Jan. 4, 2022 - Epoch Times
22:43
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| Good evening. | |
| Three days ago, the U.S. government canceled a major contract with a vaccine manufacturer. | |
| This came after this particular company produced a batch of 15 million Johnson& Johnson vaccines, which were found to be contaminated. | |
| Meanwhile, even after a federal court has officially issued a restraining order on the Biden administration's vaccine mandate, well, that does not appear to be stopping them. | |
| That's because just yesterday, the White House told private businesses across the entire country that they should ignore this court order and continue to move forward with both the vaccine and testing requirements. | |
| And then lastly, according to a new statement from the Secretary of Energy, it appears that not only are gas prices getting higher and higher across the entire country, but also it'll cost us more to heat our homes this upcoming winter. | |
| And by the way, all this comes as the Biden administration is debating on whether or not to close down another pipeline over in Michigan. | |
| Let's go through it all together. | |
| This is your daily Facts Matter update, and I'm your host, Roman, from the Epoch Times. | |
| And now let's begin today's discussion by talking about vaccine manufacturing. | |
| Three days ago, the United States government canceled a contract with a major vaccine manufacturer after this particular company was blamed for a bad batch of over 15 million doses of the Johnson& Johnson vaccine. | |
| Now, the vaccine manufacturer in question is a company called Emergent BioSolutions, and they are based out of Maryland. | |
| And to give you a bit of background on this whole situation, the US government has had a contract with this particular company dating all the way back to June of 2012. | |
| Back then, that initial contract was for manufacturing things like cancer therapies as well as vaccines for tuberculosis. | |
| However, in 2020, the federal government expanded their contract with this company to include manufacturing several COVID vaccines. | |
| Specifically, the U.S. government decided to make Emergent the exclusive manufacturer for both the Johnson & Johnson vaccine as well as the AstraZeneca vaccine for domestic use. | |
| However, back in March of this year, lab tests were conducted and it found that there was a batch of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine which was contaminated. | |
| That batch, which contained about 15 million doses of the vaccine, it was found that workers at the plant, they mixed up ingredients for the Johnson& Johnson vaccine with the AstraZeneca vaccine. | |
| Meaning that a large batch of the Johnson& Johnson vaccine was cross-contaminated with ingredients from the AstraZeneca vaccine. | |
| And again, this affected 15 million doses. | |
| However, after further investigation, federal regulators decided that an additional 60 million doses, 60, 6-0, had to be thrown out as well. | |
| Then, subsequently, investigators from the FDA, they conducted an inspection of the emergent biosolutions facilities and they found what they described as substandard conditions. | |
| According to a report that they released back in April of this year, this included things like black residue on the floor, peeling paint in several rooms, inadequate handling of waste, overcrowded materials, as well as workers who failed to follow standard protocols that would have prevented cross-contamination. | |
| And when that report was released back in April, Emergent released a statement saying that it was, quote, However, the vaccine manufacturing process was halted. | |
| The federal government stopped sending money to this company. | |
| And then after several months of negotiations, the U.S. government, they canceled the pandemic portion of this contract altogether. | |
| Meaning that the roughly $600 million overall contract, it has now been reduced by $180 million, which was deducted from it. | |
| Now, the CEO of Emergent, he published an op-ed in the Baltimore Sun where he tried to place a positive spin on this contract termination. | |
| Here's part of what he wrote. | |
| Not everything went perfectly. | |
| But if you want companies to engage, you need to be willing to stand by them through both challenge and achievement. | |
| And as difficult as that is, it's essential to America's success in combating the public health threats of the future. | |
| Now, it is worth noting that while the federal government has cut their pandemic-related contract with Emergent, Johnson& Johnson has not. | |
| And so Emergent is still manufacturing the Janssen vaccine under a separate deal with Johnson& Johnson. | |
| If you'd like to read more about what's happening with this particular contract, I'll throw several links about it into the description box below this video so you can go deeper into it for yourself. | |
| And all I ask in return is that, if you don't mind, take a quick moment to smash that like button for the YouTube algorithm, which will force the algorithm to share this video to potentially thousands of more people letting the truth be known far and wide. | |
| And now let's move on over and talk about the vaccine mandate. | |
| Now, in yesterday's episode, we have already discussed how a federal court has officially issued a block for the Biden administration's vaccine mandate on private businesses, meaning that while the constitutional arguments are being debated in court, and as the lawsuit, which came out of Texas, is playing itself out, the Biden administration cannot enforce their vaccine mandate. | |
