Scientists for the first time have tried editing a gene inside the body in a bold attempt to permanently change a person’s DNA to cure a disease.
The experiment was done Monday in California on 44-year-old Brian Madeux. Through an IV, he received billions of copies of a corrective gene and a genetic tool to cut his DNA in a precise spot.
“It’s kind of humbling” to be the first to test this, said Madeux, who has a metabolic disease called Hunter syndrome. “I’m willing to take that risk. Hopefully it will help me and other people.” (Read more from “US Scientists Try 1st Gene Editing in the Body” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/dna-163710_960_720-2.jpg540960Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-11-15 18:51:022017-11-15 18:51:02US Scientists Try 1st Gene Editing in the Body
The National Football League accused Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones of trying to sabotage its contract negotiations with commissioner Roger Goodell.
The tension has grown so severe that the topic of removing Mr. Jones has been discussed by at least some owners, according to people familiar with the matter. That type of drastic action would require the league showing conduct detrimental to the league—which is exactly the language the league used in a letter sent to Mr. Jones’s attorney, David Boies, on Wednesday.
The letter, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, says Mr. Jones’s “antics, whatever their motivation, are damaging the League.”
That letter was shared with all of the league’s 32 owners. It was in response to a Tuesday letter from Mr. Boies, who wrote that “Mr. Jones is in possession of a document that shows that certain statements made about those negotiations are not accurate.” (Read more from “NFL Accuses Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones of Damaging the League” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/15425496924_824e5c050e_b-1.jpg5761024Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-11-15 18:47:592017-11-15 18:47:59NFL Accuses Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones of Damaging the League
Sen. Ron Johnson (R., Wis.) said he opposes the Senate Republican tax package, becoming the first GOP voice of dissent that, if it gains momentum, could force significant changes or jeopardize the party’s goal to pass the bill before the end of the year.
“If they can pass it without me, let them,” Mr. Johnson said in an interview Wednesday, adding that the plan unfairly benefits corporations more than other types of businesses. “I’m not going to vote for this tax package.”
Any Republican opposition is significant because GOP leaders are counting on near universal support from within the party to pass a bill on party line votes. With 52 seats in the Senate, Republicans can lose no more than two votes unless they can somehow find a way to win votes from Democrats.
Other Senate Republicans have expressed concerns. Jeff Flake of Arizona, for example, has worried about deficits and Susan Collins of Maine has worried about Republican plans to repeal the insurance coverage mandate in the Affordable Care Act as part of a tax overhaul. (Read more from “Republican Senator Says ‘NO’ Tax Bill” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/control-647195_960_720.png720720Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-11-15 18:44:382017-11-15 18:44:38Republican Senator Says ‘NO’ Tax Bill
Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain called on Roy Moore to exit Alabama’s U.S. Senate race the very day The Washington Post published its story alleging the candidate engaged in sexual misconduct in the late 1970s.
However, McCain sang a different tune during his 2008 presidential when the senator faced his own accusations of sexual misconduct with a lobbyist 30 years his junior.
McCain was among the very first so called “establishment Republicans” to rush to judgment about the allegations against Moore, characterizing them as “disqualifying” and declaring that the candidate should “immediately step aside and allow the people of Alabama to elect a candidate they can be proud of.”
The allegations against Roy Moore are deeply disturbing and disqualifying. He should immediately step aside and allow the people of Alabama to elect a candidate they can be proud of.
Former Massachusetts governor and 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who campaigned for McCain in 2008 after losing to him in Republican primary, joined in the following day, tweeting, “innocent until proven guilty is for criminal convictions.”
Innocent until proven guilty is for criminal convictions, not elections. I believe Leigh Corfman. Her account is too serious to ignore. Moore is unfit for office and should step aside.
In February 2008, The Post and The New York Times published stories alleging McCain had had an improper relationship with lobbyist Vicki Iseman. The stories both related that the senator had developed a close relationship with the lobbyist who had business before the Commerce Committee, which he chaired.
The Times’ story also suggested his staff was concerned the relationship with Iseman had turned romantic, given the amount of time the two were spending together. The lobbyist has a strong resemblance to McCain’s wife Cindy.
Iseman was in her early 30s when the relationship began in the late 1990s, and McCain was in his early 60s. Both McCain and Iseman denied any affair.
