Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Family Doings! Emory University Blows It Again!


Beats Waterboarding!       Republican Establishment Gathering Forces To
                                          Dump Trump By Using Cruz!


How to get people to exercise: http://videos.videopress.com/YpRaDiVP/how-to-get-people-to-exercise_hd.mp4
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I believe the dilemma posed by the 2016  candidates is not limited to Jews.  It should be, and probably is, a concern of all thinking Americans. I understand Leibler's focus but it is too narrow for my blood. I am an American first who supports our relationship with Israel and any other Democracy whose policies are positive for world peace and stability and are willing to be a true friend of this country.  (See 1 below.)
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I had a very interesting chat this morning with a very astute relative who is actually older than I am, far more informed about what is happening in Republican Party circles and he believes Trump would be a disaster for our nation, for Republicans and Donald could not beat Hillary.

My family member responded to my memo posing this question and then responding with is view. "Donald gets enough delegates before the convention. At that time polls clearly and overwhelming show by a large margin that we will lose the Senate and the Supreme court and reduce our congressional margin. In addition the actual total votes Trump received is 40% and the Republicans who voted in the Primaries
total 60%.
You are the decision maker. Do you march the party over the Cliff?
I believe you are a Conservative forget the party and the past... I know you are a pessimist. In addition you are very smart. Put together all the "Conservative" Pessimists in the party. My guess would be your group would be in the 10% range or less...

If I were making the decision I would publicly make sure we have a transparent convention. Let the delegates speak. I am sure they will overwhelmingly say we must win. The United States of America as we knew it is in "mortal danger" We the people should not stand idly by in the face of a continuation of the OBAMA doctrine, a divided country, deeply in debt, withdrawing from the world as it does not exist, ignoring the Constitution etc.  A majority of our population has been saying "we are going in the wrong direction" We have a vision and a plan which should be presented here at the convention for you to understand how we will make it happen with all your help.

You have spoken load and clear "we have been heading in a wrong direction for eight years.'" the next Generation, all our children and Grandchildren's future is in our hands We the people cannot stand idly by. A-----."

Again, I am not supporting Trump but I believe, if Trump gets the nomination, which I know will become a  more uphill battle from here considering the nature of the remaining states yet to vote, he can become the president because of the reasons I stated in my previous memo.

My rationale boils down to these simple  facts: The Democrats are offering flawed candidates, a potential ISIS attack on our own shores would work to Trump's advantage, emotion often has proven
a more powerful force than intellect and particularly when politics is involved.

Time till tell.

I might add, I believe the content of my previous memo was one of my better.
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A family member has been tapped to clerk for Justice Thomas. Her grandfather practiced with my father after returning from WW 2 service.  (See 2 below.)

While I am beating my chest about family here is an article about our son and his group. (See 2a below.)
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This judge believes all lives matter and being black should be of concerned to other blacks. (See 3 below.)
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Meanwhile closer to home, Emory University aims at Trump and shoots itself all over again. (See 4 below.)
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From The Daily Tip! Obama ducks again. (See 5 below.)
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Dick
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1)

American Jews face dilemma in presidential elections
By Isi Leibler 
IIsiPPho
The turmoil associated with the American presidential elections has 
impacted on much of the nation, and certainly on the Jews. Many, both 
liberal and conservative, feel that their traditional political affiliations have 
been destabilized.

Grass-root voters have rebelled against entrenched long-term politicians 
and have astounded analysts by supporting relatively obscure personalities 
who have introduced levels of primitive populism into American politics 
unseen since the days of Huey Long.
Those deeply concerned about Israel find themselves in a special quandary.

Democratic supporters witnessed a struggle between Hillary Clinton -- who 
until recently faced virtually no competition -- and Bernie Sanders, a 
relatively unknown older Jewish senator from Vermont, a leftist throwback 
to prewar Jewish socialists raging against the “domination” of Wall Street 
and calling for a redistribution of wealth. He is also highly critical of Israel 
and a J Street supporter, pandering to the growing anti-Israeli sentiment 
among left-wing Democrats. His populism has generated substantial 
support, especially from young people.

Nevertheless, despite being widely resented and distrusted in her own party,
Hillary Clinton is likely to win the Democratic nomination. But the dramatic 
flow of support of the radical views promoted by Sanders has created 
concern that in office, she would seek to placate the radicals within the 
party. That, in turn, could encourage her to revert to the hostile attitude that 
prevailed during her term as secretary of state toward Israel and especially 
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It also reinforces concerns about some
of the vicious anti-Israeli advisers she had engaged in the past, who were 
exposed in her declassified emails.

