Obama's National-Security Guy: We Never Really Wanted Full Inspections
Our Patrick Brennan observed a dramatic 180 degree change in the Obama administration's claim of what the Iran deal required to work. Obama's deputy National Security Advisor, Ben Rhodes, back on April 6: Rhodes also claimed the new arrangements ensure "anytime, anywhere" inspections of any and every Iranian facility — contradicting complaints by Israel that no such provision is guaranteed. Asked directly if the IAEA would have anytime, anywhere access, Rhodes said, "Yes, if we see something that we want to inspect." "In the first place we will have anytime, anywhere access the nuclear facilities," he said, referring to "the whole supply chain." Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, April 20: Nuclear inspectors will need unfettered access in Iran as part of a deal to lift economic sanctions, U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said a day after an Iranian general said military sites must be off limits. "We expect to have anywhere, anytime access," Moniz, a nuclear physicist who negotiated the technical details of a framework nuclear accord, Tuesday, CNN's Erin Burnett: "'We never sought anytime/anywhere inspections,' President Obama's Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes tells me." Think about this. The assurance that they kept pointing to, again and again, to quell critics never really mattered to them. One of the most insufferable complaints from this president and his fans is the assertion that he's the target of more hostility and opposition than any previous president -- indicating they have short memories -- and that this is somehow unjust or unfair. When you lie to people, they tend to turn hostile. This happens when you assure people many times, loudly and clearly, that they can keep their plan, and then they can't. Or that the Benghazi attack was caused by a video. Or that illegal immigrants released have only minor criminal records. Or that Bowe Bergdahl served with "honor and distinction." The modus operandi of this presidency is say whatever you need to say to get what you want, and then forget about it. Or as I wrote a long time ago, "All Barack Obama Statements Come With an Expiration Date. All of Them." I'd Say a Lot of People Want Liver . . . Clarice Yeesh. "I'd say a lot of people want liver," [Deborah Nucatola, Planned Parenthood's senior director of medical research] says in the video posted on the Center for Medical Progress's Web site, between bites of salad. "And for that reason, most providers will do this case under ultrasound guidance, so they'll know where they're putting their forceps." She continues: "We've been very good at getting heart, lung, liver, because we know that, so I'm not gonna crush that part, I'm gonna basically crush below, I'm gonna crush above, and I'm gonna see if I can get it all intact." The group also posted a nearly three-hour version of the video that it's calling the "full footage." Over lunch at a Los Angeles-area restaurant, the unidentified activists, a man and a woman, told Nucatola they worked for a fetal tissue collection center that aimed to snare "a competitive advantage" by providing local samples for researchers who'd like to avoid lengthy trips between clinic and lab. They said they worked in Norwalk, a suburb of Los Angeles. "Every provider has patients who want to donate their tissue, and they want to accommodate them," says Nucatola. "They just want to do it in a way that is not perceived as: This clinic is selling tissue. This clinic is making money off this. In the Planned Parenthood world, they're very, very sensitive to that. Some affiliates might do it for free. They want to come to a number that looks like a reasonable number for the effort that is allotted on their part..." One activist asks, "Okay, so, when you are—or when the affiliate is—determining what that monetary . . . So that it doesn't raise the question of . . . 'This is what it's about . . .'—What price range would you . . . ?" "You know, I would throw a number out, I would say it's probably anywhere from $30 to $100, depending on the facility and what's involved," says Nucatola. "It just has to do with space issues, are you sending someone there that's going to be doing everything . . . is there shipping involved? Is someone going to be there to pick it up?" Planned Parenthood insists they never, ever, ever sell fetal remains, they merely "donate tissue." But in the recorded conversation, Nucatola doesn't exactly recoil in shock and horror at the thought of someone purchasing fetal remains. She merely says that Planned Parenthood is concerned about the perceptions of selling what was once a beating human heart. Some of us will find her particular wording revealing, almost as if neither she nor the organization are concerned with the actual sale of what was once a beating human heart, just the perceptions around it. 
