that I know of,” Senate Majority Leader John Cornyn, R-Texas, said when asked whether talks had progressed in any way. Republicans are kicking around a few ideas, but it's not clear they'd be enough to win the support of both Senate Democrats and Trump. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., has talked about spending $5 billion over two years and says he thinks Trump could accept half a loaf. “I believe he would go along with it, based on our conversations,” Shelby said of Trump. But Shelby would still have to scrounge up another $900 million to add to the $1.6 billion that Democrats have already accepted. He's trying to free up $900 million in the current federal budget for the wall, but it's not clear how he'll find it...
Graham threatens to abstain from voting until 
CIA briefs Senate on Khashoggi killing
by REBECCA KHEEL

{thehill.com} ~ Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Wednesday threatened to withhold any “key vote” until the CIA briefs the Senate on its assessment of whether... Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi. “Anything that you need me for to get out of town, I ain’t doing it until we hear from the CIA,” Graham told reporters after a briefing from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary James Mattis on U.S.-Saudi relations. Mattis and Pompeo focused their efforts on trying to persuade senators to oppose a resolution coming up for a first vote Wednesday afternoon that would end U.S. military support for the Saudi-led coalition's military operations in Yemen in the wake of Khashoggi's death inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul last month. Senators were hoping the briefing would involve CIA Director Gina Haspel, who previously traveled to Turkey to review its evidence in the Khashoggi case, including an audio recording of his dying moments. The CIA has reportedly concluded that Crown Prince Mohammed ordered the murder of Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor. Sen. scumbag-Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said Wednesday that Pompeo and Mattis confirmed the White House prevented Haspel from attending the Senate  briefing. In a statement later Wednesday, the CIA denied Haspel was blocked from attending...  
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Sen. Mike Lee blocks attempt to protect 
special counsel dirty cop-Robert Mueller
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{patriotnewsalerts.com} ~ Almost since the moment former FBI Director dirty cop-Robert Mueller was appointed as a special counsel to investigate alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election... Democrats, along with some establishment Republicans, have sought to erect special protections around his investigation to “protect” him from being fired or otherwise interfered with by President Donald Trump. A handful of senators tried once again on Wednesday to push through a “blatantly unconstitutional” piece of legislation to protect dirty cop-Mueller from being fired, but that effort was blocked on constitutional grounds by conservative Republican Mike Lee (R-UT), who took to the floor and formally objected. The senators pushing the bill included Democrat Sens. Chris Coons of Delaware and scumbag-Cory Booker of New Jersey, along with retiring Arizona Republican Sen. rino-Jeff Flake. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who had blocked a prior attempt at a vote on the legislation and has expressed little fear of Trump actually firing dirty cop-Mueller, remained unsupportive of the measure this time around as well, and called it “a solution in search of a problem.”...
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House Democrats Release Their First Bill, 
They’re Going After Trump’s Tax Returns
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by Jack Davis 
{westernjournal.com} ~ Forcing President Donald Trump to release his tax returns is among the top issues House Democrats plan to tackle in their first legislation of 2019... Democratic leaders said Friday. Bill H.R. 1 would require all presidents to disclose their tax returns. Although most have, Trump — a billionaire before taking office — did not. “I think it’s important for our oversight to get those tax returns,” Texas Democratic Congressman Lloyd Doggett said Friday, according to Fox News. Although the bill might pass the Democratic-controlled House, the Senate will have a 53-47 Republican majority. The legislation would also have to be signed into law by Trump, who has said that because the IRS is auditing him, he will not release his returns. Other parts of the legislation seek to pre-empt the role of states in overseeing elections, The Associated Press   reported. The bill would create national voter registration and expand early and online voter registration. States would get increased assistance and oversight in handling elections. The bill will also, its proponents claim, add disclosure requirements for political contributions, impose an ethics code on the Supreme Court, and curb first-class travel for federal officials, The Washington Post reported...  
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Gene Editing Is Here. It's an Enormous Threat

