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Aug. 16, 2021 - Epoch Times

20:55

Hundreds Protest Vaccine Mandate 'Tyranny' in Michigan; On the Ground Interviews | Facts Matter

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	Good evening.
	Over in Pennsylvania, the state senator who is pushing forward a forensic audit of the 2020 election, he said that since several counties failed to comply with his request to turn over election materials, he is now in the process of issuing official subpoenas.
	Meanwhile, as more and more restrictions are being placed on people throughout this country who are not vaccinated, a new report found that the sale of fake vaccine cards has just exploded online.
	However, not everyone is buying fake vaccine cards.
	Some people are instead taking to the streets in protests, such as over in Michigan, which saw close to 800 people rallying over the weekend.
	And lastly, as the number of illegal migrants crossing the U.S. southern border has hit a record high, I got a chance to interview a retired officer of ICE, and he told me this amazing story about how he was shot in Mexico three times, as well as about the realities of human trafficking here in America.
	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 Pennsylvania.
	However, just before we do, as a super quick aside, right there at the very top of the description box is a link to Epic TV, which is our brand new no-censorship video platform where you can find all of the awesome Epoch Times video programs like the Larry Elder Show, Crossroads with Joshua Phillip, American Thought Leaders, China in Focus, Life and Times, Counterpunch with Trevor Loudon, as well as our show, Facts Matter.
	And on there, we publish exclusive episodes and full interviews that, frankly, due to the censorship here on YouTube, we just don't feel comfortable publishing here on this platform.
	And so, again, the link to Epic TV will be right there at the very top of the description box.
	And now let's really move on over into Pennsylvania.
	As we've already discussed in a previous episode, a state senator out in Pennsylvania, his name is Doug Mastriano, he's a Republican, he recently sent letters to three different counties and officially triggered a forensic probe of the 2020 election.
	These three counties, by the way, for your reference, are York, Tioga, and Philadelphia counties.
	And in the letter that he sent to those counties, Senator Meish Triano, he requested all the documents, all the records, as well as all the voting machines and tabulators that were used during the 2020 election.
	He basically requested all the election material to be handed over to the Senate so they can begin to conduct an Arizona-style audit.
	Now, the senator gave these counties a deadline for turning over all this material.
	That deadline was July 31st, which, as of today, is officially nine days ago.
	And out of those three counties, none of them complied.
	Officials over in Tioga and Philadelphia counties, they outright just said no, while York County, they raised concerns and said that they won't comply unless certain conditions are met.
	And so, here's the question.
	What is the next step?
	Well, besides being a senator, Dagme Shriano is also the chairman of the Senate's Intergovernmental Operations Committee.
	And his plan is to have the committee issue subpoenas for this material, which he thinks can happen within the next two weeks.
	Here's specifically what he said during an interview with Newsmax.
	Obviously, I can't operate on my own, so I have a committee.
	So the committee will have a vote, hopefully in the next week or two, that will authorize the committee and me as their chair to send the subpoenas to three counties.
	He further said that even with the subpoenas, they might still end up in court, sort of like what happened over in Arizona, where the county spent several months pushing back against the election audit.
	However, Senator Mestriano also said that if they do go to court, he expects to win, if the question is whether he and his committee have the authority to conduct an election audit.
	Here's what he said.
	And for your reference, by the way...
	When a similar situation played out over in Arizona, when the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors refused to comply with subpoenas, that court battle went back and forth for about four or five months until a judge finally ruled that the county had to comply with the subpoenas.
	We'll see whether that is actually what's going to happen over in Pennsylvania.
	Now, in regards to what Senator Mastriano is planning to do with the county election materials once he gets them, he said that he will be conducting a large forensic audit.
	Here's specifically what he said on that front.
	It's going to be a big package, actually.
	We're going to look at the hard copy ballots.
	Thank God, in Pennsylvania, we do require a hard copy of ballots.
	We'll look at the ballots and anything associated with the hard copy ballots, and then we'll also be asking for the equipment, any voting equipment that was used, or routers, will be also part of that subpoena.
	And so we'll just have to wait until his committee meets and then votes on the subpoenas, which, as the senator said, will likely happen in the next week or two.
	If you'd like to read more about what's happening over in Pennsylvania with their forensic election audit, I'll throw those links into the description box below this video for you to check out.
	And now, before we move on over and discuss how fake vaccine cards have exploded in popularity, I would like to take a quick moment and introduce our sponsor for today's episode, which I'll do from the sound booth.
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	Now Roman in the studio, back to you.
	And now let's talk about fake vaccine cards, which are apparently proliferating right now online.
	According to a researcher at a cybersecurity firm, the restrictions that are being placed right now on people who are now vaccinated have led to an explosion of fake vaccine cards.
	Here's what a researcher with a cybersecurity firm called Kaspersky said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
	As a segment of the population tries to avoid the new measures, the darknet reacts to the real market and thus demand gives birth to offers.
	Now, according to multiple reports, fake vaccine cards, which claim to be issued by the CDC, they've been popping up all over the Internet, including on Amazon, on eBay, on Etsy, as well as on other online marketplaces.
	The Department of Justice, they even came out and issued a statement saying that they've seen an uptick on these types of cards.
	Specifically, here's what one of their spokespeople said.
	Now, all of this underpins the reality of how difficult it's going to be for businesses in cities like New York to have to check people's vaccination status.
	By the way, just as an aside, one of our reporters actually went around New York City last week and he spoke with several restaurant owners and managers, and many of them told us that they are not really keen on having to check people's papers.
	Regardless, while some people have taken to purchasing fake vaccine cards, others have instead taken to the street and protest.
	For instance, three days ago, over in Michigan, hundreds of protesters gathered to rally against government vaccine mandates.
	Now, the group which organized this rally is called Stand Up Michigan.
	And during a speech at the event, here's what their executive director, Ms.
	Tammy Clark, here's what she said.
	If we don't stop this now, we won't get another chance.
	Let's show the government that the employees of this country will not tolerate this tyranny.
	We have inalienable rights and we are not going to give them up.
	We must refuse to comply with the vaccine mandates and forced mask wearing at all costs.
	If you lose your job, go out and get another job.
	Now, we here at the Epoch Times, we had one of our reporters out there on the ground and he got a chance to speak with some of the people who came out in protest.
	For instance, among the many healthcare workers who were present, our reporter ran into two cousins, both of whom were nurses, and both of them are facing the possibility of losing their jobs if they don't take the vaccine.
	Here's what one of the nurses told our reporter.
	And then her cousin, Christina, she's the one she referred to, here's what she added.
	Imagine being banned from shopping for groceries at a store.
	Americans haven't lived through that kind of tyranny yet.
	Many of our fellow healthcare workers feel as we do, but are afraid to speak up.
	Now, for your reference, by the way, many of the major healthcare providers over in Michigan, including the Henry Ford Health Systems, the Beaumont Health Systems, Spectrum Health, as well as the VA Medical Center of Battle Creek, they have all either already instituted or they've announced plans to institute vaccine mandates.
	Furthermore, one person at the rally who works as an inpatient medical coder, he told us that this vaccine mandate applies even to employees who work remotely.
	Here's what he said.
	Now, at this event, there was also a pastor who spoke up on stage, and during his speech, he outlined what he called the immorality of the government's vaccine messaging.
	Here's what he said.
	but they have publicly stated that they intend to make your life so uncomfortable that you will have to take the vaccine.
	First, they take our rights.
	Then, they redefine our God-given inalienable rights as privileges.
	Then, they attempt to bribe us into compliance with the promises of restoring some of those privileges.
	Now, thus far, Gretchen Whitmer, who is the governor of Michigan, she has said on numerous occasions, including as early as last week, that her administration is not considering either vaccine passports for residents nor vaccine mandates for state employees.
	However, as we've already mentioned in regards to the healthcare businesses over in Michigan, the private sector appears to be taking it upon themselves to act out the wishes of the federal government.
	And to give you some background on the COVID situation over in Michigan, since the spring of 2020, more than 900,000 residents have been infected and recovered.
	And then, sadly, 20,000 people in Michigan have died of the virus or other related causes, and many of them, by the way, being in nursing homes.
	In fact, when you break down the numbers, over one-third of the COVID deaths over in Michigan were tied to nursing homes.
	However, just like with New York with Andrew Cuomo, the FBI recently decided to quietly kill any kind of investigation in into Michigan's nursing home situation, including the actions taken by the Whitmer administration.
