Policy analysts in the United States and UK are calling for a reconsideration of the decades-old 14-day embryo experimentation rule - a regulation that requires scientists to terminate any embryo in vitro before it reaches two weeks of development. New embryology research indicates that scientists can now grow embryos in a culture dish well past 14 days, permitting research into early human development and various diseases.

An article in this months Hastings Center Report calls for a new public discussion of the longstanding regulation, suggesting in particular that we take into account new scientific and social perspectives on embryo research. ...our understandings of responsible research have evolved to require greater public participation in decisions about science, writes University of Edinburgh bioethicist Sarah Chan. Broader public discourse must begin now.

Chan says that the 14-day rule was originally based on an arbitrary compromise between different viewpoints on the moral status of the embryo. We should be open to considering whether the public now wants to extend or restrict the limits we place on embryo research.

Baroness Mary Warnock, a moral philosopher and one of the original proponents of the rule, has cautioned against change. According to Warnock, the rule provides a way of allowing for embryo research, while still addressing slippery slope concerns: you cannot successfully block a slippery slope except by a fixed and invariable obstacle, which is what the 14-day rule provided.

Link:
Rethinking the 14 day rule - BioEdge

The medical information on this site is provided as an information resource only, and is not to be used or relied on for any diagnostic or treatment purposes. This information is intended for medical education, and does not create any doctor-patient relationship, and should not be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis and treatment.

By visiting this site you agree to the foregoing terms and conditions. If you do not agree to the foregoing terms and conditions, you should not enter this site.

Unless otherwise specified, material is licensed by The TeachMe Series under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license

Read this article:
Embryology - TeachMeAnatomy

On Sunday June 18 there will be a celebration at St. Eugene's Parish Church in Covehead, P.E.I.,for Father Charlie Cheverie who is marking 60 years as a priest. He spent time teaching biology atSt. Dunstan'sUniversity and UPEIand had the opportunity to minister at St. Eugene's.Cheverie stopped by CBC News:Compass to talk about his time in the Catholic Ministry.

For the last couple years before I finished off St. Dunstan'sUniversity, I had a real good girlfriend at that time and I prayed for many years for my vocation, what God was asking me to do. I thought she was the one that God wanted me to have for my wife. When I went to seminary for the first year, I prayed, 'Lord, what do you want me to do?' And near the end of that year, my spiritdirector asked me, realizing that I wanted to go forward to go on to medicine,'do you want to heal the body, or heal the person?' and I said 'I want to heal the person.' I don't know how long it tookme to do that, to say that, and get to that degree, but there it was. Take your orders. And since that time I have not turned back. And so that was the beginning, that was the path I chose.

No, I thanked the Lord. I could not have written a better scenario for my life. It's beautiful.

When I think of the priesthood, I think of a parish priest and what you'd normally see a priest doing. But when I was ordained, they decided that I was to go on to study biology, which I did,got my masters and PhD and then I'd come back to teach biology. It took me a couple of years to appreciate that there was a ministry there with the young people which I spent the rest of my life doing really. And it was kind of ironictoo because having thought about medicine, I end up teaching those subjects which mostly those who were going for medicine would take. Anatomy, embryology, histology and so forth. Right now I have a lot of people on P.E.I. who are taking care of me who are my former students. Butteaching biology isn't what I thought of. In fact I think if I go back to that first year in seminary, if somebody asked me 'do you want to teach biology for the rest of your life?' I would have said 'no, I'm going out for medicine' and that would have been it.And then in 1975 another big blessing came into my life when I was called to minister at St. Eugene's in Covehead, P.E.I. It didn'ttake long for me to realize that there are a lot of fabulous people in Covehead and surrounding areas. I met a lot of people, Catholic and non-Catholic, that became my friends and still fabulous friends and very, very important people in my support system.

It's a matter of journeying with people, whether it be students, adult people, whatever the case may be. Personally I find it difficult to journey with people who are having real difficulty, real crosses in their lives. Maybe people struggling with cancer, or maybe people who arestruggling with Alzheimer's disease or dementia, or people who are just having some failure in their particular life. To try to be there to console them, to be with them, support them as best I possibly can. And that's when I really depend on the Lord to give me that extra help.

It's just the joy I've had in my communication with all my friends all the way through my life. Go back to Queens Square School where we played hockey, rugby and sports together, and then later on in our youth club, the friends I met there and the joy I had from there. Then in university and the parishes, it's just the joy that you have from dealing with people. And to realize that the more you give, the more you get. I used to tell this to students at the university, I said 'if you want to get a smile, give a smile' and sure enough, it'samazing. I had a friend of mine, we went over to St. Mary's one time and we were walking along the campus and I was saying 'hi' and 'hi' and smiling at people. And he said 'do you know all those people?' and I said 'no, I don't know any of them.' It's not necessary to know them all, but you'll get to know them if you go that way yourself.

View original post here:
'I could not have written a better scenario for my life': Father Charlie Cheverie marks 60 years as a priest - CBC.ca

and does the standard Catholic thing of making use of the best of human knowledge in navigating the signs of the times, the experts on Prudential Judgment in the Right Wing Noise Machine say Shut up! What do you know about climate science?

Strangely, they do not say that when he makes remarks pertaining to embryology and gynecology in Humanae Vitae, nor when he talks about things pertaining to evolutionary science in Humani Generis. Nor do they deem St. Thomas to be worthless junk merely because he too relies on the best that the fallible Aristotle, Averroes, and Avicenna have to say.

