Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's highly anticipated speech to Congress contained a curious statement.
He claimed Secretary of State John Kerry "confirmed last week that Iran could legitimately possess" 190,000 centrifuges enriching uranium by the end of a long-term nuclear agreement that the U.S. is negotiating with Iran. That, Netanyahu warned, could put Iran "weeks away" from an "arsenal of nuclear weapons." That's not what Kerry said. Kerry did not confirm "that Iran could legitimately possess" 190,000 centrifuges. Kerry wasn't saying that "Iran could legitimately possess" 190,000 centrifuges. He was saying that "a civilian power plant that's pro-ducing power legitimately" could have 190,000 or more centrifuges. Kerry,"We have made it crystal clear that the 19,000 that are currently part of their program is too many, and that we need to deal with the question of enrichment, and so all I will say to you is that we will continue to press." State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf "Secretary Kerry was not speaking to what Iran could or would have under or after a deal - he wasn't talking specifically about Iran at all. He was arguing that ensuring the nuclear program is peaceful through measures like transparency and monitoring can be as important [as] the number of centrifuges, which can get quite high even in countries that peacefully enrich uranium only to produce electrical power."
Perry climbs on emissions bandwagon
Rick Perry said carbon dioxide emissions in Texas were down because of "incentive-based regulation" during his time as governor. But the evidence shows a decline in manufacturing jobs and federal energy policies - not the state's - are more likely to be the cause of the reduction. Perry pointed to policies that upgraded old diesel engines. But the nitrogen oxide figures he cited actu-ally exclude vehicles, and transportation sector CO2 rose over the time frame in question. The CO2 reduction was largely due to a decline in the manufacturing sector. He also said that Texas transitioned toward natural gas in its power supply, but the percentage of natural gas actually declined. Wind power, meanwhile, grew dramatically, thanks in large part to federal policy. Fur-thermore, Texas has not shrunk from coal power in more recent years either - according to the EIA no state added more coal-fired electricity in 2013 than Texas, and the state added about twice as much coal as natural gas power.
Sessions is reaching on murders
"Every day, all along border states, maybe other places, there are murders by people who have been arrested coming into this country, who have been released by the Obama administration, I believe in violation of the law, who are murdering Americans all over our cities. We hold the Democrat Party and the president personally accountable for this action."
Rep. Pete Sessions' (R-Tex.), remarks in a House Rules Committee hearing, Feb. 26, 2015. Since there are no nationwide data kept on murders committed by illegal immigrants, let alone on immigrants who are released by the Obama administration, Sessions' staff struggled to come up with something that would confirm his assertion. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) in January released a report tracking crimes committed by 36,000 illegal immigrants who had criminal records and were released in 2013. One thousand of these one-time criminals had added to their criminal record, including such charges as assault with a deadly weapon, terrorist threats, failure to register as a sex offender, and spousal rape. But murder or homicide was not even on the list.One can debate the merits of the administration's immigration policies without resorting to nonsense facts. Sessions is a commit-tee chairman, and he should know better.
Chip Tuthill lives in Mancos. Websites used: www.factcheck.org www.politifact.com.