Will US return to the Iran nuclear agreement?

The Russian war in Ukraine understandably gets most of US foreign policy news coverage. But we should not ignore the 18 month effort, or lack thereof, of the Biden administration to return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Iran nuclear deal.

That agreement, concluded seven years ago next week, was the greatest foreign policy peace achievement of the Obama administration. It ended years of potential war with Iran over their alleged efforts to acquire nuclear weapons, even tho there were none. It also set the stage for possible diplomatic re-engagement with Iran that vanished in 1979 during the Iran hostage crisis.

Tragically, the JCPOA lasted less than 3 years when Obama’s successor Trump dumped it May 8, 2018. His reasons were utterly cynical, designed to burnish his image as the great negotiator who could coerce Iran into a better deal with punitive new sanctions.

Idiot negotiator would be a more appropriate Trump moniker. His delusional policy failed spectacularly. Rather than submit to Trump’s blackmail, Iran simply ignored US demands, remaining in full compliance with the JCPOA for a full year before committing enrichment violations thruout the remainder of Trump’s tenure. Iran never got near Trump's phony negotiating table.

During the 2020 presidential campaign, Vice President Biden, who was an ardent supporter of the deal as Obama’s VP, harshly criticized Trump for his withdrawal and vowed to return to it as president.

Eighteen months later, President Biden, instead of channeling his former boss Obama on Iran, is foolishly following Trump’s dysfunctional Iran policy. He’s kept on all the Trump sanctions that he criticized as a candidate. He could have returned to the deal with a presidential order as he did on Day One with Trump’s Muslim ban, and his withdrawing from the WHO and the Paris Climate Accords.

Biden’s negotiating team, using the Trump playbook, pretends that Iran must make endless concessions for the US to return to an agreement they unilaterally withdrew from for no reason.

Politics, both domestic and international, is at work sabotaging an opportunity to end possibility of war with Iran and bring Iran back into the world community. Fear of alienating anti Iran hardliners in Congress and fear of offending our best Middle East allies Israel, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States are making US return to the JCPOA more and more unlikely.

Once again, an opportunity to promote peace and understanding thruout the world is lost as the US chooses to ignore peace…while risking senseless war.

Sedition on the ballot in IL governor's race

Darren Bailey did not win the GOP Illinois Gubernatorial by standing up for the rule of law and American democracy. Bailey, like virtually every other Republican candidate in America, stood with the president who nearly succeeded in destroying American democracy in his psychotic attempted coup to remain president.

Bailey exploited the fact that 90% of Illinois Republicans support Trump. Worse, two thirds viewed Trump's violent January 6 insurrection with 3 words in mind: "Stop the steal."

Worse yet. Bailey began his victory speech with 7 words that should bring a chill to every Illinoisan who stands for Democracy and the rule of law:

“Friends, tonight, your voices were finally heard.”

Grider rides to victory in Illinois 14th on culture war memes

I’d never heard of Scott Grider, the young, handsome Kendall County Board Chair who knocked off 2 rivals to secure the GOP nomination to face incumbent Lauren Underwood November 3 in Illinois’ 14th congressional district.

So I viewed his Primary campaign video and low and behold, out popped extreme right red meat soundbites.

Lauren Underwood and the Quad are “fueling leftist rage” and “defunding the police”.

How is Grider going to fight crime? “I will provide the police the resources they need” even tho many police officials disclaim they are either being defunded or denied the resources they need.

Yet, to pay for those unneeded police resources Grider plans to cut taxes “lower then Joe Biden’s plummeting poll numbers.” Maybe Grider has a magic wand to provide what his proposed tax policies can’t possibly secure.

Grider disparaged President Biden's Build Back Better for America...but immediately promised to Build Back Better with infrastructure in the 14th. Gee, I thought a congressperson's job description included helping the whole country.

Now that Grider must seek votes from the entire Illinois 14th electorate, let’s see how he untangles himself from the policy pretzel he’s twisted himself into.

Extend voting to convicted Illinois inmates

Every Illinoisan should support Illinois SB 828 which will extend voting rights to 30,000 convicted Illinois inmates if enacted next legislative term. Championed by Illinois reps La Shawn Ford, Kelly Cassidy and voting rights advocates, the measure would extend inmate voting to include the convicted besides just pretrial detainees.

Rep. Cassidy summed up the issue stating “There is a growing understanding of the inherent unfairness and the disproportionate impact on communities of color. As long as we are going out of our way to put more black and brown people in prison, that’s going to impact the voting rights of those communities.”

Even without extending the vote to convicted felons, Illinois is ahead of several dozen states which deny voting to detainees, even released felons. That disenfranchises over 6 million ex-cons in the most incarceration crazy nation on earth.

Opponents argue the incarcerated have forfeited their right to vote as just punishment for their anti-social behavior. Yet, if the goal of justice is to both protect the public and rehabilitate the incarcerated for eventual return to society, convict voting serves both purposes. It has no adverse effect on public safety and may have a positive effect on rehabilitation by encouraging felons to re-engage with the society from which they've been excluded.

Illinois should join just 2 states, Maine and Vermont, which allow convicted inmates to vote.

How is convict voting working in Maine and Vermont? FBI violent crime stats place Vermont 49th and Maine dead last in violent crime per hundred thousand residents. Alaska and New Mexico top the fifty in violent crime per hundred thousand. The reasons must be many but convict voting certainly doesn't hurt.

A famous US political phrase 'As Maine goes so goes the nation' was popular at one time, reflecting Maine's reputation as a bell-weather state for predicting presidential elections. When it comes to convict voting, as well as the 6 million on parole, probation and simply former felons, we should update that to 'As Maine and Vermont go on convict voting...so should the nation'.

This fall, Illinois can become the third.

246 year old expires: Looks like we did it

The body of a 246 year old, affectionately known as Uncle Sam, was found on Capitol Hill in Washington DC today. Crime Scene Investigators placed police tape around the body believing foul play was involved.

Given his age, Uncle Sam showed signs of extreme elder abuse. Most of his assets had been siphoned off to engorge the money belts of the very rich, and fund criminal wars that have killed hundreds of thousands. His eyes had been taped shut to prevent him from seeing the irreversible damage being done to the environment. His ears were plugged to ward off cries of millions of women being shunted from the finest medical facilities in the world to back alleys to get the most personal medical care they would ever seek. His jaw was wired shut to muffle his screams for help to protect little kids being slaughtered in his schools. His arteries - the highways and bridges that carried the commerce so vital to his economic well-being - were clogged and crumbling, not from old age but from senseless neglect. His cholesterol level had topped 30 trillion.

Members of one party responsible for his well-being were seen imbibing a toxic orange brew of hate, sophistry and sedition that drove them into a frenzy of unprecedented meanness towards their benevolent Uncle. As they danced around the corpse they were heard chanting: "Government is not the solution, government is the problem”… and “Stop the Steal".

Police broke up the mob but made no arrests.