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The readings for this Sunday’s Mass richly describe some essential qualities of faith and living in this world as a Christian. There are five fundamentals that can be seen:Wanting – The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith” (Luke 17:5-6).There’s an old saying that what you want, you get. Many doubt this, thinking that they have wanted many things that they did not get. The reason for this, however, is usually because they didn’t want it enough. When we really want something (provided it is not an impossibility) we usually get it, because we have a passion for it...

October 2nd 2022 Sunday of week 27 in ordinary time Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church in Łuków, Poland Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green First readingHabakkuk 1:2-3,2:2-4 ©The upright man will live by his faithfulnessHow long, O Lord, am I to cry for helpwhile you will not listen;to cry ‘Oppression!’ in your earand you will not save?Why do you set injustice before me,why do you look on where there is tyranny?Outrage and violence, this is all I see,all is contention, and discord flourishes.Then the Lord answered and said,‘Write the vision down,inscribe it on tabletsto be easily...

The All-American swimmer who became an outspoken advocate for women's athletics after competing against transgender swimmer Lia Thomas is supporting Sen. Rand Paul's re-election bid, and she says Paul is "not afraid to fight for fairness" in a new campaign ad. "I trained from an early age, giving it my all to achieve my dream," Riley Gaines says in the 30-second ad. "And I accomplished it, becoming a 12-time All-American swimmer at the University of Kentucky. But for girls across America that dream is being taken away by men competing in women’s sports. Sadly, few stood up for me." "But...

I have tried everything possible but we have come to the end of the road for trying to save his leg. It has to come off. So, he will be having his right leg amputated by Skylos Sports Medicine in Frederick MD Monday.

Jack Ross is a British volunteer aid worker helping to deliver supplies to the Ukrainian front line. He returned to Ukraine from his UK home as soon as news broke of the Ukrainian army's successful Kharkiv offensive. "My role in going over there early is to make sure that recently liberated people have enough food to survive," said Jack, explaining his initial plan was to return in November before the counter-offensive changed everything. He added: "We saw after the Russians stopped occupying places like Bucha, Irpin and Chernihiv they literally killed every living being in sight… Just to deprive the...

When Russian President Vladimir Putin granted citizenship to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden on Monday, the news revived a long-simmering debate about the propriety of his revelations of U.S. government secrets. At the same time, it prompted reiterations of a widely-embraced falsehood: that Snowden “fled to Russia.”The disinformation-trafficking wasn’t limited to random people on social media. Among others, The New York Times, The Guardian, ABC, Christian Science Monitor and Canada’s CBC all asserted in the past week that Snowden “fled to Russia” in 2013 after revealing that the United States government had created a mass surveillance regime targeting its own citizens,...

Week 31 of Putin’s War, that projected 3-day romp through Ukraine is not starting off well. Just one day after annexing the Ukrainian oblasts of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, Ukrainian forces routed Russian troops from a critical defensive position and overran the newly “Russian” city of Lyman. This may be the first time in history that a city has been annexed on Friday and conquered on Saturday.My last update was two weeks ago, Ukraine Update. The Tempo Slows and Ukraine and Russia Plot What Happens Next. Read it along with Putin’s War, Week 28. The Sitzkrieg Goes Blitzkrieg as...

The People's Bank of China has told major state-run banks to prepare to shed dollar holdings while snapping up offshore yuan, which has continued to fall despite prior interventions, sources told Reuters. The scale of this latest effort to prop up the yuan will be big and could provide a floor to the Chinese currency, according to the report. The amount of dollars to be sold hasn't been decided yet, but Reuters said it will primarily involve the state banks' currency reserves. Their offshore branches, including those based in Hong Kong, New York and London, were ordered to review offshore...

Texas-based commercial rocket company Firefly launched a rocket into space Friday morning, about a year after a previous attempt ended in an explosion. The Alpha rocket launched at 12:01 a.m. Pacific time from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. It was the company’s second unmanned launch ever from Vandenberg.

New York’s top health official is urging the public to get vaccinated against poliovirus if they haven’t yet done so. State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett declared polio "an imminent threat to public health" in New York State Wednesday, Sept. 28. The declaration will free up resources to help local health departments set up vaccination clinics and better focus their outreach efforts to unvaccinated or under-vaccinated New Yorkers, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office said. Health officials are hoping to boost immunization rates particularly in areas that have been most affected by the virus and among children. “Thanks to long-established school immunization...

