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Fatigue is a common and potentially debilitating side effect of cancer radiation therapy. Scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) recently found that the skin produces the hormone β-endorphin in response to radiation therapy, and that elevated β-endorphin levels contribute to fatigue after treatment. The research suggests that inhibiting this hormone might benefit patients. Several years ago, David E. Fisher, MD, Ph.D. and his colleagues showed that ultraviolet radiation exposure causes the skin to release β-endorphin—a "feel-good" hormone—to foster opiate-like behaviors and addiction to sun exposure. The likely evolutionary explanation for this response was subsequently seen to involve ultraviolet-mediated maintenance of...

Ukrainian leaders have vowed to retake all territory occupied by Russia, prompting a debate over what would be necessary for Ukraine to win and evict Moscow’s forces. The answer is primarily military because Russia is only going to abandon its hard-won gains if its troops suffer catastrophic losses, military strategists say. Behind those talks about weapons and ammunition is a deeper political question as Ukraine’s battlefield fortunes rely heavily on the willingness of Western governments to continue their multibillion-dollar military assistance to Kyiv. And pushing Russian forces out of the entrenched positions they hold in more than 15% of Ukraine’s...

@kerpen 21 Republicans voted to open debate on the omnibus. Dems only need 10 to pass the bill.

A radical group heavily funded by leftist billionaire George Soros has now been linked to Twitter’s FBI-influenced effort to squash the Hunter Biden laptop scandal. In his reporting on the seventh batch of Twitter files, independent journalist Michael Shellenberger noted that “efforts continued to influence Twitter's” leftist former Head of Trust and Safety Yoel Roth. In September 2020, just before the release of the Hunter Biden laptop story by the New York Post Oct. 14, 2020, “Roth participated in an Aspen Institute ‘tabletop exercise’ on a potential ‘Hack-and-Dump’ operation relating to Hunter Biden.” According to Shellenberger’s summarization, “The goal was...

Rishi Sunak today insisted Britain is not a racist country in the wake of Prince Harry and Meghan's claims in their Netflix documentary. The Prime Minister also defended the Royal Family following attacks made by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in the couple's docuseries with the streaming giant. Speaking in Riga, Latvia, after attending a meeting of some of Britain's military allies, Mr Sunak said he was 'really proud' of the UK. And he described his 'enormous privilege' in being able to champion institutions such as the monarchy while abroad. ..'I absolutely don’t believe that Britain is a racist...

Congressional Republicans succeeded in slashing funding for the Internal Revenue Service in the negotiations over President Biden's $1.7 trillion omnibus budget. Senate Republicans forced Democrats and the White House to cut more than $275 million from the IRS over the next year. GOP lawmakers demanded the cut, arguing that the IRS is already slated to receive additional money over the next decade thanks to Biden's recently passed $739 billion Inflation Reduction Act. "This process was far from perfect, but ultimately it allowed Republican redlines to be adhered to and because of that I will urge my colleagues to support this...

It doesn’t matter who is buried, digging up the dead body of anyone laid to rest (besides forensic investigators cracking a cold case) is extremely disrespectful. Richmond, Virginia Democrat Mayor LeVar Stoney ordered a grounds crew to dig up the decomposed body of Confederate General AP Hill. The move by Stoney comes a day after General AP Hill’s statue was taken down and due to his statue being used as a tombstone, his body was removed the very next day.

Idaho police are investigating a white Hyundai Elantra found abandoned in Oregon for a possible link to the unsolved slayings of four college students last month. Aware that Moscow, Idaho, officials were on the lookout for a vehicle fitting that description, Eugene police called the department to alert them to the car, which was badly damaged and had no license plates. Idaho police have appealed for help finding a white 2011-2013 model Elantra seen in the “immediate area” of the off-campus home where the friends were stabbed to death in the early hours of Nov. 13

Border czar Kamala Harris, whose administration oversaw a fiscal-year record high of 2.4 million border encounters in 2022, on Monday blamed the nation's migrant crisis on Republicans. "Sadly, what we have seen in particular, I am sad to say, from Republicans in Congress is an unwillingness to engage in any meaningful reform that could actually fix a lot of what we are witnessing," Harris, who has made one visit to the southern border despite handling the White House's border portfolio since March 2021, told NPR. The vice president's comments come just weeks after President Joe Biden said there are "more...