Every presidential candidate invited to the recent annual convention of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), passionately supported the Jewish state. The only exception was Sanders, who declined to address AIPAC and spoke at 
another location where he bitterly criticized Israel. But electoral pledges and
passionate undertakings by presidential candidates and politicians at 
AIPAC must be treated with considerable cynicism, as from experience, 
they are frequently watered down or breached.

Yet, Clinton’s address to AIPAC was significant (click here to watch Clinton 
address). Despite justifying President Barack Obama’s Iran policy and 
criticizing Israeli settlements, her powerful endorsement of support for Israel
was warmly received. She distinguished herself from Obama by promising 
that a renewal of good relations with Israel would be a priority, and that one 
of her first acts in office would be to invite Netanyahu to Washington. She 
expressed these views obviously aware that she would be intensifying the 
ire of the radical anti-Israel elements in her party.
The uneasiness concerning the Clinton candidacy shared by some 
traditional Jewish Democratic supporters pales when compared to the 
turmoil among many Republican supporters at the explosive ascendancy of 
Donald Trump, who was initially perceived as a clown, with virtually all 
analysts predicting his early political demise.

Trump primitively denigrates intellectual discourse but has displayed an 
extraordinary populist talent to communicate and reach out to the 
disaffected masses who have flocked to support him, ditching seasoned 
leaders like former Governor Jeb Bush, eliminating Senator Marco Rubio, 
and at this stage enjoying a substantial lead over Senator Ted Cruz, his 
sole remaining credible opponent.

He has adopted crude, inconsistent and contradictory policies but struck a
responsive chord from many Americans alienated and frustrated with their current status and seeking radical solutions.

He has created a major schism in the Republican Party because of his 
rabble-rousing, vulgarity, abusive remarks about women and discriminatory 
outbursts against minorities -- especially Mexicans. Many traditional 
Republicans, including senior party leaders, refuse to endorse him and 
some have even stated that they would never vote for him as president. His
critics include the neoconservatives and the most prominent conservative 
thinkers and commentators who are outraged by his isolationist outbursts 
and demagogic anti-intellectual approach.
Trump attests to his long track record of friendship for Jews and Israel and 
constantly highlights the fact that his daughter converted and leads a 
traditional Orthodox Jewish lifestyle.

But those voters seeking the restoration of warmer relations between the 
United States and the Jewish state are concerned with Trump’s ad lib flip-
flop responses in relation to Israel.

Initially, he antagonized supporters of Israel by stating that he would be 
“neutral” in relation to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On one occasion, he 
promoted the extreme isolationist view that Israel should not be reliant on 
U.S. defense support and should repay American military aid. He even 
suggested that the U.S. should withdraw from NATO. He particularly 
angered Jews when initially, perhaps in ignorance, he dismissed calls to 
dissociate himself from support he was receiving from white supremacists 
and extreme anti-Semites.

When it was announced that Trump would join other presidential candidates
and address AIPAC, a group of Reform and Conservative rabbis planned a
demonstrative walkout as he approached the podium. Their widely 
publicized threat turned out to be farcical and resulted in the boycott of only
about 30 of the 18,000 participants.

Trump’s address to AIPAC (click here to watch Trump address) was his first
attempt to present a crafted policy on any subject. He used a teleprompter 
which diverted him from his customary ad-libbing. It was an extraordinary 
political coup in which he received repeated standing ovations as he swept 
the audience off its feet by pressing all the pro-Israel buttons and 
systematically presenting a coherent case for Israel. He contradicted some 
of his earlier critical remarks, including his intention of being “neutral” in 
order to consummate a “deal” between Palestinians and Israel. He also 
announced his intention to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.

Trump’s direct critique of Obama drew such a demonstratively 
wholehearted response from his audience that Lillian Pinkus, the newly 
elected president of AIPAC, desperate to display ongoing bipartisanship, 
felt obliged to go to the other extreme and reprimanded him, tearfully 
apologizing to Obama supporters and castigating the enthusiastic applause 
of Trump’s denigration of the president.

Events of the past few weeks indicate that, barring a dramatic last-minute 
turnaround at the national convention, Trump should win the Republican 
nomination.

But he is widely distrusted and considered unpredictable, even among 
those who are bitterly opposed to Clinton. Indeed, some may ultimately 
support her as the lesser of two evils.

