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Jan. 18, 2022 - Epoch Times

22:22

9,000 US Marines Defy Pentagon's Mandate; Federal Judge Blocks Mandate in 10 States | Facts Matter

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	Good evening.
	Just yesterday, a federal judge issued this court order right here, and he officially blocked the Biden administration's vaccine mandate for healthcare workers.
	And within this court order, the reasoning that the judge gave was that this vaccine mandate was a gross overreach of federal authority.
	Meanwhile, two days ago was the official deadline for all active duty U.S. Marines to be fully vaccinated.
	However, according to newly released government data, there are about 9,000 Marines who declined to get the shot and are therefore at risk of being fired.
	Now, many of these Marines, they actually applied for religious exemptions.
	However, to this day, after processing almost 2,000 religious exemption applications, the U.S. Marine Corps has accepted exactly zero of them.
	And then lastly, Merriam-Webster's dictionary recently made a change to the definition of the word anti-vaxxer.
	According to their new definition, it now means that you are either against vaccines or that you are against regulations which mandate vaccines.
	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 the U.S. Marines.
	Two days ago was the official deadline for all active duty Marines to be fully vaccinated.
	However, with the deadline now officially passed, and with almost absolutely zero requests for religious accommodations having been approved, there are now thousands of U.S. Marines who find themselves in a rather precarious situation.
	Specifically, according to government records, which were just recently revealed, about 95% of all active-duty Marines have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine, which means that about 5% remain unvaccinated.
	And so, when we look at the real numbers, the actual numbers, this is how they break down.
	There are about 180,000 active duty members of the U.S. Marine Corps.
	And if 5% of them are unvaccinated, that amounts to a total of about 9,000 U.S. Marines who are currently at risk of being either reprimanded, court-martialed, and or fired.
	Although you might be wondering what will actually happen to them specifically now that the deadline has passed.
	Well, back in October, so just last month, the Secretary of the Navy, he said that if the Marines don't comply with this order, they will be separated, counseled, and then if they continue to refuse, they will ultimately be let go.
	Here's specifically what the Navy Secretary said just a month ago.
	We're going to try to find out what's their problem and hold up in getting the vaccine, try to counsel them the best we can, offer them an opportunity to change their mind with regards to the vaccinations.
	Hopefully, they'll get the vaccination at that point in time.
	And if they don't, obviously...
	Now, it is worth noting that the U.S. Marines, who still have some kind of exemption request pending, they will not face consequences until their requests have been fully adjudicated.
	And although some things remain opaque, not all the data has been released, here are the numbers that we do know about.
	As of today, 360 Marines are under a temporary medical exemption, 452 Marines have been granted a temporary administrative exemption, and 14 Marines have been granted a permanent medical exemption.
	Now again, it's not exactly how many more Marines have medical exemption requests that are still pending.
	Those numbers have not yet been released.
	However, in regards to the numbers of religious exemptions, well, there have been a total of 2,441 Marines who submitted an application for a religious accommodation.
	And as of today, the Marine Corps said that they have processed 1,902 of those applications or about 78% of them.
	However, as of today, zero requests have been approved.
	Let me just repeat that.
	Out of the 1,902 applications that they have reviewed thus far, exactly zero of them have been approved.
	And in terms of why they are rejecting so many of these religious accommodation requests, well, here's what the Marine Corps said as a part of their official statement.
	The Marine Corps process for evaluating requests for religious accommodation that require an exception to policy follows a rigorous approach to ensure Marines receive due consideration.
	However, the Department of the Navy does not normally grant religious accommodations for vaccinations.
	And clearly, judging by the numbers that we are seeing, that is indeed the case.
	Although frankly, what will likely happen is that in the very near future there will be lawsuits challenging this apparent blanket ban on religious exemptions in the U.S. Marine Corps, and we will have to see how that plays out.
	And so, everything that we just discussed was in regards to active duty personnel.
	However, in regards to those in the Marine Corps Reserve units, well, they have until December the 28th to get fully vaccinated, so they have about another month.
	And according to the official data that has been released, the Marine Corps Reserve units, they are much less vaccinated than the Marine Corps Active Duty units.
	That's because as of November 18th, so about a week and a half ago, about 66 percent of Marine reservists were fully vaccinated.
	Then about 75 percent of them had at least one dose of a vaccine.
	And so given the fact that there are approximately 35,500 reserve personnel and that 25 percent of them remain unvaccinated, well, that would mean that approximately 8,875 Marines in the reserve units are also at risk of being fired in about a month.
	And so we'll just have to wait and see what happens to all these different Marine units, both in the active duty as well as in the reserve units.
	And frankly, as it currently stands, our military will likely be losing tens or even hundreds of thousands of staff members across all the different branches in the coming months, if these vaccine mandates actually go into effect.
