Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Inside Cracker Barrel’s Costly Misstep plus New Rule Lets Workers Invest in Alternative Assets & $800K in EPA Grants Under Fire

Transcript

Inside Cracker Barrel’s Costly Misstep plus New Rule Lets Workers Invest in Alternative Assets & $800K in EPA Grants Under Fire · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: So there are two stories when it comes to the
0:03
Speaker 1: Cracker Barrel fiasco. One is what you know about that
0:07
Speaker 1: has happened over the last I don't know, ten days.
0:10
Speaker 1: And then there's the other part of the story. I
0:14
Speaker 1: want to tell you just how stupid the CEO of
0:18
Speaker 1: Cracker Barrel and their team actually is.
0:22
Speaker 2: Now, this is the story you don't know about.
0:25
Speaker 1: There was a prominent Cracker Barrel investor that warned executives
0:30
Speaker 1: that they were walking into quote a text book trap.
0:35
Speaker 2: That's right.
0:36
Speaker 1: One of Cracker Barrel's largest investors literally sent up a
0:40
Speaker 1: red flag last fall regarding the board director's rebranding plan
0:46
Speaker 1: for the company, but it went unheeded.
0:49
Speaker 2: Now that was last fall.
0:52
Speaker 1: In fact, it was a two page critique dated November thirteenth,
0:56
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four. Start R Big Laurie, who owns about
1:01
Speaker 1: five percent, which is a lot of the restaurant chains stock,
1:05
Speaker 1: wrote his fellow shareholders that the Cracker Barrell transformation was
1:09
Speaker 1: quote a mistake of misguided executives falling for quote a
1:13
Speaker 1: textbook trap of overspending on cosmetic remodeling.
1:19
Speaker 2: Here is his exact words.
1:21
Speaker 1: The day Cracker Burrough opened, it was already old its
1:24
Speaker 1: theme derived from the nineteen twenties. I am concerned that
1:28
Speaker 1: not only will the remodel not work, but it could
1:31
Speaker 1: actually damage the brand further. These decisions are taking us
1:36
Speaker 1: down the same path, he said. I believe as Ruby
1:39
Speaker 1: Tuesday's Red Lobster, TGI Fridays and the likes. Let me
1:44
Speaker 1: make my position clear. The shareholder said the coming seven
1:47
Speaker 1: hundred million dollar remodel plan will not work. In a
1:51
Speaker 1: private letter to shareholders on October the twenty fourth, the
1:54
Speaker 1: man called the board's transformation plan obvious folly. The investment
2:00
Speaker 1: is also a major investor in Stake and Shake Friendlies
2:04
Speaker 1: and Western Sizzelin. Shareholders ultimately sided with the Cracker Barrell CEO,
2:10
Speaker 1: who took the position with the company last year. They
2:13
Speaker 1: rejected the shareholder's bid to become a member of the
2:15
Speaker 1: board and instead elected Cracker Barrell's slate of ten recommended
2:20
Speaker 1: nominees on November the twenty first of twenty twenty four,
2:24
Speaker 1: a bunch of yes people for a predictable, woke CEO
2:29
Speaker 1: management tow The vote is an endorsement of the transformation
2:33
Speaker 1: as the quote right path to return Crackerbell to growth
2:36
Speaker 1: and meaningful value creation for all shareholders. The rollout of
2:40
Speaker 1: Crockerbell's new logo did not go well, and that's the
2:43
Speaker 1: story you know about. You would think that companies would
2:48
Speaker 1: learn from the fiascos and the disasters of woke ideology.
2:52
Speaker 1: A great example of that is what happened with bud
2:56
Speaker 1: Light using a transgendered person aka a dude acting like
2:59
Speaker 1: a to try to.
3:01
Speaker 2: Promote their brand. We all know how that ended.
