RUTHFULLY YOURS

Senate Democrats on Thursday secured a final victory for President Obama and his Iran nuclear agreement, by blocking two last-ditch efforts from Republicans to either disapprove of the deal or gum it up.

Over the last week, Democrats have prevented Republicans from even considering a resolution disapproving of the deal. In an effort to get around that opposition, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., tried to take up a new measure to prevent the Obama administration from lifting sanctions against Iran until that country frees four jailed Americans and recognizes Israel’s right to exist.

Thursday morning, McConnell tried to coax Democrats into supporting his plan, which is aimed at stopping a deal all Republicans oppose.

A Muslim “comes quietly, peaceably” into a society “until he can put knife under things that hold you together,” warned a Nigerian Anglican priest at Washington, DC’s Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD) on August 10. He and a colleague briefed about ten audience members of IRD staff and others over ominous implications of growing Islamic influence in their northern Nigerian home state wracked by Boko Haram jihadist terror.
The quotation from Nigerian author Chinua Achebe Things Fall Apart originally described Africa’s European colonizers, but fit Muslims as well for Reverend “Peter.” (“We are on the front line,” stated this past victim of Muslim attacks in asking that the priests’ real names not be used.) “When a Muslim is in the minority in any community, he becomes friendly. He is not a fanatic at the point,” explained Reverend “Matthew” in deadly earnest what some might otherwise dismiss as conspiracy-mongering. “As a strategy, it is advisable for him to be peaceful” and “to buy time until he is able to gather his momentum” in numbers and influence.

A teenage boy brings a ticking mechanical object with wires, screws and electrical components hanging from it to his high school. He shows it to his engineering teacher and explains that it’s a homemade alarm clock; that teacher calls it “nice” but advises the boy not to show it to other teachers. Ignoring this advice, the boy brings his invention to his English class where it beeps, is revealed to the English teacher who wisely notifies school authorities who immediately call police. So far, this sounds like exactly the type of reaction you would want from any school or public facility in a country that has already lost too many people to the unsuspected acts of terrorists, malicious students and mentally ill individuals. The clock is confiscated and the boy is suspended from school for 3 days.

But then the spin begins. Instead of heralding the quick thinking and actions of the school and police, Texas democrats call this an example of anti-Muslim sentiments. Immediately, this goes to social media eliciting comments from Mark Zuckerberg, Hillary Clinton and, mirabile dictu, President Obama himself who has enough time to tweet, “Cool clock Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It’s what makes America great.” Actually, America doesn’t need any new ticking “nice” clocks – what it does need is kids with enough common sense by the age of 14 to not bring unidentifiable objects resembling bombs to school.

In this post, I will discuss how the legislative history of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015 adds significant support to arguments that the President has not complied with its terms, and that sanctions on Iran cannot be suspended until he does. I will also show how a provision of the statute previously not discussed in this context adds further support to the view that the so called “side deal” with the IAEA is part of the “deal.”

Does failure to transmit prevent sanctions relief?

As Jack Goldsmith acknowledges in a recent post, this is a very plausible reading of the statute. I also agree with him that it is not mandated by the text. However, the legislative history tilts the scales in this direction. The Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs committee clearly explained: “Sanctions relief is frozen until Congress receives the agreement and then holds a referendum on its merits.” (emphasis added)

Although the rape took place in June, police kept silent about it for nearly three months, until local media published a story about the crime. According to an editorial comment in the newspaper Westfalen-Blatt, police are refusing to go public about crimes involving refugees and migrants because they do not want to give legitimacy to critics of mass migration.

A 13-year-old Muslim girl was raped by another asylum seeker at a refugee facility in Detmold, a city in west-central Germany. The girl and her mother reportedly fled their homeland to escape a culture of sexual violence.

Approximately 80% of the refugees/migrants at the shelter in Munich are male… the price for sex with female asylum seekers is ten euros. — Bavarian Broadcasting (Bayerischer Rundfunk).

Police in the Bavarian town of Mering, where a 16-year-old-girl was raped on September 11, have issued a warning to parents not to allow their children to go outside unaccompanied. In the Bavarian town of Pocking, administrators of the Wilhelm-Diess-Gymnasium have warned parents not to let their daughter’s wear revealing clothing in order to avoid “misunderstandings.”