	If you'd like to read more about what's happening with the U.S. Marine Corps specifically, I will throw a link into the description box below this video so you can dig deeper into the story for yourself.
	And all I ask in return is that you take a quick moment to smash, smash, smash that like button for the YouTube algorithm.
	And now, since we're on the topic of vaccine mandates, let's talk a bit about the healthcare field.
	So, we've already discussed on a previous episode how a federal court, specifically the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, issued a restraining order on the Biden administration's vaccine mandate for private businesses.
	However, in the comments section below our videos, I saw that many people wanted us to do a follow-up because they wanted to know the status of a separate vaccine mandate, the one that was aimed at healthcare workers.
	Specifically, this other vaccine mandate, which was actually issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, otherwise known as the CMS, it forces all healthcare workers whose employers accept either Medicare or Medicaid to be vaccinated as a prerequisite to being employed.
	Meaning that, for instance, if you are a nurse who works at a hospital which accepts Medicare, which, I mean, frankly, that's pretty much all of them, then you would need to get the shot in order to keep your job.
	And again, this mandate affected a lot of workers.
	Across the entire nation, about 17 million healthcare workers face the possibility of getting terminated if they refuse to get the shot.
	However, just yesterday, a federal judge issued a new order, and he officially put a stop to this vaccine mandate as well.
	Although it is worth noting that this particular ruling applies to only 10 states in America.
	Now, the judge who actually issued this order, his name, by the way, is Matthew Schlepp.
	He's an appointee of President Trump, and he said that the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, they lack the authority to impose such a broad vaccine mandate on the entire nation.
	Here's, in fact, what he wrote as a part of his order.
	Quote, And therefore, the judge granted the plaintiffs in this case a preliminary injunction, meaning that while the case is going to be playing itself out in court, the government cannot impose their vaccine mandate on healthcare workers.
	Now, the case that was actually before the judge, it was brought forth by the state of Missouri, as well as nine other states, We're good to go.
	Including the fact that the CMS, quote, And that is why he blocked the vaccine mandate from going into effect and issued the injunction.
	Now, naturally enough, one of the lead petitioners in this case, Mr.
	Eric Schmidt, he is actually the Attorney General of Missouri, he's a Republican, and he welcomed the judge's decision.
	He said this, While today's ruling is a victory, there is a lot more work to be done.
	Let me be clear, my office will not back down in this fight.
	I will continue to push back every step of the way on the tyrannical overreach of government that we've seen, every single time, and in every level of government.
	Likewise, the Attorney General of Nebraska, Mr.
	Doug Peterson, he's also a party in the lawsuit, he said this in regards to the judge's ruling.
	This is significant for healthcare workers in Nebraska, especially rural hospitals who are facing serious impacts due to this mandate.
	Today's ruling immediately prevents enforcement of the mandate.
	While we do anticipate the federal government will seek immediate review by the Eighth Circuit, we are confident that the analysis by the trial court will be confirmed.
	Now again, I would like to highlight two things in regards to this new ruling.
	First of all, this is a preliminary injunction, meaning that this is a temporary order that's been put in place while the case is playing itself out in court.
	And depending on how the case actually plays out, this preliminary injunction will either become permanent or it could ultimately be overruled.
	And then second of all, this injunction applies only to the states that are party to this particular lawsuit.
	And for your reference, those states are Missouri, Nebraska, Alaska, Arkansas, Kansas, Iowa, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, as well as New Hampshire.
	And therefore, you should know that if you are a healthcare worker living in any one of these 10 states, and if your employer continues to force you to get the shot in order to stay employed, well, as of yesterday, they are now breaking the law.
	Now, we here at the Epoch Times, we did reach out to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for comment on this new development in the case, and they got back to us with this statement.
	CMS knows that everyone working in healthcare wants to do what is best for their patients to keep them safe, and healthcare workers have a special ethical and professional duty to protect their patients.
	The mandate addresses the risk of unvaccinated healthcare staff to patient safety and provides stability and uniformity across the nation's healthcare system.
	Meaning, very likely, that the Biden administration will challenge this court order in the Eighth Circuit and try to have it overruled.
	We'll just have to wait and see how it ultimately plays out.
	Alright, while we were editing this episode, a new development came up.
	That's how fast things are moving right now.
	A judge, a second judge, blocked another one of the Biden administration's vaccine mandates, this one for federal contractors.
	So you might remember that the Biden administration, they actually set into motion several different vaccine mandates.
	You had the vaccine mandates on all large companies, anyone with over 100 employees You had the vaccine mandate for healthcare workers.
	That's what we've been discussing thus far.
	You had the military vaccine mandate.
	And then you had another vaccine mandate that was aimed at any federal contractor.
	Any business that was doing federal contract work with the federal government, they had to have their employees vaccinated by December the 8th, or they would lose their federal contracts.
