Jan. 20, 2022 - Epoch Times
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| Good evening. | |
| According to a new bombshell report, the FBI, as well as several other federal agencies, they spent over half a billion dollars on informants over the course of the last several years, with many of these informants committing what they're calling authorized crimes. | |
| Meanwhile, over in Pennsylvania, five days ago, the state Supreme Court, it ruled in favor of parents, and they officially threw out the mask mandate that was being imposed on schools. | |
| And then likewise, right here in the state of New York, While the governor has imposed a statewide indoor mask mandate over a quarter of the counties in the state, they openly said that they will not be complying with what they're calling tyrannical dictates. | |
| 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 government informants. | |
| Now, a new bombshell report was just released a few days ago, and it found that the FBI, as well as several other federal agencies, they spent about $548 million on informants over the course of the last several years, with many of these informants committing authorized crimes. | |
| Again, that's over half a billion dollars. | |
| Now, to start with, this report was compiled by Mr. | |
| Adam Andrzejewski, who is the founder of OpenTheBooks.com, which is a government transparency watchdog. | |
| And according to their team of auditors who dug through the federal reports and compiled this information, the FBI, the DEA, which is the Drug Enforcement Agency, As well as the ATF, which is the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, they gave a combined $548 million to informants over the course of the last several years. | |
| Which, frankly, if you have been to any conservative event over the last few months, you have likely noticed for yourself. | |
| Now, to break down some of these numbers, here's what the Department of Justice's Inspector General reported regarding these three agencies. | |
| Although, mind you, some of these numbers are a little dated, but they are still some of the most recent data that we have access to. | |
| So let's start with the FBI. Between the fiscal years of 2012 and 2018, the FBI spent an average of $42 million per year on confidential human sources, with what they refer to as long-term informants comprising a full 20% of those relationships. | |
| Then, in regards to the ATF, between the fiscal years of 2012 and 2015, they employed 1,855 informants who were paid $4.3 million annually. | |
| And so, when you do the math, on average, each one of those informants, they made about $2,318 per year, although I should mention that some of these informants, they made a lot more than that, but we will get to that in a second. | |
| Now, the third agency, which is the DEA, between the years of 2010 and 2015, they had about 18,000 active informants. | |
| Here's, in fact, what the inspector general wrote specifically about the DEA. One federal agency, the DEA, had over 18,000 active confidential sources assigned to its domestic offices, with over 9,000 of those sources receiving approximately $237 million in payments for information or services they provided to the DEA. In fact, | |
| According to the Justice Department's Inspector General, out of these high-earning informants, they include, quote, an airline employee who received more than $600,000 in less than four years, and a parcel employee who received over $1 million in five years, which is pretty good for someone working in the post office. | |
| Furthermore, during his audit, the inspector general found that the DEA was giving large amounts of money to employees of the TSA as well as Amtrak. | |
| Here's in fact what he wrote on this front, quote, During this audit, we found that between fiscal years 2011 and 2015, the DEA actually used at least 33 Amtrak employees and 8 TSA employees as sources, paying the Amtrak employees over $1.5 million and the TSA employees over $94,000. | |
| Specifically, though, in this report, he singled out one Amtrak employee who, between the years of 2010 and 2015, made a staggering $962,000 to be an informant for the government. | |
| However, you might look at that information and you might say, well, Roman, that's okay, because maybe that particular Amtrak employee, he was feeding the federal government really vital information about something like smuggling. | |
| However, that does not seem to be the case, because according to the Inspector General, despite the fact that this particular Amtrak employee was paid close to a million dollars, the information that he actually provided to the government, quote, And then, besides the questionable nature of this information, it appears that there were instances of out-and-out corruption. | |
| That's because included in this report was information that came out of a Congressional Oversight Committee hearing where Jason Schaffetz, who was a congressman from Utah, and he was also the former chairman of the Congressional Oversight Committee, and here's what he said. | |
