July 22, 2021 - Epoch Times
18:23
| 
| Time | Text |
|---|---|
| Good evening. | |
| Two days ago, the Florida Senate passed an election bill which places several restrictions on mail-in voting as well as ballot drop boxes. | |
| It's now on its way over to the governor's desk. | |
| Out in Arizona, the audit of the 2020 election has been underway for about a week now, and according to an official out there, it's on pace to be completed by the deadline. | |
| Meanwhile, during an interview, President Trump floated the idea of running for president again in 2024, and he said that he's considering Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, as his potential running mate. | |
| Now, three days ago, Judicial Watch released hundreds of pages of documents which show that California government officials, as well as a communication firm that's linked to Joe Biden's campaign, coordinated with big tech giants in order to censor social media posts about the 2020 election. | |
| And lastly, out in Oklahoma, the statehouse there voted to ban critical race theory from being taught in public schools. | |
| Now what exactly is critical race theory? | |
| Well, let's go through that together. | |
| This is your daily Facts Matter update, and I'm your host, Roman, from the Epoch Times. | |
| Now let's start today's discussion over in Florida. | |
| Two days ago, the Florida Senate passed a bill which places several restrictions on mail-in voting as well as ballot drop boxes. | |
| And this bill, by the way, had already passed the Florida House earlier, and so now, after passing the Senate, it's currently on its way to Governor Ron DeSantis' desk in order to be signed into law. | |
| So what is this new bill all about? | |
| Well, once it becomes law, it would, for one, require signature verification for voters provided by what's known as a wet signature, which is a physically signed piece of paper which is actually kept on file. | |
| Secondly, access to drop boxes would be limited to early voting hours only, and so these drop boxes will not just be sitting there overnight. | |
| And in order to actually go and vote in these drop boxes, you have to show voter ID, and there would actually be an election officials there monitoring the voter drop box. | |
| It won't just be sitting there unattended. | |
| And then, also, this new bill would require voters to have to request mail-in ballots every election cycle, rather than every two election cycles, which is currently the law in Florida. | |
| And furthermore, this new bill would ban anyone from engaging in any activity with the intent to influence or effect of influencing a voter. | |
| But at the same time, this bill would still allow election supervisors to provide nonpartisan assistance, such as by giving items, including food and water, to voters within restricted zones. | |
| Now, if this bill actually goes into law, it would also require election supervisors to set and publish Dropbox locations 30 full days before an election. | |
| And once those locations are set, they cannot be moved for any purpose. | |
| Now, according to his spokesperson, Governor Ron DeSantis does support the bill. | |
| He will likely sign it into law, and he also noted that it will ensure that Florida remains a national leader in election security, integrity, and transparency. | |
| Now, on the flip side, Democrats have responded to the passing of this bill negatively. | |
| For instance, Anna Eskamani, who is a congresswoman from Florida, she's a Democrat, she called this bill out in Florida a Georgia-style voter suppression bill, writing further that... | |
| Now, this new bill, which just passed the Florida State House, is part of a broader battle which is unfolding across the entire country right now over the future of our elections. | |
| And the problem is that people are just not on the same page. | |
| But take a look at this. | |
| Our team put together this special infographic, which gives you a fact-based summary of the two sides of this debate. | |
| On one side, we took the Democrats' HR1 federal proposal, which they say will expand voter access, and we distilled it down into the 30 main ways that it would change our elections, such as, for instance, by legalizing nationwide mail-in voting without a photo ID. And then on the other side, you have the Republican-controlled state legislatures, such as the ones in Florida and Georgia, which are pushing for a completely different set of initiatives, which they say will make elections more secure. | |
| Things like requiring photo ID and prohibiting same-day voter registration. | |
| Now, if you want to check out that infographic for yourself, I'll throw a link to it in the description box below this video so you can go there and check it out. | |
| And also, by the way, that is that same little description box that is right below that like button that I hope that you take a moment to smash. | |
| Because videos that are like this talking honestly about what is happening in this world right now are routinely censored, throttled, or sometimes outright removed by big tech giants like YouTube. | |
| However, when you smash that like button below this video, you are forcing the YouTube algorithm to share this video out to potentially thousands of more people, letting the truth be known far and wide. | |
| And actually, in that same description box, we have a link to Epic TV, our brand new non-censorship platform, which gives you honest news and analysis without even the thought of having to self-censor for platforms like YouTube. | |