| However, that official court order does not appear to be enough to stop the Biden administration from moving forward. | |
| That's right. | |
| Last night, the White House made an announcement and they said that private businesses, they should ignore the court order and continue to move forward with Joe Biden's vaccine and testing requirements. | |
| Specifically, during a White House briefing, here's what the deputy press secretary told reporters. | |
| People should not wait. | |
| They should continue to move forward and make sure they're getting their workplace vaccinated. | |
| All right, just as a quick addendum to this section... | |
| While I was editing this part, I realized I should probably read the full statement that Ms. | |
| Jean-Pierre said, just to give you better context. | |
| So she said, quote, Now, there are two ways to interpret this quote. | |
| Of course, she is saying to the businesses across the country, essentially, Don't wait to see what happens in the court. | |
| Just go ahead and implement our mandate. | |
| Now, one way to look at it is that they think that they're going to definitely win in court, and so they do not want any delay in the implementation of this rule. | |
| The other possibility is that they actually think that they will lose in court, sort of like what happened with the eviction moratorium, how they lost to the Supreme Court. | |
| And they're just trying to essentially bum rush the private businesses into implementing the rule before the courts rule against them. | |
| You can decide for yourself which one of those two options you believe. | |
| Otherwise, Roman in the studio, back to you. | |
| So let me just reiterate. | |
| Despite the official court order that this vaccine mandate must be put on hold, the Biden administration wants to continue their push, telling businesses to go ahead with it anyway, regardless of what the court says. | |
| And by the way, besides that lawsuit that we discussed yesterday, the one that issued this restraining order, there are actually, in total, 26 attorney generals throughout the entire country who have similarly filed lawsuits against this new vaccine mandate as well. | |
| And those lawsuits, they're actually spread out across five different U.S. court of appeals. | |
| And furthermore, the Republican National Committee, they are also challenging the new vaccine mandate in the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. | |
| And so, with so many different cases that are being brought forth across the country, What will happen soon is a consolidation. | |
| That's because in America's judicial system, when multiple petitions are being filed in at least two different courts, the cases are consolidated in one of those courts through basically a lottery system. | |
| And according to a document which was just filed yesterday by the Department of Justice, they said that this lottery is expected to take place sometime around November 16th, which is exactly one week from today. | |
| And once that lottery takes place, we'll know exactly which district will take this consolidation of cases to be tried at once. | |
| And quite frankly, regardless of which district winds up handling this case, you can almost rest assured that this decision will be appealed to the Supreme Court, regardless of who wins on the federal appeals level. | |
| In fact, Professor David Vladek, who teaches law at Georgetown University, he said this during an interview on CNBC. There are justices on the court who want to rein in the administrative state, and this is a case in which those concerns are likely to come to the fore. | |
| If you'd like to read more about this particular case, including both the consolidation of the different lawsuits that's about to happen, as well as the new comments from the Biden administration, I will throw all that into the description box below this video for you to check out. | |
| And now, let's move on over and discuss how one of the world's largest investment firms has just issued new diversity guidelines on hiring white men. | |
| Sorry. | |
| What's this? | |
| Well, that's a great question, Roman. | |
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| And now Roman in the studio, back to you. | |
| And now let's move on over and talk about diversity and inclusion. | |
| So State Street Global Advisors is one of the largest investment firms in the entire world. | |
| It's actually also one of the most profitable firms as well. | |
| At this moment, they have about $4 trillion in assets that they manage and they have close to 40,000 employees. | |
| And furthermore, the parent company of this firm, which is State Street Corporation, it was founded in Boston all the way back in 1792, back when George Washington was still alive. | |
| This is a storied institution. | |
| And this firm, over the weekend, they issued a new mandate. | |
| However, this was not a vaccine mandate. | |
| Instead, it was a new hiring mandate. | |
| And this new mandate, as reported by the Sunday Times, it will require that all executives at this investment firm will need to apply for special permission if they wish to hire any white men. | |
| Let me just repeat that. | |
| According to reporting from the Sunday Times, if you work at this company and you wish to hire a new employee who happens to be a white man, well, you will have to ask for special permission. | |
| This is something that they are calling their diversity hiring initiative. | |
| In fact, here's how Ms. | |
| Jessica McNicholas, who is the firm's head of inclusion, diversity, and corporate citizenship, here's how she explained it to the Sunday Times. | |
