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Aug. 10, 2021 - Epoch Times

17:55

Exclusive Interview: New Audit Timeline, Final Report Expected Date | Facts Matter

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	Good evening.
	Two days ago, the Michigan Senate passed several election-related bills that would implement stricter voter ID requirements for both in-person as well as absentee voters.
	And although the Michigan governor will likely veto these bills, the lawmakers say that they have a plan nonetheless.
	Meanwhile, in a victory for religious freedom, yesterday the Supreme Court made a unanimous ruling that a Catholic foster care agency And lastly, we here at the Epoch Times got a chance to speak with the liaison for the Arizona audit, and he gave us an update as well as a new timeline for when we can expect to see the final report for the Maricopa County audit.
	Let's go through it all together.
	This is your daily Facts Matter update, and I'm your host, Roman, from the Epoch Times.
	Now let's begin today's discussion over in Arizona.
	But actually, just before we do, as a quick aside, I want to mention what you likely already know.
	YouTube has been censoring and throttling our videos.
	In fact, I just saw a chart yesterday of our back-end data, which shows that at a certain date, they throttled our videos and made it so that new people are just not seeing them as much.
	Basically, it almost flat-lined.
	And so we here at the Epic Times created something very cool.
	It's called EpicTV.
	It's our brand new no-censorship video platform where you can find all of the awesome Epic Times video programs.
	And on there, I post exclusive episodes that you will not find here on YouTube, such as an exclusive episode about what's happening over in Fulton County, Georgia, and the very real possibility that they might be having an election audit out there.
	That's something I don't feel comfortable talking about here on YouTube.
	However, over there, you can watch that exclusive episode right now.
	Right, today.
	It'll be linked at the top of the description box.
	You can click on that link, go over to Epic TV and check it out for yourself.
	And now let's head on over to Arizona.
	Now, as we've already discussed in several previous episodes, you already know that the large-scale audit of the 2020 election over in Maricopa County is beginning to wrap up.
	And as a part of that audit, the Arizona State Senate, they were doing a hand recount of 2.1 million ballots.
	They are looking for any possible IT breaches that might have occurred, and they're examining close to 400 tabulation machines which were used during the previous election.
	Now, a few days ago, the audit team announced that they have actually finished the hand recount portion of the audit, and now they are finishing up by going back and actually authenticating each of the ballots, making sure that the ballots are authentic or not.
	Now, this is the last phase of the process, and afterwards, they will produce a final report.
	Now, we here at the Epoch Times, we got a chance to speak with Ken Bennett, and Ken Bennett is the audit liaison, and he gave us a new timeline for when we can expect to see that final report.
	He said that the ballot evaluation process is supposed to be wrapped up by the end of June, by the end of this month.
	However, he said that afterwards, there will still be several weeks worth of additional work to do.
	Here's specifically what he told us.
	We've got the remainder of June to do what we're doing here at the Coliseum.
	Then there's a few weeks probably of work on checking the envelope signatures and looking at voter registration anomalies and this work that we want to do on the retabulation.
	So maybe that takes up some or most of July.
	And then the auditors are going to need a few to several weeks to put the report together.
	He then added that the final report is expected to be massive, and he added this.
	It's going to be very in-depth.
	Now, if that timeline proves correct, then according to what the Cyber Ninjas wrote in their statement of work, and Cyber Ninjas, by the way, is the firm that's leading this audit, we can expect to see the final report sometime in August, likely in early August.
	And according to Ken Bennett, the people who are involved in the audit are not yet sure where the work in July will take place.
	However, he said that a large building like the Coliseum, where they're at right now, is not needed for the type of work that's being planned.
	And according to Randy Pullen, who is another spokesperson for the audit, he told reporters that the data from the election machines will be analyzed over in Washington State at the offices of Cipher, which is a SOP contractor which is working on the audit, and that some of the data will be reviewed over at the Cyber Ninjas offices in Florida.
	That's their HQ. And so, we'll just have to wait and see what they find.