I know how you're feeling, Leon Wolf: If the First Lady of the United States could say 8 years ago that for the first time in her adult life she was proud of her country, then I suppose I can say that for the first time in my adult life I'm ashamed of my country. If the price of being publicly loyal to it pretending that I'm basically okay with sharing a national identity with the people who have allowed this monstrosity to continue unchecked since 1973, or that my disagreements with people who are okay with the sale of baby parts are "mere politics," then count me out of this ridiculous charade. Pro-Hillary PAC Staffers Love Using Uber You probably saw Hillary Clinton lamenting Uber: In comments aimed squarely at companies like Uber, Hillary Clinton, a candidate for the Democratic party's nomination, said Monday that she would "crack down on bosses who exploit employees by misclassifying them as contractors or even steal their wages." While she didn't call out Uber by name, the ride-hailing giant has come under scrutiny for its practice of classifying drivers as independent contractors rather than employees. "Many Americans are making extra money renting out a small room, designing websites, selling products they design themselves at home, or even driving their own car," Clinton said during a speech at the New School in New York City. "This on-demand, or so-called 'gig economy,' is creating exciting opportunities and unleashing innovation. But it's also raising hard questions about workplace protections and what a good job will look like in the future." Guess what ride service Ready PAC -- the pro-Hillary SuperPAC formerly known as Ready for Hillary PAC -- uses? You guessed it, Uber! 16 times here . . . 37 times here . . . and 52 times here . . . Hillary's concerned about "workplace protections and what a good job will look like in the future" . . . but not, you know, concerned enough to discourage her team from using the company. I guess Uber's only morally problematic when you use the service. Look, this woman has been driven around in limousines and black town cars just about every day of her life since 1992. Maybe she's just irked that mere plebes like us can now afford it every now and then. The boss: When Hillary pledged to "crack down on bosses who exploit employees by misclassifying them as contractors," it was clear what she was talking about. She is signaling her intention to declare open season on innovators not to the liking of the regulatory-business complex. One would think that new services that link up workers and customers in creative ways would be welcomed, not feared. But Democrats are increasingly the party of economic nostalgia. They still want that bridge to the 21st century; they just want to travel the other way. Could Republicans Live Happily with a President Who Didn't Emotionally Mirror Them? Jumping off this point from Ace . . . Establishment Republicans are using Trump, as usual, as a proxy for their favorite past-time, which is calling their fellow Republicans crude, simplistic, dumb, and uneducated. On the other hand, Trump supporters continue to blow off facts, like the fact that Trump is, by personal description, not just pro-choice but very pro-choice, so much in fact he's proudly against banning even partial birth abortion, and has long been pro-total-amnesty for 30 million illegals, and in fact continues to hold that position (he'll build a wall like you wouldn't believe, and also amnesty those already here like you wouldn't believe), and also said that Obama's bailouts saved us from a depression in 2010, and that he would "hire" Obama. A major compliment from the guy who "hires" a bright apprentice every few years. And on the other side all I hear is: "But he's angry. He's angry." Well: So f***ing what? Is the only thing that matters Emotional Mirroring -- a candidate pretending to feel the same things we do? We seem to have a major cleavage here between those looking for emotional validation and those who at least to pretend that they're looking for substantive commitments. Looking at the concept of "emotional mirroring . . ." How many of you out there would be happy with a conservative president who enacted deeply conservative policies and made deeply conservative appointments, but who always spoke with kumbaya, reach-across-the-aisle, goo-goo happy talk? Picture a Republican president whose appointments to federal agencies hacked away at regulations with a machete while he offered generic lip service of making sure regulations ensured a clean environment, protecting consumers, protecting the public interest, and so on. Picture a commander-in-chief whose policy decisions were bold and exciting, but whose personal style was pleasant, boring, and uncontroversial. 
"I like the sound of that!" I can see some grassroots conservatives objecting, contending that soft-spoken, conciliatory-sounding Republican lawmakers rarely stick to their guns when the heat gets turned up. But part of me would love a Republican like that. You have to figure that was a big part of the Reagan appeal -- his genial, grandfatherly style meant he couldn't possibly be the serious epoch-defining game-changer his enemies claimed. I want the emotional dial in our body politic to be turned down. I want politics to be less "exciting" and full of celebrities and for the MTV Rock-the-Vote crowd to tune out. You have to admit that right now, there's a chasm between the emotional mindset of a Republican primary voter and those low-information voters. Republican primary voters think the world is going to hell in a hand-basket -- a perpetually sluggish economy, Obamacare making insurance more expensive and worsening entitlements, this insane Iran deal, ISIS on the march, defense cuts, Planned Parenthood running a rummage sale on fetal parts, you name it. The low-information voters have a vague sense that something is wrong, and getting wor-- OH MY GOD, did you see Kim Kardashian on the cover of Rolling Stone?!!? Illegal-Immigrant Sex Offenders Not Added to National Registries Here comes the next big outrage: According to CNN's John Walsh, the National Sex Offender Public Registry only lists American offenders, not illegal immigrants. From the Boston Globe's reporting, last month: Hundreds of immigrants convicted of sex crimes who should have been deported but instead were released in the United States because their homelands refused to take them back. They are convicted rapists, child molesters, and kidnappers — among "the worst of the worst," as one law enforcement agency put it. Yet the Globe found that immigration officials have released them without making sure they register with local authorities as sex offenders. And once US Immigration and Customs Enforcement frees them, agency officials often lose track of the criminals, despite outstanding deportation orders against them. The Globe determined that Hernandez Carrera and several other offenders had failed to register as sex offenders, a crime. By law, police are supposed to investigate if such offenders fail to update their address within days of their release. But local officials said they did not learn that ICE had released the offenders until after the Globe inquired about their cases. In that recent CNN appearance, Walsh mentioned Ángel Maturino Reséndiz, a serial killer who killed at least 15 people from 1986 to 1999. He was deported 17 times to Mexico and returned every time. The state of Texas executed him on June 27, 2006. ADDENDA: You learn something new every day: As John Schindler pointed out, Jimi Hendrix was in the 101st Airborne. 
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