A New Perspective on Constantine

(Worthy News) – On Thursday, 23 House Republicans joined 190 Democrats to vote down the Hartzler Amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which would have stopped the Pentagon from using taxpayer dollars to pay for gender reassignment surgeries.

The amendment, proposed by Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.), would have saved an estimated $2.4 to $8.4 million dollars annually, according to the RAND corporation. Money would still be permitted to go towards any mental health services sought out by transgendered service members.

“I am disappointed by the outcome of today’s vote,” Rep. Hartzler told TIME Magazine after her amendment failed to pass, “but the issue still remains and steps must be taken to address this misuse of our precious defense dollars.” [ Source: CNS News (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – The new plan to “repeal and replace” Obamacare that the Senate Republican leadership released last week would replace Obamacare’s requirement that individuals buy health insurance or face a tax penalty with a requirement that individuals buy health insurance or face a six-month government-mandated ban on their ability to buy health insurance.

The draft of the “Better Care Act” released by Senate Republicans last week reduces that tax penalty for not buying insurance to “zero percent.”

But another part of the Better Care Act–Section 206—imposes what it calls “Enrollment Waiting Periods” on people who fail to meet the “Creditable Coverage Requirement.” [ Source: CNS News (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – A senior commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned the United States on Monday that if it designated the group a terrorist organization and applied new sanctions its action could be perilous for U.S. forces in the region.

In Mid-June the U.S. Senate voted for new sanctions on Iran over its ballistic missile program and other activities not related to the international nuclear agreement reached with the United States and other world powers in 2015.

“Counting the Revolutionary Guards the same as terrorist groups and applying similar sanctions to the Revolutionary Guards is a big risk for America and its bases and forces deployed in the region,” said Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Mohammad Baqeri, according to Sepah News, an official news site of the Guards. [ Source: Reuters (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Intense clashes have broken out between US-backed Syrian fighters and Islamic State militants in the heart of Raqqa – the extremist group’s self-styled capital.

At least 180 civilians in areas controlled by IS have managed to flee, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights putting that number in the hundreds.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who are Kurdish led, have been one of the most effective groups fighting IS in the war-torn country. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Intense clashes have broken out between US-backed Syrian fighters and Islamic State militants in the heart of Raqqa – the extremist group’s self-styled capital.

At least 180 civilians in areas controlled by IS have managed to flee, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights putting that number in the hundreds.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who are Kurdish led, have been one of the most effective groups fighting IS in the war-torn country. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Hezbollah is Iran’s proxy, designated as a terrorist organization by the US, the EU, the Arab League, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Israel, Canada, Australia and others. The very reason for Hezbollah’s existence is to give Iran – an apocalyptic radical Islamic regime – a way to directly attack Israel, something its leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, believes is “obligatory and necessary for Muslims.”

Iran invests around $100 million a year in Hezbollah, which has enabled it to become the dominant political and military force in Lebanon with a sophisticated militia that more closely resembles a national army than a terrorist organization. It has an estimated 150,000 rockets, which is significantly more than all 29 NATO countries combined, with the exception of the US. To believe that Iran would not use this “investment” to its full potential is simply not realistic. While Iran has mobilized Hezbollah to prop up its client Bashar Assad in Syria, the original and main purpose has always been to use it as a weapon against the Jewish state.

Although there have already been several military conflicts between Israel and Hezbollah, the next one is predicted to become tremendously more devastating because of Hezbollah’s military advancements. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Susan Rice is no longer expected to visit Capitol Hill on Tuesday for a meeting with the House committee probing allegations she “unmasked” President Trump associates in Russian meddling probes.

Rice had been expected to face tough questions on her role in the matter while serving as then-President Barack Obama’s national security adviser. Trump alleges Rice may have committed a crime by asking government analysts to disclose the names of his associates documented in intelligence reports. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Britain and the EU said they would get to the “heart of the matter”, as the second round of talks were kicked off on Monday (17 July) in Brussels.

The EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier welcomed Britain’s Brexit minister David Davis in the European Commission, where working groups commenced detailed discussions on citizens’ rights, financial settlement, and other issues, such as jurisdiction of the EU’s top court and the UK’s Northern Irish border with Ireland.

“We’ll now delve into the heart of the matter,” Barnier told reporters, saying the two sides need to examine and compare their respective positions. [ Source: EU Observer (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – The Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah and the Syrian government have enjoyed a close, fruitful relationship for nearly 40 years. But six years into the Syrian civil war, there are signs that battle fatigue and diverging strategic visions are fraying their alliance.

Syrian President Bashar Assad is coming under increasing pressure from pro-Russian factions in his ruling circle to dump pro-Iranian Hezbollah, as a U.S.-Russia accord to establish a de-escalation zone in southern Syria gets underway this week.

It’s a different kind of proxy war playing out in Syria: Instead of Sunni versus Shiite, or the U.S. versus Russia, it’s Russia versus Iran. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – On Friday, three gunmen shot and killed two police officers at the most volatile spot on Earth, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

The terrorists hoped the violent bloodshed would spark a religious war at Judaism’s most sacred site, which is also holy to Christians and Muslims (who call it the Noble Sanctuary), and which is governed by Israel but run by the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf.
The murder victims were two Israeli police officers, both Druze, a religious minority. The killers were Muslim.

We’ve seen it coming … incitement to violence preached from pulpits, broadcast on television and shared on social media have long been part of the march to Friday’s shooting. There are those who find religious violence to be a useful political distraction from the blood-soaked civil wars that pound the region. From Syria to Yemen to the Palestinian territories – where Hamas and Fatah lock horns in a power struggle using access to water and electricity as weapons – the Arab world continues to blow apart. But cynical leaders know very well that tribal differences, Sunni/Shia animosities, the struggle for resources and power can all be counted on to fade in the light of a “threat” to the Noble Sanctuary. [ Source:Washington Times (Read More…) ]