Easy for you to say

Fielding's contempt for the poor, for the not quite crimes and petty crimes they would do for money in an age when the poor were desperately poor, is all a bit much.

Reading Tom Jones.

By the way, Sauza Silver tequila is not bad, and after a double of that neither is Appleton Special Reserve rum.

Oh, the outrage!

Trump calls Elizabeth Warren "Pocahontas"

Oh, the racism!

Oh, the misogyny!

Oh, the horror!

Do I need a new label for the identity politics bullshit that's been thrown at him since the start of the primary season?

Her "Native American heritage" that she claimed to get some sort of affirmative action thing going during her academic career is that she thinks she might have one great grandparent who was an Indian.

Hell, so do I.

So does half the National Hockey League.

Big whoop.

Anyway, she has been deservedly laughed to scorn and jeered at as Pocahontas ever since that came out during her run for the senate.

Beer, here

Leinenkugel's Big Butt Doppelbock is quite tasty.

And then clear the palate with a refreshing Miller Lite.

And then there was a delicious Milk Stout from The Duck-Rabbit, followed at last by a charming Sunshine Pils from Troegs.

All of them not only served cold from the fridge but on ice with a little salt.

Excellent.

Reading Tom Jones.

Editing germline cells to make GM humans with better offspring

We Are This Close to "Designer Babies"

On February 1, scientists from the United Kingdom's Francis Crick Institute got the okay to start research on human embryos using a new genome editing technology called CRISPR.

. . . .

CRISPR is essentially a cellular scalpel. 

The small enzyme works by moving through the body's cells and cutting away at precise pieces of the genome—something that's never before been possible to do with such efficiency and ease. 

Since 2012, it's been used to cut out the gene mutations leading to HIV and sickle cell anemia. 

Last spring, researchers in China became the first to genetically modify embryos with CRISPR after they used the technology to replace a gene in a single-cell embryo.

The technology can also be used to edit what scientists call germline cells—embryos in such early stages of development that any changes will become hereditary and can be passed on to future generations. 

Using the technique, for example, scientists could potentially edit out the gene for Huntington's disease in a woman before she's born. 

Not only would she be disease free; she wouldn't be able to pass it on to any future children.

Told you they'd sell it this way.

It is simply false that allowing this process means there are or will ever be women who would have been born with the disease, but for the intervention that ensured they were born free of it.

The intervention will be done on embryos that would absolutely not have been allowed to be born at all, without the intervention.

Much less is it true that the intervention means there is or ever will be any woman whose descendants would have carried the disease, but owing to the intervention those same descendants will be free of it.

Had the intervention not occurred neither the woman nor her descendants would ever have existed, at all.

The intervention means that people will be born who would not have been born had it not occurred.

It does not mean than anyone will be better off than he or should would have been had it not occurred, aside from the first set of parents who will be better off only in the sense that they will have a child free of disorder that they otherwise would not have had.

Making people from scratch

The post-human future is emerging

Wow.

I think I'm glad I won't live to see where this is going.

Scientists are now contemplating the fabrication of a human genome, meaning they would use chemicals to manufacture all the DNA contained in human chromosomes.

The prospect is spurring both intrigue and concern in the life sciences community because it might be possible, such as through cloning, to use a synthetic genome to create human beings without biological parents.

While the project is still in the idea phase, and also involves efforts to improve DNA synthesis in general, it was discussed at a closed-door meeting on Tuesday at Harvard Medical School in Boston. 

The nearly 150 attendees were told not to contact the news media or to post on Twitter during the meeting.

Organizers said the project could have a big scientific payoff and would be a follow-up to the original Human Genome Project, which was aimed at reading the sequence of the three billion chemical letters in the DNA blueprint of human life. 

The new project, by contrast, would involve not reading, but rather writing the human genome — synthesizing all three billion units from chemicals.

And for how long would newly created, parent-less humans actually be quite entirely human, as humans occur in nature?

Oh, not very long, I should think.

Relevant readings include Brave New World by Aldous Huxley as well as What Sort of People Should There Be? by Jonathan Glover.

O looking at Libya

U.S. establishes Libyan outposts with eye toward offensive against Islamic State

American Special Operations troops have been stationed at two outposts in eastern and western Libya since late 2015, tasked with lining up local partners in advance of a possible offensive against the Islamic State, U.S. officials said.

Two teams totaling fewer than 25 troops are operating from around the cities of Misurata and Benghazi to identify potential ­allies among local armed factions and gather intelligence on threats, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive mission overseas.

The insertion of a tiny group of U.S. personnel into a country rife with militant threats reflects the Obama administration’s worries about the Islamic State’s powerful Libyan branch and the widespread expectations of an expanded campaign against it. 