| A court released a testimony of one confidential informant in Atlanta who received $212,000 from the DEA from 2011 to 2013. | |
| She testified she wasn't sure why she was paid. | |
| That was her testimony. | |
| She also testified to a sexual relationship with the DEA group supervisor who allegedly convinced the subordinates to falsify reports to justify the payments. | |
| That case is currently under review by the Inspector General. | |
| And to be frank with you, it's exactly reports like these that make me question why I pay taxes every year. | |
| Now, besides our government paying for useless information and engaging in potential sexual corruption, this report also goes on to expose how these informants engaged in actual, what they called, authorized crime, meaning that the crime that was committed by these informants, it was done with the express permission of their federal handlers. | |
| Which, if you've seen any crime movies, for instance, like the movies about the mob, you know that it's not that uncommon. | |
| In fact, here's how a 2015 audit from the General Accountability Office describes the reality of authorized crimes. | |
| For example, in the appropriate circumstance, an agency could authorize an informant We're good to go. | |
| Now, in terms of how many of these authorized crimes have been committed over the past few years, well, it looks like there have been many. | |
| In fact, according to documents that were obtained by the Daily Dot via a Freedom of Information Act request, they found that, quote, And again, notice that that data is fairly old. | |
| It only stops at 2014. | |
| However, let's look at a more recent example of one of these authorized crimes that took place just a few months ago. | |
| And I'm talking about the kidnapping plot against Michigan's governor, Ms. | |
| Gretchen Whitmer. | |
| Now, you might have heard about this particular plot. | |
| In short, there were over a dozen men who were allegedly planning to kidnap the governor. | |
| However, when the case actually went before court, during the proceedings, the federal government, they came out and they shared the ID numbers of at least 12 confidential informants who were involved in the kidnapping plot. | |
| Now, even though they refused to provide either the methods that were used for the recruitment, how much these informants were paid, their locations, or their names, At what point does this kidnapping become a government operation? | |
| Because if you look at the facts and consider that 12 of the men who were involved in this kidnapping plot, meaning that the overwhelming majority of those who were involved were actually working for the government, then what does that actually mean for the whole thing? | |
| And these informants, they were not just flies in the wall. | |
| Instead, they were allegedly heavily involved in the inception and planning of this kidnapping. | |
| Here's in fact how BuzzFeed News described the situation. | |
| Which, by the way, in this case, BuzzFeed News did a phenomenal job covering the story. | |
| Here's what they wrote. | |
| An examination of the case by BuzzFeed News also reveals that some of those informants, acting under the direction of the FBI, played a far larger role than has previously been reported. | |
| Working in secret, they did more than just passively observe and report on the actions of the suspects. | |
| Instead, they had a hand in nearly every aspect of the alleged plot, starting with its inception. | |
| The extent of their involvement raises questions as to whether there would have even been a conspiracy without them. | |
| Which, frankly, is shocking enough, but then they go on to further state that some of these informants, they were actually helping the entire thing take root. | |
| Here's what they wrote. | |
| A longtime government informant from Wisconsin, for example, helped organize a series of meetings around the country where many of the alleged plotters first met one another and the earliest notions of a plan took root, some of those people say. | |
| The Wisconsin informant even paid for some hotel rooms and food as an incentive to get people to come. | |
| And I wonder where that money that the informant was spending on the food and the hotel rooms was actually coming from. | |
| Very likely from you and me, the American taxpayers. | |
| Regardless, if you'd like to read more about this report that came out regarding these FBI informants, I will throw the link to it. | |
| It'll be the link to the PDF version of it into the description box below this video for you to check out. | |
| And all I 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 Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned the statewide school mask mandate, I would like to take a quick moment and introduce our sponsor for today's episode, which I will do from the sound booth. | |
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| Now, Roman in the studio, back to you. | |
| And now let's move on over to Pennsylvania, where the school mask mandate has just ended. | |
