The Gattaca Future Is Here

Plus: Trump's travel ban, NYC mayor candidate cites bad stats on child hunger, and more...

Advances in the world of embryonic screening: The company Nucleus Genomics announced the launch of Nucleus Embryo yesterday, which they bill as "the first genetic optimization software that lets parents pursuing IVF [in vitro fertilization] see and understand the complete genetic profile of each of their embryos." It's a dashboard, essentially, that lets parents see the full analysis of their frozen embryos—each embryo's probability of having some 900 diseases, as well as information about their appearance (male pattern baldness, eye color, hair color), IQ, and more. You can now compare each embryo to the others, and rank order your preferences for which ones you implant, if you so choose. You can know which embryos are more likely to have seasonal allergies, asthma, restless leg syndrome, schizophrenia, cystic fibrosis, alcoholism, celiac disease, and more.

"Some people don't think you should have access to the choice Nucleus Embryo empowers you to make," writes Nucleus CEO Kian Sadeghi. "Here's the thing. It's not their choice to make. It's yours." (For the price of $6,000, of course.)

Competitors like Orchid offer essentially the same thing. What's discussed a bit less in all the marketing copy is that you're not genetically tweaking the embryos, you're just discarding the ones that don't meet your specifications. And, look, I don't mean to let my Catholic show too much, but I have a hard time getting excited about a Gattaca future—as do many others who've been following the developments in the world of embryonic screening:

This level of embryo selection is mostly a cope for high income type As who want a single child

The error bars on genomic analysis wrt IQ are such that choosing any two of these embryos at random is more likely to get you a higher IQ kid than choosing the single "best" embryo https://t.co/elnKu8a5ZQ

— Mason (@webdevMason) June 5, 2025

"this announcement also marks the first time in history a company has partnered with a couple to help them optimize their embryos based on intelligence."

Since these are all just statistical predictions, what happens if your kid turns out dumb anyways? Do you get a refund? https://t.co/1g8imuMTGD

— Luke Metro (@luke_metro) June 4, 2025

Other folks within Silicon Valley are bullish on this, and interested in investing in gene-editing technology, applying it to embryos specifically. So expect this to be something we hear a lot more about in the future:

If you're a gene editing scientist or comp bio/ML engineer interested in the topic of embryo editing, I'm hosting a dinner in the bay area soon with a few folks.

I think the time is right for the defining company in the US to be built in this area, approaching it in a… pic.twitter.com/4BKfIUijn3

— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) June 2, 2025

Some people surely believe this is a means to reduce suffering, and that it is better to eliminate embryos that would be possibly destined for great suffering than to allow them to continue to grow and develop into children, and then adults, who would incur extreme hardship (like a life with cystic fibrosis or Tay-Sachs disease). To me, this argument is less compelling, because I don't believe it is the parent's role to pick and choose which children are "desirable" and to discard those with traits that might lead to suffering. I also fear the use of this technology as a means of indulging parental hubris, a belief that you are responsible not just for your child's care and safekeeping and spiritual growth—no matter what is thrown their way—but that you may also craft them into perfect beings who become as attractive as can be, as smart as can be. To some degree, parents do this once the children are outside the womb—they provide them with the best opportunities to grow and learn and foster their natural talents—but I do wonder how it might psychologically alter a child to know that they were selected for life due to their potential for excellence vs. their innate value.

But, honestly, my own personal beliefs on this are beside the point. Many libertarians probably disagree with me, and see this technology as a massive expansion of human choice applied to the most important realm. This future is here; public support for IVF is already extremely high, and genetic screening is already routine in pregnancy. It's not crazy to theorize that, as the price tag continues to drop as the marketplace becomes more crowded, this type of screening will catch on for those who use IVF, and that some people—perhaps the most type-A parents with the most disposable income—will even be spurred to choose IVF creation of babies vs. the good old-fashioned method, as it gives them greater control over outcomes (but, if we're being honest, less fun).

In other words, we're a far cry from parents trying to optimize their kids' intellect by letting them watch Baby Mozart; techniques for optimization are much more sophisticated now, and a whole bunch of ethical quandaries will come along with that. Expect progressives to object to a society increasingly bifurcated based on ability, corresponding to the disposable income of one's parents, and expect conservatives to object on pro-life grounds. Though, interestingly, maybe the MAGA types—who voted for "the fertilization president" (an image I still hope to get out of my head)—and the Silicon Valley types who are broadly supportive of this technology will sort of join forces with IVF-approving normies and it will all become broadly accepted. It's hard to say how it all plays politically.

Another Trump travel ban: On Wednesday, President Donald Trump banned citizens of 12 countries—Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen—from entering the United States. He also announced restrictions on travel for citizens of Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela, but stopped short of a full ban. People from those countries will not be allowed to come to the United States permanently or get tourist or student visas, but will be allowed to enter under certain circumstances.

This is more extensive than the so-called Muslim travel ban of his first term, and it's not totally clear what the specific reasoning is for barring citizens of these countries from visiting or living in the United States. The attack on Jews in Boulder, Colorado, by an Egyptian man who had overstayed his visa and was thus here illegally, "underscored the extreme dangers" posed by the entry of foreigners, said Trump. Oddly, though, he didn't announce any restrictions on travel by Egyptians.

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Scenes from New York: I don't believe this statistic is correct, and I am also very curious about where all our taxpayer dollars are going if they're not going to food assistance for poor kids.

Articles like this one claim that "an estimated 1 in 4 children don't have enough to eat—a 46% increase over pre-pandemic numbers" and cite the nonprofit Feeding America. When I follow the link, there's nothing to substantiate this number, and this X user is roughly correct that a huge chunk—some estimates say more like 43 percent—of NYC elementary schoolers are overweight.

Let me get this straight: NYC has 1.5M kids, maybe 1M are considered "lower-income". And 50% of those are overweight or obese. You're telling me the other 50% are going to bed hungry? A third of all kids in NYC? The math isn't mathing. https://t.co/1W9d3EDZ6W

— Circe (@vocalcry) June 5, 2025

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QUICK HITS

• "Many today insist that it is critical—even morally required—that we use the word 'genocide' to describe Israel's war in Gaza. No other term will do. Those not joining the chorus are allegedly complicit in genocide. Those questioning the nature of the accusation are labeled genocide deniers," write Norman J.W. Goda and Jeffrey Herf for The Washington Post. "Why this insistence? Efforts to delegitimize Israel as colonial and racist began before the state was declared in 1948. Genocide, meanwhile, is the crime of crimes; a state committing genocide is forever illegitimate. Given this history and gravity, we should pose some questions. Israel's war against Hamas in the urban environments of Gaza has led to thousands of civilian casualties. But is genocide really the correct way to describe the war?"
• "Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, citizens of the People's Republic of China, were charged in a criminal complaint with conspiracy, smuggling goods into the United States, false statements, and visa fraud, announced United States Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon, Jr.," per a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan. "The FBI arrested Jian in connection with allegations related to Jian's and Liu's smuggling into America a fungus called Fusarium graminearum, which scientific literature classifies as a potential agroterrorism weapon. This noxious fungus causes 'head blight,' a disease of wheat, barley, maize, and rice, and is responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses worldwide each year. Fusarium graminearum's toxins cause vomiting, liver damage, and reproductive defects in humans and livestock." But it sounds like the scientists mostly failed to file the proper paperwork; will be interesting to see what more comes out about this case.
• Classic Trump administration:

Cuban rapper El Funky supports Trump, wrote an anti-communist protest song that became a hit on the Island and that Marco Rubio praised. He just received notice this month that he has to leave the United States. pic.twitter.com/PN2oymajoO

— Eric Michael Garcia (@EricMGarcia) June 4, 2025

• Hell yeah, New Jersey! With age, I conquer my animus and grow in respect for that scrappy little state:

NEW ODD LOTS:

Jersey City saw its housing supply boom over the last decade. @tracyalloway and I talked its mayor, @StevenFulop (candidate in next week's Dem gubernatorial primary) about how it happened, its replicability, and his goals in Trenton. https://t.co/85KxlSuzdf

— Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) June 5, 2025

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

You can know which embryos are more likely to have seasonal allergies, asthma, restless leg syndrome, schizophrenia, cystic fibrosis, alcoholism, celiac disease, and more.

You won’t find out the gender until the embryo attends public school.

[Spiritus Mundi]

But it could still have male pattern baldness.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

That’s what all the fancy wigs are for.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

And competing in girls’ sports.

[mad.casual]

Nucleus Embryo is the first-ever genetic optimization software that helps parents give their children the best possible start in life — long before they’re even born.

Imagine the Black-Mirror-x10-level horror of an entire generation of babies genetically optimized to learn to code.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

Humanity will do that in the future to defeat the robots after AI tries to enslave us.

[mad.casual]

Yeah, it will be the sort of thing where the breeding program will declare that we have the cards to defeat the AI menace because they took down some remote data centers housing older nodes that aren’t/weren’t predominantly being employed in the fight against us (thus, aging, remotely deployed, and generally undefended).

“Humanity” “will” “win” the “war” on “AI”.

[Don't look at me! (Not signed with autopen)]

Turns out, people really don’t like smart people anyway.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

Well when hunter Biden is the smartest person we know, can you blame us?

[Social Justice is neither]

When you’re part of the Biden crime family is being high 24/7 anything but the smart play?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Since these are all just statistical predictions, what happens if your kid turns out dumb anyways? Do you get a refund?

That’s why you also get an embryo of color*. If it’s dumb, it can still go to Harvard.

*Asian doesn’t count.

[Rev Arthur L kuckland (5-30-24 banana republic day)]

And then get a job as an editor for reason

[Bubba Jones]

These techniques are fundamentally limited by 1) the starting material of the parents and 2) the relatively small number of embryos a couple will have for analysis.

IRL, you’ll only be able to pick one or two traits that you really want, while also avoiding whatever risks you prioritize.

“I wanted a 6-2 female blond with blue eyes, but the high IQ embryo with low risk of alzheimers was a 5 foot male with bad skin.”

[Rev Arthur L kuckland (5-30-24 banana republic day)]

Soooooo my chess team?

[Rev Arthur L kuckland (5-30-24 banana republic day)]

Muslims should be banned from western societies. Their beliefs are completely against all forms of civility.

[damikesc]

Thing is, the reason HAS been explained. Those countries do not tend to share info on their emigrants so we have no way to vet any of them.

Thus, they should never set foot in here.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

Argument by ignorance is a favorite form of argumentation here.

They clearly said just what you said when the order was signed.

[Stuck in California]

Even calling it “so-called”, bringing up the words “Muslim ban” is just further proof of how far Liz has fallen.

That “muslim ban” was, very obviously, a ban on refugees from places like a war-torn Syria that were overrun by ISIL and had zero actual working government. No functioning government means there was no possible way to vet immigrants.

Yet, eight years later, we’re still referring to it as a muslim ban, using the act-blue talking points memo words that were put out to all the propaganda outlets to purposely brand their opponents as racists.

There’s definitely a reason I only bother to click on the daily links once a week anymore.

[Don't look at me! (Not signed with autopen)]

Cuban rapper El Funky supports Trump, wrote an anti-communist protest song that became a hit on the Island and that Marco Rubio praised. He just received notice this month that he has to leave the United States.

Nobody is above the law.

[Social Justice is neither]

Funny how libertarian writers and leftists (but I repeat myself) don’t believe in that except as a cynical attack vector on their enemies.

[VinniUSMC]

They’re confused that maybe Trump doesn’t have the double standards that they project onto him?

[Rev Arthur L kuckland (5-30-24 banana republic day)]

Yeah! New Jersey know how to get things done!… Except pumping their own gas, that one is still tricky for them.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Also that whole airplane thing.

[Jefferson Paul]

I don’t understand the gas thing. Every time I’ve brought it up to people in NJ, they tell me they LOVE that you don’t have to get out of your car, as the attendant does it for them. I ask if it’s worth paying more for the gas, and every single time they tell me it doesn’t cost them more for mandatory full service stations. I’ll explain how there is an additional service being provided (forced to provide) and the attendants get paid. Why would you think that you don’t pay more for the gas in this system? The responses usually are something about how neighboring state X has higher prices than NJ. (A big part of what determines the baseline prices for gas in states are the taxes levied on it, which varies by state.)

TNSTAAFL – There’s no such thing as a free lunch. And in this case There’s no such thing as free full-service gas pumping.

[MWAocdoc]

What don’t you understand about “choice?” If the station operator wants to give you the choice and you want the choice, why does the state get to decide for you and forbid you and the owner to choose?

[Zeb]

The pump jockeys must have a good lobbyist.

[Jefferson Paul]

You must have read my comment backwards, as you got what I said exactly backwards. NJ doesn’t allow that choice. Every gas station has ONLY full service, regardless of what you want. And that full service means you pay more for your gas (all other things being equal) because the salary of the attendant doesn’t get paid out of nothing.

Every other state allows gas stations to offer full service, self service, or a combination. The gas station chooses, and the customers either go there or someplace else. That being said, it seem the market favors self service, for the lower price, as I rarely see full service offered at most gas stations in my state.

[Stuck in California]

Dude was just agreeing with you Jefferson.

[Jefferson Paul]

He was agreeing with my actual point, but seemed to think I was making the opposite point.

What don’t you understand about “choice?”

[Don't look at me! (Not signed with autopen)]

But is genocide really the correct way to describe the war?

Probably the incorrect word, as the population there continues to grow.

