1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:27,200 Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Rounding the Earth. 2 00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:34,720 My name is Liam Sturgis and this is your weekly news roundup, aptly called Rounding the News. 3 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:36,720 I apologize for the slight delay. 4 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:42,560 I encountered a series of technical issues as I was getting ready to go live. 5 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:48,040 So I appreciate your patience and it looks as though we are now live on all of our favorite 6 00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:49,740 platforms. 7 00:00:49,740 --> 00:00:53,340 In any case, let's get started. 8 00:00:53,340 --> 00:00:56,960 So first of all, we're going to jump in. 9 00:00:56,960 --> 00:01:02,100 Today's episode is titled, Unreliable Narrators. 10 00:01:02,100 --> 00:01:06,320 And I want to remind you, if you are watching on Rumble, the best way to support the show 11 00:01:06,320 --> 00:01:08,640 that way is through Rumble Rants. 12 00:01:08,640 --> 00:01:15,000 For the remainder of 2023, 100% of the money you give through Rumble Rants go directly 13 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:19,680 to the creator, in this case, Rounding the Earth, which is fantastic because that means 14 00:01:19,680 --> 00:01:23,640 that we can continue to build this platform and I can continue to be paid to do this, 15 00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:26,560 which is a huge privilege. 16 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:31,440 And if you are on Rockfin, we also have a number of very kind supporters there. 17 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:36,200 You can give as easy as a $5 tip and on Odyssey as well, you can give tips. 18 00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:41,800 But of course, the best way to support the show by far is to join us over at our roundingtheearth.locals.com 19 00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:45,600 community where you can become a free member and keep up to date with everything we're 20 00:01:45,600 --> 00:01:46,600 doing. 21 00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:52,120 Or you can become a paid subscriber, again, little as $5 a month, and you can gain access 22 00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:56,640 to our weekly supporters exclusive live streams. 23 00:01:56,640 --> 00:02:00,400 This past Wednesday, it was a very eventful day. 24 00:02:00,400 --> 00:02:04,960 And the show that we did was called Scientology, the Department of Defense and the Medical 25 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:06,800 Freedom Movement. 26 00:02:06,800 --> 00:02:12,380 This was a presentation delivered by Matthew Crawford, and I highly recommend going and 27 00:02:12,380 --> 00:02:14,400 seeing what that was all about. 28 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:15,400 Really rather interesting. 29 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:20,400 And once again, roundingtheearth.locals.com by far the best way to support the show and 30 00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:24,320 keep up to date with everything we are doing. 31 00:02:24,320 --> 00:02:30,920 Okay, so let's dive into our two news stories for today. 32 00:02:30,920 --> 00:02:40,040 The first, Alberta Health Services continues to deny organ transplant to unvaccinated patients. 33 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:41,720 It's just nuts, guys. 34 00:02:41,720 --> 00:02:46,760 Alberta Health Services, AHS, continues to discriminate against people that they deem 35 00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:53,720 to be unvaccinated in their medical care in a move that can only be described as arbitrary 36 00:02:53,720 --> 00:02:55,720 and vindictive. 37 00:02:55,720 --> 00:03:01,800 Sheila Annette Lewis, an unvaccinated transplant candidate with a dire terminal illness, has 38 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:06,200 been eligible to receive an organ for well over a year now. 39 00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:15,000 Well, back in September 2021, Lewis was removed from the high priority transplant waitlist 40 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:19,560 to her decision to not receive a COVID-19 genetic vaccine. 41 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:24,480 She was second in line for her organ at the time. 42 00:03:24,480 --> 00:03:32,320 And because she is terminally ill, the ongoing enforcement of this policy effectively condemns 43 00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:34,680 Ms. Lewis to death. 44 00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:39,760 Lewis runs entirely counter to any suggestion that the policy is intended to protect the 45 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:43,360 health and well-being of the patient of Ms. Lewis. 46 00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:49,120 But it's even worse than that, given there at no point existed any scientific or medical 47 00:03:49,120 --> 00:03:51,400 basis to justify the policy. 48 00:03:51,400 --> 00:03:55,360 Not only for her protection, but the idea that her getting the shot would somehow protect 49 00:03:55,360 --> 00:03:57,240 the others around her. 50 00:03:57,240 --> 00:03:58,880 It's so clearly not true. 51 00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:02,740 We've all seen the presentations where they admit they never tested to see if the thing 52 00:04:02,740 --> 00:04:06,480 would stop transmission or prevent infection. 