Obama Administration: We Don’t Need Congress to Approve an Iran Treaty
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Morning Jolt January 22, 2015 Obama Administration: We Don't Need Congress to Approve an Iran Treaty Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the White House doesn't view an agreement with Iran as a treaty that requires Senate approval, but a matter of "executive prerogative." Article II, Section 2, clause 2, U.S. Constitution: [The President] shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur . . . Not only do we have a president who just ignores the Constitution, we have an administration full of people who go along with it. We might be seeing the first really serious rebellion of Congressional Democrats from an Obama policy: A heated exchanged between President Barack Obama and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-New Jersey) broke out Thursday over whether the U.S. should impose new sanctions on Iran amid ongoing negotiations over the country's nuclear program, according to two senators who were in the room. Menendez, the leading Democrat pushing for additional sanctions against Iran, forcefully pressed Obama on the need for additional sanctions during a meeting in which Obama urged Menendez and other senators to drop their efforts to pass sanctions legislation. Additional sanctions, Obama argued, could torpedo ongoing negotiations over Iran's nuclear program… Obama said that as a former senator himself, he understood how outside forces -- like special interests and donors -- can influence senators to act, one of the senators recounted. That's when Menendez stood up to challenge the President, telling Obama he took "personal offense" to his assertions, the New York Times reported, arguing that he has worked to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions for many years and was not motivated by political considerations. You noticed the spinning wheel of positions on sanctions in Obama's State of the Union, right? Sanctions were proving spectacularly effective with Russia, enacting new sanctions on Iran was tantamount to war, and the trade embargo with Cuba -- effectively just another sanction -- was a terrible failure. All at the same time! I can't add much to what Jay said . . . Some of us wondered, "Why does Obama think that opposition to his Iran policy is based on 'donors'? Is opposition to his Cuba policy based on donors? His Russia policy? His anything policy? Why this one area of Iran?" Hmmm . . . Does it have anything to do with "rhymes with 'choose,'" as Rick Brookhiser would say? Barack Obama is not, as his gushing fans believe, a nice man; further proof of that is the fact that he thinks that the only conceivable reason a Democrat could lack faith in that his policies will contain the Iran nuclear program is pressure from donors.
A 'Come On, Man' Moment for House Republicans Come on, House Republicans. You have to at least have the vote. House Republican leaders abruptly dropped plans late Wednesday to vote on an anti-abortion bill amid a revolt by female GOP lawmakers concerned that the legislation's restrictive language would once again spoil the party's chances of broadening its appeal to women and younger voters. In recent days, as many as two dozen Republicans had raised concerns with the "Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act" that would ban abortions after the 20th week of a pregnancy. Sponsors said that exceptions would be allowed for a woman who is raped, but she could only get the abortion after reporting the rape to law enforcement. Here's the consolation prize for everyone in town for the March for Life, traditionally one of the coldest and egregiously-under-covered events of the year in Washington: The House will vote instead Thursday on a bill prohibiting federal funding for abortions -- a more innocuous anti-abortion measure that the Republican-controlled chamber has passed before. Elsewhere, I was surprised to learn from Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life, that New York state was only the sixth-worst state in the union on life issues: However, unlike states like Vermont and Washington which are lower in the ranking, New York does provide some limited protection for unborn victims of violence, for healthcare freedom of conscience, and for those at the end of life. AUL's annual Life List is unique in that it evaluates the full spectrum of life issues and where the states stand in protecting life from conception to natural death. Go for It, Commissioner. Be the Most Controversial Figure in Sports History New England Patriots fans may want to skip this section. A spectacularly controversial proposal from a USA Today columnist: The New England Patriots cheated in the AFC championship. As such, the team should be disqualified from the Super Bowl. Deflating 11 of 12 balls in Sunday's game, as has been reported by ESPN, is a major violation and something that had a great affect [sic] on the