Former Director Mueller is assembling a distinguished team of specialists that can find the truth.

5 July 2017
By Julian Borer

The spread of Russian-made fake news stories (click here) aimed at discrediting Hillary Clinton on social media is emerging as an important line of inquiry in multiple investigations into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow.

Investigators are looking into whether Trump supporters and far-right websites coordinated with Moscow over the release of fake news, including stories implicating Clinton in murder or paedophilia, or paid to boost those stories on Facebook.

The head of the Trump digital camp, Brad Parscale, has reportedly been summoned to appear before the House intelligence committee looking into Moscow’s interference in the 2016 US election. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee carrying out a parallel inquiry, has said that at least 1,000 “paid internet trolls working out of a facility in Russia” were pumping anti-Clinton fake news into social media sites during the campaign....

Sparing with civilians and trying to out smart the government are very different things.

July 2, 2017
By Michael Schwirtz, William K. Rashbaum and Danny Hakim

...He went (click here) on to serve as a key confidant for Mr. Trump, with an office near the boss at Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue. Officially, his title was special counsel, but he appears to have served more as a kind of personal arm-twister. If anyone crossed Mr. Trump or stood in his way, Mr. Cohen, who was known to sometimes carry a licensed pistol in an ankle holster, would cajole, bully or threaten a lawsuit, according to a half-dozen people who dealt with him over the years.

“If somebody does something Mr. Trump doesn’t like, I do everything in my power to resolve it to Mr. Trump’s benefit,” Mr. Cohen once said during an interview with ABC News. “If you do something wrong, I’m going to come at you, grab you by the neck, and I’m not going to let you go until I’m finished.”

Since Mr. Trump became president, his need for loyal foot soldiers like Mr. Cohen has never been greater. But instead of helping his longtime employer navigate F.B.I. and congressional investigations into whether his campaign colluded with Russia in the 2016 election, Mr. Cohen now appears to be outside the Trump inner circle, a man on the defensive....

Robert Mueller has a free hand in carrying out his Special Council, including his team. If everyone believed in Mueller at the beginning all of a sudden his integrity is at risk? I don't think so. Either there is trust or not. I sincerely doubt there are many honest Republican lawyers. There in lies the rub.

July 5, 2017
By Matt Zapotosky

...At least seven of the 15 lawyers (click here) Mueller has brought on to the special counsel team have donated to Democratic political candidates, five of them to Hillary Clinton — a fact that President Trump and his allies have eagerly highlighted. These critics also point to some of the lawyers’ history working with clients connected to the Clintons and Mueller’s long history with former FBI director James B. Comey as they question whether those assigned to the investigation can be impartial.

Many lawyers and ethics experts say they can see no significant legal or ethical concerns with the team’s political giving or past work, and they note that Trump often misstates the facts as he casts aspersions. But others say the optical problem is a real one that threatens to undermine public confidence in the probe.

“In my view, prosecutors who make political contributions are identifying fairly strongly with a political party,” said William P. Barr, who served as attorney general under George H.W. Bush. “I would have liked to see him have more balance on this group.”...

It is all legal. Anyone want to see how many lawyers line up with Republican donations? If Quarles worked on the Watergate investigation, he probably knows Hillary Clinton personally. She worked on the committee to impeach.

The American people want this concluded as soon as possible. The more lawyers and investigators the better. I am sure if there are leads coming from lawyers outside the investigation they will be given as much brevity as appropriate. If Mr. Quarles is an example of the EXPERTISE on the Mueller Committee, then I am impressed.

13 June 2017
By Brendan Kirby

Ms. Rhee is second from left.

Friday afternoon we gathered the newly announced partners at WilmerHale in DC: securities pro Matt Holmwood, Jeannie Rhee,...

Ah, securities fraud. No wonder no one wants her there. Welcome, Ms. Rhee.

...One of the hires, (click here) Jeannie Rhee, also worked as a lawyer for the Clinton Foundation and helped persuade a federal judge to block a conservative activist's attempts to force Bill and Hillary Clinton to answer questions under oath about operations of the family-run charity.

Campaign-finance reports show that Rhee gave Clinton the maximum contributions of $2,700 in 2015 and again last year to support her presidential campaign. She also donated $2,300 to Obama in 2008 and $2,500 in 2011. While still at the Justice Department, she gave $250 to the Democratic National Committee Services Corp....

I am sure Former Director Mueller stated to each member, 'If you feel you cannot serve without bias, then recuse yourself.'

