House Intelligence memo released: What it says

House Intelligence memo released: What it says

(Worthy News) – The House Intelligence Committee has released its controversial memo outlining alleged abuses of secret surveillance by the FBI and Justice Department in the Trump-Russia investigation. Here are some key points:

* The Steele dossier formed an essential part of the initial and all three renewal FISA applications against Carter Page.

* Andrew McCabe confirmed that no FISA warrant would have been sought from the FISA Court without the Steele dossier information.

* The political origins of the Steele dossier were known to senior DOJ and FBI officials, but excluded from the FISA applications.

* DOJ official Bruce Ohr met with Steele beginning in the summer of 2016 and relayed to DOJ information about Steele’s bias. Steele told Ohr that he, Steele, was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected president and was passionate about him not becoming president. [ Source: Washington Examiner (Read More…) ]

Billy Graham Chaplains See ‘Revival’ After Kentucky School Shooting

Billy Graham Chaplains See ‘Revival’ After Kentucky School Shooting

(Worthy News) – The small town of Benton, Kentucky was rocked by a terrible tragedy when a shooting broke out a Marshall County High School last month. A 15-year-old student fatally shot two fellow students and injured 14 others with a handgun.

When a team of crisis-trained chaplains from the Billy Graham Evangelicals Association made their way to Kentucky, so many people lined up to speak with them that the crowd swallowed the parking lot.

The 14 Rapid Response Team Chaplains set up their Mobile Ministry Center in the parking lot of a local BBQ restaurant ready to comfort the population of around 4,500. [ Source: CBN News (Read More…) ]

Missile Test Fail: U.S. Unable to Shoot Down Incoming Projectile From Hawaii

Missile Test Fail: U.S. Unable to Shoot Down Incoming Projectile From Hawaii

(Worthy News) – The U.S. military was unable to shoot down an incoming dummy missile in a test carried out on Wednesday, an official said.

The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Reuters that an SM-3 Block IIA missile launched from an Aegis Ashore test site in Hawaii failed to hit another missile fired from an aircraft.

The unsuccessful attempt comes amid heightened fears over North Korea’s developing nuclear program. [ Source: Newsweek (Read More…) ]

House GOP prepares to fund government into late March

House GOP prepares to fund government into late March

(Worthy News) – The House could vote as early as Tuesday on a stopgap bill to fund the government through March 22, according to multiple GOP sources.

Congress has until Feb. 8 to avoid another shutdown, but finding the votes in the House will not be easy for GOP leaders.

Conservatives and defense hawks are threatening to oppose yet another short-term funding bill. House Democrats, meanwhile, have refused to back stopgap measures without securing relief for Dreamers. [ Source: Politico (Read More…) ]

Economy to grow at 5.4% rate in first quarter, Atlanta Fed tracker shows

Economy to grow at 5.4% rate in first quarter, Atlanta Fed tracker shows

(Worthy News) – The economy is on track to put up blockbuster growth numbers in the first quarter, according to the latest forecast from the Atlanta Fed.

GDP is expected to surge 5.4 percent to start 2018, the central bank branch estimated in its latest rolling look at how the economy is progressing.

If the forecast holds, it would be the best quarter since the Great Recession ended in 2009. The previous highest was third quarter of 2014, which hit 5.2 percent. [ Source: CNBC (Read More…) ]

Judge grants Christian Indonesians time to fight deportation

Judge grants Christian Indonesians time to fight deportation

(Worthy News) – A federal judge on Thursday blocked the government from deporting dozens of Christian Indonesians who fear persecution if returned home, until they’re given a chance to fight their removal.

U.S. District Judge Patti Saris in Boston said 50 Indonesians living illegally in New Hampshire must be given time to reopen their immigration cases and argue that the conditions in their home country have changed.

“This opinion may literally save lives,” said Lee Gelernt, an attorney for the Indonesians. “As the court recognized … this country’s laws do not permit the government to send people back to persecution or torture,” said Gelernt, of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Immigrants’ Rights Project. [ Source: Fox News (Read More…) ]

First Temple-era relics of possible royal estate found in Jerusalem hills

First Temple-era relics of possible royal estate found in Jerusalem hills

(Worthy News) – Israeli authorities inaugurated a nature park on Wednesday near Jerusalem after five years of archaeological excavations at Ein Hanya, the second-largest spring in the Judean Hills and a key site in the history of Christianity. Along with an announcement that the park will open to the public free of charge within months, the Israel Antiquities Authority revealed some major findings at the site, including a column capital typical of royal structures from the First Temple era and one of the oldest coins ever discovered in the Jerusalem area.

Excavations and conservation and development work were conducted between 2012 and 2016 at the site, which is part of the Rephaim Valley National Park and located beyond the Green Line but within Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries.

“The result is an extraordinarily beautiful site incorporating archaeology, an ancient landscape and a unique visitor experience,” the IAA said in a statement. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]

EU diplomats plot against Trump on Jerusalem

EU diplomats plot against Trump on Jerusalem

(Worthy News) – EU diplomats in the Middle East will try to undermine Donald Trump’s plan to establish Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

The blueprint for the EU counter-measures was contained in a confidential report filed by EU states’ ambassadors in East Jerusalem and Ramallah, in Israeli-occupied Palestine, after the US president, on 6 December, unilaterally recognised Israel’s claim to the holy city.

Trump’s decision was “a fundamental shift in US policy”, the 49-page EU report, seen by EUobserver, said. [ Source: EU Observer (Read More…) ]

Trump will clear way for publication of explosive memo

Trump will clear way for publication of explosive memo

(Worthy News) – Over the strong objections of his own Justice Department, President Donald Trump will clear the way for the publication of a classified memo on the Russia investigation that Republicans say shows improper use of surveillance by the FBI, White House officials said Thursday.

The memo, prepared by Republicans on the House intelligence committee, is said to allege FBI misconduct in the initial stages of its investigation of potential ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign. Trump’s Justice Department and Democrats furiously lobbied Trump to stop the release, saying it could harm national security and mislead the public.

A White House official said Congress would probably be informed of the decision Friday, adding Trump was “OK” with its release. A second White House official said Trump was likely to declassify the congressional memo but the precise method for making it public was still being figured out. The officials were not authorized to be quoted about private deliberations and spoke on condition of anonymity. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]

U.S. says Syria may be developing new types of chemical weapons

U.S. says Syria may be developing new types of chemical weapons

(Worthy News) – The Trump administration is prepared to again take military action against Syrian government forces if necessary to deter the use of chemical weapons and is concerned they may be developing new methods to deliver such weapons, senior US officials said on Thursday.

Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad have continued occasional use of chemical weapons in smaller amounts since a deadly attack last April that drew a US missile strike on a Syrian air base, the officials told reporters in a briefing.

If the international community does not act quickly to step up pressure on Assad, Syria’s chemical weapons could spread beyond Syria and possibly even to the United States, one of the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “It will spread if we don’t do something,” the official warned. [ Source: Jerusalem Post (Read More…) ]