Kevin Gutzman will speak about Thomas Jefferson. Although remembered as the third president of the United States and chief author of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson also was something more: the most successful constructive statesman in American history. He had radical plans to republicanize America and, working with remarkable success, to implement them. Born into a monarchical society, Jefferson turned his great intellect and energy to making it highly egalitarian. Much of what we take for granted about America now was originally Jefferson’s idea. It is a fascinating story. Kevin is The New York Times bestselling author of five books. He is professor and former chairman of the Department of History at Western Connecticut State University and a faculty member at LibertyClassroom.com. His articles have appeared in The Journal of Southern History, Journal of the Early Republic, The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, The Review of Politics and Journal of the Historical Society. He holds a bachelor’s degree, a master of public affairs degree and a law degree from the University of Texas, Austin, as well as an M.A. and a Ph.D. in American history from the University of Virginia.
Arranged by Sunil Saksena
“In this lively and clearly written book, Kevin Gutzman makes a compelling case for the broad range and radical ambitions of Thomas Jefferson’s commitment to human equality.” – Alan Taylor, Pulitzer Prize winning author of American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750-1804
Though remembered chiefly as author of the Declaration of Independence and the president under whom the Louisiana Purchase was effected, Thomas Jefferson was a true revolutionary in the way he thought about the size and reach of government, which Americans who were full citizens and the role of education in the new country. In his new book, Kevin Gutzman gives readers a new view of Jefferson―a revolutionary who effected radical change in a growing country.
Jefferson’s philosophy about the size and power of the federal system almost completely undergirded the Jeffersonian Republican Party. His forceful advocacy of religious freedom was not far behind, as were attempts to incorporate Native Americans into American society. His establishment of the University of Virginia might be one of the most important markers of the man’s abilities and character.
He was not without flaws. While he argued for the assimilation of Native Americans into society, he did not assume the same for Africans being held in slavery while―at the same time―insisting that slavery should cease to exist. Many still accuse Jefferson of hypocrisy on the ground that he both held that “all men are created equal” and held men as slaves. Jefferson’s true character, though, is more complex than that as Kevin Gutzman shows in his new book about Jefferson, a revolutionary whose accomplishments went far beyond the drafting of the Declaration of Independence.
Howard Blackiston will speak on the vanishing honey bee. The sweet reward of fresh honey is not, by any means, the only reason folks are attracted to beekeeping. The value of bees as pollinators is immense: One-third of all the food we eat would suffer dire consequences if the honey bee vanished. Howard’s talk will introduce us to the multitude of benefits these creatures bring to our everyday lives, the pleasures of beekeeping and the amazing social structure of a colony of bees. Discover what goes on inside a bee colony and understand why bees are vanishing and what you can do to reverse the situation. Howard is the author of Beekeeping for Dummies. This is the number one bestselling book on the subject and is one of the top titles in the For Dummies series of reference books. He has been a back yard beekeeper for 35 years and has written hundreds of articles and appeared in dozens of TV programs and radio shows, including the Discovery Channel, CNBC, Sirius XM Radio, Cablevision and NPR. His publications have been translated into 16 languages. He is past president of the Connecticut Back Yard Beekeepers Association.
Philip Vitiello will speak on the White Star Line’s Olympic Class Ships, Olympic, Titanic and Britannic. Almost everyone knows the story of the Titanic, which, while on her maiden voyage to New York in 1912, hit an iceberg and sank, causing the loss of 1,500 passengers and crew. However, few people realize that the Titanic actually was the second of three super ships built in the Olympic Class for the White Star Line to compete for the Atlantic-crossing passenger trade. At the time, these three ships were claimed to be the largest ever built. This PowerPoint presentation tells the incredible and tragic story of these three historical ships and what eventually happened to them. Included in the story is the amazing life of Violet Constance Jessop, who, ironically, sailed on all three of these ships as a stewardess and then as a nurse during World War I. Philip is the director of operations of Northeast Food Marketing in Stamford. Hehas been a Civil War historian and re-enactor for more than 40 years and the vice president of the Civil War Round Table of South Central Connecticut. He is a member of the Titanic Historical Society, as well as The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery. He previously delivered two other DMA presentations on Joshua Chamberlain, the Civil War general and on the Hunley, a Civil War submarine.
