NEW YOR K | DC EDITION
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In the News
NEWS
Corporate leaders’ push-
back against Georgia’s new
voting law is “economic
blackmail” and disinforma-
tion, Senate Minority Leader
Mitch McConnell says. ... A5
Increasing the corporate
tax rate by 8 percent won’t
drive companies out of the
United States, President Joe
Biden says. ... A3
A group seeking to exam-
ine ballots cast in the 2020
election shouldn’t be granted
access to the original ballots,
Georgia’s secretary of state
says. ... A4
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox has
signed a bill that requires bio-
logical fathers to pay half of the
medical costs associated with
pregnancy and delivery. ...A7
The FBI is warning that the
production or possession of
fake COVID-19 vaccine record
cards is illegal. ... A2
The Supreme Court has
dismissed a lawsuit from for-
mer President Donald Trump
that asked the justices to al-
low him to block critics on
Twitter. ... A7
A former adviser to Rep.
Matt Gaetz says that FBI
agents approached him with
false allegations, causing him
to believe that the recent
claims against his ex-boss
are also untrue. ... A6
The man who allegedly
rammed a car into a barrier
at the U.S. Capitol may have
been suffering from drug
abuse or mental illness, his
family says. ... A8
A Florida jail was evacuated
after a reservoir leak was dis-
covered near a wastewater
containment area in Manatee
County. ... A8
CHINA
A province in the Pacific is
refusing to bow to pressure
from Beijing by continuing to
support Taiwan. ... A9
Chinese officials are avoiding
COVID-19 vaccinations by cit-
ing a range of health reasons,
leaked documents show. ...A9
BUSINESS
GameStop Corp. has in-
creased the value of new
stock it may sell from $100
million to $1 billion, the com-
pany says. ... A17
The Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau is pro-
posing to allow homeowners
struggling from the pandemic
to be evaluated before mort-
gage firms initiate foreclo-
sures. ... A17
OPINION
Roger L. Simon: Virtue Signal-
ing Replaces Baseball as Ameri-
ca’s National Pastime...A13
Diane Dimond: Readers to
Politicians: You’re Not Listen-
ing!...A14
Bonner R. Cohen: Cyberse-
curity of Wind Power a Growing
Concern...A16
LIFESTYLE
Thomas Becket’s life, death,
sainthood, and legacy are ex-
plored in the first large UK
show dedicated to the saint.
...B1
Dostoevsky’s “Demons”
predicted the fall of Russia to
socialism, but the book could
have been written about to-
day. ...B2
DON’T DELAY.
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| T U E S D A Y, A P R I L 6 , 2 0 21
SUPREME COURT
SCOTUS Rules in Favor
of Google in Copyright Case
Oracle sought about $9 billion in damages in a case involving
Google’s use of code from Java program
BY MATTHEW VADUM
G
oogle didn’t infringe
Oracle’s copyright when
it used that company’s
programming code in
the Android cellphone operating
system, the Supreme Court ruled
April 5 in overturning a lower court
ruling that favored Oracle.
Android is the most popular cell-
phone operating system in the world.
Oracle had been seeking $9 billion
in damages in the decade-old litiga-
tion between the tech companies
that could have changed the rules
of the road for the software industry.
Justice Stephen Breyer wrote the
6–2 decision for the high court in
TAIWAN
US, Australia
Preparing
‘Contingencies’
Around Possible
Taiwan Conflict
BY DANIEL Y. TENG
Australia and the United States are
working on “contingencies” if there
is an outbreak of conflict around
Taiwan, according to a senior U.S.
diplomat.
Michael Goldman, charge
d’affaires at the U.S. Embassy in
Canberra, told The Australian
National University’s (ANU) Na-
tional Security Podcast last week
that Australia and the United States
are working closely together on se-
curity issues.