| On there, we have some of our awesome programs like The Larry Elder Show, Crossroads with Joshua Phillip, American Thought Leaders, Life and Times, Counterpunch with Trevor Loudon, China in Focus, as well as our show, Facts Matter, and we will be publishing exclusive episodes over on Epic TV. | |
| Again, that link will be in the description box below. | |
| I hope that you check it out. | |
| And now let's move on over to Oklahoma. | |
| Yesterday, the Oklahoma House voted to ban public schools as well as universities from teaching critical race theory in both civics as well as history classes. | |
| This bill, by the way, had already passed the Oklahoma Senate, and so now it's on its way to the governor's desk in order to be signed into law. | |
| And so now, what is this bill all about? | |
| Well, if it becomes law, it would prevent a number of topics from being taught in public schools within the state of Oklahoma, including topics like, for instance, one race or sex being inherently superior to another, and that an individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive. | |
| Those types of things are no longer going to be allowed to be taught. | |
| Now, in terms of why this bill is actually necessary, Kevin West, who is the sponsor of the bill as well as a Republican state representative, he said that students in Oklahoma are being taught that because they are of a certain race or a certain sex, they are inherently superior to others or they should feel guilty for something that happened in the past. | |
| Here's what he said in the statement. | |
| We're trying to set boundaries that we as a state say will not be crossed when we're teaching these kinds of subjects. | |
| Now, on the flip side, Democrats in Oklahoma argued that the bill was a waste of time and addressed a problem that doesn't even exist. | |
| For instance, Emily Virgin, who is the House Minority Leader over in Oklahoma, she's a Democrat, she made this statement regarding the bill. | |
| Instead of focusing on the real issues facing Oklahomans, the majority party continues their attack on anyone in Oklahoma who might not look, think, love, or act like them. | |
| Now, in case you've never heard of it before, what's known as critical race theory has, over the last several decades, gradually proliferated into many institutions, such as academia, our government institutions, our school systems, as well as the corporate world. | |
| Essentially, what it does, like Marxism, is that it redefines human history as a struggle between the oppressors, in this case being white people, and the oppressed, which is everybody other than white people. | |
| One way to understand it is that it's basically Marxism, except that instead of the bourgeois versus the proletariats, it's the white people versus everybody else. | |
| Now, furthermore, critical race theory labels the institutions that emerged in majority white societies as being inherently racist and white supremacist. | |
| And like Marxism, it advocates for the destruction of these institutions, such as our justice system, our free market economy, as well as our orthodox religions, while pushing for them to be replaced with new institutions which comply with critical race ideology. | |
| Now what's interesting to note here is that last year, President Trump actually banned critical race theory from being either taught or implemented in federal workplaces. | |
| In fact, last year, last September, he signed an executive order which, among several other things, declared that critical race theory, under the guise of things like diversity and inclusion trainings, were promoting un-American and divisive concepts. | |
| However, Joe Biden has taken a completely different path. | |
| In fact, in one of his first executive actions after taking office, Joe Biden actually rescinded President Trump's ban on critical race theory. | |
| And then, Joe Biden went even a step further, issuing an executive order of his own, which stated, among several other things, that the federal government must pursue a comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all. | |
| Although it did not define within that document, within that executive order, what equity exactly meant. | |
| Now getting back to this bill out in Oklahoma, it's worth mentioning that it's actually part of a larger pushback against critical race ideology across the nation. | |
| In fact, the very day before Oklahoma passed this bill, Idaho actually became the first state in the nation to have a law which prevents the teaching of critical race theory in the state's public schools and public universities. | |
| Furthermore, last month, Governor Ron DeSantis down in Florida, he denounced critical race theory as being a hateful ideology. | |
| Here's what he said as a part of his statement. | |
| And by the way, that statement by Ron DeSantis came during an announcement where he was introducing Florida's new civic curriculum, which explicitly excludes critical race theory from being taught. | |
| Now, besides states like Idaho, Florida, and Oklahoma, Republican lawmakers out in Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, New Hampshire, and West Virginia have also said that they will be working to ban the teaching of critical race theory in both schools, workplaces, as well as government agencies. | |
| And so, just like what is happening with the election integrity debate, this critical race theory is set to be another battle that will be waged between the federal government as well as the different states which have Republican-controlled state houses. | |
| If you'd like to read more about this law out in Oklahoma, or if you'd like to read more about critical race theory and its Marxist origins, the links to that will be in the description box below this video for you to check out. | |
