Forced Organ Harvesting Bill Passed by Senate: What to Know

0:00Welcome, good morning, and thank you for joining me here with the morning brief. It's Friday, October 2nd, and I'm Keegan Billings with the Epic Times, one of America's largest independent newspapers. Now, like always, let's start with a quick rundown of some of our top stories. First off, I'll get into the bill that's tackling systematic forced organ harvesting in China. It got the Senate Greenlight earlier this week. I'll get into the key things to know about the legislation and why Americans should care. It's a convoy of truck drivers circled the National Mall and the nation's capital. It was part of an annual event to draw awareness to the faces behind the industry that keeps America's commerce moving. Meanwhile, the convicted murderer, Christopher Pikes, is in critical condition after surviving a botched execution in Tennessee. Moving on to Florida, a county there is working to remove all of its flock cameras from local roads, but officials discovered several mystery cameras that were installed without their knowledge or approval. Even on the topic of the Middle East, a defense official told us that a carrier strike

1:00group and an amphibious ready group carrying Marines was deployed from the West Coast this week in route to the Middle East. Alright, but before I get into all these stories and more, if you haven't already, please show your support for Epic Times and independent journalism by leaving a five star review of this show on your podcast platform. Or if you have some time, head over to www.ratethispodcast.com forward slash morning brief. Our team would really appreciate it. Ok, let's get back to that forced organ harvesting bill. A bill tackling systematic forced organ harvesting in China is now headed to the house after getting the Senate green light on September 28th. Now the bill passes the Senate with unanimous consent. It's dubbed the Fallen Gong and Victims of forced organ harvesting protection act. The bill addresses an issue that is gaining growing attention here in the United States. So forced organ harvesting refers to the involuntary extraction of organs, often resulting in the victim's death. Now, as early as 2006, whistleblowers raised the alarm about the abuses taking place in China under Beijing's auspices.

2:03In 2019, the London-based China Tribunal concluded a year-long investigation into the issue. It found that forced organ harvesting had taken place in the country for years on a significant scale. According to the Tribunal, a major victim group is practitioners of Fallen Gong. It also said weager Muslims were at risk while being detained in re-education camps and China's Xinjiang region. Now if you didn't know, Fallen Gong is a spiritual practice with meditative exercises based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. It was first introduced to the public in China in 1992. Then by the end of the decade, an estimated 70 million to 100 million people in China had taken up the practice. Then the CCP, considering Fallen Gong's popularity of threat to its power, initiated a nationwide campaign in 1999 to wipe it out. The practitioners in China have faced brutal suppression since then. Now survivors from both campaigns have recounted arbitrary arrests, forced labor, and grueling torture in prison.

3:04Meanwhile, China's organ transplant industry continues to grow, drawing patients from all over the world with waiting times as short as days. That's compared with possibly years in the West. Now we talked to Dr. Torstens Ray, the executive director for Doctors Against Force Organ Harvesting. He told us, we call it an on-demand system. He said, a request for organs would trigger the search for a matching donor, who could be a political prisoner with the right blood type and tissue factors. He likened it to a living pool of non-consenting donors who will be slaughtered like cattle. Trey, whose medical ethics group has for years been pushing for legislative change, explained why this bill matters. Trey said the legislation can help protect US citizens from being lured to China for transplants. By going to China, he said they might become complicit in the killing of an innocent prisoner of conscience. So the US is yet to make a formal assessment on the issue. Embasying has failed to provide a full credible and independently verifiable response, despite repeated international calls.

4:04So the bill calls for the US government to condemn the practice of forced organ harvesting, and the bill would sanction foreign individuals for carrying out or facilitating the abuse. It would bar them from entering the US and block them from having US transactions. In those violating the sanctions, risk facing up to $250,000 for a civil offense, or $1 million in 20 years in prison and criminal penalties. It also directs the State Department to conduct an investigation. And within a year of the bill's passage, the Secretary of State would report to Congress about China's organ transplantation practices and policies. The report would assess whether the Chinese regime conducts systematic forced organ harvesting, and look into where the organs are from, how fast they are obtained, and whether that timetable is practical in the country. Also the report will list all US grants in the prior decade going to the Chinese organ transplant system. And should it find the abuse to be taking place at scale, the US officials would evaluate whether forced organ harvesting in China constitutes an atrocity. Okay, now let's move on to that trucker Convoy in DC.

5:08A Convoy of truck drivers circled the National Mall in the nation's capital as part of an annual event to draw awareness to the faces behind the industry that keeps America's commerce moving. Now the rising cost of diesel, which reached average prices of more than $6 per gallon last month, as well as the difficulties that those costs place on the big rig operators, and the trickle down effects that lead to higher prices at the grocery store, were all top of mind at the event. The A-thane you will tend for DC event has been cast by some as a protest against unfair standards in the industry. But attendees told us that it is more of a public education event on the appreciation of trucking subculture and the do's and don'ts of driving near an 80,000 pound rig. Now the drivers were friendly and in good spirits and you could hear country music in the air. One of the truckers Daniel Snow told us it's a domino effect and the trucker is not getting the money in between. The increase in diesel prices largely driven by the conflict in Iran has hit truck drivers hard, especially if they operate independently.