[Social Justice is neither]

And the Israelies continue to tell them where they’re attacking next so they can evacuate. Maybe next time don’t elect terrorists to be your ruling party and start a war you cannot win. Take some accountability for your own actions as a State.

[Michael Ejercito]

I wonder if the Allies did this for the Germans and the Japanese

[damikesc]

If genocide was the goal, the war would have been over 10/10.

[Randy Sax]

Israel has nukes. Hasn’t launched them. Worst geocide ever.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarc's a Nazi, not even joking)]

Remember when the Nazis used to warn the Jews that they were coming and to evacuate the area so they didn’t get accidentally hurt.

[Ajsloss]

Well, they did have pieces of flair that they made them wear.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

You know what, Stan, if you want me to wear 37 pieces of flair, like your pretty boy over there, Brian, why don’t you just make the minimum 37 pieces of flair?

[Bubba Jones]

Genocide has been dumbed down to mean any war of conquest.

I think Russia’s acts in Ukraine count, when you systematically execute civilians and steal their children.

I don’t think Israel’s actions count, because they’d probably be perfectly content for the Palestinians to stop fighting or move away.

However, from a Palestinian’s perspective, where they are effectively under siege and couldn’t leave if they wanted to, it’s a distinction without a difference.

[Rev Arthur L kuckland (5-30-24 banana republic day)]

Ukraine also steals Ukranian children

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

I think Russia’s acts in Ukraine count, when you systematically execute civilians and steal their children.

Even that dumbs it down. That’s how warfare was practiced for millennia, even by Native Americans.

Genocide is along the lines of what the Mongols did to cities that didn’t immediately surrender, or what the Ottomans did to the Assyrians and Armenians. The Holocaust was in the same vein because it sought the total eradication of Jews as a race.

[SIV]

But there was like 5 million “Holocaust survivors” !

[VinniUSMC]

The Nazis only achieved 50% extermination. Pathetic, right?

BTW, Fuck off Nazi piece of shit.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

Lol.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Why don’t they just leave Gaza and go into Egypt, which shares a border?

Oh, right! Egypt says no fucking way we’re letting a bunch of Palestinians into Egypt.

Of course they *say* it’s for the cause! “Their refusal is rooted in fear that Israel wants to force a permanent expulsion of Palestinians into their countries and nullify Palestinian demands for statehood.”

But there’s also:

“El-Sissi also said a mass exodus would risk bringing militants into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, from where they might launch attacks on Israel, endangering the two countries’ 40-year-old peace treaty.

and

“Egypt fears history will repeat itself and a large Palestinian refugee population from Gaza will end up staying for good.

AP:

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi made his toughest remarks yet on Wednesday, saying the current war was not just aimed at fighting Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, “but also an attempt to push the civilian inhabitants to … migrate to Egypt.” He warned this could wreck peace in the region.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II gave a similar message a day earlier, saying, “No refugees in Jordan, no refugees in Egypt.”

[Mickey Rat]

The hell of it being that Gaza used to be Egyptian territory and the people there Egyptian citizens.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarc's a Nazi, not even joking)]

Yes. And the West Bank was Jordan and the people there Jordanian citizens.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

When do I get reparations for The Highland Clearances?

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

When Greta endorses your cause.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarc's a Nazi, not even joking)]

“when you systematically execute civilians and steal their children.”

Wait until this shill finds out about the Azov Brigades. Literal Nazis (No, really) who were systematically executing civilians and their children.

I kid, Shrike already knows. He’s just evil.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

Also since the US and Israel are the primary givers of their aid while Hamas steals and shoots citizens trying to get said aid.

[DesigNate]

I have it on good authority from the totally not biased AP or some posters here that it was the IDF that killed those civilians trying to get aid, not the sainted Hamas government who only has everyone’s best interest at heart! /s

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

We need an independent genocide scoring panel. And unless the population declines, the panel will not accept the case.

[Longtobefree]

The side proudly committing genocide, or attempting to, is Hamas.
It is not “Israel’s war in Gaza”; it is “Hamas’ war against Israel”.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

But which side has better PR (in the eyes of leftwing media)?

[Fist of Etiquette]

…perhaps the most type-A parents with the most disposable income—will even be spurred to choose IVF creation of babies vs. the good old-fashioned method, as it gives them greater control over outcomes…

All of this was generally covered in the opening sequence of Idiocracy. The dumb will always outnumber the designer, shy of some intellectual mogul class introducing a vaccine that promotes de facto sterility in the gullible class.

[Randy Sax]

All that resist, yes. All those that are required for the Unity as well. The remainder will be allowed to live out their days, but under Unity control and protection. But none shall breed, for they will be the last of their race.

You mean to kill them all?

Of course not. Most will be offered a chance to become a mutant. Those who deny this opportunity will be sterilized and let go. Those that resist will be executed.

[tracerv]

Go away! I’m ‘baiting!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Oddly, though, he didn’t announce any restrictions on travel by Egyptians.

Not much of a Muslim ban.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

She prefaced her use of leftist phrasing with “so-called” before repeating it so she’s absolved.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

“Sources said”

[Don't look at me! (Not signed with autopen)]

….and it’s not totally clear what the specific reasoning is for barring citizens of these countries from visiting or living in the United States.

It’s called common sense.

[Social Justice is neither]

That explains the leftists and libertarian writers not understanding.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarc's a Nazi, not even joking)]

“libertarian” writers

[Medulla Oblongata]

8 U.S. Code § 1182 – Inadmissible aliens

(f)Suspension of entry or imposition of restrictions by President

Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

This will not be clear language to some leftist judge and Reason will side with the judge.

[Fist of Etiquette]

And 50% of those are overweight or obese. You’re telling me the other 50% are going to bed hungry?

Time for a reverse modest proposal, I guess.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarc's a Nazi, not even joking)]

“A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People from Being a Burthen to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the New York Publick”

[Randy Sax]

Liz is doing her part trying to get that park to open.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

Which in reality will have no impact on the obese children in NYC.

[Randy Sax]

“doing my part” more often than not means “doing nothing”

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

I actually dig what she’s doing regarding the parks. She’s teaching a good lesson to her kid and others taking advantage of it, at personal ( although small) risk to herself.

It’s just not going to have any impact on fat kids.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

But the average kid weight is close to ideal.

[Medulla Oblongata]

In another forum, I was once branded with “truly malicious, ignorant misinterpretation…deserves only contempt” for making a similar observation–that there is an extremely high correlation between poverty and obesity in this country.

[VinniUSMC]

There are still people who don’t understand that?

Calorie-dense, pre-cooked, packaged, processed foods are cheaper to buy, easier to cook, faster to get to the table, etc. Healthy whole foods require prep, cooking at home, cost more. (All generalizations, obviously.) It’s not rocket surgery.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Liz and Lizzo?