| This is now front and central for State Street. | |
| It's on every senior executive scorecard. | |
| All of our leaders have to demonstrate at their annual appraisals what they have done to improve female representation and the number of colleagues from ethnic minority backgrounds. | |
| Now, the specific aim of this initiative is to triple the number of Black, Asian, and other minorities in the company's senior leadership positions by the year 2023. | |
| And by senior leadership positions, that means at the vice president level and above. | |
| And so in practice, what they've actually done is that, for one, they've created a new incentive structure where if an executive does not meet their diversity targets, he or she will actually get a lower bonus. | |
| And then second of all, they have created a new hiring system. | |
| And so now, within this company, when a recruiter is hiring someone for a middle management position, which is, again, vice president and above, they will have to establish a panel of four to five employees, and on that panel, you will have to have at least one woman, as well as at least one person with a minority background. | |
| And then, they can decide on who gets hired. | |
| All right, just as a short addendum to that portion, Ms. | |
| Miss McNicholas, who is again the head of diversity over at State Street, she came out and she reiterated that the firm will still hire white men, but she said the recruiters will now need to show that women as well as ethnic minorities, minority candidates, they have been interviewed by a diverse panel as well for every position. they have been interviewed by a diverse panel as well Furthermore, State Street Corporate, they came out and they denied that hiring managers need special approval when they hire white men for any role. | |
| They said that that was factually incorrect. | |
| In fact, here is a statement that they told to the Daily Mail. | |
| Quote, If you'd like to read more about these new hiring practices over at State Street, I'll throw several links about it into the description box below this video for you to check out. | |
| And again, all I ask in return is that you take a quick moment to smash that like button for the YouTube algorithm. | |
| And now let's move on over and talk about energy. | |
| So, you are probably already intimately aware that the cost of gasoline in America is on the rise. | |
| In fact, as an average, the cost of a gallon of gas went from around $2.42 in January all the way up to $3.38 in October. | |
| That is close to a dollar per gallon increase over the span of about only 10 months. | |
| However, since winter is coming, let's talk about something that's close to the discussion of gas, which is heat, specifically the cost of heating our homes. | |
| And two days ago, Ms. | |
| Jennifer Granholm, who is both the former governor of Michigan as well as the Biden administration's secretary of energy, she came out and she confirmed that Americans can expect to pay more to heat their homes this year than in previous years. | |
| Specifically, during an interview with CNN, when she was asked about whether Americans will be paying more to heat their homes this year, here's what she said. | |
| Yes, this is going to happen. | |
| It will be more expensive this year than last year. | |
| We are in a slightly beneficial position, certainly relative to Europe, because their chokehold of natural gas is significant. | |
| They'll pay five times higher. | |
| During that interview, she further noted that the U.S. has problems in regards to fuel transportation, but she ultimately attempted to cast the blame on oil and gas companies for the rise in costs, although some people are frankly not buying it. | |
| This was not the only time, by the way, within the last week that Ms. | |
| Granholm was asked about the energy shortages as well as the rising cost of gas. | |
| In fact, last Friday, which was about four days ago, she was being interviewed over on Bloomberg News, and the host on that program, he asked her about potentially boosting domestic oil production. | |
| And as I play the clip of that interview, please notice the tone of the interviewers compared to her response. | |
| What is the Granholm plan to increase oil production in America? | |
| That is hilarious. | |
| Would that I had the magic wand on this. | |
| As you know, of course, oil is a global market. | |
| It is controlled by a cartel. | |
| That cartel is called OPEC. And they made a decision yesterday that they were not going to increase beyond what they were already planning. | |
| What is the American solution? | |
| If they're the bad guys, Russian and OPEC at the global price of the market, we all understand the economics. | |
| What is the Biden plan to jumpstart energy production across America? | |
| Well, here's the Biden plan. | |
| I'm here at Glasgow. | |
| The Biden plan is to diversify and to make sure that we move in a direction of clean energy where we're not reliant upon cartels and we're not reliant upon geopolitical adversaries who may be creating choke points for our ability and our people to be able to access energy. | |
| Quite frankly, I don't think I've ever seen anyone laugh quite that heartily during a serious TV interview before. | |
| Regardless, let's go through what her response actually was after she was done laughing. | |
| She said specifically, However, it's worth noting that the interviewer on that Bloomberg interview, he was asking her specifically about domestic oil production, to which she responded that the administration has very little control. | |