3:05
Speaker 1: You would also think that CEOs in twenty twenty five
3:08
Speaker 1: would understand that there's quite a few Americans out there
3:11
Speaker 1: that just want brands to be normal and not push
3:14
Speaker 1: in agenda, or if they have a core audience, don't
3:19
Speaker 1: be ashamed of them and who they actually are. Well,
3:23
Speaker 1: you would think that CEOs of companies would understand that
3:26
Speaker 1: insert cracker barrel aiming to quote modernize. Under the new
3:31
Speaker 1: CEO appointed in twenty twenty three, they decided it was
3:35
Speaker 1: a good idea to trash an entire brand, but not
3:38
Speaker 1: just the brand, actually trash the customers that had propped
3:43
Speaker 1: up that brand for decades. They unveiled what they described
3:47
Speaker 1: as a minimalist text only logo and updated the restaurant
3:51
Speaker 1: de core, dropping the iconic image of Uncle herschel the
3:56
Speaker 1: overalls clad man leaning on a barrel, and removing the
4:01
Speaker 1: quote old country store from all of their branding. Yes,
4:06
Speaker 1: it was a slap in the face or a middle finger,
4:08
Speaker 1: however you want to describe it to the customers that
4:12
Speaker 1: love Cracker Barrel Oil. Customers and branding critics then slammed
4:17
Speaker 1: the changes, accusing the chain of abandoning not only its
4:21
Speaker 1: nostalgic but also its Southern Country identity. The company's stock
4:29
Speaker 1: tumbled by more than ten percent, in fact, to seventeen
4:32
Speaker 1: percent if you look at the latest reports, and the
4:35
Speaker 1: brand lost as much as one hundred million dollars in
4:39
Speaker 1: its valuation. But apparently that wasn't enough for Cracker Barrel leaders.
4:45
Speaker 1: They stuck to their plan day after day as it
4:48
Speaker 1: continued to get out of control, and then when they
4:52
Speaker 1: knew they had a real problem, they went on Good
4:54
Speaker 1: Morning America. The Cracker Barrel CEO on the restaurant renovations
4:59
Speaker 1: that had made everyone start talking about the brand. Here's
5:02
Speaker 1: what she had to say when was asked about, Hey,
5:06
Speaker 1: did you guys maybe make a mistake?
5:08
Speaker 3: And I got to asked this question, I believe I'd
5:10
Speaker 3: probably know to answer. What if all the customers are
5:14
Speaker 3: coming at you hard enough about the look at a restaurant,
5:17
Speaker 3: and they want to go back to the old way.
5:18
Speaker 2: Would you do it?
5:20
Speaker 4: Honestly, the feedback's been overwhelmingly positive that people like what
5:23
Speaker 4: we're doing. I'll give you another SoundBite. I actually happened
5:26
Speaker 4: to be in Orlando last week with all of our managers.
5:28
Speaker 4: We bring them together and once every other year, and
5:32
Speaker 4: the number one question that I got asked Michael was
5:34
Speaker 4: how can I get a remodel? When can I get
5:36
Speaker 4: a remodel? How do I get on the list? Really so,
5:38
Speaker 4: because the feedback and the buzz is so good, not
5:41
Speaker 4: only from our customers but from our team members. They
5:44
Speaker 4: want to work in a wonderful restaurant. So we're doing
5:47
Speaker 4: everything for our guests and our team members.
5:49
Speaker 3: When Julia Messino, it's wonderful to have you here, pleasure
5:51
Speaker 3: to thank you. I answer those questions for all the
5:54
Speaker 3: Crack and Berry fans out there. There's a lot of great.
5:57
Speaker 2: Changes, Thank you so much, a lot of great changes.
6:00
Speaker 1: How Good Morning America put it well? That didn't go
6:02
Speaker 1: over well. Fast forward to Monday and finally Cracker Barrel
6:06
Speaker 1: admitted defeat and their woke CEO. Realizing she had a
6:10
Speaker 1: very big problem on her hands, Cracker Barrell acknowledged that
6:14
Speaker 1: it quote could have done a better job of sharing
6:17
Speaker 1: who we are and who will always be, Attempting to
6:21
Speaker 1: calm the furious customer base that had abandoned the store,
6:25
Speaker 1: Their public communications team emphasized that quote beloved elements like
6:30
Speaker 1: Uncle Herschel rocking chairs out front, the classic decor would
6:35
Speaker 1: in fact remain in the stores. And then there's the
6:38
Speaker 1: politics of this. Donald Trump wide in strongly saying quote
6:44
Speaker 1: Crackerbrell should go back to the old logo and made
6:46
Speaker 1: a mistake and manage the company better than ever before.
6:51
Speaker 1: Hours later, the White House, via the pres Secretary Caroline Levitt,
6:55
Speaker 1: praise Crackerbrell's decision to revert, say that Trump has unmatched
7:01
Speaker 1: business instincts and that the brand made a great decision
7:05
Speaker 1: to trust the President of the United States of America.
7:09
Speaker 1: By Tuesday evening, Cracker Barrel had changed her tune even more.
7:14
Speaker 2: They announced it.
7:14
Speaker 1: Would scrap the new logo entirely and revert to the
7:19
Speaker 1: original old Timer design with Uncle Herschel and the old
7:23
Speaker 1: Country store naming back. The company described the change as
7:27
Speaker 1: listening quote to its customers and reaffirming the importance of tradition, hospitality,
7:34
Speaker 1: and comfort. Now, Donald Trump's vocal criticism and the public
7:39
Speaker 1: urging made a massive difference and aligned with widespread customer
7:44
Speaker 1: outrage as well as the financial losses. And then Cracker
7:48
Speaker 1: Barrel had to fully admit that the rebrand was a mistake.
7:52
Speaker 1: Not only was it a mistake because they were ashamed
7:54
Speaker 1: of apparently their image, they were ashamed of their customer base.
7:59
Speaker 1: They wanted to be new, trendy and woke. Well, now,
8:03
Speaker 1: Cracker Barrel said, after losing one hundred million in their
8:06
Speaker 1: market cap, Okay, I guess we're just gonna go back
8:09
Speaker 1: to how things were before. Remember, nothing was actually broken.
8:13
Speaker 1: And this is the bigger question that so many people
8:16
Speaker 1: should be asking, especially in the advertising, marketing and the
8:22
Speaker 1: business brand world. Why on earth would you try to
8:26
Speaker 1: take an iconic brand like Cracker Barrel and change into
8:30
Speaker 1: something clearly that doesn't align with your customers. It's an
8:34
Speaker 1: amazing brand, it's a business that people love going into.
8:38
Speaker 1: The food is actually incredible, and the President United States
8:41
Speaker 1: of America calling them out was a brilliant move. By
8:45
Speaker 1: the way, he was also protecting so many of the
8:47
Speaker 1: people that work there and people that invested in the business.
8:52
Speaker 2: Job.
8:52
Speaker 1: Well done to the President the United States of America
8:55
Speaker 1: for doing this. It'll be very interesting to see how
8:58
Speaker 1: long the leadership at Cracker Barrel will still be employed
9:01
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Speaker 1: I want to get you some really important information and
11:25
Speaker 1: this actually happened quietly on August seventh, the President signed
11:31
Speaker 1: an executive order and it opened the door in a
11:34
Speaker 1: way that we've never seen before to alternative assets in
11:38
Speaker 1: four oh one case. And what this means is is
11:41
Speaker 1: going to have a huge impact when it comes to
11:44
Speaker 1: gold and silver crypto as well. And this was something
11:49
Speaker 1: that the President put out he was very proud of.
11:51
Speaker 1: He said, quote by the authority invested in me as
11:53
Speaker 1: President by the Constitution, in the Laws of the United
11:56
Speaker 1: States of America. It is hereby ordered, he said, Section
11:59
Speaker 1: one purpose. Many wealthy Americans and government workers who participate
12:03
Speaker 1: in public pension plans can invest in or are the
12:07
Speaker 1: beneficiaries of investments in a number of alternative assets. Yet,
12:12
Speaker 1: while more than ninety million Americans participate in employer sponsor
12:16
Speaker 1: defined contribution plans, the vast majority of these investors you
12:20
Speaker 1: don't have the opportunity to participate either directly or through
12:23
Speaker 1: their retirement plans. And then potential growth and diversification opportunities
12:28
Speaker 1: associated with alternative asset investments. So what does this actually
12:33
Speaker 1: mean for you and how big could this be for Americans?
12:36
Speaker 2: Join me out to talk about that. It's Kurt Elliott.
12:39
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Speaker 1: e PM dot com, Kurt. This was a big move
12:54
Speaker 1: by the President United States of America. There was a
12:56
Speaker 1: lot of people that didn't like this because it allowed
12:59
Speaker 1: for these alternative investments which others have been able to
13:02
Speaker 1: capitalize on, and he's saying he wants to make sure
13:05
Speaker 1: that Americans can have that in their four to one K.
