Obama Takes Unexpected Setback On Trade Agenda As Fast Track Passes Senate

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's trade agenda suffered a setback Friday evening during a series of last-minute maneuvers in the Senate. While the upper chamber eventually passed a bill that would help Obama streamline a trade pact with 11 Pacific nations, the final product threw a wrench into the president's plans.

The Senate approved a bill to "fast-track" trade agreements negotiated by the president. The agreement will prevent Congress from amending or filibustering Obama's controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. The TPP deal would have a hard time surviving without fast-track authority.

But a key crackdown on human trafficking survived the legislative jujitsu. The White House considers the provision a deal-breaker, as it would force one of the nations involved in the TPP talks -- Malaysia -- out of the agreement. An immigration-related amendment authored by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) never got a vote, making it far more difficult for Obama to win over skeptical tea party Republicans in the House.

The slavery provision's survival means that the House will either need to amend the bill and send it back to the Senate, which would cause a delay and complicate the House debate, or pass a bill and go to conference with the Senate, also causing a delay. It also potentially could be fixed in separate legislation otherwise moving through Congress.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/22/senate-passes-fast-track_n_7425614.html

Posters Go Up Around Columbia Calling Mattress Rape Protester A "Pretty Little Liar"



Early this morning, an anonymous person or persons put up posters around Columbia University—in the 116th Street subway station, outside of Tom's Restaurant, on stoplights and construction walls—emblazoned with the image of student Emma Sulkowicz and her now-iconic mattress. Since September 2014, Sulkowicz has been dragging the mattress around campus as a protest against the school's handling of her rape allegations against another student. (That student, Paul Nungesser, has since sued the university.) This morning's posters accuse Sulkowicz of making it all up, dismissing her as "Pretty Little Liar" with the caption "Emma Sulkowitz" [sic] and "RapeHoax."

A new Twitter account, @FakeRape, has been tweeting pictures of the posters for the last five hours. Another poster, picturing Lena Dunham sticking her tongue out, is clearly part of the series, emblazoned "Big Fat Liar," with the same #RapeHoax hashtag.

Today's stunt coincides with Columbia's commencement ceremony, and follows on the heels of yesterday's College Class Day ceremony, during which Sulkowicz carried her dorm room mattress across the stage. The NY Times reports that President Lee C. Bollinger refused to shake her hand when she passed, as he had done with all the other students—including Nungesser, who crossed the stage minutes before her.

http://gothamist.com/2015/05/20/columbia_rape_protest_posters.php