The Senate on Tuesday voted to advance President Obama’s trade agenda, approving a measure to end debate on fast-track authority.
The 60-37 motion sets up a vote on final passage on Wednesday. If the Senate approves fast-track or trade promotion authority (TPA), it would then be sent to Obama’s desk to become law. Fast-track authority would allow Obama to send trade deals to Congress for up-or-down votes. The White House wants the authority to conclude negotiations on a sweeping trans-Pacific trade deal.
Thirteen Democrats backed fast-track in Tuesday’s vote, handing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) a major legislative victory.
They did so even though the trade package did not include a workers assistance program for people displaced by increased trade. The Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program was a part of the last fast-track package approved by the Senate in May, but became a key part of opposition to the package among Democrats in the House.
To move fast-track forward, the White House and GOP leaders in both chambers decided to break TAA away from fast-track, and to try to approve both in separate votes.
After the Senate votes Wednesday on final passage for fast-track, it will take a procedural vote on a package that includes TAA and trade preferences for African countries known as the African Growth and Opportunity Act.
McConnell has promised both bills, as well as a customs and enforcement bill favored by Democrats, will reach Obama’s desk by the end of the week.
“If we all keep working together and trusting each other, then by the end of the week the President will have TPA, TAA, and AGOA and Preferences on his desk — with Customs in the process of heading his way too,” he said on the floor.
And since the House has already passed fast-track, and now must only vote on the package including TAA, which faces token opposition from conservatives, expect the TPA and shortly thereafter, the TPP, to be enacted despite yet another round of dramatic theater by the best representatives US corporations can bribe.
Today brings Round 2 in "the most transparent administration ever"'s attempt to pass the incredibly opaque Fast-Track Authority enabling Obama to negotiate the Trans-Pacific-Partnership corporate coup d'etat (and all the other trade deals currently floating around) without fear of irritation from any outsiders. However, it won't be easy-sledding as The Hill reports, labor groups led by the AFL-CIO are furiously lobbying Democrats to oppose fast-track authority when the Senate votes on a procedural motion Tuesday. Union leaders warn enabling Fast-Track prematurely would "compound its expected negative impacts, leaving U.S. workers in the lurch and depriving the U.S. manufacturing sector of vital tools necessary to combat unfair trade."
Islamic State group spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani called on Tuesday for Muslims to engage in jihad and become martyrs during the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
Adnani also announced an amnesty for people who fought against IS in Iraq’s Anbar province, and called on residents who had fled violence there to return home.
“The best acts that bring you closer to God are jihad, so hurry to it and make sure to carry out the invasion this holy month and be exposed to martyrdom in it,” Adnani said in an audio message posted online.
“These are your weapons and this is Ramadan.”
[This one should be read in full - as posted below]
The Times is an establishment publication – a lying machine, a mouthpiece for powerful monied interests at the expense of popular ones.
Hard truths are suppressed. Managed news misinformation substitutes. Readers are systematically lied to on issues mattering most.
Times editors, correspondents and contributors aren’t journalists. They’re guardians of wealth, power and privilege. On January 22, two editorials willfully lied about Vladimir Putin and America’s economy.
A previous article discussed Putin straight talk v. Obama double talk. It discussed what The Times and other media scoundrels never explain – the truth about Putin’s forthrightness, his advocacy for peace and stability and support for mutual cooperation among all nations v. Obama’s serial lying and war on humanity.
Not according to Times editors. Bashing Putin irresponsibly is longstanding practice – this time in part trying to denigrate the impressive St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) attended by a record 10,000 participants from around 120 countries, including numerous corporate CEOs and top government officials – defying US sanctions.
Over 200 contracts were signed with Russian companies worth $5.4 billion during the three-day event ending Saturday. Expect many more to follow.
The event was impressive, a smashing success. Times editors lied saying it “was not all that it seemed.” They bashed Putin’s straight talk about Ukraine, US-led Western responsibility for a new Cold War and other major geopolitical issues.
They outrageously called his forthrightness “mythology…fantasy.” They insulted readers claiming he used “foreign executives as props” while “looking more desperate than confident that he will win the confrontation with the West.”
Putin is a master chess player. His strategic thinking is longterm. He makes Obama look buffoon-like in comparison – a serial liar, moral coward, war criminal multiple times over, a disgrace to the office he holds.
A recent poll had Putin’s approval rating at 88%. Russians admire his forthrightness. Obama struggles to hold 40%. Why anyone supports him they’ll have to explain.
He broke every major promise made. Putin is a man of his word – polar opposite Obama and other Western politicians.
The Times continues the Big Lie about Russia “annex(ing)” Crimea. Its residents near unanimously chose to join Russia by national referendum independently judged open, free and fair.
Putin reversed a historic error by accommodating their wishes. He didn’t invade Ukraine. No “Russian aggression” exists despite the Big Lie claiming otherwise – repeated ad nauseam by The Times and other Western media, instead of forthrightly telling it straight.
Times editors bashed Putin announcing 40 new ICBMs added to Russia’s arsenal – able to carry multiple nuclear warheads.
They ignored Washington belligerently increasing its military presence close to Russia’s borders. Its provocative Eastern European military exercises. Its plans to spend $1 trillion over the next three decades upgrading its nuclear arsenal.
It’s considering using nuclear weapons against Russian targets on the phony pretext of its nonexistent Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) violations.
