The Daily Beast has the article Republicans Admit: That Iran Letter Was a Dumb Idea.

But even among Republicans whose offices have signed the letter, there is some trepidation that the Iran letter injects partisanship into the Iran negotiations, shifting the narrative from the content of the deal to whether Republicans are unfairly trying to undercut the president.

Gee, do ya think the letter injects partisanship?  How much trepidation will they feel when they realize that they might be facing 3 years in prison?

Republican aides were taken aback by what they thought was a light-hearted attempt to signal to Iran and the public that Congress should have a role in the ongoing nuclear discussions. Two GOP aides separately described their letter as a “cheeky” reminder of the Congressional branch’s prerogatives.

“The administration has no sense of humor when it comes to how weakly they have been handling these negotiations,” said a top GOP Senate aide.

No, I have no sense of humor when it comes to negotiating about nuclear weapons and war in the Middle East.  Maybe Dzhokhar Tsarnaev should use as a defense that we just have no sense of humor about terrorist acts.

The Republicans and these stupid aides would be better off shutting the ef up and going back to their little hidey holes until the FBI comes a-knocking.

These Republicans call other people names, but they are dumber than a door post.

March 10, 2015

I forgot to add this quote from the article.

Supporters of the White House’s ongoing negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program pushed back hard against the letter, with some even citing a law written in the 18th century (and not applied since 1803) to say that the senators engaged in illegal conduct by communicating with a foreign government to undermine the U.S. government’s foreign policy.

Is the Daily Beast out of its mind?  Are they somehow trying to subtly justify what the Republicans did by saying how old the law is and how long it has been since their has been an application?  Maybe there hasn’t been a good example against which to apply the law since 1803 because there hasn’t been anyone since then who was so stupid as to break the law so blatantly. At least when Ronald Reagan broke the law, and kept the Iran hostages in captivity longer than they would have been held otherwise, he tried to keep it secret from the American public.  These modern Republicans haven’t got the sense that a President with incipient Alzheimer’s disease had.

These are the people that some in our country want to trust to have their fingers on the nuclear button.  What will it take for people to realize how dangerous these Republicans are?  This is no game.  These are life and death decisions.

The Daily Kos has the article Chuck Todd comes clean on Obamacare and kinda exposes failed Republican governance.

The article could have mentioned that Todd’s closing remarks did uncover his disingenuous ass hattery.  He called the ACA “one of the most unpopular laws in recent history” without indicating that he was even aware of his own contribution to whatever unpopularity it may have.  Nor does he admit to stating as fact something that is probably not true.

Robert Reich has the Facebook post Republicans jeopardizing the safety and security of the United States.  The headline is mine, however, all  but one word can be found as a phrase in Reich’s post.

For the first time in American diplomatic history, one political party is devising its own foreign policy with its own entreaties to foreign governments.

His post asked my opinion, so this is what I wrote.

Prosecute under the Logan Act. If we don’t stop this Republican escalation of flaunting the law, who knows where this might end. The President took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution. Could he be impeached if he fails to act?

How might the Senators react if the President at least asked the FBI to interview each of the 47 Senators to get them to admit or deny that they authorized their signatures to be put on the letter.

Could Mitch McConnell still be majority leader if 47 of his Senators were in jail?

Call on President Obama to protect and defend our Constitution or face the consequences.

The Daily Banter has the article 47 Republicans May Have Just Broken the Law By Writing An Outrageous Letter To Iran.  I particularly like the opening paragraph of the article.

Just when you thought congressional Republicans couldn’t look any more like a troupe of treacherous clowns hellbent on circus-ifying anything President Obama tries to do, they pull another bag of tricks from the trunk of their tiny car.

The Daily Banter has a related article Why the White House Won’t Pursue GOP Senators’ Iran Letter As Logan Act Violation.

However, such an uphill fight would not be worth the gamble, politically, and under the current set of facts, the White House is getting the best of both words.

I agree that the Whitehouse might see it this way, but I completely disagree that this attitude is correct.

As I said in my previous post 47 Senators Charged With Violating Logan Act,

I would like to see Obama have FBI agents record interviews with each one of these Senators to verify that they approved adding their names to the letter.  If they did approve, then they can be charged.  If they say they didn’t approve, but it can be proved that they did, then they can also be charged with lying to the FBI.  It would be fun to see if Mitch McConnell can maintain his position of majority leader in the Senate if 47 of his Senators are taken away to jail.

There comes point when the President has to say enough is enough.  He follows a dangerous path if he fails to act against these Senators.

Please sign the Whitehouse petition mentioned in my previous post Senator Tom Cotton’s letter to Iran is a direct violation of the Logan Act and should be prosecuted.  The least we can do to try to regain some control over our government is to sign a petition.  It is even easier than dragging yourself to the polls to vote.

Your might have heard of this right that you have:

the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

In this age of the internet, you don’t even have to physically assemble.

The United States Insititute of Peace has the article Part II: Iran Responds to GOP Letter.

Foreign Minister Zarif added that “I should bring one important point to the attention of the authors and that is, the world is not the United States, and the conduct of inter-state relations is governed by international law, and not by US domestic law. The authors may not fully understand that in international law, governments represent the entirety of their respective states, are responsible for the conduct of foreign affairs, are required to fulfil the obligations they undertake with other states and may not invoke their internal law as justification for failure to perform their international obligations.”

Thanks to Nancy Weinberg for posting this on Facebook.

The Iran Primer Blog has all the pieces to this series nicely arranged on their web site. In case this presentation gets altered, I will give you links to the various pieces that exist as of the writing of my post.

Part I: GOP Letter on Iran

Part II: Iran Responds to GOP Letter

Part III: White House and Democrats Respond to GOP Letter

Vice President Joe Biden

Around the world, America’s influence depends on its ability to honor its commitments. Some of these are made in international agreements approved by Congress. However, as the authors of this letter must know, the vast majority of our international commitments take effect without Congressional approval. And that will be the case should the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, China, and Germany reach an understanding with Iran.

Well, at least the America public is getting lessons in our government. Perhaps some Senators might learn a lesson or two. Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif seems to be much more knowledgeable about our Constitution and International Law than our Republicans. Is America embarrassed at all about the nincompoops we elect?

If you liked my previous post 47 Senators Charged With Violating Logan Act, then here is something you can do about it.

Sign the petition, Senator Tom Cotton’s letter to Iran is a direct violation of the Logan Act and should be prosecuted, on the Whitehouse web site. (as of 1:48PM, the link has been fixed so that you can sign the petition).

Senator Tom Cotton and 46 others have written an Open Letter to the Iranian Government as an attempt to influence and interfere with our President’s current negotiations.

This is a violation of the Logan Act, a United States federal law that forbids unauthorized citizens from negotiating with foreign governments. It was passed in 1799 and last amended in 1994. Violation of the Logan Act is a felony, punishable under federal law with imprisonment of up to three years.

The Republicans’ flaunting of the law is getting bolder and bolder.  If we fail to prosecute, the escalation will just continue.  When you see the smoking gun, why wait for the mushroom cloud?

The President has taken the oath of office in which he promised to protect and defend the Constitution.  It is his duty to look into prosecution as a way of defending the Constitution and protecting it from being violated by people who want to ignore the separation of powers.