Mmmm! 'Poison Pills' Can Taste Delicious!
By the time you read this, I may very well have completed interviewing Senator Marco Rubio at the National Review Institute's Ideas Summit. One topic sure to come up: On April 2, the White House released a fact sheet that spelled out Iran's obligations to modify some of its nuclear facilities and limit its enrichment. The fact sheet said sanctions would be phased out over time as Iran complied with the terms of the framework. Rubio's amendment simply quotes that fact sheet verbatim and says the president may not waive or lift any Congressional sanctions until he certifies Iran has met the White House conditions. "For the life of me, I don't understand why that would be controversial," Rubio said Wednesday. "Yet somehow, I was told this would box the White House in." But Rubio knows very well why the amendment is controversial. Almost immediately after the White House announced the terms of what it thought was a framework agreement, the Iranians balked. The foreign minister, Javad Zarif, tweeted that the White House fact sheet was spin. The head of Iran's revolutionary guard corps said international inspectors would never gain access to military sites. And Iran's supreme leader says all sanctions must be lifted up front when Iran signs an agreement. In the face of Iran's new red lines, Obama wobbled. On April 17, Obama said he was instructing his negotiators to "find formulas that get to our main concerns while allowing the other side to make a presentation to their body politic that is more acceptable." In the Senate it's not clear whether Rubio will get a vote on his fact-sheet amendment. On Wednesday Rubio said leaders of his party promised that he would be able to get a fair hearing for his amendments during the floor debate, but that this week he said he was being told there may not be enough time to vote on all the amendments Republicans have offered. This could end up being a deliciously painful decision for Democrats: Rubio's fact sheet amendment only asks Democrats to vote on whether a final Iran deal should meet the conditions as described by the leader of their own party. If Democrats vote that it should, then Obama may be forced to issue a veto over his own fact sheet as he seeks to make a final agreement more palatable to Iran. If the Democrats vote that it shouldn't, then they will appear to be conceding the White House either misled the public or bungled the negotiations earlier this month. But different groups of Republicans might have different priorities on how to handle this, as Allahpundit points out: There's a strong bipartisan consensus in the Senate, backed by none other than AIPAC, that's determined to protect Corker's bill as written by defeating any amendments that might split the bipartisan coalition of senators that are currently lined up behind it. Rubio's amendment could do that. If it ended up passing, Democrats would probably vote no on the final bill to prevent the "fact sheet" from tying Obama's hands during the final negotiations with Iran, even though O himself claims Iran already agreed to everything in it. Without those Democratic votes, the bill would fail and Congress would be left with nothing. In theory that would supply the GOP with a nice talking point about the bill's defeat -- "Senate Dems were afraid to make Obama live up to his own rhetoric" -- but in practice there are various RINOs who would likely give Democrats political cover by voting with them to kill Rubio's amendment. For some Republicans, like Corker and Lindsey Graham, the most important thing is to pass some sort of bill that would grant Congress a vote on the final deal, even if it means sacrificing each and every amendment that might potentially inconvenience President Precious in his negotiations. Who Watches the Watchers in Baltimore? The rioters' actions are indefensible. But there are serious, fair questions to be asked about the Baltimore Police Department. (Brad Thor, for example, is spotlighting cases of basic mistakes -- not thoroughly searching those under arrest and missing concealed weapons, etc.) If you don't trust the police, you don't see evidence that they're protecting you, and you think they physically abuse the people under arrest . . . what good options does the citizenry have? Although cellphone video showing Gray being dragged into the back of a police van with limp legs has ignited much of the attention, police have been focusing their probe on what happened to him in the back of the van. Police say his legs were shackled and he wasn't wearing a seat belt, which authorities say was a violation of policy. They said officers ignored his pleas for medical help. The van made four stops before arriving at a police station, including one that police officials on Thursday said they had not initially known about. They said that stop was captured by a private security camera but did not provide additional details. From the police station, Gray was taken to the hospital, where he died a week later. Authorities said he suffered a severe spinal injury. Batts has said an officer driving the van has described Gray as "irate," and an application for a search warrant says that Gray "continued to be combative in the police wagon." The search warrant affidavit said another prisoner in the van told investigators he heard Gray banging against the sides of the vehicle as if he "was intentionally trying to injure himself." But the law enforcement official said that the prisoner may have heard Gray's body thrashing uncontrollably after sustaining a "catastrophic injury to his spine." Guess What Other Policy Hillary Denounces While Practicing Herself? Hillary Clinton doesn't pay interns? I guess it's kind of like her no-tipping policy at Chipotle. Hillary Clinton may be running for president as a champion for the middle class, but the Clinton Foundation's interns do not get paid. "Businesses have taken advantage of unpaid internships to an extent that it is blocking the opportunities for young people to move on into paid employment," Clinton said at UCLA in 2013. "More businesses need to move their so-called interns to employees." That doesn't happen at her own business, the Clinton Foundation that Bill started in 2001. "The Clinton Foundation makes no promises or commitments of employment after the internship," the Foundation says on its website. "No intern is entitled to a job at the conclusion of his/her internship experience." The foundation goes through about 100 interns each summer, with slightly less during the school year. Summer interns volunteer 30 to 40 hours a week, while interns who work during a college semester may work 25 hours. The most some interns receive is a $2,000 stipend for a four-month period, and that depends on financial need. ADDENDA: Love the Leonard Williams pick by the Jets. Next year we're switching from a 3-4 defense to a 10-1: Ten defensive lineman lining up in front of Darrell Revis. Hmm… Rumor is Ben Affleck's Batman will appear in the upcoming superhero movie, Suicide Squad. | 
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