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Injecting botulinum toxin A, or Botox, into the prostate gland of men with enlarged prostate, eased symptoms and improved quality of life up to a year after the procedure, according to a study by researchers at the Chang Gung University Medical College, Taiwan, and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. The study participants, previously diagnosed with symptomatic BPH that did not respond to standard medical treatment, received injections of Botox directly into their prostate glands. Up to one year post injection, 27 of these patients, or 73 percent, experienced a 30 percent improvement in urinary tract symptoms and quality...

EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Rand Paul Says GOP Will Shaft Trump, Allow Democrat Witnesses and Block His Requests — Warns Colleagues Not to Commit Political Suicide by Cassandra Fairbanks January 15, 2020

A question about rape ends up on a biology homework assignment for ninth graders at a Houston-area high school. Klein Independent School District confirms a teacher at Klein Collins High School sent home what the district calls an “inappropriate homework question” on a take-home assignment Friday. The question was part of a biology DNA assignment and reads: “Suzy was assaulted in an alley and is a victim of rape. The police collected a sample of sperm that was left at the crime scene and now have three suspects in custody. Which of the suspects rape (sic) Suzy?” Parents along with...

PIONEER, Calif. — Home surveillance video captured five mountain lions traveling together in Amador County. Mountain lions are normally solitary and elusive. They also make sure to avoid humans, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The video, captured along Stephanie Way in Pioneer, which is east of Jackson, shows the five big cats walking onto a driveway and then crossing the street. The video was taken at Chris Bruetsch’s home. >> See the surveillance video in the player below His neighbor, Don Gall, said residents see all kinds of animals – deer, wild turkeys, bobcats, coyotes –...

Students can now get paid to snitch on their peers at the University of Sheffield. The students will earn £9.34/hour to be “race equality champions,” and their training for the work will include teaching them how to “lead healthy conversations” on racism, microaggressions, and how to deal with those peers who commit infractions. Hours range from two to nine hours per week, like any part-time work-study job. But Sheffield University’s foray into “snitch culture” sounds alarm bells. Following a report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission that cautioned about the “common occurrence” of racism for some students on campus,...

RICHMOND — Both chambers of Virginia’s General Assembly passed the Equal Rights Amendment Wednesday, fulfilling a promise that helped Democrats seize control of the legislature and marking a watershed moment in the nearly century-long effort to add protections for women to the U.S. Constitution.

Fearing a repeat of the deadly march by white nationalists in Charlottesville in 2017, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam on Wednesday declared a state of emergency and temporarily banned people from carrying guns and other weapons on the grounds of the state Capitol, where thousands of gun rights activists are expected to rally next week against stricter gun control laws. Northam said he made the call after hearing "credible intelligence" from law enforcement that armed militias and hate groups, some from outside Virginia, planned to disrupt the event. He said the threats of violence, picked up on the internet and on...

Rudy Giuliani’s associate Lev Parnas alleged in an interview Wednesday that President Trump threatened to withhold more than just military aid from Ukraine. Parnas unleashed a slew of new accusations against the president, including that he, as a representative of Trump, gave Ukrainian officials a “very harsh message” that the U.S. would cut off all aid to the country if it did not announce an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden. “The message was: It wasn’t just military aid. It was all aid,” he told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. “Basically the relationship would be sour. We would stop giving them...

The church icon that serves as patron for Russia’s Navy sailors is visiting the Northern Fleet base towns in the Kola Peninsula. Sacred procession with Navy icon in Severomorsk. Photo: mil.ruThe sacred religious symbol was on the 21st December flown into the Northern Fleet headquarters of Severomorsk and subsequently taken around in a church procession among the military vessels on the port side. The icon depicts Andrew the Apostle and is the patron of the Russian Navy. It is on a grand tour in the country’s five fleets before it will be installed in the military cathedral currently under construction...

In audio of the post-debate exchange between 2020 Democratic presidential candidates Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) released by CNN on Wednesday, both candidates accused each other of throwing around accusations of dishonesty on national TV. Warren said, “I think you called me a liar on national TV.” Sanders responded, “You know, let’s not do it right now. If you want to have that discussion, we’ll have that discussion.”