	Regardless, if you'd like to read more about this rally from over the weekend, including the full text of the interviews that our reporter conducted, I'll throw those links into the description box below this video for you to check out.
	And all I ask in return is that you take a moment to smash that like button.
	Because honestly, it goes without saying that videos that are talking like this, which is transparently and very fact-based about what's happening in this world right now, are sadly routinely censored or throttled by big tech giants like YouTube.
	However, when you smash that like button, you are quite literally forcing the YouTube algorithm to share this video out to potentially thousands of more people, letting the truth be known far and wide.
	And now let's talk about the U.S. southern border.
	Five days ago, which was last Wednesday, Border Patrol agents reported catching 834 unaccompanied children who illegally crossed into America on that single day.
	That was, in fact, the highest day on record since the Biden administration started releasing this kind of data back in March.
	And for your reference, by the way, the average number of unaccompanied children that they catch per day is 512.
	And so this was about a 40 percent increase.
	However, this one day milestone is not the only record that's been broken recently.
	In fact, when you take a look at this chart here, which is based on data from the US Border and Customs Protection Agency, it shows that whether we're talking about unaccompanied children, family units, or single adults, we are seeing the highest numbers in the last 20 years.
	And for your reference, by the way, that chart only goes up to June of this year.
	The July numbers are still being compiled.
	However, according to preliminary numbers that we've seen, July will be another record.
	With over 210,000 people being caught at the border.
	And there are two things worth considering when you hear about such numbers.
	First of all, these are the people who were actually caught.
	It doesn't take into account the people who either evaded detection or who were detected but were not caught.
	And second of all, this is the highest number in 21 years, meaning that this is the highest number since the year 2000.
	However, and this is something you should know, the data for border encounters prior to the year 2000 is not publicly available.
	We actually don't know what it was prior to the year 2000.
	And so this might actually be the highest of all time and we're just not aware.
	Now one thing that's really important to avoid when we're discussing the border like this is the problem of just talking about numbers or just talking about statistics.
	Because those are lifeless, they're inert.
	It doesn't really paint the picture of what's happening either down there or throughout the entire country.
	And so, in order to get a glimpse of the southern border, I took the opportunity while I was down in Texas to sit down and speak with Mr.
	Victor Avila, who is a former agent of ICE, and he told us his incredible story, including how he took three bullets while he was down in Mexico, as well as the reality of human trafficking here in America.
	Take a look.
	Could you tell us what happened on that day that you and your partner were shot?
	Yes, we were returning back from an assignment on Highway 57, which is the main corridor between Mexico City and Monterey.
	We were assigned to go pick up some equipment from our ICE agents from the Monterey office.
	We did pick up that equipment and we were returning back to Mexico City near the town of San Luis Potosí.
	We were ambushed by two SUVs full of Zeta cartel members forced off the road on the right shoulder.
	And we're shot at over a hundred rounds.
	Uh, they were able to introduce a couple of weapons in through the armored window, uh, of our SUV by right by my head and shot into the cabin, you know, uh, fatally, uh, wounding agent Zapata hitting me three times, once in the chest and twice in my left leg.
	And, um, I was able to make a call out and it, as you can imagine, it was a very traumatic event.
	We crashed, tried to escape from that situation.
	Um, And then eventually help came from the Mexican government about 40 minutes later to take us and airlift us to a hospital nearby.
	Wow, that does seem very dramatic.
	So after that event happened, how did the U.S. government react?
	Great question.
	It was a total failure.
	This happened under the Obama administration.
	People ask me why.
	Why did they fail you and your family?
	I don't know the answer to that.
	I can only speculate that one of the reasons is because two of the weapons used in our attack Are tied to Operation Fast and Furious.
	And if people don't know what Operation Fast and Furious is, it's an operation that originated in Arizona in Phoenix by ATF that allowed weapons to be walked or allowed weapons to be taken to the south into Mexico without any detection whatsoever under the watch of the federal government.
	And so two of those weapons were tied to that but out of the state of Texas because Operation Fast and Furious was expanding throughout the United States.
	It's a botched operation under Fast and Furious.
	People remember Attorney General Eric Holder was held in contempt of Congress because of that.
	And it was a big scandal on the Obama administration.
	So I think because I survived and was able to talk about this, they did a great job in keeping me from talking to the media for many years.
