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Aug. 15, 2021 - Epoch Times
20:52
New Bill Pushes Forensic Audit of 13 Counties; 897 Open Election Investigations in TX | Facts Matter
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Good evening.
Three days ago, over in Wisconsin, a lawmaker there said that the reviews of the 2020 election that are currently being conducted by the state should be expanded into a full forensic audit.
And likewise, over in Texas, a lawmaker there has just introduced a new bill which will allow for an election audit of Texas' 13 most populous counties to take place.
Meanwhile, just yesterday, Dr.
Fauci announced that federal health officials, they're considering the possibility of having fully vaccinated people once again wear masks in public.
And lastly, over the weekend, there were massive protests held around the world calling for an end to vaccine passports, mandatory vaccinations, as well as lockdowns.
Let's go through these stories 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 Wisconsin.
But actually, just before we do, as a super quick aside, right there at the very top of the description box is a link to Epoch TV, which is our brand new no-censorship, unlike YouTube, video platform, where you can find all of the awesome Epoch Times video content.
The Larry Elder Show, Crossroads with Joshua Phillip, American Thought Leaders, China in Focus, Life and Times, as well as, of course, our show, Facts Matter.
And over the weekend, we just published an exclusive episode on there that we just don't feel comfortable publishing here on YouTube.
So go on over there, check it out.
The link, again, will be at the top of the description box.
And now let's really move on over to Wisconsin.
Last Friday, a Wisconsin House representative, he said that the reviews of the 2020 election that are currently being conducted by the state should be expanded into a full forensic policy.
Now, his statement, by the way, came on the heels of the alleged irregularities that were uncovered both in Arizona as well as in Georgia.
And if you want to know what happened in Georgia, we discussed that in an exclusive episode of Epic TV, and we published that on EpicTV.com over the weekend.
However, for your reference, earlier this year, lawmakers out in Wisconsin, they authorized an investigation into the 2020 election, which is currently being carried out and is being led by Michael Gableman, However, last Friday, Mr.
Timothy Ramthon, he's a Republican lawmaker over in Wisconsin, he submitted a formal request to have a more comprehensive audit come out of the current investigation.
Here's specifically what Mr.
Ramthon said in a statement.
It is vital to our democratic process that the Wisconsin legislature acknowledges the alarming information that threatens the very fabric of our society.
In order to preserve our God-given rights and ensure that citizens can have confidence in the integrity of our elections, I am requesting it be added to the scope of the Wisconsin audit.
it.
Now, for your reference, by the way, what he is requesting to be added is an inspection of the paper mail-in ballots in Wisconsin's 5th Congressional District, a review of the digital files of the ballots to make sure there was no double scanning, as well as a thorough cybersecurity examination of all of the aspects of election equipment that were used during the election to make as well as a thorough cybersecurity examination of all of the aspects of election equipment that He then added this in his statement.
If any of these indicators are found, these ballots should be separated from the official ballots and a chain of custody slash investigation into the origin of any fraudulent ballots should take place.
All fraudulent ballots should not be counted.
He then added that everyone could benefit from an audit because he claimed that if someone believes that the election was in fact safe and secure, the audit would find that to be the case and it would back up those claims.
However, Democrats over in Wisconsin, including Ann Jacobs, who is the head of Wisconsin's Elections Commission, they have been voicing their opposition to the Republican-ordered election reviews since they were initially begun.
For instance, here is what the Wisconsin Assembly's minority leader, he's a Democrat, here's what he told reporters earlier this year.
Republicans seem to be making a concerted effort to undermine the public's confidence and trust.
Now, we here at the Epoch Times, we reached out to both the Wisconsin Audit Bureau as well as to the people who are actually conducting the audit, and we wanted to ask them whether they would actually consider expanding their investigation into a full forensic audit.
However, we have yet to hear back.
Regardless, if you would like to learn more about what's happening over in Wisconsin, I'll throw a link to that in the description box below this video for you to check out.
However, now that we're on the topic of election audits, let's discuss what's happening over in Texas.
Three days ago, Mr.