SÃO PAULO, Brazil - In a harsh exchange of tweets with Brazilian theologian Leonardo Boff on Jan. 1, Brazil’s foreign minister Ernesto Araújo accused Liberation Theology of being responsible for the decline in the number of Catholics in Brazil. In a Happy New Year tweet, minister Araújo said that “in 2020 it’s necessary to keep working against the leftist mechanism” not only in Brazil, but also on the international front, criticizing what he called “a global and globalist project of power.” Araújo is a minister for conservative President Jair Bolsonaro, who has often sparred with the country’s Catholic bishops over...

Texas’ Catholic bishops issued a sharp rebuke of Gov. Greg Abbott, a fellow Catholic, following his decision Friday to ban refugees from initially settling in Texas. In a joint statement by the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops, which includes leaders from Texas’ 15 dioceses, the group called the decision “discouraging and disheartening.” “While the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops respects the governor, this decision is simply misguided,” the group wrote. “It denies people who are fleeing persecution, including religious persecution, from being able to bring their gifts and talents to our state and contribute to the general common good of...

The Audio Editor my wife and I use(d) doesn't work on Windows 10, and has also ceased working on Win 7 (possibly due to the final Win 7 updates?) More info. in Body of Comment...

center>Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP/VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE and AMERICA: Government, Family, Military, Business, Education, Churches, and the Media. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 1 JOHN 5:14 Religion Forum threads labeled "Prayer" are closed to debate of any kind.

After too long of a delay, I've finally started grinding out the words behind the study I've done of .380 ACP rounds, and posted part one. Yes, this is a bit of a blog pimping, but as I have no ads or monetization, one can hardly call it self-serving … it's just that there's too many words to make a good forum post. A short excerpt: ----- Our ideal round is not necessarily the same as the officer’s – but there are many similarities. If we’re forced to shoot in self-defense (presuming our threat doesn’t quit, run away, or hide)...

by Sheri Urban On Wednesday, CNN released the audio from a confrontation that took place after Tuesday night’s Democrat presidential debate between Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, in which both candidates accused each other of making false statements. The interaction centered around an anonymously sourced report from CNN on Monday that claimed that Sanders told Warren during a December 2018 meeting that he did not think that a woman could be win in a presidential election. “I think you called me a liar on national TV,” Warren said. Sanders replied, “What?” “I think you called me a liar on...

On Wednesday night's episode of "Jeopardy!", House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) was an answer, but no one buzzed in. Schiff was an answer in a category titled "U.S. Representatives." The prompt included a photo of Schiff and read: "One-fifty-third of California's House delegation is this House Intelligence Committee chairman." No one buzzed in. SNIP

Japan has confirmed its first case of a new coronavirus from China, the health ministry said Thursday. A Chinese national who has traveled to Wuhan, eastern China, tested positive in Japan, the ministry said. The man in his 30s man lives in Kanagawa Prefecture. He returned from Wuhan on Jan. 6 and was hospitalized on Jan. 10. He has already recovered and was discharged from the hospital on Wednesday, the ministry said. A ministry official said there are no other confirmed cases in Japan. The pneumonia-like virus has infected dozens of people in Wuhan, with preliminary evidence suggesting the outbreak...

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) accused Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) of calling her a liar during Tuesday night's debate in a tense conversation between two caught on camera, CNN reported Wednesday. CNN conducted an inventory of its audio equipment and found recordings of the conversation between the two progressive candidates that occurred immediately following the CNN/Des Moines Register debate ended. The release of the audio came after a day of speculation about what was said. "I think you called me a liar on national TV," Warren says to Sanders, to which Sanders responds “What?” and Warren repeats what she said. "You...

As Apple stands firm against requests to break iPhone encryption, many people have questioned why the FBI needs Apple’s help in the first place. There are plenty of tools available from third-party companies that are more than capable of unlocking the iPhone 5 and iPhone 7 used by the Pensacola gunman. Further emphasizing that point, a new report from Forbes says that the FBI recently used one of those black/gray market tools to unlock the newest — and theoretically the most secure — iPhone that Apple sells. According to the report, FBI investigators in Ohio used the GrayKey hardware box...