InfluenceWatch Podcast

National Public Radio is adamant: Nobody is going to make you eat the bugs. In fact, NPR says that believing governments and environmentalist activists want to make you eat the bugs is a conspiracy theory! Oh, and if you don’t want to eat the bugs, you’re little different than Europeans who would not eat indigenous American foods during the period of colonization. But is that really the case? Do major advocacy groups like the World Economic Forum and the broader environmentalist movement in fact want to change what we eat? Joining us to discuss all this is Jim Lakely, vice president and director of communications for the Heartland Institute. Links: https://www.npr.org/2023/03/31/1166649732/conspiracy-theory-eating-bugs-4chan https://capitalresearch.org/article/they-really-believe-youll-be-happy/ https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/05/supervillains-gather-in-davos/ https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-great-reset-and-its-critics-part-5/ Follow us on our Socials: Twitter: @capitalresearch Instagram: @capitalresearchcenter Facebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenter YouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

This week, a spree shooter killed six people at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee; our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims and the others affected. Now, even as they have campaigned to take away gun rights in response to similar spree shootings, left-wing interest groups have pushed to remove school resource officers—cops who work directly with the school community—from public schools. Joining me to discuss this anti-police campaign is CRC Senior Fellow Kali Fontanilla, a former teacher in California. Links: https://dcist.com/story/23/02/10/dc-debates-police-in-schools/ Follow us on our Socials: Twitter: @capitalresearch Instagram: @capitalresearchcenter Facebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenter YouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

What connects the disruptive protests against a conservative judge’s speech to Stanford Law and the arrests of over two dozen demonstrators outside Atlanta? Both involved people aligned with the National Lawyers Guild, a radical-left association of attorneys, law students, legal workers, and jailhouse lawyers. Joining me to discuss the NLG is our colleague Robert Stilson, who has written and researched extensively on the history of the Guild. Links: https://capitalresearch.org/article/national-lawyers-guild-part-1/ https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/national-lawyers-guild/ https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/national-lawyers-guild-foundation/ https://www.wsj.com/articles/atlanta-cop-city-attacks-georgia-police-training-site-63c4cf40 https://www.wsj.com/articles/struggle-session-at-stanford-law-school-federalist-society-kyle-duncan-circuit-court-judge-steinbach-4f8da19e?mod=article_inline Follow us on our Socials: Twitter: @capitalresearch Instagram: @capitalresearchcenter Facebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenter YouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

To readers of the Capital Research Center or InfluenceWatch, none of the findings reported by New York Post columnist Karol Markowicz and stay-at-home mother, children’s book editor, and political commentator Bethany Mandel in their book Stolen Youth: How Radicals are Erasing Innocence and Indoctrinating a Generation will be that surprising; capture of institutions ranging from school boards to the American Academy of Pediatrics by left-of-center interests will be familiar. But the details and personal accounts Mandel and Markowicz summon to warn parents about the direct challenges by left-wing interests to their children’s well-being are alarming. Joining me to discuss the book is co-author Bethany Mandel. Links: Link to Book: https://store.dailywire.com/products/stolen-youth-by-bethany-mandel-and-karol-markowicz Stolen Youth and the Power of the Powerless: https://capitalresearch.org/article/stolen-youth-and-the-power-of-the-powerless/ Follow us on our Socials: Twitter: @capitalresearch Instagram: @capitalresearchcenter Facebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenter YouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

In late 2021, following a class action suit in which the Supreme Court decided some college athletes should be allowed to earn money off their image and likeness, a Biden administration lawyer with the National Labor Relations Board named Jennifer Abruzzo issued a memo clarifying that some college athletes could now be considered employees of state universities.This memo led to breathless articles from well-known, hard left outlets like In These Times arguing that employees of the state designation meant potential unionization of college athletes and, as In These Times said, “a new progressive institution powerful enough to bend the South to its will.”This idea gained traction in December of last year when the NLRB determined that the Pac 12 Conference and the University of Southern California were indeed employers of athletes at the school and were violating the law by failing to treat student basketball and football players as employees.Joining me today to discuss sports unions and the possibility of collective bargaining at the collegiate level is my colleague Mike Watson. Links: https://inthesetimes.com/article/nlrb-college-football-union-labor-ncaa-abruzzo https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/ncaa-violated-athletes-labor-rights-us-labor-officials-say https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/minor-league-baseball-players-unionize-minor-leaguers-officially-join-mlbpa-after-authorization/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/columnist/bob-nightengale/2022/02/12/players-union-unimpressed-with-mlbs-new-proposal-lockout/6767700001/ Follow us on our Socials: Twitter: @capitalresearch Instagram: @capitalresearchcenter Facebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenter YouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

