InfluenceWatch Podcast

Episode 186: Is Mail-In Balloting Here to Stay?

September 9th, 2021  |  23 mins 17 secs

center for voter information, mail-in ballots, virginia gubernatorial election, voter participation center

In this episode: Sarah Lee is joined by CRC Senior Investigative Researcher Hayden Ludwig to discuss a recent article he wrote on the effort by some left-leaning activist groups to promote and facilitate mail-in balloting in Virginia before the gubernatorial election in November. Is pervasive mail-in balloting destined to the be the left's favored election strategy forever more?

Episode 185: The Weather Underground Resurfaces

September 2nd, 2021  |  22 mins 36 secs

andrew cuomo, chesa boudin, pardon, soros das, weather underground

In this episode: Mike Watson interviews a fellow CRC analyst, Ken Braun, on his research and writing related to the 1981 Brink's armored car robbery -- a subject that's just hit the news again all these years later because of its association with The Weather Underground and one Soros-funded DA named Chesa Boudin.

Episode 184: Liberal Myths About H.R. 4

August 26th, 2021  |  27 mins 24 secs

big government, elections, ken blackwell, states rights

In this episode: With both sides of the political aisle claiming a desire to protect elections, Mike Watson gets to the heart of the debate with the always edifying Ken Blackwell. Join them as they discuss the myths liberal legislators peddle as they attempt to pass H.R. 4, legislation that would federalize elections.

Episode 183: The Redistributionist Right

August 19th, 2021  |  26 mins 18 secs

american compass, national review, oren cass, redistributionist right, wall street journal

In this episode: Sarah Lee and Mike Watson talk about the merits (or lack thereof) in a conservative embrace of unions, a conversation that comes after Watson publicly called out American Compass (in an op-ed at National Review) for pushing a new "conservative" approach to labor unions while taking significant funding from decidedly less than conservative donors such as the Omidyar Network.

Episode 182: Living Orwell Instead of Reading Him

August 12th, 2021  |  21 mins 57 secs

censorship, colleges, first amendment, free speech, universities

In this episode: Cherise Trump, Executive Director of Speech First, joins the Influence Watch podcast to discuss the challenges and trends related to censorship and infringement of speech on college campuses.

Episode 181: Easy To Vote, Hard To Cheat

August 5th, 2021  |  27 mins 48 secs

election integrity, election reform, honest elections

In this episode: Mike Watson talks with Jason Snead, executive director of the Honest Elections Project, about how the country can get back to having faith in elections again.

Episode 180: Episode 180: Critical of Critical Race Theory

July 30th, 2021  |  28 mins 53 secs

critical race theory, education, leftism, parents defending education

In this episode: Parents of all political persuasions have begun to push back against the creeping curriculum known as Critical Race Theory by taking matters -- and their children's education -- into their own hands. Mike Watson interviews Parents Defending Education's Erika Sanzi on this new educational reality.

Episode 179: Social Justice Unionism

July 22nd, 2021  |  25 mins 46 secs

In this episode: Can unions continue to claim they advocate for the worker when they embrace social justice advocacy that has little or nothing to do with their original mandate? CRC's Research Director Mike Watson tries to answer this question.

Episode 178: Chaos in Cuba (with guest John Suarez)

July 16th, 2021  |  32 mins 28 secs

blm, castro, communism, conservative, cuba, democrat, demonstrations, freedom, john suarez, left, liberal, libertarian, liberty, politics, progressive, protests, republican, right, riot, society

In this episode: Since last Sunday, Cubans have publicly demonstrated against the Communist regime that has inflicted tyranny on their homeland for over sixty years. Joining us to discuss the background behind the demonstrations and the prospects for a freer Cuba is John Suarez, the executive director of the Center for a Free Cuba.

Episode 177: Teachers Unions Running Wild (with guest Alleigh Marre)

July 9th, 2021  |  13 mins 36 secs

alleigh marre, community, critical race theory, critical theory, crt, education, free to learn coalition, freedom, k-12, left, parents, politics, pta, right, school, society, teachers, unions

In this episode: Our regular podcast host, CRC’s Research Director Mike Watson, is on vacation so CRC's Director of Communications and External Relations Sarah Lee is filling in. We are thrilled to welcome a Alleigh Marre to talk about a subject that is everywhere in the news right now and one of great importance to parents and school children. Alleigh Marre leads the Free to Learn Coalition, a group that describes itself as a nonpartisan organization established to support parents, caregivers, and community organizations in their advocacy for quality K-12 education. Specifically, the coalition wants to make classrooms safe enough again that students are: Free to ask questions, Free to develop individual thoughts and opinions, Free to think critically of ideas and concepts and, Free to achieve.