6:11Even driver David Mitchell said it cost him about $1,400 to fill his $300 gallon tank. He said that comes out of my pocket because I own the business. Now that $1,400 worth of fuel will last me only three days, so I'm doing that twice a week. He said six months ago it was less than half of that. Now part of the annual rally's purpose is to draw lawmakers attention to the trucker's concerns. President Trump has taken notice and suggested last month that he might halt diesel exports, be more supply in the US and driving down costs. And the president is still mulling the decision. He said because some members of his cabinet are worried that it might indirectly increase the cost of other goods. Okay, now let's move on to the war department for our next story. The Department of War doubled the hostile fire pay and imminent danger pay for US military members. It's the first such increase since 2002. Now a memorandum issued by Timothy Dill, the Assistant Secretary of War for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, increased hostile fire pay to $450 per month and imminent danger

7:15pay to $275 per month. Before the change, both hostile fire pay and imminent danger pay have been capped at $225 per month for 24 years. Now Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell and a post on X said our troops in harm's way deserve compensation that reflects their risk. Parnell said that under the current leadership, the Pentagon is recognizing the real operational risks our warfighters face daily. Now the increase comes more than seven months after the start of the war with Iran. As of September 29th, the Pentagon reported 19 US troops have been killed and 861 have been wounded since the start of the conflict. Okay, let's move on to Florida for our next story. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the state cabinet on Tuesday designated the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as the Council on American Islamic Relations, also known as CARE, and ANTIFA as terrorist organizations under a law enacted earlier this year. A move that bars them from public funding and is already facing a first amendment challenge.

8:17In a post on X, DeSantis tied the action to what he called the anti-Sharil law signed earlier this year. Now the vote also placed more than 90 federally designated foreign terrorist organizations on Florida's list, including the Sina Loa, Noreste and Gulfo cartels, Trende Aragua, and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. DeSantis has said CARE has ties to terror groups. However, CARE has denied any such ties. The ACLU of Florida, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and other council representing CARE and CARE Florida have challenged the designation in two federal lawsuits, calling it unconstitutional and baseless. The ACLU said that CARE is the country's largest Muslim civil rights organization. Hina Shamsi, the director of ACLU's National Security Project, said there are simply no legitimate grounds to brand our clients with a reviled label, impose crippling criminal penalties, and force them to shut their doors in Florida. The ACLU said that, of course, do not intervene, the designation will become effective on November 5th. The designation's rest on House Bill 1471, which DeSantis signed in April.

9:22At a press conference in April, the governor called the measure the strongest action Florida has ever taken against terror. He said we shouldn't have people in this country that hate this country. He said that's been a problem for decades. In April 6th statement, he said the measure strengthened protections against the application of foreign and religious laws, including Sharia law, that violate constitutional rights, and establish new safeguards against terrorist organizations operating in Florida. Okay, let's move on to California for our next story. Governor Gavin Newsom there ordered state agencies to keep using the term artificial intelligence. It comes one day after President Trump directed the federal executive branch to replace it with superintelligence. Newsom signed an executive order saying all agencies and departments under his authority shall refer to artificial intelligence and AI as artificial intelligence and AI. Now the order says that while terminology can have significance, purporting to change something's name cannot distract a person of normal intelligence from recognizing the

10:22impotent and craven failure to take action to address well-documented emerging security and safety risks posed by that thing. Now the order does not name Trump or the White House, however an accompanying statement by Newsom does reference the president. Alright, now let's move on to our next story. The convicted murderer, Christophe Pijk, is in critical condition after surviving a botched execution in Tennessee. That's according to her lawyers. Now Pijk, who was convicted in 1995 of killing a 19 year old woman and convicted in 2001 of attempted first degree murder in the assault of another emate, was strapped down on Wednesday and given two doses of Pento Barbital at a prison in Nashville. Witnesses said they heard Pijk snoring and making other noises following the administration of the drug and an ambulance eventually transported her elsewhere. Now Pijk's lawyers said that they estimated there were 15 to 20 minutes that Pijk was suffering in the execution chamber without receiving medical treatment. After her lawyers Randy Spivy and Stephen Farrell said they want to discover what happened.