53 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:13,680 All of that aside, as has been well documented, the clinical trials themselves for both the 54 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:22,160 Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 genetic vaccine products explicitly excluded vulnerable 55 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:29,200 individuals like Lewis, studying the effects of the products only on healthy individuals. 56 00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:35,080 Here's a screenshot from the clinical trials.gov entry for the Pfizer BioNTech clinical trial. 57 00:04:35,080 --> 00:04:39,760 And as you can see, the exclusion criteria is quite long, and it was so long, I could 58 00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:43,200 only get this section of it onto the screen. 59 00:04:43,200 --> 00:04:47,240 This will be available in the show notes, which you can find at roundingtheearth.locals.com 60 00:04:47,240 --> 00:04:49,740 within about half an hour after the show today. 61 00:04:49,740 --> 00:04:54,440 So you'll be able to go look at that clinical trial registration yourself. 62 00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:59,400 And in the case of the Moderna clinical trial, which was run alongside or in partnership 63 00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:04,320 with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, as well as BARDA, the 64 00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:09,260 Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, I think. 65 00:05:09,260 --> 00:05:15,560 The exclusion criteria for this one explicitly list people who are acutely ill or febrile 66 00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:21,660 in an immunosuppressive or immunodeficient state, or has been given any of a variety 67 00:05:21,660 --> 00:05:31,580 of drugs for blood in the immune system, all boxes that Mrs. Lewis almost certainly checks. 68 00:05:31,580 --> 00:05:36,360 So the Justice Center for Constitutional Freedoms has been representing Mrs. Lewis throughout 69 00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:42,960 her case, the details of which are partially withheld by a publication ban. 70 00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:47,220 So I've got to be careful what details I provide, especially because I am proud to 71 00:05:47,220 --> 00:05:52,680 disclose, as I've done at least once before, that I participated in the preparation of 72 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:55,360 one of her expert reports. 73 00:05:55,360 --> 00:06:01,680 I helped a medical professional from the Canadian COVID Care Alliance over a year ago get her 74 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:04,120 expert report prepared. 75 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:09,840 And so it pains me to learn that Mrs. Lewis continues to have her life-saving transplant 76 00:06:09,840 --> 00:06:13,160 withheld from her. 77 00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:20,240 But her case has gotten even stronger as of her most recent letter to Alberta Health Services, 78 00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:26,740 which cites a report written by Dr. Stephen Pellick of Connexus Bioinformatics. 79 00:06:26,740 --> 00:06:31,760 We've had Dr. Pellick on the show before to discuss natural immunity to SARS-CoV-2, 80 00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:36,560 alongside Dr. Jack James Lyons-Wyler. 81 00:06:36,560 --> 00:06:44,400 Now Mrs. Lewis recently participated in Connexus' ongoing study on the markers of natural immunity 82 00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:47,920 to the SARS-CoV-2 virus among the general population. 83 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:50,560 I participated as well. 84 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:56,300 Now unsurprisingly, Dr. Pellick's team identified that she had, quote, extremely high levels 85 00:06:56,300 --> 00:07:01,760 of antibodies, which we understand is not the only way to measure immunity to the virus. 86 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:07,040 There's many, many ways, and the point is this is but one, and she's got robust signs 87 00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:09,880 of immunity. 88 00:07:09,880 --> 00:07:16,280 So despite this robust evidence in support of withdrawing this arbitrary policy from 89 00:07:16,280 --> 00:07:25,720 Mrs. Lewis and everyone else in such a situation, they continue to insist that it remains. 90 00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:29,320 There appears to have been little recognition in response to this letter. 91 00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:34,880 I quote, on April 3rd, one of the transplant physicians informed her that despite these 92 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:41,000 test results, which show she has natural immunity to COVID-19, nothing had changed in regard 93 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:46,280 to health care policies pertaining to COVID-19 vaccination requirements, and she would still 94 00:07:46,280 --> 00:07:53,760 need to receive the COVID-19 vaccines before they would agree to give her an organ transplant. 95 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:58,220 He told her that the Connexus report concluded that even with natural immunity, she would 96 00:07:58,220 --> 00:08:01,400 need a booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. 