Former bishop of French Guyana guilty of sex abuse, Vatican court saysBishop Emeritus Emmanuel Lafont of Cayenne, French Guyana, has been found guilty of sexual abuse in a canonical court and banned from public ministry, while the country’s civil authorities are investigating charges against him.“He is under house arrest, in a monastery on mainland France,” the Bishops’ Conference of France told Agence France Presse. He must conduct a life of prayer and repentance. The bishops’ conference confirmed that the bishop faces a civil investigation.Numerous sources have confirmed to the French newspaper La Croix that the Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops delivered...

This week the January 6th Committee voted to make criminal referrals to the Justice Department, including the proposed indictment of former President Donald Trump. However, the Committee’s splashy finale lacked any substantial new evidence to make a compelling criminal case against former President Donald Trump. The Committee repackaged largely the same evidence that it has previously put forward over the past year. That is not enough. Indeed, the reliance on a new videotape of former Trump aide Hope Hicks seems a case of putting “hope over experience” in the criminal Justice system. While still based largely on the failure to...

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky is planning to visit Washington on Wednesday and may meet US President Joe Biden, reports say. It would be his first foreign trip since the Russian invasion in February. Mr Zelensky could also address Congress, unnamed officials told US media. There is no official confirmation of the visit or the plans. A visit would be fraught with security concerns - meaning plans could likely change at short notice. In a letter on Tuesday, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged members of Congress to be in attendance on Wednesday night. "Please be present for a very special...

“He that followeth after righteousness and mercy findeth life, righteousness, and honour. A wise man scaleth the city of the mighty, and casteth down the strength of the confidence thereof” (Proverbs 21:21-22).

...FOX 5 spoke with Fauci, who turns 82 on Christmas Eve, to discuss his legacy, his future plans, and what he would have done differently regarding COVID-19 if he knew what he knows today...."My legacy is probably much more defined by the 41-plus years that I have been working on HIV, developing the drugs that have led to essentially transforming the lives of persons with HIV to lead essentially a normal lifespan," he said. Fauci said his work with HIV has resulted in more than 20 million lives saved. But he does understand that because of the attention that has...

Part Eight of the Twitter Files came out this afternoon... "a trillion dollars more in deficit spending" US Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, speaking out about the massive spending bill... A Democrat-run US House committee voting to release President Trump's tax returns... Preparations underway in Washington for a previously undisclosed visit by Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky... The United States calling for a political accord in Haiti ahead of a UN Security Council session... The Taliban in Afghanistan releasing two Americans as a "Goodwill Gesture"... The Russian military in Syria says last night's Israeli strikes in Syria... "I know they...

[H/T COUNTrecount]Robert W Malone, MD: Get his book free this week on Amazon (download)5:14 PM · Dec 19, 2022

People who have received mRNA Covid vaccines are at least twice as likely to be infected with the coronavirus as unvaccinated people, according to two new papers from researchers in Indiana and Ohio. Worse, the newer of the two studies, which covered Omicron this fall, found risk actually rises with the number of shots. People who had received three or more shots were more than three times as likely to be infected as those who hadn’t received any. For people who have been vaccinated - especially those who have received a third or fourth shot - the papers will make...

This year’s flu season got off to an alarming start, with hospitalization rates more than 10 times those of past years’ seasons. But as Americans travel for the holidays this week, new data show an encouraging downturn in flu activity in some parts of the country. Some believe that this means this year’s flu season may be unique only in its timing, not its severity. “It looks like right now that flu is coming down, and by the time it’s all done, it will be just another average flu year, it just came early,” said Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist and...