InfluenceWatch Podcast

I’m Sarah Lee and this is the Influence Watch podcast. Joining me today is my colleague Parker Thayer because sitting in the hot seat is our regular host Mike Watson, and we’re going to be grilling him on a 5 part series he wrote on the American elite, about which there has been much discussion over the last several years. They are a semi-mythical class made up of an American socio-political creature who, depending on your perspective, either needs to be heavily taxed to pay their fair share or are currently occupying the seats of power and actively trying to create a permanent majority. So just what defines the “elite” in American culture, which way do they vote, and are they ascending or descending on the political stage? Here’s hoping Mike can shine a light on what he says makes the American elites so WEIRD. Links: On the Elites and Counter-Elites: WEIRDT hem vs. U.S.: The Two Americas and How the Nation’s Elite Is Out of Touch with Average AmericansFollow us on our socials: Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

Is it, or at least should it be, charitable to fund political-advocacy protest over controversial sociopolitical issues? Our colleague Robert Stilson calls it “megaphone philanthropy,” and perhaps the prototypical practitioner of “megaphone philanthropy” is the Marguerite Casey Foundation, the $800 million funder of some of the most radical activists within American politics’ Overton Window. Robert joins us to discuss Marguerite Casey Foundation and its “megaphone philanthropy.” Links: Megaphone PhilanthropyThe Marguerite Casey Foundation: “Social Justice Philanthropy”The Marguerite Casey Foundation: A Focus on Group IdentityThe Marguerite Casey Foundation: Left-Wing GrantmakingThe Marguerite Casey Foundation: Thoughts and QuestionsFollow us on our socials: Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

NewsGuard: It’s a teachers-union approved tool purporting to rate information sources on how “nutritious” to one’s information diet they are, but the teachers’ union seal of approval should lead readers to question just what the NewsGuard “Nutrition Label” is actually rating. Joining us to discuss NewsGuard and its links to the left is Illinois-based conservative activist John Tillman. Links: NewsGuard primes children in public schools for life of leftist activismNewsGuard and Uncle Sam: The Nutrition LabelNewsGuard and Uncle Sam: Vitamin Deficient NutritionNewsGuard and Uncle Sam: History-Making HoaxesNewsGuard and Uncle Sam: DisclosureChampioning opportunity and prosperity for all Americans.NewsGuardFollow us on our socials: Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

You’ve heard of Mike Bloomberg; those longer in years might remember Tom Steyer; deep readers of Capital Research Center might remember Fred Stanback; the billionaire environmentalist donor is a repeating figure. But you’ve probably not heard of C. Frederick Taylor, a reclusive California billionaire who drives millions to the environmentalist movement. Joining us to discuss Taylor, his Sequoia Climate Foundation, and the effect he’s having on environmental policy is our Capital Research colleague Ken Braun. Links: The Sequoia Climate Foundation: The “Secretive U.S. Vulture Fund”The Sequoia Climate Foundation: Following Fred’s MoneyThe Sequoia Climate Foundation: Funding of Anti-Energy RadicalsThe Sequoia Climate Foundation: Climate ColonialismThe Progressive International: MembersC. Frederick TaylorFollow us on our socials: Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

The Freedom of Information Act was supposed to ensure public access to federal government documents, including written communications by senior officials. But the law has been wantonly circumvented; perhaps most notably by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s “homebrew” email server, but more recently it has come to light that aides of former National Institutes of Health official and de facto COVID lockdown czar Anthony Fauci openly wrote about their FOIA circumvention. Joining us to discuss FOIA, how officials try to evade it, and what can be done about it is veteran journalist (and member of the National Freedom of Information Act Hall of Fame) Mark Tapscott.Links:Now Will The FOIA Get Some Real Teeth?EcoHealth AlliancePeter DaszakFollow us on our socials: Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

Note: This episode contains discussions of subjects that may not be suitable for children. Parental discretion is advised. Everybody’s doing it—sex education. And as American sexual mores have grown more permissive, the organizational institutions devising sex education curriculums have pushed the Overton Window of sexual permissiveness to its maximum. Joining us to discuss the rise of contemporary sex education and the institutions behind it is Kali Fontanilla, Senior Fellow at the Capital Research Center.The Sex Education of Our Nation’s Children: The First Formal Sex EdThe Sex Education of Our Nation’s Children: Since the Sexual RevolutionThe Sex Education of Our Nation’s Children: What’s Best for the KidsThe Sex Education of Our Nation’s Children: Are There Any Solutions?SIECUS Is Pushing Sex Ed for “Social Change” in Our Nation’s SchoolsSexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change)Social Justice Unionism: Pushing Planned Parenthood’s PropagandaAdvancing After Getting Education RightFollow us on our socials: Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

This week we cast our eye to the Pacific Coast, with inquiries into two major left-wing funders in the Golden State. First, the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation is suing the Tides Foundation; even as we say “Let them fight,” we must also ask what these two major left-wing institutions are fighting about. And then we introduce the California Endowment, one of many major left-wing grantmakers of which the average listener might not yet have heard. Joining us to discuss these major California institutions is Thomas Buckley, senior fellow at the California Policy Center.https://californiaglobe.com/fr/blm-sues-tides-foundation/https://thomas699.substack.com/p/pennies-for-health-care-millionshttps://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/california-endowment/https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/black-lives-matter-foundation/

What efforts are American nonprofits funding overseas? By and large, we don’t know, and federal disclosure laws are no help because they don’t require American nonprofits (other than private foundations) to disclose their grants to organizations outside the United States. But that may change, as Congress considers legislation to reform “Schedule F” on the nonprofit tax return. Joining us to discuss the proposal is our colleague Robert Stilson, one of the loudest voices calling for the change.Links: Require Nonprofits to Disclose Their Foreign GrantmakingThe Need for Foreign Grant Disclosure by NonprofitsSmucker Foreign Grant Reporting Act Receives Unanimous Support in CommitteePeople’s Support Foundation (PSF)People’s Welfare Association (PWA)Follow us on our Socials: Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

To say the federal government is merely “broke” is a gross understatement; as of recording the US Debt Clock shows the federal debt at over $34.7 trillion with the running annual deficit at nearly $2 trillion. While federal entitlement spending drives the growth in debt, the discretionary decisions of the Biden administration are very much not helping, as a new report from the Heritage Foundation shows. In short, the Biden administration is using a suspiciously expansive reading of the authorities delegating power from Congress to the Executive Branch to pursue “Whole of Government” Everything-Leftism policies at great public expense. Joining us to discuss his report is David Ditch, senior policy analyst at Heritage.Links: Funding Leftism, Making Power Grabs: The Biden Administration’s Bureaucratic RadicalismExplaining “Everything Leftism”Follow us on our Socials: Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

If you’re a regular listener, you’ve heard the name “Arabella Advisors” before—the management company that sits at the center of a network of left-wing “dark money” advocacy nonprofits. Now, the story of Arabella Advisors, its network, and its influence is told in a volume authored by Capital Research Center’s president Scott Walter, imaginatively titled Arabella: The Dark Money Network of Leftist Billionaires Secretly Transforming America. Scott joins us this week to discuss the book.Links: Arabella BookWritten Testimony on Extreme Environmental Activist GroupsDonors to the Arabella Advisors NetworkShedding Light on Governing for ImpactFollow us on our Socials: Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter