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Residential building in Singapore

Headlines

Trump and Bolton spurn top-level North Korea planning

Facebook bug makes the private posts of 14 million users public

NASA: Building blocks for life discovered on Mars ... Organic molecules ...

Report: Kim Jong-Un fears assassination attempt at Singapore

Macron and Trudeau vow to confront Trump on  tariffs [at G7]

U.S. hits China's ZTE with $1 billion fine in deal to end crippling sanctions, Wilbur Ross says

American wealth surpasses  $100 trillion!

Trump: Rodman 'not invited' to Kim summit

Senate GOP leaders rebuff attempts the rein in Trump tariffs

Se. Mark Warner will 'acsolutely try to stop 'awful, awful' deal with China's ZTE

[TRUMP] APPROVAL STEADY AT 49% ...

Mika: Source says Trump 'upset' he can't watch porn in WH

Nature vs. Nurture

There is a new Singapore study out that suggests that our political leanings are predetermined by our genes ... in particular the DRD4 gene variants that control how dopamine is released in our brains ... particularly for females ... see: Physics Magazine Article. Apparently, just like sexual orientation is claimed to be determined during fertilization, one's political leanings can likewise be pre-programmed.

I am not claiming that this is junk science, but such a nature-over-nurture manifesto bothers me quite a bit. It allows people to drift through life shirking responsibility for their life decisions ... kinda like Flip Wilson's perennial excuse, "The devil made me do it." Wasn't it Aristotle who said that mankind was bestowed with "right reason" and we need not be a slave to our nature? This notion was later reinforced by Cicero and Thomas Aquinas ... see: Wikipedia Entry.

It seems to this observer that how one is raised and how one takes it upon oneself to improve oneself has a lot more to do with success in life, than winning the "lucky-sperm" contest.

Afterthought: And Milton had some thoughts on "right reason" in Paradise Lost ... see: Google Books Quote.

Bottled Water

Two chemical engineering graduates and five others (five men and two women), some from UMass Amherst, were caught after midnight yesterday near the Quabbin Reservoir in Western Massachusetts.  (The temperature then was a chilly 38 degrees.)  This reservoir supplies Boston with its drinking water and is thus considered a critical strategic asset.  Now, this revelation in and of itself was suspicious, but the fact that these students were Muslims from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Singapore is distressing … see: Boston Herald Story and WWLP Story.

These suspects were questioned and released, but will be required to appear later to answer trespassing charges.  Their names were not released.  If they then fail to appear in court, I strongly suggest that Boston residents start drinking bottled water.