97 00:08:01,400 --> 00:08:06,440 However, the report does not say anything about Ms. Lewis needing a booster dose of 98 00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:10,480 the COVID-19 vaccine to maintain immunity to COVID-19. 99 00:08:10,480 --> 00:08:11,520 I can confirm that. 100 00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:12,740 I've read the report. 101 00:08:12,740 --> 00:08:18,320 It says nothing of the sort, and knowing Dr. Pellick, he would not say that particular 102 00:08:18,320 --> 00:08:20,040 piece of advice. 103 00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:25,220 Now updates on Mrs. Lewis's case can be found, or I suppose Ms. Lewis can be found on the 104 00:08:25,220 --> 00:08:27,960 JCCF's website. 105 00:08:27,960 --> 00:08:33,960 I wish her continued health and hopefully well-being despite her ongoing struggle to 106 00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:39,960 be treated, and I urge those reading and listening to remember that there are many people still 107 00:08:39,960 --> 00:08:45,200 falling victim to harmful and deadly policies such as these. 108 00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:48,640 All right, moving on. 109 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:56,640 This will be our primary story for the day. 110 00:08:56,640 --> 00:09:03,360 Two New York residents arrested for running illegal Chinese police station. 111 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:08,560 On Monday, April 17th, the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York held 112 00:09:08,560 --> 00:09:13,400 a press conference to announce that they had arrested two New York residents for their 113 00:09:13,400 --> 00:09:20,400 role in running an illegal Chinese police station within the city of New York. 114 00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:25,240 Standing alongside representatives of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and national 115 00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:30,440 security officials from the Department of Justice, District Attorney Breon Peace described 116 00:09:30,440 --> 00:09:37,160 the charges pending against Harry Lu Jianwang and Chen Jingping, both citizens of the United 117 00:09:37,160 --> 00:09:38,680 States. 118 00:09:38,680 --> 00:09:44,120 The unsealed filing notes that their prosecution was, quote, in connection with opening and 119 00:09:44,120 --> 00:09:50,480 operating an illegal police station, an illegal overseas police station located in lower Manhattan, 120 00:09:50,480 --> 00:09:57,320 New York for a provincial branch of the Ministry of Public Security. 121 00:09:57,320 --> 00:10:00,080 And now my mouse has broken, unfortunately. 122 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:01,080 Okay. 123 00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:04,480 Man, these technical issues just keep on coming. 124 00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:05,640 All right. 125 00:10:05,640 --> 00:10:10,000 Well, my visuals will update once my mouse comes back online. 126 00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:15,840 Anyway, for a provincial branch of the Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic 127 00:10:15,840 --> 00:10:17,700 of China. 128 00:10:17,700 --> 00:10:21,480 So this story may sound familiar to the, ah, here we go. 129 00:10:21,480 --> 00:10:22,480 Visuals are back. 130 00:10:22,480 --> 00:10:27,760 It may sound familiar to those who have been paying attention sort of at least to some 131 00:10:27,760 --> 00:10:34,480 degree to the news for a while, but perhaps like me, you've had some of the details pass 132 00:10:34,480 --> 00:10:36,440 you by. 133 00:10:36,440 --> 00:10:42,800 Certainly there appears to be an escalation of sorts in rhetoric and actions between China 134 00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:49,480 and the collective West, which I use to refer to the broad coalition of North America, Europe, 135 00:10:49,480 --> 00:10:58,080 Australasia, the West, as new trade relations form in the East and military action looms 136 00:10:58,080 --> 00:11:01,280 around Taiwan. 137 00:11:01,280 --> 00:11:06,240 As pointed out in the Globe and Mail, this undercurrent of covert so-called Chinese police 138 00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:10,120 stations spans far wider than just New York City. 139 00:11:10,120 --> 00:11:14,840 On Wednesday this week, the outlet reported that the FBI discovered photographic evidence 140 00:11:14,840 --> 00:11:20,360 on Liu Jianwen's cell phone that showed, quote, the opening of a similar covert station 141 00:11:20,360 --> 00:11:22,320 in Canada. 142 00:11:22,320 --> 00:11:24,960 It's not just North America, though. 143 00:11:24,960 --> 00:11:28,880 Among the people depicted in a collection of other photos on the phone were, quote, 144 00:11:28,880 --> 00:11:33,280 association presidents from Spain, France, Canada, and the Netherlands, an affidavit 145 00:11:33,280 --> 00:11:39,120 in support of Monday's arrest warrants said. 146 00:11:39,120 --> 00:11:40,560 Now where did this stem from? 147 00:11:40,560 --> 00:11:42,040 This story started somewhere. 148 00:11:42,040 --> 00:11:46,720 A couple of months ago we started hearing about it and it was confusing. 149 00:11:46,720 --> 00:11:47,880 It remains confusing. 150 00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:50,120 So where was the source? 151 00:11:50,120 --> 00:11:52,160 Who first started talking about this? 152 00:11:52,160 --> 00:12:00,320 Well, in September 2022, a non-governmental organization, an NGO called Safeguard Defenders 153 00:12:00,320 --> 00:12:06,720 published an investigative report titled 110 Overseas detailing the People's Republic 154 00:12:06,720 --> 00:12:13,520 of China's efforts to persuade Chinese nationals to return to their home country. 