The Obama administration keeps on breaking its promises on the Iran deal — its promises to the American people, that is.
The latest betrayal: The Treasury Department just lifted key
restrictions on Iran’s ability to do business in US dollars and access
world financial markets — breaking Team Obama’s explicit vows as it
lobbied Congress not to nix the deal.
Iran’s banks weren’t even cut off from the US financial system over
the nuclear issue — but over Tehran’s funding of terrorism, its regional
aggression and so on.
Which makes another Treasury move even more squalid: It will now also
let foreign firms and branches of US firms do business with Iranian
groups like the Revolutionary Guard.
The Guard is the chief conduit for Tehran’s support of terrorism,
tied to numerous plots, including one in DC aimed at a Saudi envoy. And
it’s also a prime force helping Syria’s Bashar al-Assad massacre
civilians in his bloody bid to keep power.
It was behind the kidnapping of US sailors in January, the serial
harassment of US Navy ships and even last month’s arrest of another
Iranian-American in Iran.
Yet the Obama Treasury is making it easier for the Revolutionary
Guard to do business — as part of an official US drive to boost Iran’s
economy in the name of preserving the nuclear deal.
This, when a Foundation for Defense of Democracies report last week
noted much of Tehran’s windfall from the deal has gone to Iran’s
military, including its nuclear and missile programs and its terror
operations.
At least Team Obama has only three months left to shower more gifts on Iran. But what of the next president?
Donald Trump slams the Iran deal every chance he gets. Hillary
Clinton promises to be tough in “enforcing” it, but publicly backs
President Obama’s signature foreign-policy achievement. If she wins,
let’s all hope this is another of those issues where her real position
isn’t her public one
On the latest season of NBC’s “The Voice,” Miley Cyrus
has reinvented herself from a twerking pop star to a mama-hen
mentor. “I cry all the time,” Cyrus says about having to axe members of
her team during the show’s elimination rounds. Behind the scenes, she
dispenses copies of the self-help book “The Untethered Soul” to her
contestants, trying to calm them down before live performances. On
camera, she showcases an eclectic style — like an outfit covered in
paper flowers — meant to counteract any last-minute jitters.
“I think it makes the contestants feel safer,” says
Cyrus of her colorful wardrobe. “When I turn around, people laugh and
feel lighthearted. I think they get to see that side of me.”
For many years,
Cyrus had a different public persona. “People saw me as being wild, and
literally all I do is I’m obsessed with yoga, I love hiking, and I’m
reading constantly. My life is so positive. From the outside, people
think I’m partying with rappers. That was back in my prime.”
It’s hard to keep a straight face when Cyrus uses
that line — she’s only 23. Then again, she’s been on television since
grade school. At 11, Cyrus was cast as the squeaky-clean face of Disney
Channel’s “Hannah Montana,” which made her the Hayley Mills of her
generation. The role brought intense tabloid scrutiny, particularly as
she tried to grow up. “I
had a clothing line at Walmart and got kicked out, because they said
you had to choose weed or Walmart,” Cyrus says. “And you see what I did —
I chose weed.”
In 2013, the Miley media circus reached a
tipping point at the VMAs, where she gyrated alongside a row of teddy
bears. She insists that the moment was misunderstood. “That was a joke,”
she says. Cyrus has taken a U-turn since then. Her new career path
revolves around her foundation: Happy Hippie,
dedicated to supporting at-risk LGBTQ and homeless youth. “I am only
doing ‘The Voice’ because that helps Happy Hippie,” Cyrus says about
engaging the show’s audience to promote her cause.
Cyrus has headlined such films as “The Last
Song” and “Bolt,” but she’s ambivalent about making movies now. “I know
that acting is boring,” she says. “People get paid way too much for what
they are doing.” She almost turned down the Woody Allen TV series
“Crisis in Six Scenes” but was eventually won over by the role — playing
a 1960s activist.
Over a
vegan lunch in Los Angeles, Cyrus talked about what drives her, recalled
how she struggled with her pansexual identity as a teenager (she’s
currently dating Liam Hemsworth), and shared her thoughts on the
election.