McCain began a romantic relationship with Cindy while he was still married to his first wife Carol, according to FactCheck.org. A month after divorcing Carol, he married Cindy, when she was 25 and he was 43.
The severity of the allegations against McCain regarding Iseman were clear. He was potentially using his position in government to do favors for someone, who was at least his friend. At worst, she was his mistress and the senator was engaging in public corruption.
Clearly these allegations would be “disqualifying” not just for any seeking the highest office in the land, but for serving in the senate — if true.
The U.K. Telegraph reported at the time in a piece titled “John McCain sex claim hits US election” that “the revelations about Mr. McCain are unlikely to prevent him wrapping up his party’s nomination in the next few weeks, but could affect his standing against his Democratic opponent.”
The Iseman accusations likely hit too close to home for McCain. The senator had been listed among the “Keating Five” senators, who allegedly engaged in public corruption in support of lobbyist Charles Keating in the late 1980s.
The Times included the Keating Five connection in its story, noting the scandal nearly ended McCain’s career.
After the piece was published, McCain’s campaign team swiftly issued a statement describing the story as “gutter politics,” and clearly part of a “hit and run smear campaign.”
“Neither Senator McCain nor the campaign will dignify false rumors and gossip by responding to them. John McCain has never done favors for anyone, not lobbyists or any special interest. That’s a clear 24-year record,” a top campaign adviser added, according to The Post.
The Post and The Times’ stories seemingly added credibility to allegations of the senator’s past conduct, but even then, there were no widespread calls for him to “step aside” based on the allegations alone.
Iseman would later sue The Times for libel. The case was settled in 2009 after the presidential election, with no payment to the lobbyist, as well as the paper not retracting the story.
Moore has categorically denied the central allegation of The Post story that he engaged in inappropriate sexual touching with a minor in 1979. The candidate has described the story as a political hit piece meant to hurt his candidacy weeks before the general election.
At a campaign event on Saturday, Moore noted The Post had endorsed his opponent and published a series of attack articles against him and his wife regarding their public interest non-profit firm, The Foundation for Moral Law. “But we endured that,” he said.
“The Washington Post published yet another attack on my character and reputation in a desperate attempt to stop my political campaign for the United States Senate,” he said. “The attacks involve a minor and they are completely false.”
The former Alabama chief justice went on to note he has undergone multiple statewide elections and investigations into his background in order to serve and while serving on the bench.
AL.com reported that the candidate plans to sue The Post over the story.
In a radio interview with Sean Hannity on Friday, Moore said if a candidate were to follow the calls of McCain and others to “step aside” based on one allegation, there would be no point for anyone to seek political office. (For more from the author of “Flashback: John McCain Labeled 2008 Sexual Misconduct Accusations a ‘Smear'” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/John_McCain_-_Guard_Association_of_the_United_States_General_Conference-2-1.jpg6811024Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-11-14 22:59:542017-11-19 02:30:53Flashback: John McCain Labeled 2008 Sexual Misconduct Accusations a ‘Smear’
Widespread sexual harassment in the halls of Congress is an open secret, and female lawmakers, staff, and interns keep a “creep list” of male members to avoid, according to a new report from CNN.
More than 50 sources spoke to CNN, including “lawmakers, current and former Hill aides and political veterans who have worked in Congress.” They spoke anonymously, fearful of repercussions, and almost everyone said they have personally experienced sexual harassment or known someone else who has.
One ex-House aide said that with “so many young women” working on the Hill, male lawmakers “have no self-control.” There are rules for new hires to teach them which lawmakers to avoid, like “be extra careful of the male lawmakers who sleep in their offices,” and “avoid finding yourself alone with a congressman or senator in elevators.”
Some of the individuals who spoke to CNN even named sitting lawmakers who engage in inappropriate behavior.
The dozens of interviews that CNN conducted with both men and women also revealed that there is an unwritten list of male lawmakers — made up primarily of House representatives where there are many more members than the Senate — notorious for inappropriate or predatory behavior. Several people simply referred to that roster as the “creep list.”
More than half a dozen interviewees independently named one California congressman for pursuing female staffers; another half dozen pointed to a Texas congressman for engaging in inappropriate behavior. CNN is not naming either of those lawmakers because the stories are unverified.
One woman recounted an encounter with a sitting senator in an elevator. Her boss, another senator, introduced her to his colleague. When she shook the senator’s hand, she says he stroked the inside of her palm “in a really gross, suggestive way.”
The woman declined to be named or to reveal the senator’s identity.
That victims of sexual harassment on Capitol Hill should feel afraid to identify their harassers is completely unacceptable. These women say they fear repercussions at work. One woman who spoke to CNN said she questions whether her career was damaged after she filed a complaint against her boss, another staffer.
Two things need to happen immediately. First, Congress needs to pass a serious measure to ensure that everyone on Capitol Hill can file complaints against workplace harassment without endangering their careers.
Second, these women need to name their harassers. Now. The people of the United States are the H.R. department of Congress. The lawmakers on this “creep list” need to be made public, and voters must expel them from Congress.
If Roy Moore is unfit for public office based on believable allegations of serious sexual misconduct, then so too is the sitting senator and the members of Congress alluded to in CNN’s report.
Kick the pigs out. (For more from the author of “Who Is on the Reported Capitol Hill ‘Creep List’?” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/washington-1880338_960_720.jpg642960Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-11-14 22:37:372017-11-19 02:21:38Who Is on the Reported Capitol Hill ‘Creep List’?
A former Secret Service agent assigned to the Vice President Joe Biden residence claims that the Service often had to protect female agents from him.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the agent asserted that, “We had to cancel the VP Christmas get together at the Vice President’s house because Biden would grope all of our wives and girlfriend’s asses.” The annual party was for agents and Navy personnel who were tasked with protecting the Biden family.
“He would mess with every single woman or teen. It was horrible,” the agent said.
According to the source, a Secret Service agent once got suspended for a week in 2009 for shoving Biden after he cupped his girlfriend’s breast while the couple was taking a photo with him. The situation got so heated, the source told Cassandra Fairbanks, that others had to step in to prevent the agent from hitting the then-Vice President.
Additionally, the agent claims that Biden would walk around the VP residence naked at night. “I mean, Stark naked… Weinstein level stuff,” he added. (Read more from “Former Joe Biden Secret Service Agent: We Had to Protect Women From Him, ‘Weinstein Level Stuff'” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/4079005844_1ef997f002_b-1-1.jpg6831024Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-11-14 22:37:302017-11-19 02:08:48Former Joe Biden Secret Service Agent: We Had to Protect Women From Him, ‘Weinstein Level Stuff’
President Trump is taking the correct, diplomatic approach in refusing to take the time to publicly shame the leaders of U.S. partners and adversaries during his overseas trip.
While the president is traveling abroad on the tail end of his 14-day Asia trip, pundits across the political spectrum are taking shots at the commander in chief for what they deem is his unwillingness to stand up to authoritarian leaders.
From The New York Times, to prominent members of Congress, to National Review, to former Obama officials, the foreign policy “smart set” seems convinced that the president is not upholding his duty to stand up for American values while abroad.
They want him to declare, for the 1,000th time, that Russian President Vladimir Putin interfered in the American election. They want him to show up at Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte’s doorstep and proceed to berate him for his alleged human rights abuses. They’d like him to show up in Beijing and tell President Xi Jinping that he’s an illegitimate, two-bit thug.
This approach would not only fail to yield a positive outcome (unless you consider virtue signaling for cultural “elites” a good way to spend your political capital), it would in all likelihood damage America’s standing in the world.
Sure, Putin, Duterte, and Xi 100 percent do not represent American values. But it’s unclear what exactly these pundits think the president will achieve by having POTUS dress down and talk smack to foreign leaders on their own soil. What will it accomplish in the name of U.S. interests? Absolutely nothing.
Russia is most certainly an adversarial nation, but Moscow is not a lost cause entirely. Russia is a Great Power, and the U.S. maintains extensive cultural and economic ties with Russia. We also have many disagreements with Russia, including how they conduct their internal affairs, and how the Kremlin is known to commit human rights abuses.
However, there is no way that our relationship with Russia will change for the better if President Trump makes it his goal to consistently publicly shame and humiliate Vladimir Putin.
“But Reagan!” I hear some people already claiming.
But times were different back then. Ronald Reagan was leading the front for freedom in a global Cold War against the Soviet Union. Reagan was conducting his messaging as part of a grand strategy that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Today, It is not remotely in our interests whatsoever for President Trump to start unnecessary hostilities with Russia, or attempt to cause mass devastation in Moscow.
