Republicans just got one step closer to turning our nation into a right-to-work-for-LESS Libertarian paradise.

Last week, the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear a legal case called Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, which could mean big problems for public unions.

The issue at hand in that case is whether unions should be permitted to charge non-members "fair share service fees" to cover the cost of representing them in the workplace, or whether those fees constitute a violation of a worker's free speech rights.

Those fair-share fees help the unions pay for the legal and administrative costs of bargaining for all workers in a unionized shop, regardless of whether or not they are members of the union.

If the unions are prevented from charging those fees, they would still be legally obligated to bargain on behalf of all workers, but nonunion employees would get the benefits of union membership for free.

In the Friedrichs case, the plaintiffs argue that making non-union workers pay agency fees is the same as making them pay for a union's political activities - even though labor groups are prohibited from using these funds for politics.

The legal theory is so flawed that even Justice Antonin Scalia raised concerns with a similar theory during the Court's last term. But, that doesn't mean that he won't side with his fellow conservatives on the Bench in this case, just to help his Republican buddies destroy public unions.

Without these agency fees, many public unions may not have the funds to survive, and right-to-work-for-LESS could become the de facto law of the land.

-Thom

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Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10pm... What the MSM is Not Telling You about the Iran Nuclear Talks (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT or Free Speech TV, and catch past shows on Youtube)

 

Be sure to check out our newest video: RESTORATION - narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio & Thom Hartmann, directed by Leila Conners / Visit GreenWorldRising.org to check out all the videos: CARBON, LAST HOURS & GREEN WORLD RISING - narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio & Thom Hartmann, directed by Leila Conners

 

Big Picture Rumble:
- Charles Sauer, The Market Institute  
- Ben Cohen, The Daily Banter  
- Horace Cooper, National Center for Public Policy Research  

 

Need to Know: What the MSM is Not Telling You about the Iran Nuclear Talks
- Jamal Abdi, National Iranian American Council (NIAC)    

 

Screwed: The Koch Bros' Plot To Our Kill National Parks
- Stephen Spaulding, Common Cause    

 

Best of the Rest: Greece: We Voted No to Slavery But...Yes To Our Chains
- Greg Palast, Op-Ed News/BBC News/Billionaires & Ballot Bandits 

Community Square  

 "Feel The Bern Video"  

  

Wednesday's Daily Stack 

Article: "Dow Jones Industrial Average Plunges 200 Points On Greece, China, Trading At NYSE Halted" by Jessica Menton.

Article: "Trading halted on NYSE floor" by Jacob Pramuk.

Article: "China curbs stock sales in effort to halt market rout" by Josh Noble and Gabriel Wildau.

Book: "All the World's a Stage" by Dennis Weaver.

Article: "United flights resume after computer problem" by CNN.

Article: "Missing the whole Bernie Sanders point" by Tom Toles.

Article: "What Really Caused The Puerto Rican Crisis" by Bryce Covert.

Article: "Chile cannabis decriminalisation: Lawmakers move to let people grown their own marijuana".

Site: The Aden Forecast.

Book: "The Crash of 2016: The Plot to Destroy America--and What We Can Do to Stop It" by Thom Hartmann.

Book: "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations", Adam Smith, 1776.

Book: Theory of Moral Sentiments, Adam Smith, 1759.

Article: "A Federal Court Just Threatened Citizens United" by David Schultz.

Article: "Poll Shows Americans Favor an Overhaul of Campaign Financing" by Nicholas Confessore and Megan Thee-brenan.

Article: "California tax officials blast Blue Shield in audit" by Chad Terhune.

Article: "Bernie Sanders 2016: Nationwide Organizing Meetings on Wednesday, July 29, 2015" by Team Bernie.

Video: "New Covenant speech", October 23, 1991 by Bill Clinton.

Book: "Threshold: The Progressive Plan to Pull America Back from the Brink" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Hillary Clinton Was the 11th Most Liberal Member of the Senate" by phenry.

Quote: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayana.

Article: "Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan & Kevin McCarthy: Plot To Sabotage US Economy with Frank Luntz" by keepemhonest.

 

Talk Radio News Segment:
- Bob Ney 

Article: "Coming to a 2016 campaign near you: New fiscal cliff?" by Brian Faler.

Article: "Obama signs short-term highway funding extension" by Jesse Byrnes.

Site: "Goats for the old Goat".

Site: Governor Free Don Siegelman.

Article: "TRNS News Notes- 7/8" by Victoria Jones.

Article: "TRNS News Notes- 7/7" by Victoria Jones.

Book: "Sideswiped: Lessons Learned Courtesy of the Hit Men of Capitol Hill" by Robert Ney.

Article: "What if the Iran negotiations drag on?" by Jennifer Rubin.

Article: "Encyclical Letter: Laudato Si'" by Pope Francis.

Article: "Global Warming: A Threat to Humanity?" by Ophelia Murphy and Dylan Murphy.

Article: "Bernie Sanders Strikes The Heart Of The Koch Empire With Bill To Give Solar Energy To The Poor" by Jason Easley.

Article: "Fruits And Vegetables: These Foods Decrease Early Mortality Risk" by Kathleen Lees.

Article: "New Research Shows Aspirin May Reduce the Growth of Mesothelioma" by PRWEB.

Article: "Cybersecurity Stocks Surge..." by Julie Verhage and Jordan Robertson (Drudge Report title|.

Law: "Tea Act", 1773 (GB).

Case: "Dred Scott v. Sandford", 1857.

Article: "Treaty of Versailles" by Wikipedia (28 June 1919, at the end of World War I).

Quote: "Less government in business and more business in government" - Warren Harding.

Speech: "A Rendezvous With Destiny", 27 June 1936 acceptance speech by Franklin D. Roosevelt. "An old English judge once said: "Necessitous men are not free men.""

Speech: "Madison Square Garden Speech", President Franklin D. Roosevelt, October 31, 1936. "They are unanimous in their hate for me-and I welcome their hatred"

Article: "Disney reverses plan to replace tech employees with outsourced workers" by Tiffany Hsu.

Article: "Companies gaming the visa system is a cruel trick on hard-working Americans" by Patt Morrison.

Article: "Direct-to-consumer advertising" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Big Tobacco puts countries on trial as concerns over TTIP deals mount" by Jim Armitage.

Article: "Donating blood is as good for YOUR health as it is for the receiver" by Emma Robertson.

Article: "The Powell Memo or Powell Manifesto".

Thursday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 12-3pm ET 

 

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