13:07
Speaker 5: This is huge, It's absolutely massive then, and of course
13:12
Speaker 5: there's going to be some institutions don't like it, the
13:15
Speaker 5: JP Morgan's of the world, the Bank of Americas of
13:17
Speaker 5: the world, who deal with these paper assets, right, stocks, bonds,
13:21
Speaker 5: mutual funds. But what this does is Trump is doing
13:25
Speaker 5: something that's so great for Americans, and he's kind of
13:29
Speaker 5: restoring financial freedom, giving people the freedom of choice in
13:33
Speaker 5: their finances, right. And so this executive order. I've been
13:37
Speaker 5: doing this for a long time since the early two thousands,
13:39
Speaker 5: like decades, and I this might be the biggest news ever.
13:44
Speaker 5: Why because the four to one K markets over twelve
13:48
Speaker 5: trillion dollars of assets that have already been invested. It's
13:52
Speaker 5: not like people have to come up with the funds.
13:54
Speaker 5: It's already there. So what are they going to do
13:57
Speaker 5: when when you're an investor like you or me, or
14:00
Speaker 5: any of the listeners on this show is thinking, WHOA,
14:04
Speaker 5: I've been wanting to do cryptocurrency. I've been wanting to
14:07
Speaker 5: do gold in silver, but all my assets are in
14:09
Speaker 5: my four owe K. I couldn't do it right. So now,
14:14
Speaker 5: in this executive order, in Part Section three, Part C,
14:21
Speaker 5: within one hundred and eighty days of this order, this
14:24
Speaker 5: is going to become effective. That's the first week in February.
14:27
Speaker 5: So what's going to become effective? Well, let's read Section three.
14:32
Speaker 5: Private market investments, including direct and indirect investments in equity, debt,
14:36
Speaker 5: or other financial instruments not traded on public exchanges. That's
14:41
Speaker 5: OTC markets over the counter like penny stocks.
14:44
Speaker 2: Right.
14:45
Speaker 5: How about direct and indirect investments in real estate? Wow,
14:49
Speaker 5: real estate. I can actually own commercial real estate investment
14:53
Speaker 5: property in my fore o K yep. How about actively
14:57
Speaker 5: managed investment vehicles in digital assets that's cryptocurrency. Part four
15:02
Speaker 5: Directing indirected investments in commodities, Well, gold and silver is
15:07
Speaker 5: a commodity. What Trump is saying, and here's the cool thing,
15:11
Speaker 5: what's an indirect investment in the commodity that would be
15:14
Speaker 5: like a gold or silver etf it's already available, but
15:18
Speaker 5: direct would be actual physical ownership. Is the way that
15:21
Speaker 5: I read this. So what Trump just did is he said, Hey,
15:26
Speaker 5: I want Americans to have a choice in their financial future.
15:30
Speaker 5: This is amazing and we needed a strong president, a
15:33
Speaker 5: strong leader to actually make this happen. So when you
15:36
Speaker 5: look at this, what are the consequences and what are
15:39
Speaker 5: the benefits. Well, the benefits are alternative assets because increased
15:43
Speaker 5: demand should go through the roof, right, because it's like, wow,
15:48
Speaker 5: we've got people that have captive assets where they had
15:51
Speaker 5: very little choice, maybe ten twenty mutual funds that they
15:55
Speaker 5: could pick in their four one K that was it. Well,
15:58
Speaker 5: now they're going to be able to do this. Are
16:00
Speaker 5: going to say, I don't have any assets available except
16:02
Speaker 5: for the stuff of my phone k. I am going
16:05
Speaker 5: to sell my current stocks, bonds, mutual funds and reallocate,
16:09
Speaker 5: reposition myself into these alternative assets that I couldn't do before.
16:14
Speaker 5: So I think that's going to put massive selling pressure
16:18
Speaker 5: on the stock market bend and you're going to see
16:20
Speaker 5: prices come down, but as as the flip side of
16:24
Speaker 5: that coin, you're going to see alternative investments like gold, silver,
16:27
Speaker 5: cryptocurrency go up and go up a lot because they
16:31
Speaker 5: already have limited supply. When you have low supply and
16:34
Speaker 5: high demand, prices go up and they're poised to go
16:37
Speaker 5: up a lot.
16:38
Speaker 2: I mean, this is inviting, insiting.
16:41
Speaker 5: This.
16:41
Speaker 1: Financial Times has an article right now about this, talking
16:44
Speaker 1: about how this executive order not only opens or to
16:47
Speaker 1: a ton of assets and four one k they said,
16:50
Speaker 1: here are the key considerations that.
16:52
Speaker 2: You should be looking at.
16:54
Speaker 1: Number one on their list is gold and silver, and
16:57
Speaker 1: then they go into crypto as well, and they're saying
16:59
Speaker 1: that this is going to allow the average American who
17:03
Speaker 1: has been left behind to go direct and indirect investments
17:06
Speaker 1: and commodities that will allow them to gain real wealth
17:10
Speaker 1: over the long term. And they said this also allows
17:13
Speaker 1: for the financing quote infrastructure that needed to be developed
17:16
Speaker 1: for the little guy. That's how they described it, saying,
17:20
Speaker 1: now it's a fair playing field. That's why the President
17:22
Speaker 1: did this, and this is something that's going to happen,
17:25
Speaker 1: by the way, in one hundred and eighty days. Dating
17:28
Speaker 1: it back to August the seventh, So there is time
17:31
Speaker 1: to plan for this for Americans as well take advantage
17:34
Speaker 1: of it.
17:35
Speaker 5: Well, absolutely, And this is where you can profit and
17:39
Speaker 5: you can benefit from things when you're ahead of the game.
17:42
Speaker 5: I would rather be six months early than one day late, right,
17:45
Speaker 5: And so when Financial Times said it amazingly, well, it's
17:50
Speaker 5: like this is for the little guy. Well wait a second,
17:53
Speaker 5: I thought TOMP was only for the big guys and
17:55
Speaker 5: only for corporate America. It's like, Hm, the actions so differently,
17:59
Speaker 5: don't they. And so this is just so exciting that
18:02
Speaker 5: we can finally participate in the alternative investments that big
18:07
Speaker 5: hedge funds, that big international center, you know, monetary banks
18:12
Speaker 5: globally like the Banks of America and the JP, Morton
18:14
Speaker 5: Chase and the HSBC all do these kinds of things already.
18:19
Speaker 5: Now we can participate in that in our four to
18:21
Speaker 5: one case. So if you have four one ks.
18:23
Speaker 1: Let me ask you a real life question on this.
18:25
Speaker 1: So the other day, literally I bought one hundred ounces
18:30
Speaker 1: a fine silver. It's it's just a brick. It's simple,
18:33
Speaker 1: it's basic. It's what you guys actually do. Can I
18:36
Speaker 1: now do that moving forward? But have it in my
18:39
Speaker 1: four to one K explain that the application of this
18:42
Speaker 1: in layman's terms.
18:44
Speaker 5: Yeah, so the answer is yes, So bullion, like what
18:49
Speaker 5: you're talking about, the one hundred ounces bars is solver,
18:52
Speaker 5: the ten ounces bars of silver, the generic refinery rounds,
18:55
Speaker 5: those have already been accessible in I RaSE. You do
18:59
Speaker 5: that in irs, if you have an IRA, you could
19:01
Speaker 5: already do that, but it was never available in four
19:03
Speaker 5: one ks before until now, until this executive order.
19:07
Speaker 1: So I can basically say I want to buy this,
19:10
Speaker 1: but I want it to be in part of my
19:12
Speaker 1: portfolio of my four to one K that I'm going
19:14
Speaker 1: to do every single year, right, because I do it
19:16
Speaker 1: for the tax and benefits. And I can set it
19:18
Speaker 1: up now and just say I want part of this
19:20
Speaker 1: to be in silver or gold.
19:23
Speaker 5: Yeah. So not exactly today, but in February when this
19:27
Speaker 5: becomes effective. It's going to take a while for some
19:30
Speaker 5: of these four to one K administrators to actually build
19:33
Speaker 5: this into their systems, right, But what can we do
19:36
Speaker 5: in the meantime, So come February, there's going to be
19:39
Speaker 5: a ton of demand for metals which are already running out.
19:44
Speaker 5: You know LBMA just came out, which is the London depository.
19:47
Speaker 5: It's where it's the depository that holds metals, gold and
19:51
Speaker 5: silver for central banks and big institutions all over the world.