155 00:12:13,520 --> 00:12:19,560 Officially, the government's campaign is aimed at individuals accused of telecommunications 156 00:12:19,560 --> 00:12:25,200 fraud and web crimes that needed to be prosecuted within China. 157 00:12:25,200 --> 00:12:33,080 However, the report argues that using threats and intimidation to target suspects abroad 158 00:12:33,080 --> 00:12:38,560 amounted to violations of international law while, quote, eschewing official bilateral 159 00:12:38,560 --> 00:12:41,400 police and judicial cooperation. 160 00:12:41,400 --> 00:12:46,120 What I mean is there are agreements in place for this kind of thing. 161 00:12:46,120 --> 00:12:50,400 There's extradition treaties and of course these differ between nations. 162 00:12:50,400 --> 00:12:53,580 But the point is a system exists already to do this. 163 00:12:53,580 --> 00:12:58,160 If there are indeed criminals engaging in various kinds of fraud that China has accused 164 00:12:58,160 --> 00:13:02,340 and they want to try them back home, there are systems to accomplish that. 165 00:13:02,340 --> 00:13:08,200 But the system described here is allegedly operating outside of those systems and therefore 166 00:13:08,200 --> 00:13:11,120 outside of international law. 167 00:13:11,120 --> 00:13:16,720 Now the report by Safeguard Defenders is cited as the basis on which the Royal Canadian Mounted 168 00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:22,520 Police, the RCMP, began their investigation back in November of last year given that, 169 00:13:22,520 --> 00:13:27,880 quote, the organization's list of the so-called Chinese police stations includes two in Markham, 170 00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:32,300 Ontario, and one in the Scarborough area of Toronto. 171 00:13:32,300 --> 00:13:37,040 And as far as I can tell, all of the news reports, all of the discussion around this 172 00:13:37,040 --> 00:13:40,120 topic always cite this report. 173 00:13:40,120 --> 00:13:43,300 It stems back to this report from this NGO. 174 00:13:43,300 --> 00:13:45,840 So who is this NGO? 175 00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:54,640 Well the publisher of 110 Overseas, Safeguard Defenders, is a non-profit organization registered 176 00:13:54,640 --> 00:14:03,000 in Spain under the name Fundación Safeguard Defenders. 177 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:08,660 Its origins go back to an organization called the Chinese Urgent Action Working Group founded 178 00:14:08,660 --> 00:14:13,480 in 2009 by Michael Castor and Peter Dahlin. 179 00:14:13,480 --> 00:14:19,220 Called China Action for short, the group operated out of Beijing until 2016. 180 00:14:19,220 --> 00:14:25,380 At that point in time, the Ministry of State Security, slightly different than the Ministry 181 00:14:25,380 --> 00:14:33,360 of Public Security, detained and interrogated Dahlin over the course of 23 days. 182 00:14:33,360 --> 00:14:38,560 The agency then forced China Action to shut down as they were supposedly operating illegally 183 00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:44,400 within China and sent Dahlin fleeing to Madrid, Spain. 184 00:14:44,400 --> 00:14:50,900 After a short period of laying low, the group reorganized into Safeguard Defenders, eventually 185 00:14:50,900 --> 00:14:54,980 registering with the Spanish government in 2019. 186 00:14:54,980 --> 00:14:59,540 But they were operating pretty much as soon as they arrived in Spain. 187 00:14:59,540 --> 00:15:08,320 Now it's important to note, Safeguard Defenders opened an office in Taiwan in May 2022. 188 00:15:08,320 --> 00:15:14,200 Taiwan of course is the focus of much tension between China and the United States. 189 00:15:14,200 --> 00:15:20,360 Given the organization's self-declared opposition to the Chinese Communist Party, the CCP, it 190 00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:26,220 is worth investigating the source of Safeguard Defenders funding in order to ascertain any 191 00:15:26,220 --> 00:15:33,080 outside influence that may threaten the NGO's supposed independence. 192 00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:38,680 Otherwise you go from non-governmental organization to pseudo-governmental organization. 193 00:15:38,680 --> 00:15:45,080 Now unfortunately, this information of who funds the NGO is not readily disclosed. 194 00:15:45,080 --> 00:15:55,020 However, as the fairly transparently pro-CCP outlet CGTN reported in April 2021, the organization 195 00:15:55,020 --> 00:16:04,400 previously received grants from the National Endowment for Democracy and the European Union, 196 00:16:04,400 --> 00:16:10,600 which the outlet suggests were signs that China Action and its successor were operating 197 00:16:10,600 --> 00:16:15,840 to some degree as agents of the United States government. 198 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:22,480 Note that Safeguard Defenders had filed formal complaints against CGTN with the Federal Communications 199 00:16:22,480 --> 00:16:28,960 Commission, the FCC, and its European equivalent, the Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel, 200 00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:30,200 or the CSA. 201 00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:36,360 So it's certainly accurate to accuse or to suggest that the article's author, Keith 202 00:16:36,360 --> 00:16:38,400 Lamb, is biased. 203 00:16:38,400 --> 00:16:39,400 He is. 204 00:16:39,400 --> 00:16:46,920 It is not, however, in question that China Action was funded by the National Endowment 205 00:16:46,920 --> 00:16:53,820 for Democracy and the European Union, as confirmed by many reports such as this one by the New 206 00:16:53,820 --> 00:16:56,720 York Times and others. 