	And of course, by the way, we are not the only ones who are waiting.
	The lawmakers out in Arizona are likewise waiting for the results of the audit in order to guide them in crafting future election-related bills.
	And in terms of what they do with their findings, well, here's what Wendy Rogers, who is a Republican senator, here's what she told us here at the Epoch Times.
	It'll be our duty to act in whatever way is appropriate.
	Now, in our previous episode, we discussed how lawmakers from 13 different states have traveled over to Arizona in order to check out the audit firsthand, and that many of them are now looking to launch similar audits of their own in their home states.
	In fact, along that line, two senators from Wisconsin who recently visited Arizona, they just came out and said that Wisconsin should also launch a similar audit as well.
	Here's what one of the senators said.
	Listen, we need to restore integrity as we have huge numbers of individuals that have questions about a process that's become highly politicized.
	Then, likewise, a Republican lawmaker from Colorado, after visiting Arizona, he expressed interest in conducting an audit in his home state of Colorado as well, but he was immediately met with a roadblock.
	That's because, in anticipation of the possibility of someone pushing for an audit, Colorado's Secretary of State, a woman by the name of Jenna Griswold, she's a Democrat, just yesterday she issued new emergency rules on voting systems.
	In fact, I have those rules right here, and here is part of what they say.
	Quote, A third-party vendor with no election experience is currently performing a faulty, unsecure election audit in Arizona, and calls for such sham audits have been spreading in other states.
	Then it goes on to say, And so essentially, with this order, she nibbed a potential audit in the bud, making an Arizona-style election audit in Colorado illegal.
	And so, as you can see, this is quite a contentious issue, which will likely only get more contentious if the Arizona audit, if the final report, reveals any anomalies.
	So, we'll just have to wait and see what that final report concludes.
	And until then, as always, if you would like to watch the audit over in Arizona for yourself, you can do so over at azaudit.org, which is the website that was set up by the Arizona Senate, which allows you to watch the audit in real time from nine different camera angles.
	I'll throw the link to both azauto.org as well as the updates that we've discussed in Arizona, Wisconsin, and Colorado.
	It'll all be in the description box below this video for you to check out.
	And all I ask in return is that you smash that like button.
	Because videos that are like this are extremely censored by big tech platforms like YouTube.
	In fact, I just saw a backend chart of one of our, well not our videos, but our entire channel, and it shows that on a particular date, YouTube just flatlined the amount of recommendations that this video gets sent out to.
	Basically, people who are not subscribed to this channel have a very hard time finding it.
	But I believe that the fact that they still have a chance to find it is because our viewers are smashing that like button.
	Some of our videos have 43,000 likes and just maybe 100 dislikes.
	And I believe that forces the YouTube algorithm to share our videos out to potentially...
	Thousands, maybe tens of thousands of new people who might not get access to this type of information.
	And so I really hope that you smash that like button for the YouTube algorithm and share this video to potentially thousands of more people.
	And now let's talk a bit about what happened over at the Supreme Court.
	Just yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled in a unanimous decision that a Catholic foster care agency can in fact refuse to place children with same-sex couples.
	That decision was made, by the way, on the grounds of their religious freedom.
	Now to give you a bit of background on this case, the way that the foster care system works over in Philadelphia is that it requires a cooperation between the city as well as private foster care agencies.
	And so, when children in Philadelphia cannot remain in their homes for one reason or another, the city's Department of Human Services takes custody of them.
	Then, the Department of Human Services refers those children to different foster care agencies that they contract with in order for those children to ultimately be placed in a foster home.
	Now, the way that these contracts work is that every year, Philadelphia's Department of Human Services We're good to go.
	And so, because of their beliefs, they do not certify certain types of foster families because they believe that by certifying those families, that will be an endorsement of their relationship.
	And so, because of their beliefs, they do not certify same-sex married couples.
	However, it's also worth noting that they don't, for one, certify unmarried couples of any orientation, and secondly, they actually do certify gay people, just not married gay people.
	So, for instance, if a lesbian woman wanted to be a single foster parent, they would work with her.
