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Sunday 03 September 2017
Saturday 02 September 2017
News and commentary round upFrom Zero Hedge: FBI, DHS Officially Classify Antifa Activities As "Domestic Terrorist Violence"
From Gallery Furniture: The guy who opened his furniture stores to flood victims is now launching an on-line service to match up victims with volunteers who will help rebuild (actually clean) their homes
From the Economic Policy Journal: Trump Seems Hell-Bent on Bringing Back an Economic Horror We Haven't Seen Since the 1970s [Ed: stagflation.]
From Breitbart: As Its Influence Wanes, Increasingly Militant MSM Promotes Violence and Censorship [Ed: Trump’s victory showed MSM’s inability to influence public opinion and the outcome of elections.]
From the Free Beacon: Southern Poverty Law Center Transfers Millions in Cash to Offshore Entities
From Popular Mechanics: This Automated Sewing Robot Can Make Shirts Basically By Itself [Ed: The significance is that the task is very complicated and the machanics are difficult to execute.]
From Politico: The Troubling Sheriffs’ Movement That Joe Arpaio Supports [Ed: interesting because I was unaware of the "constitutional sheriff movement."]
From the Los Angeles Times: Hollywood is suffering its worst-attended summer movie season in 25 years And a related item also from Los Angeles Times: How Rotten Tomatoes became Hollywood's most influential — and feared — website.
From Target Liberty: Alan Dershowitz on Statues We Disagree With Video.
From Zero Hedge: Oil Tanker Logjam Grows To 54 Ships As Gulf Ports Remain Closed
From Gallery Furniture: The guy who opened his furniture stores to flood victims is now launching an on-line service to match up victims with volunteers who will help rebuild (actually clean) their homes
From the Economic Policy Journal: Trump Seems Hell-Bent on Bringing Back an Economic Horror We Haven't Seen Since the 1970s [Ed: stagflation.]
From Breitbart: As Its Influence Wanes, Increasingly Militant MSM Promotes Violence and Censorship [Ed: Trump’s victory showed MSM’s inability to influence public opinion and the outcome of elections.]
From the Free Beacon: Southern Poverty Law Center Transfers Millions in Cash to Offshore Entities
From Popular Mechanics: This Automated Sewing Robot Can Make Shirts Basically By Itself [Ed: The significance is that the task is very complicated and the machanics are difficult to execute.]
From Politico: The Troubling Sheriffs’ Movement That Joe Arpaio Supports [Ed: interesting because I was unaware of the "constitutional sheriff movement."]
From the Los Angeles Times: Hollywood is suffering its worst-attended summer movie season in 25 years And a related item also from Los Angeles Times: How Rotten Tomatoes became Hollywood's most influential — and feared — website.
From Target Liberty: Alan Dershowitz on Statues We Disagree With Video.
From Zero Hedge: Oil Tanker Logjam Grows To 54 Ships As Gulf Ports Remain Closed
The Days of Macintosh are OverBrad here. Damn, Glenn Reynolds is right. He observed "I rewatched that famous Apple 1984 commerical, and damned if today’s Silicon Valley doesn’t look just like the bad guys."
I realized that, in all these years, I had never listened to the words of the Orwellian speaker-on-the-telescreen:
If you wanted to distill Google's badthink-banning policy down to one line, there you have it. "A garden of pure ideology—where each worker may bloom, secure from the pests purveying contradictory truths." (Here's a link to a Youtube video of the ad.)
P.S. As if on cue, I find these stories about Google getting bad-thinkers fired from a center-left think tank (hat tip to Instapundit for all but the first link):
The Federalist: Bullying A Leftist Think Tank Pierces Google’s Carefully Cultivated ‘Don’t Be Evil’ Image
New York Times: Google Critic Ousted From Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant (long)
Washington Post: Google is coming after critics in academia and journalism. It’s time to stop them. (Possibly the best short summary of the flap.)
Gizmodo: Yes, Google Uses Its Power to Quash Ideas It Doesn’t Like—I Know Because It Happened to Me
Ars Technica: Google is losing allies across the political spectrum
Just to be clear, I am not calling for antitrust enforcement against Google. But it sounds like others, on the left and the right, are. (I think we should act against Google as individuals -- by denying them our business.)