Ken Paxton, who is the Texas Attorney General, he said that he does in fact endorse an audit of the state's 2020 election results.
Now, to give you a bit of backstory here, Ken Paxton's statement came just a few days after a Texas state representative, Mr.
Stephen Toth, after he introduced a new bill, and if that bill was actually voted on and went into effect, it would carry out an election review of Texas' most populous counties.
Specifically, this new bill, if it was passed, it would allow an election audit to take place of any county in Texas which has more than 415,000 residents.
And in Texas, that's 13 different counties.
And in response to that bill, here's what Mr.
Ken Paxton said while he was being interviewed by a radio program.
I don't know why we wouldn't want to give people confidence in our elections and give them the chance to know for sure that they've had an audit and things are good or they're bad.
And it gives us an opportunity to figure out how we want to correct that.
However, during that interview, Ken Paxton went on to admit that the proposal may not actually be feasible because the counties may simply not comply with the state Senate, leading to a very drawn-out process involving court battles, sort of what we're seeing play out in Arizona as well as in Pennsylvania.
Here's specifically what he said on that front.
I think he had like 15 of the top counties of the state.
Well, that's a lot of people.
That's a lot of votes.
I don't know how much cooperation you're going to get from some of those counties.
So it could be an undertaking that takes quite a while, but it may be worth doing once just to see where we're at.
For your reference, by the way, he mentioned 15 counties, but actually it's 13.
And of those 13 counties, which would be audited, only three of them voted for President Trump during the 2020 contest.
The other 10 all voted for Joe Biden.
And after this new audit bill was proposed in Texas, Democrats balked at the idea.
For instance, Chris Turner, who is a Democrat lawmaker over in Texas, and he's also the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, he told a local news outlet that he believed this audit would be useless.
Here's what he said.
So I'm not sure what they're trying to find in their audit.
Now, aside from this, although potentially related, is that two weeks ago, Ken Paxton said that there are 386 more cases of alleged election fraud that his office, the Attorney General's office, is currently investigating.
Which is, by the way, just for reference, on top of the already 500 cases of election fraud that they were already investigating.
In his speech, which was delivered during CPAC, Mr.
Paxton noted that these cases are evidence that voter fraud does in fact occur contrary to the narratives that were deployed starting in November of last year.
Here's specifically what he said.
Now, what he's referring to there specifically is the claim that's usually made by Democrats that voter fraud just doesn't exist.
However, Ken Paxton went on to call that notion a false narrative.
Here's what he said.
People tell you there is no election fraud.
Let me just tell you right now.
My office has 511 counts in court because of COVID waiting to be heard.
We have another 386 that we're investigating.
If you add those together, that's more election fraud than my office has prosecuted since it started investigating election fraud years and years ago.
And so, we'll just have to wait and see whether this new audit bill actually passes over in Texas, and we'll have to wait and see what these election fraud investigations ultimately turn up.
If you'd like to read more about the details of either the bill or these investigations, I'll throw all those links into the description box below this video for you to check out.
And now, let's discuss the rather fascinating announcement that was just made yesterday by Dr.
Fauci.
Oh, sorry.
What's this?
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Now, Roman in the studio, back to you.
And now, let's talk about masks.
Just yesterday, Dr.
Fauci came out and he made a rather interesting announcement.
He said that federal health officials are considering the possibility of recommending fully vaccinated people here in America to put their masks on once again when they're in public.
Specifically, during an interview on CNN, when Dr.
Fauci was asked about whether masks should be worn by those who have already been vaccinated, here's what he said.
This is under active consideration.
If we don't vaccinate people, the model is going to predict that we're going to be in trouble as we continue to get more and more cases.
Now, for your reference, some areas in this country have already moved in that direction.
For example, LA County, as well as the city of Chicago, they both recently mandated that everyone, regardless of their vaccination status, should be wearing masks in public.
Regarding those local situations, here's what Dr.
Fauci had to say.
That's a local decision that's not incompatible with the CDC's overall recommendations that give a lot of discretion to the locals.
