Fighting back against the ‘right wing’ and the ‘disinformation’ it spreads is a critical step for restoring trust in nongovernment organizations (NGOs) that are working with governments and other organizations on projects aimed at ‘improving the state of the world,’ according to participants on a panel Tuesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

In a discussion about ‘disrupting distrust,’ Richard Edelman, CEO of the global communications firm Edelman, said one of the ‘sadnesses’ he’s experienced over the last few years has been the ‘deterioration of trust’ in NGOs. He said companies are now trusted more than NGOs dealing with civil society issues, and he blamed this change on ‘right-wing groups.’

‘My hypothesis on that is right-wing groups have done a really good job of disenfranchising NGOs,’ he said. ‘They’ve challenged the funding sources. They’ve associated you with Bill Gates and George Soros. They’ve said that you’re world people, as opposed to actually what you are, which is local.’

Edelman said issues like how to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and racial equity are all suffering because of reduced trust in the NGOs. He also suggested one way to regain that trust is for NGOs to fight back against these right-wing groups.

‘You guys are great at punching but terrible at taking a punch,’ he said. ‘You have to learn to do two things. One is preempt. When they’re going to punch you, you gotta know they’re gonna punch you and say, ‘Why are they punching us?’ and … we call it pre-bunking.

‘The other is when they hit you and they’re inaccurate, hit back. Don’t take it,’ he added.

Edelman and other panelists acknowledged that people opposed to environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals in the private sector are also forcing companies to reassess how to talk about those goals. When a representative of the Anti-Defamation League said companies are starting to shy away from the explicit use of ‘ESG’ as a corporate goal, Edelman encouraged companies to hold firm.

‘Business needs to stand its ground,’ he said. But he also said companies should not lose sight of the fact that they’re in business to make money and should make sure ESG goals don’t force them down a path of ‘chasing some woke illusion.’

‘Focus your attention on four issues: sustainability, on jobs and re-skilling, focus on diversity, equity and inclusion and geopolitics, like ‘Get out of Russia,’’ he said. ‘But don’t take on every issue.’

Panelist Salah Goss, senior vice president at Mastercard for social impact, said her company still has a ‘commitment’ to ESG goals but indicated there are other ways to discuss those goals. She said her company talks about ‘people, prosperity, planet.’

Another panelist, United Way Worldwide President Angela Williams, said policymakers need to find more approachable ways to present their ideas. As one example, she said the prospect of banning gas stoves can be a difficult subject for many poor Americans and needs to be couched the right way.

‘If you go to … a black woman in the U.S. and tell us we can’t use a gas stove any more because of the emissions, and we need to switch to electric, our comment is, ‘Our food’s not going to taste the same,’’ she said, adding that another question is how people will be able to afford an electric stove. ‘So where’s the credit facility that allows me to do this?’

The panel’s moderator, New York Times Opinion Editor Kathleen Kingsbury, said another issue related to trust is the ‘disinformation’ seen on social media sites, saying there are lingering questions about the extent to which Big Tech companies can remove this content.

‘I think that there are true questions around how the technology platforms disseminate information, particularly disinformation, and they see … significant challenges when it comes to content moderation and how to combat the disinformation online,’ she said.

On that issue, Edelman proposed that companies do all they can to defund sites that spread disinformation.

‘I think the first thing … that business needs to do is deprive platforms that spread disinformation of oxygen,’ he said. ‘Stop advertising. Pull your promotion money.’

Edelman said more needs to be done here, as the boycott of Twitter has had just a ‘modest impact,’ while attempts to boycott Facebook have ‘failed.’

This panel was just one of several that were convened on Tuesday. Later in the day, another discussion on the ‘clear and present danger of disinformation’ was held, moderated by former CNN host Brian Stelter.

The embattled southern border is entering its third year of a historic migrant crisis that has smashed records and seen hundreds of thousands of migrants cross into the U.S. each month — many of them are bringing their dogs, who need to be left behind.

Fox News has witnessed numerous migrants bringing animals with them as they make the arduous trek to the southern border, often across multiple different countries.

But once they arrive, their pups and other pets are unlikely to be allowed into the U.S., given that animals are not allowed into federal processing centers. So migrants who are apprehended by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are often forced to leave their furry friends behind.