“I think we’re committed as al-
lies to working together, not only
in making our militaries interoper-
able and functioning well together
but also in strategic planning,”
BORDER SECURITY
DHS Watchdog Finds Mistreatment of Illegal Immigrants
at Holding Facility
BY ZACHARY STIEBER
A Department of Homeland Secu-
rity (DHS) detention facility took
an average of more than three days
to respond to sick call requests and
didn’t enforce COVID-19 pandemic
precautions, a watchdog found.
An unannounced remote in-
spection of the Immigration and
Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) La
Palma Correctional Center in Eloy,
Accuracy The Epoch Times was founded in 2000 as an independent newspaper with the goal to restore accuracy and
integrity in media. We have received numerous awards for our reporting, including from the Society of Professional
& Integrity Journalists, the Society for News Design, and the New York Press Association.
Truth & Tradition
Google’s headquarters in New York on Jan. 25, 2021.
Google LLC v. Oracle America Inc.,
court file 18-956. The case came to
the court on appeal from the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the Federal
Circuit.
Justice Clarence Thomas filed a
dissenting opinion in which he ac-
cused the court majority of shying
away from crucial legal issues in the
case; Justice Samuel Alito joined
the dissent. Justice Amy Coney Bar-
rett, who wasn’t yet a member of the
court when the case was heard tele-
phonically on Oct. 7, 2020, didn’t
participate in the case.
Austin, Texas-based Oracle
America Inc., owns the copyright
for Java SE, a computer program
that uses the popular Java comput-
Taiwanese soldiers take positions alongside domestically made M110A2 self-pro-
pelled guns during the annual Han Kuang military drills in Taichung on July 16, 2020.
Goldman said.
“And when you look at strategic
planning, it covers the range of con-
tingencies that you’ve mentioned,
of which Taiwan is obviously an
important component.”
Beijing’s hostile rhetoric toward
Taiwan has increased over the past
year, since the reelection of Presi-
dent Tsai Ing-wen.
LPCC VIA DHS OIG
La Palma Correctional Center staff fire
chemical agents at detainees who are
protesting in a housing area, in Eloy,
Ariz., on April 13, 2020.
MICHAEL M. SANTIAGO/GETTY IMAGES
MANDEL NGAN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a dis-
senting opinion, which was joined by
Justice Samuel Alito, in a 6–2 ruling.
er programming language. Google,
without permission, copied a por-
tion of that program that enables a
programmer to call up prewritten
software that, together with the
Continued on A3
SAM YEH/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
In recent months, Chinese mili-
tary jets have also made near-
daily incursions into Taiwanese
airspace, with the largest being in
late March, when 20 Chinese mili-
tary planes entered Taiwan’s Air
Defence Identification Zone.
Goldman said working together
with allies would be the key to main-
Continued on A11
Arizona, last year uncovered the
violations, which were made public
in a report published last week by
the DHS Office of Inspector Gener-
al. ICE is a federal law enforcement
agency that’s a component of DHS.
Watchdog officials directed a
livestream video walk-through of the
illegal immigrant holding site, in-
specting detainee housing units, the
kitchen, and medical units, among
Continued on A6
VOL . X V I I I | NO. 2,933 $1.
NATION
Suicide Rates
Fell to 5-Year
Low in 2020
Experts say COVID-19,
overdoses may mask
true figure
BY TOM OZIMEK
New data shows suicide deaths
across the United States dropped
in 2020, although the full picture
remains unclear, say experts, who
worry that a sharp rise in fatal drug
overdoses and possible cause-of-
death misclassification in people
who had COVID-19 at the time of
their suicide, may be masking the
true number.
AAS questioned whether
misclassification in cause-
of-death reporting left some
suicides out of the equation.
Preliminary data in a report in the
Journal of the American Medical
Association (JAMA)—based on fig-
ures from the National Center for
Health Statistics (NCHS) National
Vital Statistics System (NVSS)—
shows that there were 2,677 fewer
deaths by suicide in 2020 than a
year earlier.
Even as the overall number of
deaths in the United States last
year jumped by nearly 20 percent,
deaths by suicide fell to a five-year
low of 44,834. That’s down from
47,511 in 2019, 48,344 in 2018, 47,173
in 2017, 44,965 in 2016—and up
slightly from 44,193 in 2015.