11:25They said that medical experts had said it would be difficult to access Pijk's veins because of a blood condition she has and reference remarks she made in the chamber about her arm feeling like it was going to explode. In response Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, a Republican, ordered a halt to all executions in the state through the end of the year. Okay let's circle back to Florida for an next story. As a Florida County works to remove all of its flock safety automated license plate readers from local roads, officials discovered several mystery cameras that were installed without their knowledge or approval. Now the Washington Post first reported on August 1st that after St. Lucie County decided to remove all of its flock cameras which have received scrutiny over police misuse and constitutional privacy concerns, officials found 14 mysterious cameras that were installed without permits. The St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office claimed three of the unpermitted cameras as their own according to the Post report but did not explain why they were installed without county approval and permits. Other law enforcement agencies in the county did not take responsibility for the remaining

12:29cameras. Now St. Lucie County spokesperson Eric Gill confirmed the post reporting on the unpermitted cameras to the epic times but directed all questions about the Sheriff's Office to his public information officer. He said staff are still working to identify which agency installed the unpermitted cameras and have already spoken with flock about the situation. Gill added that county officials have posted removal notices on the cameras that give whoever installed them a deadline to take the cameras down. The removal dates are between October 16th and October 20th depending on the date the notice was posted. Gill said once the deadline passes staff will begin removing the cameras or adding coverings so they cannot record video. Okay let's move on to Massachusetts for a next story. According to a report by the state's Attorney General there it says that Catholic clerics abused nearly a thousand children across three diocese in Massachusetts. So a year's long investigation found evidence that 275 clerics including priests and nuns

13:29abused children and that 944 kids reported being sexually abused. That's according to the report released by Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell. The probe examined allegations of child sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic diocese of Fall River, Springfield and Worcester and how the diocese handled the allegations. Investigators said the diocese failed to respond adequately to child sex allegations including by failing to act on some allegations as well as transferring accused priests to other parishes without disclosing reasons for the transfers and failing to consistently report allegations to law enforcement. Now the alleged abuse largely took place before 2002 before the Boston Globe reported that priests at the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston abused children and that officials covered up the abuse. The diocese under examination have improved policies since then. The Springfield diocese has signed a policy that mandates reporting suspected abuse of children. The Attorney General's report states that the Attorney General's office cannot indict or prosecute the crimes it discovered because of legal constraints such as statutes of

14:34limitations. Now three cases were referred to local district attorneys and one resulted in criminal charges. The diocese of Worcester said that it welcomed the new report. This is the report validates their own report originally issued in 2004 and updated following the grand jury investigation. Okay, let's move on to our next story. The judge in the Lindsay Clancy Murder Case denied a motion by her lawyer asking to find his client not guilty in the deaths of her three children. Judge William Sullivan found county prosecutors had presented enough evidence for any reasonable jury to potentially conclude beyond a reasonable doubt Clancy was responsible for the murders. Now her attorney, Kevin Reddington, told the judge in a hearing earlier this week that prosecutors had not provided proof that Clancy killed her young children despite having previously argued that Clancy was not guilty by reason of insanity. The first trial ended in a deadlocked jury on September 4th. Reddington had told the court his client seemed to have false memories of that night and any emissions she made were uncoroperated.

15:37He asked the judge to issue a finding of not guilty and throw the charges out because the state did not prove its case. Clancy allegedly admitted guilt several times in January 2023. Plumas County District Attorney Timothy Cruz told reporters he has not yet decided whether to pursue a second trial following the mistrial. By the way, if you're enjoying our morning brief, you'd probably like our sister podcast epic reports as well. With that podcast, we published multiple episodes per week, but each episode will stick with one topic and give a much deeper report along with interviews and that comes from our premium content. If you're interested, there'll be a link in the show's notes. Okay, let's move on to some world news. Starting off, a US defense official told us that a carrier strike group and an amphibious ready group carrying Marines deployed from the West Coast this week. It's in route to the Middle East. The aircraft carrier USS D. Adore Roosevelt set sail from San Diego on September 27. And the make in island amphibious ready group and its embarked 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit set sail from San Diego on September 28.

16:39Now these deployments come amid the ongoing arm standoff with Iran. So the George Washington and George H. W. Bush carrier strike groups and the boxer amphibious ready group are already operating in the waterways of the Middle East. So with the latest deployments, there could be three carrier strike groups and two amphibious ready groups simultaneously operating in the waters of the Middle East by late November. Last month, President Trump predicted the Iran conflict would end immediately after the midterm elections in November, as it will determine which party will control Congress. Now this week, Trump declined to rule out new US strikes on Iran ahead of the elections. So these latest force deployments could provide Trump with expanded options for escalatory military action against Iran. Now sticking with the topic of Iran, the US government imposed additional sanctions against Iran on October 1. They're now targeting Iran's automotive and rail industries, as the Trump administration continues to pressure the regime to make a deal. The sanctions, which the Treasury said will target some of the last significant elements