Russia deplores an arms race. Hostile US policies force it to respond defensively. No responsible leader would act otherwise. Not according to Times editors.
It bashed Putin saying his moves alarm his neighbors when their only threat is from Washington and other rogue NATO members.
Times editors ludicrously said so-called Putin “loose talk could undermine years of efforts intended to reduce nuclear tensions and the risk of war” – at a time Washington is hellbent on record military spending and deliberately threatening Russian security.
Saying “(t)he United States and Europe have largely been measured in their response to” crisis conditions is polar opposite truth. US-dominated NATO bears FULL responsibility for heading things recklessly toward possible war with Russia.
Lunatics in Washington make the unthinkable possible. Don’t expect Times editors to explain. Instead they repeat the Big Lie about Russian troops and weapons in Ukraine. They blame Moscow and Donbass freedom fighters for Kiev junta high crimes.
They call Putin’s all-out efforts for regional peace and stability “aggressive behavior.” He’s the only world leader trying to resolve Ukrainian aggression on Donbass diplomatically.
Obama wants war, not peace. So does Washington’s installed Kiev puppet regime – a fascist dictatorship murdering its own people.
A second June 22 Times editorial discussed US economic growth. Its editors entirely ignored bipartisan policies benefitting America’s super-rich at the expense of most others.
They said nothing about continued forced-fed austerity causing enormous harm to tens of millions during protracted Main Street Depression conditions – creating greater poverty, unemployment, underemployment and human misery than any time since the 1930s.
They’re mindless about phony monthly jobs reports and other distorted government data concealing true economic conditions for most Americans.
No economic recovery exists, Paul Craig Roberts explains. “The only sign (suggesting it) is real GDP which shows up positive only because the deflator is understated,” he says.
Measures needed to restore growth aren’t taken. It requires ending support for financial interests and big investors at the expense of the overall economy.
It takes bringing back high-pay, good benefit jobs offshored to low-wage countries. It requires leadership serving all Americans equitably – not just its privileged few. Don’t expect Times editors to explain.
Greece's leftwing government expressed confidence on Tuesday that parliament would approve a debt deal with lenders, despite an angry reaction from some of its own lawmakers who accused it of caving in to pressure for more austerity.
Concessions offered by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, including hikes to tax and pension contributions, garnered a cautious welcome from euro zone leaders but triggered a furious reaction from some leftists in the ruling Syriza party.
One lawmaker said the deal was tantamount to a "tombstone" for Greece, after repeated rounds of austerity during five years of crisis.
Deputy parliament speaker and Syriza lawmaker Alexis Mitropoulos said the concessions were "not in line with the principles of the left" and would cause "social carnage".
"I believe that this programme as we see it ... is difficult to pass by us," he told Greek Mega TV.
However State Minister Nikos Pappas, one of Tsipras' closest aides, said he was confident that the deal would get through.
But the euro fell on fears the plan would struggle to win approval in the Greek parliament.
Tsipras, who was voted into office in January on a pledge to roll back years of austerity in a country battered by recession, must keep Syriza as well as creditors onside for a deal to stick.
He will go to Brussels to meet European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, IMF head Christine Lagarde and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday, a statement from his office said.
The meeting will take place in Brussels in the afternoon, before a 7 p.m. (1700 GMT) meeting of the eurogroup of finance ministers that will aim to end the logjam in debt negotiations.
Underlining the delicate balancing act Tsipras faces, thousands of pensioners and members of the Communist-affiliated PAME trade union marched through central Athens on Tuesday to protest against further austerity measures.
The creditors may well come back and demand further savings, tax rises or reform measures in the drive to clinch a deal on Wednesday evening, people familiar with the situation said.
Comments by German Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, warning Greece that its creditors would not be blackmailed, underscored that progress on a deal remained fragile. A European Commission spokesman emphasised that Greece needed to spell out what actions it will take before any bailout funds can be released.
If the Greek parliament fails to back a deal, Tsipras might be forced to call a snap election or a referendum that would prolong the uncertainty.
There are a lot of stories that are reported about United Nations vehicles being transported on US highways. The latest comes by way of video footage that shows UN trucks that seem to be attempting to hide their logo as they are transported on a US highway in Northern Louisiana.
The trucks appear to be brand new UN medical trucks, as identified with red crosses and the footage was posted on Youtube on June 15, 2015.
According to the description, the video was taken in Northern Louisiana on June 10, 2015.
While I am aware that America does produce a lot of trucks that are shipped all over the world and this may be just such an incident, it is concerning to see that the UN logos are covered with brown paper. However, it is one that appears to have been peeled back due to wind or possibly human error that reveals the logo.
The question I have is, why cover up the UN logo? It certainly isn't to protect it. After all, there is no covering over the red crosses that adorn the sides and rear of the vehicles. Additionally, with Jade Helm military exercises having begun this month, and alleged sightings of UN helicopters over Washington State, it just adds to the already high alert of American patriots who are keeping their eyes open.
Ally - I've never heard of any of that (?) - if you have a link, please send it along!
ReplyDeleteSorry Scott, I haven't been on in a few days but I will try and research it more for you. My mom is dying and I'm trying to get from Ca to Va this sec in the hopes she will finally accept Christ before she goes.....Love you all
ReplyDeletegosh, so sorry to hear that - will be praying for that whole situation
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