I realized that, in all these years, I had never listened to the words of the Orwellian speaker-on-the-telescreen:
Today, we celebrate the first glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directives. We have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology—where each worker may bloom, secure from the pests purveying contradictory truths. Our Unification of Thoughts is more powerful a weapon than any fleet or army on earth. We are one people, with one will, one resolve, one cause. Our enemies shall talk themselves to death, and we will bury them with their own confusion. We shall prevail!
If you wanted to distill Google's badthink-banning policy down to one line, there you have it. "A garden of pure ideology—where each worker may bloom, secure from the pests purveying contradictory truths." (Here's a link to a Youtube video of the ad.)
P.S. As if on cue, I find these stories about Google getting bad-thinkers fired from a center-left think tank (hat tip to Instapundit for all but the first link):
The Federalist: Bullying A Leftist Think Tank Pierces Google’s Carefully Cultivated ‘Don’t Be Evil’ Image
New York Times: Google Critic Ousted From Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant (long)
Washington Post: Google is coming after critics in academia and journalism. It’s time to stop them. (Possibly the best short summary of the flap.)
Gizmodo: Yes, Google Uses Its Power to Quash Ideas It Doesn’t Like—I Know Because It Happened to Me
Ars Technica: Google is losing allies across the political spectrum
Just to be clear, I am not calling for antitrust enforcement against Google. But it sounds like others, on the left and the right, are. (I think we should act against Google as individuals -- by denying them our business.)
Friday 01 September 2017
New Bitcoin address for donationsOur bitcoin address and QR code are back in the "Donations" sidebar! Please discard any previous bitcoin address you may have saved for us, and use this new address instead.
We removed the link during the Great BTC/BCC Fork, to avoid transactions getting lost or cancelled. The transition went smoothly; it's just taken me this long to get the web page updated. - Brad
We removed the link during the Great BTC/BCC Fork, to avoid transactions getting lost or cancelled. The transition went smoothly; it's just taken me this long to get the web page updated. - Brad
Hans Sherrer Blocked by FacebookGood friend and ASSG (All-round Spiffy Sorta Guy) Hans Sherrer is being blocked by Facebook...so I'll publish him here. Hans writes,
Hi Wendy,
Justice Denied has jointed the people/organizations with an article being blocked by Facebook. Justice Denied uploads a copy of all new articles to its Facebook page. For the last two days Facebook has denied JD's repeated efforts to upload its latest article: "Ibrahim Uyar Awarded $29,667 Compensation For Wrongful Imprisonment For Murder
The article, authored by me from Turkish news sources, is about compensation being awarded by Turkey's government to a man who was wrongly imprisoned for murder for 6 years and 7 months. Facebook has even deleted the copies of the article that have been saved in the Draft Folder after the upload was denied.
They keep referring me to a page where I can complain about the article being blocked. The article is available on Justice Denied's website here.
Hans Sherrer hsherrer©justicedenied.org
Hi Wendy,
Justice Denied has jointed the people/organizations with an article being blocked by Facebook. Justice Denied uploads a copy of all new articles to its Facebook page. For the last two days Facebook has denied JD's repeated efforts to upload its latest article: "Ibrahim Uyar Awarded $29,667 Compensation For Wrongful Imprisonment For Murder
The article, authored by me from Turkish news sources, is about compensation being awarded by Turkey's government to a man who was wrongly imprisoned for murder for 6 years and 7 months. Facebook has even deleted the copies of the article that have been saved in the Draft Folder after the upload was denied.
They keep referring me to a page where I can complain about the article being blocked. The article is available on Justice Denied's website here.
Hans Sherrer hsherrer©justicedenied.org
News and commentary round upFrom the Washington Post: 2 more tropical storms that should be watched. [Ed: only one looks like it might hit the Gulf. That would be one too many.]
From the Squawker: Hollywood & New Yorkers Agree: We Should Aspire To Be More Like Starving Venezuelans
From Beldar Blogs: Harvey has created untold heroes from ordinary people responding magnificently [Ed: a common sentiment but very well expressed.]
