Free Republic

A US startup company is offering to help wealthy couples screen their embryos for IQ using controversial technology that raises questions about the ethics of genetic enhancement. The company, Heliospect Genomics, has worked with more than a dozen couples undergoing IVF, according to undercover video footage. The recordings show the company marketing its services at up to $50,000 (£38,000) for clients seeking to test 100 embryos, and claiming to have helped some parents select future children based on genetic predictions of intelligence. Managers boasted their methods could produce a gain of more than six IQ points. Experts say the development...

Why we shouldn’t waste our time on the Nobel committee's Newspeak.. Last week nominations for the Noble Peace Prize were announced, and the nominees were typical of the Prize’s history. A perusal of past winners reveals that the majority of prizes are for good intention, moralizing internationalism and its institutions, short-lived peace treaties, feckless disarmament, and any choice that gratifies global anti-Americanism. And let’s not forget terrorists and their enablers included in this year’s nominees: the United Nations’ Palestinian refugee agency, the International Court of Justice, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. All three reflect the Prize’s long history of promulgating...

Below is my column in USA Today on the most chilling moment from the Vance-Walz debate when the Democratic nominee showed why he is part of the dream ticket for the anti-free speech movement. Here is the column: In the vice presidential debate Tuesday, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz pulled the fire alarm. His opponent, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, cited the massive system of censorship supported by Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate. Walz proceeded to quote the line from a 1919 case in which Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said you do not have the right to...

City leaders, along with law enforcement officials gathered to announce the launch of a program that will install 100 license plate reading cameras in the San Fernando Valley that authorities believe will help police track criminals down. Officials said that some neighborhoods north of Rinaldi Street in Porter Ranch have some of the highest crime rates in the city, which is why several cameras have already been installed in the area. “Last year, the Devonshire District reported that homes north of this very street experienced a 103% jump in home burglaries,” District 12 Councilman Jon Lee said at the event....

Joe Rogan shared an ominous prediction about the state of free speech if Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz win the November election, arguing the Democratic ticket poses a grave threat to the First Amendment. Rogan offered his thoughts on the troubling trend of censorship in the US in a conversation with former Navy Seal, ex-CIA contractor and podcaster Shawn Ryan in an episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” released Thursday. “I don’t think it turns around if Kamala Harris gets into office,” Rogan said of the censorship trend, “I think they clamp down more.” “I...

Nearly two-thirds of Americans conceal their political opinions on contentious issues in public, according to a new Populace Research/YouGov survey. Most Americans, 58%, said they cannot express their private opinions publicly, and 61% admit to “self-silencing” their political views, according to the survey. At the same time, Americans publicly claim to have higher trust in our institutions than they do in private. Only 36% of Democrats publicly said that they trust the government to tell the truth, but only 5% agreed with the statement in private, according to the survey. Similarly, 42% of Democrats publicly report that they trust the...

Hillary Clinton has long been one of the most anti-free speech figures in American politics, including calling upon European officials to force Elon Musk to censor American citizens under the infamous Digital Services Act (DSA). She is now suggesting the arrest of Americans who spread what she considers disinformation. It is a crushingly ironic moment since it was her campaign that funded the infamous Steele dossier and spread false stories of Russian collusion during her presidential campaign. Presumably, that disinformation would not be treated as criminal viewpoints. Speaking on MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show this week, Clinton was asked about...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed three bills Tuesday to crack down on the use of artificial intelligence to create false images or videos in political ads ahead of the 2024 election. A new law, set to take effect immediately, makes it illegal to create and publish deepfakes related to elections 120 days before Election Day and 60 days thereafter. It also allows courts to stop distribution of the materials and impose civil penalties. “Safeguarding the integrity of elections is essential to democracy, and it’s critical that we ensure AI is not deployed to undermine the public’s...

As the back-to-school school season kicks off, the Vermont Department of Health is encouraging school employees and others to refrain from referring to children as a "son" or "daughter" and instead embrace gender-neutral terminology. In a Facebook post Wednesday, the department declared, "The language we use matters." "When talking about family, it's important to use terms that cover the many versions of what family can look like," the department stated. A picture accompanying the Facebook post featured a few examples of what constituted "inclusive language for families." The agency advised the use of the terms "child" or "kid" to refer...

Kamala Harris' veep should learn something about the First Amendment.Now that Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz has become Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate, it is ostensibly time for the media to scrutinize his record and past statements. (Emphasis on ostensibly.) To say the mainstream coverage of Walz has been fawning thus far would be quite an understatement; The New York Times described him as "a one-man rejoinder to the idea that the Democrats are the party of the cultural and coastal elite." The Atlantic's Charlie Warzel merrily aided media efforts to portray Walz as a lovable, folksy paternal figure,...

