Elizabeth Warren isn't backing down one inch in her fight with President Obama over the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

On Saturday, just a few days after the President accused her of spreading "misinformation," about the TPP trade deal I like to call SHAFTA, the Massachusetts senator hit back hard in a letter to the White House.

While the Obama administration has, she pointed out, given 500 or so corporate lobbyists inside access to TPP negotiations, it has left the public completely in the dark.

In fact, as Warren went on to write, "It is currently illegal for the press, experts, advocates, or the general public to review the text of this agreement. And while... Members of Congress may 'walk over ... and read the text of the agreement' -- as we have done - [we] are prohibited by law from discussing the specifics of that text in public."

That's right - members of Congress, the elected representatives of "We the People" can't talk to the public about the biggest trade treaty in American history. And Warren isn't making this up, as the Obama administration would have you believe, just to score political points.

A few years ago, before the TPP even became the hot-button issue it is now, Oregon Congressman Peter DeFazio came on this show and talked about the kind of crazy hoops he had to jump through just to look at one of the more than 20 chapters in a draft version of the deal.

If you thought that was bad, though, here's the real kicker: if the Obama administration gets it way, Congress won't even get a chance to really debate the TPP before it becomes the law of the land.

That's because right now, with the full backing of the White House, the House and Senate are considering bills that would give President Obama "fast track" powers in regards to the TPP and all other trade deals from now until the end of his time in office - and for the first four years of the next president.

If Congress does give President Obama fast track power, our elected representatives wouldn't be allowed to make any amendments whatsoever to trade deals like the TPP. Instead, the treaty would be sent right to the floor where it would only have to pass a simple up-or-down vote after debate limited to 8 minutes per member.

This, to paraphrase Joe Biden, is a big f**ing deal

 

Read more here.

 

-Thom

 

Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10pm... Don't Underestimate Sen. Bernie Sanders! / Trade Treachery / Tom Hayden (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT or Free Speech TV, and catch past shows on Youtube)

 

Be sure to check out our newest video: RESTORATION - narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio & Thom Hartmann, directed by Leila Conners / Visit GreenWorldRising.org to check out all the videos: CARBON, LAST HOURS & GREEN WORLD RISING - narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio & Thom Hartmann, directed by Leila Conners

 

 

Need to Know: Don't Underestimate Sen. Bernie Sanders!
- America's Lawyer Mike Papantonio, Ring of Fire Radio  

 

Screwed: Trade Treachery
- Congressman Alan Grayson  

 

Conversations with Great Minds - Tom Hayden, Listen Yankee!: Why Cuba Matters/Peace & Justice Resource Center/Vietnam: The Power of Protest  

Thursday's Daily Stack 

Article: "Senator Bernie Sanders News Conference" (decision to seek the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016).

Article: "Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement" (TPP) by EFF.

Article: "Poll Of Likely 2016 Voters" by GBA Strategies on behalf of the Progressive Change Institute.

Site: Bernie 2016  

Article: "Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan & Kevin McCarthy: Plot To Sabotage US Economy with Frank Luntz" by keepemhonest.

Article: "12/4/07: December Democratic Tracking Poll" by Public Policy Polling.

Article: "1/05/07: 2008 Democratic Primary" by Public Policy Polling.

Article: "Bernie Sanders: 'I am running for president of the United States' " by Aliyah Frumin.

Article: "Orioles VP Angelos Makes Profound Statement Following Baltimore Protests".

Article: "The Jewel in the Crown (TV series)" by Wikipedia.

Quote: "In a Time of Universal Deceit - Telling the Truth Is a Revolutionary Act" - attributed to George Orwell".

Hour Two: The Power of Protest Then and Now
- Margery Tabankin, Lessons of Vietnam 

Event: May 1-2, Washington DC "Lessons of Vietnam".

Article: "Gulf of Tonkin Resolution" by Wikipedia.

Law: "Glass-Steagall Act", 1933.

 

Speech: "The Four Freedoms" by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 6 January, 1941.

Article: "Constitution of the United States" Article 1 section 8: ...To establish Post Offices and post Roads;...

Book: Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich by Peter Schweizer.

Article: "Peter Schweizer Walks Back Phony Clinton Cash Allegation Linking Clinton Speaking Fees To Iran Sanctions " by Olivia Kittel.

Article: "Supreme Court Upholds Fundraising Restriction on Judicial Elections" by Brent Kendall and Jess Bravin.

Article: "Baltimore PD Hands Investigation to State Attorney, Reveals Van Made Extra Stop" by Evan McMurry.

Article: "Freddie Gray Surgery" by Snopes.

Article: "Police Told To 'Stand Down' During Baltimore Riots.... 'Weren't Allowed To Defend City'...)" (Drudge Report title.

Article: "The Danger of American Fascism" by Henry A. Wallace.

Book: The American Revolution of 1800: How Jefferson Rescued Democracy from Tyranny and Faction - and What This Means Today by Dan Sisson with Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Social and demographic differences in news habits and attitudes" by American Press Institute.

 

Talk Radio News Segment:
- Victoria Jones 

Article: "Sen. Bernie Sanders Announces 2016 Presidential Bid" by William McDonald.

Article: "TRNS Reporting On Location: Baltimore" by TRNS.

Article: "Prisoner in van said Freddie Gray was 'trying to injure himself,' document says" by Peter Hermann.

Article: "Congress to propose bill raising US minimum wage to $12 by 2020" by Jana Kasperkevic.

Article: "Six Senate Dems back new data breach bill" by Cory Bennett.

Article: "U.S. Jobless Claims Fall to Lowest Level in 15 Years" by Ben Leubsdorf.

Site: "Goats for the old Goat".

Article: "TRNS News Notes 4/30" by Victoria Jones.

Article: "TRNS News Notes- 4/29" by Victoria Jones.

Hour Three: TPP...Trade Treachery
- Congressman Alan Grayson, Trade Treachery 

Video: No to 'Fast Track,' No to Trade Treachery (Rep. Alan Grayson).

Site: Free Trade? More Like Fake Trade (Trade Treachery).

Article: "The Buffett Plan for Reducing the Trade Deficit" by Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, Greg Hannsgen, Gennaro Zezza.

 

Site: StampStampede.

  

Friday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 12-3pm ET 

 

It's Friday and that means it's Brunch with Bernie...America's Senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders will be here talking about all the important issues of the week and he'll be taking YOUR calls too!

 

Plus, it's Anything Goes Friday...your turn to choose the topics we talk about...what's on your mind?

 

And, the best of the rest of the news along with your calls right here on...

 

The Thom Hartmann Program, Occupying The Media 3 hours a day 5 days a week" for "we the people"

 

And don't forget...Democracy is NOT a spectator sport...it begins with you...

Free excerpt, read book for free at Truthout, buy the book!

    

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