InfluenceWatch Podcast

Protesting, always a feature of the 1st Amendment right to free speech in America, has become quite the fashion lately among the American left, possibly even more than it was during the height of the anti-war protests of the 1960s.But these new protests – from enflamed government buildings to tent cities on campus, to blocked traffic on major streets, to terrorist flag-waving congregations – seem to be different somehow. Less about engaging a right to speak freely and more about shutting down discourse. Joining me today to discuss the groups behind these modern melees is Asra Q. Nomani, a former Wall Street Journal reporter and author of the book, “Woke Army: The Red-Green Alliance That Is Undermining America’s Freedom.” She is a founder of the Pearl Project, a nonprofit currently building the Malign Foreign Influence Index portal that examines the groups fomenting anti-Semitism. And she’s been on the ground covering the protests from DC to the DNC in Chicago. She joins us today. Links: Dispatches from Chicago: Unmasking the Web of ‘Malign Foreign Influence’ Behind #MarchonDNC‘Hamas Is Comin’: Following the Money at C and 3rd Streets NWFollow us on our socials: Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

Hollywood and the entertainment industry are leftist; it has been since before actual Communists tried to infiltrate it in the 1930s and 1940s. But if you’ve noticed that entertainment has shifted from merely having a liberal worldview to being indistinguishable from Big Philanthropy-funded leftist agitprop, that might be because a big proportion of it is Big Philanthropy-funded leftist agitprop. Joining me to discuss the Ford Foundation’s JustFilms program are my colleague Robert Stilson and Thomas Pack of Palladium Pictures. Links: How the Ford Foundation Changed Entertainment: The Ford FoundationHow the Ford Foundation Changed Entertainment: Direct Film FundingHow the Ford Foundation Changed Entertainment: Film FestivalsHow the Ford Foundation Changed Entertainment: Outreach, Networks, and EducationHow the Ford Foundation Changed Entertainment: Why Ford’s Strategy WorksHow the Ford Foundation Took Over StorytellingFollow us on our socials: Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

Left-wingers have been losing at the Supreme Court in recent years thanks to the intellectual success of the conservative legal movement, audacity in Republican management of judicial confirmations, and the aid of the Fates. But progressives are not taking these setbacks lying down; the hot new advocacy cause, led by the classically Everything Leftism-branded Arabella Advisors spinoff Demand Justice, is “court reform,” a euphemism for rigging judicial results by manipulating the composition of the Supreme Court, which has been set by law and custom without alteration since 1869. Joining us to discuss Demand Justice and the leftist crusade for court-packing is our colleague Parker Thayer. Links: Just Court-Pack a MajorityDemand Justice, the “Dark Money” Group Behind a $10 Million Campaign Against the Supreme CourtDemand JusticeFix the Court (FTC)Follow us on our Socials: Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

Environmental, social, and governance or ESG: What is it, what does it mean for the public? Our guest today, Paul Mueller of the American Institute for Economic Research, argues that ESG strategies “undermine freedom, political self-determination, and economic prosperity.” He joins us to explain how and why.Links:The Threats Posed by Environmental, Social, and Governance PoliciesESG Activism20 Years of ESG ActivismThe Religiosity of ESG Activists Through the Prism of Amazon Shareholder MeetingsFollow us on our Socials: Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

There’s an ongoing policy war being waged between those who favor a weather dependent wind and solar approach to energy consumption and those who look to nuclear power and efficient electrical grids as the answer to future energy needs. And the dividing line between the two isn’t as easy to determine along ideological lines as people might think. While left-leaning charitable organizations and activists do currently fund a push toward the weather-dependent approach, there are some outliers. And while right-leaning legislators have long paid lip-service to nuclear power and efficiency in the energy sector, their behavior hasn’t always matched their words. Two new films explore this battle. Juice, a docuseries by energy journalist Robert Bryce and Tyson Culver, looks at the debate over nuclear power and government-induced inefficiencies in the power grid. And Climate: The Movie by British filmmaker Martin Durkin explores climate alarmism and the false claim that the scare tactics are based in science. Our colleague Ken Braun, who has seen both and reviewed one, is here with my colleague Mike Watson and me today to discuss all things energy.Links:Film Review of Juice: The Reliability ErrorJuice: Power, Politics & The Grid Is Out!Climate: The MovieTwitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

How did universities become dens of sympathy for ideologies and factions implacably opposed to America and her allies, most recently demonstrated by the “Hamas glamper” protests at various elite campuses? Many have argued that funding of American universities by rival foreign governments and allies of America’s enemies, perhaps most prominently the People’s Republic of China and the State of Qatar, helped create the situation in which higher education now finds itself, and the House of Representatives is taking action to further scrutinize these donations. Joining us to discuss foreign funding of higher education and the DETERRENT Act proposed to scrutinize it is Angela Morabito of the Defense of Freedom Institute.Links: Colleges hide foreign sponsors of antisemitismPRESS RELEASE: DFI Releases Statement on Bipartisan Passage of DETERRENT ActComment on the Department’s Proposed Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request; Foreign Gifts and Contracts Disclosures Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

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