| That's right, five days ago, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that the acting health secretary of the state does not have the authority to issue a mask mandate for everyone who is indoors at either schools and or child care centers. | |
| Specifically, the Supreme Court's ruling affirmed an earlier decision by a lower court which, quote, said earlier this year that the state's Disease Control and Prevention Act of 1955 did not provide Beam, which is the name of this official, the blanketed authority to create new rules and regulations out of hole closed. | |
| Now, what this ruling means in practice is that effective immediately, mask wearing in Pennsylvania schools is no longer mandatory. | |
| Although many of the school districts throughout the Commonwealth, they have local rules in place that say that students who wish to wear masks may continue to do so, but no one can be required to any longer. | |
| Now, to give you a bit of background on this particular lawsuit, it was actually brought forth by Mr. | |
| Jake Corman, who is both the Senate President pro tempore in Pennsylvania, as well as the Republican candidate running for governor. | |
| However, he filed this lawsuit not in his official capacity, but rather as a parent. | |
| As a parent himself, he sued the state since they were forcing his kids to wear masks in school. | |
| And then after several months of legal arguments, of legal back and forth, the Supreme Court ruled in his favor, saying that, indeed, the health secretary does not have the authority to issue a broad mask mandate to anyone who happens to be inside of a school. | |
| And after that ruling, here's what Mr. | |
| Korman said in a response statement. | |
| With today's ruling, the power for parents and local leaders to make health and safety decisions in our schools is restored. | |
| That power comes with an obligation to review the facts and act in the best interests of our communities, which is why legislative leaders sent a letter to Governor Tom Wolfe yesterday to reconvene the COVID-19 task force. | |
| I encourage all stakeholders to review the needs and conditions in our communities to make the best choices for our kids. | |
| Now, here's the interesting part, though, because while the legal battle was playing itself out in court, well, it seems like no one told the Department of Education. | |
| What do I mean by that? | |
| Well, because last week, while the lawsuit was still in court, meaning that the question of whether kids should be forced to wear masks in school all day long was still being debated in front of the Supreme Court, officials from the Department of Education, they got together in a large statewide event during which attendees were not wearing masks or even social distancing. | |
| So again, think about that. | |
| During the exact same time that parents are forced to go to the Supreme Court to fight back against school mask mandates, the Department of Education hosted a mask-free event for their own members who gathered together for an annual awards ceremony, which was held indoors. | |
| And of course, it did not require people to wear masks. | |
| It's kind of weird. | |
| Regardless, though, with this decision now in place by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the students can now enjoy as much mouth-breathing freedom as do the teachers. | |
| However, it is a different story here in the state of New York. | |
| That's because last Friday, Governor Kathy Hochul issued a new mask mandate which will force masks to be required in all indoor public places as well as venues unless those businesses have a vaccine mandate requirement. | |
| Meaning, essentially, that businesses in New York will have one of two choices. | |
| To either mandate that their customers and their workers show a vaccine ID, or to mandate that their customers and their workers show up wearing a mask. | |
| Here's in fact what Governor Hochul said in a statement regarding this new rule. | |
| We are entering a time of uncertainty. | |
| We can either plateau here or our cases can escalate beyond control. | |
| We are heading in an upward direction that I find is no longer sustainable. | |
| I have warned for weeks that additional steps could be necessary, and now we are at that point based upon three metrics. | |
| Increasing cases, reduced hospital capacity, and insufficient vaccination rates in certain areas. | |
| Now the measure that she implemented actually went into effect on Monday, so about two days ago, And it will remain in effect until January 15th of 2022. | |
| So technically it's a temporary order. | |
| And on January 15th, she said that based on the number of cases and the hospitalization rate at the time, she will reevaluate the order and decide whether to extend it or not. | |
| And on that front, here's what Governor Hochul said. | |
| And this is, in my opinion, potentially my favorite quote from her on this whole issue. | |
| It is a temporary measure as long as people follow it. | |
| That sounds about as believable as 14 days to slow the spread. | |
| Now, businesses who are not compliant with this new order, they are subject to both criminal as well as civil penalties, with the maximum fine being $1,000 per violation. | |
