InfluenceWatch Podcast

Frederick Hess, director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, thinks schooling and school reform itself are due for a rethink. In his brief (less than 150 pages, excluding endnotes and acknowledgements) The Great School Rethink, Hess lays out his view on a new way to address the problems of American education, all informed by decades in the education policy field. Hess joins us today to discuss his Great School Rethink. Links: The Great School RethinkA Much Needed but Partial Great School RethinkTeach for America1619 ProjectFollow us on our Socials:Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

We’re trying something new for this week: A round-up of stories and discussions not long enough by themselves to carry a podcast, all put together. Joining me to discuss solar panels and China, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse’s spousal hypocrisy, the burgeoning scandal around COVID origins, and ESG investing’s effects on the energy sector is my colleague Ken Braun. Links: Solar Panels Are Three Times More Carbon-Intensive Than IPCC ClaimsThe Sheldon Whitehouse Ethics MirrorJournalists should be skeptical of all sources —including scientistsJust Court-Pack a MajorityFire SaleFollow us on our Socials:Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

“When we invest in clean energy and electric vehicles and reduce population, more of our children can breathe clean air and drink clean water.” That was the eyebrow-raising statement Vice President Kamala Harris made to a Baltimore audience last week; while the Biden White House amended the transcript to indicate she intended to say “reduce pollution,” the environmentalist movement has more than its fair share of associations with those who would “reduce population.” Joining me to discuss Harris’s comments and the connections between environmentalism and population control are my colleagues Sarah Lee and Ken Braun. Links:Kamala Harris’s Revealing Malthusian MalapropismPopulation CouncilJohn HoldrenPaul Ehrlich’s Population DudA Darker Shade of Green: Environmentalism’s Origins in EugenicsFollow us on our Socials:Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

As bad and left-wing as teachers unions can be, for some union activists and leftist agitators the normal level of leftism just isn’t enough. For that reason, the Democratic Socialists of America, the nation’s most prominent far-left political group, has pitched a pamphlet encouraging its members to become teachers and partnered with teachers unions and teachers-union-aligned politicians. What does this mean for your children’s schools? Joining us to discuss that and related questions is Rhyen Staley, a researcher at Parents Defending Education.Links: The Emerging Alliance Between America's Leading Socialist Organization and Teachers' Unions'A Whole New Level of Awful': Seattle Public Schools Offer Free 'Gender-Affirming Care' to KidsExclusive: Cecily Myart-Cruz’s Hostile Takeover of L.A.’s Public SchoolsFollow us on our Socials: Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

Normally, when the government is sued the public expects the government to defend itself. But what if the government doesn’t defend itself, because it wants the same policy ends as the activists suing it? Then you get “sue-and-settle,” a practice that U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (Republican of Iowa) says “is used by federal agencies and like-minded special interest groups to impose new and burdensome regulations on businesses and communities without sufficient public notice or participation.” Joining us to discuss sue and settle tactics and how Congress can push back against them is Karen Harned, a longtime lawyer and advocate for small-business interests. Links: Grassley Leads Effort To Curb Red Tape Created Without Public InputSupreme Court takes up case concerning Americans with Disabilities Act ‘tester’ of hotelsWildEarth GuardiansFollow us on our Socials:Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

Over the past few years, conservatives have begun to push back against the powerful “environmental, social, and corporate governance” or ESG investing movement. Helping lead that charge has been today’s guest, Will Hild of Consumers’ Research joining me with my colleague Robert Stilson.Links: About BlackRockBank of UnAmericaYes, America, There Is a War on CarsThe Proxy Preview: ESG in 2023Follow us on our Socials:Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

George Soros, the famous liberal billionaire investor-philanthropist, is over 90 years old, which would motivate anyone in his position to think about his succession. This week, the Wall Street Journal profiled the heir apparent: Soros’s son Alexander, who claims to be even “more political” than his father. Joining me to discuss Alex Soros and the future of the Soros family advocacy-philanthropic empire are my colleagues Sarah Lee and Parker Thayer.Links:Influence Watch - Alexander SorosInfluence Watch - Open Society Foundations (Open Society Institute)George Soros Hands Control to His 37-Year-Old Son: ‘I’m More Political’Meet Alex Soros, the 37-year-old successor son to the $25 billion George Soros empireFollow us on our Social Channels:Follow us on our Socials:Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

The private automobile defined post-World War II America, liberating the masses from the regimentation of railroad schedules and the limitations of foot transportation. But the left has never liked the motorcar, or at least the social changes it brought. It liberated middle-class Americans from core-city governments by expanding the suburbs, helped turn renters into homeowners, and lessened public dependence on unionized government workers in city mass-transit systems. And so it has always been a target of the radical wing of the left, which seeks every weapon to hand to limit the twentieth-century freedoms the car offers. Today, my colleague Ken Braun and I welcome Diana Furchtgott-Roth, the director of the Center for Energy, Climate, and Environment at the Heritage Foundation, to discuss the Biden administration’s war on cars.Links:Emissions-free Electric Vehicles Are a FantasyBiden EPA’s EV Quotas Would Take Away Americans’ Freedom of Choice of Vehicles, Enrich ChinaTargeting Toyota for Its Electric-Vehicle HeresySearch Email New York Post LOG IN Search Type to Search SEARCH NEWS Facebook Twitter Flipboard WhatsApp Email Copy 49 Comments Think tank scholar calls out Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s membership at alleged all-white beach clubFollow us on our Social Channels:Follow us on our Socials:Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

A new union-curious faction of conservatism is growing in the run-up to the 2024 election. Leading the charge is a group of otherwise solidly conservative legislators (you’ll recognize the names) and policy wonks who have the ear of venerable conservative think tanks (you’ll recognize these names, too) who insist that if conservative candidates are going to win, they must reimagine 75 years of union distrust and take seriously the idea that the right has become the party of the working man. And the working man, they reason, might just need unions. CRC’s labor policy expert Mike Watson disagrees and he, along with our colleague Ken Braun, joins the podcast today hosted by Sarah Lee to discuss statism from the right.Links: A Mandate for Labor Error: Statism from the RightNo Need to Rethink the Conservative Stance toward Labor UnionsNEWS RELEASES Project 2025 Publishes Comprehensive Policy Guide, ‘Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise’Follow us on our Social Channels:Follow us on our Socials:Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

If I could provide just one piece of free advice in public advocacy, it’s this: Don’t openly say you messed up on an on-record call with a reporter—you might as well be bleeding in a tank full of piranhas. But the principal officer of Fix the Court, a liberal organization spun out of the Arabella Advisors “dark money” empire advancing “transparency” changes to the Supreme Court as part of a liberal full-court press towards “packing” the court with additional left-wing rubber-stamp votes, did just that on a call with today’s guest, Gabe Kaminsky of the Washington Examiner. Also joining us is my colleague Parker Thayer, who reported on some financial non-transparency at Fix the Court.Links:Fix the Court May Have Financial Disclosure ProblemsSupreme Court 'transparency' charity director panics over IRS donor leak: 'I just f***ed up'Supreme Court 'transparency' group hammered by Judiciary GOP over IRS donor blunderDisinformation Inc: Meet the groups hauling in cash to secretly blacklist conservative newsFollow us on our Social Channels:Follow us on our Socials:Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter