The Iran Contra Dance Scandal

A joint plan of action was the latest development to emerge from the Iran v. World (US/Israel/Christmas Islands) saga. The document details new stipulations for the Iranian nuclear enrichment program (text here) and explains the incremental decrease of international sanctions on Iran's economy.

The highlights of the deal include that Iran taper its nuclear enrichment while allowing international inspectors to monitor progress-- daily. In return, the US will promise to probably not bomb Iran and give them access to $7 Billion in frozen overseas assets.

Let the shit storm begin.

First off, $7 billion in assets sounds substantial, right? In fact, it's only about 1% of Iran's GDP. In other words, say Iran imposed crippling economic sanctions against the US and then decided to allow us access to our assets in agriculture, forestry, hunting and fishing combined, 

ECONOMIC MOBILITY FOR ALL!

Raw numbers aside, the political backlash has been fierce. Tom Cohen of CNN wrote an article on Monday titled "5 reasons diverse critics oppose Iran nuclear deal."

Cohen makes a legitimate case for the opposition group's diversity, including Israel, Democrats with strong ties to Israel, and Republicans combatting any Obama-led peace efforts for political clout/strong ties to Israel.

Diverse like a Christian rock album.

But most circles opposed to the deal cite serious trust-issues with Iran. It's important that we heed their advice, and it's even more important that we ignore the fact that current Iranian president Hassan Rouhani helped lead the charge for an even better deal in 2003 when he was Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council.

Offered in 2003 to "open up [Iran's] nuclear program for transparency, collaborate with the U.S. in Iraq, restrain Hamas and Islamic jihad and even indirectly recognize Israel."

BUT CAN HE BE TRUSTED?

We at American Difter urge readers to remain skeptical when it comes to trusting this Islamic nation's suspicious legal-uranium-enrichment-for-energy-purposes-even-after-repeatedly-stating-that-they-had-no-intention-to-construct-a-nuclear-weapon-because-it-violates-tenants-of-Islam-and-even-if-they-did-get-the-bomb-its-purpose-would-likely-be-to-deter-the-US-and/or-Israel-from-preemptively-attacking-their-country-which-hasn't-openly-attacked-another-country-in-over-300-years strategy. 

Have a nice Tuesdift. 

(Check off your reaction below-- for past articles too)

Stop and Fresca

The Huffington Post recently second-handedly reported that the NYPD's "Stop-and-Frisk" strategy, initiated to ebb crime in New York City, only produces an arrest half of the time an individual is stopped and frisked.

Critics of the procedure claim that Stop-and-Frisk unfairly targets minorities, with recent numbers indicating that 87 percent of people stopped and frisked belong to minority groups. Yet lame-duck Mayor Michael Bloomberg cites a "30 percent decrease in crime" during his first three terms in office (the team at AD assumes Mayor Bloomberg will find a way to petition the city council and oust Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio before he take office on January 1st).

"My fourth-term slogan...? DOWN FOR A PAT-DOWN!"

One can't deny that stop-and-frisk has been effective in slowing down crime and even getting illegal weapons off the streets. Yet we cannot ignore that the use of this tactic perpetuates racial profiling. 

We at American Difter believe there is a solution:

Stop-and-Audit.

Instead of completely halting the NYPD's targeting of minority groups to prevent violent crime, we propose that New York City directly employ thousands of IRS agents to randomly stop and audit bankers in New York's Financial District to curb rampant tax evasion.

"If you are white and wearing a suit, PLEASE take out your ID and a recent W2 form, "

It is well known that most tax evaders are white. Heck, even our former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is a tax-evader. With Stop-and-Audit in place, New York City's government would not only be sending a message of fairness to all races, it would likely collect millions of dollars in lost tax revenue.

Join American Difter in calling for equal-opportunity racial-profiling in New York City.