Ironically, the hostility Trump faces among segments of the Republican 
Party matches the opposition Clinton faces from within her own party. It is 
unprecedented for both party representatives to face such resentment and 
distrust from their own circles.

AIPAC can take satisfaction that the 18,000 enthusiastic participants at 
their convention included a healthy and diverse cross section of young 
people, demonstrating that, contrary to what much of the media and liberals
maintain, committed Jews remain strongly supportive of Israel. It also 
highlights the fact that, notwithstanding its confrontation with Obama over 
Iran, AIPAC has not lost its clout and remains one of the most effective 
bipartisan lobbying groups in the U.S.

There could be many surprises before a new president is elected. Although 
today, polls suggest that Clinton seems destined to win overwhelmingly 
against Trump, one should not underestimate the huge anti-establishment 
anger that prevails among voters.

Undoubtedly, Trump gained support from some Jews with his unexpectedly 
coherent pro-Israel AIPAC address. But other than the most committed 
supporters of Israel, the majority of Jews will not vote exclusively or even 
primarily on a single issue.

Yet if Trump’s AIPAC speech was the harbinger of a more responsible and 
coherent approach, dispensing with vulgarity and seeking support from 
centrists, predictions that he will be defeated by a landslide could prove to 
be wrong. Further terror attacks, especially an incident in the U.S., could 
also tilt many voters in his direction.

Indeed, many Jews -- like other wavering American voters -- will probably 
only decide at the last minute, and even then may hold their noses when 
they go to the polling station, concerned that their candidate will prove to 
be unpredictable and will not live up to their expectations. Some may even 
abstain, although most will retain their allegiance to the Democratic Party.

There is one ray of sunshine: Irrespective of who is elected, the next 
president will endeavor -- at least initially -- to reaffirm and repair the 
relationship with Israel. And whoever is elected should still be a massive 
improvement on the current U.S. president.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
2)

Alabama attorney tapped to clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas

Clarence Thomas
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Last week, the Birmingham law firm Maynard Cooper & Gale announced that 
one of their attorneys would be clerking for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. That 
lawyer, Mrs. Kasdin Miller Mitchell, will be one of Thomas’ four clerks for the 2016 term beginning 
this summer.
Mitchell received both her undergraduate and law degree from Yale University. While in law school, 
she was Senior Editor of the Yale Law Review and Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Law & Policy 
Review. Prior to attending law school, she served as the Assistant Press Secretary to the First Lady 
at The White House and as a special assistant at the United States Department of Energy.
Currently, Mitchell is a member of the firm’s Securities Litigation and Appellate and Post-Verdict 
practices. Prior to joining Maynard Cooper & Gale, she served as a law clerk to Judge William H. 
Pryor Jr. on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and as an assistant solicitor 
general in the Office of Attorney General of the State of Alabama.
Being selected as a law clerk for the Supreme Court is very prestigious. Each justice is allowed to 
have up to four clerks, except the Chief Justice who gets five.
The primary job of the clerks is research. When a justice is assigned an opinion to write, she will have her clerks
organize all the relevant information, deconstruct arguments from briefs and oral testimony and amicus 
sources, develop the legal framework for the opinion, and assist in drafting the opinion.
After the passing of Justice Scalia, Justice Thomas is now considered by most to be the most 
conservative jurist on the bench. Thomas, who first joined the court in 1991, employs a brand of 
Originalist interpretation that is unique among his more progressive colleagues.
Thomas has also gained renown for his perpetual silence during court. Beginning on February 22, 
2006, when he asked a question during a death penalty case, Thomas had not asked another 
question from the bench for over ten years, finally asking a question on February 29, 2016.
Justice Thomas and his clerks will be integral in the key issues before the court in the 2016 term. 
The court will hear a wide array of issues ranging from union political spending power to 
environmental regulations.


2a)  A dynamic duo is turning up the volume on Beechview s future 

Daniel Berkowitz strolls into Brew on Broadway, a coffee shop with an eclectic décor and an eclectic clientele, 
housed on the main drag of Beechview, a South Hills neighborhood to which most Pittsburghers don’t give a second
thought. 

Berkowitz is known here. He is greeted with a smile by the barista, Renée, as well as several of the customers, 
mostly lifelong Beechview residents who have come to the shop to talk politics with their neighbors 

Brew on Broadway is conceptually about as far away from Starbucks as you can get: a nonprofit community-based 
coffeehouse whose proceeds are directed for the benefit of the Beechview community. It is the perfect place for 
Berkowitz, a member of the Squirrel Hill Jewish community, to set up shop and get to know the people who make up
the fabric of the neighborhood that he, along with friend Ben Samson, is working to revitalize.

