The Bart strike may be over, but the strike forced many commuters to seek alternative transportation. Should public transit workers be banned from striking? Then, White House staffer Jofi Joseph was fired from his post as senior National Security Council because of his anonymous twitter account. Should he have been fired? Next, should news organizations shut out extreme alternative voices in debates? Then, what are the pros and cons of working with your spouse? Lastly, we talk with author Linda Robinson about her book that gives an intimate look at the U.S. Special Ops in Afghanistan.
BART strike renews calls to ban public transit walkouts
Trains in San Francisco were once again in service after Bay Area Rapid Transit and union leaders reached a tentative deal on Monday to end the four-day strike. The work stoppage put some 400,000 BART riders in a jam, diverting commuters to already crowded roads and other transport alternatives.
The BART Board of Directors and members of the agency's two large unions still need to approve the tentative contract agreement.
This is the second time BART workers had walked out of their jobs this year. In July, union workers went on strike for 4½ days. The two strikes have angered commuters, businesses and lawmakers, adding fuel to calls for the state to ban public transit workers from striking.
California currently forbids strikes by police and firefighters from going on strike. States like New York and Oregon prohibits their public transit workers from striking.
Should California do the same? Should public transit workers be banned from striking, like police and firefighters? Is public transit an essential service?
Guests:
Steve Glazer, Councilman, City of Orinda; Democratic Assembly candidate and organizer of the online petition effort, Banbartstrikes.com
John Logan, Professor and director of labor and employment studies at San Francisco State University
A White House staffer is fired for snarky tweets
A White House national security staffer was fired last week after having been outed as the publisher of insulting tweets about the Obama administration under the twitter handle @natsecwonk. Jofi Joseph had been running the twitter account for more than two years and tweeted comments like “I'm a fan of Obama, but his continuing reliance and dependence upon a vacuous cipher like Valerie Jarrett concerns me."
His tweets, while not always kind, were pretty harmless. He didn’t give up any national security secrets, but instead vented about some of the madness he saw daily in Washington.
But what made him decide to take that venting to Twitter? Have you ever wanted to create some anonymous twitter handle to talk about the crazy people at your job? How do you vent without actually going to twitter or doing something to risk losing your job?
Guest:
Joseph J. Lazzarotti, Partner, New Jersey office of Jackson Lewis LLP. He leads the firm's Privacy, Social Media and Information Management Practice.
The thin line between balance and false equivalence
Earlier this month, editor of the Los Angeles Times’ letters section wrote an op-ed piece in which he explained why he’d decided to not publish letters from readers who say that there’s no scientific evidence supporting claims that humans have caused climate change.
"Simply put, I do my best to keep errors of fact off the letters page; when one does run, a correction is published. Saying 'there's no sign humans have caused climate change' is not stating an opinion, it's asserting a factual inaccuracy," Thornton wrote.
The ban has come under attack by critics, who charge that the Times is essentially shutting out an alternative voice in a valid debate. At AirTalk, the issue of false equivalence amid the quest for balance is something that we also have to constantly deal with.
Using the topic of climate change as a point of department, we’ll explore these issues that all news gathering outlets have to wrestle with: how do we preserve and encourage public debates on important issues without perpetuating scientific falsehoods? The companion question to that is, who should decide?
Guest:
Patrick Pexton, Washington Post ombudsman from March 2011-March 2013 and former deputy editor for National Journal. He tweets at
Katie Orenstein, Founder and CEO of The Op-Ed Project, a collective of journalists who believe a wide range of voices should be shaping the news
Would you rather be physically searched or electronically searched before boarding a flight?
The Transportation Security Administration will now be screening passengers before they even get to the airport. The administration is using data from other agencies such as car registrations. The New York Times reported that the goal of this will be to streamline the security process. Some of this prescreening already takes place to a certain extending, but all of the details have yet to be released.
This is more detailed than previous programs such as Secure Flight when basic information such as name, gender, and birth date are cross-referenced with terrorists watch lists. Opponents say this practice is extremely instructive, and that this approach is blanketed rather than a targeted approach.
Do you think this will make the security line at the airport faster? Would you trade quicker TSA lines for more data pre-screening? What are some of the risks associated with this type of security screening?
Guest:
Stewart Verdery, partner at Monument Policy Group, a DC consulting firm, and former Assistant Secretary of Policy and Planning at the Department of Homeland Security
Edward Hasbrouck , travel expert and consultant for The Identity Project, an organization concerned with the civil rights of travelers
Mixing business and marriage: how spouses, co-workers and employers navigate love on the job
Couples at work in some cases can change the dynamics of a workplace. Robin Wilson recently wrote about this dynamic in the academic world where some schools hire couples as part of recruitment. She chronicles the strains this can sometimes place on their co-workers as well as their relationship.
Having a couple in the workplace can bring more personal problems into the office. There is a risk of the relationship going south, and impacting the people around them. A recent survey by the Society for Human Resource Management found that in 2013 twice as many organizations have a written or verbal policy that addresses work place romance than in 2005.
What impact do couples have on other workers? What are some of the pros and cons of working alongside your significant other?
Guest:
Robin Wilson, Senior Writer Chronicle of Higher Education
New book offers intimate view of U.S. Special Ops in Afghanistan
The Pentagon’s deployment of Special Operations Forces in Afghanistan is the longest campaign for the SOF since Vietnam. Its role is a single but significant part of the counterinsurgency efforts that followed coalition forces’ invasion of Afghanistan after the attacks of September 11, 2001.
To assess how SOF works apart from conventional force, but to the same ends, international policy analyst Linda Robinson spent time with Special Ops teams through the country. Her new book introduces military men in intensive combat operations who must often rely on soft tactics attempt to win “hearts and minds” of locals. Robinson argues SOF are the go-to forces for the US military.
How is the Defense Department able to rely on such targeted, small and nimble teams? How much are they aided by controversial drone strikes? How successful have they really been in Afghanistan? How much do they work with efforts of the State Department in building infrastructure for the embattled region?
Guest:
Linda Robinson, Author, “One Hundred Victories: Special Ops and the Future of American Warfare” (PublicAffairs, October 2013); Robinson is a Senior International Policy Analyst at RAND. Her previous books include the New York Times Bestseller, “Masters of Chaos”