It’s unclear how many animals have been left behind since the border crisis began, but reporters, law enforcement and activists often witness lost dogs wandering around looking for food at or near major border crossings. Some of them will assist with the reuniting or rehousing of the lost pets.

Customs and Border Protection did not respond to a request for comment from Fox, but told BuzzFeed News last year that if an owner does not transfer possession to friends or family, the agency ‘works with local officials from animal health services, such as a local humane shelter, to see if there can be placement for the animal while its owner remains in custody.’

Multiple groups that care for animals have also launched missions to help, whether it be working with local law enforcement to directly reunite dogs with their migrant owners after release into the U.S., or to help rehouse dogs more broadly that they find fending for themselves in the harsh conditions faced at the southern border.

One of those groups, Big Dog Ranch Rescue, launched a mission late last year to rescue dogs abandoned at the border. Founder and CEO Lauree Simmons told Fox News Digital that they rescued more than 100 dogs, and have since rehoused all but four of those dogs — one who is recovering from an injury and three mothers who are caring for new puppies.

Simmons said she was surprised at how many dogs she saw down there, but also emphasized the goodness of the local authorities — as well as Americans across the country who have volunteered to rehouse the abandoned pups.

‘I was surprised at the fact that these dogs were just abandoned down there. But what I was pleasantly surprised by is how caring some of the National Guard were,’ she said. ‘We left over 200 bags of dog food because these National Guardsmen are trying to keep these dogs fed and alive. And their compassion for the animals was fantastic. Many of them had even gotten some of their dogs adopted.’

Simmons said they encountered all kinds of dogs at the border, including the dogs that gave birth just after getting to the ranch — and would have struggled to survive in the rough conditions at the border.

‘So we really got them just in time because these puppies would have never survived down there on the Rio Grande,’ she said.

Simmons says the group will again go back to the border next month, and fill up a bus with abandoned dogs to bring back, vaccinate, and hopefully re-house.

The abandoned dogs are one, often overlooked, part of an ongoing multi-faceted migrant crisis that shows no sign of slowing down. President Biden recently visited the southern border amid growing political pressure on his administration over the crisis. 

He also announced a number of border measures, including an expanded parole pathway and broader Title 42 expulsions. But he also called on Congress to pass a sweeping immigration reform bill, and said the crisis could not be fixed until Congress acts.

‘That work will not be done unless and until Congress enacts and funds a more comprehensive immigration plan that I proposed on day one,’ he said.

Simmons was dismissive of the visit, saying that Biden himself saw a sanitized version of what is going on on the ground.

‘He didn’t go anywhere near where the people are really coming in and coming across. I saw the real thing when we were down there and it’s sad. And it’s sad for these dogs and some of these migrants don’t understand why they have to leave their animals behind,’ she said.

‘I don’t think they intentionally brought them to know they were going to leave them behind. But animals are the ones that end up suffering.’

Fox News’ Griff Jenkins and Bill Melugin contributed to this report.
 

Gov. Ron DeSantis says he’s seeking to protect Florida from the ‘biomedical security state,’ by permanently banning COVID-19 vaccines and masks. 

‘It required us over the past few years to stand against major institutions in our society: The bureaucracy, the medical establishment, legacy media and even the President of the United States who, together, were working to impose a biomedical security state on society.’ DeSantis said while speaking at the Todd Herendeen Theater in Panama City Beach. 

If approved by lawmakers, DeSantis’ efforts will permanently restrict the COVID-19 vaccine mandates and mask rules in schools and prevents public and private employers from hiring and firing individuals based on their vaccine status.

‘When the world lost its mind, Florida was a refuge of sanity, serving strongly as freedom’s linchpin,’ DeSantis said. ‘These measures will ensure Florida remains this way and will provide landmark protections for free speech for medical practitioners.’

U.S. Rep. Neal Dunn, Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis and Florida’s Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo joined DeSantis at the press conference in Florida’s panhandle which also featured comments from a number of people who shared their sentiments.

DeSantis asserted that those under 40 who get booster shots are more at risk from boosters than they are from COVID-19, while doctor’s related stories of adverse reactions that they attribute to the vaccine.

‘This is the first time in history where we are using this technology widely in human beings,’ Florida’s Surgeon General Ladapo said, referring to the mRNA vaccines. ‘You’re telling people to put it in children, and you’ve never even shown the children to gain from it in terms of an actual help. That’s the land of crazy. Florida is the land of sanity.’

DeSantis said part of the protections the state will enact include forbidding any mandatory masking in the state and allow medical practitioners the ability to ‘speak the truth’ and to ‘choose evidence over narrative.’

DeSantis outlined policies that he said will:

Permanently prohibit COVID-19 mask requirements throughout FloridaPermanently prohibit COVID-19 vaccine and mask requirement in all schoolsPermanently prohibit COVID-19 vaccine passports in FloridaPermanently prohibit employers from hiring or firing based on MRNA vaccines

The governor also shared that these policies will protect medical freedom of speech including:

Protect medical professionals’ freedom of speechProtect the right to disagree with the preferred narrative of the medical communityProtect the religious views of medical professionals

Previous COVID-19-related policies that were approved by the Florida Legislature in 2021 are set to expire on July 1, 2023, DeSantis’ hopes to enshrine the COVID-19 vaccine and mask protections for the future. 

‘We need to lead with this by making all of these protections permanent in Florida statute, which we’re going to do in the upcoming legislative session,’ DeSantis said.

Following DeSantis’ press conference, House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell promptly called a press conference stating that Governor DeSantis and his administration was ‘the No. 1 peddler of misinformation from the anti-vax establishment.’

Driskell noted that DeSantis was a champion for the Covid-19 vaccine when it first became available, and that only roughly one-third of Florida nursing home residents are up-to-date on their vaccination status.

Driskell emphasized that ‘no one ever promised total immunity, but those vaccines do lessen the chance of infection, and they increase the likelihood of a milder case if you do get sick.’

An aide on Herschel Walker’s 2022 Senate campaign filed sexual battery allegations against a high-level conservative who advised former President Donald Trump, on Tuesday.

The lawsuit, filed in the Virginia Circuit Court in Alexandria against Matt Schlapp, accuses the American Conservative Union leader of sexual battery on ‘John Doe,’ the victim who wished to remain anonymous out of fears of retaliation.

The suit accuses Schlapp, 55, of ‘aggressively fondling’ the male staff member’s genitalia while the two were alone in a vehicle in October.

The lawsuit also accuses Schlapp and his wife Mercedes of coordinating to discredit the aide’s allegations, according to the New York Times, which spoke with the aide who is in his 30s.

The aide’s attorney, Timothy Hyland, provided a copy of the lawsuit, but when asked for comment only referred to the lawsuit.

In a statement to the New York Times, Hyland said his client is asking for at least $9.4 million in damages and that the lawsuit was filed because Schlapp never apologized for ‘his despicable actions.’

‘Because Mr. Schlapp has refused to own up to his misbehavior, this suit aims to make Mr. Schlapp, and those who lie for him, accountable for their actions and statements,’ Hyland said in the statement to the New York Times.

Schlapp’s attorney Charles Spies denied the allegations.

‘This anonymous complaint demonstrates the accuser’s real agenda, working in concert with Daily Beast to attack and harm the Schlapp family,’ Spies said on Tuesday. ‘The complaint is false and the Schlapp family is suffering unbearable pain and stress due to the false allegation from an anonymous individual. No family should ever go through this and the Schlapps and their legal team are assessing counter-lawsuit options.’

The lawsuit said Schlapp invited the aide for drinks after a Herschel Walker Campaign event on Oct. 19, in Perry, Georgia.

The aide accepted the invitation because Schlapp is ‘a very prominent and well-connected person in conservative politics.’

The two met at a bar in a restaurant and eventually headed to Manuel’s Tavern in Atlanta, the suit alleges.

While at the tavern, ‘Mr. Schlapp sat unusually close to Mr. Doe, such that his leg repeatedly contacted and was in almost constant contact with Mr. Doe’s leg,’ the lawsuit read. ‘Mr. Schlapp also encouraged Mr. Doe to have more drinks, despite the fact that Mr. Doe was driving. Mr. Schlapp’s behavior made Mr. Doe uncomfortable, and Mr. Doe sought to create distance between he and Mr. Schlapp.’

He then turned toward a TV showing a baseball playoff game and was asked by Schlapp why he would not look at him, according to the lawsuit.

Eventually the two left and headed back to the hotel.

The lawsuit said the aide offered to drive Schlapp back to his hotel, and on the way there Schlapp allegedly grabbed the aide’s leg and crotch.

The aide claimed he was ‘frozen with shock, mortification and fear.’