The JAMA report is based on pre-
liminary death certificate data from
the NCHS/NVSS, with final official
mortality data to be published by
the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) later this year.
Some are sure to see the data as a
surprise, given the many predictions
that pandemic-related lockdowns
would exacerbate mental health
conditions and drive suicide rates
Continued on A6
INFRASTRUCTURE BILL
Blunt Urges Biden
to Cut Infrastructure
Package by 70
Percent for ‘Easy Win’
BY TOM OZIMEK
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) on April 4
accused Democrats of padding the
infrastructure plan with unrelated
pet spending projects, while urging
President Joe Biden to pare it down
by around two-thirds, saying it
would then easily win Republican
backing and give the White House
the coveted badge of bipartisanship.
Biden campaigned on being able
to work across the aisle and broker
big deals on Capitol Hill on issues
that were important to the coun-
try, but on his recent $2 trillion
pandemic relief bill, he won zero
backing from Republicans, who
railed against its “liberal wish-list”
spending items and denounced
the legislative process around its
adoption as nakedly partisan.
Continued on A4
ANTIFA
JOURNALIST WHO
COVERS ANTIFA ON WHY
HE LEFT U.S.
“It was just
not safe
anymore for
me. I had
already been
on borrowed
time,” journalist
Andy Ngo said.
Read more on n A2
A2 | NATION
A flight attendant checks on passengers on a Baltimore-bound flight from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on April 20, 2020.
Fauci: Federal Government Won’t
Mandate ‘Vaccine Passports’
JACK PHILLIPS
Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the U.S. National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases,
said that the federal government won’t man-
date the usage of so-called vaccine passports
for travel and businesses, after White House
officials said the Biden administration is
working with private firms to potentially
advise on such a system.
I doubt that the federal
government will be the
main mover of a vaccine
passport concept.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director, U.S. National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
The concept of a document or app that
could be an individual’s proof of vaccina-
tion or a negative test result for COVID-19, the
disease caused by the CCP virus, has become
a flashpoint in what civil liberties groups say
would be significant overreach and a viola-
tion of Americans’ privacy.
Fauci told Politico on April 5 that “I doubt
that the federal government will be the main
mover of a vaccine passport concept.”
“They may be involved in making sure
things are done fairly and equitably,” he said,
“but I doubt if the federal government is going
to be the leading element of that.”
He said he expects that certain businesses
and maybe schools will require them.
“I’m not saying that they should or that
they would, but I’m saying you could fore-
see how an independent entity might say,
‘Well, we can’t be dealing with you unless
we know you’re vaccinated,’” he said. “But
it’s not going to be mandated from the federal
government.”
A report from The Washington Post last
month suggested that the White House was
considering working on a system to support
the passports. Some countries including
Israel and Iceland have mandated them for
Andy Ngo, Journalist Who Covers
Antifa, Reveals Why He Left the
United States
JACK PHILLIPS
Journalist Andy Ngo, who for years has been
documenting the anarcho-communist
group Antifa, revealed why he left the United
States earlier this year.
Ngo, who is the editor for The Post Millen-
nial, told Fox News that he left the country
amid threats of violence against not only him
but his family members.
“It was just not safe anymore for me. I had
already been on borrowed time,” he said,
adding that there was an “escalation of safety
concerns.”
Ngo said that when he was covering the
far-left group after the 2016 election, “the
response to that Democratic outcome was
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci during a public vacci-
nation event at the National Cathedral in Washington on March 16, 2021.
certain activities, while German officials
announced they’re planning to allow cer-
tain individuals who are vaccinated against
the CCP virus certain privileges over those
who aren’t.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki ad-
dressed the report, saying the administra-
tion would instead “provide guidance” to
private partners.
“There is currently an interagency pro-
cess that is looking at many of the questions
around vaccine verification, and that issue
will touch many agencies, as verification is an
issue that will potentially touch many areas
of society. That’s guidance we’ll provide,” she
told reporters in late March.
