A New Perspective on Constantine

(Worthy News) – Repealing Obamacare’s individual mandate would save the government $338 billion over a decade and result in 13 million more uninsured Americans in 2027, according to a new CBO score.

Congressional Republicans are considering axing Obamacare’s requirement that most Americans obtain health coverage as part of a tax reform package, although there is resistance from GOP leaders who fear the provision would be rejected in the Senate because it would also mean millions in coverage losses and revive the partisan debate on the rest of the Affordable Care Act.

The CBO score was based on prior legislative text to repeal the mandate, not on new language related to tax reform. [ Source: Politico (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Masterpiece Cakeshop’s Jack Phillips may be an evangelical Christian, but he has a host of supporters from other faiths behind him as he takes his religious-freedom case next month to the Supreme Court.

Leaders from the Catholic, Jewish and Mormon communities — as well as other evangelical small-business owners — came together Wednesday to offer their encouragement at a rally Wednesday at Colorado Christian University.

Oral argument is scheduled Dec. 5 before the Supreme Court in the Masterpiece case, the first to be considered by the high court involving whether bakers, florists, filmmakers and other creative professionals who cater to weddings must serve same-sex ceremonies. [ Source: Washington Times (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Vice President Mike Pence, visiting the Texas church where a gunman killed 26 worshippers, said Wednesday that “bureaucratic failures” contributed to the tragedy by allowing the murderer to purchase a weapon illegally.

Mr. Pence said gunman Devin Patrick Kelley committed a crime simply by buying the semi-automatic rifle that he used in the slayings Sunday at a Baptist church in Sutherland Springs. Kelley’s discharge from the Air Force on a domestic-violence court-martial was not reported to a federal database that should have prevented him from purchasing any firearms.

“He lied on his application,” Mr. Pence said of the shooter. “He had a history of mental illness, and there were bureaucratic failures. We will find out why this information was not properly reported in 2012, and we are working with leaders in Congress to ensure this never happens again.” [ Source: Washington Times (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – A decade after Muslims attacked and displaced Christians in a town in northern Nigeria, Kano state officials have forbidden church buildings to be rebuilt there, sources said.

Eight church buildings destroyed in late September 2007 in predominantly Muslim Tudun Wada Dankadai, Kano state, are still in ruins, a Morning Star News correspondent observed earlier this month.

The buildings of St. Mary’s Catholic, Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), Baptist, Assemblies of God, Charismatic Renewal, Mountain of Fire and Miracle and Deeper Christian Life Bible churches, along with that of another church, have not been rebuilt because local Muslims have refused to allow it, Joseph Opeyemi Ibinkule, a 42-year-old a Christian resident of Tudun Wada Dankadai, told Morning Star News. [ Source: Morningstar News (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – The Good Samaritan credited with causing the Texas church shooter to flee the scene was a churchgoing National Rifle Association (NRA) member, armed with an AR assault rifle.

“I think my God, my Lord, protected me and gave me the skills to do what needed to be done,” said Stephen Willeford, who lived near First Baptist Church Sutherland Springs and rushed over when he heard the gunshots Sunday morning. “I just wish I could’ve gotten there faster.”

Firearm ownership and concealed carry is the norm in this small Texas town; plus Willeford and his family had NRA training. As Americans again debate gun control policies following yet another deadly shooting, and as Christians reconsider the safety of their sanctuaries, the 55-year-old believer represents the view common among white evangelicals of guns as protection. [ Source: Christianity Today (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas spoke with Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman on Wednesday about American peace efforts and reconciliation, the official PA news website Wafa reported.

The visiting Abbas’s meeting with the prince came a day after he met with Saudi King Salman.

“[The PA president] informed the Saudi crown prince of the Palestinian issue’s latest developments and American efforts to advance the peace process, and described for him developments related to Palestinian reconciliation,” the Wafa report said.

Since US President Donald Trump assumed office in January, American officials have met with Israeli, Palestinian and Arab leaders on dozens of occasions in an attempt to revive peace talks. [ Source: Jerusalem Post (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – The Syrian army has captured the last major Islamic State-held town, Albu Kamal, the country’s media said.

The pro-Assad alliance commander confirmed the last urban centre in Syria was now free.

He said: “The last stronghold of Daesh (Islamic State), Albu Kamal, is free of the Daesh organisation.”

The army and its allies moved into the city and were driving out ISIS fighters throughout Wednesday. [ Source: Sky News (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – U.S. Air Force fighter jets may soon be able to instantly disable enemy targets using invisible, energized beams of light shot from a small, compact laser cannon. The laser-equipped vehicles might call to mind the heavily armed “helicarriers” from Marvel’s “Captain America” films.

Yesterday (Nov 6), the U.S. Air Force Research Lab signed a $26.3 million contract with Lockheed Martin to develop high-energy laser weapons that are lightweight and compact enough to be mounted on fighter jets. Lockheed Martin is a defense, aerospace and technology company headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland.

“Earlier this year, we delivered a 60-kW [kilowatt]-class laser to be installed on a U.S. Army ground vehicle,” Rob Afzal, a senior fellow of laser weapon systems at Lockheed Martin, said in a statement. “It’s a completely new and different challenge to get a laser system into a smaller, airborne test platform. It’s exciting to see this technology mature enough to embed in an aircraft.” [ Source: Live Science (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani warned rival Saudi Arabia on Wednesday that it was making a mistake in aligning with Israel and the United States over Tehran.

“You are making mistake if you think Iran is not your friend and the US and Israel are your friends,” Rouhani said, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

Rouhani criticized Saudi Arabia on Wednesday over what he called “unprecedented” interference in Lebanese affairs, adding his voice to those who suspect the Gulf kingdom forced Lebanon’s prime minister to resign. [ Source: UK Guardian (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Vietnam’s deadliest storm this year, Typhoon Damrey, has killed 106 people, while dozens of dangerously full reservoirs release water as the southeast Asian nation prepares to host a regional summit.

As of Wednesday, 106 people were known to have died because of the year’s 12th major storm, which struck on Saturday, leaving 25 missing and 197 injured, the country’s search and rescue committee said. [ Source: Jerusalem Post (Read More…) ]