No. Its only when the pope makes use of human wisdom in teaching things the Right Wing Noise Machine wants to scream down that we suddenly hear that unless its an infallible definition about something religiousy sounding, the pope should shut up. So in addition to teaching on our relationship with Creation (which is, in fact, well within the Churchs tradition and the competence of the Magisterium), we are also told that the pope should shut up about everything pertaining to money and economics since, in John Zmiraks famously arrogant and dismissive phrase ordination is not an economics degree. Similarly, we heard that the pope was an ivory tower ninny who was incompetent to say the Iraq war was a terrible idea. And the Church was a pack of ivory tower ninnies on the matter of torture too. Refugees? Where does the Church get off giving sanctuary to the desperate stranger when our just and wise White Supremacist-in-Chief prudently says of Syrian children I will look them in the face and tell them they cant come. And indeed, on virtually every point of Catholic social doctrine that is not about abortion or homosexuality or a radically distorted form of subsidiarity called libertarian dogma, postmodern conservatism and its court prophets do not merely ignore but actively make war on the Churchs social teaching.

But when a GOP congressman hands down the fatwa that if climate change is real, God will take care of it, these same court prophets pull their chins and thank this agent of Caesar for enlightening the Church with true wisdom about trusting God by doing nothing to disturb oil or coal companies.

Lets try it with other things, shall we?

If abortion is a problem, God will take care of it. If terrorism is a problem, God will take care of it. If illegal immigration is a problem, God will take care of it. If euthanasia is a problem, God will take care of it. If embryonic stem cell research is a problem, God will take care of it. If gay marriage is a problem, God will take care of it. If Mexico bringing crime, drugs and rapists is a problem, God will take care of it. If Obamacare is a problem, God will take care of it. If religious liberty is a problem, God will take care of it. If putting a loaded gun to my head and pulling the trigger is a problem, God will take care of it. If jumping off the parapet of the temple because Satan told me to in order to see if God loves me is a problem, God will take care of it.

The phrase this Congressman and his deeply Christian court prophets are looking for is inshallah. Except that Muslims are not *that* passive to the Divine Will since they also recognize the proverb Trust Allah, but tie up your camel.

Meanwhile, here in the West, people who actually know Christian theology and not this dimestore bastardized pietism understand that You shall not put the Lord your God to the test. If climate change is a problem, as 97% of climate scientists and Holy Church warn it is (along with the rest of the civilized world) it is our prudent responsibility to address it as stewards of creation, not weary God with stupid lies as this Congressman does.

Go here to read the rest:
When the Pope says we have a responsibility to care for creation - Patheos (blog)

development human developing theory

Embryology is the study of the development of organisms. This is as true of plants as it is of animals.

Seed formation proceeds following fertilization in higher plants. The seed consists of the embryo, the seed coat, and another part sometimes called the endosperm. While plants are extraordinarily important for survival of animal life, animal embryology is described here.

The dictionary definition limits the meaning of the term "embryo" to developing animals that are unhatched or not yet born. Human embryos are defined as developing humans during the first eight weeks after conception. The reason that many embryologists have difficulty with this terminology is that it is purely arbitrary. It would be difficult indeed, if not impossible, to discriminate a human embryo nearing the end of the eighth week from a developing human during the ninth week after conception. Correspondingly, there are no morphological events that distinguish a pre-hatching frog tadpole from a post-hatching tadpole (hatching never occurs synchronously in an egg massthere are always those that hatch early and those larvae which are dilatory).

Embryologists consider development from a zygote to a multicellular organism. In the particular case of humans, development does not even stop at birth. Note that teeth continue to develop and sex glands with sexual differentiation mature long after birth. For a number of years, many embryologists have referred to their discipline as developmental biology to escape from the need to confine their studies to earlier stages. Embryology in the modern sense is the study of the life history of an animal and human embryology considers developmental aspects of life as a whole and not just the first eight weeks.

The study of embryology, the science that deals with the formation and development of the embryo and fetus, can be traced back to the ancient Greek philosophers. Originally, embryology was part of the field known as "generation," a term that also encompassed studies of reproduction, development and differentiation, regeneration of parts, and genetics. Generation described the means by which new animals or plants came into existence. The ancients believed that new organisms could arise through sexual reproduction, asexual reproduction, or spontaneous generation. As early as the sixth century B.C., Greek physicians and philosophers suggested using the developing chick egg as a way of investigating embryology.

Aristotle (384322 B.C.) described the two historically important models of development known as preformation and epigenesis. According to preformationist theories, an embryo or miniature individual preexists in either the mother's egg or the father's semen and begins to grow when properly stimulated. Some preformationists believed that all the embryos that would ever develop had been formed by God at the Creation. Aristotle actually favored the theory of epigenesis, which assumes that the embryo begins as an undifferentiated mass and that new parts are added during development. Aristotle thought that the female parent contributed only unorganized matter to the embryo. He argued that semen from the male parent provided the "form," or soul, that guided development and that the first part of the new organism to be formed was the heart.

Aristotle's theory of epigenetic development dominated the science of embryology until the work of physiologist William Harvey (15781657) raised doubts about A human two-cell embryo 24 hours after fertilization. Photograph by Richard G. Rawlins. Custom Medical Stock Photo. Reproduced by permission. many aspects of classical theories. In his studies of embryology, as in his research on the circulation of the blood, Harvey was inspired by the work of his teacher, Girolamo Fabrici (ca.15331619). Some historians think that Fabrici should be considered the founder of modern embryology because of the importance of his embryological texts: On the Formed Fetus and On the Development of the Egg and the Chick. Harvey's On the Generation of Animals was not published until 1651, but it was the result of many years of research. Although Harvey began these investigations in order to provide experimental proof for Aristotle's theory of epigenesis, his observations proved that many aspects of Aristotle's theory of generation were wrong.

Aristotle believed that the embryo essentially formed by coagulation in the uterus immediately after mating when the form-building principle of the male acted on the material substance provided by the female. Using deer that had mated, Harvey dissected the uterus and searched for the embryo. He was unable to find any signs of a developing embryo in the uterus until about six or seven weeks after mating had taken place. In addition to his experiments on deer, Harvey carried out systematic studies of the developing chick egg. His observations convinced him that generation proceeded by epigenesis, that is, the gradual addition of parts. Nevertheless, many of Harvey's followers rejected epigenesis and turned to theories of preformation.

Naturalists who favored preformationist theories of generation were inspired by the new mechanical philosophy and by the microscope, a device that allowed them to see the embryo at earlier stages of development. Some naturalists produced very unreliable observations of early embryos, but Marcello Malpighi (16281694) and Jan Swammerdam (16371680), two pioneers of microscopy, provided observations that seemed to support preformation. Based on Swammer dam's studies of insects and amphibians, naturalists suggested that embryos preexisted within each other like a nest of boxes. However, given such a theory, only one parent can serve as the source of the sequence of preformed individuals. At the time, the egg of many species was well known, but when the microscope revealed the existence of "little animals" in male semen, some naturalists argued that the preformed individuals must be present in the sperm.

Respected scientists of the time, including Albrecht von Haller (17081777), Charles Bonnet (17201793), Lazzaro Spallanzani (17291799), and Ren Antoine Ferchault de Reaumur (16831757), supported preformation. Bonnet's studies of parthenogenesis in aphids were regarded as strong support of ovist preformationism. Thus, some naturalists argued that the whole human race had preexisted in the ovaries of Eve, while others reported seeing homunculi (tiny people) inside spermatozoa. Other eighteenth century naturalists rejected both ovist and spermist preformationist views. One of the most influential was Casper Friedrich Wolff (17331794), who published a landmark article in the history of embryology, "Theory of Generation," in 1759. Wolff argued that the organs of the body did not exist at the beginning of gestation, but formed from some originally undifferentiated material through a series of steps. Naturalists who became involved in the movement known as nature philosophy found Wolff's ideas very attractive. During the nineteenth century, cell theory, the discovery of the mammalian ovum by Karl Ernst von Baer (17921876), and the establishment of experimental embryology by Wilhelm Roux (18501924) and Hans Driesch (18671941) transformed philosophical arguments about the nature of embryological development.

About a century ago, careful observations were made of a number of developing organisms. By this time, there was a cell theory and good microscopes were available. Next came a causal analysis. For instance, it was known that the dorsal ectoderm of all vertebrate embryos rolls up into a tube to form the central nervous system. What factors control the very regular appearance of the nervous system and subsequent differentiation into the various parts of the brain and the spinal cord? It was hypothesized that the underlying chordamesoderm cells of the gastrula signaled the ectoderm to become neural. The signal was referred to as induction. Other embryonic organs also seemed to appear as a result of induction. Chemical embryology sought to characterize the nature of inducing signals. Now, modern molecular embryology seeks to examine on the level of the gene what controls differentiation of specific tissue and cell typed of a developing organism.

There are practical considerations that drive some embryologists. The causes of developmental abnormalities (congenital malformations) in humans becomes more understandable with a consideration of embryology. The human embryo is extraordinarily vulnerable to drugs, viruses, and radiation during the first several months of development when many critical organ systems are developing.

Gilbert, Scott F. Developmental Biology. 6th ed. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates, Inc., 2000.

Larsen, William J. Human Embryology. 3rd. ed. Philadelphia: Elsevier Science, 2001.

Sadler, T.W., and Jan Langman. Langman's Medical Embryology, 8th ed. New York: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Publishers, 2000.

Aristotle's theory of epigenetic development dominated the science of embryology until the work of physiologist William Harvey (15781657) raised doubts about A human two-cell embryo 24 hours after fertilization. Photograph by Richard G. Rawlins. Custom Medical Stock Photo. Reproduced by permission. many aspects of classical theories. In his studies of embryology, as in his r

More here:
Embryology - History of embryology as a science ...