...James Quarles, (click here) who worked on the Watergate investigation as a young prosecutor, has an even longer history of supporting Democratic politicians. He gave $1,300 to Obama in 2007 and $2,300 in 2008. He also gave $2,700 to Clinton last year....

Mr. Quarles' practice (click here) has been exclusively devoted to litigation. For the past 15 years, his practice has focused on intellectual property litigation matters. Most recently, Mr. Quarles has tried (or co-tried with Bill Lee) to a successful conclusion 9 matters before the International Trade Commission, and, together with Mr. Lee, represented Broadcom Corporation in its litigation against Qualcomm Corporation. He has extensive experience with the trial of complex civil matters, ranging from the successful trial defense of Legent Corporation in a shareholders' class action to the defense of ITT Corporation in a claim arising out of the construction of the Nine Mile Point II Nuclear station in Oswego, New York (selected as one of the 15 outstanding defense jury verdicts of 1992 by The National Law Journal). Mr. Quarles has argued before the United States Supreme Court and Court of Appeals for the Federal, First, Second, Third, Fourth, Sixth and District of Columbia Circuits.

...In addition, Quarles gave money to former Sen. John Walsh (D-Mont.) and three current Democratic senators — Ron Wyden of Oregon, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, and Robert Menendez of New Jersey. He chipped in $300 to the DNC Services Corp. $300 in 2012.

Quarles did donate to a couple of GOP politicians — $250 to then-Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) in 2006 and $2,500 to Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) in 2015.

Andrew Weissmann, a former Justice Department lawyer who then worked at Jenner & Block until 2011, contributed $2,300 to Obama in 2008 and $2,000 to the DNC Services Corp. in 2006. Weissmann served as chief of the Justice Department's criminal fraud section and worked on the Enron fraud case....

Mr. Weissmann's congressional testimony begins at mark 49:17.

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Enforcement (click here) Deputy Assistant Attorney General Greg Andres and international criminal law attorneys testified on the enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The law, passed in 1977, made it illegal for certain people and organizations to pay foreign government officials to assist in obtaining or retaining business.

Georgetown Law Dean William M. Treanor, U.S. Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr., Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Deputy Solicitor General Michael Dreeben and Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan.

May 4, 2016

Students studying for exams (click here) in the Wolff Library were delighted to look up from their books and see Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan, and other distinguished guests gathering in Hotung Lobby for the annual Supreme Court Institute reception on April 27 celebrating the conclusion of oral arguments for the Term. This year’s event — thanking the many volunteers who participate in SCI’s Moot Court Program — honored Michael Dreeben, deputy solicitor general of the United States.

Each of the three Justices congratulated Dreeben, who that morning delivered his 100th argument before the Court. Justice Breyer also thanked Georgetown for the Supreme Court Institute’s role in helping to improve advocacy before the Court. “I think it’s made a difference,” Breyer said.

Donald B. Verrilli, solicitor general of the United States, and Kannon Shanmugam, head of Williams & Connolly’s Supreme Court practice, also participated, along with Dean William M. Treanor and SCI Executive Director Irv Gornstein....

...A fourth lawyer on Mueller's staff, Michael Dreeben, donated $1,000 to Clinton 2006 and $250 to Obama in both 2007 and 2008. He was deputy solicitor general and has appeared many times before the Supreme Court....

I doubt there are many questions about integrity, ethics, honesty and the truth, is there?

CNN wins hands down! They pinned him to the mat in a head lock.

July 4, 2017

By Clark Mindock

Donald Trump (click here) has tweeted a video of him slamming a CNN avatar, sparking rage from the media saying that the President’s aggressive message is too violent, too unpresidential.

But, a new poll from SurveyMonkey shows that the news media may actually be winning the fight for the trust of the American people, even if it was Mr Trump who walked away the victor in the video.

When asked who they trust more — the President of the United States or CNN — Americans chose the cable news network by a margin of 7 per cent. Forty-three per cent said that Mr Trump is more trustworthy, compared to 50 percent who said they trust CNN. Seven per cent weren’t sure....

This is the realty of racism. Often too late for some when finally identified and prosecuted.

July 4, 2017
By Ben Kentish

Bijan Ebrahimi, (click here) pictured with his with his sister Manizhah, 'believed England was safe'.

Police officers (click here) who failed to come to the assistance of a disabled refugee who was beaten to death and set on fire by his neighbour showed “hallmarks of racial bias”, the police watchdog has said in a damning ruling that revealed a catalogue of failings.