207 00:16:56,720 --> 00:17:01,160 I'll just quote from this article here, they appeared intent on gathering information about 208 00:17:01,160 --> 00:17:05,280 groups financed by the National Endowment for Democracy, for example, even though the 209 00:17:05,280 --> 00:17:08,960 European Union had given more money to Mr. Dalin's group, he said. 210 00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:12,500 The National Endowment for Democracy said in a statement that it had not determined 211 00:17:12,500 --> 00:17:18,240 the origins of the document shown to Mr. Dalin, nor how the Chinese authorities obtained a 212 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:27,320 copy, because indeed this passage is describing during his 23-day detainment, the Chinese 213 00:17:27,320 --> 00:17:32,640 government came to him and presented him with documents showing that they knew that the 214 00:17:32,640 --> 00:17:35,960 National Endowment for Democracy had funded the group. 215 00:17:35,960 --> 00:17:37,720 And no one denies that. 216 00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:39,680 They're a little confused how they got them. 217 00:17:39,680 --> 00:17:45,760 But the premise is China is a little bit suspicious of non-government organizations that receive 218 00:17:45,760 --> 00:17:49,480 funding from the government. 219 00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:54,640 Now it's not for bad reason necessarily, because it is also true that the National Endowment 220 00:17:54,640 --> 00:18:00,400 for Democracy has been described by both American and Chinese representatives as a surrogate 221 00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:03,100 for US intelligence agencies. 222 00:18:03,100 --> 00:18:08,460 In fact, Alan Weinstein, co-founder of the National Endowment for Democracy, infamously 223 00:18:08,460 --> 00:18:15,720 told the Washington Post in 1991, quote, a lot of what we do today was done covertly, 224 00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:19,520 25 years ago by the CIA. 225 00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:24,560 The article continues, the biggest difference is that when such activities are done overtly, 226 00:18:24,560 --> 00:18:28,040 the flap potential is close to zero. 227 00:18:28,040 --> 00:18:31,720 Openness is its own protection. 228 00:18:31,720 --> 00:18:34,200 So China agrees big time. 229 00:18:34,200 --> 00:18:42,280 A fact sheet published by the China Ministry of Foreign Affairs in May 2022 describes NED 230 00:18:42,280 --> 00:18:47,080 as quote, one of the US government's main foot soldiers, white gloves and democracy 231 00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:53,420 crusaders having subverted lawful governments and cultivated pro-US puppet forces around 232 00:18:53,420 --> 00:18:58,220 the world under the pretext of promoting democracy. 233 00:18:58,220 --> 00:19:05,160 Which is interesting because that seems sort of like exactly what is being leveled at China 234 00:19:05,160 --> 00:19:11,380 in terms of accusations, that they are operating extra judicially or outside of the standard 235 00:19:11,380 --> 00:19:14,240 systems of intergovernmental relations. 236 00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:22,440 Perhaps you would say it's the opposite side of the same coin. 237 00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:28,040 An accompanying article by Global Times states that NED is nominally an NGO that provides 238 00:19:28,040 --> 00:19:33,640 support for democracy abroad, but in fact, it relies on continuous financial support 239 00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:40,080 from the White House and Congress and takes orders from the US government. 240 00:19:40,080 --> 00:19:46,720 Now as I said, the organization Safeguard Defenders doesn't list its sources of funding 241 00:19:46,720 --> 00:19:50,340 citing safety concerns for its staff and partners. 242 00:19:50,340 --> 00:19:56,320 But the list of team members publicly listed offers another look at the network behind 243 00:19:56,320 --> 00:19:57,320 the organization. 244 00:19:57,320 --> 00:19:59,840 I'm just going to look at one particular gentleman. 245 00:19:59,840 --> 00:20:08,100 Chen Yangting, a coordinator whose biography lists prior journalistic work for Radio Free 246 00:20:08,100 --> 00:20:09,920 Asia. 247 00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:16,800 Now contrary to what the name suggests, Radio Free Asia is actually a subsidiary. 248 00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:22,980 It's part of a network of related media organizations under the United States Agency for Global 249 00:20:22,980 --> 00:20:25,680 Media. 250 00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:32,320 Formerly called the Broadcasting Board of Governors, USAGM is an agency funded and operated 251 00:20:32,320 --> 00:20:36,280 entirely by the United States government. 252 00:20:36,280 --> 00:20:38,080 I want to reiterate this. 253 00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:40,240 It is not simply funded by. 254 00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:46,360 It is in fact an agency of the United States government, just like the FDA, just like the 255 00:20:46,360 --> 00:20:48,960 CDC, just like the Department of Justice. 256 00:20:48,960 --> 00:20:56,720 It operates as an independent agency of the United States government. 257 00:20:56,720 --> 00:21:02,640 Radio Free Asia's board of directors includes Shanti Kalafil, who formerly served as senior 258 00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:09,560 director of the International Forum for Democratic Studies at the National Endowment for Democracy. 