Steve Roach will speak on China: Trade War to Cold War. He is a senior fellow at Yale’s Jackson Institute of Global Affairs and a senior lecturer at Yale’s School of Management. He formerly was chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia and the firm’s chief economist for the bulk of his 30-year career at Morgan Stanley, heading up a highly regarded team of economists around the world and currently focusing on the impact of Asia on the broader global economy. He has introduced courses on “The Next China” and “The Lessons of Japan.” His writing and research address globalization, trade policy, the post-crisis policy architecture and the capital markets implications of global imbalances. Steve has long been one of Wall Street’s most influential economists, and his opinions on the global economy have been known to shape the policy debate from Beijing to Washington, D.C. His new book, Unbalanced: TheCodependency of America and China, examines the risks and opportunities of what is likely to be the world’s most important economic relationship of the 21st century. Steve served on the research staff of the Federal Reserve Board and also was a research fellow at the Brookings Institution. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from New York University. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Investment Committee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the China Advisory Board of the Environmental Defense Fund and the Economics Advisory Board of the University of Wisconsin.
Flemming Heilmann discusses Odyssey Uncharted, a memoir of his World War II childhood and education on four continents. His is a coming-of-age story against a backdrop of historical events and is shaped by immersion in the cultures of Southeast Asia, Australia, Denmark and England. Flemming was born in 1936 of Danish parents in what then was known as Malaya. Spending his early childhood there, he was forced by the Japanese invasion to evacuate to Australia in 1941. The family spent the war as refugees. When the war ended in Europe, and prior to Japanese capitulation, the family traveled home to Denmark on a troopship, evading kamikaze attacks in the Pacific. Flemming’s education spanned Australia, Denmark and the United Kingdom, where he spent four years at Gresham, a boarding school where he instigated a successful mutiny against a tyrannical headmaster, resulting in his being ousted. Vacations were spent in Malaya surviving terrorist attacks, meeting the King of Swaziland and confronting apartheid in South Africa. He graduated from Cambridge with a law degree. The memoir covers his life through his first job at age 22. After a 40-year career as an international business executive, Flemming now is retired and lives with his wife Judy in Rowayton. They have four sons, a daughter and nine grandsons.
Arranged by Sunil Saksena
A yarn about Flemming’s itinerant World War II childhood and education in British colonial Malaya. The book leaps into a roiled global environment, which forces risky decisions and navigation of uncharted waters, sink or swim.
Imminent Japanese invasion plucks the frail five-year-old Flemming out of his environment within the bosom of benign Muslim culture on a Malayan rubber plantation, where his father is in charge of a Danish owned group of properties. Abdul Rahman is his Malay mentor, whose daughter, Fatima, is his beloved playmate. Alongside his brother, John, and mother, Hedde, he waves his father a fearful, tearful farewell in a monsoon deluge as an evacuation vessel inches sideways from its Singapore dock through the gloom. They are refugees headed for unknown Australia, while his father, known as PB, stays at his job managing the plantations until he too must flee. Eventually, PB escapes with newfound friends on a river steamer stolen in Singapore Harbor, to reach Perth via the Indonesian archipelago after months of naked peril. The family is reassembled for years of refugee life assuaged by generous Australians.
Peace in Europe prompts another perilous odyssey, evading kamikaze attacks in the Pacific, and returns the family to Europe before the Japanese capitulate. As Hedde returns to Malaya to join PB, her religious conviction consigns Flemming to an evangelical school in otherwise secular Denmark. Beyond reach of missionaries, he sinks roots into Danish culture, observing its socialist embrace of Janteloven – a Nordic egalitarian dogma, which scorns individualism and personal achievement. Upon a return visit to his parents in Malaya, he survives a communist insurgent attack on the plantation homestead, and then soaks up the eclectic folklore, colors, sounds and smells of the country. PB’s pragmatic leadership and grasp of risk make a deep impression.
In England, Flemming at last spent four years at Gresham’s School after attending nine different schools in eight years of frenetic change. He embraces western democracy with a dash of Danish egalitarianism and a heavier dose of market economics gleaned from his teacher and mentor, Eric Kelly. Sports become a priority. He gets to appreciate America’s role in the post-war global recovery and sees its economic engine driving social and technological progress. A long vacation exposes him to South Africa’s early apartheid and an encounter with Swaziland’s King Sobhuza, resplendent in leopard skins and eagle feathers. Back at school in England he leads a precocious mutiny, unseating the perverse headmaster.
Years in the academic cocoon that is Cambridge University are stimulating, yet sometimes frivolous. Preconceptions are reversed, religion rejected, government intervention in personal choice is confronted. Policies of entitlement, and the dependence they foster, are questioned as Flemming focuses on opportunity and self help. New career aspirations are hatched. The sway of teaching masterminds on this unexceptional student inevitably molds a solid intellectual footing. Life is replete with social events and rugby. The traditions, scenery and architecture of this ancient crucible of learning are soaked up. Finally, two years of hands-on training in the grimy industrial heartland of Britain help prepare Flemming for the real world. The yarn concludes as he disembarks in Cape Town to plunge into an uncharted career in the African hinterland beyond Table Mountain’s purple silhouette. There he will either sink or swim.
An epilogue visits lessons learned from an itinerant childhood and realities encountered. They pertain to issues like religion, sociopolitical dogma, family structure, waste and the role of risk in mankind’s progress – issues given short shrift in today’s classrooms, where preconceptions, risk aversion and instant gratification displace the recognition of opportunity.
Andrew Wilk,executive producer and director of the PBS series “Live from Lincoln Center,” will talk about his long career in broadcast entertainment, with particular focus on the last seven years with the Lincoln Center series. Andrew is an experienced television and media executive with a history of creating innovative, award-winning programming. His work has earned five personal Emmy Awards with 15 nominations. He also is an acclaimed playwright, director and accomplished symphony conductor. He was chief creative officer at Sony Music Entertainment, overseeing visual content for Sony’s label groups and leading Sony’s digital music expansion. He was instrumental in the launching of the worldwide National Geographic channel and developed its initial programming. In 2011, Andrew became the second executive producer and director in the 44-year history of “Live from Lincoln Center” and “Lincoln Center at the Movies.” Andrew holds a bachelor’s degree from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. He and his family live in Westport.
Bill Rycek will talk about the history of semipro and pro football in Connecticut. This narrative of minor league football teams in Connecticut in the 1960s and 1970s is based on extensive newspaper and periodical research and interviews with nearly 70 former players, broadcasters and journalists. Only a few players – like Marv Hubbard, Lou Piccone and Bob Tucker – made it to the NFL, but many more played for as little as $25 per game in their quest to make it big or just have fun. Wealthy men like Pete Savin and Frank D’Addario owned teams in Hartford and Bridgeport. In the days before cable television saturated the media with live sports, small town fans turned out to support their local heroes, often men who worked on construction crews during the week and stopped by the diner Sunday morning to talk football. Now in their 60s, 70s and 80s, these men share their stories of a simpler era: the good times, like the Hartford Knights’ 1968 ACFL championship season and the long bus rides and missed paydays that were as much a part of minor league ball as first downs and interceptions. Bill is a finance professional from Wallingford who has written eight books on sports history, including a trilogy on 19th century baseball, three books on baseball during the 1960s and two books on professional football in the 1960s. His work has earned a number of awards, and he has edited and contributed to other books and publications on the history of sports.