From Medium Free Code Camp: Developer replicates Australian Police's $86 million program in 57 lines of code.
From Salt Lake City Tribune: Video shows Utah nurse screaming, being dragged into police car after refusing to let officer take blood from unconscious victim [Ed: amazing video.]
From Watts Up With That?: L A Times dishonest, deceptive and flawed claim that Hurricane Harvey is linked to man made climate change
From the Free Thought Project: BREAKING: Memos Reveal Comey Cleared Clinton BEFORE Interviewing Her & 17 Other Key Witnesses
From San Francisco Chronicle: Owners must surgically 'debark' loud dogs, Oregon court rules [Ed: I remember reading a dystopian SF novel as a child in which a planned community removed the vocal chords of dogs to ensure tranquility.]
From Activist Post: Concerned About Trump’s Militarization of Police? This Database Shows What Your Local Cops Have [Ed: search function is located at the end of the article.]
From the Daily Mail: The songs of Saturn: Astrophysicists convert the gas giant’s moons and rings into music
From Twitchy: DISGUSTING: Linda Sarsour is soliciting donations for a liberal political group masquerading as a Harvey relief fund [Ed: Sarsour is a left-wing Palestinian-American political activist and a co-chair of the 2017 Women's March]
From the Washington Examiner: Why you should never use the term 'anti-fascist' [Ed: even if you are one.]
From the Squawker: Hollywood & New Yorkers Agree: We Should Aspire To Be More Like Starving Venezuelans
From Beldar Blogs: Harvey has created untold heroes from ordinary people responding magnificently [Ed: a common sentiment but very well expressed.]
From Medium Free Code Camp: Developer replicates Australian Police's $86 million program in 57 lines of code.
From Salt Lake City Tribune: Video shows Utah nurse screaming, being dragged into police car after refusing to let officer take blood from unconscious victim [Ed: amazing video.]
From Watts Up With That?: L A Times dishonest, deceptive and flawed claim that Hurricane Harvey is linked to man made climate change
From the Free Thought Project: BREAKING: Memos Reveal Comey Cleared Clinton BEFORE Interviewing Her & 17 Other Key Witnesses
From San Francisco Chronicle: Owners must surgically 'debark' loud dogs, Oregon court rules [Ed: I remember reading a dystopian SF novel as a child in which a planned community removed the vocal chords of dogs to ensure tranquility.]
From Activist Post: Concerned About Trump’s Militarization of Police? This Database Shows What Your Local Cops Have [Ed: search function is located at the end of the article.]
From the Daily Mail: The songs of Saturn: Astrophysicists convert the gas giant’s moons and rings into music
From Twitchy: DISGUSTING: Linda Sarsour is soliciting donations for a liberal political group masquerading as a Harvey relief fund [Ed: Sarsour is a left-wing Palestinian-American political activist and a co-chair of the 2017 Women's March]
From the Washington Examiner: Why you should never use the term 'anti-fascist' [Ed: even if you are one.]
Thursday 31 August 2017
I Salute the Cajun NavyBrad here. Actually, the title of this blog post isn't right -- I salute everyone who has been part of the response to Hurricane/T.S. Harvey. Yes, even the government workers.
From the safety of a thousand miles' distance, we've been watching Harvey since it was forming in the Gulf. (We're news junkies.) And amidst the devastation and the tragedy -- and there has been much, terrible tragedy -- there has been an awe-inspiring outpouring of generosity and heroism. Mother Nature at her worst, and human nature at its best.
I believe the "Cajun Navy" term was coined last year, when Louisiana was flooded. Glenn Reynolds related it thus:
It may have been a whimsical term last year, but it has become a badge of pride this year. A veritable flotilla of boats was towed from Louisiana to Texas to help with rescue efforts. And, rescue they have, along with countless other volunteers.
Every day I read online, or view on television, dozens of stories....too many to relate. I find myself choking up, with compassion, and admiration, and with pride to see the very best of people.