For months, the Pentagon has been developing plans for potential action against the group, which has at least several thousand fighters in the coastal city of Sirte and other areas. 

And the U.S. personnel, whose ongoing presence had not been previously reported, is a sign of the acceleration toward another military campaign in Libya.

Meanwhile, among the Jihaders

IS militants attack Iraq cafe used by Real Madrid fans

The targets were Shia militia.

Hezbollah killing: Jihadists blamed for Badreddine death

Also Sunni versus Shiite.

U.S. official: ISIS declares state of emergency in self-declared capital

The only way to get real change

Bernie Sanders at North Dakota Rally: I'm Not 'Some Kind of Savior'

In response to an attendee shouting out that the country needs him, Sanders responded, "If there is any person here, any person here that thinks I'm coming to you as some kind of savior, that I'm going to do it all -- all myself, you're wrong. 

"No president, not Bernie Sanders or anybody else can do it alone. We don't need a savior."

Sanders, speaking to about 2,000 people at Fargo's Ramada Plaza & Suites, emphasized, "We need a political movement with millions of people."

He also took the opportunity to cite presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump: 

"See, there are people voting for Donald Trump, thinking he's going to do it all," he said. 

"Wrong! The only way that real change every takes place is when millions of people stand up and fight back. That's what this campaign is about."

Not quite.

He should have said, "No president, not Bernie Sanders or anybody else, can do it alone.

"The only way that real change ever takes place is when millions of people vote for politicians who will support it, in the White House and in the Congress, in governors' mansions and state houses, at all levels of government.

"America is not a dictatorship, it is a federal republic, and the United States are each and all republics."

Update, 6/9/16.

Real change?

Well, there are always those revolutionists in black robes on the Supreme Court.

What would Il Duce do?

Obama toasts Nordic nations after Russia-focused summit

O's Baltics-East European NATO policy is directly contrary to Trump's expressed, but perhaps shallow, Buchananism.

President Barack Obama toasted Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Iceland at a star-studded state dinner on Friday, lauding the nations for their global influence on civil rights, humanitarian issues and curbing climate change.

The red carpet glamor followed a White House summit where Obama and the leaders of the five nations presented a united front against Moscow's recent military aggression in Ukraine and the Baltic region.

. . . .

The summit was aimed in part at sending a message to a nation not on the guest list: Russia, which annexed Ukraine's Crimea region in 2014 and has stepped up its military posture.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is planning its biggest build-up in eastern Europe since the Cold War to try to deter further Russian aggression, and Denmark and Norway said on Friday they would contribute to the "enhanced allied forward presence" with NATO.

"We will be maintaining ongoing dialogue and seek cooperation with Russia, but we also want to make sure that we are prepared and strong, and we want to encourage Russia to keep its military activities in full compliance with international obligations," Obama said after the summit.

Helping Il Duce along

Sheldon Adelson: I endorse Donald Trump for president

I am endorsing Trump’s bid for president and strongly encourage my fellow Republicans — especially our Republican elected officials, party loyalists and operatives, and those who provide important financial backing — to do the same.

The alternative to Trump being sworn in as the nation’s 45th president is frightening.

. . . .

If Republicans do not come together in support of Trump, Obama will essentially be granted something the Constitution does not allow — a third term in the name of Hillary Clinton.

Self-funded no longer, Trump took a meeting with the notorious Uber-Zionist mogul and will be getting a check.

Sheldon Adelson Is Poised to Give Donald Trump a Donation Boost

The sulfurous Trump, reputed student of Hitler's speeches, defender of Palestinian rights, and critic of Israel.

The casino magnate Sheldon G. Adelson told Donald J. Trump in a private meeting last week that he was willing to contribute more to help elect him than he has to any previous campaign, a sum that could exceed $100 million, according to two Republicans with direct knowledge of Mr. Adelson’s commitment.

As significant, Mr. Adelson, a billionaire based in Las Vegas, has decided that he will significantly scale back his giving to congressional Republicans and direct most of his contributions to groups dedicated to Mr. Trump’s campaign. 

. . . .

Mr. Adelson and his wife, Miriam, met with Mr. Trump and his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, at the St. Regis Hotel in Midtown Manhattan while Mr. Adelson was in town for a gala dinner to benefit the World Values Network, an organization dedicated to disseminating Jewish values in politics, culture and media. 

The two moguls, who do not know each other well, had met earlier in the campaign.

But their conversation last week marked the first time they had talked in person since Mr. Trump effectively won the nomination this month.

Mr. Trump assured the Adelsons that he was dedicated to protecting Israel’s security, an issue about which the couple are passionate.