Mark Albertson will speak on “The Rise of Hitler.” Mark is an exciting speaker who has spoken to us before on historical topics. He is the historical research editor at ArmyAviation magazine and is a long-time member of the United States Naval Institute. In addition, Mark teaches history at Norwalk Community College. His courses include World War I and Iraq; Creation of Colonialism; A History of Vietnam; A History of World War I; the Turning Points of World War II; the Great Patriotic War, the Titanic Clash between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union; and American Empire, Grand Republic to Corporate State. In May 2005, Mark was presented with a General Assembly Citation by both houses of the state legislature in Hartford for his effort in commemorating the centennial of the battleship Connecticut.
Born: 1945, Andover, Mass. Central Catholic High School, Lawrence,Mass 1963 BSFS Georgetown University School of Foreign Service 1967, Colby College (intensive Spanish) 1964, University of Madrid (Spain)1965-1966 (Met wife-to-be Mary here; she too came from Georgetown University (School of Languages).
U.S.Navy 1967 – 1970: Third Class Journalist: Panama Canal Zone COMUSNAVSO/COM15 and TDY on LST 533. Canal Zone College 1969. MBA University of Chicago 1971.
Married Mary Counihan 1972. Children: Kevin (made in Mexico!) and Brenda (made in Colombia!). Three grandchildren as of 2018. All live nearby. Moved to Darien in 1993 from Mexico City. Work History: Colgate-Palmolive Company 1971 – 2012 Salesman (USA), Product Manager (USA), Product Manager (Mexico), New Products Director (Spain), Marketing Director (Venezuela), Marketing and Sales Director (Colombia), General Manager (Colombia), General Manager (Mexico), Division President (Latin America), Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, Vice Chairman.
Hobbies: Sailing / cruising (Gozzard 37), black powder and other historical rifle shooting, SCUBA diving, antique maps, antique books, Spanish colonial silver coins, hiking, International travel, photography, and occasionally golf.
Richard (Dick) Woods was born in 1937 and describes himself as a native San Franciscan. The family moved to Greenwich after WWII, and he went to school at Andover and Princeton. After graduation, Dick joined the Marines, where he was captain of the All-Marine Rifle and Pistol team, setting national records. Looking for a more rewarding work environment, he joined Merrill Lynch as an account executive in Hartford. He transferred to San Francisco after a dozen years as regional sales manager and office manager. In 1978, he relocated back east to run a division of the firm and later became a member of the New York Stock Exchange, responsible for Merrill’s order flow. He retired in 1992. Dick and his wife Robin live in Rowayton and have three children. He belongs to Wee Burn Country Club, New York Yacht Club, Norwalk Yacht Club, The Corinthians and the Bohemian Club. His favorite recreation is sailing the east coast, and he has captained boats from Maine to the Bahamas. When not on the water, he and Robin travel around the world to sample ice cream. Currently, the count is 137 countries. Sponsored by John Hess
Everybody has an opinion – and someone to blame – but in this discussion we’ll dig deep into the data and look for realistic solutions.
You’re gonna need these …
Opening commentary:
CONNECTICUT FISCAL STABILITY AND ECONOMIC GROWTH
Connecticut has been amassing unfunded liabilities for decades and the amount today approaches $100 billion, primarily associated with employee and teacher pensions, and associated other post employment benefits (OPEB). Part of today’s problem is driven by an attempt to more fully fund this exposure.
As we try to understand how we got here, 2 years in recent history have had very significant impact, 1991 and 2008. After a bitter battle, CT enacted an income tax in 1991. The top rate was 4.5%, partially offset by a reduction in sales tax from7.5% to 5%. In 1990, the population was 3.29 million and the general fund expenses were $7.1 Billion.
By 2008, the year the deepest and longest recession in memory began, our population had grown about 7% to 3.5 million, and the State budget had doubled to $14.1 billion. A move to raise the top tax rate to 7.5% from 5% was vetoed and the sales tax was increased slightly to try to balance the budget.