[Rev Arthur L kuckland (5-30-24 banana republic day)]

Isreal is not committing genocide, if they did I wouldn’t care. Palistine has in their constitution a call to kill all non Muslims. Fuck them

[SIV]

That would be news to the 10% of Palestinians who are Christians.

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

No it wouldn’t. They know.

[VinniUSMC]

Fuck off, Nazi piece of shit.

[Nelson]

Is he a Nazi like Misek? Holocaust denier and unabashedly antisemitic? I don’t know if I’ve noticed his posts before, but it would suck if there’s another one like Misek here.

[VinniUSMC]

I’m not going so search out what SIV said yesterday on another article, but here’s what SIV wrote just above:

But there was like 5 million “Holocaust survivors” !

Combined with other things SIV writes, yes, I’d say SIV is a holocaust denier and unabashedly antisemitic.

[Nelson]

That sucks.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarc's a Nazi, not even joking)]

Hamas, not the PLO. The PLO uses the Palestinian Christian population as a fig leaf for legitimacy.

The vast majority of the British Mandate Palestine population became Arab Israelis though, including most of the pre-Israel Christian population.

[Fist of Etiquette]

But is genocide really the correct way to describe the war?

WaPo has gone Zionist!

[Fist of Etiquette]

The FBI arrested Jian in connection with allegations related to Jian’s and Liu’s smuggling into America a fungus called Fusarium graminearum…

None of us want a Last of Us situation to break out in the country. Not with that insufferable lead character.

[Spiritus Mundi]

They/them has….have…. a sad….sads…. I am so confused.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Cuban rapper El Funky supports Trump, wrote an anti-communist protest song that became a hit on the Island and that Marco Rubio praised. He just received notice this month that he has to leave the United States.

Wait. Do we want Trump issuing special favors to his supporters? I am losing track.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Having made that joke now, I can say that I’m on record as wanting to import as many anti-commies as we can, as long as they’re not also religious fanatics.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

You’d think the guy would have gotten his shit together by now on gaining his citizenship.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarc's a Nazi, not even joking)]

This is baffling to Democrats.

[Idaho-Bob]

Even Trump hates MAGA!

Trending on TikTok now.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

More 4D chess?

[Mother's Lament - (Sarc's a Nazi, not even joking)]

You can’t have two large, powerful religions at once.

“Biden FBI’s Targeting Of ‘Traditional’ Catholics Was Bigger Than Previously Thought, Docs Show”

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

Local news. Who cares Wray lied to congress.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

To be fair, as much of a foghorn prick as Biden was, “Biden FBI” just means whomever was actually running the administration. Everyone knows Biden’s only responsibilities were being available for the adenochrome shot when they needed to show proof of life to keep up the facade, and getting his morning ice cream cone.

[Medulla Oblongata]

The current leftist tizzy about Trump admin investigation “Biden’s use of autopen” is intentionally obfuscating things. It’s not Biden’s use of the autopen, which is a legitimate Presidential action, but the seeming likelihood that the autopen was used (abused) by staffers without Biden’s knowledge to effect favored policies without Presidential approval.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Yeah, autosigs are common and have been for decades in both the government and corporate world. As you indicated, the main issue is that he didn’t actually review the memos before approving their signature.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Jersey City saw its housing supply boom over the last decade. @tracyalloway and I talked its mayor, @StevenFulop (candidate in next week’s Dem gubernatorial primary) about how it happened, its replicability, and his goals in Trenton.

Likely through no small amount of graft.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Khannnn!

Maybe my Catholic upbringing, but meh one way or another. As long as it isn’t labeled as child abuse to have your kid the old fashioned way, I’m indifferent to the choices others make.

[Randy Sax]

IVF creation of babies vs. the good old-fashioned method, as it gives them greater control over outcomes (but, if we’re being honest, less fun).

I think gene editing will mostly be an add on for people who already use or are going to use IFV. My coworker and his wife recently had IFV because it was pretty much their only choice. (not including adoption, etc.) Don’t think they went the designer route though.

[Bubba Jones]

We did pre-implantation screening for chromosomal abnormalities.

I gotta think we’d have reviewed all the data if there had been that option.

I have no idea what we would have done with it. That’s quite the hypothetical.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Once people can figure out the “bad stuff” in their DNA, it’s just not that big of a leap to actual eugenicism.

[Jefferson Paul]

And then, after 100 years, Wrath of Khan becomes reality!

edit: Damnit. Sometimes a Great Notion already posted “Khannnn!”

[Mickey Rat]

“Some people surely believe this is a means to reduce suffering, and that it is better to eliminate embryos that would be possibly destined for great suffering than to allow them to continue to grow and develop into children, and then adults, who would incur extreme hardship (like a life with cystic fibrosis or Tay-Sachs disease).”

This is a really ugly mode of thinking masked as compassion. It is not philosophically different from “life unworthy of life” with a large dollop of hubris. You are not preventing those people from existing. They already exist. They are being killed because the person making the decision does not want to deal with their problems. It is not actually compassion for the person.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarc's a Nazi, not even joking)]

This is a really ugly mode of thinking masked as compassion.

Repeated for emphasis. They’re just killing off the genetically imperfect embryos. And just because someone a potential biomarker for something, doesn’t man they will get it. And I bet this isn’t being explained.

This is just eugenics.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarc's a Nazi, not even joking)]

someone (has) a
doesn’t m(e)an they

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

“This is just eugenics.”

On the biology side. Makes me think about how to characterize the current woke elite view of curating ideology and politics. Cultural eugenics?

[Mother's Lament - (Sarc's a Nazi, not even joking)]

Yes. 100%

[Bubba Jones]

There’s an important difference between aborting kids with a genetic risk, and selecting embryos that have lower risk profiles.

IVF typically produces more embryos than can be implanted.

[Vernon Depner]

To the fetophiles, there is no difference. To them, a zygote is a citizen of the US entitled to full Constitutionally protected rights.

[Mickey Rat]

Are human individual universally presumed as rights bearing creatures or not?

If not, what is the criteria for excluding a human from having rights?

[Vernon Depner]

Sorry, I don’t do this dance anymore. I know it will be pointless.

[Mickey Rat]

I understand. Justifying evil must be very tiring.

[Zeb]

Arguing with people unwilling to engage in the argument and start with assuming what we are arguing about is tiring. I’m OK with accepting that the answer isn’t clear and obvious and that reasonable people disagree.

[Mickey Rat]

There is quite a bit of projection there, especially with the Vernon’s response to Bubba that I originally replied to.

[Mother's Lament - (Sarc's a Nazi, not even joking)]

“To them, a zygote is a human being, with a complete genome in the earliest stages of it’s life”

Fixed that for you.

Human life cycle for the biologically challenged:
Zygote > Embryo > Fetus > Infant > Toddler > Child> Preadolescent > Adolescent > Young adult > Middle age > Old age

Progressives are currently only able to kill you on a whim for the early part.

