A New Perspective on Constantine

(Worthy News) – The House passed a $788 billion spending bill Thursday that complies with President Donald Trump’s demands to boost the military, reduce clean-energy programs and start funding a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

The bill, passed 235-192, would fund the departments of Defense, Energy and Veterans Affairs, the legislative branch and Army Corps of Engineers in fiscal 2018. Republican leaders added $1.6 billion in border-wall funding to win the backing of House conservatives.

The bill, H.R. 3219, has little chance of passing the Senate in its current form. Senate Democrats, whose votes would be needed for passage, intend to block it in the hopes of a deal later this year to increase domestic spending. The bill does, however, set up a bargaining position for House Republicans heading into possible spending talks with Democrats. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Robert Mueller’s appointment as special counsel of the Russia election interference probe presents an opportunity for the FBI to inspect the Democratic Party computers that U.S. intelligence concluded were penetrated by Kremlin-directed hackers, cybersecurity analysts say.

The Democratic National Committee did not allow the FBI to physically inspect its machines, including servers. There is no public indication that any government agency has ever looked at the machines, prompting some former intelligence people to question the findings.

Instead, the DNC — and thus the FBI — relied heavily on the conclusions of counterhacking firm CrowdStrike, which the Democrats invited in to investigate the computers. CrowdStrike’s executive team has included former FBI officials close to Mr. Mueller. A major CrowdStrike investor is Google, whose founders work with Democrats. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Thousands of Muslim worshipers entered the Temple Mount on Thursday for the first time in nearly two weeks, many shouting in delight as they did so, and violent clashes erupted between Palestinians and Israeli security forces at the compound.

A police officer was lightly injured after a rock was thrown at his head, police said.

Channel 2 reported that 10 police officers were injured in the ensuing clashes.

Some 115 Palestinians were treated for injuries both inside the compound and in the surrounding area, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. A spokesperson said the injuries were mainly caused by rubber bullets, burns and bruises. Fifteen people were hospitalized, it said. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – The country’s top immigration enforcement officer says he is looking into charging sanctuary city leaders with violating federal anti-smuggling laws because he is fed up with local officials putting their communities and his officers at risk by releasing illegal immigrants from jail.

Thomas Homan, the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also told Americans to expect more work site enforcement targeting unscrupulous employers and more 287(g) agreements with willing police and sheriff’s departments that want to help get illegal immigrants off their streets. Eventually, he said, ICE will break the deportation records of 409,849 migrants set in 2012 under President Obama.

“I think 409,000 is a stretch this year, but if [the Justice Department] keeps going in the direction they’re going in, if we continue to expand our operational footprint, I think we’re going to get there,” he told The Washington Times. “Our interior arrests will go up. They’re going to top last year’s for sure.”

(Worthy News) – The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee is accusing top political aides of President Obama of making hundreds of requests during the 2016 presidential race to unmask the names of Americans in intelligence reports, including Trump transition officials.

Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), in a letter to Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, said the requests were made without specific justifications on why the information was needed.

“We have found evidence that current and former government officials had easy access to U.S. person information and that it is possible that they used this information to achieve partisan political purposes, including the selective, anonymous leaking of such information,” Nunes wrote in the letter to Coats. [ Source:The Hill (Read More…) ]