In the last decade, the population remained essentially flat at 3.57 million while the proposed budget for 2020 has grown by nearly 50% to $20.9 billion. In the meantime, CT remains the only State to have lost jobs in that period, and only 10,000 jobs were added last year. In this last(lost) decade our Gross State Product (GSP) has declined 7%, while all surrounding States have seen an increase of from 3 to 7%. Connecticut ranks near bottom in terms of business friendliness. (tax & infrastructure)
The no growth problem is exacerbated by a demographic shift as older, wealthier people who do not tax the infrastructure are replaced by relatively younger, less established people who do. (schools, roads and affordable housing)
The bottom line is that expenses have been growing and are likely to continue to grow faster than revenues, given long term State employee commitments and dismal revenue growth prospects. New revenue sources must be tapped or expenses reduced, or preferably both.
GOVERNOR LAMONT’S 2020-2021 BUDGET PROPOSAL
With decisions made by last year’s legislature, CT faces a $1.5 billion deficit in 2020 and a $2 billion deficit in 2021, (the biennium), and that does not include the $400 million earmarked for transportation infrastructure. Gov. Lamont has submitted a budget that closes these gaps. Key elements of his proposal, which requires legislative approval are the following:
Keep in place those policy items proposed to sunset this year. That produces just under $1 billion in revenue. Key items include maintaining the hospital surcharge and the concomitant Federal reimbursement it brings for a total of almost $800 million. Also, no reduction in corporate income tax, but phase out of gift tax and increased estate tax threshold plan stays.
“Modernize” the sales tax to include many services not currently taxed. No tax on medical or grocery bills. 2020 impact is $292 million; 2021 impact is $505 million.
Combine the State and teacher’s retirement funds, change teacher’s fund growth assumption to match State at 6.9%, and refinance these over 30 years, instead of eliminating unfunded liabilities in 12 years, which was the plan. 2020 impact is$365 million; 2021 impact is $467 million.
Do not transfer $400 million per year out of general fund to the transportation fund, but finance these years from the current surplus. Develop a new revenue source for transportation via tolls on I-95, I-91, I-87 and the Merritt Parkway. Estimated cost for 50 gantries is $5 million each and 5 years before $1 of revenue. Bond this project to level the expense/revenue flows.
Governor Lamont’s proposed budget closes the gap and provides for balance in both years. He has accomplished this without any meaningful expense cuts and with no increase in tax rates, but choosing to tax new elements through broadening the sales tax and tolling major roads. His proposed budget includes a host of items which have minimal financial impact, but which informed citizens should be aware of, including the following:
1) Forced school regionalization to achieve economies of scale. This has been
modified to “encourage voluntary efforts by schools to seek procurement
savings, etc.”
2) A portion of teacher current new pension costs to be charged to Towns, by
formula. 5% of costs for troubled cities; 25% of costs for most Towns;
higher costs for Towns paying teachers over State median wage.
3) State employee and retiree health care prices to be tied to Medicare by
formula; doctors and hospitals to bear cost.
4) State to implement a “debt diet” to limit new bond authorizations.
5) New container deposit. 10 cents per bag; 25 cents per wine/alcohol bottle.
6) Tobacco & e-cig purchase age 21; tax e-cigs for parity with tobacco.
7) Tax of 1.5 cents on sugar sweetened beverages.
8) Increase CT minimum wage in steps to $15/Hr by 1/1/2023.
Unfortunately, with regard to proposed expenses, Connecticut does not employ zero based budgeting. In the governor’s proposal, all adjustments are shown as changes from the prior year, so it is difficult to know where the money is going. Here is the best I can do. Of the $21.2 Billion total, $19.3B is for the General Fund, up $.3B and $1.7 B is for the special transportation fund, up $.4B. The other largest categories are insurance at $105M and the tribal fund at $50M, unchanged.
