InfluenceWatch Podcast

This week, FBI agents conducted a search at the Florida residence of former President Donald Trump. We’ll leave it to others to speculate on the justifications, causes, and ramifications of the unprecedented law enforcement action, but should the historical record of the FBI itself provide a cause for increased scrutiny or increased trust in the propriety of the search? Joining me to discuss the FBI’s complicated history is my colleague Ken Braun, who recently wrote a history of the “G-Men” for InfluenceWatch and CapitalResearch.org. Links: https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-fbis-bad-apples-part-1/ https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-fbis-bad-apples-part-2/ https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-fbis-bad-apples-part-3/ https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-fbis-bad-apples-part-4/ https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-fbis-bad-apples-part-5/ https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-fbis-bad-apples-part-6/ 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

We’ve discussed “woke capital” on the podcast before with author Stephen Soukup and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy. But now we turn to a related topic: Environmental, Social, and Governance — "ESG” – investing. ESG strategies adopted by fund managers—perhaps most notably BlackRock—can place left-of-center social policy goals as equal considerations with investors’ returns in investing decisions. Making matters worse, some state pension funds are following ESG strategies that would leave taxpayers on the hook if trendy liberal activism cost the funds the returns they need to pay their obligations. Other states—most notably West Virginia and Florida—are taking action to prevent their state funds from engaging in ESG investing. Joining me to make sense of it all and to explore what can be done about it is Lee Schalk, Vice President of Policy at the American Legislative Exchange Council. Links: https://alec.org/model-policy/state-government-employee-retirement-protection-act/ https://alec.org/publication/keeping-the-promise-state-solutions-for-government-pension-reform/ https://www.influencewatch.org/hub/esg-activism/ https://capitalresearch.org/article/influencewatch-podcast-187-the-business-of-woke/ https://capitalresearch.org/article/influencewatch-podcast-220-the-dictatorship-of-woke-capital-revisited/ 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

We’ve heard a great deal lately about education in America, from discussions about school choice post-COVID restrictions to whether or not curriculum is being developed that helps children learn to succeed at something more than simply activism. Our guest today has a keen interest in all these issues and has written a book called, “Agency: The Four Point Plan (F.R.E.E.) for All Children to Overcome the Victimhood Narrative and Discover Their Pathway to Power” (Templeton Press, 2022). The book lays out strategies to help children learn more about what they accomplish rather than what holds them back. Please welcome to the Influence Watch podcast Ian V. Rowe, Senior Fellow at AEI and Senor Visiting Fellow at The Woodson Center, as well as founder and CEO of Vertex Partnership Academies, a nonprofit charter school management organization. Links: Ian Rowe bio: https://www.aei.org/profile/ian-rowe/ Vertex Partnership Academies: https://www.vertexacademies.org/ Book: https://www.amazon.com/Agency-F-R-Children-Victimhood-Narrative/dp/1599475839/ref=ascdf1599475839/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=509159799352&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3031156760453569912&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9010800&hvtargid=pla-1224410820858&psc=1 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 are the “Legal Observers” in green caps and vests who appear whenever the Left is engaged in a public demonstration? They are probably members of the National Lawyers Guild, a radical-left association of attorneys, law students, legal workers, and jailhouse lawyers. Joining me to discuss the NLG is my colleague Robert Stilson, who recently wrote an in-depth history of the group for InfluenceWatch and CapitalResearch.org. Links: https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/national-lawyers-guild/ https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/national-lawyers-guild-foundation/ 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

Were any liberal organization not to weigh in on a Supreme Court decision overturning the Roe v. Wade decision that invented a nationwide right to abortion, one might expect organized labor—ostensibly dedicated to improving workers’ wages and working conditions—to be that abstaining faction. If one expected that, one would have been wrong; Big Labor, in keeping with a longstanding practice of “social justice unionism” that sees it advocating not only for abortion access but for a broad left-wing social agenda, condemned the Dobbs ruling, placing it in an incongruous alliance with “woke” corporations now vowing that they will offer access to abortions as employment benefits. Joining me to discuss organized labor’s relationship with woke capitalism and social justice unionism is James Sherk, the director of the Center for American Freedom at the America First Policy Institute. Links: https://capitalresearch.org/article/social-justice-unionism-means-pro-abortion-big-labor/ https://capitalresearch.org/article/uaw-fails-at-volkswagen-again/ https://americafirstpolicy.com/latest/big-government-reconciliation-bills-labor-provisions-undermine-workers-freedom 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

