A New Perspective on Constantine

(Worthy News) – President Trump’s second budget will cut $3 trillion in spending over the next 10 years, White House officials indicated Sunday night, but won’t be balanced.

Instead of balancing the budget, the Trump administration will tout lowering the debt relative to the economy in its budget document, to be released Monday.

“As a nation, we face difficult times – challenged by a crumbling infrastructure, growing deficits, rogue nations, and irresponsible Washington spending,” Office of Management and Director Mick Mulvaney said in a statement Sunday evening. “Through this budget proposal, it is clear that the President and this Administration are determined to reverse these trends, and ensure greater prosperity for the hard-working American taxpayer.” [ Source: Washington Examiner (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Photos published by the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit on Saturday show the Syrian Tiyas Military Airbase from which the UAV that infiltrated Israel.

Also known as the T-4 Airbase and located in the Homs Governorate, north of Tiyas, the base has been used by Iran for the past few months.

“Iran and the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards have been operating there for a long time, backed by Syrian army forces and with the approval of the Syrian regime,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said.

Iran has been using the base in recent months for the purpose of transferring weaponry to be used against Israel. [ Source: Ynet News (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – President Donald Trump will unveil his second budget on Monday – seeking to make good on his promise to bolster military spending and requesting funds for infrastructure, construction of a wall along the border with Mexico and opioid treatment programs.

The budget plan, which is viewed largely as suggestions by Congress, which has the constitutional authority to decide spending levels, will likely draw criticism from conservatives who worry that Republicans are embracing deficit spending.

The proposal will include $200 billion for infrastructure spending and more than $23 billion for border security and immigration enforcement, Mick Mulvaney, who heads the administration’s budget office, said in a statement on Sunday night. [ Source: Reuters (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson flew into Egypt on Sunday at the start of a five-nation tour that coincides with heightened regional tension, as well as unease over the Trump administration’s Mideast policies.

His arrival in Cairo came one day after Israel carried out a wave of airstrikes in Syria, having intercepted an Iranian drone that infiltrated its airspace and an Israeli F-16 was downed upon its return from Syria. It was the most serious Israeli engagement in Syria since the war there began in 2011.

Despite the weekend’s events, Tillerson will not stop in Israel, where no visit had been originally scheduled. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Russian President Vladimir Putin blew the whistle to stop the confrontation between Israel and Iran in Syria and both sides accepted his decision. That’s the apparent conclusion to be reached from the chain of events this past weekend.

On Saturday afternoon, after the second wave of bombardments by the Israel Air Force against Syrian targets and Iranian installations in Syria, senior Israeli officials were still taking a militant line and it seemed as if Jerusalem was considering further military action. Discussion of that ended not long after a phone call between Putin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The official announcement by the Russian Foreign Ministry objected to the violation of Syrian sovereignty by Israel and totally ignored the event that provoked the eruption – the infiltration of an Iranian drone into Israeli air space. In the conversation with Netanyahu a few hours later, Putin asked him to avoid moves that could lead to “a new round of dangerous consequences for the region.” [ Source: Ha’aretz (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Hamas’s armed wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, announced on Saturday evening that it is prepared to respond to “any Zionist aggression” in light of the escalated tensions between Israel and Syria. The spokesperson for the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades to Twitter to relay the message, according to Hamas’s English website.

“The Brigades have raised the level of alert to protect our people and respond to any Zionist aggression in the light of the ongoing events taking place in northern occupied Palestine,” spokesperson Abu-Obeida reportedly wrote.

The tensions along Israel’s northern border with Syria rapidly increased Saturday morning after an Iranian drone that entered Israel’s airspace was shot down by the Israeli Air Force. In response, Israeli fighter jets targeted the control vehicle from which the drone was operated in the Syrian T-4 Airbase near Palmyra. [ Source: Jerusalem Online (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – The Israeli military shot down an Iranian drone launched from Syria into Israeli airspace early Saturday in what the military described as a “severe and irregular violation of Israeli sovereignty.”

The military said its planes faced “massive” anti-aircraft fire from Syria which forced two Israeli pilots to abandon their F-16 jet as they sought to target the drone’s launching pad. One pilot was severely injured and both were taken to hospital for medical treatment after they landed in Israeli territory.

In response, Israel launched a “large-scale attack” on at least a dozen Iranian targets in Syria, marking a escalation in tensions along the country’s northern border. [ Source: NBC News (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Churches for decades have had to fend for themselves when hurricane winds ripped off the chapel roof while the nonprofit YMCA next door — because it’s not religious — pocketed Federal Emergency Management Agency payments to repair similar damage to its building.

That treatment of houses of worship was written out of U.S. law last week.

A provision tucked into the budget deal that President Trump signed into law Friday put churches on equal footing with YMCA, senior centers and other nonprofit groups when it comes to FEMA disaster relief. [ Source: Washington Times (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – All eyes will be on President Trump this week as the Senate begins its immigration debate, with Republicans hoping the White House will play an active role in ruling out proposals he won’t accept, making it likelier he will get a bill he can sign.

The first test vote will occur Monday as senators vote to bring up a placeholder piece of legislation and then begin to offer their proposals as amendments.

How that will play out remains to be seen, but senators were pushing over the weekend to get plans ready. [ Source: Washington Times (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Vice President Mike Pence said in an interview published Sunday the U.S. is ready to talk to North Korea.

“The maximum pressure campaign is going to continue and intensify. But if you want to talk, we’ll talk,” Mr. Pence told the Washington Post.

Mr. Pence, who conducted the interview on his way back to the U.S. from the Winter Olympics, said the U.S. and South Korea agreed on terms for further engagement with Pyongyang during two conversations he had with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. [ Source: Washington Times (Read More…) ]