| And now let's move on over to Arizona. | |
| According to an official out in Maricopa County, the 2020 election audit, which officially began about a week ago, is on pace to be done by the deadline, which is May 14th. | |
| Here's what this official told reporters. | |
| The count is picking up significantly every day, and with the additional shifts that we're planning to put on and other improvements in the process, we're on a pace to get the job done in the time we have here at the Coliseum. | |
| We're doing things that will get us to a number of ballots per day that will allow us to be done with accounting by May 14th. | |
| Now, for your reference, by the way, if you haven't heard about this audit before, it's pretty big. | |
| The Arizona State Senate rented out the Veterans Memorial Coliseum over in Phoenix, and they are currently recounting 2.1 million ballots by hand. | |
| They're looking for potential IT breaches that might have occurred, and they're reviewing close to 400 tabulator machines, which were used during the 2020 election. | |
| Now, that official was not able to provide an update on how many ballots have been audited thus far, but as of two days ago, as of Wednesday, we know that just under 100,000 ballots were reviewed, although likely that number is much higher as of today. | |
| Now, the legal challenges that are happening in the background, wherein the Arizona Democratic Party is trying to get this audit to be either paused or stopped, has not had much success as of yet, and there's really not much to update you on on that front. | |
| Again, if you'd like to watch the audit taking place for yourself, you can go on over to azaudit.org, which is a website that the Arizona Senate put up which lets you view the audit process in real time from nine different camera angles. | |
| I'll throw a link to both the azaudit.org website as well as the article with the official statements into the description box below this video so you can check it out and go deeper for yourself. | |
| And now let's talk about the possibility of President Trump running for office again. | |
| Yesterday, during an interview with Fox Business, President Trump said that he's 100% thinking about running for president again in 2024 and will consider Ron DeSantis, Florida's governor, as a potential running mate. | |
| Here's part of what he said. | |
| I endorsed Ron, and after I endorsed him, he took off like a rocket ship. | |
| He's done a great job as governor. | |
| I'm saying, what I read and what you read, they love that ticket. | |
| Certainly, Ron will be considered. | |
| He's a great guy. | |
| However, during that interview, President Trump did not make any definitive announcement about running again, and did not expect an official announcement anytime soon, because he said that if he makes an announcement too early, it has a big impact on fundraising and many other things. | |
| It's a little bit of a crazy, complex thing. | |
| The whole fundraising contribution stuff is ridiculous. | |
| The laws are so archaic and stupid, frankly. | |
| Now, separately, during that interview, President Trump encouraged Republicans to keep fighting against the Democrats' agenda, saying that, We're going to turn it around. | |
| They've gone too far. | |
| They can't get away with this. | |
| We can't allow them to get away with this. | |
| They're destroying our country. | |
| Have courage. | |
| It's going to happen. | |
| I'm with you. | |
| Now, after that interview, Mitch McConnell responded with what appears to be a different view of the Republican Party's future. | |
| Mitch McConnell said that several Republican senators will be running for president during the next election cycle, and added that Republicans are looking in the future, not the past. | |
| Now, all of this comes amidst a deteriorating relationship between President Trump and Mitch McConnell. | |
| And to give you a bit of background on that, if you remember, back at the end of the second impeachment trial, Mitch McConnell ultimately voted to acquit President Trump. | |
| However, even though he voted to acquit, he actually went out on the Senate floor and gave a scathing long speech which criticized President Trump. | |
| Here's part of what Mitch McConnell said. | |
| "President Trump was practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. | |
| No question about it. | |
| The people that stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president." Furthermore, Mitch McConnell then went on to say: He didn't get away with anything, yet. | |
| We have a criminal justice system in this country. | |
| We have civil litigation. | |
| And former presidents are not immune from being accountable for either one. | |
| And soon after that, President Trump released a scathing letter of his own, which, among many other things, said this about Mitch McConnell. | |
| Now, regardless, during that interview with Fox News, during that news, Mitch McConnell did say that he will ultimately support whoever the voters choose as the Republican nominee in 2024. | |
| And so we'll just have to wait and see how it ultimately plays If you would like to read the comments from either President Trump or Mitch McConnell for yourself, the links to those will be in the description box below this video for you to check out. | |
| And now let's talk a bit about big tech censorship. | |
| Now you already, very likely for yourself, know about the censorship that big tech platforms have been engaged in over the last several years. | |
| They have their own independent fact-checkers, they remove content, they seemingly censor entire viewpoints, they reduce the reach of certain stories, they deplatform individuals entirely, and so on. | |