17:39of Iran's failing industrial infrastructure, came as part of an expansion of Operation Economic Outcast. Now Thursday sanctions targeted what the Treasury described as the critical arteries the Iranian regime has relied on to evade sanctions and maintain its economy. Treasury Secretary Scott Bassett previously told Fox News on September 27th that Iran would have nothing to trade for anything, probably within the next two weeks, after it finished delivering its remaining oil exports. And on the topic of the Strait of Hormuz, analysts say that Iran has lost control of the Great, as Persian Gulf exports inch closer to pre-conflict levels. Now excluding Iran, Middle East oil shipments reached at least 16.5 million barrels per day in September, that's according to data from Marine tracking from Kepler, released on September 30th. The resurgence is being driven primarily by regional energy producers, shifting their oil logistics. About 40% of crude now leaves the Gulf without transiting the Strait of Hormuz, up from 17% before the conflict began in late February.

18:41In its report Kepler said the barrels are back, but the export system moving them is fundamentally different. Alright, now let's move on to our next story. US Trade Representative James Ingrier called on European nations to release their diesel reserves, as the price of the vital fuel continues to soar. Now Grier, who is hosting G20 Trade Ministers in Milwaukee, made the comments in an interview with Bloomberg TV on October 1st. When asked whether the ban on US exports of diesel that President Trump has considered, but not yet instituted had come up during the interview. And Grier said that the issue had been raised on a bilateral basis. Grier said that the Trump administration's view is that this rise in prices is a one-time spike, rather than something longer. He added that the Europeans, they're sitting on reserves of diesel, and our sense would be they should probably release some of these, if they're feeling like they're having a spike in Europe. Now asked whether he had spoken with any of his European counterparts about the subject, Grier said he had a very good conversation with the French Trade Minister. He said, I let him know that this is an idea that we've had in the US, and that we'd love

19:45to have a collaborative response to this. Ok, moving on to the topic of the allegedly attempted hijack of the fly Dubai flight. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the copilot who allegedly attempted to hijack the flight, carrying primarily Israeli passengers on September 30th, was an Omani National, who went through an Islamist, radical indoctrination. While Netanyahu said he could not make final conclusions yet, he suggested that it looked very likely that the rogue pilot intended to crash the plane with everyone on board. Netanyahu offered two possibilities regarding how the copilot was able to access a weapon on the airplane. He suggested that the copilot might not have passed through a metal detector and could have carried a knife or an axe with him. Netanyahu added that the copilot could have obtained an axe from equipment included on the airplane. And in more on the topic, an Israeli passenger who assisted in taking down the copilot after allegedly stabbed the aircraft's captain, said watching the show Air Crash Investigation helped him know how to stabilize the diving fly Dubai jet.

20:49Now the 50-year-old Yaneev Hayun is an Israeli sewage pumping company owner. He said he rushed into the cockpit, put the attacker in a choke hold and pulled him out. After helping others subdue the copilot, Hayun said he returned to the controls and pulled the plane out of its dive. Hayun was traveling with his wife and two daughters. Another pilot aboard took over and a second crew landed the aircraft safely in Saudi Arabia. Now when asked how he knew what to do to stabilize the diving plane, he said, I watch Air Crash Investigation. So the program is a TV show that reenacts air disasters using actors and reports. The show debuted in 2003 and has produced 25 seasons. Alright, now let's move on to our last story for today. On the topic of China, Starbucks branded stores have opened in China's Xinjiang region for the first time. It has prompted the Chairman of the House Committee focused on China to call on the company to close the locations over the communist regime's treatment of Uyghurs there. Now according to the Chinese Embassy and the company's official China store locator,

21:50two Starbucks branded stores opened in Yerumqi on September 29th. One is that the city's grand bazaar and the others at Yerumqi Tian Shan International Airport. Rep John Molenar, the chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, criticized the openings on October 1st and called on Starbucks to close the stores. The committee said the company had opened stores in a region where the ruling CCP has carried out abuses against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities. Molenar said this is a shocking and morally bankrupt decision by a company that prides itself on social responsibility. He said there was no justifiable reason for an American company to operate in a region where the CCP has detained more than a million Uyghurs and is stripping them of their faith, language and culture. He said every cup sold in these stores ties an iconic American brand to the CCP's brutal campaign against the Uyghurs. He said Starbucks should immediately reverse course and close its stores in Xinjiang. Alright now wrapping up for today but before we leave like always here are some words of wisdom to start your day and today's quote is by the French writer Victor Hugo.

22:55He said change your opinions, keep to your principles, change your leaves, keep intact your roots. Alright I want to thank you for listening to the Epic Times Morning Brief and before I sign off if you've enjoyed this please leave us a positive review on your podcast platform our team would really appreciate it. Once again I'm Keegan with the Epic Times, I hope you have a good rest of your day and a good weekend and since the news never stops I'll see you back here on Monday with another morning brief.