InfluenceWatch Podcast

This month, three African-American writers/activists with widely different political views published a book together entitled "Crisis in the Classroom" (Skyhorse Publishing). Despite their many differences, the authors teamed up to insist that the civil rights issue of today is the failure to educate young Americans. The three authors are Benjamin Crump, Esq., a prominent civil rights attorney whose clients have included George Floyd and Trayvon Martin, and who is sometimes called “Black America’s Attorney General”; Dr. Benjamin Carson, who rose from poverty to head pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Medical Center and later ran for President; and Armstrong Williams, an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and author of three earlier books who hosts “The Armstrong Williams Show,” which airs on Sinclair Broadcast Group TV stations across America. Williams joins Capital Research Center’s Scott Walter to discuss the book and the crisis. This is part one in a two-part series. Links: Crisis in the Classroom: https://www.amazon.com/Crisis-Classroom-Dr-Benjamin-Carson/dp/1510776885 (https://www.amazon.com/Crisis-Classroom-Dr-Benjamin-Carson/dp/1510776885) How Government Worker Unions Manipulate Municipal Elections: https://capitalresearch.org/article/how-government-worker-unions-manipulate-municipal-elections/ Criticizing Teacher Union Allies? You Might Be A Domestic Terrorist: https://capitalresearch.org/article/criticizing-teachers-union-allies-you-might-be-a-domestic-terrorist/

Hello, I’m Michael Watson and this is the InfluenceWatch Podcast. A few months ago, President Joe Biden announced that the government would “forgive” up to $10,000 per borrower in federal student loan debt with at best dubious legal justification, with a cost to the Treasury estimated at $300 billion if it were to go into effect. Lawsuits immediately flew. One such lawsuit was filed in Texas with the support of the Job Creators Network Foundation, challenging the action as unconstitutional. Last week, the program was struck down at the trial court level; joining us to discuss the litigation is JCN Foundation’s Chief Legal Officer Karen Harned. Links: https://www.nationalreview.com/news/federal-judge-strikes-down-biden-student-loan-forgiveness/

Hello, I’m Michael Watson and this is the InfluenceWatch Podcast. Like the 2020 elections, which saw then-President Trump’s coalition prove unexpectedly resilient amid a horrible national environment dominated by COVID despite his loss to Joe Biden, the 2022 elections did not go as expected…but this time the other way, with Biden’s Democrats defying the apparent “fundamentals.” While others will discuss candidates, issues, and swings, I’m joined by Capital Research Center president Scott Walter to discuss some of the institutional structures that might have contributed to the midterms results.

Following the 2020 election, and one very strange Time Magazine article detailing a “shadow” campaign of left-leaning operatives that “saved” the 2020 election by “fortifying” it, conservative groups began to get serious about election integrity. Some efforts to re-instill faith in American elections had pre-existed 2020, but news reports of poll watchers being barred from carrying out their duties, concerns over near-ubiquitous ballot drop-boxes, and the heavy promotion of mail-in ballots as an answer to keeping people safe during COVID, had conservative groups taking a more active approach to making sure American elections could be trusted for all participants on all sides of the political divide. One of the groups that got to work was Tea Party Patriots Action, who’ve spent the last year planning, preparing, and training to assure honest and fair oversight of elections. Joining the podcast today is Jenny Beth Martin, Honorary Chairman of TPPA, to discuss those efforts, why conservative groups felt a coordinated effort to focus on these things was necessary, and how they’ve done in their efforts. Links: https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-groups-and-persons-mentioned-in-times-shadow-campaign-article/ https://www.teapartypatriots.org/ https://pennsylvaniadailystar.com/2022/03/09/tea-party-patriots-action-tours-pennsylvania-to-champion-election-integrity/ https://capitalresearch.org/article/leftist-dark-money-groups-tilting-the-2020-election-for-democrats/

Today, we meet ERIC—the Electronic Registration Information Center. Created with the aid of the left-of-center Pew Charitable Trusts to help states maintain their voter rolls, recent years have seen it expand into voter registration drives. With those drives comes concern about ERIC’s connections to left-wing figures. Joining me to discuss ERIC and its ties to the political left is my Capital Research Center colleague Hayden Ludwig, who wrote about the group for The American Conservative. Links: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-lefts-taxpayer-funded-voter-registration-machine/ https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/electronic-registration-information-center-eric/ https://capitalresearch.org/article/dark-money-on-the-left/

For the past several weeks, Iranians—especially Iranian women—have taken bold stands against the nation’s theocratic government, discarding compulsory headscarves and cutting their hair. This isn’t the first time that mass demonstrations have contested the control of the Iranian regime; can they succeed this time? Joining me to discuss the situation in Iran and its relation to American policy is Gabriel Noronha, a former State Department advisor on Iran under Secretary Mike Pompeo and current fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA). Links: https://jinsa.org/ https://jinsa.org/person/gabriel-noronha/ https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-63240911

Since the Supreme Court decided the Janus v. AFSCME case and held that forcing government workers to pay union fees was an unconstitutional infringement of their free speech rights, union-aligned governments have come up with some creative approaches to supporting their government worker union allies. California hasn’t even bothered with creativity: The state’s ruling Democrats enacted legislation to simply pay unions directly with $400 million in taxpayer money. Joining me to discuss this latest case of California becoming what I’ve called Big Labor’s Golden State is Rachel Greszler, research fellow in economics, budget, and entitlements at the Heritage Foundation. Links: https://www.dailysignal.com/2022/10/07/new-california-law-forces-taxpayers-to-pay-for-union-members-dues/ https://capitalresearch.org/article/big-labors-golden-state-part-3/ https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/cecily-myart-cruz-teachers-union/

Expanding access to high-speed internet: It’s a trendy cause that the COVID-19 lockdowns and school closures made urgent. And when government acts with urgency, bad ideas proliferate; in broadband, the bad idea is municipal government control of the broadband network. Joining me to discuss the drawbacks and problems with this approach are my colleague Parker Thayer and Jarrett Skorup of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Follow our socials: • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenter • Twitter: https://twitter.com/capitalresearch • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/capitalresearchcenter • YouTube: https://bit.ly/CRCYouTube • Rumble: https://rumble.com/capitalresearch • Gettr: https://gettr.com/user/capitalresearch

“Who decides? Congress or the executive?” is a key question underlying many prominent legal interpretation disputes. One such dispute, over defining “waters of the United States,” has trapped one family that sought to build a home on their Idaho property in limbo for over a decade—and two trips to the Supreme Court. Joining me to discuss Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency and the other work performed by his firm is Pacific Legal Foundation Vice President for Legal Affairs James S. Burling. Link: https://pacificlegal.org/case/sackett-v-environmental-protection-agency/ Follow our socials: • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenter • Twitter: https://twitter.com/capitalresearch • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/capitalresearchcenter • YouTube: https://bit.ly/CRCYouTube • Rumble: https://rumble.com/capitalresearch • Gettr: https://gettr.com/user/capitalresearch

These days, amid debates over critical race theory and radical gender theory in school curriculums as early as elementary school, parents might be wondering what alternative resources might be available to them. Joining me is Jill Simonian, Director of Outreach for PragerU Resources for Educators & Parents and PragerU Kids, to discuss some of PragerU’s resources. Action Gudie: https://assets.ctfassets.net/qnesrjodfi80/18WDTi8qlqc5FZMBMchXQy/d63107b3afeb4c3015c397d4b6f5d40d/PREP2022ParentActionGuideFINAL_1.pdf