19:55
Speaker 5: They basically run out of silver. They just made then
19:57
Speaker 5: constense like, well, we don't have enough to cover physical
19:59
Speaker 5: deliver Comax, which is the depository for North America. They're
20:06
Speaker 5: running so low. This this is wild then, so they
20:10
Speaker 5: have well over three hundred ounces of silver in futures
20:14
Speaker 5: contracts paper for every one ounce of physical silver. So
20:18
Speaker 5: it's like, how could you do that? What if somebody
20:21
Speaker 5: says you're Samsung, you're Sony, your Lgae, you're Boeing or
20:25
Speaker 5: Lockheed Martin, and you say I need physical silver, and
20:29
Speaker 5: they've been hedging themselves with forward contracts to basically lock
20:32
Speaker 5: in their prices because we need it to build missiles, torpedoes,
20:35
Speaker 5: electric vehicles, solar power, whatever, lcdtvs and they want physical delivery. Well,
20:42
Speaker 5: it's like, oh, they have these contracts out to a
20:45
Speaker 5: tune of over three hundred paper contracts to one physical
20:50
Speaker 5: silver ounce. That that doesn't equate. They're not going to
20:53
Speaker 5: have enough supply. So we could be seeing a massive
20:57
Speaker 5: short squeeze in front of us. And what does that
21:00
Speaker 5: mean there's not enough physical silver, and Boeing, Lockheed, Martin, Sony, Samsung,
21:05
Speaker 5: all these companies are going to say, hmm, I don't
21:08
Speaker 5: care what the price of silver is. If it's not available,
21:11
Speaker 5: we can't have a finished product. So they're going to say, well, well,
21:14
Speaker 5: silver might be trading at forty dollars ounce. Maybe they
21:16
Speaker 5: say we're going to offer sixty or eighty or one hundred.
21:20
Speaker 5: They don't care what the price is. Why, because they're
21:24
Speaker 5: not going to pay for it. They pass that on
21:25
Speaker 5: to the consumer, right but without silver, they don't have
21:28
Speaker 5: a finished product.
21:30
Speaker 2: Incredible.
21:31
Speaker 1: I want to make sure people can call and reach
21:33
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21:43
Speaker 1: I also got a little more than that, so I
21:44
Speaker 1: have a ten ounce and a couple of the single
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Speaker 2: Call them.
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Speaker 1: They can talk you through all of this. But This
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Speaker 1: is significant for you. Take advantage of it. Check him
22:04
Speaker 1: out kepm dot com. Kurt always a pleasure, Thanks for
22:09
Speaker 1: coming on. We'll talk to you again real soon. Nearly
22:12
Speaker 1: two dozen Republican state attorney generals have sent a letter
22:16
Speaker 1: to the EPA chief Lee Zelden, calling on him to
22:20
Speaker 1: cancel funding to a left wing environmental group accused of
22:25
Speaker 1: training and lobbying judges.
22:28
Speaker 2: On climate policy.
22:30
Speaker 1: Fox News Digital has exclusively revealed this quote. As Attorney General,
22:35
Speaker 1: I refuse to stand by while American tax dollars fund
22:39
Speaker 1: radical environmental training for judges across the country. Is with
22:44
Speaker 1: the Montana Attorney General told Fox News Digital of his
22:48
Speaker 1: push to encourage the EPA to end its funding of
22:51
Speaker 1: the Climate Judiciary Project. Quote, the environmental Law institutes Climate
22:57
Speaker 1: Judiciary Project is using wote climate propaganda under the guise
23:03
Speaker 1: of what they call neutral quote unquote education to persuade
23:08
Speaker 1: judges and push their wildly unpopular agenda through the court system.
23:14
Speaker 1: He went on to say, I commend President Trump's efforts
23:18
Speaker 1: to cut waste and abuse during the first eight months
23:21
Speaker 1: of his presidency, and I am optimistic that his administration
23:24
Speaker 1: will do the right thing and halt all funding to Eli.
23:30
Speaker 1: Now he's spearheaded this ag The letter that was sent
23:34
Speaker 1: to Zelden, which included the signatures of twenty two other
23:39
Speaker 1: Republican state attorney generals, all of them calling for the
23:43
Speaker 1: EPA to acts their funding to the left wing environmental nonprofit.
23:48
Speaker 1: Now they lie and they say that this thing is
23:51
Speaker 1: like neutral, It's not. It is called the Environmental Law Institute.