Within the General Fund, assuming prior year breakout, 33.3%is for personnel, including fringes; 13.5% is for Medicaid grants; 5.5% for teacher’s retirement; 11.5% for education equalization grants; 3% for magnet /pilot schools; 11% for debt service; and 9% for other current expense and equipment. Examined by function, 28% is for education, museums and libraries; 17% is for human services; 10% for health; 8% for correction; 10% for government services, including judicial, protection, conservation and legislative. A very large 26% is for non-functional use.
CONCLUSION/CHALLENGE
Connecticut would have a temporary budget balance for 2020-2021, without trimming expenses or raising tax rates. Instead, new sales taxes on services and highway/congestion tolls would be imposed. However, in future, expenses would continue to rise faster than revenues in all likelihood with current trajectories.
Assuming most session attendees will have read this summary or are otherwise familiar with the issue, I would propose that discussion focus on creative ways to increase revenues, lower expenses and most of all, ways to encourage economic growth.
Next Steps on Implementing the proposed CTDOT Enhancements on the New Canaan Branch Line
New Canaan Study Team Detailed Report on CTDOT Enhancements to the New Canaan Branch Line
Click on this URL HIGHWAY TOLLIING to view the following documents:
CTDOT Study for Implementing Tolls in Connecticut
Debunking the Myths about Highway Tolling
Tolling the Freeway: Congestion Pricing and the Economics of Managing Traffic
Dynamic Tolls for Congestion Control
Click on the following URL to watch a video of Jim Cameron and Joe McGee talking about how Jobs Growth in Connecticut is linked to significant upgrading of Connecticut’s Transportation Infrastructure: https://vimeo.com/258249483
Connecticut’s Commission on Financial Stability and Economic Growth (FSEG)
Robert Patricelli’s Observations on Lamont’s Recommended Budget for FY 2020 – FY 2021
James C. Smith presentation on Stimulating Economic Growth through Private/Public Partnerships
Overview of the Fiscal Stability and Economic Growth (FSEG) Commission
Senate Bill No. 1502 June Special Session, Public Act No. 17-2 Sec.250 established a Commission on Fiscal Stability and Economic Growth which shall develop and recommend policies to achieve state government fiscal stability and promote economic growth and competitiveness within the state. The commission shall study and make recommendations regarding state revenues, tax structures, spending, debt, administrative and organizational actions and related activities, including relevant municipal activities, to (1) achieve consistently balanced and timely budgets that are supportive of the interests of families and businesses and the revitalization of major cities within the state, and (2) materially improve the attractiveness of the state for existing and future businesses and residents.
While the FSEG Commission was disbanded when it submitted their Report on March 1, 2018 it continued to function and on November 28, 2018 a second round of recommendations to curb the state’s multibillion-dollar deficit and jumpstart growth was issued by Patricelli and Smith. They billed the new recommendations as “Report 2.0” at the state Capitol building even though it is no longer operating under the state.
On March 13, 2019 Bob Patricelli and Jim Smith spoke to the Darien Men’s Association about the Connecticut Commission on Fiscal Stability and Economic Growth (FSEG) to the. Bob’s presentation gave his Observations on Governor Lamont’s Budget Proposal and Jim’s presentation gave his ideas on Stimulating Economic Growth through Private/Public Partnership. They also stated that they have been collaborating with Governor Lamont to agree on the best options for addressing Connecticut’s problems.
DNA Privacy. It is now inexpensive to at least partially sequence a person’s genome. Companies like Ancestry.com, GEDMatch and 23andMe.com have done it for over 20 million people. There are other databases where people have uploaded their DNA profile insearch of relatives. There are also growing databases, some public, with individual’s DNA gathered from medical testing or crime events. Recently, a cold case of rape/murder was solved by taking DNA from the crime scene and quickly identifying the killer’s cousin that then lead to an arrest. That’s good to solve a horrible crime but there are also risks and concerns.