| And all of this will be actually enforced by the health departments of each individual county. | |
| Which is really kind of amazing if you think about it, because just, let's say, a year or two years ago, You would never think that a local county health department would have this much authority to actually be going around and inspecting people and giving them fines if they're not implementing broad vaccine and mask mandates. | |
| But now, the health departments of each local county are essentially the mask police. | |
| However, here in New York City, if you are living here in New York City, this doesn't really change much given the fact that these types of policies have been in place for several months now, well into a year. | |
| However, New York State is made up of 57 different counties, and New York City makes up only five of those counties. | |
| And so many of these counties are actually not having it. | |
| Many of them are rural counties. | |
| Many of them are conservative leading counties, and they are not having anything to do with this mandate. | |
| In fact, thus far, a full quarter of the counties in New York State have come out, and they said that they will not enforce this mask mandate, with many of these different counties calling the order silly, misguided, unenforceable, a form of Gestapo tactics. | |
| And one county simply said, we're not going to become the mask police. | |
| And surely enough, after this significant pushback, the governor, she actually came out earlier this week, and she said that if a county doesn't want to enforce this mandate, Well, that's their prerogative. | |
| Here's specifically what she said regarding this issue. | |
| I do hope that the businesses will enforce this and individuals will understand how important it is. | |
| We have left it to the counties to enforce. | |
| So counties can choose not to enforce it, but we hope counties are enforcing it. | |
| And so based on that statement, it appears that what came down in the form of an order, an order from the governor, is actually in practice more of a recommendation because if the state is not actually going to be enforcing this mandate and it's up to the prerogative of the different counties whether to listen or not, then it's just really a recommendation. | |
| And furthermore, and this is something that I really think is worth noting, amidst this whole discussion about mask mandates, last week, Governor Hochul attended a Democratic Party holiday extravaganza here in Brooklyn, and then she shared a picture of herself on social media, and in that picture, wouldn't you know it, she and the other guests there as well are not wearing masks, despite the fact that they are indoors and not socially distancing. | |
| I guess the message being that if you are at a Democratic Party holiday extravaganza, you don't necessarily have to wear a mask like common plebs like you and me. | |
| Also, by the way, it's worth noting that on Monday, when Governor Hochul was over at JFK Airport announcing the opening of a new terminal, she likewise was now wearing a mask, even though she was indoors, but she did put a mask on right before answering questions from reporters. | |
| So, it kind of makes you wonder about the whole thing, doesn't it? | |
| Now, here at the Epoch Times, we did reach out to the governor's office for comment and clarification about the mandate, how it's enforced, whether it's really a recommendation or not, but we have yet to hear back. | |
| But in closing, the last thing I wanted to mention is that if you live in New York State and if your employer is telling you that you need to wear a mask in order to work at the company or if you're going into a business to shop and they're telling you that you need to wear a mask because it's the rule, well, you should know that it's not the state that is enforcing it. the last thing I wanted to mention is that if It's your local county. | |
| It's the officials in your local county who are making that decision. | |
| Something worth noting. | |
| Otherwise, Roman in the studio, back to you. | |
| If you'd like to read more about that Supreme Court decision over in Pennsylvania or about what's happening here in New York... | |
| I'll throw all those links into the description box below this video for you to check out. | |
| And again, all ads can return is that if you haven't already, take a quick moment to smash, smash, smash that like button for the YouTube algorithm. | |
| Now, since you've completed this episode of Facts Matter, and if you are the type of person who enjoys classical music, then I would highly recommend that you go on over to Epic TV and check out Shen Yun Creations, which makes not only pretty creative videos in regards to their dancing, but also they have a phenomenal orchestra. | |
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| If you'd like to check out the Shen Yun Creations over on Epic TV, as well as all the other phenomenal content that we have on there, I'll throw a link to it. | |
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