“A determination or development of vac-
cine passport or whatever you want to call
it will be driven by the private sector. Ours
will more be focused on guidelines that can
be used as a basis, and there are a couple of
key principles that we are working from.”
Some governors have already started to
push back, including Florida Gov. Ron De-
Santis, a Republican, who last week signed
for people to take to the streets in masses to
reject that outcome, and in Portland, many
people chose to manifest their frustration
through violence and destruction.”
“There was just this overall, not just a shift
in the attitudes in the public toward left-wing
political violence, but also the hollowing out
and weakening of law enforcement institu-
tions,” he said, adding that mainstream news
outlets allowed such rhetoric to flourish.
“These extremist, radical, unfounded ideas
were given space to propagate in our papers
of legacy, in our homes and ... through broad-
cast and radio, and of course to online news
sites. That helped to really radicalize the left,
in my opinion.
“After every riot that was occurring in Port-
ROB CARR/GETTY IMAGES
ALEX WONG/GETTY IMAGES
an executive order to prevent businesses and
government institutions from using vaccine
passports. He called on the state legislature
to pass a law doing the same.
And last week, the American Civil Lib-
erties Union (ACLU) waved a red flag over
the usage of such a system, saying it could
potentially imperil Americans’ privacy, say-
ing that particularly low-income individu-
als who don’t have access to a smartphone
would suffer the most.
“We don’t oppose in principle the idea of
requiring proof of vaccination in certain
contexts. But given the enormous difficulty
of creating a digital passport system, and the
compromises and failures that are likely to
happen along the way, we are wary about
the side effects and long-term consequences
it could have. We will be closely watching
developments in this area,” the ACLU wrote.
Republican strategists told The Hill that
they will highlight certain Democrats push-
ing for vaccine passports as a talking point
to win back the House or Senate during the
2022 midterms.
MORIAH RATNER/GETTY IMAGES
Andy Ngo, a Portland-based journalist, after
unidentified Rose City Antifa members attacked
him in Portland, Ore., on June 29, 2019.
land and Seattle, the coverage from the local
press was not the honest picture about who
these masked militants actually were.
“The way they were described, they were
lionized and described essentially as heroes
who are protecting their communities be-
cause police don’t protect people, because
police are racist and transphobic and ho-
mophobic.”
TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2021
FBI Warns Against
Making, Buying
Fake COVID-19
Vaccination Cards
SAMUEL ALLEGRI
The FBI is warning that the production
or possession of fake COVID-19 vaccine
record cards is illegal, and could be pun-
ishable by fines or imprisonment of up to
five years, or both.
“The Department of Health and Hu-
man Services, Office of Inspector General
(HHS-OIG) and the FBI are advising the
public to be aware of individuals sell-
ing fake COVID-19 vaccination record
cards and encouraging others to print
fake cards at home,” an FBI notice reads.
“Fake vaccination record cards have been
advertised on social media websites, as
well as e-commerce platforms and blogs.”
Do not buy fake vaccine
cards, do not make your
own vaccine cards.
FBI
Vaccination record cards are used to
provide COVID-19 vaccine recipients
with information about the type of vac-
cine and when to get a second dose. Buy-
ing a fake card or using false information
could put people in danger of contracting
the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) vi-
rus, which causes COVID-19.
“If you did not receive the vaccine, do
not buy fake vaccine cards, do not make
your own vaccine cards, and do not fill-
in blank vaccination record cards with
false information. By misrepresenting
yourself as vaccinated when entering
schools, mass transit, workplaces, gyms,
or places of worship, you put yourself and
others around you at risk of contracting
COVID-19.”
Using an official government agency’s
seal would be a crime, the announce-
ment warns, and could be punishable
under Title 18 U.S. Code, Section 1017, as
well as other pertinent laws.
The notice also advises the public not to
post their vaccine cards on social media
websites so that information isn’t stolen
or used to commit fraud.
