Remembering
James Robison

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The Brew: Davos, Dyes, Debt, and Defense!

By Gayle McQueary Published on April 24, 2025

This week, the masks of global elites and the colors of our favorite snacks are being stripped away, revealing hard truths and bold changes — from Klaus Schwab’s fall at the World Economic Forum to the FDA’s crackdown on synthetic food dyes, with a side of student loan reality checks and the Trump administrating defending religious liberty.

When a Shoe Drops

On Tuesday, we shared the news of 87-year-old World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab announcing his immediate resignation as chairman of the board in Geneva, Switzerland. You may remember we closed by saying, “Now we just have to wait to find out why he really resigned.”

Well, that didn’t take long.

The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Schwab is under investigation by the board for “allegations of misconduct.” Apparently, a whistleblower sent an anonymous letter to the board last week, alleging the Schwab and his wife, Hilde, used WEF resources for their personal affairs without proper oversight. The letter also alleges that Schwab, “asked junior employees to withdraw thousands of dollars from ATMs on his behalf and used Forum funds to pay for private, in-room massages at hotels.”

According to the source, Hilde, who is (unsurprisingly) a WEF employee, scheduled “‘token’ Forum-funded meetings in order to justify luxury holiday travel at the organization’s expense.”

The whistleblower also brought up decades of alleged sexual harassment and other “discriminatory” behavior — particularly against women and people of color — going unchecked by WEF leaders, which the WSJ wrote about last June. The WEF disputed the WSJ’s reporting at the time, and Schwab denied the allegations against him.

So, while WEF uses its annual Davos Summit to preach “diversity, equity and inclusion,” they treat their own employees with little respect and foster a toxic workplace culture? “Rules for thee, but not for me.” That tracks.

The board says it’s taking the allegations “seriously, but they remain unproven and will await the outcome of the investigation to comment further.” Before the board held an emergency meeting on Easter Sunday, Schwab told members that the whistleblower’s allegations were unfair and inaccurate. He apparently hoped to address the full board, but they decided against that, leaving Schwab to resign.

“He never had a chance to give his side of the story to the board or the audit committee,” a Schwab spokesman said. Schwab forfeited his entire pension of five million Swiss francs as a sign of good faith to the Forum, he said.

Maybe Schwab truly believes he is doing the right thing for the right reasons, or maybe he is exactly as he seems to be — and like so many others, is now having to “pay the piper” for only appearing to be selfless.

No Dye for You

Yesterday, earlier this week, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary announced there’s a new federal plan to cut eight petroleum-based synthetic colorings from America’s food supply, “No dye for you!” immediately came to mind.

The FDA is revoking permits for Citrus Red No. 2 and Orange B faster than you can say “No soup for you!” while setting a timeline to banish six others — Red No. 40, Yellow No. 5, and their colorful cousins — found in everything from Pop-Tarts to Mountain Dew.

NYP graphic of the eight food dyes HHS and FDA are eliminating from American foods and medicines.

These dyes have been linked to ailments like hyperactivity and cancer. Kennedy is hoping to replace them with natural alternatives by the end of 2026, declaring no one should be force-fed petroleum without their consent.

During the press conference, Makary suggested companies currently using petroleum-based red dye should try watermelon juice and those combining yellow and red chemical dyes try carrot juice; those two will be phased out within months. If other countries have been doing this for years, why haven’t we?

Makary knows the importance of working with food companies to get this done, so he plans to “start in a friendly way and see if we can do this without any statutory or regulatory changes, but we are exploring every tool in the toolbox to make sure this gets done very quickly.”

In a bit of spoofing fun, The Babylon Bee is already poking fun at the hilarious lengths protestors could go to show RFK Jr. how much they dislike anything the Trump administration does — including this chemical ban.

Bailout Backfire

In another shakeup to what some call “normal,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced that next month, her department will start seeking collections from people who have defaulted on repaying their student loans. The repayment program has been on pause since March 2020 due to the pandemic, causing a deficit of $1.7 trillion on the federally controlled student loan portfolio. Apparently, only four in 10 student borrowers are repaying their loans. As you may recall, Joe Biden announced unilateral plans to illegally “forgive” student loans despite federal courts telling him he could not — twice.

The Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness plan was always going to be as unstable as it was unfair to American taxpayers. Stream contributor Chenyuan Snider wrote a piece for us about what she witnessed while growing up in Marxist China about how lowering expectations — like fake “forgiveness” of student loans — creates a lack of discipline and responsibility, causing other people to suffer.

As important as education is, learning to take responsibility for one’s own actions is even more so.

Tackling Anti-Christian Bias

Yesterday the Trump administration’s Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias met for the first time. At the gathering, hosted by Attorney General Pam Bondi, Christians working for the federal government shared their stories of being targeted for their faith.

Former Navy SEAL Phil Mendes is currently one of the people suing the Navy for denying him a religious exemptions from the COVID-19 vaccine. Meanwhile, Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins detailed actions to halt an unconstitutional speech code at Coatesville VA Medical Center; that case was triggered when a chaplain was disciplined for the content of a sermon he delivered in a chapel service that ran against the political status quo.

Most of the meeting took place during a closed session, but opening statements from Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche were held for the public to hear:

Can you say, “Winning!”?

Along The Stream…

In case you missed it, Stream contributor Timothy Furnish wrote about U.S. Special Operations Forces being the tip of the spear in low-intensity conflicts around the world, including counterterrorism efforts and deterring great powers like China. Check out “If You Want to Keep War Irregular and ‘Over There’ — Who You Gonna Call?”

Later this morning, listen as evangelist Nick Vujicic joins host Abby Sexton on The 1630 Show to talk about Gen Z’s struggles with finding purpose, dealing with suffering, and sharing the Gospel in “Finding Our Purpose and a Call to Action for Gen Z.”

 

Gayle McQueary is The Stream’s social media coordinator. She has a background in production and is a scary judge of people putting gross things in food.