You know Soros and Steyer, Buffett and Bloomberg, but you may not be familiar with one of the most important left-of-center billionaires of all: Pierre Omidyar, the founder of eBay. Through vehicles such as the Democracy Fund and its affiliated “social welfare” Democracy Fund Voice, Omidyar supports left-of-center and anti-populist causes to the tune of millions of dollars per year that are increasingly in alignment with the Democratic Party. Joining me to discuss Omidyar and his advocacy philanthropy is my Capital Research Center colleague Hayden Ludwig, who has written a five-part series for CapitalResearch.org on Omidyar’s Political Machine. Links: https://capitalresearch.org/article/omidyars-political-machine-part-1/ https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/omidyar-nexus/ https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/democracy-fund/ https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/democracy-fund-voice/ 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

Seventy-five years ago last week, the U.S. Congress overrode Harry Truman’s veto and enacted the Labor-Management Relations Act of 1947, better known as the Taft-Hartley Act. The law corrected imbalances of power among individual employees, employers, and labor unions that had emerged after the passage of the original Wagner Act in 1935 that had culminated in the largest strike wave in American history from 1945 through 1946. The law restricted “secondary” boycotts and strikes targeting “neutral” businesses, authorized the National Labor Relations Board to hold unions accountable for unfair labor practices, and explicitly recognized states’ powers to enact “right to work” laws that prohibit contract provisions requiring payment of union fees as a condition of employment. Joining me to celebrate the legacy of the Taft-Hartley Act and discuss where labor policy might be headed in the future is Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. Links: https://www.nrtw.org/ https://capitalresearch.org/article/progressive-labor-plans-to-drag-u-s-economy-back-to-1946/ https://www.influencewatch.org/legislation/labor-management-relations-act-of-1947-taft-hartley-act/ Subscribe to the podcast on your platform of choice at: https://influencewatch.fireside.fm/ 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

Since the leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito that would overturn Roe v. Wade, a wave of vandalism and arson has hit pro-life advocacy groups and crisis pregnancy centers that promote alternatives to abortion. Claiming responsibility for the attacks is a collective calling itself “Jane’s Revenge.” Joining us to discuss who, or what, Jane’s Revenge might actually be is Kevin Jones, a reporter for Catholic News Agency. Links: https://www.thecatholictelegraph.com/who-or-what-is-janes-revenge-a-look-at-the-group-invoked-in-pro-abortion-vandalism/81507 https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251593/new-york-investigating-pro-life-pregnancy-centers https://www.influencewatch.org/organization/janes-revenge/ https://www.influencewatch.org/organization/ruth-sent-us/ https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251288/tiktok-lifts-ban-on-ruth-sent-usd Subscribe to the podcast on your platform of choice at: https://influencewatch.fireside.fm/ 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

The actions of Big Tech companies—most prominently Twitter and Facebook’s decision to ban then-President Donald Trump from their platforms—have led conservatives to consider invoking anti-trust powers of which they have long been skeptical to crack down on these companies’ power. Joining me today is an advocate of that approach, Jon Schweppe of the American Principles Project, to make the case for an antitrust crackdown on tech companies. Link: https://americanprinciplesproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/APP2022BigTechweb.pdf Subscribe to the podcast on your platform of choice at: https://influencewatch.fireside.fm/ 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

After teachers unions staked their political positions and the future of public education on keeping schools closed—excuse me, open for virtual learning—and students in masks, a “parents revolt” has erupted nationwide, with parents and their advocates taking a greater interest in schooling issues. Some in the education field have also become alarmed at ideologically charged teaching influenced by critical race theory and the “learning loss” experienced by students as a result of the COVID lockdowns. Covering these and other issues is the website Chalkboard Review; joining me to discuss the project and key issues in education is Tony Kinnett, co-founder and executive director of Chalkboard Review. Links: https://thechalkboardreview.com/ https://thechalkboardreview.com/read-the-bill Subscribe to the podcast on your platform of choice at: https://influencewatch.fireside.fm/ 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