| But if you remember, shortly after assuming office, one of the very first things that Joe Biden did was that he signed an executive order which shut down the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have been able to transport oil from Alberta, Canada, over into the U.S., which would have naturally lowered our dependence on OPEC. And then secondly, | |
| the Biden administration, they placed a federal freeze on several drilling sites over in Alaska, which would have likewise lowered our dependency on OPEC. And then lastly, at this very moment, as we're making this episode, the Biden administration is weighing whether or not to shut down another pipeline over in Michigan. | |
| In regards to that new pipeline, here's what the deputy press secretary said when she was asked about it. | |
| The Army Corps of Engineers is preparing an environmental impact statement to look through this. | |
| Any reporting indicating that some decision has been made, again, is not accurate. | |
| An environmental impact statement will help inform any additional action or position the U.S. will be taking on the replacement of Line 5. | |
| Alright, I actually ran out of studio time on that last segment. | |
| But the Line 5 that's in question in that quote, it's actually part of a pipeline network that spans Canada and the U.S. And that particular line, Line 5, it moves crude oil from Canada over into the U.S. via Michigan. | |
| And every single day, that particular line transports 500,000 barrels per day. | |
| Now, there are two camps here. | |
| So, Gretchen Whitmer, who is, of course, the current Democrat who is the governor of Michigan, In fact, | |
| here is a part of that letter that was sent over to Joe Biden. | |
| As we enter the winter months and temperatures drop across the Midwest, the termination of Line 5 will undoubtedly further exacerbate shortages and price increases in home heating fuels like natural gas and propane at a time when Americans are already facing rapidly rising energy prices, steep home heating costs, global supply shortages and skyrocketing gas prices. | |
| And by the way, this criticism is not only coming from the Republicans because In a separate letter that was sent by 11 Democrat senators just yesterday to Joe Biden, they called on him to do two things. | |
| One is to draw from the national reserves of petroleum, and then secondly, to put a temporary ban on the export of oil and gas. | |
| So basically, just to give you a bit of background here, America has something called the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is kind of a network of facilities that together hold 610 million barrels of oil. | |
| And it's very rarely drawn into, only in cases of emergency are they actually drawn into. | |
| However, these senators are saying that right now, as heating costs skyrocket, as the price of gas skyrockets, it qualifies enough as an emergency to draw into these reserves. | |
| And then the second thing they are calling for is a temporary ban on U.S. oil exports. | |
| Basically, any oil that is extracted here in America should not be exported, but should be kept in-house in order to alleviate the costs of Of both heating, gas, and also if you think about it, the cost of, let's say, gas doesn't only hurt Americans at the pump, but the price of meat, the price of food, and pretty much the price of anything that you transport will also get residually increased due to the transportation costs being increased by the price of gas. | |
| Here is what part of this letter from these 11 Democrats said, quote, If you'd like to read more about the skyrocketing cost of either gas, heating, or about that pipeline over in Michigan, I'll throw several articles on those topics into the description box below this video. | |
| And again, all I ask in return is that if you haven't already, take a quick moment to smash that like button for the use of algorithm. | |
| And now, since you've completed this episode of Facts Matter, I would highly, highly recommend that you go on over to Epic TV and check out an awesome episode of American Thought Leaders, where Jan sat down with Dr. | |
| David Jeremiah, who is a senior pastor of the Shadow Mountain Community Church, and they discussed why socialism is inherently both anti-family and anti-faith. | |
| Here's a trailer for that awesome episode. | |
| Socialists don't believe that there is no God. | |
| They're not atheists. | |
| They're anti-God. | |
| At the core of communist and socialist ideology. | |
| Get rid of the things people hold dear. | |
| Destroy the things that are at the core of who they are. | |
| Their family, their church, their marriage, and then come in into that vacuum. | |
| Their whole goal is to get control of the children. | |
| Today I sit down with Dr. | |
| Dr. David Jeremiah, founder and host of Turning Point for God, and author of Where Do We Go From Here? | |
| We discuss our current political moment, from vaccine mandates to globalism to cancel culture. | |
| You may not be able to champion the truth, but you can refuse to live by lies. | |
| This is American Thought Leaders, and I'm Jan Jekielek. | |
| If you want to check out that great episode, as well as all the other phenomenal content over on Epic TV, It'll 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 honors journalism that is based in truth and tradition. | |
| Now, lastly, if you haven't already, smash, smash, 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. | |
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| I publish behind-the-scenes research as well as spicy memes. | |
| And then, until next time, I'm your host, Roman from the Epic Times. |
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