Now, to the Philippines.
The Philippines is an ally of the United States, and there is certainly nothing good that can come out of President Trump undermining the authority of its elected president.
President Duterte has undoubtedly made some concerning comments and implemented some abominable internal policies. But it’s much more likely that the U.S. can achieve a positive result for human rights by communicating our concerns through diplomatic channels, instead of destroying our relationship with the country’s leader, resulting in the severing of those channels.
Over to China.
According to the Chicago Tribune’s Dahleen Glanton, Trump “got played” because he refused to directly confront Chinese President Xi Jinping’s government. It’s true that China continues to take a more aggressive posture against U.S. interests in East Asia. It’s also true that anti-American sentiment continues to rise there.
China is also our biggest trading partner, and again, little good can come out of admonishing a foreign leader in his own country, other than scoring points with the professional pundit class back home.
Imagine if a foreign leader traveled to the United States and proceeded to do nothing but berate our way of life and our duly elected president. Outrage would likely ensue in both the press and in Congress. There would be calls to distance our relationship with that leader’s particular nation. Nothing good would come of it, for either side.
When President Trump comes home, he can (and should) say all he wants about the shortcomings of both allies and adversaries. As an invited guest of foreign nations, he is correct in understanding that he can achieve far more for the United States by acting in a diplomatic, civil manner, in attempts to find and highlight shared objectives with partner countries. (For more from the author of “President Trump’s Asia Trip Is What Actual Diplomacy Looks Like” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/north-dakota-1-1.jpg13352000Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-11-14 22:33:442017-11-14 22:37:01President Trump’s Asia Trip Is What Actual Diplomacy Looks Like
Democrats made substantial progress in November, reclaiming numerous state and local government seats long held by Republicans. This phenomenon is due largely to an unprecedented level of enthusiasm among Democratic voters eager to voice to their opposition to President Donald Trump, according to a pair of local candidates, who witnessed the effect firsthand.
The incendiary nature of national politics in the Trump era trickled down to the local level in Fairfield, Conn., where Democrats routed their opponents, garnering a 23 to 17 majority on the Representative Town Meeting (RTM), a hold over term from the days of early New England government that translates to town council.
Alex Plitsas, a Republican RTM candidate for Fairfield’s 8th district, told The Daily Caller News Foundation that Trump’s influence on local elections throughout Connecticut was unmistakable.
“How do you know that’s just not an excuse for poor performance? Well, one, it wasn’t a couple of candidates, it was Republicans across the board. We weren’t just beaten, we were annihilated at the polls,” he said. “Second, in many of these local races, including several in my town, there were Democrats on the ballot who literally didn’t campaign, I mean did nothing. No signs, no advertising, no door-to-door, no engagements with people, nothing, who won or came very close to winning.” (Read more from “Trump Effect Crushes Local Elections” HERE)
Almost half of over-65s in England are taking at least five different drugs a day, a Cambridge University study has found.
The figure has risen from just 12 per cent 20 years ago, while the proportion taking no pills at all dropped from around 20 per cent in the late 1990s to just seven per cent today.
Researchers tracked more than 15,000 older people who took part in two long-term health studies which began in the 1990s.
Some of those who took part in the long-term investigation said they were on up to 23 tablets every day.
Researchers expressed concern at the increasing dependence on prescription and over-the-counter medicines – known as ‘polypharmacy’. (Read more from “Half of Over-65s Take at Least Five Drugs a Day” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/AN19-Pills-In-Hand-1296x728-header.jpg7281294Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-11-14 22:17:192017-11-14 22:17:19Half of Over-65s Take at Least Five Drugs a Day
Speaker Paul Ryan said Tuesday that the House will require anti-harassment and anti-discrimination training for all members and their staffs. The announcement came just hours after a hearing in which two female lawmakers spoke about sexual misconduct involving sitting members of Congress.
“Our goal is not only to raise awareness, but also make abundantly clear that harassment in any form has no place in this institution,” said Ryan, R-Wis. “As we work with the Administration, Ethics, and Rules committees to implement mandatory training, we will continue our review to make sure the right policies and resources are in place to prevent and report harassment.” . . .
The move comes days after the Senate unanimously approved a measure requiring all senators, staff and interns to be trained on preventing sexual harassment. (Read more from “House to Adopt Mandatory Anti-Sexual Harassment Training” HERE)
