Mediaboss Marketing

The most liberal House Democrats are breaking with President Obama over trade deals, using a coalition that includes unions, teachers, environmentalists and possibly tea party members to try to kill trade legislation that is one of the few areas of agreement between the White House and the Republican-run Congress.

Members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and labor leaders, including AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, rallied Thursday on Capitol Hill to denounce the White House push for authority to fast-track trade deals through Congress.

They said it would hide details of the deals behind a veil of secrecy and prevent lawmakers from protecting their constituents from lopsided agreements.

SEE ALSO: Democrats launch first filibuster of the year on Keystone

The AFL-CIO doesnt just oppose fast track. Were going to fight actively to kill it, and were going to win, declared Mr. Trumka, who has expressed dissatisfaction with the president his union troops helped twice elect.

The fast-track or trade promotion authority would empower the president to unilaterally negotiate deals and then give lawmakers only an up-or-down vote on it, which would boost Mr. Obamas chances of completing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation deal with Pacific Rim countries that is centerpiece of his Asia policy.

Talks on the TPP are nearly finished and the White House is expected to seek fast track soon. He first asked for it two years ago but the effort stalled. This time he has the benefit of pro-free trade Republicans running both chambers.

SEE ALSO: Barbara Boxer announces retirement for 2016

The rally, however, exposed a rift in the Democratic Caucus, similar to the split over the $1.1 trillion spending package last month that forced Mr. Obama to personally lobby his partys lawmakers to get the bill passed and avoid a government shutdown.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, blamed bad trade deals, pointing to the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement as an example, for compromising the quality of food, increasing the cost of medicine, undermining environmental regulations, sending jobs abroad and suppressing U.S. wages.

Excerpt from:
Progressives push back on fast-track trade deals

AP Photo

By Ben Schreckinger

1/8/15 9:42 PM EST

Updated 1/8/15 9:49 PM EST

Outgoing Maryland Gov. Martin OMalley said Thursday that hell decide on whether to run for president after spending a couple of months settling his family back into Baltimore, even as he acknowledged Democrats disastrous showing in the midterms had caused him to question the direction of the progressive movement.

And while he admitted hed faced setbacks as governor, OMalley also forcefully defended his technocratic style and progressive tendencies, and he predicted that the issue of economic inequality would dominate the 2016 campaign.

Story Continued Below

Im very seriously looking at a presidential run, OMalley told a packed audience at the University of Chicagos Institute of Politics. Ive been encouraged as I travel around the country, by the number of people who repeat again and again and again their desire for getting things done again as a country and for new leadership in order to get those things done.

The gathering, which included remarks from OMalley and a question-and-answer session, was hosted by the institutes founding director David Axelrod. OMalley has struggled to gain media attention amid the constant coverage of Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, and appearing with Axelrod, President Barack Obamas longtime adviser, gave him a platform.

OMalley prepares to leave office Jan. 21 on a somewhat deflated note. His approval ratings sank to 41 percent, an eight-year low, in October just before long-shot Republican candidate Larry Hogan upset OMalleys hand-picked successor, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, in Novembers gubernatorial election. Hogan won on the strength of a campaign that relentlessly pounded OMalleys fiscal record, which included a series of tax hikes.

Read the original post:
O'Malley, eyeing 2016, admits progressives' setbacks

January 9, 2015 by Kamarudeen Ogundele, Ado-Ekiti 7 Comments

The 19 All Progressives Congress lawmakers in the Ekiti State House of Assembly on Friday denied plotting to gatecrash into the Assembly on Thursday night as alleged by the Peoples Democratic Partys caucus.

The leader of the PDP faction in the Assembly, Mr. Dele Olugbemi, reportedly told some journalists in Ado-Ekiti on Friday that the embattled Speaker, Dr. Adewale Omirin, led other 11 APC members to the Assembly in an attempt to steal the mace.

He described the attempt of the lawmakers to force themselves into the chamber of the Assembly in the dead of the night as an ignominious act that should be condemned by all the stakeholders in the state.

He queried the intention of the lawmakers allegedly led by Omirin on why they decided to choose 11.30pm to visit the hallowed chamber when they had refused to attend meetings in the day time.

Olugbemi explained that at around 7pm when he got the information of the planned invasion, he ordered that security be beefed up around the Assembly complex.

He alleged that the APC lawmakers had planned to steal the mace, sit and destabilise the state, wondering why they could not wait for the court to decide on Omirins impeachment.

Olugbemi called on Ekiti people to protect Governor Ayodele Fayoses administration and never allow these enemies to destablise the state.

But the Majority Leader of the Assembly, Churchill Adedipe, said the allegation was another mischief from the PDP camp.

Nobody went there among our members. We wont perpetrate illegality because we are law abiding citizens. We wont enter the place by force. We are honourable men and would not act like evil men.

Originally posted here:
Ekiti APC lawmakers deny night visit to Assembly

The candidate of the All Progressives Congress for Delta South senatorial election, Prince Yemi Emiko, has said that the state of affairs of Nigeria demands a change in its political leadership.

Emiko spoke in Warri, Delta State on Friday when he received the leadership of the National Association of Delta State Students that paid him a solidarity visit and endorsed his candidacy.

He expressed delight that Nigerian youths as represented by the students have since seen the light and were identifying with the agents of change.

Emiko said Nigeria was blessed with abundant human and natural resources but regretted that the resources were not being properly managed by its leaders.

In fact, I have never met with the student body before over my political ambition. But they just decided to support me in this laudable objective. I am glad that we still have some young men who understand where the world is going, stressed the contestant.

While urging the Student body to shun thuggery, violence and any form of election malpractice, Emiko who is a younger brother to the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse II, promised to make student affairs a priority at the National Assembly, insisting that what APC stands for is change and nothing else.

Earlier, the president of NADESSIU, Comrade Francis Bolokor, in a written address, said the association decided to support Prince Emiko for his outstanding leadership quality and love for students across the country.

We decided to pick you among the lots after a critical assessment of your track record and to also endorse you for Delta South Senatorial District. It will be another terrible mistake if Nigerian Students continue to watch the ills plaguing the nation.

Over 60 percent students in the 13 campuses in the state will deliver over 20,000 to APC. We are all prepared for change because we are sick and tired of the lukewarm attitude of our leaders, the students said.

More:
Nigeria needs a change in 2015 Emiko

Vice Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, on Friday led a campaign rally in Akure tagged Walk for Change, but it was Governor Rauf Argbesola of Osun State who stole the show when he accused the Goodluck Jonathan-led government of failing to account for $14.6billion oil proceeds between July 2013 and July 2014.

The rally, which was organised by the Buhari-Osinbajo Campaign Organisation, was meant to sensitise Akure residents ahead of next months general elections.

Speaking at the rally, Aregbesola said the Federal Government had displayed incompetence in handling the funds that accrued to the country from oil exploration.

Aregbesola said the excuse of crude oil theft was assailable because President Jonathan as Commander in Chief of the armed forces had the requisite security apparatus to stop the stealing of crude oil.

$40m worth of crude oil is being stolen everyday amounting to $14.6bn since 2013 even when the contract to protect the oil pipelines has been given to ex-militant, Tompolo, he said.

The governor told the APC members who thronged the venue that the fund that had been stolen in the last one year was enough to pay allocation of all the states of the federation for four years.

He said, The amount that has been stolen in the last one year is N2.2 trillion when converted to the Naira, the money is enough to bring development to the states of the federation who are groaning under shortage of allocation to states.

He said the crude oil the federal government claimed was stolen, resulting in the shortage of allocation, was not actually lost but stolen by cronies of the Peoples Democratic Party-led federal government.

Aregbesola said Nigerians must vote for change so that public funds going into private pockets would be distributed to all Nigerians for development purposes.

Osinbajo in his remarks promised that the elderly and the poor would earn incomes when his party ascends the Presidency.

Read more:
FG cant account for $14.6bn oil money Aregbesola