| In fact, there's so many things to name that we can make an entire episode just about that. | |
| However, generally, there has been a silver lining, at least in people's minds, about big tech censorship. | |
| Because, even though in practice these companies are censoring American public discourse, at the very least, they are private companies who are doing that. | |
| It wasn't the government doing it. | |
| Now, that doesn't necessarily make it right, but at the very least, you still knew that the government itself was not engaging in this type of censorship. | |
| However, that might not actually be the case. | |
| That's because three days ago, Judicial Watch released hundreds of pages of documents which, according to them, show that government officials out in California colluded with big tech platforms in order to censor social media posts within the United States during the 2020 presidential election. | |
| Now, to give you a bit of background here, back in December of last year, there was a report which was released which revealed that California's Office of Election Cybersecurity had surveilled and asked social media companies to either remove or to flag as misleading at least two dozen messages. | |
| Now, according to Tom Fitton, who is Judicial Watch's president, the way that it worked is that SKD Knickerbocker, which is a communications company linked to Joe Biden's election campaign, gave daily misinformation briefings to California officials, who then passed them on to social media companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Google for further dissemination. | |
| Here's what he said in his statement. | |
| These new documents suggest a conspiracy against the First Amendment rights of Americans by the California Secretary of State, the Biden campaign operation, and big tech. | |
| Now, for your reference, SKD Knickerbocker is a Washington-based company, which, according to a statement that they themselves released last November, they said that they actually developed the Biden campaign's vote-by-mail programs in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Arizona. | |
| And again, let me reiterate what appears to have taken place. | |
| This communications company, which developed Joe Biden's vote-by-mail programs, gave daily misinformation briefings to California government officials. | |
| Those government officials then passed that information on to big tech giants like Twitter, Facebook, and Google, who then flagged the content or removed it outright. | |
| Now, in terms of what type of content was actually removed, here are a few examples from those documents. | |
| For one, a Facebook user who implied that he voted twice with multiple ballots, he had his post removed on October 31st. | |
| Someone else who posted about finding thousands of alleged unopened ballots in a dumpster had his post removed. | |
| Someone else who posted about receiving multiple ballots in the mail, he also had his post removed. | |
| In describing this chain of events, here's what Tom Fitton added. | |
| These documents blow up the big lie that big tech censorship is private, as the documents show collusion between a whole group of government officials in multiple states to suppress speech about election controversies. | |
| Now, California's Office of Election Cybersecurity responded to some of the accusations in the report, the report that came out in December, now this new recent report, with this statement. | |
| We don't take down posts. | |
| That is not our role to play. | |
| We alert potential sources of misinformation to these social media companies, and we let them make that call based on community standards they created. | |
| Now, we here at the Epoch Times, we reached out to California's Office of Election Cybersecurity for comment on these new findings, but we have yet to hear back. | |
| If you would like to read these new documents for yourself, the links to that will be in the description box below this video for you to check out. | |
| And now lastly, as we already mentioned in several other videos, on the very same day that Joe Biden was sworn into office, YouTube made the unilateral decision to demonetize our program, to demonetize Facts Matter. | |
| We can now no longer run any ads before, during, or after our episodes, and the Super Chat feature has just been disabled. | |
| It will be interesting to look into whether that has anything to do with these documents that Judicial Watch just released. | |
| Now, regardless, we here at the Epoch Times created an awesome new platform called Epic TV. On there, you can find some of our awesome programming like The Larry Elder Show, Crossroads, American Thought Leaders, China in Focus, and our show, Facts Matter, which we'll be posting on there exclusive episodes that you will only be able to find on Epic TV. I hope you check it out. | |
| It is an awesome no-censorship platform where you can find all the epic programs, and you know that when you're watching them, there's no thought of self-censorship that goes on when they're on your screen. | |
| Again, that link will be in the description box below this video. | |
| I hope you click on it, I hope you subscribe, and I hope that you join us on this journey of exploring this world through honest journalism that is based in truth and tradition. | |
| Now lastly, if you haven't already, smash that like button for the YouTube algorithm, subscribe to this YouTube channel in order to get this type of honest news content delivered directly into your YouTube feed while you still can. | |
| And until next time, I'm your host, Roman from the Epoch Times. |
Export Selection