{"id":158247,"date":"2015-06-10T11:42:30","date_gmt":"2015-06-10T11:42:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=158247"},"modified":"2015-06-10T11:42:30","modified_gmt":"2015-06-10T11:42:30","slug":"republican-house-members-receive-rubber-stamps-fight-future-ahead-plans-fast-track-president-obamas-secret-trade-agenda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/republican-house-members-receive-rubber-stamps-fight-future-ahead-plans-fast-track-president-obamas-secret-trade-agenda\/","title":{"rendered":"Republican House Members Receive Rubber Stamps from Fight for the Future Ahead of Plans to ‘Fast Track’ President Obama\u2019s Secret Trade Agenda"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The package included a satirical letter from the President and an actual rubber stamp with the words, \u201cI approve President Obama\u2019s secret trade deal\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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WASHINGTON – Late last week, House Republicans started to receive hand-delivered packages in large white envelopes addressed to each Representative by name and purportedly \u201cfrom\u201d President Barack Obama. The packages contained a satirical letter to Congress from the President asking Republicans, \u201cPlease rubber stamp my secret trade agenda.\u201d The packages also contained a rubber stamp of the President’s face along with the text, \u201cI approve President Obama\u2019s secret trade deal.\u201d Finally, the packages contained a fact sheet headlined, \u201cFacts to Ignore when Rubber Stamping my Trade Deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

See photos and video of the packages here:<\/strong>http:\/\/tumblr.fightforthefuture.org\/post\/121088291048\/photos-video-house-republicans-receive<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today, the digital rights group, Fight for the Future<\/a>, revealed that they were behind the action. Fight for the Future issued the following statement<\/strong>, which was also mailed anonymously to several media outlets:<\/p>\n

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\u201cPeople from across the political spectrum oppose Fast Track\/Trade Promotion Authority because we have learned that when our government acts in secret, it is never in the public\u2019s best interest.<\/em><\/p>\n

Republicans who claim to advocate for individual liberty should know better than to vote for legislation that gives unprecedented powers to the executive branch to make decisions in secret that affect everything from national sovereignty, to U.S. patent laws, to internet freedom.<\/em><\/p>\n

Any Republican who decides to go against the majority of their constituents and rubberstamp the Trans-Pacific Partnership will learn come election that paying lip service to liberty while endorsing tyranny is a fast track to losing the faith of the American public.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Fight for the Future Campaign Director Evan Greer added, <\/strong>\u201cGiven all the secrecy surrounding insider deals for Fast Track legislation and classified agreements like the TPP and TISA, we thought it was apropos to have a bit of mystery surrounding our protest too. Congress is supposed to listen to their constituents, not party leadership, not the White House, not industry lobbyists\u2014\u2014the people they represent. We sent them these stamps as a reminder, and to show them that the public is watching, and will remember how they vote.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fight for the Future made headlines in March when they flew a 30\u2019 blimp<\/a> over several of Senator Ron Wyden\u2019s town hall meetings calling for him to \u201cSave the Internet\u201d by opposing Fast Track for the TPP.<\/p>\n

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Fight for the Future is dedicated to protecting and expanding the Internet’s transformative power in our lives by creating civic campaigns that are engaging for millions of people.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Organization Links<\/h3>\n
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https:\/\/www.fightforthefuture.org<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News<\/a> with permission or license.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The package included a satirical letter from the President and an actual rubber stamp with the words, \u201cI approve President Obama\u2019s secret trade deal\u201d WASHINGTON – Late last week, House Republicans started to receive hand-delivered packages in large white envelopes addressed to each Representative by name and purportedly \u201cfrom\u201d President Barack Obama. The packages contained […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[519],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-158247","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-newswire"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158247\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}