Samson, who is an architectural design professional, and Berkowitz, a real estate developer and former board 
member of The Jewish Chronicle, have partnered in creating Atlas Development Co., with the aim of breathing new 
life into this residential neighborhood that has seen its share of urban blight.

Berkowitz reached out to Samson after the latter’s master’s thesis proposing a mass transit plan for Allegheny 
County went viral. Although there has been no commitment from the city on implementing the $7 billion rehaul of the 
light-rail lines based on Samson’s proposal, the plan was enough to pique the interest of Berkowitz, who had his 
eyes on Beechview, which has the trolley running through its center.

“Beechview is the first residential neighborhood in the city of Pittsburgh heading south of the [existing] rail line,
” Berkowitz said. “We consider Beechview the Brooklyn Heights or the Rosslyn, Virginia of Pittsburgh.”

In other words, the two men see a lot of potential in this sleepy community that happens to be only a 12-minute rail 
ride to downtown Pittsburgh, a quick trolley ride to the stadiums and convenient to the airport. Just this week, the 
Port Authority began work replacing the T rail line that runs through Beechview.

Berkowitz and Samson have put together a 181-page development plan for the neighborhood and have been 
working together along with community members “to figure out what the future can be,” Berkowitz said.

In doing so, he continued, they are heeding lessons learned from developers of other underachieving communities 
such as East Liberty “to be sure we are socially developing too.”

The potential in Beechview is huge, according to Berkowitz.

“We think we can add 3,500 residential units in the next 10 years and do it in a way that maintains the affordability 
and character of Beechview.”

The neighborhood has a lot to offer, he said. A three-bedroom, two-bath home with a garage and a driveway 
currently can be had in the neighborhood for about $65,000. The 2011 demographic TRID study showed that 
Beechview is the second safest neighborhood in Pittsburgh, with only Squirrel Hill beating it out. Beechview is also 
increasing its diversity, boasting one of the fastest growing Latino communities in the mid-Atlantic region. 

“There are supermarkets and banks and a trolley,” Berkowitz added. “It’s honestly Squirrel Hill but with a trolley.”

Well, not quite yet.

Many buildings on Broadway Avenue remain empty and in disrepair. But Berkowitz is confident he and Samson can 
change all that. They are working to acquire properties and so far own three, one of which is an apartment building 
they have renovated and which is leased at full capacity. Another of their acquisitions will be the site of an Italian 
restaurant, with two apartments upstairs. Their third property will house a community radio station, and they are 
negotiating options for additional properties as well.

“Sixty percent of the neighborhood is under the age of 40,” Berkowitz said. “They come home from work, and there 
is nothing to do after work. We are going to try to activate the commercial district.”

That commercial district has been mostly stagnant for years, since Pittsburgh real estate developer Bernardo Katz 
bought up a lot of property in a plan to revitalize Beechview in the 1990s but then “absconded to Brazil in 2007, 
leaving the city, local banks and taxing authorities on the hook for millions,” Berkowitz said.

“This past fall, the city finalized the legal process and took ownership of the remaining Bernardo properties that had 
plagued the city for so long. Now this neighborhood won’t have any artificial reasons holding it back.”

At first, Berkowitz and Samson got a lot of push back about their plan from skeptical locals who feared a replay of 
the Katz fiasco. But the two men are now embraced, according to Berkowitz, because they are taking the concerns 
of the community into account in their planning. 

Jeff Mooney, a 41-year-old lifelong resident of Beechview, agrees.

“What he’s doing is awesome,” Mooney said of Berkowitz. “He’s doing a much better job than anybody I’ve seen 
before. I’m thinking things might change a bit now.”

“It’s a move in the right direction,” said Phyllis DiDiano, president of the Beechview Area Concerned Citizens.

Samson, who is also a Jewish resident of Squirrel Hill, is not yet ready to move to Beechview because of the lack of 
a Jewish community there. He is, however, enthused about his contributions to the neighborhood’s development.

“It’s a seven to 10-year plan,” Samson said. “We are working with the city to get the main street rezoned to make it a 
more walkable, livable place.”

Samson still has his day job, working at architect Arthur Lubetz’s Front Studio, but is all-in on the Beechview project
as a partner of Berkowitz.

“This is a dream come true,” Samson said. “I get to work on something that I came up with in my studies.”