Because all class divisions have dissolved. It doesn't matter to your rescuer whether you are black or white, Republican or Democrat, Christian or Muslim, gay or straight. And it doesn't matter whether the rescuer has a Confederate flag or a Hillary bumper sticker; whether a volunteer, a local SWAT officer, or National Guard or Coast Guard. In Houston -- and I'm using "Houston" as a shorthand tag for all the affected areas -- with brutal simplicity, there are now just two classes: the victims, and the rescuers.
And that gives me hope. Because that, I think, is the real America. Not Antifa or Neo-Nazis, not Trumpists and Resistance, but neighbors helping neighbors, and people pulling together in the face of disaster. Community. Volunteerism. We have that spirit here in Canada, but at times like this I think the U.S. does it better than anyone.
A few weeks ago I was concerned that civil war was about to break out in the U.S. (Like I said, we're news junkies.) Now I am cautiously optimistic. People can put their differences aside when they need to...let's hope they continue to do so because they want to.
I salute you, neighbors. You are the help.
From the safety of a thousand miles' distance, we've been watching Harvey since it was forming in the Gulf. (We're news junkies.) And amidst the devastation and the tragedy -- and there has been much, terrible tragedy -- there has been an awe-inspiring outpouring of generosity and heroism. Mother Nature at her worst, and human nature at its best.
I believe the "Cajun Navy" term was coined last year, when Louisiana was flooded. Glenn Reynolds related it thus:
A collection of boat-owning volunteers called the ”Cajun Navy” has been rescuing people and transporting supplies, using Facebook to coordinate their efforts. As one said, "In South Louisiana, we don’t wait for help, we are the help.”
It may have been a whimsical term last year, but it has become a badge of pride this year. A veritable flotilla of boats was towed from Louisiana to Texas to help with rescue efforts. And, rescue they have, along with countless other volunteers.
Every day I read online, or view on television, dozens of stories....too many to relate. I find myself choking up, with compassion, and admiration, and with pride to see the very best of people.
Because all class divisions have dissolved. It doesn't matter to your rescuer whether you are black or white, Republican or Democrat, Christian or Muslim, gay or straight. And it doesn't matter whether the rescuer has a Confederate flag or a Hillary bumper sticker; whether a volunteer, a local SWAT officer, or National Guard or Coast Guard. In Houston -- and I'm using "Houston" as a shorthand tag for all the affected areas -- with brutal simplicity, there are now just two classes: the victims, and the rescuers.
And that gives me hope. Because that, I think, is the real America. Not Antifa or Neo-Nazis, not Trumpists and Resistance, but neighbors helping neighbors, and people pulling together in the face of disaster. Community. Volunteerism. We have that spirit here in Canada, but at times like this I think the U.S. does it better than anyone.
A few weeks ago I was concerned that civil war was about to break out in the U.S. (Like I said, we're news junkies.) Now I am cautiously optimistic. People can put their differences aside when they need to...let's hope they continue to do so because they want to.
I salute you, neighbors. You are the help.
Here is the controversial cartoon posted by Politico and then deleted due to an incredible backlash on social media.
News and commentary round upFrom San Francisco Chronicle: Feinstein's Words on Trump 'Shock' San Francisco Crowd. If he 'can learn and change,' he 'can be a good president' [Ed: there is definitely some sort of pivot going on within a segment of the Democratic establishment. It could simply be that they are trying to be more positive in light of the coming election.]
From the New York Times: A Boom in Confederate Monuments, on Private Land [Ed: what a creative solution to the erasing of history. Private property comes through again. Although that's not the perspective of the NYT.]
From Reason: Decision Dismissing Sarah Palin’s Libel Suit Is an Embarrassment to the Times [Ed: dismissed because she allegedly could not prove "malice."]
From the Kansas City Star: Expect to Hear One Theme as Trump Begins Tax Reform Push He and aides will talk about 'unrigging' the economy to help middle class [Ed: I am sure part of the unrigging is to continue to eliminate regulations -- one of the few effective acts that is under his control.]
From NewsAlert: Black accomplishments in the ’40s and ’50s prove that today’s setbacks are not due to slavery. [Ed: a must read.]
From the Mises Wire: Culture, Coca-Cola, and the CIA: The History of Cocaine
From Activist Post: Border Patrol Launches Program to Scan the Face of Every Person Leaving U.S.