[Longtobefree]

” . . . only able to kill you on a whim for the early part”

Clearly you are not yet on Medicare – – – – –

[Mother's Lament - (Sarc's a Nazi, not even joking)]

Actually I’m Canadian. I should’ve remembered that bit wasn’t true anymore.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Well, then, you know all about MAID, which covers killing people at all stages (and especially old age).

[Mother's Lament - (Sarc's a Nazi, not even joking)]

The ultimate progressive goal. Farm people which means culling the herd now and then.

[Mickey Rat]

Which is the prime ethical problem with the way IVF is done.

[Vernon Depner]

It’s only an ethical problem if you can’t tell (or acknowledge) the difference between an unimplanted embryo and a baby.

[Mickey Rat]

You only eliminate the ethical problem if you can justify objectifying a class of human.

[Bubba Jones]

Yes, that is the ethical objection.

But how does not implanting embryos 1 and 2 give justice to embryos 3 and 4?

And is it just to prevent the creation and birth of children 1 and 2 in order to prevent the nonimplantation of embryos 3 and 4?

Let me help you out. Frozen cells do not have the same rights as children. If your ethics brings you to that point, you need to start over.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Hmm, implant them all, and then cull the under-performers after a few weeks?

[Jefferson Paul]

Or just leave them all implanted and become the next “Octo-Mom.”

[Use the Schwartz]

The rich left will not struggle with the moral implications, I can guarantee that.

Give it a spiffy new name like NeuGenics…

[Heedless]

“People” is a major stretch. I have a little patience for those who try to use “clump of cells” to describe a 3 month old fetus in the abortion debate, but these are pre-implantation blastocysts. They are quite literally clumps of 1-200 undifferentiated cells (with a few pre-placental cells on the exterior). They have no neurons and therefore no awareness.

It is essentially impossible to argue that this is morally wrong without implicitly arguing that all IVF is morally wrong.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

“But it sounds like the scientists mostly failed to file the proper paperwork; will be interesting to see what more comes out about this case.”

I also refer to how many samples of fungus I have as number of shoes when forgetting to fill out paperwork.

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

The argument doesn’t make sense. The boyfriend wasn’t allowed to do research at UMich. It was the 2nd time they had smuggled the fungi in.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Emotional support fungus?

[But SkyNet is a Private Company]

lol

[mad.casual]

It’s astounding that, less than 5 yrs. after granting everyone amnesty and nobody getting lampposted, “Oh, I forgot to file the paperwork.” gets *any* traction in communication among adults, on behalf of supposed adults, doing Ph.D.-level research on potential biological weapons and/or bioterrorism agents.

And I say this as someone who, in his early teens went through audits of diesel fuel and ammonium nitrate, in his late teens/early 20s went through training and orientation on therapeutic and drugs of abuse handling, storage, and testing, in his late 20s/early 30s who went through audits around the storage and handling of antrax and ricin organisms, DNA sequences, and toxins. Even the people who are cowboys/self-assured, take-no-shit, proto-sovereign citizens, and I am/was one of them, who think they can play fast and loose with the rules, are really just being stupid children joy riding in their parents’ car.

The cosmic alignment of people shouting over each other about who the adults in the room are while this gets a “We’ll just wait and see.” on this issue is, again, astounding.

[D-Pizzle]

See: Institute, Wuhan. Chinese gonna China.

[Marshal]

Similarly the Sinaloa Cartel just failed to file the proper paperwork on their cocaine shipments.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

“Classic Trump administration:”

Following the law even though Marco Rubio likes a guys song? Is there no limit on how retarded you’ll be for open borders?

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

No.

[Think It Through]

I was surprised at the end of the sentence in the article. I thought “classic Trump administration” was going to be followed by Trump & the administration making an exception for a guy because he likes and supports Trump.

The sentence went in the opposite direction…which isn’t “classic Trump administration.”

[Vernon Depner]

it’s not totally clear what the specific reasoning is for barring citizens of these countries from visiting or living in the United States.

Yes, it is clear. He told us. It’s because it is impossible to properly vett people from these countries, either because of chaotic conditions there, or the countries’ unwillingness to cooperate.

[But SkyNet is a Private Company]

The OBAMA STATE DEPARTMENT first told us this when the ““so called” Muslim Ban” was being formulated

[Vernon Depner]

We don’t know enough about how people turn out to be who they are to be able to practice eugenics. Much less can we predict what a person will be able to accomplish with whatever gifts they’re born with. That’s a big reason for eugenics going out of fashion in the past. Who is the more valuable human being—Mike Tyson or Stephen Hawking?

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Are you about to get into a bar fight?

[Vernon Depner]

a state committing genocide is forever illegitimate.

The United States is illegitimate? Germany is illegitimate? Is the human race illegitimate because the Neanderthals are gone?

[Rev Arthur L kuckland (5-30-24 banana republic day)]

What genocide did the US commit?

[Vernon Depner]

Are you unaware that the US was inhabited before the arrival of the Europeans?

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

That wasn’t any different than any other war of conquest, for the most part. Most Native Americans died from white man’s germs, not military operations or Dawes Act cultural assimilation efforts.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

And in an era when even The Science! had little understanding of infectious disease.

Too bad the Iroquois didn’t have a Fauci.

[But SkyNet is a Private Company]

Are you aware “The Europeans” were not The US? And that 90% of that genocide happened before 1783? Almost all the body count can be attributed to Spain, with them bringing the germs

[Ajsloss]

Uh, the genocide they are currently committing? Get a load of the guy who doesn’t trans!

[mad.casual]

I do find the lack of a gay gene for me to discriminate against in order to give my future progeny the best life possible disturbing.

[Ajsloss]

Discriminate? You mean you wouldn’t purposely choose the embryo with mismatched genitals/identity for clout?

[Mother's Lament - (Sarc's a Nazi, not even joking)]

“What genocide did the US commit?

“What genocide did the Democrats commit?” is the correct question.

You can’t really count their enslavement of the Blacks, but their subsequent century long tantrum of lynching after they lost the Civil War might somewhat qualify.

But the Democrats organized slaughter of Native Americans and ethnic cleansing during the Trail of Tears certainly qualifies as genocide.

[mad.casual]

The juxtaposition of:

This is absolutely awesome.

“This is eugenics!”

Yeah, so?

and

Genocide, meanwhile, is the crime of crimes

Is hilarious.

Lesson(s) learned: Get your genocide on before your victims have a chance to get their political movement off the ground, then declare “It’s a good thing!” Democracy, fuck yeah!

[Vernon Depner]

But it sounds like the scientists mostly failed to file the proper paperwork

All Chinese nationals in the US should be expelled unless they can be shown to be sincere defectors, and even then must be carefully watched. No more should be admitted unless they can be shown to be sincere defectors. No Chinese come to the US legally except on a mission from the Chinese Communist Party. There are no “private citizens” in a totalitarian country.