	And eventually had to seek separation from the service, and I took a medical retirement in 2015.
	But it wasn't after going through some very, very difficult times through the government and the Obama administration because they just did not have any backup for us.
	Besides your own case, can you give our audience a little bit of a taste of what other things you've seen at the southern border that maybe they've never heard about?
	Well, the human trafficking and the human smuggling, the child trafficking, I've seen it for many years.
	I rescue counties, women and children from these horrific conditions of organizations that traffic women and children into the U.S. for sexual exploitation purposes.
	But right now what we're seeing is just an expansion of that because of the open borders policy under the Biden administration.
	The cartels have a free-for-all.
	The cartels used to be drug cartels.
	They used to deal with drug trafficking.
	But once they noticed that the humans pay a lot more money, they have taken over.
	So now...
	All these individuals that come through Mexico, and let me tell you, it's not just Mexico and Central America.
	They're coming from all over the world.
	They come in, and they have to deal with the cartels.
	They have to pay the cartels the fee.
	The cartels are smuggling them in.
	Not everyone is turning themselves into Border Patrol.
	Even if you turn yourself in, you still have to pay the cartels the fee.
	A lot of the times, the cartels are exploiting these individuals by holding them hostage in a stash house and storing them for more money.
	It is out of control what was happening at the border.
	I've seen it firsthand, and now it's only getting worse.
	Can you give us any specific example of what you saw?
	Like maybe one case that really stuck with you?
	I'll give you one that I wrote in the book.
	And I put this one in the book specifically because I wanted to get people's attention.
	A lot of people sometimes think, well, human trafficking really doesn't happen or really doesn't exist.
	And this is a case that I did out of Mexico and New York, an organization that was bringing women and children.
	And exploiting them in New York.
	And one of the young girls ended up getting pregnant.
	And the cartels treat human beings like this table.
	It's a commodity.
	They don't care.
	They'll treat the woman until she either dies or can't function anymore.
	They have her seeing 30, 40 to 60 Johns a day to get paid.
	And in this case, she ended up being pregnant.
	They made her deliver the child there in the room.
	And they put the baby in a cement bucket in the room next to her and the other victims of human trafficking to remind them, this is what we do to you, and this is what we do to your children if you don't do what we say.
	You see, these human trafficking victims are not bound or gagged by balls and chains.
	They're broken down emotionally.
	They're broken down physically.
	They're abused.
	And so they don't have a chance to say, well, I'm going to escape.
	Why don't you just run out of it when you have a chance?
	They have been broken down and taken over and controlled by these cartel members.
	When you do something as horrific as putting a baby in a cement bucket in the room where you're sleeping, think of what that does to you emotionally.
	In a cement bucket, you mean they killed the baby?
	They killed the baby.
	The born baby was killed and placed in a bucket with cement and left in the room for them to sleep with next to them.
	That's terrible.
	It's horrific.
	Yeah.
	Now, Victor recently published a book.
	It was sitting there on the desk during our interview, and it's called Agent Under Fire.
	If you would like to order a copy, I'll throw a link to it into the description box below this video so you can order it there.
	Otherwise, if you would like to watch the full interview between Victor and myself, I'll be publishing that over on Epic TV within the next few days.
	And as I mentioned in the beginning of the video, if you don't know, Epic TV is our brand new no-censorship video platform where we publish all of the awesome Epic Times video programs like The Larry Elder Show, Crossroads with Joshua Phillip, American Thought Leaders, China In Focus, Life and Times, Counterpunch with Trevor Loudon, as well as our show, Facts Matter.
	and on there we publish exclusive episodes as well as full-length interviews that, due to the rampant censorship here on YouTube, we don't publish on this platform.
	We only publish it on Epic TV. So again, the link to Epic TV will be right there at the very top of the description box.
	I hope you click on it.
	I hope you check it out.
	I hope you subscribe.
	And I hope that you join us on this journey of exploring this beautiful, beautiful world through honest journalism that's 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 YouTube still allows it.
	Also, I would hit that notification bell as well.
	That way you'll be notified of any new videos as soon as we publish them.
	Also, if you have an Instagram account, follow me at EpicTimesRoman.
	I publish spicy memes as well as behind-the-scenes research.
	And then lastly, until next time, I'm your host, Roman from the Epic Times.

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