Hillary Clinton on Iran; Tom Brady Slips His Penalty

I. Bomb! Bomb! Bomb! Iran
In a recent campaign stop, Hillary Clinton said that if Iran cheats on the nuclear development agreement, she will not hesitate to take military action on it. A computer simulation estimates three million deaths if the U.S. uses nuclear warheads on Iran's deeply buried nuclear facilities. Even if the destruction can be done with the Pentagon's largest conventional weapon, the Daisy Cutter, many will die due to blast effects and radioactive debris thrown into the atmosphere.

Iran has the ability to cause tremendous harm to U.S. interests and would likely launch a crash program to get nuclear weapons if bombed. Iran is also positioned geographically to severely disrupt oil shipments. Overall, another war in the Middle East is not something that the United States  needs.

The reason that Iran might want to develop a nuclear weapon is almost certainly the case that it sees it as a deterrent to an attack by the U.S. or Israel. Iran's leaders must know that if Iran were to launch a nuclear warhead against the U.S. or Israel, it would cease to exist as a functioning nation due to the massive retaliatory response.

Finally, it is incongruous that nations with over 16,000 nuclear warheads should have been involved in an agreement to prevent Iran from getting even one.

II. Tom Brady Slips His Penalty
A federal judge has rescinded the four-game suspension imposed on New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. The judge based his legal ruling on the failure of the National Football League to follow proper procedures in imposing the penalty. The first investigation was headed by attorney Ted Wells, who found that Brady impeded the investigation and probably lied. Commissioner Roger Goodall did the follow-up investigation and sustained a four-game suspension. One of Goodall's major findings was that Brady had his assistant destroy his cellphone a day before he, Brady,was to hand it over. There were an estimated 10,000 messages on the cellphone and some of these messages may have been between Brady and two ball boys who were presumably the ones who deflated footballs below NFL air pressure specifications, but in line  with Brady's desires.

The federal judge could have followed a different tact: he could have compared what Brady did to what happens in criminal court trials. Impeding an investigation relates to obstruction of justice, convictions for which usually result in prison time. Lying while under oath is perjury, considered to be a serious offense. Lying to a law enforcement officer while not under oath is considered to be a crime in some legal jurisdictions, such as lying to an FBI agent.

The federal judge was reported to be much impressed by Brady having a poor first half in the championship game against the Indianapolis Colts, when he played with an under-inflated ball, and then having a good second half when playing with a properly inflated ball. Quarterbacks often have very different performances in the two halves of a football game.

That Tom Brady may have played with under-inflated footballs for years is supported by a Wall Street Journal investigation in which its researchers found that the New England Patriots had a far lower fumble rate that other NFL teams. It is easier to retain a grip on an under-inflated football when a running back or a receiver is tackled.

ADDENDUMS:
*Biker Bloodshed - In regard to a shootout among motorcycle gangs in Waco, Texas, which caused many deaths and injuries, Dan Solomon wrote in Texasmonthly.com: "Why isn't anyone calling on white community leaders to denounce the bikers? Where are the condemnations of the biker's parents for raising them to be 'thugs'?" "If black gangs had caused a bloodbath and shot at cops, it wouldn't be perceived as an isolated incident involving only the people who drew their guns?"

The Justice Department estimates that there are more than 300 "outlaw motorcycle gangs" in the country, with the Bandidos among the largest and fiercest. (Source: "Biker bloodshed in Texas," The Week, May 29, 2015.)

*Unused Death Penalty - Austin Sarat in Politico.com (The Week, May 29, 2015) says that eight death penalty states haven't executed anyone in a decade. In the "Noted" section of the same The Week source, it is reported that juries have handed down seventy-four death sentences since the federal death penalty was reinstated in 1988, but only three of those convicted killers have been executed.

*Most Dangerous Jobs - In the same "Noted" section as above, the most dangerous job in the U.S. is identified as commercial fishing, with an average of 132 deaths on the job per 1,00 workers between 2006 and 2013, according to the U.S. Labor Department. Although policing is a dangerous job, it doesn't make the top ten of the most dangerous jobs in the United States.