Last week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
spoke out at a press conference against
the idea that Americans looking to re-
sume travel will need to have a “vaccine
passport” that proves inoculation. On
April 2, he signed an executive order
that banned businesses in Florida and
the state’s government from requiring
people in the state to use vaccine creden-
tials to go about their business.
“We’re not supportive of that. I think
it’s something that people have certain
freedoms and individual liberties to
make decisions for themselves,” the
governor said.
“It’s completely unacceptable for either
the government or the private sector to
impose upon you the requirement that
you show proof of vaccine to just simply
be able to participate in normal society.”
DeSantis said that people shouldn’t
need to show proof of inoculation against
the CCP virus to go to a game, movie,
theme parks, or other social events.
“You want the fox to guard the hen-
house? I mean give me a break,” he said.
“I understand, kind of, how some folks
can embrace the idea, and I’m not saying
it’s all necessarily done for bad purpos-
es, but I think ultimately it would create
problems in the state.”
However, over time, Ngo became known
to Antifa followers and had to stop going to
riots and demonstrations. In 2019, Ngo was
attacked by a mob of Antifa adherents and
was hospitalized, although some members of
the media accused him of faking his injuries
even while he was hospitalized.
“I was challenging the narrative that they
had, the dominant narrative that they had
within both the local press and therefore in
the national press, as well,” he said.
Earlier this year, Ngo told The Epoch Times
that Antifa isn’t merely an ideology, as some
U.S. intelligence officials have said in recent
years and months. FBI Director Chris Wray
told a panel in 2020 that it was more of an
ideological movement than an organization.
Antifa is “more than an idea,” Ngo said. “It’s
also a movement.” It has groups that are or-
ganized into formal groups, he said, and that
includes Rose City Antifa, “the oldest Antifa
organization in the U.S.,” which is based in
Portland, Oregon, the epicenter of the move-
ment’s violent activity.
 TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2021
Florida Democrats Defend DeSantis Against Attack
From ‘60 Minutes’
ZACHARY STIEBER
Several Florida Democrats are chal-
lenging a report by the CBS News
program “60 Minutes” that attempt-
ed to paint the state’s vaccination
partnership with the Publix grocery
store chain as nefarious.
The program on April 4 explored
the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in
Florida, which has experienced
a similar COVID-19 death rate to
California and other states despite
having much looser restrictions.
I just disabused you
of the narrative.
And you don’t care
about the facts.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
In one heated exchange, a report-
er pressed Gov. Ron DeSantis on
the use of Publix stores to admin-
ister vaccines, claiming the fact
that Publix contributed $100,000
to his political action committee
before the chain was chosen could
be seen as evidence of a “pay-for-
play” scheme.
DeSantis called the allegation “a
fake narrative,” offering a lengthy
explanation of what had unfolded.
It included state officials reaching
out to pharmacies besides CVS and
Walgreens because those two com-
panies were tasked with delivering
vaccines to long-term care facilities.
Publix was the first to say it was
ready for the second set of distri-
bution and administration.
DeSantis also said he visited
four different Publix stores dur-
ing a trial run and found feedback
was overwhelmingly positive, and
that he solicited advice from Palm
Supreme Court
Rules Google
Didn’t Violate
Copyright Law
When It Used
Oracle Code
for Android
CONTINUED FROM A1
computer’s hardware, will carry
out a large number of specific
tasks, Breyer wrote for the court.
About 100 Google engineers
worked more than three years to
create Google’s Android platform
software, tailoring the Android
platform to smartphone technol-
ogy. To build the platform, Google
wrote millions of lines of new code.
Because Google wanted millions of
programmers, familiar with Java,
to be able easily to work with its
new Android platform, it also cop-
ied code from the Java SE program.
The copied lines of code are part
of a tool called an Application Pro-
gramming Interface, or API, Breyer
wrote, explaining that an API was
a tool that “allow[s] programmers
to use ... prewritten code to build
certain functions into their own
programs, rather than write their
own code to perform those func-
tions from scratch.”