If Berkowitz has his way, the new Beechview won’t be different from the old Beechview, only amped up a few notches.

“We are not coming here just to make money at the expense of the community,” he said. “We want to keep the 
neighborhood the way it is, with its organic feel, but just turn up the volume. We’ve done our homework.” 
 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++





3)

NYC judge scolds convicted felon: 

‘Black lives don’t matter to black 

people with guns’

 - The Washington Times 
A New York City judge told a convicted felon Tuesday that “black lives don’t matter to black 
people with guns” before sentencing him to 24 to 26 years in prison.
“Black lives matter,” Justice Edward McLaughlin told 24-year-old Tareek Arnold as he 
sentenced him in Manhattan Supreme Court, the New York Post reported.
“I have heard it, I know it, but the sad fact is in this courtroom, so often what happens is 
manifestations of the fact that black lives don’t matter to black people with guns,” the judge 
said. Arnold, who is black, was convicted for the attempted murder of Jamal McCaskill, also 
black, after shooting him four times at close range on June 8. Arnold, who authorities say was 
a member of a gang called Forty Wolves, later escaped from police custody with his hands 
cuffed behind his back and remained on the lam for almost a month. The jury also convicted 
him of escape, gun possession and assault, the Post reported.

Prosecutor Meghan Hast asked for the maximum sentence, arguing that “but for extreme luck, his would have this would have been a homicide,” the Post reported.
Justice Edward McLaughlin told a convicted felon Tuesday that "black lives don't matter to black people with guns" before sentencing him to 24 to 26 years in prison. (New York Law Journal).

Defense lawyer Mark Jankowitz requested the minimum sentence of 10 years, arguing that Arnold’s 1-year-old son would be without a father.
“Do not ask a judge in this room, in this building, or in this system to somehow make amends for the people who commit violent acts and who by their violent acts wind up leaving people orphaned, abandoned, fatherless, etc,” Justice McLaughlin said.
Arnold had been arrested five times before. He was convicted in 2008 on weapons possession charges and was sentenced to five years in state prison, the Post reported.
Judge McLaughlin has been very outspoken against gun violence in Harlem.


“Only Harlem can save Harlem,” he said in 2011, the Post reported. “If Harlem’s leaders are at 
all sick of ‘the pools of blood on the block,’ they must mobilize their neighbors to find and get
rid of the guns in their homes.”
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4)
Chalk up another example of college 
student wimpiness
By Ron Hart/contributing columnist

