InfluenceWatch Podcast

The weather is unreliable, and often unpredictable—anyone who has grumbled at the weatherman’s forecast knows this. But increasingly, environmentalists demand that only the weather can generate the electricity that modern people need to maintain their standard of living. Zero-emissions is not enough: My colleague Ken Braun, who joins me today, extensively categorized the scale of environmentalist opposition to zero-emission nuclear energy.Links: Opposition to Nuclear EnergyThe Richest Opponents of Carbon-Free Nuclear EnergyFollow us on our Socials:Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

Discussion on liberal Big Philanthropy using charitable organizations to help Democrats get elected. Leaked campaign documents reveal partisan nature of non-partisan voter registration drives and targeting non-white voters. Unaccountable money in political coalitions and influence of get out the vote nonprofits. Need for IRS and FEC enforcement to combat misuse of voter registration nonprofits. Returning power to political parties and challenges in tracking foreign funding.

Do Americans appreciate foreign nationals using their money to help Americans decide who should lead them? Honest Elections Project Action recently asked people, and—no prizes for guessing this—they don’t. Joining us to discuss this and other findings from their national poll on election-administration issues is Jason Snead of the Honest Elections Project.Links:Election Integrity Measures Remain Popular The Left-Wing Dark Money Behind the Push to Kill the FilibusterInfluenceWatch Podcast #181: Easy to Vote, Hard to CheatHansjorg WyssFollow us on our Socials:Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

This week, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee (R) announced a special session of the legislature to consider various proposals related to public safety. But unusually for a reliably conservative and Republican state—Lee won 65 percent of the vote in his 2022 election campaign and both chambers of the state legislature are supermajority Republican—the session will consider gun control measures, especially so-called “red flag” laws. Joining me to discuss what’s going on in Tennessee and the gun control movement generally are my colleague Robert Stilson and John Harris, executive director of the Tennessee Firearms Association.Links:The Landscape of Gun Control AdvocacyThe Funders of Gun Control AdvocacyThe Policies of Gun Control AdvocacyTennessee Firearms AssociationFollow us on our Socials:Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

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