By KAREN McDOUGALL The incredible egg. An incubator filled with fertilized eggs was the star of a three-week stay in an elementary school classroom when I was the 4-H program assistant. Why? One of the school enrichment programs is the chick embryology program, Hatching Future Scientists. Along with the fertilized eggs, there were many questions and much learning. When going into the classrooms, the students always asked how long it would take for the eggs to hatch. It takes about 21 days. To make this real for the students, a hatching book was created. Starting with day one, this book gave a day-by-day look at the development of the chick inside the egg. We talked about why the chickens laid colored eggs: white, brown, blue or green. How? The color of the chickens earlobes determined the egg color. Chickens with white earlobes lay white eggs. Chickens with red earlobes, the students would say lay red, but these are the ones who lay the brown, blue or green eggs. Most of our eggs were brown eggs and were specific breeds. We could tell if they were male or female by their color after they hatched. Have you ever noticed the white spot or germ spot on the egg yolk? This is where the chick will start to develop if the eggs are fertilized. When a hen sits on her eggs, her body heat incubates the eggs. She turns them with her beak, which is part of her maternal instincts. The average clutch a hen hatches is 12 eggs. The students asked where the developing chick got its food. Nutrition comes from the yolk. It was quite interesting to process. Our incubator had a turner, which would turn the eggs every 30 minutes. If the humidity or temperature is off, the development and hatching of the eggs is affected. Fertile eggs are set in the incubator on the first day in the classroom. Humidity and temperature controls are carefully monitored. Between 38 and 60 hours after the eggs begin to incubate, many things start happening inside the eggs. The heart is beating. The upper part of the embryos body turns on its side. The eyes, ears and brain take shape. On days four and five, wings and legs are growing and the chick is moving inside the egg. On day nine, the eyelids form and on day thirteen the eye closes. One highlight for the students is candling the eggs. This is done around day 10. What is candling? Shine a small light into the large end of the egg, darken the room and we are able to see inside the egg. Seeing nothing means the egg is not fertile. One sign of a developing chick is the blood vessels growing around the embryo. Many times a black dot is visible, which is the chicks eye. If conditions are right, the students are able to see the chick move inside the egg. During my second visit, we did eggsperiments. Spinning eggs indicated if we had a raw or hard-cooked egg. Eggs that float indicate whether they are spoiled or good to eat. The answers? Hard-cooked eggs spin faster. If the egg floats, throw it out. On day 18, the egg turner is unplugged so the chicks can get themselves ready to hatch. The chick makes a small hole in the egg shell, then pecks its way around the egg. When completed, the chick makes its appearance in the classroom. Once the chicks are dry, the teachers put them in a special container with food and water. The students are able to hold them and feel how soft and delicate they are. By the time I stopped to pick up the chicks, they were starting to have feathers on their little wings. What an egg-citing time that was! Students named their little friends. Many of the students wanted to take them home, but I always shared that I was taking them to a neighbor who would take care of them. It takes about 26 weeks for the pullets to start laying; since they are young hens, they will be laying the smaller eggs. Have you ever found a double yolk? While the hens are getting their bodies in sync with laying, you may find an extra bonus. Laying hens typically lay an egg roughly every 24-27 hours and produce 200 to 300 eggs per year. As the hen gets older, her eggs will get larger. It was an egg-cellent time for these students to see a miracle in their classroom, from an egg to a chick. McDougall is the SNAP-Ed program assistant at the OSU Extension of Hancock County.

comments

Continue reading here:
Weekend: Elementary school classroom gets 'egg-cited' - The Courier

EDITORS NOTE: The following is Jonah Goldbergs weekly newsletter, the G-File. Subscribe here to get the G-File delivered to your inbox on Fridays.

Dear Covfefe,

I will admit upfront that I have a pretty good gig, writing-wise. No one really tells me what to write, particularly in this newsletter. I have no lane, as it were. I can go anywhere I want Alger Hiss was guilty! I like eating cold chicken over the sink! Cows, when cooked properly, are delicious! Hail Orb! Etc!

Still, even as a generalist, there are some topics that arent a natural fit for me. I rarely write about sports. I cant remember the last time I weighed-in on relations between Peru and Singapore or why I might spare One Directions lives if I were czar. I dont review video games, miniature-horse rodeos, or Canadian pornography. But I will confess that, if I wanted to, I could. And, if someone out there wants to pay me to share my musings I will be happy to discuss terms.

I bring this up for the simple reason that I want to head off a specific asinine rejoinder that is so prevalent in this remarkably stupid moment: If its okay for you to do it, why cant I?

My short response to this is: Because this is my job.

This is a long way around to get to what should have been my lede: Stay in your lanes, people.

The other day, the guy behind one of my favorite Twitter feeds, @Dog_rates, announced that he would donate half of the proceeds from a jokey anti-Trump hat to Planned Parenthood. I was among the first to criticize him. I didnt dispute his right to do what he had in mind, but I said it was a terrible business decision for the rather obvious reason that Planned Parenthood is polarizing.

Theres a reason why lots of businesses dont want to be seen as political i.e., because they want to maximize the number of their customers. If you start hawking liberal widgets, you are closing yourself off to conservative widget buyers, and vice versa. Of course, some business models involve finding market niches, but ideally you want to sell to everyone. A dog-themed Twitter account is already something of a niche, but since only monsters dont like dogs, its a pretty broad niche. Picking sides on one of the most divisive issues of our time abortion may be a principled thing to do, but purely on business terms it was a bad idea, as anyone whos watched Seinfeld could have told him.

Now, Im not going to rehash all of it here (Ian Tuttle has two good posts on the situation here and here). But I will say that I would have made the exact same argument if @Dog_Rates had promised to donate money to pro-life groups, a point my left-wing critics seem to have a very difficult time processing.

Anyway, it looks like I was right that Matt Nelson, the operator of the account, hadnt thought the whole thing through when he came up with the idea, and he tried to backpedal as best he could, which then in turn pissed off the proPlanned Parenthood crowd. As best I can tell, hes even taken down his semi-apologetic statement. Thats what happens when you blunder into a no-win situation.

Now consider this tweet rant from the ACLU:

I have no doubt the ACLU sincerely believes all of this. But you know what? Climate change isnt in the American Civil Liberties Unions portfolio. The ACLU is supposed to be concerned with wait for it civil liberties. I think it has been drifting off that beat for a long time. But this tweet is truly remarkable and remarkably dumb. The ACLU depends a great deal on its reputation as a non-partisan defender of constitutional rights. It puts that reputation at risk when it starts soapboxing about climate change. What does it gain from this as an institution? The people who already agree with these tweets dont need to be persuaded, and the people who dont will not be persuaded by them. But they will or might be further convinced that the ACLU is just another partisan political outfit. Credibility is a difficult resource to accumulate and an easy one to squander.

Maybe the ACLU is too far gone to be a good example of what Im talking about. But the problem is everywhere. From news anchors and reporters all but giving up any claims to neutrality on the issues of the day, to judges who must virtue signal their distaste for Trump, to actors who think that they are full-time pundits who play make-believe on the stage and screen as a side hobby.

Almost every morning I see this GE ad.