	However, three states, they sued the federal government.
	And those states, by the way, were Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee.
	And a judge just sided with them.
	So those states, they were charging that this new vaccine mandate on federal contractors, it was both illegal and constitutional, in part because it was imposed with little regard to, and this is a quote from the lawsuit, quote,"...important aspects surrounding the mandate, including but not limited to economic impacts,
	cost to states, cost to citizens, labor force and supply chain disruptions, the current risks of COVID-19, and basic distinctions among workers such as those with natural immunity to COVID-19," And so the judge in the case, he agreed.
	He was actually a judge who was appointed by George W. Bush, and he wrote a 29-page order essentially saying that he agrees with the position of the states, saying that this vaccine mandate for federal contractors, it was a federal overreach.
	Here's what that district judge wrote in his 29-page order.
	Quote, This is not a case about whether vaccines are effective.
	They are.
	Nor is this a case about whether the government at some level and in some circumstances can require citizens to obtain vaccines.
	It can.
	The question presented here is narrow.
	Can the president use congressionally delegated authority to manage the federal procurement of goods and services And so again, what this means is that if you are a worker in any one of these three states, in Ohio, Kentucky, or Tennessee, and your boss says, hey, You need to get the vaccine.
	Otherwise, we will either lose our contract or you will be fired.
	Well, as of just earlier today, they are not telling the truth because according to this judge's order, that vaccine mandate has been put under preliminary injunction, meaning it's blocked and not put into effect until at least this court case plays out inside of the courtroom.
	Now, I will throw a link to this article so you can read through it yourself.
	I'll also throw the link to the PDF version of this 29-page order by this judge so you can read through it for yourself.
	Otherwise, Roman in the studio, back to you.
	If you would like to read more about this court's decision, I will throw a link to an article about it as well as a link to the PDF version of this judge's order so that you can read for it for yourself.
	Dig through it.
	It's only about 35 pages, but it's very rationally broken down.
	I think you might enjoy it.
	It might just take you an hour to read.
	And I'll ask in return is that if you haven't already, take a quick moment to smash, smash, smash that like button for the YouTube algorithm.
	And now, before we move on over and discuss how the Merriam-Webster's Dictionary recently changed the very definition of the word anti-vaxxer, I would like to take a quick moment and introduce our sponsor for today's episode, and I will do so from this sound booth.
	That's right, Roman.
	The sponsor of today's episode is an awesome company called AMAC. That's A-M-A-C. And it stands for the Association of Mature American Citizens.
	Now, what I learned earlier today, though, is that you don't actually need to be a mature American citizen yourself in order to join AMAC because even though they're an organization that's geared towards people who are 50 years of age and above, you can actually join at any age as long as you're an American-loving patriot.
	And so what they say is that as our fundamental freedoms here in this country are being threatened by politicians who don't even necessarily know how to balance their own checking accounts, And as there is a concerted effort to censor conservatives by this woke ideology, one thing that you can do to fight back is to join the two million people who are already members of AMAC. And by joining, you'll have access to three main benefits.
	The first benefit is the money-saving benefit because by joining, you'll have access to discounts on things like vitamins, restaurants, retail shops throughout the entire country.
	Second of all, you will gain access to the AMAC website The AMAC app as well as the AMAC magazine, which gives you something that the mainstream media doesn't, which is honest news that is grounded in facts.
	And third of all, and this is what a lot of people say is their favorite benefit, is that AMAC has your back over on Capitol Hill.
	Because with 2 million freedom-loving members, they are a voice for conservatives that cannot be ignored.
	And so, if you are a person who considers themselves a constitutional conservative, then I would consider joining AMAC. You can do so over at amac.us.
	That's amac.us.
	So consider signing up, consider helping AMAC's effort, and getting access to these excellent membership benefits.
	So, AMAC, thank you so much for sponsoring this episode.
	Now, Roman in the studio, back to you.
	And now let's move on over and talk about definitions, specifically about vaccine-related definitions.
	Now, in a previous episode, we already discussed how the CDC very quietly changed the definition of the word vaccine.
	After that change, according to the new definition, to be vaccinated no longer means that you are immune.
	However, there is another important redefinition that is worth discussing.
	Because right now, across the entire world, there are massive protests that are springing up with people coming out in droves to fight back against vaccine mandates.
	In fact, I've been to several of these protests, and I've spoken to the people who are there, and for the most part, people are against the vaccine mandates.
	They are, by and large, not against the vaccine itself.
	However, they are against the mandates.
	Frankly, I've met actually many people at these protests who themselves are vaccinated, but they still come out because they believe that forced vaccine mandates are wrong.
	They believe that people should have a choice as to their own medical decisions.
	And yet, what I found interesting is that time and time again, the corporate media outlets in this country, when they choose to mention about these protests at all, generally they ignore them, but when they do cover the protests, they generally refer to them as being anti-vaxxer protests.