Lower courts considered wheth-
er Java SE’s owner could copyright
the portion that Mountain View,
California-based Google copied,
and if so, whether Google’s copy-
ing nonetheless constituted a “fair
use” of that material, which would
free Google from copyright liabil-
ity.
The Federal Circuit ruled for
Oracle, finding Google’s copying
wasn’t a “fair use.”
The Supreme Court disagreed,
finding that Google’s copying con-
stituted a fair use and that it wasn’t
necessary to reach the question of
whether the copied material itself
Beach officials.
“Here’s some of the options: We
can do more drive-through sites, we
can give more to hospitals, we can
do the Publix, we can do this. They
calculated that 90 percent of their
seniors live within a mile and a half
of a Publix. And they said, ‘We think
that would be the easiest thing for
our residents,’” he said.
“60 Minutes” omitted 356 words
from DeSantis’ 423-word answer.
The reporter then repeated her
“pay for play” accusation.
“I just disabused you of the narra-
tive. And you don’t care about the
facts,” DeSantis said.
Jared Moskowitz, a former Demo-
cratic state senator who now runs
the state Division of Emergency
Management, said in a tweet on
April 4 that Publix was recom-
mended by his agency, “as the other
pharmacies were not ready to start.”
“No one from the Governors office
suggested Publix. It’s just absolute
malarkey,” he wrote.
In a statement on April 5, Palm
Beach County Mayor Dave Kern-
er, also a Democrat, said the “60
Minutes” reporting was “inten-
tionally false.”
“I know this because I offered to
provide my insight into Palm Beach
County’s vaccination efforts and 60
minutes declined,” he said, adding
that he and other officials asked the
governor to expand the state’s part-
nership with Publix, not the other
way around.
“We asked and he delivered,”
Kerner wrote. “They had that infor-
mation, and they left it out because
it kneecaps their narrative.”
CBS News and “60 Minutes” didn’t
immediately respond to requests
by The Epoch Times for comment.
The program has aired false in-
formation before; in 2004, it broad-
cast documents that were alleg-
Google’s offices in downtown Manhattan on Oct. 20, 2020.
was copyrightable.
“Given the rapidly changing
technological, economic, and
business-related circumstances,
we believe we should not answer
more than is necessary to resolve
the parties’ dispute,” Breyer wrote.
“To the extent that Google used
parts of the Sun Java API to create
a new platform that could be read-
ily used by programmers, its use
was consistent with that creative
‘progress’ that is the basic con-
stitutional objective of copyright
itself,” he wrote.
Oracle reacted to the ruling, say-
ing it means “the Google platform
just got bigger and market pow-
er greater. The barriers to entry
higher and the ability to compete
lower.”
“They stole Java and spent a de-
cade litigating as only a monopolist
can,” Oracle said in a statement.
“This behavior is exactly why regu-
latory authorities around the world
and in the United States are exam-
ining Google’s business practices.”
In his dissent, Thomas chastised
the court majority for not address-
ing the copyright issue directly.
He noted that Android founder
Andrew Rubin “understood that
the declaring code was copy-
righted, so Google sought a cus-
tom license from Oracle. At least
four times between 2005 and 2006,
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference at the Hyatt Regency in Orlando on
Feb. 26, 2021.
edly penned by President George
W. Bush’s former commanding
officer. However, the documents
were later found to be forged. An
internal probe found that staffers
failed to do due diligence in vetting
the documents, and a number of
workers resigned. CBS also aired
footage from Italy when reporting
on COVID-19 hospitalizations in
New York City last year.
Publix, in a statement to news
outlets, called the suggestion of a
link between campaign contribu-
tions and the vaccination efforts
“irresponsible.”
“We are proud of our pharmacy
associates for administering more
than 1.5 million doses of vaccine to
date and for joining other retailers
SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES
the two companies attempted to
negotiate a license, but they were
unsuccessful ... Google simply de-
cided to use Oracle’s code anyway.
