By Arianna Huffington
Earlier today, (December 7, 2015), the candidate currently leading in the polls for the Republican presidential nomination called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.” That was, of course, Donald Trump. As Jeffrey Goldberg just tweeted, “Donald Trump is now an actual threat to national security. He’s providing jihadists ammunition for their campaign to demonize the US.”
“IOTD” is image of the day, a concept I came up with. I teach visual meditative therapy – or in easy terms – a mini mental holiday. For some people it is very difficult for them to get their image right. I post an image a day for people to use in their mini mental vacay. Some are serious, some are silly, and some are just beautiful!”
unprecedented breach of foreign policy protocol both in its form and its boldness
Is the letter to Iran from 47 Republican senators correct about Congress’ role in nuclear deal?
The Obama administration’s efforts to negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran were already contentious. But they got more so — if that’s possible — on March 9, 2015, with the release of a letter by 47 Republican senators.
The missive, labeled “an open letter to the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” was structured as a civics lesson — one intended to underscore that even if Iran is negotiating with the executive branch, Congress is not powerless in the process.
A key portion of the 286-word letter says that the undersigned senators “will consider any agreement regarding your nuclear-weapons program that is not approved by the Congress as nothing more than an executive agreement between President Obama and Ayatollah Khamenei. The next president could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen and future Congresses could modify the terms of the agreement at any time.”
Critics called the letter unprecedented for seeming to meddle with the president’s authority to handle negotiations with foreign countries. Vice President Joe Bidensaid the letter “is beneath the dignity of an institution I revere.” Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said the letter “has no legal value and is mostly a propaganda ploy.”
At a State Department briefing the day the letter was released, spokeswoman Jen Psaki went so far as to say the letter was factually incorrect.
Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Republican freshman, whose letter to the leaders of Iran warning against a nuclear deal with the Obama administration has caused an international uproar.
At 37, Mr. Cotton is the youngest member of the Senate and had served as of Wednesday exactly 65 days. A graduate of Harvard and Harvard Law School, Mr. Cotton served as an infantry officer in the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq in 2006, one of the bloodiest periods of the war.
The letter 47 Republican senators sent to Iran is one of the most plainly stupid things a group of senators has ever done
By: Fred Kaplan
The letter — which encourages Iran’s leaders to dismiss the ongoing nuclear talks with the United States and five other nations — is as brazen, gratuitous, and plainly stupid an act as any committed by the Senate in recent times, and that says a lot. It may also be illegal.
The banalities begin with the greeting: “An Open Letter to the Leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran.” By custom, a serious letter to foreign leaders would address them by name. Who is it that the senators are seeking to influence: the supreme leader, the Parliament, the Revolutionary Guards? Clearly none of the above, otherwise it wouldn’t be an open letter. Nor, if this were a serious attempt of some sort, would Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (who was among the missive’s signatories) leave the task of organizing it to the likes of Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, an otherwise unknown freshman.
As usual, the Republicans’ goal is simple: to embarrass and undermine President Barack Obama. The idiocies begin with the first sentence: “It has come to our attention while observing your nuclear negotiations with our government that you may not fully understand our constitutional system.”
~Traitor Senator Taking Money from Defense Industry Traitor Senator~
Cotton mouthing off
~~Published on Mar 10, 2015~~
“Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks discusses Senator Tom Cotton’s defense of the GOP’s threatening letter to the Iranian leadership about nuclear negations.
A letter written by Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton and signed by forty-six other senators was sent to the Iranian leadership earlier this week that threatens a possible international agreement that the Obama administration is attempting to reach. With the deadline looming on March 24 this has seen as active sabotage and possibly even treason in a move that has never been seen by the Senate in the entire history of the United States.
Cotton went out of his way to defend the move of the GOP and his letter, condemning Obama’s moves for everything dealing with Iran thus far.”
It Is What It Is 