Thirty years ago, Al Gore took office as Vice President of the United States. Over the intervening period, he has lost a campaign for President and reinvented himself as the Nobel Peace Laureate-branded conscience of the climate movement. But years removed from his film An Inconvenient Truth and with countries like Germany following his environmentalist policy prescriptions, has Gore’s vision borne out? Joining me to assess are my colleagues Ken Braun and Parker Thayer. Links: Al Gore's 30 Years of Climate Errors Part 1: https://capitalresearch.org/article/al-gores-30-years-of-climate-errors-part-1/ Al Gore's 30 Years of Climate Errors Part 6: https://capitalresearch.org/article/al-gores-30-years-of-climate-errors-part-6/ Al Gore's 30 Years of Clmate Errors Part 7: https://capitalresearch.org/article/al-gores-30-years-of-climate-errors-part-7/ Al Gore - InfluenceWatch: https://www.influencewatch.org/person/al-gore/ They Really Believe You'll Be Happy: https://capitalresearch.org/article/they-really-believe-youll-be-happy/ Soup Throwing Aside, Environmental Activists Are Still Ruining People’s Lives: https://capitalresearch.org/article/soup-throwing-aside-environmental-activists-are-still-ruining-peoples-lives/ Follow us on our Socials: Twitter: @capitalresearch Instagram: @capitalresearchcenter Facebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenter YouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

Are America and broader Western Civilization in crisis? Today’s guest, author Spencer Klavan, says yes, and he has written How to Save the West: Ancient Wisdom for 5 Modern Crises to outline the problems facing the West and the philosophical resources that its defenders have to fall back on in its defense. Links: Making Meta Mandatory: https://capitalresearch.org/article/making-meta-mandatory/ How to Save the West: https://www.regnery.com/9781684513451/how-to-save-the-west/ Federalist Radio Hour: https://ricochet.com/podcast/federalist-radio-hour/spencer-klavan-on-how-to-save-the-west/ Soul Dysphoria: https://ricochet.com/podcast/federalist-radio-hour/spencer-klavan-on-how-to-save-the-west/ Judith Butler - Influence Watch: https://www.influencewatch.org/person/judith-butler/ Follow us on our Socials: Twitter: @capitalresearch Instagram: @capitalresearchcenter Facebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenter YouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

We’re doing something a little different this week: We are joined by Rusty Brown of the Freedom Foundation for a bit of government-worker union wonkery. Brown and his colleagues have been researching certain financial products that the National Education Association markets to its members, and they have many questions about how it all works and whether members are being taken for a ride. Links: Fighting for Workers' Rights: https://www.freedomfoundation.com/ Influence Watch: National Education Association (NEA): https://www.influencewatch.org/labor-union/national-education-association-nea/ Government Unions After Wisconsin: https://capitalresearch.org/article/government-unions-after-wisconsin/ Follow us on our Socials: Twitter: @capitalresearch Instagram: @capitalresearchcenter Facebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenter YouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

The recent Supreme Court case New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen that curtailed a state's ability to infringe on Americans' right to carry publicly for their own self defense has brought the 2nd Amendment fight back to the headlines as defenders celebrate and gun control activists plan to counter the ruling. Larry Correia, a firearms expert and successful novelist, chose this time to write a nonfiction book called "In Defense of the Second Amendment," to both explain why winning this particular culture war is necessary and to dismantle arguments from the left about gun control. He addresses everything from the importance of self defense as a core tenet of free societies, to the statistics about gun crime and gun ownership, to the benefit of getting trained and involved in the fight against mass shooters and tyranny. Mr. Correia joins the Influence Watch podcast this week to discuss his book.  Follow us on our Socials: Twitter: @capitalresearch Instagram: @capitalresearchcenter Facebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenter YouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

Equal treatment under the law, regardless of race: One would think that all could agree on that principle, but in states and localities across the country—even in Republican-controlled states—that principle is giving way to programs that restrict eligibility based on skin color. Joining my colleague Sarah Lee and I to discuss these programs and how to challenge them legally is Glenn Roper, an attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation. Links: https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/3778095-are-georgia-and-oklahoma-racially-discriminating-in-a-homeowners-covid-relief-program/ https://pacificlegal.org/the-washington-examiner-agricultural-programs-should-focus-on-opportunity-not-equity/ Follow us on our Socials: Twitter: @capitalresearch Instagram: @capitalresearchcenter Facebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenter YouTube: @capitalresearchcenter