game. Given the number of deflated balls, it's almost impossible this was accident [sic], meaning that someone in the New England organization willfully tampered with the rules to give his team an advantage. That's cheating. The penalty should be simple: Ban 'em. The National Football League and its commissioner, Roger Goodell, will never do it. It would probably be the single most controversial decision in modern sports history. The rage of the New England fan base would be as hot as a supernova and probably would burn for the rest of the natural lives of every fan watching today. (Sports fans have long memories.) And yet, such an unbelievably harsh penalty for cheating would be rather awesome, and perhaps it's not quite so unthinkable. The NCAA "vacates" wins when collegiate programs are found to have violated the rules in an egregious fashion. The NFL has dropped the hammer on coaches involved in unethical behavior in the past, such as New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton's yearlong suspension for "Bounty-gate." And the really complicating factor here is that Patriots coach Bill Belichick is a two-time offender in the realm of cheating: The National Football League fined New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick $500,000 yesterday, and the team will forfeit its first-round draft pick in 2008 if it makes the playoffs, for violating league rules Sunday when a Patriots staff member was discovered videotaping signals by Jets coaches during the season opener at the Meadowlands. Each team supplies its own footballs, so Brady was playing with a different set than Luck was — and, as it turns out, he's admitted in the past to preferring a slightly deflated ball because of the better grip it affords. Even if they were playing with the same footballs, as a Twitter buddy pointed out, Brady would be better prepared to throw the deflated ball since, unlike Luck, he was presumably practicing with one all week. It's an advantage, if not a decisive one. And rules is rules. Even if you want to insist the rout against Indianapolis means any cheating wasn't decisive, it's a fair to ask whether this is the first time the Patriots used footballs that were inflated less than league rules require. How about the previous game against Baltimore? It's been a rough year for the NFL, beginning with the mess of the ludicrously insufficient initial penalty for former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice. Then there was the media deification and subsequent cutting of Michael Sam, the continued bickering over the Washington Redskins' name, the allegations of child abuse by Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, Colts owner Jim Irsay pleading guilty to operating a vehicle while intoxicated, some intensely controversial calls deciding playoff games, and former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez going on trial for three murders. Whew! Amidst this mess, the league is starting to resemble the ugly portrait of greed, violence and corruption painted in the movie The Last Boy Scout, perhaps the Shane-Blackiest film of all time. If you're not familiar with Shane Black, he's a largely successful screenwriter of action movies (Lethal Weapon, The Long Kiss Goodnight) whose work is marked by distinct tropes, some would say clichés -- the tough-guy heroes who swear a lot and have messy relationships at best, cops and robbers in the gritty underside of Los Angeles, a modern noir environment rife with corruption, cynicism and sin; lots of gun fights, rich powerful badguys in nice offices with hulking henchmen, etc. And of course, the stories almost always take place around Christmas, a juxtaposition of cheer and hope in the background with the violence and broken characters in the foreground. Anyway, that early-90s movie made the case that the game is dying, and that perhaps it ought to: Villainous Owner: Football is a dyin' beast, Joe. No heroes left. Not anymore. Since ol' Sonny Werblin paid $400,000 to Joe Namath in '66, the [SOBs] have just gotten greedier. God Almighty, when's it enough? Free agents. "Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme." Now you got guys on PCP wiggin' out and shootin' themselves on the field. The American public is piss-pot tired of it, and they're changing the channel. Bruce Willis hero: Ratings are down. So you're gonna bribe some senators to legalize gambling. Villainous Owner: Legalize sports gambling. You see, with all the heroes gone, legalized gambling is about the only thing that'll save the beast. You follow me, Joe? We're talking about some big bucks here. We're talking about billions. That's nine zeroes, son. So maybe the moment is right for a dramatic overcompensation. Forty-four to 45 states might applaud a Patriots ban, according to ESPN's online poll last night, as will probably 31 of the 32 fan bases. ADDENDA: So when do I stop writing "2014" on these Jolts, March? April?
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