From the Patrick Henry Society: So What Exactly SHOULD You Be Doing? [Ed: the aarticle's answer..."focus on the things that will help me prepare for a situation I cannot control and cannot stop." Hat tip to the Lady Claire Wolfe.]
From the Free Thought Project: Mainstream Media Finally Realizes the Federal Reserve is a Private Bank that Controls the Govt
From Slate: Absurd and Fascinating Birtherism Crisis Wreaks Havoc in Australian Parliament "If newfound Kiwi Barnaby Joyce—whose father was born in New Zealand and who has now been confirmed to be a citizen by the New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs—loses his seat, he may take the whole government down with him: The Liberal-National coalition holds the government by a one-vote majority."
From Bloomberg: Medical Journals Have a Fake News Problem
From RocketNews24: Guy's Twitter Account Blocked After Death Threat (Against Mosquito). It appears a Twitter algorithm, not a human, picked up certain keywords
From the Washington Post: University fires professor for tweeting that hurricane ‘kinda feels like instant karma for Texas’ [Ed: not a new story but good commentary from Eugene Volokh]
From the Federalist: Berkeley’s Antifa Takeover Shows There Is Evil On Both Sides [Ed: the other side of Antifa is true White Nationalism.] And a related story from the Free Thought Project: Following Nancy Pelosi’s Lead, Paul Ryan’s Spokeswoman Finally Condemns Antifa as ‘Scourge’
From Target Liberty: these two articles go a long way to explaining why the old left establishment is turning against Antifa. Antifa in Attack Mode Against Old School Liberals and The Establishment in PANIC; They Ditch Antifa; Massive Shift in the Last 48 Hours [Ed: both of these are must reads if you wish understand the changing dynamic of the left.]
From the New York Times: A Boom in Confederate Monuments, on Private Land [Ed: what a creative solution to the erasing of history. Private property comes through again. Although that's not the perspective of the NYT.]
From Reason: Decision Dismissing Sarah Palin’s Libel Suit Is an Embarrassment to the Times [Ed: dismissed because she allegedly could not prove "malice."]
From the Kansas City Star: Expect to Hear One Theme as Trump Begins Tax Reform Push He and aides will talk about 'unrigging' the economy to help middle class [Ed: I am sure part of the unrigging is to continue to eliminate regulations -- one of the few effective acts that is under his control.]
From NewsAlert: Black accomplishments in the ’40s and ’50s prove that today’s setbacks are not due to slavery. [Ed: a must read.]
From the Mises Wire: Culture, Coca-Cola, and the CIA: The History of Cocaine
From Activist Post: Border Patrol Launches Program to Scan the Face of Every Person Leaving U.S.
From the Patrick Henry Society: So What Exactly SHOULD You Be Doing? [Ed: the aarticle's answer..."focus on the things that will help me prepare for a situation I cannot control and cannot stop." Hat tip to the Lady Claire Wolfe.]
From the Free Thought Project: Mainstream Media Finally Realizes the Federal Reserve is a Private Bank that Controls the Govt
From Slate: Absurd and Fascinating Birtherism Crisis Wreaks Havoc in Australian Parliament "If newfound Kiwi Barnaby Joyce—whose father was born in New Zealand and who has now been confirmed to be a citizen by the New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs—loses his seat, he may take the whole government down with him: The Liberal-National coalition holds the government by a one-vote majority."
From Bloomberg: Medical Journals Have a Fake News Problem
From RocketNews24: Guy's Twitter Account Blocked After Death Threat (Against Mosquito). It appears a Twitter algorithm, not a human, picked up certain keywords
From the Washington Post: University fires professor for tweeting that hurricane ‘kinda feels like instant karma for Texas’ [Ed: not a new story but good commentary from Eugene Volokh]
From the Federalist: Berkeley’s Antifa Takeover Shows There Is Evil On Both Sides [Ed: the other side of Antifa is true White Nationalism.] And a related story from the Free Thought Project: Following Nancy Pelosi’s Lead, Paul Ryan’s Spokeswoman Finally Condemns Antifa as ‘Scourge’
From Target Liberty: these two articles go a long way to explaining why the old left establishment is turning against Antifa. Antifa in Attack Mode Against Old School Liberals and The Establishment in PANIC; They Ditch Antifa; Massive Shift in the Last 48 Hours [Ed: both of these are must reads if you wish understand the changing dynamic of the left.]
