Railway Labor Act & BNSF Strike
I was hoping you guys would be willing to cover a recent strike attempt by SMART-UTU and BLET unions in response to a newly implemented and extremely draconian attendance policy being implemented by BNSF Railway. Under this new policy, train crews which are on call 24/7/365 to work are essentially having their 7 guaranteed days off per month reduced to 2 guaranteed days off. Prior to the strike, BNSF sued the unions in federal court, and were granted a temporary restraining order, preventing the strike yet allowing the egregious policy to continue. In this largely pro-union climate, I was hoping you could help raise public awareness on why railroad employees are somehow the only union members that effectively cannot engage in a strike, leading to a total inability to collectively bargain with our employer for better working conditions. We haven’t received a raise in two years, and now they want to work us even more.
Citizens United
What would it take to reverse Citizen's United? Money in politics is an enormous threat to democracy, because the pull of financial donations has much more sway over politicians than those of us who are not part of the donor class. It seems to me that getting money out of politics should be the first priority for restoring our democracy-- why isn't anyone pushing to end Citizen's United? What can be done at the grass-roots level to solve this huge problem in our country?
Late 20s without savings or home
Hello!! I'm a 28 year old carpenter making $35/hour (takehome). Why does it feel so difficult to get ahead? I'm for sure making good money but don't feel like it. I'm living near Seattle, WA (35 miles south) and housing prices are absolutely insane here. For a really awful apartment in a really bad part of town, 2 bedroom units are almost at minimum $1750/month and if you want to be in a better neighborhood, it's at minimum 1950/month. Homes that sold in 2013 for $195k are now worth $450-$500k. I'm wondering if either of you have an idea of what the future holds for people like me and my girlfriend because as it stands right now our only course to a house is waiting out her grandfather's life and crossing our fingers that we'll get the home. What might fix this?
Ukraine war?
First of all, thank you for what you’re doing, and especially for how you’re doing it (that includes James and whoever else is there making it happen. “Pull that up, James” is slowly becoming a match to the GOAT, “Fingers.” • my question is: do you think Hunter Biden’s dealings in the Ukraine have anything to do with the state of affairs. Specifically, is it another corporate interests on both ends cooking up a deal, while ignoring both countries’ citizenry wants and needs? If Putin was the threat he’s made to be, his position wouldn’t be dissed like that, it would be debated.