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Chronic use of e-cigarettes, commonly known as vaping, can result in progressive small airway obstruction and asthma-like symptoms such as shortness of breath and chest pains, according to researchers. In the first study to microscopically evaluate the pulmonary tissue of e-cigarette users for chronic disease, the team found in a small sample of patients fibrosis and damage in the small airways, similar to the chemical inhalation damage to the lungs typically seen in soldiers returning from overseas conflicts who had inhaled mustard or similar types of noxious gases. "All four individuals we studied had injury localized to the same anatomic...

Major League Baseball will implement a pitch clock and ban defensive shifts beginning in the 2023 season, people familiar with the matter said, an attempt to quicken pace of play and reinvigorate offenses as a means of combating the sport’s faded appeal with fans. An 11-person joint committee that includes four active players recommended the changes. Former Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox executive Theo Epstein served as an adviser to the committee. The league also will increase the size of bases by three inches, a measure it believes will reduce collisions and injuries. The changes, expected to be announced...

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MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A day after a man went on a shooting spree across Memphis, two men made threats against people in the community and events in the city of Memphis, police said. According to Memphis Police (MPD), the two men are between 18 and 21 and made specific threats to events occurring in the city of Memphis. They also made posts threatening individual people, police said. Police did not say which events the men made the threats against, but that the two men did post these threats on social media.

Video sharing platform Rumble has broken records in August, increasing monthly active users to 78 million. This, the platform reports, is a 77 percent year over year growth. Much of that growth came from Gen Z users, between the ages of 18-24. That growth was strong in the US and Canada, as well, with a 63 million increase, or a 103 percent year over year growth. “When you look at the data, and especially our 63 million MAUs in the US and Canada, it is clear to me that Rumble’s growth is one of the reasons that Big Tech platforms...

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — People with disabilities in Portland, Oregon, have sued the city, saying they can’t navigate its sidewalks because of sprawling homeless encampments. The federal class action lawsuit says the city has violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by allowing homeless people’s tents to block city sidewalks, making it difficult for people using wheelchairs, walkers or canes to use them. “The entire class of persons with disabilities are regularly deprived of the benefits of services of the city of Portland,” said John DiLorenzo, lead counsel for the plaintiffs. The suit was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in...

Very excellent analysisUkrainians have painted themselves into a corner from which they can no longer use the tactic of falling back from one defensive line after another and have to attack Russians for political reasons. That is allowing Russians to use tried/true Mongol tactics of retreating and luring them into traps.. In fact this latest episode is much closer to the Russian border and will allow Russian airpower to very quickly eliminate any Ukrainian tanks or other vehicles so that it will be just foot soldiers walking into cauldrons of destruction. The Biden family and other US politicians being up...

A malaria vaccine with "world-changing" potential has been developed by scientists at the University of Oxford. The team expect it to be rolled out next year after trials showed up to 80% protection against the deadly disease. Crucially, say the scientists, their vaccine is cheap and they already have a deal to manufacture more than 100 million doses a year. The charity Malaria No More said recent progress meant children dying from malaria could end "in our lifetimes". It has taken more than a century to develop effective vaccines as the malaria parasite, which is spread by mosquitoes, is spectacularly...

[Catholic Caucus] Ratzinger, Tyconius, and Fatima: An Interpretive Key for the End Times. Dear friends and foes of Stilum Curiae, a scholar has sent us this short essay which we gladly offer for your attention, convinced that it may be of great interest. Happy reading. §§§ Ratzinger, Tyconius, and Fatima: An Interpretive Key for the End Times By A Marian Soul It is no easy task to understand the present crisis of evil within the Church, which at times may seem overwhelming. Benedict XVI has indicated that the theology of Tyconius can assist the Church in understanding how to expose...

MY FRIENDSHIP WITH QUEEN ELIZABETH If you are of a certain age then you will remember a TV show from the 1960’s called “Voyage To The Bottom of the Sea”. It debuted in 1964 when I was 9 years old. It was a show, in many aspects, ahead of it’s time, but came out during the time of our countries efforts to conquer space. It stimulated the imagination and helped make it seem anything was possible. As a 9 year old kid it was exciting and who didn’t want to be onboard the Seaview with Admiral Nelson and Captain Crain...

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The South Carolina Democrat vying to oust Republican U.S. Sen. Tim Scott is facing calls from within her own party to fold her campaign, following the publication of additional leaked audio in which she appears to make disparaging remarks about her constituents. The calls for state Rep. Krystle Matthews to withdraw just two months ahead of the general election came Thursday in reaction to leaked audio published by conservative activist group Project Veritas of Matthews speaking to one of its members, without her knowledge. Sitting in a restaurant, Matthews, who is Black, is heard saying that...

It is an outcome that few dared to hope for. But 10 days after Ukraine's generals announced the start of their first major counter-attack against Russian troops, the road to victory is starting to become clearer. Clever tactics saw Ukraine's commanders draw Russian troops into the south of the country before pinning them down with a counter-attack around the city of Kherson. Some of Putin's best men are now all-but trapped in the city, bullied by Ukrainian artillery and with no easy way to retreat back across the Dnipro River after HIMARS strikes destroyed the main bridges. That gave Ukraine...

The Biden administration’s Department of the Interior on Thursday announced the replacement names for nearly 650 geographical features that had names deemed “racist and derogatory.” The Board on Geographic Names voted on the final names to replace the names of landmarks on federal lands that feature the term “squaw,” the department said in a news release. The removal of the term, which the department says has “historically been used as an offensive ethnic, racial and sexist slur, particularly for Indigenous women,” is part of an ongoing effort to review and replace derogatory names from federal usage.

With the latest decline, US life expectancy is now at its lowest since 1996, according to new data (pdf) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) National Center for Health Statistics. It also means that the gap in longevity at birth between people in the US and China has now widened to a full year.

Cardiologists are sounding the alarm on herbal supplements, which are giving their young patients heart problems. California-based cardiologist Dr. Danielle Belardo said the most common cause of heart arrhythmia, or irregular heartbeat, presenting in her 20-something patients stems from taking herbal supplements. However, the number of Americans taking dietary supplements has exploded since the COVID-19 pandemic's start. In Southern California, Belardo says she often sees patients with heart problems who "gravitate towards alternate therapies and herbals and supplements."

Yesterday, September 6, His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije of the Serbian Orthodox Church made a special statement on the urgent issue of EuroPride. EuroPride is a pan-European LGBT event hosted by a different city ever year, and this year it is planned to be held in Belgrade on September 12-18. The event has proven to be a scandal for traditional Serbian society, and the Orthodox faithful have taken to the streets several times now to prayerfully protest the imposition of LGBT values. Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić announced late last month that EuroPride won’t be held as scheduled on September 12-18 due...

'If I didn't have my gun with me, everyone in the house would have died,' Mendez says An Arizona man who was shot in the head while attending a Fourth of July party with his family this summer is speaking out about how he was able to thwart the shooter from killing more people with his concealed carry firearm. "My back was turned. I heard the first gunshot and that's what made me, kind of turn my head ... But by the time I even was able to look and see what was going on, a bullet already had struck...

This may be a record ?

Joe Biden and his handler Dr. Jill traveled across town to sign the condolence book for Queen Elizabeth at the British Embassy in Washington DC. Joe is so incapacitated that his handlers had to write down his message for him on a card before he signed the condolence book. CSPAN did us all a favor by zooming in for a closeup of Biden copying his pre-written card into the book – You can’t make this up!

“Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased” (Proverbs 9:9-11 KJV).