23:56
Speaker 1: They claim they oversee the neutral importance of climate law.
24:02
Speaker 1: In reality, they oversee the Climate Judiciary Project known as
24:07
Speaker 1: the CJP. Now, the Environmental Law Institute was founded by
24:12
Speaker 1: the Climate Judiciary Project in twenty eighteen, which pitches itself
24:17
Speaker 1: as a quote first of its kind effort that provides
24:21
Speaker 1: judges nationwide with authoritative, objective, and trusted education on climate science,
24:29
Speaker 1: the impacts of climate change, and the ways climate science
24:33
Speaker 1: is arising into the law. The group has actually been
24:38
Speaker 1: accused of trying to manipulate judges to make them more
24:43
Speaker 1: understanding or advocates or exciting to left wing climate litigation.
24:49
Speaker 1: The letters sent Tuesday called on the EPA to specifically
24:53
Speaker 1: end any and all grants and awards that are endowed
24:57
Speaker 1: to this group, saying this we write to bring attention
25:02
Speaker 1: to the grants made by the EPA to the Environmental
25:06
Speaker 1: Law Institute. The letter reads, according to its twenty twenty
25:09
Speaker 1: four financial statements, ELI received approximately thirteen percent of its
25:14
Speaker 1: overall revenue in twenty twenty three and eight point four
25:18
Speaker 1: percent in twenty twenty four from EPA awards. The group
25:22
Speaker 1: also apparently still expected to receive funds from the federal government.
25:26
Speaker 1: Its financial statement warned that the collectibility of federal grant
25:31
Speaker 1: funds is subject to significant uncertainty related to collaboration and
25:38
Speaker 1: continual funding due to the federal grant funding freeze or
25:42
Speaker 1: other federal actions quote unquote. In other words, they knew
25:47
Speaker 1: Trump was in office, and there's a chance these funds
25:49
Speaker 1: could go away if they found out what they were
25:52
Speaker 1: actually doing with the money. Now, the Environmental Law Institute
25:56
Speaker 1: actually received six hundred and thirty seven thousand chain from
26:00
Speaker 1: the EPA in twenty twenty four, to be clear, that's
26:03
Speaker 1: your tax dollars, and then eight hundred and sixty six
26:08
Speaker 1: thousand in twenty twenty three from the EPA, again your
26:11
Speaker 1: tax dollars. That according to the nonprofit tax documents that
26:16
Speaker 1: have been published quote, the Climate Judiciary's project mission is clear.
26:22
Speaker 1: Lobby judges in order to make climate change policy through
26:27
Speaker 1: the court systems. The twenty three state Attorney Generals said
26:30
Speaker 1: this clearly in the letter, saying quote an alumni magazine
26:34
Speaker 1: profile said the quiet part out loud, writing that the
26:37
Speaker 1: Climate Judiciary Project co founder was explaining the science of
26:42
Speaker 1: climate change to a group of people with real power
26:46
Speaker 1: to act on it, judges. The Climate Judiciary Projects tampering
26:51
Speaker 1: raises serious legal and also ethical questions. The Environmental Law Institute,
26:57
Speaker 1: in a recent comment to Fox Digital about this story,
27:01
Speaker 1: maintains that its only purpose is educational programs, that they
27:06
Speaker 1: are in accordance where these standards established by the National
27:10
Speaker 1: Judicial Education Institution. Climate Judiciary Projects educational events are done
27:15
Speaker 1: quote in partnership with leading national judicial education institutions state
27:21
Speaker 1: judicial authorities. Also, they claim in accordance where they're accepted standards.
27:26
Speaker 1: That's what the spokesperson said. Well, the reality is these
27:29
Speaker 1: are radical lefties and the call for the EPA to
27:33
Speaker 1: slash any funds to the Environmental Law Institute is long overdue.
27:38
Speaker 1: It was clearly established and it was established for one
27:42
Speaker 1: purpose to get in front of judges and make judges
27:45
Speaker 1: go hard on anyone they believe is not. You know,
27:49
Speaker 1: woke is not saying that global warming is a fact,
27:53
Speaker 1: that is doing anything that global warming advocates or the
27:56
Speaker 1: anarchists say is somehow evil or hurting the earth.
28:01
Speaker 2: That's why they're lobbying these judges.