And we're seeing that in LA, we're seeing it in Chicago, we're seeing that in New Orleans, because the officials there, many of them are saying, even if you're vaccinated, it's prudent to wear a mask indoors.
Now, it's worth noting that during that interview on CNN, Dr.
Fauci did not provide any specific reasons for why vaccinated people should still be wearing masks.
And in fact, some cities, like the city of New York, they have actually come out against the idea, with even Bill de Blasio, who is the Democrat mayor of New York, saying that if mask mandates are in fact reinstated, that would actually cause people to develop a lack of confidence in the vaccine, since he said they would start questioning why they still need to wear masks after getting the shot.
Although his comments seem to be a little incongruent with reality, given the fact that right now in New York City, the subway still has the mask mandate in effect.
And so when you ride the subway like I do, everyone there is still wearing a mask.
However, other places in this country have taken a harder line stance against the reimposition of mask mandates, particularly with regards to children.
For instance, down in Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis, he recently came out and he rejected federal mask guidance for children.
Here's specifically what he said on the matter when he was signing a bill last Thursday.
Here's what he said.
We're not doing that in Florida, okay?
We need our kids to breathe.
Parents obviously can equip their kids to go to school however they want, but there shouldn't be any coercive mandates on our schools.
In that same speech, Governor Ron DeSantis then went on to say that if the federal government does issue a school mask mandate, then he will actually call a special legislative session of the Florida House in order to fight back against it.
Although it looks like that might not actually be necessary, since Joe Biden, he came out the other day and he said that while the CDC would likely recommend kids to wear masks, he also said that they will not likely be forcing them to.
Here's specifically what Joe Biden said.
The CDC is going to say that what we should do is everyone under the age of 12 should probably be wearing a mask in school.
That's probably what's going to happen.
Secondly, those over the age of 12 who are able to get vaccinated, if you're vaccinated, you shouldn't wear a mask.
If you aren't vaccinated, you should be wearing a mask.
And so, based on that statement at least, it looks like the decision will fall into the hands of the local government as well as the local school boards to decide what to actually do.
And in fact, their decisions seem to be falling down party lines across the country.
Because while Florida is fighting back against masks in schools, Washington DC is in fact requiring them.
That's right, according to local officials, starting this fall, public schools in the DC area will require masks for all students as well as all staff members.
Now, as I'm sure you're aware, this whole question of mask mandates has become a fairly hot-button issue since the very start of the pandemic.
On the one hand, you have critics of these mandates who are questioning the efficacy of the masks as well as opposing the mandates on the grounds of personal liberty.
But then, on the other hand, you have the advocates of the masks who have broadly taken a better-save-than-sorry approach to the efficacy question while viewing the mask mandates as just a minor inconvenience.
However, let's zoom out a little bit and take a look at this question more broadly.
Particularly in regards to personal liberty.
Because the masks, they're only a single component to what's actually happening.
In fact, more and more people right now are talking about how these masks, these mandates, these vaccines, and these passports, the way that this is all playing itself out, has the potential to create a two-tiered society, with one set of rights and privileges for the vaccinated, and a whole other set of rights and privileges for the unvaccinated.
And frankly, we're already starting to see some of that play out right here in this country.
For instance, if you haven't been vaccinated and you'd like to go and watch a show over at Carnegie Hall, you can't.
They won't even let you in the building anymore.
Likewise, several private hospital systems here in New York, they announced mandatory vaccine requirements for all of their employees.
That requirement, by the way, set off a wave of protests here in the city with people arguing that they shouldn't be forced into compliance.
For instance, during that protest here in New York, here's what a pharmacist told local media.
Force is not the answer, and mandate forcing people at the barrel of a gun is not right.
If you force to do one thing in one area, there's a possibility you can force me to do something in another area.
Likewise, it's becoming more and more the case that if you're not vaccinated, you either can't attend or even work at a university.
In fact, just a few days ago, George Mason University, which is over in Washington, D.C., they announced a new vaccine requirement for both their employees as well as their students.
Four days ago, here's what they said in a statement.