Bijan Ebrahimi, 44, was murdered by Lee James in Bristol in July 2013 after seven years of abuse. James wrongly believed his neighbour, an Iranian national was a paedophile.

In an excoriating report, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) criticised the “poor responses” of the police and suggested the officers involved had displayed signs of racism.

Between 2007 and his murder, Mr Ebrahimi made 85 calls to Avon and Somerset Police to report a range of crimes, including racial abuse, criminal damage and threats to kill him.

He had his home and car set on fire and had the word “pervert” daubed on his front door.

On 40 separate occasions, police officers failed to report the crimes....

...“Instead, his complaints about abusive neighbours were disbelieved and he was considered to be a liar, a nuisance and an attention seeker.

“Neighbours’ counter allegations were taken at face value and accepted, despite evidence to the contrary, and Bijan Ebrahimi found himself regarded as the perpetrator of the abuse, rather than as the victim.”...

Right: Manizhah Moores makes statement in the finding of officer misconduct. (click here)

28 November 2017
By Martin Robinson

Manizhah Moores, sister of Bijan Ebrahimi, made a victim's impact statement in the sentencing of Stephen Norley and Lee James at Bristol Crown Court.

"Part of us died with him" (click here)

Manizhah Moores, the sister of Bijan Ebrahimi, released the victim impact statement she had prepared for the court ahead of the sentencing.

''In order to explain the impact of these terrible crimes on Bijan and his family, it is necessary to explain something of Bijan's background. He was born in Iran in 1969. In 1981 our mother was left paralysed by a stroke and she passed away in 1991, when Bijan was 22 years of age. In 1992 our father became ill and it was Bijan who looked after him uncomplainingly until our father's slow death to cancer a few years later. Witnessing the death of beloved parents meant that life was precious to Bijan; he knew how fragile it could be.

'As a result of caring for our parents Bijan did not get the same chances in life as we did, such as a university education. On coming to live in the UK in 2000 at 31 years of age he was therefore determined to make a new beginning. Bijan began to work and attend college with the aim of going to university....

I am sure Russia is pleased to hear this. Germany is still a NATO member.

Some of this is Mr. Trump's personal ego. It gets in the way of his role as President all the time. He hates powerful women. We'll see if he does any better with the next German Chancellor. I apologize to Chancellor Merkel, Mr. Trump's behavior is not a reflection of many Americans who value Germany and NATO.

I think the skepticism is healthy and necessary. Germany should not compromise it's values. Criticism of the USA can only result in better relations with the fraying currently a trend among allies. Mr. Trump will become a voice for Russia and seek to weaken ties to traditional allies. It sounds like a strategy for corruption, personal and Wall Street wealth and one the United Nations should view in weariness.

July 5, 2017
By Andrew Buncombe

German leader Angela Merkel (click here) no longer considers the US a friend, according to her party’s campaign material produced ahead of a September election.

The German Chancellor has had an often tense relationship with President Donald Trump since he took office in January. Earlier this year, after Mr Trump said he would pull the US out of the Paris Accord and following the UK’s vote to leave the EU, she said European countries could no longer rely on their traditional allies.

According to Reuters, four years ago, their election material referred to the United States as Germany’s “most important friend” outside of Europe. The 2013 programme also described the friendship with Washington as a “cornerstone” of Germany’s international relations.

But the news agency said the words “friend” and “friendship” were missing from the latest election programme, entitled “For a Germany in which we live well and happily”. 

"Let the people know the truth and the country will be safe." Abraham Lincoln

Happy Fourth of July, Google. I love it.

Native Americans, too. Many are cats. (click here)

...there are some deserving creatures that don't get the same level of attention. Here are a handful that you probably didn't know are native to the States — and you may not have realized they existed at all!...

Today is the day to celebrate democracy. A new party has formed and it is lead by US Senator Bernie Sanders.

"The Working Family Party" (click here for their Facebook site)

They indict the Democratic Party. They have a point. Look where working families are. They are the working poor with public schools robbed of their funding. They are subjected to the Plutocrats who serve them up for profits and not partnerships. Their unions are brutalized and they have no SECURE future. Talk about that homeland security for once!

The Republicans want to destroy us. (click here) But the leaders of the Democratic Party? They failed us. The race was theirs to lose -- and they did. This is a call to anyone looking for a political home to fight for justice and resist Trump. Come home to the Working Families Party, the... 

#HomeOfResistance 

http://workingfamilies.org/homeofresistance 

...where you can volunteer, plan a run for office, find a WFP, or start your own WFP where you are.

The abandoned Middle Class after the crash of 2008, found their children more abandoned in "Occupy Wall Street." Today's younger generations have less income security, food security, climate security and old age security than any other American generation before them.

Then there is student debt and forget the national debt that is going to be huge forever. "Subsidized adoption" is an industry that removes children from their homes only to ridicule of the impoverished. There is no guarantee if you work two to three jobs to support your family you will be able to have a heritage to pass onto your children and grandchildren; someone may have stolen them from you.

I don't want to hear another word about 'lazy people' in the USA, they don't exist. You want to talk about the victims of the Plutocrats that now spans a generation (23 years) since 1994. THAT I'll talk about!

Pension funds are a common victim of the Plutocrats that think nothing of crashing an economy for bailouts. The Dow is soaring and on the 4th of July all the Big Box Stores are open and looking for more greed from Americans. Why aren't they closed with their employees taking a paid day off so they haven't forgotten what freedom is all about?

Today is the federal holiday that marks the country's birthday and the working poor know exactly who they are in this country. They are owned by a different country, the "Plutocratic America." They have no rights, they simply work until tragedy happens and they can't pay their hospital bill and their life turns to homelessness rather than home ownership and their children are taken because they are incompetent human beings.

I don't want to hear how "Subsidized Adoptions" receive at least $500 per month for one child to help pay the mortgage while the natural family mourns their loss and surrenders to the idea of being incompetent. ENOUGH!

If a child in the USA is worth at least $500 per month in the adoption industry, then they are worth $500 per month to their natural family. I don't want to hear about the lazy people on welfare either!

Young people living in the forests and looking for whatever humanity they can find in showers and potential employment while their babies are harvested for the adoption industry. THAT IS NOT AMERICA! Perfectly competent and wonderful young people abandoned by stressed families are getting married and continue to try to build a life; but; the men can succumb to alcoholism and their future isn't even on the horizon. THAT IS NOT AMERICA!

Opiates rampaging through our society IS NOT AMERICA! And a country without sufficient health care to recapture it's citizens through rehabilitation AND hope in jobs and HOMES! THAT IS NOT AMERICA!

So, when the fireworks start tonight take a look around and see the faces. Many will be poor and homeless and without the promise of the future. They live in the here and now and they are everywhere! THAT IS NOT AMERICA!

If the USA does not rekindle it's civility, it's promises to generation after generation, then it is definitely NOT AMERICA.

I think it is political and hatred. The Supreme Court is simply examining the Executive Branch right to carry out such a ban.

Where the hatred enters into this is Iran. There are many countries resuming not just diplomatic relations with Iran, but, also engaging in commerce. Iran does not have a problem with Daesh.

In 2016 the USA bombed Libya, Syria, Iraq and Yemen. The Sudan is not a threat to the USA. It is not harboring Daesh. The charismatic phenomena that is or was affiliated with Daesh is not exclusively a Sudanese issue. Sudan is not an issue.

20.06.2017
By Mohammad Amin

Eight Sudanese children (click here) on Tuesday were reunited with their extended families in Sudan after their parents -- who had joined the Daesh terrorist group in Libya -- had been killed or arrested.

The returnees include four boys and four girls, four of whom hail from a single family, whose ages range between ten months and nine years.

Abakar Sigairoon, the grandfather of four of the returned children, told Anadolu Agency how two of his daughters had joined the notorious terrorist group more than a year ago.

“Yesterday, the NISS [the Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Services] called me, telling me I should come pick my four grandchildren up at the airport,” he said.

“I’m so happy to see my grandchildren after losing my daughters,” he added.

Within the past three years, a large number of Sudanese university students have reportedly traveled to neighboring Libya -- or Syria -- to join Daesh....

Daesh had entered the Sudan in 2015 and pressured young men and women into service, but, they did not set up base camp there. There are no branches within Sudan that I am aware of. The Sudanese people have on sympathy for Daesh, mourn those lost and pressed into service in LIBYA. The Sudanese people are scared for the region and this manifestation of hate that arose out of basically nowhere. But, they are not organizing militias to fight with Daesh. I think President Trump does not have an argument to support the ban on the Sudan. 

I don't know what methods he is using to determine the travel ban either. If the USA is bombing countries (I am not saying it is right to do so.) there is an argument to ban travel from those countries to the USA. But, to simply decide for unknown reasons to place a ban on the countries like the Sudan and Iran is simply "W"rong. I think in both those cases it is prejudice and political hatred.

Below a mourning statement from 2015 regarding young Sudanese that succumbed to the charisma of Daesh.

...The Consequences (click here) of the spread of ISIS to Sudan echoed its effects to haunt Khartoum, Britain, Canada, USA, Turkey and Syria causing extreme grief and sadness to parents and relatives of scores of radicalized male and female medical students at a private college in Khartoum joining the (ISIS- Daesh). The students referred to hold passports from Western countries mentioned above along with Sudanese passports. Majority of the students who referred to, their parents are citizens with dual nationalities living in the Western countries as Diaspora. Among the purposes of the parents of those students besides studying medicine in Khartoum was to give them opportunity leering from the established Sudanese culture and customs and traditions. What raises anger and bewilderment is that the government of the National Congress Party (NCP) does not pay any attention to what is going on and continues turning a blind eye to what is happening....

Those are all words of sorrow. As far as the passports, cancel them. It appears from the statements in this paragraph the students with passports can be recognized.

...Deterioration of Religious Discourse in Sudan is the most important cause for the phenomenon of extremism among the Higher Education students joining the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria/Levant (ISIS/ISIL)....

These young people did not join Daesh in Sudan because it does not exist there.

By Juanita Williams

Kigali, Rwanda — Sudan's government (click here) is confident that they are ready to enter the African and international markets when the U.S. sanctions – frozen for the past six months – are dropped....

Sudan has worked very hard to meet expectations. The fact there is no one in the Trump White House has no key senior officials responsible for AFRICA policy. Now why would that be? It must be easier to issue travel bans and fear than actually have relations with Africans.

There are profound arguments that can be made about the travel bans in reassurances to the well beings of Americans. Honestly.

July 3, 2017

The Supreme Court (click here) has ruled on President Trump’s travel ban, but the ruling is far from a final word.

The court agreed to consolidate two cases challenging the ban and hear them in the fall. And it modified the injunctions that had been issued by lower courts. Where lower courts had forbidden the government to enforce the travel ban against anyone, the Supreme Court said the ban could be enforced against foreigners who lack a strong relationship with a person or institution in this country.

One of the criteria for issuing or staying an injunction while a case is still pending is whether the side seeking the order or stay has a good enough chance of winning. But the court, in its unsigned opinion, did not discuss whether the lower courts were wrong to think the people challenging the travel ban had strong cases. Only Justice Clarence Thomas, who wrote separately, and Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, who joined his opinion, said modifying the orders suggested the government was likely to win.

The court focused on how the orders were crafted, and how the lower courts weighed the harms to both sides. It gave significant weight only to harms to people and institutions in this country, not foreigners overseas....                   

July 3, 2017
By David Post

A few weeks ago, (click here) the Supreme Court released its opinion in Packingham v. North Carolina, holding 8-0 that a North Carolina law prohibiting previously convicted sex offenders from accessing or using “social networking” websites violates the First Amendment....

...The law in question made it a felony for a registered sex offender “to access a commercial social networking Web site* where the sex offender knows that the site permits minor children to become members or to create or maintain personal Web pages.”

*”Commercial social networking Web site” was defined quite broadly; in brief, it covered any website that “facilitates the social introduction between two or more persons for the purposes of friendship, meeting other persons, or information exchanges” by allowing users to create “personal profiles,” and that provides users with “mechanisms to communicate with other users, such as a message board, chat room, electronic mail, or instant messenger.”

The statute was purportedly designed to prevent ex-offenders from “gathering information about minors on the Internet” and using that information to make inappropriate or unlawful contact with them. All eight Justices agreed (with us) that the statute was not sufficiently “narrowly tailored” to serve that purpose.

It wasn’t even a close call.  The court (Justice Anthony M. Kennedy writing for himself and Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, with Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. concurring joined by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Clarence Thomas) described the statutory prohibition as “unprecedented in the scope of First Amendment speech it burdens.”...

It is the way it should be in California.

I am not troubled by it? What is there to be troubled about? No one can carry a concealed weapon without a valid reason.

We do not live in the wild west. We are civilized people who do not succumb to guns to end arguments. The courts are where disagreements that cannot be settled from resolve.

There are no good guys with a gun on every corner or in every crowd or every night club. It is time the streets become safer and this is the best start I have heard to date.

July 3, 2017
By John-Michael Seibler

The Second Amendment (click here) is subject to persistent threats these days, and it didn’t receive any help from a majority of the Supreme Court last week.

By a margin of 7-2, the court denied review in a gun rights case out of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Peruta v. California.

The decision leaves in place a troubling California statute requiring residents to prove to their county sheriff that they have some “good cause” to carry a firearm in order to receive a concealed carry permit.

Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justice Neil Gorsuch, authored a dissent that explains why the court’s decision not to hear the case is disappointing....                    

Ya think?

July 3, 2017
By Laura Santhanam

Americans (click here) broadly believe their country’s political tone has become less civil since Donald Trump was elected president and that fundamental rights are weakening, according to a new PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll.

Seventy percent of Americans think political civility has worsened since Trump was elected president, according to the poll. That holds true regardless of party, and it marks a substantial increase since a July 2009 Gallup poll showed that just a third of U.S. adults said the nation’s political tone and civility were worse since former President Barack Obama took office....

Model 3 (click here) passed all regulatory requirements for production two weeks ahead of schedule. Expecting to complete SN1 on Friday.

I thought the Brits had a stem cell treatment for mitochondrial disease.

3 July 2017

By Patrick Greenfield

Pontiff asks that they be allowed to do everything possible to treat their critically ill 10-month-old son.

Pope Francis (click here) is calling for the parents of critically ill baby, Charlie Gard, to be allowed to do everything possible to treat their child.

In a statement on Sunday evening, the Vatican said the pope was following the case of the 10-month-old, who has a form of mitochondrial disease, “with affection and sadness” and was close to his parents: “For this he prays that their wish to accompany and treat their child until the end isn’t neglected.”...

Most people involved with this disease know about the British breakthrough and this goes back long before this article was published. I realize all mitochondrial disease is not the same and there are also ways to identify "carriers" of the disease. I am surprised Charlie Gard is having a problem. I don't pretend to know everything the doctors know.

It is genetics. He was somewhat healthy at birth, but, over time the disease began to cause problems.

July 17, 2015
By Patricia Silvia

A new study recently published (click here) in the renowned journal Nature revealed a breakthrough on combined stem cell and gene therapies for the treatment of mitochondrial diseases. The study is entitled “Metabolic rescue in pluripotent cells from patients with mtDNA disease” and was led by researchers at Oregon Health & Science University.

Mitochondria are small organelles considered to be the powerhouses of the cells where the energy for the body is produced in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). This ATP is crucial for cellular metabolism and proper body functioning. Mitochondrial diseases are rare disorders caused by DNA mutations in mitochondrially-expressed genes. They include a vast range of lethal or severely debilitating conditions. It is estimated that 1,000 to 4,000 children are born with a mitochondrial DNA disease every year in the United States. Treatment options for these diseases are quite limited.

In the study, researchers focused on gene and stem cell therapies for mitochondrial diseases. The team was able to genetically correct pluripotent stem cells (PSCs; cells with the potential to differentiate into several specialized cell types) from patients with mitochondrial DNA disease, namely mitochondrial encephalomyopathy and stroke-like episodes (MELAS) and Leigh syndrome. They collected skin cells from patients with mitochondrial DNA mutations and through a technique based on mitochondrial replacement via nuclear transfer, they generated embryonic stem cells with healthy mitochondria....

Back in 2004, I believe, there was a Virginia mother that took her seven year old daughter to Great Britain for treatment, but, was then investigated by the "W" White House. Remember? There was no such stem cell treatment allowed under "W." Not even receiving it outside the country. This is one of the diseases that can be brought under control and in the case of the seven year old some of the disease processes were reversed with stem cell treatment.

The stem cell therapies are exactly that, regenerative medicine. It does not create life, but, restores it by biological functions that work rather than biological functions that have, for some reason, taken a turn in an unnatural direction.

...The research team believes that this technique represents the start of a new kind of regenerative medicine. “Regenerative technologies offer the prospect of transformative solutions to correct tissue defects in disease. Current care for mitochondrial diseases is limited to addressing patient symptoms, but falls short from providing a definitive cure,” explained the study’s co-author Dr. Andre Terzic from the Center for Regenerative Medicine at Mayo Clinic. “Resetting or replacing disease-corrupted mitochondria to produce healthy patient derived stem cells paves the way towards targeting the root cause of the problem.”

People, like the extremist right to life folks, like to deprive people of hope by stating it is an unnatural treatment and deprives possible infants to be born. Well, here you have their paradox. Charlie Gard is 10 months old and still viable. IF he has a form of treatable genetic disorder with stem cells should he receive it and live OR should the stem cells be preserved for POSSIBLE babies in the future. The ethical and so called religious debate is hideous or better yet ludicrous.. They rather see Charlie suffer and die than give him a chance at life. I am assuming he can be treated. 

Even experimentally treated.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) would like you to know that he definitely did not get a tan this weekend.

The paparazzi didn't get a chance to view the Governor getting a tan either. That effects the economy.

I'll be darn they did get a picture of him. Governor Chris Christie unapologetic? Ya, think?

And now there isn't going to be any fireworks either. The First Lady of New Jersey, Mary Pat looks hot. That is quite a crew. I would think the photographer could have gotten in some water. It looks like the First Family of New Jersey is sitting on a desert. The Governor wears to many clothes on the beach to cause any excitement.

July 3, 2017
By Amy B. Wang

Yes, Christie told reporters (click here) at a Sunday news conference in Trenton, his family was staying in the state-owned beach house at Island Beach State Park over the July 4 weekend — even though the park was closed to the public amid a statewide government shutdown.

He had been unapologetic about that gubernatorial perk the day before: “That’s the way it goes,” Christie said Saturday. “Run for governor, and you can have the residence.”

And, yes, he had joined his family at said state-owned beach house, flying between the barrier island and Trenton using a state helicopter. But when asked if he got any sun, Christie was clear.

“I didn’t,” he said Sunday, according to the Newark Star-Ledger. “I didn’t get any sun today.”

That was before the newspaper showed the governor aerial photos of himself and his family relaxing on a very large and otherwise empty (because it was closed) portion of the state beach. The exclusive photos were published Sunday evening on NJ.com, sparking outrage from New Jersey residents already upset about the state’s budget impasse....

There ya go. There is water.

July 3, 2017

Trenton — New Jersey’s government shutdown (click here) will go on at least one more day, the state’s top Democratic lawmaker said Monday morning.

“It couldn’t end today if we wanted to,” Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D., Gloucester) said at a Statehouse news conference. “Because if we could get something done, we’d have to draft a bill. … It’s at least tomorrow.”

“Getting something done” is also uncertain.

Sweeney is due to meet this afternoon with Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto (D., Hudson), and Robert Marino, CEO of Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey — the company at the center of the shutdown fight, which began at 12:01 a.m. Saturday after lawmakers failed to pass a budget for the new fiscal year....

The immigrants are going to be like, "Yah, man, where are all the freedom fireworks? I thought that was a big thing around here." Everybody is going to be like, "Atlantic City? Naah, there ain't no fireworks there either. So much for Trump."

June 30, 2017

By Hunter Hulbert

With the Fourth of July 2017 (click here) right around the corner, fireworks are on tap in towns, boroughs and cities across the state. Where are the July 4th 2017 fireworks displays closest to you in New Jersey? We're here to help. We have a compiled a list of more than a hundred Fourth of July fireworks displays in all 21 counties.

What time, date and location are these Fourth of July 2017 fireworks displays? Scroll down to find out. Please note that many events, including fireworks displays, are not on July 4 and some are scheduled for late June. Counties are listed in alphabetical order....

"Morning Papers"

The Rooster

"Okeydoke"

The waxing gibbous

9.3 day old moon

69.6 percent lit

July 1, 2017
By Deane Morrison

Venus reigns (click here) over the morning sky this month. The queen of planets rises two and a half hours ahead of the sun on July 1, with its lead growing to three hours by the 31st—thanks almost entirely to the sun rising about half an hour later by the end of the month.

In the second week of July, go out before the sky starts to lighten and watch the V-shaped face of Taurus, the bull, graze Venus as it sweeps by the planet over the course of the week. Aldebaran, Taurus’s brightest star, marks the eye of the bull, but on the 12th Venus poses as the celestial bovine’s second eye. On the 20th, a waning crescent moon visits Venus—always a pretty sight....

Genesis 1:26-28King James Version (KJV)

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

As a food source, you morons!

NOT for profiteers! 

God did not create money even if it is a citizen of the USA!

Nowhere does God say, dominion over each other's life. God never gave permission to destroy life, he only gave permission to defend it!