Wednesday 30 August 2017
News and commentary round upFrom the Houston Chronicle: NWS radar animation provides fresh view of Harvey's devastation [Ed: amazing and heartbreaking images.]
From the Hill: Trump targets Obama rule on workers’ tips [Ed: as a reminder, the rule prevented employers from pooling tips so that untipped workers (e.g. cooks) could benefit from them.]
From Zero Hedge: A Full-Blown Civil War Is Materializing: "Nobody Will Be Able To Retreat To A Neutral Corner" [Ed: a must read.]
From Unz Review: Endtimes in Mosul [Ed: recommended.]
From SHTF: Your Bitcoin is NOT Anonymous: IRS Moves To Track Bitcoiners With New Chain Analysis Tools
From Lew Rockwell: Battlefield America Is the New Normal: We’re Not in Mayberry Anymore [Ed: must read.]
From Shadow Proof: Washington Post Justifies Government Prosecution Of Inauguration Protesters As ‘Conspirators’ [Ed: something is happening with Wapo. First, the piece critical of the antifa and now this. I think Democrats who want to be elected are distancing themselves from the violent or strident protesters.]
From Medium: The Decentralized Revolution: A Last Chance for Europe? [Ed: decentralized through technology, of course.]
From the Onion: Antifa Organizers Announce Plans To Disrupt Neo-Nazi Rally Or Whatever Else Going On That Day
From AP: Domino's Delivering Pizzas, Ditching Actual Delivery Guy. Chain begins test with driverless cars [Ed: direction of the future.]
From Fabius Maximus: Journalists loved Antifa. Now they’ve turned on them. [Ed: a must read.] And a related item from National Review: Stop Making Excuses for Antifa Thuggery "One of the least safe places to be in Berkeley, California, is in the vicinity of someone holding a “No Hate” sign."
From Zero Hedge: Journalist Interrogated, Fired For Story Linking CIA And Syria Weapons Flights
From NPR: Keep It Simple And Stay Open: The Waffle House Storm Menu [Ed: Waffle Houses stay open and feed anyone who comes. They also keep on lights with generators and become beacons of light at night.]
From Atlanta FOX: Brewery stops canning beer to bottle water for Harvey victims
From the Hill: Trump targets Obama rule on workers’ tips [Ed: as a reminder, the rule prevented employers from pooling tips so that untipped workers (e.g. cooks) could benefit from them.]
From Zero Hedge: A Full-Blown Civil War Is Materializing: "Nobody Will Be Able To Retreat To A Neutral Corner" [Ed: a must read.]
From Unz Review: Endtimes in Mosul [Ed: recommended.]
From SHTF: Your Bitcoin is NOT Anonymous: IRS Moves To Track Bitcoiners With New Chain Analysis Tools
From Lew Rockwell: Battlefield America Is the New Normal: We’re Not in Mayberry Anymore [Ed: must read.]
From Shadow Proof: Washington Post Justifies Government Prosecution Of Inauguration Protesters As ‘Conspirators’ [Ed: something is happening with Wapo. First, the piece critical of the antifa and now this. I think Democrats who want to be elected are distancing themselves from the violent or strident protesters.]
From Medium: The Decentralized Revolution: A Last Chance for Europe? [Ed: decentralized through technology, of course.]
From the Onion: Antifa Organizers Announce Plans To Disrupt Neo-Nazi Rally Or Whatever Else Going On That Day
From AP: Domino's Delivering Pizzas, Ditching Actual Delivery Guy. Chain begins test with driverless cars [Ed: direction of the future.]
From Fabius Maximus: Journalists loved Antifa. Now they’ve turned on them. [Ed: a must read.] And a related item from National Review: Stop Making Excuses for Antifa Thuggery "One of the least safe places to be in Berkeley, California, is in the vicinity of someone holding a “No Hate” sign."
From Zero Hedge: Journalist Interrogated, Fired For Story Linking CIA And Syria Weapons Flights
From NPR: Keep It Simple And Stay Open: The Waffle House Storm Menu [Ed: Waffle Houses stay open and feed anyone who comes. They also keep on lights with generators and become beacons of light at night.]
From Atlanta FOX: Brewery stops canning beer to bottle water for Harvey victims
Fascinating analysis of a medical breakthroughAn informative email from our close friend Gordon who writes:
Good two-part article on the use of "induced pluripotent" rather than
"embryonic" stem-cells for medical treatment. Part one. Part two.
Production of "induced" pluripotent stem-cells (iPS) from a patient's ordinary cells bypasses the ethical issues of using embryonic stems-cells derived from aborted fetuses. Use of such "induced" stem-cells also means that there should be no tissue-rejection problem. (An issue that embryonic stem-cell advocates seldom talk about is that the patient's immune system will react just as strongly to embryonic stem-cells as to a transplanted organ, requiring lifelong immunosupression treatment unless the stem-cells are derived from a clone of the patient --- which itself raises ethical issues.)
There are still some safety concerns, specifically that iPS cells are not _quite_ "true" embryonic stem-cells, and so there are objections from stem-cell researchers that perhaps iPS cells will behave differently from "true" stem-cells when implanted into a body, or may cause cancer, etc., etc. (However, ironically the exact same people seldom discuss the fact that even "true" embryonic stem-cells when transplanted into an adult can cause a particular type of tumor (fortunately usually benign) called a "teratoma," --- and indeed, the ability to cause teratomas in test animals is used as a standard test for whether or not one has actually isolated embryonic stem cells!)
Ultimately therefore, IMO there should be more research done on culturing "adult" stem cells from a patient, rather than trying to create "embryonic" stem-cells using cloning or induction.
But even if iPS cells do not prove safe for reimplantation into a patient, they may still serve some _very_ useful functions, such as bulk culture of red blood and platelets (neither of which contain genetic material) --- thereby ending blood-bank shortages forever. Also, culturing replacement skin for use as a temporary skin-graft to treat burn patients. (Currently such grafts are obtained from cadavers, pigs, or skin-cultures grown from circumcised foreskins, all of which have issues.)
So I see even "induced" stem-cells as being a _very_ important technology, regardless of whether or not they can be implanted.
Good two-part article on the use of "induced pluripotent" rather than
"embryonic" stem-cells for medical treatment. Part one. Part two.
Production of "induced" pluripotent stem-cells (iPS) from a patient's ordinary cells bypasses the ethical issues of using embryonic stems-cells derived from aborted fetuses. Use of such "induced" stem-cells also means that there should be no tissue-rejection problem. (An issue that embryonic stem-cell advocates seldom talk about is that the patient's immune system will react just as strongly to embryonic stem-cells as to a transplanted organ, requiring lifelong immunosupression treatment unless the stem-cells are derived from a clone of the patient --- which itself raises ethical issues.)
There are still some safety concerns, specifically that iPS cells are not _quite_ "true" embryonic stem-cells, and so there are objections from stem-cell researchers that perhaps iPS cells will behave differently from "true" stem-cells when implanted into a body, or may cause cancer, etc., etc. (However, ironically the exact same people seldom discuss the fact that even "true" embryonic stem-cells when transplanted into an adult can cause a particular type of tumor (fortunately usually benign) called a "teratoma," --- and indeed, the ability to cause teratomas in test animals is used as a standard test for whether or not one has actually isolated embryonic stem cells!)
Ultimately therefore, IMO there should be more research done on culturing "adult" stem cells from a patient, rather than trying to create "embryonic" stem-cells using cloning or induction.
But even if iPS cells do not prove safe for reimplantation into a patient, they may still serve some _very_ useful functions, such as bulk culture of red blood and platelets (neither of which contain genetic material) --- thereby ending blood-bank shortages forever. Also, culturing replacement skin for use as a temporary skin-graft to treat burn patients. (Currently such grafts are obtained from cadavers, pigs, or skin-cultures grown from circumcised foreskins, all of which have issues.)
So I see even "induced" stem-cells as being a _very_ important technology, regardless of whether or not they can be implanted.
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