259 00:21:09,560 --> 00:21:14,820 So it's getting kind of hard to escape this NED connection here. 260 00:21:14,820 --> 00:21:19,240 Now just because I have done some previous research that has brought me up close and 261 00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:24,800 personal with the USAGM, I wanted to add two further points of interest, just for some 262 00:21:24,800 --> 00:21:26,760 expansion of context. 263 00:21:26,760 --> 00:21:33,920 USAGM is serviced by an investigative intelligence compliance staffing and training contractor 264 00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:40,520 called Computer Evidence Specialists or CES, who also work for a range of federal agencies, 265 00:21:40,520 --> 00:21:46,040 including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services or CMS, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure 266 00:21:46,040 --> 00:21:52,200 Security Agency or CISA, the Food and Drug Administration or the FDA, and the Departments 267 00:21:52,200 --> 00:21:58,840 of Homeland Security, Justice, Interior, Veterans Affairs, and the Navy. 268 00:21:58,840 --> 00:22:01,720 It's in good company. 269 00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:09,800 The second piece of info I want to add is that USAGM is a client of the Poynter Institute, 270 00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:17,000 which lists, by the way, the National Endowment for Democracy as a major funder, and hosts 271 00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:24,700 the infamously dishonest PolitiFact and the International Fact-Checking Network. 272 00:22:24,700 --> 00:22:29,400 Those are programs of the Poynter Institute. 273 00:22:29,400 --> 00:22:32,280 Okay. 274 00:22:32,280 --> 00:22:39,400 Now Ying Ting also previously wrote for Indium Media, whose logo is on the left on the screen 275 00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:45,600 here, and Indium is an outlet backed by venture capital firm W.I. 276 00:22:45,600 --> 00:22:53,800 Harper Group, which has offices in San Francisco, Taipei, and Beijing. 277 00:22:53,800 --> 00:22:56,120 I wanted to learn a little more. 278 00:22:56,120 --> 00:22:57,400 Who is this group? 279 00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:00,440 Well, in April 2020, W.I. 280 00:23:00,440 --> 00:23:06,820 Harper released a statement noting that despite the burgeoning COVID-19 crisis, solidarity 281 00:23:06,820 --> 00:23:10,520 is awakening in the global community. 282 00:23:10,520 --> 00:23:17,340 The statement went on to summarize the efforts of its various portfolio companies in responding 283 00:23:17,340 --> 00:23:20,200 to the declared COVID-19 pandemic. 284 00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:28,020 The listed activities include making and distributing ventilators to Italian hospitals and households 285 00:23:28,020 --> 00:23:36,080 in Europe, an artificial intelligence platform called Project COVID, which describes itself 286 00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:43,080 as a vaccine against misinformation, a remote learning company, a food delivery service, 287 00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:51,360 a digital ID system for medical credentials, and no less than nine news websites. 288 00:23:51,360 --> 00:23:54,400 Okay. 289 00:23:54,400 --> 00:23:56,160 And interestingly, W.I. 290 00:23:56,160 --> 00:24:03,480 Harper Group also appears alongside no less than the World Economic Forum on a 2017 clients 291 00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:09,600 and affiliates list for Entertainment Media Ventures, a company, quote, operating at the 292 00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:14,600 intersection of entertainment, technology, and finance. 293 00:24:14,600 --> 00:24:19,940 You'll see also on this logo wall, we've got Thomson Reuters, which is a Canadian and now 294 00:24:19,940 --> 00:24:27,720 global firm that is, I believe, one of the originators of the Trusted News Initiative, 295 00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:33,920 which has been very happy to channel which information we get and which ones we don't. 296 00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:39,840 You also have UCLA, the Fielding School of Public Health, so Yale School of Management, 297 00:24:39,840 --> 00:24:41,720 so on and so forth. 298 00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:42,720 Okay. 299 00:24:42,720 --> 00:24:43,720 So there you go. 300 00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:50,360 So that's just some context as to who the people are behind this NGO, who may be funding 301 00:24:50,360 --> 00:24:56,640 the NGO currently or indirectly, but definitely formally. 302 00:24:56,640 --> 00:25:07,040 So we're going to land this particular thread here and note that this illegal police station 303 00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:17,080 business is not the only interesting ongoing story involving China. 304 00:25:17,080 --> 00:25:25,080 In fact, to my eye, there seems to be an increasing number of strange narrative threads afoot 305 00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:31,440 with decreasing clarity as to what is real and what is propaganda. 306 00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:36,480 You might call it the fog of war, maybe the fog of impending war. 307 00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:43,280 So if something is propaganda, even when we can identify it reasonably as such, it's even 308 00:25:43,280 --> 00:25:47,600 less clear who is trying to propagandize who. 309 00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:54,560 I'm going to introduce another thread of thought here, something that I've come to learn. 