When Russian President Vladimir Putin granted citizenship to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden on Monday, the news revived a long-simmering debate about the propriety of his revelations of U.S. government secrets. At the same time, it prompted reiterations of a widely-embraced falsehood: that Snowden “fled to Russia.” That disinformation-trafficking wasn’t limited to random people on social media. Among others, The New York Times, The Guardian, ABC, Christian Science Monitor and Canada’s CBC all asserted in the past week that Snowden “fled to Russia” in 2013 after revealing that the United States government had created a mass surveillance regime targeting its own...

A new study by researchers found that lower initial cortisol levels may serve as a predictor for retention in treatment programs for substance use disorder. The prospective observational study examined the salivary cortisol, stress exposure, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and treatment retention of males enrolled in abstinence-based, residential alcohol and drug recovery programs. Cortisol levels reflect a physiological response to stress. In this case, researchers found that participants who remained in the treatment program less than 90 days had significantly higher initial cortisol levels than those who remained in the program longer than 90 days. Further, a Cox proportional hazards...

nflation in August was stronger than expected despite the Federal Reserve's efforts to bring down prices, according to data Friday that the central bank follows closely. The personal consumption expenditures price index excluding food and energy rose 0.6% for the month after being flat in July. That was faster than the 0.5% Dow Jones estimate and another indication that inflation is broadening. On a year-over-year basis, core PCE increased 4.9%, more than the 4.7% estimate and up from 4.7% the previous month. Including gas and energy, headline PCE increased 0.3% in August, compared with a decline of 0.1% in July....

People who wear reusable contact lenses are nearly four times as likely as those wearing daily disposables to develop a rare sight-threatening eye infection. The case control study identifies multiple factors that increase the risk of Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK), including reusing lenses or wearing them overnight or in the shower. AK is one type of microbial keratitis (corneal infection)—a condition that results in inflammation of the cornea (the eye's clear protective outer layer). Sight loss resulting from microbial keratitis is uncommon but Acanthamoeba, although a rare cause, is one of the most severe and is responsible for about half of...

Putin Couldn't Believe What He saw! The Uprising is Growing in Donetsk! Welcome to the US Latest News channel. Watch the video to the end to find out the current and breaking news about the Russian war in Ukraine. In the light of the information we received in previous reports, it was determined that there were a total of 454 regions in Kharkiv and its surroundings that were liberated from the Russian invaders by the Ukrainian Defense Forces. In the liberated areas, the wreckage of the war was gradually removed and actions were taken to restore the people living in...

A team of researchers has found that resistance-breathing training can lower blood pressure as much as some medicines and/or exercises. Hypertension, also known as chronic high blood pressure, can lead to a wide variety of health problems, from loss of vision to strokes and heart attacks. For that reason, doctors take it seriously. Typically, patients are directed to modify their diet and to exercise more. If that does not fix the problem, medications are prescribed. In this new effort, the researchers looked into a new type of therapy to reduce blood pressure levels—resistance-breathing training. Resistance-breathing training involves breathing in and...

Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) called for new House Democratic leadership after a vote to ban congressional lawmakers from trading stocks was stalled indefinitely in the lower chamber. On Tuesday, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) introduced the Combatting Financial Conflicts of Interest in Government Act prohibiting senior government officials and their family members from trading stocks after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) directed her to craft the legislation in February. However, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) indicated that the bill would not be voted on before the midterms. “Probably no vote this week,” Hoyer told CNN on Friday, as congressional members...

Hurricane Ian quickly fell apart after landfall Friday as it moved inland. On the outside, it looked like a typical weakening tropical system. On the inside, it was undergoing a major remodeling during the hours that followed its destruction along the coast. Shortly before midnight Friday, snow and sleet suddenly started mixing with the rain along the Virginia/Tennessee border. A few reports even came in from places like WhiteTop. Evan Fisher witnessed the occurrence in the High Country. According to records, a September snow there has only been observed one other time there, in 1967. The key to getting the...

A new model to predict the life expectancy of older people relies less on their specific disease diagnoses and more on factors such as the ability to grocery shop, the amount of certain small cholesterol particles circulating in their blood, and whether they never or only occasionally smoked. The findings provide a way to predict whether a person over the age of 70 is likely to live two, five or 10 years. "This study was designed to determine the proximal causes of longevity—the factors that portend whether someone is likely to live two more years or 10 more years," said...

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