	It appears that their objection is strictly on the marriage component.
	And until now, this has not been much of a problem, because there are many other foster care agencies in Philadelphia that will certify gay couples.
	And so, they would just go over to them.
	In fact, over the last 50 years, not a single gay couple went to this Catholic organization to get certified, because there are over 20 other organizations that they can go to.
	However, trouble started about three years ago.
	Back in 2018, there was a newspaper article which was published, and by the way, this lawsuit doesn't mention exactly which publication published that article, but I believe that it was this one here in a news publication called Pink News, and that article put a spotlight on how this Catholic organization does not place kids into same-sex households.
	Then, after that article was published, there were calls for an investigation, and then a short time afterward, the city of Philadelphia informed the Catholic Social Services that unless it agreed to certify same-sex couples, the city would no longer refer children to the agency, nor would they be renewing their contract.
	Now, this Catholic organization sued the city, and after working their way through the courts over the course of a year or two, Here's what the court wrote as a part of their decision.
	The city's actions burdened Catholic Social Services' religious exercise by forcing it either to curtail its mission or to certify same-sex couples as foster parents in violation of its religious beliefs.
	The refusal of Philadelphia to contract with Catholic Social Services violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.
	Now, although this Catholic organization won their case at the Supreme Court, that is likely not going to be the end of the story.
	That's because over the last several years, activists have been pretty aggressive at following up on cases like this.
	A great example of that is what is happening right now with the Masterpiece Cake Shop.
	As I'm sure you remember, back in 2012, the owner of the Masterpiece Cake Shop, a man by the name of Jack Phillips, he refused to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple, because he claimed that his Christian religious beliefs wouldn't allow him to.
	The Colorado Civil Rights Commission took Mr.
	Phillips to court, and then after many years of legal battles, the Supreme Court ultimately ruled in his favor, saying that he did not have to bake such a cake.
	And so, just like the Catholic Social Services, Mr.
	Phillips won at the Supreme Court.
	However, his troubles did not end there, because soon after that case, Mr.
	Phillips was sued once again.
	What happened was that soon after he won his Supreme Court case, another customer, they called in, and they requested that he make a transgender cake.
	Here's what it says according to the court filing.
	The person called in and elaborated that she wanted a birthday cake with a pink interior and a blue exterior and explained that the decision was a reflection of her transition from male to female, to which Phillips said, the requested cake isn't the cake we could make.
	And so, after he refused to make the cake, citing once again his religious belief, this transgender individual filed a lawsuit against Mr.
	Phillips using, interestingly, the same lawyer that the initial gay couple used in their previous lawsuit against them as well.
	And just yesterday, a Colorado court ruled against him.
	They ruled in favor of the transgender activist and said that Mr.
	Phillips does in fact have to create cakes to celebrate gender reassignment.
	Here's how Mr.
	Phillips' lawyer reacted to that decision.
	Jack Phillips serves all people, but shouldn't be forced to create custom cakes with messages that violate his conscience.
	In this case, an activist attorney demanded Jack create custom cakes in order to test Jack and correct the errors of his thinking.
	And the activists even threaten to sue Jack again if the case is dismissed for any reason.
	This case and others represent a disturbing trend, the weaponization of our justice system to ruin those with whom the activists disagree.
	Radical activists and government officials are targeting artists like Jack because they won't promote messages on marriage and sexuality that violate their core convictions.
	We will appeal this decision and continue to defend the freedoms of all Americans to peacefully live and work according to their deeply held beliefs without fear of punishment." And so it looks like both Mr.
	Jack Phillips, as well as the Masterpiece Cake Shop, might once again find themselves in front of the Supreme Court.
	And if they do, we'll have to wait and see what the court ultimately decides.
	Now, if you would like to read more about either the Masterpiece Cake Shop or about what happened over in Philadelphia, those links will be in the description box below this video for you to check out.
	And now, let's head on over...
	Oh, sorry.
	Hello?
	Yeah, hey Roman, it's me.
