GOP lawmakers, White House outline tax plan WSJ

The final blow [to the Border Adjustment Tax] came Thursday, in a broad statement of principles released by party leaders to build Republican unity on tax policy and create momentum for advancing legislation this fall.

The statement emphasized a common goal of reducing individual and corporate rates and individual tax rates as much as possible. It also called for faster writeoffs for capital expenses, an idea meant to promote investment, though it stopped short of a House Republican proposal for immediate writeoffs.

The shared principles in effect represent a starting point for the approaching debate. Party leaders willingness to release a framework is also a sign of their confidence in getting a bill written and passed.

Still, Thursdays statement left critical questions unanswered, such as how much individual and corporate rates would be cut, and avoided addressing many of the tough trade-offs Republicans would need to make to achieve substantial reductions in tax rates, such as what deductions to eliminate.

Taken together, it included less detail than President Donald Trumps campaign plan, the House GOPs June 2016 blueprint or the one-page White House offering in April.

Shell prepares for lower forever oil prices WSJ

Read more on this, here.

Unions urge slow-down as self-driving car laws pick up speed Bloomberg

A simple way to help low-income students: Make everyone take the SAT NYT

And now the weeks eeriest news, with some reactions:

First human embryos edited in the US Technology Review

Until now, American scientists have watched with a combination of awe, envy, and some alarm as scientists elsewhere were first to explore the controversial practice. To date, three previous reports of editing human embryos were all published by scientists in China.

Now Mitalipov is believed to have broken new ground both in the number of embryos experimented upon and by demonstrating that it is possible to safely and efficiently correct defective genes that cause inherited diseases.

Although none of the embryos were allowed to develop for more than a few daysand there was never any intention of implanting them into a wombthe experiments are a milestone on what may prove to be an inevitable journey toward the birth of the first genetically modified humans.

We need to talk about genetic engineering Commentary

It is incumbent upon Americans of all political stripesnot just conservatives or the faithfulto consider the moral implications of embryonic genetic engineering. In April of 2015, National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins issued a statement pledging that NIH will not fund any use of gene-editing technologies in human embryos, but this prohibition does not apply to private endeavors. Public ethos guides private industry, but what is public philosophy regarding the interference with genetic destiny?

Are we obliged to eradicate genetic disorders? Is it unethical not to intervene in the development of an embryo if we have the capacity to alleviate future suffering and hardship? Is it morally questionable to select for various cosmetic traits that prospective parents might find desirable? Do we engage in this process of upending the natural order without knowing the long-term effects of genetic manipulation? Is a modified population a form of eugenics?

If you could design your own child, would you? The Washington Post

We have arrived at a Rubicon. Humans are on the verge of finally being able to modify their own evolution. The question is whether they can use this newfound superpower in a responsible way that will benefit the planet and its people. And a decision so momentous cannot be left to the doctors, the experts or the bureaucrats.

Failing to figure out how to ensure that everyone will benefit from this breakthrough risks the creation of a genetic underclass who must struggle to compete with the genetically modified offspring of the rich. And failing to monitor and contain how we use it may spell global catastrophe. Its up to us collectively to get this right.

Gene editing: new technology, old moral questions The New Atlantis

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Links for July 28, 2017: Outlining the GOP tax plan, the ethics of ... - American Enterprise Institute