Mason is joining the growing community of universities that require all students, faculty and staff to get vaccinated and to share verification of their vaccination status in order to work, study and live on campus.
We will of course approve appropriate exemptions for medical and religious reasons.
Furthermore, the president of George Mason University, he sent an email to all of his staff members which said this in part.
Disclosure of vaccination status, whether vaccinated or not, will be a prerequisite for eligibility for any future merit pay increases.
All employees will be strongly encouraged to get vaccinated and required to share their vaccination status.
Those who don't share their vaccine status will be required to wear masks on campus, physically distance, and undergo frequent COVID-19 testing.
Now, there are legal challenges which are being lobbied at George Mason University for their policy.
However, as you can see, this is what people mean when they talk about a two-tiered society.
And by the way, this is not only happening here in America.
Instead, you're seeing similar situations play out across the entire world.
For instance, here's a photo from an airport in Canada, which has two different lines depending on whether you're vaccinated or not.
Over in Israel, the new Prime Minister recently announced a vaccine passport system that'll be required for all events.
He added that starting exactly two weeks from now, Meanwhile, over in Saudi Arabia, they have implemented one of the world's strictest vaccine passport mandates, which essentially bans unvaccinated people from all public spaces.
However, these types of measures are getting serious pushback over in Europe.
For instance, over the weekend in France, there were massive, just giant protests against a bill in Parliament which would have set up a national vaccine passport system.
For your reference, the French Parliament was working on a legislation, they were working on a bill, which would have set up a vaccine passport system throughout the entire country, one in which people would have to show a proof of vaccination or a negative test result when they went to a restaurant or almost any other public area.
However, the French people, they were not having it.
And they took to the streets in protest.
And you can see some of the video footage that came out of these protests from over the weekend.
And they were pretty intense.
Riot police were firing tear gas.
There were clashes in central Paris.
Protesters knocked over a police motorbike.
There were scuffles between the crowd and the police.
There was more tear gas that was fired.
And traffic basically came to a halt.
Protesters could be heard chanting slogans against the legislation, saying things like, And they were also heard calling the French president a tyrant.
According to France's Minister of the Interior, 160,000 people took part in the protests over the weekend.
And by the way, what happened in France was not an isolated case.
Over the weekend, similar protests sprung up in the UK, in Ireland, in Italy and in Greece.
Most of them for similar reasons.
People were out there protesting against the lockdowns as well as against vaccine passports.
Footage shows thousands of people gathering and marching in Rome, in Athens, in London and in Dublin, waving their national flags, singing songs and generally protesting for freedom.
And it's also worth noting that this is not only happening in Europe, because likewise, over in Australia, thousands of people who have become fed up with the COVID lockdowns, they marched in Sydney as well as Melbourne over the weekend.
Now, Australia is an interesting case, by the way.
They have had some of the strictest lockdowns in the entire world, and they actually still remain in effect to this day.
In fact, the city of Sydney, they have been locked down for the past four weeks, with their five million residents being told by the government officials that they cannot leave their homes except for four very narrow homes.
Now, if you take a look at the protests, they were mostly peaceful, with people walking, chanting slogans, waving flags, and holding placards with things like the words freedom and a massive truth written on them.
And so, it looks like there's a bit of a schism in the world right now, with a portion of people advocating for things like mandatory vaccine passports, while another portion of people are fighting back against it.
And again, this is playing out both around the world as well as here in America, and depending on how this all turns out, it can very well determine the kind of world that our kids inherit.
Now, if you would like to read more about these protests happening around the world, if you would like to read about these vaccine protests, or if you would like to read about the new mask mandate which might be occurring here in America, all those links will be down 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, coincidentally, YouTube demonetized our channel.
We can now no longer run any ads before, during, or after episode, and the Super Chat feature has just been disabled.
And by the way, some of you asked in the comments, here's a picture of what it looks like on the back end.
It says that the review will take about a month, and then they will tell us why exactly we're demonetized and what the next step will be.
But it's been about, what, seven months now, and we have heard no reply.
However, we here at the Epoch Times, we did not take this lying down.
We created something very cool instead.
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