Podcast
Facts Matter
Hosted by The Epoch Times · EN
"Facts Matter" investigates complex issues based on the principles of traditional journalism: no spin, no favorites. We give you the facts—you decide the rest.
101episodes
Episodes
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Former CIA Director Dies, Wife Says They Spent His Last Years Looking for Cure to Havana Syndrome
2d ago00:29:55Summary readyHavana Syndrome refers to a mysterious set of symptoms—headaches, dizziness, tinnitus, and cognitive issues—that has affected more than 1,500 U.S. intelligence and diplomatic personnel since 2016. The latest case, which was the most high-profile to date, is that of the former CIA Director James Woolsey, whose wife said that he was suffering from Havana Syndrome in the years leading up to his recent death. Let’s go through the details of what we know about this mysterious malady.
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US Praises Venezuela for Initiating Withdrawal From ICC
4d ago00:19:34Summary readyVenezuelan interim President Delcy Rodríguez has formally begun withdrawing the country from the International Criminal Court (ICC). The United States, which never ratified the Rome Statute and has long viewed the ICC as a threat to its own sovereignty, publicly praised the move and framed it as support for an American-led effort to dismantle what the Department of State calls a “corrupt and worthless” court. Let’s go through the details.
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Multiple US Embassies Issue Warnings to Americans
1w ago00:12:08Summary readyLet's go through the most recent spate of warnings, arising primarily from the Iran war, issued by the U.S. State Department and the embassies of several different countries.
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Texas Woman Arrested Over Facebook Post, Goes on Legal Offensive
2w ago00:13:26Summary readyA woman in Texas was shocked when she opened her front door and found the local police standing there, ready to arrest her over a Facebook post.And the reason she was shocked was because that post wasn’t threatening anyone, nor was it calling for violence. Instead, she was simply commenting on the horrible quality of the water in the town’s local water supply.One of our senior reporters here at The Epoch Times, Darlene McCormick Sanchez, went to where this all took place to get the full story. So today, let’s go through the details.
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Federal Judge Issues Ruling on Trump IRS Lawsuit
2w ago00:13:17Summary readyA federal judge on July 13 found that President Donald Trump improperly used a $10 billion lawsuit he filed against the IRS to extract personal benefits from the government he oversees, preventing the terms of a settlement agreement from taking legal effect.Miami-based U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams excoriated Trump's personal lawyers and attorneys in his administration, concluding their interests were not opposed to each other as is legally required for civil lawsuits. Williams referred a Trump lawyer in the case and senior Justice Department officials who signed off on the settlement to state bar authorities to determine whether their actions violated legal ethics rules.Let’s go through the details of why she took these steps.
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Cause of Gravity Hole Underneath Antarctica's Ice Sheet Gets Mapped Out in New Study
3w ago00:14:06Summary readyThe story I’m bringing you today is one that you’ve probably never heard of before. Because, for one, it involves a continent that very few people have been on: Antarctica; and secondly, it involves a concept that very few people are familiar with: gravity holes. And right off the bat, I’ll mention that it’s not science fiction, nor is it a conspiracy theory. Gravity holes really do exist. The earth’s outer layers have different densities in different places (because the distribution of mass beneath the crust and the mantle isn’t consistent)—the effect of gravity is not perfectly uniform across the whole planet. It’s weaker in places that are less dense. In those places, you get what are known as gravity anomalies, where the gravitational pull is measurably weaker than the global average. Colloquially, these are known as gravity holes. These gravity holes can affect a person’s weight (you would weigh a little bit less if you were standing in one of these regions)—and also, they can affect sea levels (weaker gravity means that the ocean surface sits a little bit lower in those places). Interestingly, the largest gravity hole on the planet happens to be located beneath the most sparsely populated continent on the planet: Antarctica. Just earlier this year, a new study was published that worked to map out not only the mantle layer of the Earth beneath Antarctica, but also the 70-million-year-long process in which it was formed. Let’s go through it together.
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The Imported Asian Disease That Wiped Out 95 Percent of Florida’s Orange Industry in One Generation
3w ago00:16:07Summary readyIn 2003, Florida harvested 242 million boxes of oranges. This season, they’re expecting 12 million.That’s a 95 percent drop in just over 20 years—in a single generation.Something’s very wrong with Florida’s orange industry, and that something came here from China.Citrus farmers all over the Sunshine State are seeing the destruction of their family farms and their livelihoods. Some are fighting back—but the challenges they face make the effort a true uphill battle.Let’s go through it all together.
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Journals Retract Papers Cited by CDC in Its Updated Vaccine Guidelines; RFK Responds
4w ago00:14:38Summary readyUnder Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s leadership at the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention softened its longstanding position in November 2025, shifting from “vaccines do not cause autism” to stating the evidence isn’t strong enough to completely rule out a possible link, citing several older studies on aluminum adjuvants and vaccine timing.Months later, key studies used to justify that change were retracted by journals for methodological flaws, sparking backlash from Kennedy, who demanded greater transparency, while the CDC’s revised stance faced fresh scrutiny.Let's go through the details together.
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Catholic Nuns Sue NY Over State's LGBT Mandate on Pronouns, Bathrooms, and Extramarital Affairs
Jul 800:14:54Summary readyThe Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne say they have run Rosary Hill Home for 125 years, providing free palliative care to thousands of poor, terminally ill cancer patients without taking taxpayer money.New York’s LGBTQ Long-Term Care Bill of Rights now threatens them with fines, license revocation, or prison for refusing to use preferred pronouns, allow opposite-sex bathroom use, or undergo gender ideology training, prompting a religious-freedom lawsuit in which the U.S. Department of Justice has joined them as a co-plaintiff.
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Supreme Court Reverses 91-Year-Old Precedent, Allows President to Fire the Heads of 'Independent Agencies'
Jul 300:13:30Summary readyAside from the significant losses that were handed to him in a series of Supreme Court decisions, President Donald Trump did score one significant victory.The case in question was called Trump v. Slaughter, and the decision in that case bestowed significantly more power and authority not just to Trump, but to the office of the president itself—whoever that may be in the future.Let’s go through the details of that case together.
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