[Medulla Oblongata]

But it sounds like the scientists mostly failed to file the proper paperwork; will be interesting to see what more comes out about this case.

A judge will say ICE was mean to them and order them to be released.

Just like this Russian-born scientist…

Judge: Harvard researcher charged with smuggling frog embryos was unlawfully detained by ICE

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/judge-harvard-researcher-charged-with-smuggling-frog-embryos-was-unlawfully-detained-by-ice/ar-AA1FEAId

A federal judge in Vermont on Wednesday released a Russian-born scientist and Harvard University researcher from immigration custody as she deals with a criminal charge of smuggling frog embryos into the United States.

As she passed through a U.S. Customs and Border Protection checkpoint in Boston Logan International Airport in February, Petrova was questioned about the samples. She told The Associated Press in an interview last month that she did not realize the items needed to be declared and was not trying to sneak anything into the country. After an interrogation, Petrova was told her visa was being canceled.

After being detained by immigration officials, she filed a petition in Vermont seeking her release. She was briefly detained in Vermont before she was brought to Louisiana.

Petrova was charged with smuggling earlier this month as U.S. District Judge Christina Reiss in Burlington set the hearing date on her petition. Reiss ruled Wednesday that the immigration officers’ actions were unlawful, that Petrova didn’t present a danger, and that the embryos were non-living, non-hazardous and “posed a threat to no one.”

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

Smuggling is a human right. For foreigners. Just not citizens.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

If a scientist claims they didn’t know they had to declare frog embryos they’re either lying or too stupid to be a scientist working with frog embryos.

And the judge should be impeached, at minimum.

[Mickey Rat]

“Articles like this one claim that “an estimated 1 in 4 children don’t have enough to eat…”

To verify the claim, one may have to look into how they are defining “not enough to eat”. There have been studies where “going hungry” was defined as being unsure where one’s next meal is coming from, and not that they actually missed any meals.

[Super Scary]

” as being unsure where one’s next meal is coming from”

That’s me nearly everyday after work. Eventually I make up my mind, but still.

[Ajsloss]

Same.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

Clearly anyone involved in these studies doesn’t have a wife, amiright fellas?

[mad.casual]

They use this line in the ASPCA commercial. The first time I heard it, I looked at my dog and thought, “That’s every animal on the planet, including all humans up to the age of around 5-7, the vast majority of the time.”

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

That’s the goal-post moving scam. When “hunger” became “food insecurity” the metrics changed from not actually eating to not being sure where the next X days of Y meals are coming from.

Gotta keep that government program and NGO justified.

Oops.

[Medulla Oblongata]

I thought most kids got free school breakfast and lunch? And then poorer parents get EBT/SNAP/WIC too. So why are so many kids hungry all the time?

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

Turns out soda and cheesy poofs make you fat and don’t actually satiate hunger.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

“Trump administration moves to pull California high-speed rail funding after DOT review”
[…]
“The Trump administration is once again seeking to end federal funding for California’s high-speed rail project, following a lengthy review of the state’s progress that found “no viable path” to completion.
In a 315-page compliance review released Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration detailed the cost overruns and missed deadlines that have plagued the state’s plans to build a high-speed rail link from the San Francisco Bay Area to Los Angeles, which was approved by voters in 2008.
(what was ‘approved by voters’ was a pack of lies from moonbeam; see O-care as an example)
The initial proposal was for the project to be completed by 2020 for $33 billion. However, costs for just the first segment of the project – a 171-mile section from Merced to Bakersfield in the Central Valley – have ballooned to $35 billion, with a goal to begin service by the end of 2030, according to the CHSRA.
“What started as a proposed 800-mile system was first reduced to 500 miles, then became a 171-mile segment, and is now very likely ended as a 119-mile track to nowhere,” said Feeley. “In essence, CHSRA has conned the taxpayer out of its $4 billion investment, with no viable plan to deliver even that partial segment on time.”
It has been estimated that another $100 billion will be needed to complete the route from Los Angeles to San Francisco…”
https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/california-high-speed-rail-federal-funding-cut/

Other lies put it at $133Bn, and if you believe that, I can sell you controlling interest in the north anchorage of a nearby bridge.
Take this out behind the barn and kill it with a pitchfork.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Democrats in 1860: “But who will pick our cotton?!”

Democrats two month ago: “But who will pick our crops?!”

Democrat last week: “But who will wipe our asses?!”

https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/1930307339992572162

Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT) says that if we don’t allow migrants to flood our country, then “we’re not gonna have anybody around to wipe our asses.”

[Vernon Depner]

We don’t need a “flood”, but she’s right that elder care is perpetually understaffed, and that’s getting worse. Admitting migrants willing to do that work would be helpful.

[I, Woodchipper]

Robots

[Don't look at me! (Not signed with autopen)]

Bidets.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

I’m not really down with importing a bunch of butt-wipers for a temporary increase in Boomer invalids that will start to tail off in the next 15-20 years, anyway.

We need to be encouraging children to do more to support their parents in their old age, not slough that duty off on elder facilities that cost a buttload of money.

[mad.casual]

I’m not really down with importing a bunch of butt-wipers for a temporary increase in Boomer invalids that will start to tail off in the next 15-20 years, anyway.

The sequel to my Black-Mirror-x10-level horror of an entire generation of embryos genetically engineered to learn to code; an entire generation of immigrant children genetically engineered to wipe the asses of an entire generation of embryos genetically engineered to learn to code.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

Ironically you could use AI to make an animated film about this.

[Its_Not_Inevitable]

That could be an episode in the next season of Love, Death & Robots rather than Black Mirror.

[Aaron McNay]

“Articles like this one claim that “an estimated 1 in 4 children don’t have enough to eat—a 46% increase over pre-pandemic numbers” and cite the nonprofit Feeding America.”

I think the confusion here is that these claims are based on “food insecurity” and not hunger / malnutrition. Food Insecurity is determined based on a set of questions set by the USDA.

You can find these questions here: https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-us/measurement

If you look at the questions, they include things like: not having enough money to buy balanced meals, being worried about running out of food, or using a few kind of low-cost food to feed children.

So, based on these questions, you can have children be “food insecure”, even if they had enough food every day. You could even have obese children who are considered “food insecure.”

It personally annoys me when people treat this fairly expansive definition of food insecure as if it is the same thing as going without food, or going to bed hungry.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

Include “grocery desert” in a growing list of lefty whines; it means you might have to travel half a mile to get to a grocery store.

[Idaho-Bob]

I travel 15 miles to the nearest store, but only 0.5 mile to the nearest lake, and wild hooved animals are found on my property.

[Longtobefree]

” . . . not having enough money to buy balanced meals . . . ”

Because all the money went to the drug dealers and bookies?