28:03
Speaker 1: The state attorney generals quote are right to call for
28:06
Speaker 1: the elimination of taxpayer funding for the Environmental Law Institute
28:11
Speaker 1: and its Climate Judiciary project. That is what Jason Eiscott,
28:14
Speaker 1: the CEO of American Energy Institute said, saying, quote, this
28:19
Speaker 1: is a coordinated campaign by the left to advance the
28:23
Speaker 1: Green New Deal, and this time they want to do
28:25
Speaker 1: it through the judiciary, using so called climate litigation in
28:30
Speaker 1: the courts. Its curriculum is clear. It was developed by
28:34
Speaker 1: climate alarmists and their allies of the plaintiffs and delivered
28:39
Speaker 1: two judges behind close doors. Public funds should never be
28:44
Speaker 1: used to finance political advocacy disguised as judicial education. Now
28:50
Speaker 1: you also look at the executive director of the Alliance
28:53
Speaker 1: for Consumers, that's a nonprofit focus on advocating on behalf
28:57
Speaker 1: of American consumers.
28:59
Speaker 2: What do they say about this quote?
29:01
Speaker 1: As we have long warned, the left has a plan
29:04
Speaker 1: to reshape American society by using lawsuits in the courts
29:08
Speaker 1: all across the country, especially in places like Hawaii and
29:13
Speaker 1: other coastal enclaves. The new wave of revelations about ELI
29:19
Speaker 1: is further concerning evidence of how committed, they say the
29:23
Speaker 1: left is to imposing mandatory progressive lifestyle choices through the
29:29
Speaker 1: courtroom and are maneuvering to see how big they can
29:32
Speaker 1: do it and how big of a threat they can
29:34
Speaker 1: actually be to every one of our way of lives, which,
29:37
Speaker 1: by the way, is where we should just pause. And
29:40
Speaker 1: if you think what I'm saying is maybe crazy, let's
29:43
Speaker 1: just go back a few months ago when there was
29:46
Speaker 1: a guy named Joe Biden who was in theory the president.
29:50
Speaker 1: What do they try to do? Do you remember when
29:52
Speaker 1: they started trying to ban gas stoves? Yes, that was
29:56
Speaker 1: the left, And how do they start that idea exact
30:00
Speaker 1: way that we're talking about this right now. They want
30:03
Speaker 1: to take away your rights, socide. What you want to do?
30:06
Speaker 1: They want to take away your rights?
30:07
Speaker 2: Socide?
30:08
Speaker 1: What type of car you can drive? They want to
30:11
Speaker 1: make sure that you don't have the option that they
30:14
Speaker 1: tell you what the value set is and then you
30:17
Speaker 1: must abide by it, and if you don't they'll literally
30:20
Speaker 1: arrest you or find you. And this Tuesday letter specifically
30:25
Speaker 1: argued that quote, state consumer protection laws prohibit deceptive and
30:30
Speaker 1: misleading statements to market a product. They then say, elias
30:35
Speaker 1: representing its training as objective when reality shows that it's not.
30:40
Speaker 1: And the state attorney general is all twenty two of
30:42
Speaker 1: them are responsible to say, say for protecting consumers, and
30:47
Speaker 1: we are concerned by this activist group's statements. Now here's
30:52
Speaker 1: the big point that you need to know. The EPA
30:55
Speaker 1: has taken a hatchet to millions and millions of dollars
30:58
Speaker 1: doled out under the Biden Met to left wing radical
31:02
Speaker 1: groups and other programs deemed a waste of taxpayer funds.
31:06
Speaker 1: Lee Zelden also making it clear that he is going
31:10
Speaker 1: to look at this problem and see what he can
31:13
Speaker 1: do about it. The EPA under the Trump administration has
31:16
Speaker 1: already canceled more than twenty billion grants under the Inflation
31:20
Speaker 1: Reduction Act, which has led to ongoing court battles the
31:23
Speaker 1: same courts right now that liberals are trying to indoctrinate.
31:28
Speaker 1: And that's exactly why the President United States America picked
31:31
Speaker 1: lee Zelden and why there's a very good chance what
31:34
Speaker 1: we just talked about is going to become even more
31:36
Speaker 1: of a reality moving forward. Don't forget Share this podcast
31:41
Speaker 1: wherever you can with your family and your friends, and
31:43
Speaker 1: I'll see you back here tomorrow