Ive seen nary a critical word about it, even though it is nothing more than corporate political propaganda. But since its propaganda all the right people support, they dont even pause to think about how they would respond if it pushed a political message they dont like. Its like my old rants about NBCs Green Week. Imagine if ABC came out with a pro-life week in which they incorporated positive messages about fighting for the unborn in their news broadcasts and sitcoms. The same people cheering @Dog_Rates would be burning cars in the streets.

Peanut Butter Cup America

Its a familiar conservative lament to say this is all part of the politicization of everything. And I think thats true. But you can flip it on its head, too. Everything is becoming lifestylized (I hereby decree thats a word). Its like that ancient debate between Plato and Socrates: Did Socrates get his chocolate in Platos peanut butter or did Plato get peanut butter in Socrates chocolate? (That sounds dirty The Couch.)

Scads have been written, mostly by conservatives and libertarians, about the problem of politics bleeding into the nooks and crannies of traditionally apolitical life. And I agree with much of it. But far less has been written about how lifestyle is creeping into politics. With the decline of traditional religion and other mediating institutions, the primary source of identity for ever larger numbers of people is partisan affiliation. Indeed, partisan affiliation for the first time ever is often more predictive of behavior and attitudes than race, ethnicity, religion, and gender. Thats bananas.

But its also utterly predictable. When politics becomes a secular religion, a source of meaning, or simply a lifestyle, politics will be less about arguments and tradeoffs and more about wearing ideas on your sleeve. I agree with Jonathan Last when he writes that the current hysteria over the Paris pullout is virtue signaling about virtue signaling. But what else can you expect when people start wearing their partisan affiliation the way people once wore a crucifix or Star of David?

Disagreements become insults when politics becomes a statement about who you are. And, as I keep saying, that explains why so many now define free speech as assault and assault as free speech.

Rights and Science

What do the passionate cries of science denier and calls for prosecuting Kathy Griffin have in common? They conflate amoral processes with moral stances.

This is difficult to explain, so give me a minute. Neil deGrasse Tyson notwithstanding, science is not moral. It is not a source of values. Scientists can do extremely evil things or extremely noble things. Science is a method and a tool. But the freedom to do science is a wonderful thing because a society with healthy guardrails can harness science to wonderful ends. Think of fire. Fire has no morality. It can be used to burn down a home and it can be used to cook a meal. Our legal, cultural, and moral guardrails make these distinctions constantly. We dont let mad scientists use humans for experiments without their permission, even though I could make a perfectly rational argument that if we gave scientists a free hand, we could get more medical breakthroughs more quickly. What are a few eggs if we get a better omelet? Etc.

If you read left-wing Twitter, this is a source of remarkable confusion for many people. Every day, I see a tweet from someone saying that you must believe in science when it comes to climate change and another tweet from someone else saying that science is a tool of oppression and racism. How can science be righteously authoritative on environmental policy but cruel and bigoted when it comes to the science of embryology or sexuality?

Something similar holds for our rights. We have all manner of rights to do wrongs. For instance, as Kat Timpf and Charlie Cooke have been insisting, what Griffin did with that beheaded effigy of Donald Trump was stupid and repugnant. But at the same time, she had every right to do it, and thats a wonderful thing.

Charlie is right. But there is a tension. Just as Griffin has every right to do what she did, she was also wrong to do it. This is a distinction people get profoundly confused about on both the left and the right.

For instance, when it was reported that General Michael Flynn (Ret.) would invoke his Fifth Amendment rights, many of his defenders shrieked that we shouldnt count that against him in any way. As a legal matter, thats correct. But theres nothing wrong with making judgments about it either. It looks bad, even if Flynn is within in his rights.

If youre going to get on your high horse about how its unfair to leap to conclusions when someone pleads the Fifth, then I can only assume you condemned this:

Whats interesting to me is the way that people talk about rights as if they have moral content to them. How dare you judge me for exercising my rights!

There is an infinite menu of things I can do with my rights that would be immoral or unethical, just as there is an infinite menu of things scientists can do with science that would be immoral, unethical, and illegal.

Americans have the right to say horrible things on Twitter in response to a terrorist attack on a bunch of young girls. They have the right to associate with Klansmen. They have the right to worship Satan. They have the right to do all manner of gross, tacky, weird, and unspeakable things with their own property and in their own homes. Indeed, they have the right to sit around all day wearing Indy 500 Rompers and eating lettuce jam while watching Donnie Darko. But in these and in so many other things, I have the right to make judgments and to criticize based on those judgments. Whether my judgments are fair and my criticisms are sound has no bearing on whether I have the right to them.

Why should the Fifth Amendment be any different? The Fifth Amendment is the right that ensures a fair process. Thats all. Its not a source of meaning or moral direction outside that process.

Morality only enters the picture when you look at the system as a whole. The trees can be bad, but the forest is good. As I wrote in this much better newsletter, the essence of conservatism can be defined as comfort with contradiction. People have the right to do wrong and people have the right to condemn, shame, and boycott people who do wrong. Saying you had the right to do x is a universally valid defense in only one venue: a court of law. Outside the dock, there are higher standards or there should be.

The problem with the lifestylization of politics most acutely on college campuses is that people want to clear away the contradictions. They want a unity of goodness where all good things go together and bad things are given no quarter. This has chiefly been a problem on the left, but it has become increasingly bipartisan. Why? Because right-wing populism is a lifestyle too:

Everywhere you look, people are mistaking inconvenient facts for insults. Every single day, people are taking offense at disagreement and confusing rights (and presidential prerogatives) and science for moral authority. Its a hothouse where the air is thick with hypocrisy because arguments are downstream of feelings and where facts are so much flair to don or discard depending on what lifestyle you want to adopt and what virtues you want to signal. In short, its a very stupid time.

Various & Sundry

As Michael Knight said to Kitt, I want to change gears a little. Kevin Williamson has a very nice plea for your support today. In his own inimitable way, he corroborates the point I made above:

National Review took a principled and even at the time unpopular stand against the man who would go on to become the Republican presidential nominee and, incredibly enough, president. I was not the most restrained voice on the issue. I am sure that this resulted in some canceled subscriptions and withheld donations, but I never heard much about any of that. I get a lot of feedback on my work from the editors here Do you think this is really fair to the other sides argument? Are you sure about the numbers here? Do you really need a 121-word lead? but its never: Dont write that because it will annoy x donor or y advertiser.

If you are wondering what your donations and support go to, thats it: maintaining a conservative institution that lets a lot of different writers with a lot of different opinions write what they think without worrying about anything other than producing the best work they can. Its a big part of what allows National Review to operate as an opinion journal in which this is remarkable, if you think about it there is no party line. If theres a live political dispute that Ramesh Ponnuru, Rich Lowry, Andrew C. McCarthy, Reihan Salam, Jay Nordlinger, Mike Potemra, Rick Brookhiser, Kat Timpf, Veronique de Rugy, Ian Tuttle, Alexandra DeSanctis, and I all agree about...I cant think what it is.

Now, if youre like me, you may be wondering why he left me off that list. Maybe Kevin knows something I dont know? But putting that aside, hes making an important point. National Review has writers who exult in Donald Trump and it has writers who dont. I dont think we have any writers who take a position of blanket opposition to him. There are no members of the resistance here. But there are plenty of people who understand that conservatism is more than a lifestyle, better than pure team partisanship. In short, we believe in making arguments, standing athwart GroupThink. And the fact that so many friends and readers have trouble with this is a testament, at least in some small part, to the extent of the lifestylization of American politics. If you feel that way, youre probably not reading this anyway.

But if you appreciate it, if you think America needs more institutions that think arguments and facts matter even when they are insulting to people on the left or the right then we would be extremely grateful if you could show your appreciation. If you cant, we understand. Life is complicated, which is sort of the whole point.

Canine Update: Things have been a bit complicated on the dog front this week. Pippa developed a bad limp earlier in the week, but seems to be on the mend. Its a sign of how traumatized my wife and I were by the Late Great Cosmo The Wonderdogs medical troubles that we greet every limp as a potential crisis. Cosmo was beautiful, tough, and smart, but he was also built like an East German car. Before he died, Cosmo was about two surgeries shy of being fully bionic. We dont know how the Spaniel hurt herself, but we fear it might be that Zo and Pippa might play too rough when the humans are gone. My wifes new job has necessitated a lot more alone time, and theres evidence to believe that Zo takes out her boredom on Pippa much like Ramsay Bolton did on Reek. We hope thats not the case. But Im sorely tempted to get a nanny cam to get to the bottom of it. Meanwhile, it means that when were home, Zo is far needier.

In other news, Zo is fascinated by turtles and covfefe. In feline news, when the Fair Jessica and I were in New York over Memorial Day, our dogwalker/sitter/aunt reported that around 11:00 oclock at night, Zo went bonkers and started barking out an open window. Kirsten looked outside and saw that Gracie, the Good Cat, was staring down a fox in the middle of the street. Between Zos barking and Gracies willful glare, the fox turned tail (literally!) and ran away. It could have ended very badly. But now Zo and Pippa look upon Gracie as a kind of folk hero.

Heads Up: Ill be on ABCs This Week on Sunday.

ICYMI...

Last weeks G-File.

My short (mostly negative) review of Alien: Covenant.

My response to Dennis Pragers take on Trumps right-leaning critics.

Why government-provided health care doesnt necessarily lead to better health.

Laffaire covfefe.

My Special Report appearance from Wednesday night.

Why cant Hillary accept blame for her 2016 loss?

And now, the weird stuff.

Debbys Friday links

Two mating camels cause a traffic jam in Dubai

Little girl rescues runaway dog with love

When deja vu is strong enough that you dont know whats real

A garden of poison plants

When Nazis tried to bring extinct animals back to life

Behold: a new species of carnivorous sponge

Great White shark launches itself into Australian fishermans boat

Science: Your meanest friend just wants the best for you

School in France testing facial recognition tech to keep students paying attention

Love-hormone injections turn gray seals into best friends

What does the edge of the universe look like?

The strange and surprising second life of Harambe

Five hundred years after the Protestant Reformation began...a robot priest

The most misspelled words in every state

Mathematical proof that your life is interesting

Newborn walks minutes after being born

Read the original here:
The 'Lifestylization' of Politics - National Review

See more photos

A few days ago we had a conversation with one of our graduating seniors who grew up outside of the United States. Is college graduation a big deal in the U.S.? he asked. Everyone goes to college.

We gently rebuked him. "No, not everyone goes to college, whether in the U.S. or outside its boundaries," we said, and so we hope you will pardon us when we devote a significant portion of this space to something we think is a very big deal: graduation from Illinois Wesleyan. Its big for the third- or even fourth-generation Titans destined to wear green and white. Its big for the student whose parents came to the United States dreaming of a better future for their beloved child, and who aspire to do something great in part to honor those who never got the same chance. And its big for every senior who failed organic chemistry freshman year, for those graduating summa cum laude, and for every young adult who juggled the rigors of IWU with parenting or working two jobs.

Of course, Commencement is not the only notable thing that happens here in May, and we share some of this months other highlights on the athletic field, in the classroom, and far beyond the Quad. Forgive us, though, if we focus on graduation as a very big deal indeed.