310 00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:57,200 So, this happened. 311 00:25:57,200 --> 00:26:02,240 You may have seen this, maybe not. 312 00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:09,280 Four days ago, a New York rapper named DVS 7.0 boasted on Twitter that he, quote, snapped 313 00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:16,320 on shumbag shifty little Adam Schiff referring, of course, to United States Representative 314 00:26:16,320 --> 00:26:17,760 Adam Schiff from California. 315 00:26:17,760 --> 00:26:21,600 Now, I'm going to see if I can play a video here. 316 00:26:21,600 --> 00:26:28,960 I would like to be able to have us hear exactly what went down. 317 00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:30,440 So let's watch this. 318 00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:35,120 Hey, Schiff, are you going to do another one of those parodies where you make up? 319 00:26:35,120 --> 00:26:37,880 Let's try that again. 320 00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:44,200 Hey, Schiff, are you going to do another one of those parodies where you make up transcripts 321 00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:45,200 again? 322 00:26:45,200 --> 00:26:47,200 Are you going to make up another transcript, Mr. Schiff? 323 00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:51,880 Are you going to fake stories again? 324 00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:56,200 Hey, Schiff, second video. 325 00:26:56,200 --> 00:26:58,200 Yo, what happened? 326 00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:00,200 Telling the truth, that's it. 327 00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:02,200 Hey, can you get my battery, please? 328 00:27:02,200 --> 00:27:04,200 Yeah, yeah, got you. 329 00:27:04,200 --> 00:27:06,200 Oh, my book bag. 330 00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:10,200 Yo, book bag, get his book bag. 331 00:27:10,200 --> 00:27:14,200 Y'all just taking him outside? 332 00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:21,200 Are you guys taking him outside or taking him to a prison? 333 00:27:21,200 --> 00:27:25,200 Thank you for the silence, big heads. 334 00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:30,200 Forgive the language, but as you can see, there was a bit of discussion ongoing there. 335 00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:37,200 So what happened is after exercising his right to criticize his elected official with perhaps 336 00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:43,200 just a hint of harassment thrown in, DVS 7.0 was handcuffed and removed from the premises. 337 00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:45,200 I don't believe he was actually placed under arrest. 338 00:27:45,200 --> 00:27:47,200 I may be wrong. 339 00:27:47,200 --> 00:27:52,200 Now, he had been giving Schiff a hard time throughout his appearance that day at what I learned was 340 00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:59,200 the House Judiciary Committee's meeting on crime, sending him as a result to such viral heights 341 00:27:59,200 --> 00:28:06,200 as being mentioned on the official website for Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign. 342 00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:10,200 Standard mega political stuff, right? 343 00:28:10,200 --> 00:28:20,200 Except that DVS 7.0 appears to have gained the support of a very interesting group of anti-Chinese 344 00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:23,200 Communist Party activists. 345 00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:30,200 The replies, if you scroll through to DVS 7.0's tweet, a significant number of them were left by 346 00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:35,200 users with Chinese characters in their name, which on its own doesn't mean anything. 347 00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:39,200 But let's take a look at a few. 348 00:28:39,200 --> 00:28:47,200 One such commenter named Wan Liu uses his bio to describe himself and an unspecified group of others 349 00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:53,200 as the citizens from the new federal state of China. 350 00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:54,200 Hmm. 351 00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:58,200 And just to read his tweet, thank you so much for fighting against the injustice. 352 00:28:58,200 --> 00:29:04,200 We free loving Chinese people will stand with you and the free loving American people to fight for 353 00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:07,200 our freedom until we have our own democracy. 354 00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:08,200 Thank you, sir. 355 00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:09,200 Your songs are very nice. 356 00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:12,200 I love them. 357 00:29:12,200 --> 00:29:13,200 Very kind. 358 00:29:13,200 --> 00:29:20,200 Another user going by the name Ants Castle One. 359 00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:23,200 His bio simply reads hashtag free miles. 360 00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:26,200 Whoa. 361 00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:33,200 Now, both users in these cases, they reference in their tweets DVS 7.0's music with yet another user 362 00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:41,200 specifically thanking him for the recent release of a song titled Free Miles Go. 363 00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:46,200 Note the interesting design in his profile picture as well. 364 00:29:46,200 --> 00:29:48,200 He says, thank you so much, my brother. 