Did everyone get their fill of 'joy' over the past four days of the Democratic National Convention? What was your most joyful moment? Was it the constant demonizing of (and lying about) Donald Trump? Or maybe it was the gleeful way in which Democrats celebrated abortion, even having a Planned Parenthood bus administering abortions outside the United Center, with no questions asked? We thought millionaire Michelle Obama lecturing Americans about 'not taking too much' was extremely joyous. As was billionaire Oprah Winfrey complaining about all of her experiences with 'income inequality.'

he First Amendment does not allow the United States to adopt "Oceania's Ministry of Truth." That line from George Orwell's dystopian novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four" opens U.S. District Judge John Sinatra's order Thursday imposing a preliminary injunction on New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is threatening pro-life pregnancy centers for telling women about so-called abortion pill reversal, as their lawsuit proceeds. Her office may not enforce state consumer fraud laws against the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA), Gianna's House and Options Care Center, which sued in May, for referring to APR, calling it safe and effective or...

This week a coalition of leftist groups released an ad for Kamala Harris that contains what the New York Times describes as the “unified message from the left.” What is the message? The election is all about “our freedom” – by which they mean their freedom, not yours. As the Times puts it, leftist groups tested its “freedom” messaging in the 2022 midterms to “reclaim the language about freedom and personal liberty,” which they say helped “blunt what had been expected to be a sweeping victory for Republicans.” As we noted in this space recently, Harris has been talking up...

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent in any way the editorial position of Euronews.Right now, by drawing a red line against any future deals with the far right, President von der Leyen can make one of the most decisive steps to ensure the EU stands firm for all Europeans, Barbara Skrobol writes. Izabela Sajbor, my sister-in-law, was just 30 years old when, at 22 weeks pregnant, she found herself in a hospital bed. Surrounded by doctors who refused to act due to the stringent abortion laws enacted under the far-right Law...

The EU warns Elon Musk about tonight’s Donald Trump livestream on X. EU Commissioner Thierry Breton says the EU will watch for “spillovers” that violate the Digital Services Act, such as “content that may incite violence, hate and racism in conjunction with major political - or societal - events around the world, including debates and interviews in the context of elections.”

The European Union's digital enforcer wrote an open letter to tech mogul Elon Musk on Monday ahead of a planned interview with former United States President Donald Trump to remind him of the EU’s rules on promoting hate speech. Trump announced last week that he is sitting down with Musk for a “major interview,” which will be livestreamed on X. Trump announced last week that he is sitting down with Musk for a “major interview,” which will be livestreamed on X. Europe's Digital Commissioner Thierry Breton reminded the world's richest man of his legal obligation to stop the "amplification of...

And hates free speech, free markets, self-government, and world peace! Right now, the United Kingdom is barreling toward totalitarianism. After a second-generation immigrant reportedly murdered several children in a vicious stabbing attack last week, native Brits took to the streets to denounce their country’s criminally dangerous open borders. If these outraged citizens had been members of Antifa, the press would have compassionately framed their actions as “mostly peaceful protests” deserving of praise. Instead, because the public’s fury is directed toward one of globalism’s sacred cows — mass migration — angry parents have been condemned for fomenting “violent riots.” Protecting children...

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the Supreme Court was “actively undermining our democracy.” According to the Massachusetts Democrat, that required reforms. Warren said, “Yeah, well, I think we’ve got all the Democrats who are ready for meaningful ethics reform to bind the Supreme Court and we’re working on changes to the Supreme Court. It can be term limits, it could be adding the number of justices things we can do without having to have a constitutional amendment. I think what President Biden is doing is think about this moment, here is a...

News organizations are actively engaging in exactly the practice carried out by Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, memory-holing their previous publications to fit the new party line. Kamala Harris was never a border czar; that’s right-wing disinformation now. All previous references to her being the border czar, an unofficial title and real role given to her by Biden and his close advisers to humiliate and embarrass her, have been duly erased. And while we’re at it, how about a round of applause for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and the astounding unity of the Democratic Party! ... Now liberal opinion...

CNN senior fact checker Daniel Dale said on Thursday that the media incorrectly labeled Vice President Kamala Harris the “border czar.” Media outlets rushed to erase their own reporting to downplay Harris’ role in managing the border crisis by saying she is solely responsible for addressing “root causes” in Latin American countries. Dale continued with this recent trend by saying the media wrongfully portrayed Harris as the “border czar.”