A New Perspective on Constantine

(Worthy News) – As residents of Puerto Rico brace for Hurricane Maria — which slammed into the Caribbean as a Category 5 storm Monday night — Puerto Rico’s governor is calling the storm “the biggest and potentially most catastrophic hurricane to hit Puerto Rico in a century.”

Maria, which has left at least two dead in the Caribbean, is forecast to “remain an extremely dangerous Category 4 or 5 hurricane” as it approaches Puerto Rico early Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center said.

Maria could bring life-threatening flooding and mudslides, as well as a 6- to 9-foot storm surge, to the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Dangerous flash flooding and mudslides are also possible, especially in mountainous regions in Puerto Rico. [ Source: ABC News (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – The moon is throwing a historic block party today (Sept. 18).

Earth’s nearest neighbor occulted, or covered up, Venus and the bright star Regulus in the sky this morning, and will swallow up Mars and Mercury this evening.

The moon hadn’t occulted three planets in a single 24-hour span since March 2008, and it won’t do so again until July 2036, according to EarthSky.org. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Four Republican senators introduced a bill Monday that would allow churches to apply for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Public Assistance program grants, putting the houses of worship on the same playing field as non-religious nonprofits.

Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, along with Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt and Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford, say churches should be eligible for disaster relief money, because houses of worship often serve as shelters in communities plagued by natural disasters.

FEMA allows nonprofits that serve the public benefit to apply for disaster relief funds, but the agency explicitly excludes facilities primarily used for religious activities.

The senators’ Federal Disaster Assistance Nonprofit Fairness Act comes after three Texas churches damaged by Hurricane Harvey asked a federal court earlier this month to rule FEMA’s policy unconstitutional. [ Source: Washington Times(Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – A magnitude 7.1 earthquake stunned central Mexico on Tuesday, killing at least 149 people as buildings collapsed in plumes of dust. Thousands fled into the streets in panic, and many stayed to help rescue trapped victims.

Dozens of buildings tumbled into mounds of rubble or were severely damaged in densely populated parts of Mexico City and nearby states. Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said buildings fell at 44 places in the capital alone as high-rises across the city swayed sickeningly. [ Source: Washington Times (Read More…) ]

Major Earthquake for Mexico City Falls on Anniversary of Catastrophic 1985 Quake

The earthquake that struck Mexico City on Tuesday hit on the same exact calendar date on which the capital was hit by a violent earthquake in 1985. The earlier quake left behind a trail of rubble and more than 5,000 people dead.

The coincidence is eerie, and sympathizers around the world will surely hope that the similarity stops with the identical Sept. 19 date. While Tuesday’s 7.1. magnitude quake falls short of 1985’s 8.0 magnitude tremor, it still classifies as a “major” earthquake on the Richter scale. Videos shared on social media reveal crumbling structures and smoke rising over the city due to fallen debris. The full extent of the damage remains to be seen. [ Source: Time (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Russia’s big Zapad 2017 military exercises, believed to be the largest since the end of the Cold War, entered the news again on Tuesday after a video emerged appearing to show a Russian attack helicopter firing its rockets into a group of bystanders during drills.

Russia is conducting the week-long Zapad exercises with its Eastern European ally, Belarus.

The exercises have elicited criticism from NATO and the U.S., who say Russia has concealed the true number of troops taking part, and troubled some observers in Eastern Europe, where the Kremlin’s 2014 invasion of Crimea remains fresh.

Russia has said no more than 13,000 troops are taking part in Zapad, which means West, just below the threshold that would require it to invite international observers. But NATO officials have repeatedly suggested that the real number is likely far higher, potentially between 70,000 and 100,000. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – The United States is looking for support from its allies to persuade Iran to re-open talks on the nuclear deal, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday, pointing to the fact that it will expire as its biggest problem.

“The most glaring flaw is the sunset provision,” Tillerson told the Fox News television channel. “We all know this is merely a kick the can down the road agreement.”

Under the deal, limits on Iran’s uranium enrichment will begin to expire in 2025.

“It’s not a stiff enough agreement, it doesn’t slow their program enough and holding them accountable is difficult under the agreement, but most importantly the agreement comes to an end, and so we can almost start the countdown clock as to when they restart their nuclear weapons capability,” he said, drawing a parallel with North Korea where an agreement on dismantling its nuclear program collapsed in 2002. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu harshly condemned the Iran nuclear deal in a speech at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, warning that the accord will pave the way for Iran to obtain nuclear weapons if it is not scrapped or altered.

After praising Donald Trump’s address earlier in the day from the same podium, in which the US president called the Islamic Republic a “murderous” regime and the nuclear deal an “embarrassment,” Netanyahu said the 2015 accord strengthened Iran’s nuclear program and posed a grave threat to the entire world.

“Imagine the danger of hundreds of nuclear weapons in the hands of a vast Iranian Islamist empire, with the missiles to deliver them anywhere on earth,” he said. [ Source:Times of Israel (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – The American military on Tuesday denied a claim made by the Israel Defense Forces that the United States had established its first base in Israel, saying the new buildings were instead a “living facility.”

On Monday, the Israeli Air Force declared that the US military’s European Command (EUCOM) had opened a “base within a base” at the IDF’s air defense school, west of the towns of Dimona and Yeruham in southern Israel.

“We established an American base in the State of Israel, in the Israel Defense Forces, for the first time, with an American flag. A permanent base,” Brig. Gen. Tzvika Haimovitch, head of the IAF’s Aerial Defense Command, told reporters.

“The new buildings located on the Israeli installation are not a US military base,” she said. “The buildings are facilities on the existing Israeli Air Force Base to support our US service personnel who are working there.”

The message was passed along to the IDF, which quickly changed all mentions on its website of a “US military base” to read “US military facility.” [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Paul Manafort’s spokesman condemned recent reports that his client had been surveilled by federal officials while serving in the Trump campaign and after the 2016 presidential election as well.

“If true, it is a felony to reveal the existence of a FISA warrant, regardless of the fact that no charges ever emerged,” Jason Maloni said in an emailed statement on Tuesday.

“The U.S Department of Justice’s Inspector General should immediately conduct an investigation into these leaks and to examine the motivations behind a previous Administration’s effort to surveil a political opponent. Mr. Manafort requests that the Department of Justice release any intercepts involving him and any non-Americans so interested parties can come to the same conclusion as the DOJ — there is nothing there.” [ Source: Washington Examiner (Read More…) ]