Podcast

Podcast
InfluenceWatch Podcast #241: Decoding the Iranian Protests
For the past several weeks, Iranians—especially Iranian women—have taken bold stands against the nation’s theocratic government, discarding compulsory headscarves and cutting their hair. This isn’t the first time that mass…
by Michael Watson on October 21, 2022

Podcast
InfluenceWatch Podcast #240: California’s Union Payoff
Since the Supreme Court decided the Janus v. AFSCME case and held that forcing government workers to pay union fees was an unconstitutional infringement of their free speech rights, union-aligned…
by Michael Watson on October 14, 2022

Podcast
InfluenceWatch Podcast #239: Socializing Broadband
Expanding access to high-speed internet: It’s a trendy cause that the COVID-19 lockdowns and school closures made urgent. And when government acts with urgency, bad ideas proliferate; in broadband, the…
by Parker Thayer, Michael Watson on October 7, 2022

Podcast
InfluenceWatch Podcast #238: BlackRock: ESG Policy or Posturing?
The power of the ESG—environmental, social, and corporate governance—investing movement is propelled by powerful allies among funds managers, perhaps none more prominent than BlackRock, which manages over eight trillion dollars…
by Ken Braun, Michael Watson on September 30, 2022

Podcast
InfluenceWatch Podcast #237: A Family Fights the EPA
“Who decides? Congress or the executive?” is a key question underlying many prominent legal interpretation disputes. One such dispute, over defining “waters of the United States,” has trapped one family…
by Michael Watson on September 26, 2022

Podcast
InfluenceWatch Podcast #236: The PragerU Action Guide
These days, amid debates over critical race theory and radical gender theory in school curriculums as early as elementary school, parents might be wondering what alternative resources might be available…
by Michael Watson on September 23, 2022

Podcast
InfluenceWatch Podcast #235: The Thesis That Drove American Politics Crazy
In 2002, President George W. Bush stood astride the post–September 11 political world and Republicans looked poised to do the unthinkable and strengthen their positions in Congress in a midterm…
by Sarah Lee, Michael Watson on September 9, 2022

Podcast
InfluenceWatch Podcast #234: Education Exodus
Today’s guest is not the only person to have left California for Florida in the past few years. Kali Fontanilla left her teaching job in Monterey County after her school…
by Michael Watson on September 2, 2022

Podcast
InfluenceWatch Podcast #233: Who is Barre Seid?
This week, the New York Times reported that a “little-known donor”—industrialist Barre Seid—had given a $1.6 billion “windfall” to a new conservative group known as Marble Freedom Trust in…
by Michael Watson, Scott Walter on August 26, 2022

Podcast
InfluenceWatch Podcast #232: Know Your Rights: Labor Unions
We’ve discussed government worker unions and their left-wing politics on the podcast before, but what can workers do to protect themselves against union activities they disagree with? Americans for Fair…
by Michael Watson on August 19, 2022