Traveling in London for the May Term travel course The Greening of Great Britain, Jacki Schirmacher 18 snapped this striking photo of street art in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The French artist, Manyoly, is a young, self-taught painter who expresses her ideas by portraying womens faces with powerful colors. Schirmacher shared this photo through the May Term 2017 Photo Contest with the hashtag "Women's Power, Women's Justice." While in Wales, Schirmacher noted students stayed in eco-cabins as a way of measuring the groups ecological footprint. Our society needs to stop thinking that we have to make these major life changes or have these groundbreaking discoveries to have a positive impact on the environment, she said. Simple, everyday changes can add up to make a bigger difference than we realize. We just have to be willing to make those changes. (Photo by Jacki Schirmacher 18)

In the second round of the NCAA Division III championship match, Grainne Kelly 19 led the womens lacrosse team with five caused turnovers and tied for the team lead in goals against Rhodes College. Despite a late rally, the Titans fell to Rhodes, 16-10. Illinois Wesleyan advanced to postseason play for the first time in program history and finished with a 14-6 record. (Photo courtesy of Rhodes College)

Seconds after receiving the Caroline F. Rupert Nursing Award saluting outstanding work during his four years of study in nursing, Keith Carter 17 acknowledges another recipient of Commencement Honors. Carter plans to work as a child psychiatry nurse at Rush University Medical Centers Rush Day School. (Photo by Robert Frank III 14)

Kenny Tran 17 makes a toast during Senior Dinner on May 3. Several members of the class spoke during the annual event, which is sponsored by the Office of Alumni Engagement. (Photo by Marc Featherly)

Max Porter 17 (far left) and Zack Ladd 19 play defense against an Aurora attacker during the Titans rain-soaked, second-round game at Aurora University. That win was the first-ever for a College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin team in NCAA postseason play and advanced Illinois Wesleyan to the third round, where the Titans lost to Denison University on May 13, ending the season with a program-best 16-4 record. (Photo by Steve Woltmann)

New graduate Stella Wang 17 chats with Professor of Sociology Jim Sikora, who is retiring this year after more than 35 years of service to IWU. Wang majored in sociology and plans to take a gap year before she enters graduate school. (Photo by Marc Featherly)

Students enrolled in May Term courses are invited to submit photos to the May Term 2017 Photo Contest, which will feature winners in three categories: travel, local and the IWU annual theme: womens power, womens justice. As a student on the travel course The Art and Archaeology of Greek Myth, business administration major Halley Shanley 18 shared this beauty of a Roman theatre overlooking Athens. Shanley said the course allowed her to put the information weve been studying from our readings into context at the various archaeological sites and museums and learning on siteThe entire trip has been such a rewarding experience and something I will cherish forever. (Photo by Halley Shanley 18)

Donning his best eyewear, Austin Wagner 17 is congratulated by President Eric Jensen during Commencement on May 7. A native of Elmhurst, Ill., Wagner majored in business administration and played wide receiver for the Titan football team. (Photo by Marc Featherly)

Jordan Koehler 19 lines up a putt during the first day of the NCAA Division III Championships at Houstons Bay Oaks Country Club. The womens golf team finished 15th in the four-day tournament. Koehler was also Illinois Wesleyans low scorer. (Photo by Erik Williams)

Anna Kerr-Carpenter 17 cheers for herself, her classmates and the excitement of ending one journey and beginning another. More than 400 graduates received their degrees on a nearly perfect Commencement day. (Photo by Marc Featherly)

With a top jump of 5 feet-7 inches, Molly McGraw 18 tied for fourth place in the high jump at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships. McGraw, who won the high jump in the 2016 Outdoor Championships, and teammates Amelia Glueck 18, Liz Oltman 17, Maddison Zimmer 17, Jamie Gradishar 17 and Karly Goodman 18 represented Illinois Wesleyan in the 2017 national contest. (Photo by d3photography.com)

First-year coach Tiffany Prager (far left) celebrates with the softball team after Illinois Wesleyan shut out St. Catherine 7-0 in the first round of the NCAA Softball National Championship. In the second straight year the Titans played in the national tournament, IWU lost to eventual national champion Virginia Wesleyan College. (Photo by Joshua Gateley)

Biology major Nivedha Poondi 18 uses histological techniques to stain certain parts of the embryos of the zebrafish Danio rerio. Poondi was a student in Assistant Professor of Biology Brian Walters May Term course Experimental Embryology. Poondi said once she and her classmates finished staining, they observed the slides under the microscope, where intestinal cells and their nuclei were clearly visible. (Photo by Marc Featherly)

Karly Goodman 18 throws in the 2017 Division III Mens and Womens Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Although she finished 20th in shot put in the national meet, Goodman had a stellar season, including a school record shot put of 44 feet-10 3/4 inches during a qualifying meet on May 18 and winning four events at the DePauw Outdoor Invitational in April. (Photo by d3photography.com)

In homage to IWUs favorite mammal, art major Makenna Merritt 17 designed her mortarboard to include a plush squirrel holding a walnut. Merritt completed her design with the whimsical declaration: I start my journey today and I walnut fail. (Photo by Robert Frank III 14)

With this lecture hall, how can you not engage your fellow students? Classmates listen as Madison Karabinus 18 (standing) discusses the famed marble Metope panels adorning the outer walls of the Parthenon during the May Term travel course The Art and Archaeology of Greek Myth. Faculty members Nancy Sultan and Amy Coles led students to ancient Greek sites including Athens, Crete, Delphi, Eleusis and Peloponnese. (Photo courtesy of Professor of Greek and Roman Studies Nancy Sultan)

A loved one captures the joy of graduation for Tess Wisher 17 and her friends. Wisher received the John L. Clark Award in Literary Studies honoring outstanding academic performance through scholarly activity and participation in the creative work of the School of Theatre Arts. (Photo by Robert Frank III 14)