365 00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:51,200 What you speak out is the voice in my mind. 366 00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:52,200 I love your song. 367 00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:57,200 Free Miles Go appreciated for your support to justice. 368 00:29:57,200 --> 00:29:58,200 Now, Free Miles Go. 369 00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:00,200 OK, so we have a song to listen to. 370 00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:09,200 It was released on April 8th, 2023, and it can be heard on iTunes, Spotify and YouTube for those so inclined. 371 00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:13,200 We're just going to listen to the opening monologue included in the track. 372 00:30:13,200 --> 00:30:25,200 So Miles Go's arrest has started a new revolution, the American Revolution of the independence movement from the CCP led by the new federal state of China. 373 00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:29,200 Free Miles Go! 374 00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:40,200 So as you may have heard, it alludes to a new revolution against the CCP and once again names this new federal state of China. 375 00:30:40,200 --> 00:30:45,200 And at the end, she screams Free Miles Go. 376 00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:58,200 As you can see, the cover art once again features the name and face of a man who's beginning to simmer to the surface here a little. 377 00:30:58,200 --> 00:31:02,200 His name is Miles Go. 378 00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:04,200 Or is it? 379 00:31:04,200 --> 00:31:08,200 Now, this is a question that we'll seek to answer next week. 380 00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:20,200 As I believe there is a very interesting Miles Go string to pull that may further illuminate what's going on as far as China's current role in North America goes. 381 00:31:20,200 --> 00:31:24,200 For today, questions are what we're left with. 382 00:31:24,200 --> 00:31:32,200 Whatever is going on in this interesting little thread here, DVS 7.0 is not acting as a bystander. 383 00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:41,200 It seems his interaction with Schiff is part of a larger effort, a larger campaign that DVS has chosen to join up with, for better or worse. 384 00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:47,200 We're looking at a picture of DVS 7.0 wearing a t-shirt at the event that says Free Miles Go! 385 00:31:47,200 --> 00:31:56,200 Stop CCP's weaponization of the DOJ, FBI, and perhaps CIA...oh, SEC. 386 00:31:56,200 --> 00:32:00,200 Take down the Chinese Communist Party. 387 00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:05,200 Now, I don't know DVS, and I certainly do not cast aspersions at him. 388 00:32:05,200 --> 00:32:09,200 I have nothing, no beef with DVS. 389 00:32:09,200 --> 00:32:22,200 Though, I admit, this collection of details just in the last couple of minutes leaves me faintly alarmed, given the uncertain nature of what the heck is going on between China and the rest of the world. 390 00:32:22,200 --> 00:32:46,200 So look, I hope this episode has laid out reasons, using these two examples, to treat both sides of this China vs. US vs. the North vs. whatever story as unreliable narrators, and remind listeners slash readers of the importance of rounding the news of its most biased points. 391 00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:56,200 Identifying sources of funding and ideological bend are key to processing the onslaught of information funneled in our direction every day. 392 00:32:56,200 --> 00:33:03,200 And only then can one begin to seek the truth somewhere in the middle of it all. 393 00:33:03,200 --> 00:33:08,200 In the meantime, a personal word of caution. 394 00:33:08,200 --> 00:33:17,200 Trust, but not blindly. Verify, but don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. 395 00:33:17,200 --> 00:33:26,200 Use your conscience as your filter, and don't hesitate to leave a situation if your instinct says it's time. 396 00:33:26,200 --> 00:33:36,200 But don't make the mistake of losing faith in the good nature of people hidden deep underneath layers of confusion and apprehension. 397 00:33:36,200 --> 00:33:51,200 There surely are bad actors out there, and their influence is disproportionate, but they are the few. Good people are the many. 398 00:33:51,200 --> 00:34:07,200 Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for watching this episode of Rounding the News. If you want to support the show or continue diving into the show notes and engaging in discussion about this and other topics, join us over at roundingtheearth.locals.com. 399 00:34:07,200 --> 00:34:13,200 If you want to financially support the show, you can do so for as little as $5 a month over there. 400 00:34:13,200 --> 00:34:26,200 I also, as always, recommend if you haven't yet become a subscriber to roundingtheearth.substack.com, which is written by Matthew Crawford, the founder of Rounding the Earth, then I highly recommend you waste no further time doing so. 401 00:34:26,200 --> 00:34:46,200 And last but not least, as a musician, I would love if everybody gave five minutes to go and visit me at liamsturgis.com, where I think you will find, well, no songs about Miles Guo yet, but other music you may very well enjoy and hopefully brighten your day just a little. 402 00:34:46,200 --> 00:34:56,200 But in the meantime, ladies and gentlemen, thank you again, and we will see you on Monday. 403 00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:21,200 Thank you.