Episode 176: Ranked Choice Voting in NYC (with guest Michael Hendrix)

July 2nd, 2021  |  15 mins 42 secs

conservative, culture, elections, left, liberal, libertarian, manhattan institute, mayor, nyc, politics, progressive, ranked choice voting, right, society

In this episode: What do pizza toppings, test data, and waiting have to do with becoming Mayor of New York City? Thanks to the city’s new, confusing, and poorly administered “ranked choice voting” system, quite a lot. While New Yorkers voted last week on their party nominees for Mayor, on the Democratic side they still don’t know who won over a week later. Joining us to discuss the car-crash outcome in NYC is Michael Hendrix, director of state and local policy for the Manhattan Institute.

Episode 175: Orwellian Fact Checkers (with guest Chris Bedford)

June 25th, 2021  |  23 mins 14 secs

aspen institute, big tech, chris bedford, conservative, culture, disinformation, left, liberal, libertarian, ministry of truth, orwell, politics, progressive, right, society, tech giants, the federalist, woke

In this episode: It’s a name worthy of Orwell: The “Committee on Information Disorder,” a project of the posh and well-connected Aspen Institute designed to identify “disinformation” for Big Corporations and Big Government to suppress. A notionally private-sector, woke-progressive Ministry of Truth, as it were. Joining us to discuss this effort to control the political discourse is Chris Bedford, senior editor of The Federalist.

Episode 174: The History of Big Tech Censorship

June 18th, 2021  |  22 mins 18 secs

amazon, apple, big tech, censorship, communication, conservative, culture, facebook, google, left, liberal, netflix, politics, right, social media, tech, twitter

In this episode: “Big Tech”—the major social media and online communications companies like Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google—FAANG, for short. Especially since Facebook and Twitter banned the then-still-sitting President Donald Trump from their services after the riot at the U.S. Capitol in January, conservatives have expressed increasing alarm at the power of Big Tech to remove voices not in alignment with Current Year liberalism from the internet. Joining us to discuss the history of Big Tech censorship and the prospects for reform is James Bowers, managing director of Challenge Censorship.

Episode 173: The State of Redistricting

June 11th, 2021  |  21 mins 58 secs

conservative, culture, gerrymandering, left, liberal, libertarian, politics, progressive, redistricting, right

In this episode: Our regular podcast host, CRC’s Research Director Mike Watson, joins the show to discuss his latest report on redistricting, a four-part series that lives on the CRC website entitled, “The State of Redistricting 2022.” We take a look at the myths, history, and lies around “gerrymandering.”

Read more here: https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-state-of-redistricting-2022-part-1/

Episode 172: Using the Courts to Push Unpopular Policy (with guest Robert Stilson)

June 4th, 2021  |  16 mins 14 secs

climate change, conservatize, culture, environmentalism, law, left, liberal, libertarian, politics, progressive, right, society

In this episode: Radical environmentalists have a problem: Their policies are unpopular, and even a unified Democratic government aligned with them can only advance so many restrictions on personal choice, industrial activity, and employment opportunities before it provokes public revolt. But they have one weird trick to get around public opposition: The courts. Joining us to discuss the tactics that environmentalists are pursuing to have judges force their policies on the rest of us is Capital Research Center’s Research Specialist Robert Stilson.

Episode 171: Getting America Back to Work (with guest Megan Rose)

May 28th, 2021  |  15 mins 28 secs

As pandemic restrictions have begun easing in the states, employers are facing a new problem: labor shortages due to unemployment insurance bonuses that were intended to help people laid off from work during the pandemic. Many people are still collecting that benefit and it has led to a situation where employers are desperate to hire people making the rational financial decision to take a check over finding meaningful work.
Joining the InfluenceWatch podcast today is Megan Rose, a civil society fellow at the Manhattan Institute & CEO of a nonprofit organization called Better Together that works to provide a dignified way to prevent child neglect through programs that strengthen families and help keep kids out of the foster care system. As part of that work, Better Together provides compassionate “second chance” job fair programs. Rose began noticing attendance at their job fairs has dropped precipitously in the last year. She wrote an excellent piece at the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal about why she thinks that’s happening. It’s called, Jobs Without Takers, and in it she theorizes ways that America’s governors can help get people back to work to benefit the economy, individuals, and families.
Joining the InfluenceWatch Podcast today is Megan Rose, a civil society fellow at the Manhattan Institute CEO of a nonprofit organization called Better Together that works to provide a dignified way to prevent child neglect through programs that strengthen families and help keep kids out of the foster care system. As part of that work, Better Together provides compassionate “second chance” job fair programs. Rose began noticing that attendance at their job fairs have dropped precipitously in the last year. She wrote an excellent piece at the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal about why she thinks that’s happening. It’s called, Jobs Without Takers, and in it she theorizes ways that America’s governors could help get people back to work to benefit the economy and individuals and families.