Free Republic

How low will supporters of the Gang of Eight immigration bill go to get their way? This low: They've shamelessly branded an accomplished Ivy League-trained quantitative analyst a "racist" and will stop at nothing to destroy his career as they pave their legislative path to another massive illegal alien benefits bonanza. Jason Richwine works for the conservative Heritage Foundation. He's a Harvard University Ph.D. who co-authored a study that pegs the cost of the Ted Kennedy Memorial Open Borders Act 2.0 legislation at $6.3 trillion. Lead author Robert Rector is a senior research fellow at Heritage, a former United States...

A co-author of a disputed Heritage Foundation report on a new immigration bill has resigned amid controversy over claims he made about immigrants having low IQs. A spokesman for the conservative think tank confirmed Jason Richwine's resignation Friday without offering details. Richwine was one of two authors of a report released Monday that said immigration legislation pending in the Senate would cost $6.3 trillion over 50 years as immigrants consumed federal benefits without making up for it in taxes. The report quickly came under attack as critics from the left and right said it didn't account for economic benefits from...

Al Hunt prefaced his remark by describing the issue of ethnicity and IQ as a "swamp". But did he then proceed to wade right into it? Morning Joe today took up the topic of the flap over a report on immigration produced by the Heritage Foundation. The panel's particular focus was a statement by report co-author Jason Richwine contained in his Harvard dissertation that "the average IQ of immigrants is substantially lower than that of native whites." Rather than rejecting the notion out of hand, Hunt asked "is that true of Asian immigrants? Is that true of all immigrants?" Ruh-roh!...

The Heritage Foundation made something of a splash with its study suggesting that immigration reform will cost the public trillions. Past work by one of its co-authors helps put that piece in context. Jason Richwine is relatively new to the think tank world. He received his PhD in public policy from Harvard in 2009, and joined Heritage after a brief stay at the American Enterprise Institute. Richwine’s doctoral dissertation is titled “IQ and Immigration Policy”; the contents are well summarized in the dissertation abstract: "The statistical construct known as IQ can reliably estimate general mental ability, or intelligence. The average...

The incompetence, decadence and stupidity that one wades through on a daily basis in the West contrast one’s daily experience in the East. To begin with, the common Orientals are smarter. That mean IQ of 105 versus 99 for Whites is a tremendous advantage in producing an intelligent, competent workforce. When you add to it a work ethic unseen in the West since 19th century Northwest Europe, and a Confucian morality, the comparison is not flattering to the West. -------------------cut---------------------- The sun also rises in the West Never give up. This being the birthday of the West’s redeemer compels one...

Windsor on Monday joined the growing number of municipalities which have voted to end the decades-old practice of adding fluoride to the water supply in the fight against tooth decay. “A lot has changed in the last 60 years … fluoride is not the be-all and end-all to prevent tooth decay,” said Mayor Eddie Francis, who voted with the majority.… “I want to be shown that when we ingest this, we are safe,” said Kimberley DeYong of Fluoride Free Windsor. She and others said not a single study among those cited by fluoridation proponents looked specifically at the industry-sourced chemical...

It will come as a relief to those who failed to shine when taking an IQ test. After conducting the largest ever study of intelligence, researchers have found that far from indicating how clever you are, IQ testing is actually rather “meaningless”. In a bid to investigate the value of IQ, scientists asked more than 100,000 participants to complete 12 tests that required planning, reasoning, memory and attention. They also filled in a survey on their background. They (the scientists) discovered that far from being down to one single factor, what is commonly regarded as intelligence is influenced by three...

People who watch non-competition reality shows are more extroverted, neurotic and have a lower self-esteem, according to a new study. The survey, conducted by Today.com polled 19,000 people and found that "those who watched non-competition reality shows are more extroverted, neurotic and have lower self-esteem than watchers who are not fans of the genre." Additionally, the survey found that 72% of women and 60% of men watch Reality television simply because they're bored. Also, 46% of women and 26% of men watch this genre because they like to see how people with money and fame live their lives. Deadliest Catch...