Members of the 300-level Properties for the Theatre class put their puppets through their paces during a dress rehearsal near the conclusion of the spring semester. The 12 students enrolled in the course combined talents to create the puppets, the puppet theatre, all the scenery, and all the properties for the musical Cinderella. We took off a very big bite, admitted Professor of Theatre Arts Curtis Trout. I had never tried to stage a production as a result of this craft-oriented making class. Puppeteers included (from left): Cami Tokowitz 19, Olivia Sarkis 19, Tuxford Turner 19, Ilyssa Kosova 19, and Dominic Gambaiani 19. More than 125 people attended an open final presentation. (Photo by Marc Featherly)

Nate Wilkins 17 was one of several legacy students receiving degrees on May 7. Hes pictured with his mother Lois (Bright) 75 and father David 74, who did double duty at Commencement speaking to the graduates and their loved ones as the representative of the Universitys Board of Trustees. (Photo by Marc Featherly)

Students enrolled in the May Term course Marketing Seminar: Entrepreneurship visited eight business sites, including the law offices of McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff, during a three-day trip to Chicago. Other sites included Google Chicago, Fruition Partners, CannonDesign, mHUB and other locations where students heard presentations from more than 20 alumni entrepreneurs and senior leaders at their companies. (Photo courtesy of Coordinator of Entrepreneurial Activities Tara Gerstner 01)

The mens golf team poses for quick photo at the NCAA Division III Mens Golf Championships, held this year at Mission Inn Resort in Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida. The Titans finished ninth of 18 teams and Drew Pershings final-day 67 tied for lowest round of the tournament. Conner ONeil 18 finished tied for 18th place, and was chosen to the first team PING All-America for Division III by the Golf Coaches Association of America. (Photo courtesy of Head Coach Jim Ott 91)

Mother Nature delivered a gorgeous day for the Universitys Commencement on May 7. (Photo by Robert Frank III 14)

Go here to read the rest:
This Month at Illinois Wesleyan - Illinois Wesleyan University

Terri Fisher saves the best lessons for the end of the school year. At least she thinks so. And her kindergarten students clearly agree. Last week, Fisher's classroom at Conowingo Elementary became home to three eggs and an incubator. This week, if the timing is right, one or all of those eggs will hatch. "It's the most exciting part of the year. It's something that might hatch. Maybe they'll all hatch and hopefully, we can capture that moment," said Fisher.

Through Maryland Extension and grant funds, Cecil County 4-H is providing an incubation and embryology project at all the local elementary schools and at a few community sites. For chickens, the incubation period takes about three weeks until they hatch. Fisher's classroom and others throughout the county receive the pre-incubated eggs two weeks into the incubation period. Students and teachers care for and monitor the eggs. After hatching, the newborn chicks remain in classrooms for observation for up to three weeks. Extension staffer 4-H program assistant Victoria Stone provides support in the classrooms. She teaches practical lessons in the classrooms three times during the embryology unit. Students learn about feeding, bedding, and warming the peeps. Stone explained that about 60 classrooms are receiving these lessons throughout the county. "I get excited. This is real life stuff," said Fisher. She and her family have chickens at home. The embryology unit was the catalyst for that. She adopted chickens after they were in her classroom. "The chickens were motivation for my son to finish his Eagle Scout project," said Fisher. And at school, the students are ready for the responsibility of hatching and caring for baby chicks. "They take it seriously. They observe them and ask questions. They remind me that the chicks need food and water on weekends," said Fisher. In addition to the life cycle education, Fisher has also been able to incorporate the eggs/chicks into other areas of study. Counting down the days until the chicks arrive helped with numbers. They also learned about the different parts of an egg. They also speculated about the different varieties of chicks that could come from the eggs in the classroom. Student Nataleigh Ruisard has a bird's eye view. "The eggs are going to hatch. I sit next to it (the incubator)," she said. Her fellow kindergartner, Tripp Antognoli, is so involved with embryology that he dreams about it. "I dreamed a blue chick came out of one of the eggs," he said. And that is possible. The students have determined that one of the eggs could become a Delaware blue hen. "This is so rewarding. It's been a highlight of the year. This is my 30th year of teaching and it engages them so much. I wish I had more time with the chicks," said Fisher.

See the article here:
Kindergarten eggscited over hatching - HeraldandChronicle.com

Its believed a growing number of people go to countries such as Spain for fertility treatments. Photograph: ZEPHYR/Getty Images/Brand X

An investigation has been launched into the number of people going abroad for IVF treatment and coming back pregnant with twins or triplets.

Doctors fear that hundreds of women are returning to Britain with multiple pregnancies after getting treatment abroad, putting pressure on the NHS. Twin or triplet pregnancies are more expensive due to the need for additional scans and longer hospital stays. According to the Human Fertility and Embryology Authority, multiple births carry the greatest health risk in fertility treatment. More than 90% of triplets have low birth weights, putting them at risk of health problems.

The number of multiple births fell in the UK after 2008 when it was decided that only a single embryo would be implanted at a time to reduce risky pregnancies. But foreign clinics do not always have the same rules and guidelines in place.

The trend of people going abroad treatment comes as the NHS rations IVF to reduce costs, a move thats been condemned by critics. Its believed a growing number of people go to countries such as Spain for fertility treatments because they are cheaper and the waiting list for donated eggs is shorter.

We want to hear from people who have gone abroad for fertility treatments. Why did you go? Have you come back and are due to have twins or triplets? What do you think of the UK IVF industry? Is it too expensive? We also want to hear from those treating patients, tell us about your experiences as someone who works in the industry. Share your views and thoughts.

Read more:
Did you go abroad for fertility treatment? Tell us why | Society | The ... - The Guardian