[Idaho-Bob]

Sneakers

[Marshal]

I don’t believe this statistic is correct,…Articles like this one claim that “an estimated 1 in 4 children don’t have enough to eat—a 46% increase over pre-pandemic numbers”

None of the statistics in politics are correct. This sounds like the “Food Insecurity” disinformation campaign. If so it is based on a questionnaire with questions designed to return a “yes” but which have little significance. These answers are collected and hyperbolically interpreted beyond all recognition. Then later on in the process the specific questions are dropped and only this characterization retained by ever more distant participants who each add their own distortions.

In this case the questions include things like “have you ever eaten less or limited your food choices due to price concerns”. Frankly I’m not sure how this can be less than 90% of Americans if answered honestly, but I presume many people understand the propaganda effort and answer no even though it is perfectly normal for economics to influence food selection. Regardless a yes answer to any of these questions means you are marked as “food insecure” and later reported as “in danger of malnutrition and starvation”.

The program is like a massive game of telephone where each party changes some aspect which is normally small enough to defend themselves if challenged. Only when you compare the beginning to end is the scale of the lies clear. When we played telephone in school the message was not to do it. But activists took it as an instruction. This game is intentional. This is activism.

You can see the same program in Global Warming where the science doesn’t support the reports, the reports don’t support the executive summaries, the executive summaries don’t support the public statements, and the public statements don’t support the activist hysteria. You always have to go back to the data, and the clearest evidence of propaganda is people who rely on characterizations or narratives.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

But if it feelz right?

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

“have you ever eaten less or limited your food choices due to price concerns”.

Sometimes the catch of the day item seems overpriced so I go with the pasta.

[Marshal]

Then you’re food insecure and in danger of starvation. It’s simple logic.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

I’m guessing Trump’s penguin tariffs have limited your options.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

Eh, penguin just tastes like chicken.

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

The program is like a massive game of telephone where each party changes some aspect which is normally small enough to defend themselves if challenged.

A institutionally supported motte and bailey fallacy specifically crafted to promote strife between classes.

If only someone had written a political manifesto outlining such tactics and we could identify his followers by the patterns in their corruption of logic.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

I see more fatasses waddling around “food deserts” than I ever did in areas that have multiple choices of grocery stores. But let’s be honest, they wouldn’t be “food deserts” in the first place if the residents of those neighborhoods didn’t think they were entitled to rob the place blind because “dey gotz insherunce!” and “MUH OHPRESHUNZ!”

[bye]

The recent anti-natalist bombings show where this must go. You had the duty to abort me and you didn’t so now I will KILL you.

Abortion so cheapens life that even after someone shows up living and being a human they can decide “hey, I shouldn’t have been born , look at all the advantages I don’t have, I should have what I want. So let me go kill the bastards who gave me life”

Bartkus’ attack was motivated by his “pro-mortalism, anti-natalism, and anti-pro-life ideology,” a set of beliefs centered on the idea that people should not be born without their consent and ultimately humans should not exist as a species.

[Medulla Oblongata]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/palm-springs-fertility-clinic-bombing-efilism-b2753937.html

Traditional antinatalists argue that procreation is unethical due to the inevitability of suffering, efilists see eradication of life itself as a moral imperative. Online, these ideas thrive in grim corners of Reddit and YouTube, spaces often cloaked in philosophical debate but increasingly interwoven with hate speech, death threats and calls for sterilization of the human race. Even the language used to discuss children in such places — which has gone from referring to children as “crotch goblins” to using the term “cum pets” instead — has moved over the past few years toward the more angry and extreme.

The now-defunct r/efilism subreddit, shut down by Reddit administrators just hours after the Palm Springs bombing, had over 12,000 members.

[Eeyore]

We can hope they avail themselves to M.A.I.D. services – before they get any other ideas.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

I don’t mind that they think all life should be eradicated, I just wish they’d start with themselves and set the example.

Also, it’s pretty fucking clear that people like this have been absolutely broken by marxist theology and their marxist professors in academia.

[Longtobefree]

Makes Bob Dylan a prophet, right?

“Yonder stands your orphan with his gun
Crying like a fire in the sun
Look out the saints are comin’ through
And it’s all over now, Baby Blue”

[Gaear Grimsrud]

Dylan was right about everything, except that autopen thing.

[Quo Usque Tandem]

Just imagine if the Nazis [the real ones] had this genome technology, and a thousand years to implement it.

Wrath of Kahn.

[I, Woodchipper]

everyone practices eugenics with the tools they have and for most people it is when they choose the best mate they can for making babies with.

[Marshal]

we should pose some questions. Israel’s war against Hamas in the urban environments of Gaza has led to thousands of civilian casualties. But is genocide really the correct way to describe the war?”

The reveal is that they do not insist Hamas and similar groups be described as genocidal. If this was an honest effort at describing reality they would have no problem describing groups far more demonstrably genocidal than the Israeli government as genocidal. The fact that they do not shows that they are not against war or genocide at all. They’re just on the other side.

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

Only one side in that war has genocide codified in their articles of organization, and it is not Israel. Anyone speaking of a genocide against Palestinians is either a Marxist agitator or one of willfully ignorant useful idiots. Like Jeffy.

[DaveH]

Hey Liz, if you don’t want to screen your IVF embryos, then by all means: don’t.

Just don’t try to stop everyone else from making their own choices. (It’s called libertarianism.)

[Ajsloss]

Nobody needs 23 different chromosomes to choose from.

[Medulla Oblongata]

XX, XY, whatever it takes…

[Mickey Rat]

That line of reasoning only works if embryos have no moral value. Appealing to Libertarianism does not work as Libertarianism does not provide good answers to those kinds of questions.

[DaveH]

You would have to explain what moral value means. Moral value to you? ok, fine. Don’t impose that on me.

Or does the embryo exercise choices that give it moral value? Don’t think so.

Or is this potential moral value? Well, that beefsteak could turn into Me, but I don’t regard the beefsteak as having potential moral value.

Convince me.

[mad.casual]

Don’t impose that on me.

Explain to me why I shouldn’t without imposing your morals on me, retard.

[Nelson]

No one is imposing anything on you. If you don’t want to have any involvement with abortion, don’t. No one will force you to.

[Mickey Rat]

So you reject the notion of universal human rights and liberty? If you reject that, then why should I not impose my values on you? Why do you have moral value that should be respected?

You cannot have libertarianism without some baseline on that.

[Nelson]

No, the point is that a fertilized egg isn’t an individual yet and doesn’t have any individual rights yet. After viability, that equation changes, but not before.

The baseline on rights is that you have to be a living, breathing human, or at least have a non-zero chance of being one. Before viability, there is zero chance.

[I, Woodchipper]

a state committing genocide is forever illegitimate.
what does “illegitimate” mean in this sentence? What is the effect of the state in question now being ‘illegitimate’? Can I stop paying taxes now?