Researchers at the University of Waterloo, Canada, have built the world’s most sophisticated artificial brain to date. Known as ‘Spaun’, (short for Semantic Pointer Architecture Unified Network), the model is able to simulate complex brain behaviour and is capable of thinking remembering, seeing and interacting with its environment using a mechanical arm. Although Spaun currently exists in the simulated world inside a computer, it is one of the most advanced models ever created by scientists to understand how the human brain functions. Unlike previous brain models, such as the 'million processor computer', which feature large networks of neurons with generally...

Are Humans Becoming Less Intelligent? By Tia Ghose, LiveScience Staff Writer | LiveScience.com – Mon, Nov 12, 2012 Humans may be gradually losing intelligence, according to a new study. The study, published today (Nov. 12) in the journal Trends in Genetics, argues that humans lost the evolutionary pressure to be smart once we started living in dense agricultural settlements several thousand years ago. "The development of our intellectual abilities and the optimization of thousands of intelligence genes probably occurred in relatively non-verbal, dispersed groups of peoples [living] before our ancestors emerged from Africa," said study author Gerald Crabtree, a researcher...

Imagine you are young and unattached -- unattached from everything: family, friends, country. A Martian takes you up in his spaceship and offers to set you down in one of two countries where you will have to make your way in life. All he tells you is that the average income in Country A is $49,000 and that of Country B is $40,900. You would probably pick A, right? It's 20% richer. Now, what if your Martian host offered a bit more information? He gives you the distribution of incomes in those same two countries. In fact, he shows you...

ACHIEVING an IQ score higher than Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking seems almost impossible, but not for one young girl. Northwood College School pupil, Fabiola Mann, of Harrow on the Hill, scored a remarkable IQ of 162 in this summer’s University of London’s (UCL) Mensa medical test. It is the highest possible score anyone can achieve in the UK and European test. The 15-year-old beat physicists Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein, who both scored 160 when they took it. Being a whizz kid at puzzles and mathematical tests, Fabiola decided to give it a go, she sat the test on...

Teenagers who regularly smoke cannabis are putting themselves at risk of permanently damaging their intelligence, according to a landmark study.

I might find myself investing in popcorn companies beforehand...

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for the Tuesday evening execution of a Texas death row inmate whose lawyers say should be ineligible for the death penalty because of his low IQ.

Researchers working in Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda have filmed gorillas dismantling snares set by poachers to catch smaller game. Previously, anecdotal evidence had suggested that silverback gorillas had been seen dismantling snares. In this instance it was two young blackback, mountain gorillas that were involved. The team, part of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund's Karisoke Research Center, filmed first a silverback motioning towards the snare. Next, two young male blackbacks arrived on the scene, surveyed the situation, then proceeded to take apart the snare, avoiding being caught in it in the process.

"super nice kid," "kinda quiet" and "really smart." This is how Holmes is described by a classmate to the LA Times. Reading an essay by Dan Miller Enlightened self-interest and international relations about Bertrand Russell somehow made me think about James Holmes the “Spiderman Killer.” We know so little about what motivates people, but we think we know so much. It’s called projection. We assume that there are universal aspirations and that they match our own. That error is the cause of both personal and global tragedy. On a personal level people assume that if we love someone that love...

Enlarge Image Brain gain. Brain scan data showing regions where two of the newly identified SNPs interact with each other to affect white matter tract integrity. Credit: Paul Thompson/UCLA Researchers have yet to understand how genes influence intelligence, but a new study takes a step in that direction. An international team of scientists has identified a network of genes that may boost performance on IQ tests by building and insulating connections in the brain. Intelligence runs in families, but although scientists have identified about 20 genetic variants associated with intelligence, each accounts for just 1% of the variation in...

The color test is simple. There are 8 screens, and each screen you are given a word and two buttons to choose from.

Despite 40 years of practicing law, I am no expert when it comes to arguing appeals. But I do know enough not to gratuitously insult and try to humiliate the appellate judges who will decide my client's case. Apparently they don't teach those fundamentals at Harvard Law School. How else to explain the absolutely boneheaded attempts by President Obama, a past president of the Harvard Law Review, to intimidate the U.S. Supreme Court as it decides the constitutional fate of Obamacare? And he did this when anyone who could see past his next meal knew that Obamacare, which was being...