A New Perspective on Constantine

(Worthy News) – Indonesia’s most volatile volcano has spewed smoke and ash in the latest of several eruptions in less than two weeks.

Disaster mitigation agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said Mount Merapi on the main island of Java erupted twice early Monday. A column of volcanic material rose up to 1,200 meters (3,930 feet) into the air and ash fell in several villages.

The alert level of the volcano was not raised. [ Source: Fox News (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – A volcano that is oozing, spewing and exploding on Hawaii’s Big Island has gotten more hazardous, sending rivers of molten rock pouring into the ocean Sunday and launching lava skyward that caused the first major injury.

Kilauea volcano began erupting more than two weeks ago and has burned dozens of homes, forced thousands of people to flee and shot up ash clouds from its summit that led officials to distribute face masks.

Lava flows have picked up speed in recent days, spattering molten rock that hit a man in the leg. [ Source: Time (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – Thursday evening the Trump administration announced a measure that pro-life advocates have been seeking since the Clinton administration — restoration of Reagan-era rules that “require a ‘bright line’ of physical and financial separation between Title X services and providers that perform, support, or refer to abortion as a method of family planning.” To understand Title X, and its role in the abortion debate, requires a bit of background.

Planned Parenthood — America’s largest abortion provider — receives more than $450 million annually in federal funding, a significant portion of its annual revenue. Most of that money (roughly 85 percent) comes through Medicaid disbursements. The Trump administration cannot strip those funds from Planned Parenthood without passing legislation — and that legislation would certainly be filibustered by Democrats.

The rest of the federal money comes through Title X of the Public Health Service Act, a federal program that funds “family planning” services and authorizes the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to “make grants to and enter into contracts with public or non-profit private entities to assist in the establishment and operation of voluntary family planning projects which shall offer a broad range of acceptable and effective family planning methods and services.” At the same time, however, the enabling statute is crystal clear that “none of the funds appropriated under this subchapter shall be used in programs where abortion is a method of family planning.”

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(Worthy News) – With less than two years under his belt, President Trump has managed to make a substantial imprint on the U.S. judicial system — one that could be felt for decades to come — by getting the Senate to confirm key judicial nominees.

The fundamental shift has come even as Republicans grumble that Democrats are slow-walking the process in the Senate. Democrats have been demanding maximum debate time for many of Trump’s picks, but even with that obstacle, the courts aren’t lacking for Trump nominees.

“What President Trump has done with judicial selection and appointments is probably at the very center of his legacy, and may well be his greatest accomplishments thus far,” Leonard Leo, an outside adviser to the White House on judicial selection and executive vice president of the Federalist Society, told the Washington Examiner. [ Source: Washington Examiner (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – In 2012, Chief Justice John Roberts famously ruled the Affordable Care Act’s provision mandating most people purchase health insurance or else pay a fine constitutional on the basis that Congress has the authority to tax individuals, and the so-called Obamacare “fine” is effectively a tax.

As the now-deceased Justice Antonin Scalia pointed out in his dissenting opinion, in classifying the Obamacare penalty as a “tax,” Roberts ignored history, the language of the healthcare law, statements made by the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress, and common sense. (The obvious difference between a fine and a tax is that the purpose of a tax is to raise revenue, not to force people to behave in a particular way.)

Interestingly, however faulty Roberts’ decision may have been, it now serves as the foundation for a legal argument that could eventually lead to Obamacare’s demise. [ Source (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was taken to a Ramallah hospital Sunday for the third time in a week.

Sources told Israel’s Channel 10 and the AFP news agency that he was suffering from chest pains. A Palestinian official told the Associated Press Abbas had a fever.

He was still hospitalized on Sunday evening. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – The Trump administration will unveil its plan for Israeli- Palestinian peace sometime in the coming months, but no decision has been made as to the precise timing of its release, two US sources told The Jerusalem Post on Friday.

Trump administration officials were responding to an Associated Press report that said the plan would be made public sometime in mid- to late- June, barring any unexpected crisis.

Israeli officials have previously signaled to the Post that they expect the US plan would come down shortly after the opening of the new American embassy in Jerusalem, which took place earlier this week. [ Source: Jerusalem Post (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – President Donald Trump said Sunday that he will “demand” that the Justice Department open an investigation into whether the FBI infiltrated his presidential campaign, an extraordinary order that came hours before his legal team said that the special counsel indicated its investigation into the president could be concluded by September.

Trump tweeted: “I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes – and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!”

Trump’s pressure on Justice Department — its watchdog later Sunday agreed to expand its existing probe of FBI actions — reached a new intensity with the demand, which is part of the White House’s aggressive new strategy to combat the threat posed by special counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation into the Russia probe. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – The US Ambassador to Israel said evangelical Christians are more passionate supporters of Israel than many Jews.

Speaking to the New York Times about the prominent involvement of Christian supporters of Israel at the Monday inauguration of the US Embassy in Jerusalem, over which he presided, Friedman said evangelical Christians “support Israel with much greater fervor and devotion than many in the Jewish community.”

He backed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s alliances with leaders of the evangelical community by stressing, “You’re running a country, you need friends, you need alliances, you need to protect your people.” [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – The Good Book is shaping up to be a good draw on the crowded landscape of museums in the nation’s capital.

The Museum of the Bible, the newest tourist attraction near the National Mall, has drawn 565,000 visitors since it opened six months ago, according to museum figures released Thursday (May 17).

While that’s less than half as many as visited the National Museum of African American History and Culture in its first six months, it’s enough to assure organizers that a robust audience is hungry for Bible-related exhibits. [ Source: Christian Headlines (Read More…) ]

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