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

I read this morning that Andrew “You can’t kill my grandma, but I can kill yours” Cuomo is the frontrunner for NYC mayor.

Where the fuck is the wall around New York to keep those dumbshits from migrating?

[Don't look at me! (Not signed with autopen)]

Hillary was touted as the front runner as well.
Mr. “Freeze the rent” is going to win.

[mad.casual]

Sow the wind, reap the immaculate conception, or something:
Supreme Court unanimously revives straight woman’s ‘reverse discrimination’ lawsuit

The 9-0 decision rejects that members of a majority group must show “background circumstances” in addition to the normal requirements to prove a claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.

“We conclude that Title VII does not impose such a heightened standard on majority-group plaintiffs,” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, former President Biden’s sole appointee to the court, wrote for the court.
…
Ohio’s Department of Youth Services hired Ames in 2004 and a decade later promoted her to become administrator of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA).

In 2019, she interviewed for another job at the department but was not hired. Her gay supervisor suggested she retire, and days later, Ames was demoted with a significant pay cut. A 25-year-old gay man was then promoted to become PREA administrator. And months later, the department chose a gay woman for the role Ames unsuccessfully applied for.

A three-judge 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel agreed Ames would’ve prevailed if she was a gay woman. But they ruled against her since she didn’t meet the additional requirement as part of a minority group.

The SCOTUS nominee who couldn’t define what a woman is miraculously healed in the case requiring her to critically determine what a (heterosexual) woman is. You can practically hear Gabriel saying, “Fear not for I bring you good tidings of great joy…” at the resurrection of the female sex/gender.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Let’s get real, though, this wouldn’t have gone the way it did if it was a white man rather than a white woman who brought the complaint.

Thomas’s contribution is blunt and based as usual, pointing out that the whole purpose of these rules is to discriminate against white people.

[mad.casual]

Let’s get real, though, this wouldn’t have gone the way it did if it was a white man rather than a white woman who brought the complaint.

Chivalry may be dead, and there’s still some obvious/inevitable squaring of the circle to be done between this and Bostock, but I’ll still sure as Hell accept the most conspicuous DEI hire who doesn’t know what a woman is making this ruling as stated. Beats the alternatives.

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

This is the way that Marxism works.

These people told us Gaza was suffering the world’s worst famine – now they tell Palestinians they’ll die if they go for Israeli aid. Their Israelophobia has become so all-consuming and delirious that they would prefer to see Palestinians starve than be fed by the Jewish State. Like all of history’s eruptions of this particular bigotry, there’s madness here.

https://www.spiked-online.com/2025/06/03/the-medias-dangerous-lies-about-israel/

It caused the famines in the USSR, China and North Korea that killed more than 100 million people. It is by far and without any doubt the deadliest philosophy the world has ever known. And it is rampant at universities around the world.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Academics and their media allies like to claim real marxism has never been tried. No, THEORETICAL marxism has never been tried. Practical marxism has been tried frequently, and always with disastrous results.

[mad.casual]

Also, now, post-truth, it’s a mostly peaceful deadliest philosophy.

[KARayate kid]

Elon is now saying the reason the Epstein files haven’t been released is because Trump is in them.

[Nelson]

Not surprising.

[NealAppeal]

Pretty sure Hitler had a 140+ IQ. Just sayin.’

[AT]

How gobsmacked do you think people will be when they realize that, when programming their designer babies, few will elect for black or brown ones? And if they can genetically program the gay out of them, (not likely since gay is a lifestyle choice), that’s going to be top-of-the-list too.

Gay, black, brown – soon to be reclassified as “undesirable traits” that we can fix at the embryonic stage.

Careful what you wish for, humanity. Man plans, God laughs.

[Incunabulum]

I would point out that when people can be anything, do anything, a large percentage of them will choose to be monsters and act like it.

They will choose to have their kids be gay, trans, autistic, etc – whatever the social media egregor they have been consumed by demands of them.

[Nelson]

That is some champion-level nonsense.

[Nelson]

“ when programming their designer babies”

You did read the part about it only allowing them to choose from their own fertilized egg, right? So it isn’t a designer baby by any stretch of the imagination.

“ not likely since gay is a lifestyle choice”

Seriously? Didn’t normal people stop believing nonsense like this in the 90s?

“ Gay, black, brown – soon to be reclassified as “undesirable traits” that we can fix at the embryonic stage.”

Your false concern is touching, but you are assuming that all people are like you and don’t find gay, black, or brown children desirable.

We all know you would be delighted if the number of gay, black, and brown people shrank.

[AT]

You did read the part about it only allowing them to choose from their own fertilized egg, right? So it isn’t a designer baby by any stretch of the imagination.

We’re talking Gattaca future here. You have seen Gattaca, right? You know what it’s about, right?

Seriously? Didn’t normal people stop believing nonsense like this in the 90s?

Ahh, you drank the kool-aid. Probably back in the 90s. Confusing sexual attraction with actions/behaviors/lifestyle choices. That was a common thing back then. Most people are hip to it now though.

Having a sexual attraction to the same sex does not compel you to lisp like a twink, have a limpwristed handshake, frequent skid row, or take it right up the butt. All of those are choices. It’s even more painfully obvious when we get to the “T” in LGBT Pedo. And when we get to the Pedo, not even you will defend that the LGBT Pedo should act on their attractions.

Unless… you’re not going to defend that, are you?

Your false concern is touching, but you are assuming that all people are like you and don’t find gay, black, or brown children desirable.

In a society that’s had it beaten into their skulls that all of those are “oppressed, disadvantaged” classes necessarily less likely to succeed – how many people do you think are going to CHOOSE that life for their kid?

FFS, they alreadyabort the kids they’re told might have Down’s Syndrome. Clearly you need to go watch Gattaca before you continue talking about something for which you have zero frame of reference.

[Incunabulum]

>And, look, I don’t mean to let my Catholic show too much, but I have a hard time getting excited about a Gattaca future—as do many others who’ve been following the developments in the world of embryonic screening:

I’m going to put it this way;

If you are *for* a globalized world in order to get your goods and services cheaper (at any human cost) then you are for a world that maximizes economic efficiency above all other considerations.

That world leads, inevitably, to GATTACA. To humans being machines and modified, like machines, to pre-ordained roles. There is no freedom in the economically maximized world – we are all, at best, slaves to each other.

[Incunabulum]

Imagine a world so devoid of human interaction that you go to the store to buy some trinket just to feel a moment of joy. But you’re supremely effective in the job that consumes your life, a life managed, from diet to exercise to rest time, to ensure you remain maximally productive.

Until a newer genetic modification lets the next generation perform .01% better, at which point you’re laid off and your ‘rental life’ (you own nothing and are happy) becomes impossible to sustain.