Certainties:
Almost all of us have, will shortly have, our DNA profile, or that of a close relative, in an on-line database. It could be from genealogy hobbyists, voluntary samples, medical tests or police actions. There will be incentives and pressure to be profiled, e.g., Stamford Health will need your DNA profile as part of their standard healthcare program – you may have already consented. Babies are being tested at birth. All those routine blood tests could be stored for medical research.
The massive DNA databases, along with personal medical history will lead to healthcare breakthroughs for both us personally and the public health overall. Personalized medicine – both treatments and prevention is the future.
The DNA databases can be searched with a court order, but many are open and companies will be building their own databases. It easy to picture an offer for a “free” DNA test (like free email or facebook) if you send them a sample. Police can simply upload a DNA profile and search for relatives.
The predictive value of your DNA profile will improve – or at least people and organizations will believe it is predictive. Those predictions could involve health, behavior, intelligence, …
Companies and organizations will figure out a way to monetise and benefit from that data.
I have a bad feeling this is already out of control:
Companies such as insurance, pharmaceutical, your employer, police, or schools will exploit your DNA profile. Given the experience with google and facebook, any sort of opt-in or consent laws will be ineffective. Think of spam from a pharmaceutical company “Your DNA profile indicates you are at risk of macular degeneration – take our stuff now and save your eyes. ” Or “Your child’s DNA profile indicates they will not succeed in our most demanding academic program.” “Your DNA profile indicates you should not own a gun, have a pilot’s license, or be trusted with children.” Companies would claim they are providing a public service – and say talk to your doctor. Modern day eugenics.
How about discoveries made from your DNA? Think of Henrietta Lacks – 17,000 patents derived from her cells without compensation. A few people survive deadly things – ebola, HIV, cancer, … Do you deserve compensation if you have some unique and valuable genetic trait that a pharmaceutical company uses? Legal precedent is you don’t have rights over your bio samples.
Can a dating company require genetic testing to claim they only match people who have compatible genetics? Should you avoid marrying a person who carries the same deadly recessive gene as you?
Most of us would not volunteer our fingerprints or consent to have our phone tapped. Yet we don’t even have to directly have our DNA sequenced to be visible to the government. It is legal to collect a coffee cup or cigarette butt to get a DNA sample. Police departments are using desktop machines, under less than rigorous laboratory protocols by people with limited training. Seems like fishing is inevitable – e.g. browse for local people who “lack empathy”. Risk of false charges or being brought in for questioning.
Are we capable of responsibly interpreting the data? The public is not allowed to write their own prescriptions. Could people have their lives ruined – be filled with anxiety, get dangerous or useless medical treatments, fall prey to quacks, even be driven to suicide by not having a medical professional interpret the data? Google “headache” to get a scare.
Already the DNA testing companies warn people they may be upset by what they find. Your parents and siblings are not biologically who you thought they were. Sperm donors being identified. A sibling you didn’t know you had. There are happy endings for sure – but not always.
Lack of checks and balances. Without them there will be abuse.
China Uses DNA to Track Its People, With the Help of American Expertise. The Chinese authorities turned to a Massachusetts company and a prominent Yale researcher as they built an enormous system of surveillance and control.
How an Unlikely Family History Website Transformed Cold Case Investigations. Fifteen murder and sexual assault cases have been solved since April with a single genealogy website. This is how GEDmatch went from a casual side project to a revolutionary tool. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/science/gedmatch-genealogy-cold-cases.html
Thank you for your inquiry. Generally, and depending on the test ordered by your physician, blood samples are retained anywhere from 3 days to 2 weeks after the testing is performed, after which they are appropriately discarded.
“In this lively and clearly written book, Kevin Gutzman makes a compelling case for the broad range and radical ambitions of Thomas Jefferson’s commitment to human equality.” – Alan Taylor, Pulitzer Prize winning author of American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750-1804
![Odyssey Uncharted â a World War II Childhood Adventure and Education Wrapped in mid-20th Century History by [Heilmann, Flemming]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51Q5KKHQEzL.jpg)