by Marc A. Thiessen
 

A Chinese scientist’s claim to have created the first genetically edited babies has evoked widespread condemnation from the scientific community. “This is far too premature,” one American genetic scientist told the Associated Press.
               But here is a larger question: Should we be doing this at all? The Chinese scientist, He Jiankui, used a gene-editing technique known as CRISPR to alter the DNA of two children in a petri dish and attempt to make them resistant to HIV. This is not what has American scientists up at arms. In fact, researchers in the United States have done the same thing. In 2017, scientists at Oregon Health & Science University used CRISPR to genetically alter human embryos to make them resistant to an unidentified disease. The difference is that He then implanted his edited embryos. The American researchers killed theirs.
               The prospect of genetically eliminating crippling diseases is certainly appealing, but this promise masks a darker reality. First, there is a difference between genetic engineering and the extremely promising field of gene therapy, in which doctors use CRISPR technology to repair the DNA of defective nonreproductive cells — allowing them to treat cancer, genetic disorders and other diseases. In gene therapy, the genetic changes affect only the patient. In genetic engineering, scientists alter the entire genetic structure of the resulting human being — changes that are then passed on to future generations.
               Playing with humanity’s genetic code could open a Pandora’s box. Scientists will eventually be able to alter DNA not just to protect against disease but also to create genetically enhanced human beings. The same techniques that can eliminate muscular dystrophy might also be used to enhance muscles to improve strength or speed. Techniques used to eliminate dementia may also be harnessed to enhance memory and cognition. This would have profound societal implications.
               Only the wealthy would be able to afford made-to-order babies. This means the privileged few would be able to eliminate imperfections and improve the talent, beauty, stature and IQ of their offspring — thus locking in their privilege for generations. Those at the bottom would not. This could be a death blow to the American Dream, the idea that anyone who is willing to work hard in this country can rise up the economic ladder. Indeed, genetic engineering could actually eliminate opportunities for those at the bottom. For example, one path to higher education for those at the bottom is scholarships for athletic or artistic talents. But in a world of genetic engineering, those scholarships will disappear for the unenhanced poor — and with them the opportunities to improve their economic prospects in life. Think inequality is bad today? Wait to see what it looks like in the genetically modified future.
               If we begin to create perfect children in labs, over time society will begin to develop an intolerance for imperfection. If your children have an illness because you didn’t genetically eliminate it, or if they can’t keep up because of their unenhanced cognitive abilities, then that makes them an unjust burden on the rest of us. As we are separated into the enhanced and unenhanced, respect for the dignity of every human life will be diminished. So will personal responsibility. If we don’t make it in life because we are unenhanced, it’s not our fault. And if we do because we are enhanced, we don’t get the credit. As Harvard University professor Michael Sandel once wrote, “It is one thing to hit seventy home runs as the result of disciplined training and effort, and something else, something less, to hit them with the help of … genetically enhanced muscles.” Genetic engineering could rob Americans of the obligation, and the joy, of earning their own success.
               Then there is the threat to women’s equality. If genetic engineering can offer the promise of eliminating disease, it will also allow parents to choose the sex of their child. That could lead to greater sex discrimination. Just look at China, where the one-child policy led to mass infanticide of girls. If you believe that gender bias exists, then that bias will be expressed through genetic engineering — with potentially disastrous implications.
               It will also lead to an explosion in the number of discarded children. For every child born via in vitro fertilization, there are multiple fetuses which are created but never used. Today, the Department of Health and Human Services reports, there are more than 600,000 cryogenically frozen embryos in the United States. If genetic engineering through in vitro fertilization becomes common, that number will skyrocket, sparking a profound moral crisis.
               Here is the bottom line: We should not be playing God. Genetic research holds the promise to prevent, cure and even eliminate disease. But when it is used to create made-to-order “super children,” we have crossed a moral line from which there may be no return.  

~The Patriot Post  

https://patriotpost.us/opinion/59760?mailing_id=3908&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.3908&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body

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Comments

  • Bonnie

    Thats correct they won't demand those 4 dems to show their tax returns. Besides the IRS have been viewing the president for as long as I can remember. So why would the president show his tax returns.

  • WHO SAYS IT IS THEIR BUSINESS TO VIEW ANY PRES TAX RETURNS I WANT TO C PELOSIS AND SCHUMERS AND MAXINE WATERS HUH THEN DICK DURBINS.  

This reply was deleted.