A New Perspective on Constantine

(Worthy News) – Former president Barack Obama’s official campaign organization has directed nearly a million dollars to the same law firm that funneled money to Fusion GPS, the firm behind the infamous Steele dossier. Since April of 2016, Obama For America (OFA) has paid over $972,000 to Perkins Coie, records filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) show.

The Washington Post reported last week that Perkins Coie, an international law firm, was directed by both the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Hillary Clinton’s campaign to retain Fusion GPS in April of 2016 to dig up dirt on then-candidate Donald Trump. Fusion GPS then hired Christopher Steele, a former British spy, to compile a dossier of allegations that Trump and his campaign actively colluded with the Russian government during the 2016 election. Though many of the claims in the dossier have been directly refuted, none of the dossier’s allegations of collusion have been independently verified. Lawyers for Steele admitted in court filings last April that his work was not verified and was never meant to be made public.

OFA, Obama’s official campaign arm in 2016, paid nearly $800,000 to Perkins Coie in 2016 alone, according to FEC records. The first 2016 payments to Perkins Coie, classified only as “Legal Services,” were made April 25-26, 2016, and totaled $98,047. A second batch of payments, also classified as “Legal Services,” were disbursed to the law firm on September 29, 2016, and totaled exactly $700,000. Payments from OFA to Perkins Coie in 2017 totaled $174,725 through August 22, 2017. [ Source: The Federalist (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – The Israeli Airforce is pulling no stops as it makes sure that the new F-35 Joint Strike Fighters will be fully integrated and operational by December of this year. The work is conducted with a keen eye on how to deliver intelligence detected by the jet to the relevant units in the IAF and beyond.

The F-35 is often hailed as a jet that claims to do, and might achieve, the impossible – to take off vertically when there’s no rundown for lift off, to fly undetected by enemy radars and if needed, to subdue any enemy pilot foolish enough to challenge it to a dogfight.

While the other pilot has to read various screens while sitting in the cockpit the F-35 pilot enjoys a unique augmented reality helmet that allows him or her to see through the entire plane, making split-second decisions and reflexes a little smoother and faster. Which could make all the difference in high-intensity air-combat. [ Source: Jerusalem Post (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon on Sunday blasted the discovery of a tunnel underneath a Gaza school run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, accusing the Hamas terror organization of using UNRWA facilities as “terror bases” and Gazan children as “human shields.”

“Yet another terror tunnel under an UNRWA schoolyard. This is what Hamas rule looks like and this is more proof of the double war crime committed as terror tunnels are built to attack Israelis, while using the children of Gaza as human shields,” said Danon in a statement.

“We cannot accept a situation in which UNRWA schools are used as terror bases. This dangerous incident must not be ignored and strict oversight is needed to ensure that UN facilities are not used to protect terrorists,” he added. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Russia has conducted a test launch of its Satan 2 nuclear missile, the country’s defence ministry said.

The rocket was fired from the Plestek Cosmodrome spaceport, roughly 500 miles north of Moscow, officials said.

The missile, also known as RS-28 Sarmat, travelled 3,600 miles before hitting its target on the Kura test range, an intercontinental ballistic missile impact area in the Russian Far East.

The weapon is said to be capable of carrying 12 nuclear warheads and could wipe out a whole country with a single strike. [ Source: UK Independent (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – A report by Chinese human rights lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Gao Zhisheng has been smuggled out of China, and it reveals the magnitude and intensity of religious persecution that continues in the communist country.

ChinaAid, the Human Rights Foundation, and Christian Solidarity Worldwide translated and edited the report, which they released last week. Gao himself is in state custody somewhere in Beijing after being kidnapped from his home in August, but his report details how the government under President Xi Jinping violently suppresses religious groups, primarily Christians and practitioners of Falun Gong.

“In comparison to 2015, in 2016 the [Communist Party of China] conspicuously intensified its control and suppression of religious faith, especially targeting Christianity and Falun Gong,” Gao wrote. “The external environment for religious faith hit a new low in 2016 after 30 years of suppression.” [ Source:Washington Free Beacon (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Facebook shut down two Christian ministry pages this month, without warning or explanation, renewing fears about the social media giant’s ability to control access to an important corner of today’s public square.

A Facebook media representative said due to privacy issues she could not discuss details about the company’s actions against The Tree of Life Outreach and Sheologians. The representative also refused to speak on the record about company protocol for denying administrative access and what constitutes a violation of Facebook’s community standards.

On Oct. 3, Facebook blocked administrative access to all Pastor Ron Cusano’s pages, including The Tree of Life Outreach page he uses to conduct Bible studies for house churches in Pakistan, India, and Africa. Facebook “kicked out” all Sheologians administrators from their personal accounts Oct. 13, preventing them from accessing their page, Sheologians founder Summer White told me. Facebook offered no explanation other than a notification saying the page’s content may have violated community standards. [ Source: Christian Headlines (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and chief Middle East adviser, Jared Kushner, paid a secret visit to Saudi Arabia last week in his latest effort to restart Mideast peace talks.

Kushner also briefly traveled to Israel, Jordan and Egypt during his four-day foray in the region, a White House official told Politico on Sunday. He was joined by Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategy Dina Powell and Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt.

The White House declined to give further details on his visit, only saying in a statement that Kushner, Powell and Greenblatt “recently returned from Saudi Arabia.” The statement added that Kusher was in “frequent contact” with Israeli, Palestinian and other regional leaders. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Iran’s nuclear program chief said Sunday that his country can begin producing weapons-grade nuclear material in just four days if the nuclear deal with foreign powers falls through, and stressed that international inspectors will not be given access to closed Iranian military sites.

Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization, said that while Tehran prefers to keep the landmark nuclear agreement intact the Fordo site can quickly begin ramping up uranium enrichment.

“We can produce 20% (enriched uranium) at Fordo in 4 days but we don’t want the nuclear deal to collapse,” Salehi told reporters, according to an English translation of his comments provided by the semi-official Fars news agency. He spoke to media after a joint press conference with the visiting director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Yukiya Amano, in Tehran. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – The government has sacked two security officials over their failure to prevent repeated attacks in Somalia’s capital.

Islamist group al Shabaab claimed responsibility for this weekend’s terrorist attack, broadcasting a statement on its Andalus radio station saying its “Mujahedeen fighters” were targeting “apostate officials”.

Police described a “hellish” gun battle on Saturday night as security forces stormed the building, with one officer confirming there were at least 29 deaths this morning and warning the number may rise. [ Source: Sky News (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Republican senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas said repealing the Obamacare individual mandate would save $300 billion over the next 10 years.

Cotton, along with Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.), introduced a bill that would exempt Americans who earn less than the national median household income from paying the penalty for not having health insurance.

“I have a modest proposal for the soon-to-be-released tax legislation: Repeal Obamacare’s individual mandate,” Cotton tweeted. “Repealing individual mandates saves $300 billion over 10 years. CBO said so during health care debate last summer.” [ Source: Washington Free Beacon (Read More…) ]