	And I always thought that was a little bit odd, because according to my understanding at least, these were specifically anti-vaccine mandate protests.
	However, this is where the change in definition comes in.
	Because, although I almost couldn't believe it when I first read it, when you go on over to Merriam-Webster's dictionary and you look up the word anti-vaxxer, well, this is what it says.
	Anti-vaxxer.
	Noun.
	A person who opposes the use of vaccines or regulations mandating vaccination.
	Let me just repeat that in case you missed it.
	According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, which is, of course, one of the most popular dictionaries across the entire world, being an anti-vaxxer Which is kind of amazing if you think about it, since that would mean that technically you can get the shot yourself, but you could still be considered an anti-vaxxer.
	Now, this definition is actually relatively new.
	In fact, Merriam-Webster, they updated the definition of the word anti-vaxxer on September 29th, so exactly two months ago.
	The definition we just read has been there for only two months.
	Although, strangely enough, the previous definition of this particular word in this particular dictionary also had a reference to mandates.
	So, take a look at the before and after.
	Prior to September 29th, here's what Merriam-Webster said.
	And then, after September 29th, here's what it was changed to.
	Anti-vaxxer.
	Noun.
	A person who opposes the use of vaccines or regulations mandating vaccination.
	And so notice two very interesting things.
	First of all, the definition of the term, whether it's the old definition or the new definition, in my opinion at least, it was always at odds with the common understanding of the term.
	Because when people hear the word anti-vaxxer, almost universally, they do not think of someone who opposes mandates, but rather someone who opposes vaccination.
	Anti-vaxxer.
	And then secondly, two months ago, they changed it to be more broad, with the tacit acknowledgement that all these vaccine mandates that are being spread out across the entire country, they are not necessarily laws, but rather, they are simply regulations.
	And if you oppose the regulations, then you, by definition, are an anti-vaxxer.
	Which, frankly, just goes to show you that whoever controls the language can literally win any argument.
	Now, obviously, many people were not amused with this change in definition.
	Here's, in fact, what Governor Ron DeSantis' press secretary wrote about it.
	Redefine words all you want, Merriam-Webster, but words still have meaning.
	By this definition, you aren't pro-vaccine unless you believe that the government should force everyone to get a medical procedure.
	Furthermore, this unique definition seems to be something exclusive to Merriam-Webster, because when you look up the exact same word in several other popular dictionaries, well, you find a more typical definition that is what you would actually expect.
	For instance, when you look up the word on dictionary.com, here's what it says.
	Anti-vaxxer.
	Noun.
	A person who distrusts or is against vaccination, especially a parent who refuses to have a young child vaccinated.
	Likewise, when you go over to the new Oxford American Dictionary, they likewise have a very much more conventional definition.
	Here's what they say.
	And so, as you can see from these two examples, Merriam-Webster's decision to include vaccine regulations in their definition stands in stark contrast to the generally agreed-upon definition of what you can find in many other dictionaries regarding the term anti-vaxxer.
	Regardless, though, Merriam-Webster is still one of the most popular dictionaries in the entire world, and that is the way they chose to play it.
	If you'd like to read more about these changes in word meaning, I will throw a link into the description box below this video so you can look into it for yourself.
	And all I'll ask in return is that if you haven't already, take a quick moment to smash, smash, smash that like button for the YouTube algorithm.
	And now, since you've completed this episode of Facts Matter, I would 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 both Vivek Ramaswamy as well as Dave Rubin, and they discussed how to tackle the woke industrial complex, as well as how America can build an ideologically diverse tech as well as how America can build an ideologically diverse tech Here's a trailer for that episode.
	While we defended the castle of capitalism from the front door, that castle was invaded through the back door by forces ranging from the woke progressive movement to the Chinese Communist Party.
	I don't need to destroy Google.
	I don't need to destroy YouTube or Twitter.
	But what I would like to do is build a parallel ecosystem.
	At the National Conservatism Conference, I sat down with talk show host Dave Rubin, founder of The Locals Platform, and Vivek Ramaswamy, founder of Roy Vint Sciences and author of Woke Inc.
	Inside corporate America's social justice scam.
	We discuss their fight against big tech censorship and the spread of woke ideology.
	Humans have been through worse.
	My grandparents fought the Nazis.
	They won.
	We'll get through this thing.
	When I look across America and see people who hungered and rallied behind the crime to make America great again, I don't think they just hungered for a single man.
	Part of what we hunger for is the unapologetic pursuit of excellence itself because that is part of what it means to be American.
	If you'd like to check out that awesome episode, as well as all the other phenomenal content over on Epic TV, I'll throw a link to it.
	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 honest journalism that is based in truth and tradition.
	And 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.
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	Also, consider hitting that notification bell so you can actually be notified of any new videos as we publish them.
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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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