	Nah, I'm just kidding.
	I wanted to take a quick second and introduce our sponsor for today's episode, which is an awesome company called American Hartford Gold.
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	Because, I mean, with all these trillion of dollars worth of stimulus bills, with this Congress right now is debating several trillion dollars worth of infrastructure spending, our national debt has ballooned to close to 30 trillion dollars and seemingly no one is talking about this.
	Honestly, I don't have much faith in the future of the American dollar as the global reserve currency.
	However, physical gold and physical silver have withstood the test of time.
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	That's at least what I think.
	And American Heart for Gold is a phenomenal company.
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	So check them out.
	The link will be in the description box below, or you can give them a call at 866-242-2352, or you can text Roman to 65532.
	American Heart for a Gold, thank you so much for sponsoring this episode.
	Now, Roman in the studio, back to you.
	Now let's move on over to Michigan.
	Two days ago, the Michigan Senate passed several bills that would implement more voter ID requirements for both in-person as well as absentee voters.
	Now in terms of the roll call, all Senate Republicans voted in favor while every Democrat voted against these bills.
	And since the Michigan Senate is controlled by Republicans, the bill was ultimately able to pass.
	Now, to give you a bit of background on these bills, the way that it currently works out of Michigan is that if you are a Michigan resident and you don't have a photo ID when you go to vote in person, that doesn't matter.
	You can still cast your ballot as long as you sign an affidavit at the polling location.
	In fact, according to officials, over 11,000 people did exactly that during the 2020 election.
	They came in without a photo ID and just signed an affidavit saying that they are who they said they were.
	However, this process could change if these three bills are signed into law.
	For instance, one of the bills would outlaw the process that we just described, and instead, voters who don't have IDs would have to cast a provisional ballot and then confirm their identities within six days of casting the ballot.
	Another one of the bills would mandate that voters who are seeking absentee ballots must provide either their driver's license number, their official state ID number, or the last four digits of their social security number.
	Now, in terms of whether these bills which pass the Senate will actually be signed into law, well, that is not likely going to happen.
	That's because the governor of Michigan, Ms.
	Gretchen Whitmer, she's a Democrat, she is likely going to veto all three bills.
	However, if and when that happens, there is still a way for these three bills to become law.
	That's because over in Michigan, the Republicans can circumvent the governor's executive authority and they can start a petition to create a ballot initiative for these three voting bills.
	And then the people of the state, the people of Michigan, can vote on the initiative themselves.
	In order to make this happen, the petition would need more than 340,000 voters to sign it.
	And according to one Michigan senator, Ms.
	Lana Theis, she's a Republican, this approach will likely work.
	Because she said that...
	It is overwhelmingly popular among voters that they verify their identity to vote.
	And so we'll have to wait and see that once the governor vetoes these three bills, we have to wait and see if the Republicans take this route of creating a petition and having the citizens of Michigan vote on the measure directly.
	Now, if you would like to read more about this bill out in Michigan, the links to them will be right there in the description box below this video for you to check out.
	And lastly, as we've already mentioned in several previous episodes, on the very same day that Joe Biden was sworn into office, YouTube made the unilateral decision to demonetize our program.
	We can now no longer run any ads before, during, or after episodes.
	The super chat feature has just been disabled.
	Besides the censoring and the throttling, that was just an act of them outright demonetizing our content.
	However, we here at the Epoch Times, we took action and we created something very cool.
	It's called Epic TV.
	It's our brand new no-censorship video platform where you can find all the awesome Epoch Times video programs like the Larry Elder Show, American Thought Leaders, Crossroads, China in Focus, Life and Times, and our show Facts Matter.
	And on there, you will find exclusive episodes that you will not be finding here on YouTube.
	In fact, this weekend, we will be publishing an exclusive episode only on Epic TV.
	And so if you want to, click on that link at the top of the description box Check out Epic TV. I hope you subscribe.
	And I hope that you join us on this journey of exploring this beautiful 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 if you haven't already 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 Epic Times.

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