An Emory University degree just went down in value – again.
I’ve never been a fan of any Emory undergrad I’ve met. Emory is an expensive, whiny 
Northern rich kid’s college. Around its home town of Atlanta, its graduates are called 
“Em-roids” because of their entitled attitude, and they just proved why.
Emory students and their school president are all in a prissy tizzy because there might be one
or more Trump supporters on campus. When someone with chalk wrote “Trump 2016” 
around campus, the school was all but locked down. Students cried and said they felt
“unsafe.” They chanted protests to the president: “You are not listening! Come speak to us; 
we are in pain.” The president immediately had the admissions office investigate how it was 
that a Republican was admitted to Emory.
Responding to their Em-roid rage, he then sent out a letter expressing that he felt their pain. 
These princesses were offered grief counseling for the worst trauma of their lives: seeing 
Trump’s name.
The students then went into the campus quad and played hacky sack (with helmets, for safety)
because it just felt right. I never trust a college that doesn’t have a football team.
Emory President and PC hero, Jim Wagner, is the guy who presided over the intentional lying 
for ten years on SAT scores to U.S. News and World Report. Emory reported higher SAT 
scores admitted and omitted the bottom 10 percent of students’ scores in order to look better 
on the poll.
A friend’s daughter has a liberal arts degree from Emory, which means she is a receptionist at 
her dad’s friend’s law firm.
The First Amendment has died a slow death on college campuses, strangled over time by 
their left-wing bureaucracies. If our founders were around life today, they (after visiting the 
Times Square theater district to catch the musical “Hamilton”) would be appalled at this 
Emory thing.
Campuses were supposed to be places where ideas are debated. Today, they are where 
opposition speech is labeled “hate” and shut down. Many college campuses cannot stand the
idea of free speech unless it is speech they agree with; if they do not like what is said, they 
seek to silence the speaker. The whole idea of free speech is that people are allowed to say 
things you do not agree with.
This is not the best way to get Donald Trump. If your goal is to stop the man who is winning 
by saying we are too politically correct and that we have lost sight of the Constitution and are 
soft, the best way might not be to cry like you have been beaten by the Gestapo when you 
see “Trump 2016” scrawled around your campus. Kids, you just made his point.
These kids are so dumb, they are lucky they are in Georgia and not Texas. In Georgia, 
someone whose IQ is below 80 cannot be executed.
This weak millennial generation grew up receiving participation trophies and expects us to 
applaud and positively reinforce what little they do. Jugglers, street mimes and community 
theater actors need applause – real leaders don’t. I cannot imagine Gens. Patton or 
Eisenhower putting up with this. I just hope this generation does not have to go to war.
We know the Left on college campuses loves Bernie Sanders and hates Trump. At a recent 
campus rally, a woman took her top off, saying “Vote for Bernie Sanders.” She also made a 
nasty anti-Trump nasty gesture.
Sanders has won the love of narcissistic millennials who are not good at economics. (which 
means all millennials?). To them, Sanders is a rock star. What is amazing is that he is the first
 person revered by this generation without posting a single nude selfie on social media.
And why do millennials always want to take selfies or video everything they do, even sex? I’m
just the opposite. When I am done with sex, I think to myself, “Well, at least no one had to 
see that.”
The Emory kerfuffle came during the same week as the bad optics of President Obama doing
the tango in Argentina while ISIS bombed civilians in Belgium and Iraq. We may look weak 
and feckless as a world power these days, but we are still the world’s undisputed superpower
when it comes to televised dance contests.
Ron Hart, a libertarian op-ed humorist and award-winning author, is a frequent guest on CNN. 
He can be contacted at Ron@RonaldHart.com or @RonaldHart on Twitter.
====================================================================================
5)A letter sent this week by U.S. Ambassador Power to U.N. officials criticizes 
recent Iranian ballistic missile launches but stops shortof describing the 
launches as a “violation” of the Security Council resolution that codified the 
nuclear deal with Iran, according to Reuters. The outlet's U.N. correspondent Louis 
Charbonneau wrote that the letter describes Iran’s missile tests as “inconsistent with” 
and “in defiance” of UNSC Resolution 2231, but pointedly does not label them 
violations. However, last December, when asked by Chairman of the Senate Foreign 
Relations Committee Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) if Iranian missile launches after 
implementation of the nuclear deal would constitute a violation, Ambassador Stephen 
Mull, Lead Coordinator for Iran Nuclear Implementation, replied “it would violate that part of the U.N. Security Council resolution.”
Iran has launched five ballistic missiles since the nuclear deal was reached in July. 
Photos of the last round of missiles distributed by the Iranians showed the missiles 
inscribed in Hebrew with the phrase “Israel must be wiped off the Earth.” Efforts by 
American diplomats in New York to hold the Iranians accountable for the missile 
launches were stymied by Russia, a veto-holding member of the Security Council, 
which said that the language agreed to by American and European diplomats in UNSC 
Resolution 2231 was too weak for the Iranian launches to constitute a "violation." UNSC Resolution 2231 weakened the prohibition on ballistic missile work in the previously relevant UNSC 
Resolution 1929, which it replaced. While UNSCResolution 1929 stated that Iran “shall 
not” engage in activity related to ballistic missiles, in Resolution 2231 Iran is “called 
upon” not to undertake in activity related to ballistic missiles.

At a Senate hearing last July, Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.),challenged Secretary of 
State John Kerry on the concession. Secretary Kerry insisted that the language had 
not been changed. According to the Reuters report, however, “[d]iplomats say key 
powers agree that request is not legally binding and cannot be enforced under Chapter
7 of the U.N. Charter… But Western nations, which view the language as a ban, say 
there is a political obligation on Iran to comply.”

In the absence of multilateral options, lawmakers are moving to pass unilateral sanctions. These include the Iran Ballistic Missile Sanctions Act of 2016, introduced by Senator Kelly Ayotte 
(R-N.H.), which aims to impose sanctions on sectors of the Iranian economy that 
directly or indirectly support Iran's ballistic missile program including the automotive, 
energy, construction and mining industries; as well as theIran Terrorism and Human 
Rights Sanctions Act of 2016, introduced by Senator Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), which would 
impose sanctions on entities in which the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or its 
affiliates have an ownership stake of at least 25%.

On Wednesday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei asserted that missiles, rather 
than negotiations, are key to Iran’s future. Khamenei stated, "Those who say the future
is in negotiations, not in missiles, are either ignorant or traitors."
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