Instead of creating its own
declaring code—as Apple and
Microsoft chose to do—Google
copied verbatim 11,500 lines of
Oracle’s declaring code and ar-
ranged that code exactly as Oracle
had done. It then advertised An-
droid to device manufacturers as
containing ‘Core Java Libraries,’”
and was sued by Oracle.
The Supreme Court “wrongly
sidesteps the principal question
that we were asked to answer:
Is declaring code protected by
copyright? I would hold that it is,”
Thomas wrote.
“The majority purports to save
for another day the question
whether declaring code is copy-
rightable. The only apparent rea-
son for doing so is because the
majority cannot square its funda-
mentally flawed fair-use analysis
with a finding that declaring code
is copyrightable.”
Google welcomed the new court
ruling.
“Today’s Supreme Court deci-
sion in Google v. Oracle is a big win
for innovation, interoperability
& computing,” Kent Walker, the
company’s senior vice president
for global affairs, wrote on Twitter.
in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South
Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia
to do our part to help our commu-
nities emerge from the pandemic,”
it stated.
Florida had administered over
10.5 million COVID-19 vaccine
doses as of April 5, one of the highest
totals in the nation. COVID-19 is the
disease caused by the CCP virus.
Other officials said the reporting
on April 4 regarding Florida was
concerning.
Nikki Fried, Florida’s Democratic
commissioner of agriculture, said
the program “is exposing the na-
tion” to the governor’s “failings &
corruption.”
State Rep. Michele Rayner-Gools-
by, a Democrat, wrote on Twitter, “I
Biden Claims Higher Tax Won’t Drive
Corporations Away
ZACHARY STIEBER
A proposed increase in the
corporate tax rate won’t drive
companies out of the United
States, President Joe Biden said
on April 5, as he vowed not to
negotiate with Republicans over
the higher rate.
Speaking to reporters after ar-
riving on The Ellipse in Wash-
ington, Biden said there’s no
evidence that increasing the
rate to 28 percent will harm the
economy or spur companies to
look abroad.
“The tax was 36 percent, and
it’s now down to 21 percent.
The idea that that—it’s bizarre,
we’re talking about a 28 percent
tax that everybody thought was
just fair enough for everybody,”
he said.
“Here you have 51 or 52 corpo-
rations in the Fortune 500 that
haven’t paid a single penny in
taxes for three years? Come on,
man. Let’s get real.”
Biden’s $2 trillion infrastruc-
ture plan includes raising the
corporate tax rate from 21 per-
cent, where it has been since for-
mer President Donald Trump’s
2017 tax cut slashed the rate
from 35 percent.
Biden also wants to impose
a 15 percent minimum tax on
large companies.  The tax in-
creases would fully pay for the
infrastructure plan in 15 years,
the White House claims.
Republicans have largely op-
posed the proposal.
“What the president proposed
this week is not an infrastruc-
ture bill. It’s a huge tax increase,
for one thing. And it’s a tax in-
crease on small businesses, on
job creators in the United States
of America,” Sen. Roger Wicker
(R-Miss.), the ranking member
on the Senate Commerce, Sci-
ence, and Transportation Com-
mittee, said on NBC’s “Meet the
Press” on April 4.
NATION | A3
JOE RAEDLE/GETTY IMAGES
made the initial call when pay for
play happened in my district. I and
so many others fought for equitable
distribution of the vaccine in Black
+ Brown communities.”
Others said another focus of the
program, DeSantis’s prioritization
on vaccinating seniors, turned out
to be the right move, and that the
Republican was being attacked
because of signs he could run for
president in 2024.
“Seniors were prioritized for vac-
cine, DeSantis was criticized for
breaking from CDC and he turned
out to be right,” Florida GOP Vice
Chairman Christian Ziegler said in
a tweet. “Now, in the name of 2024,
the media is generating a new nar-
rative to attack.”
“If that’s the package, a bunch
of more borrowed money plus
undoing the tax relief that drove
our economy to a 50-year high—
I can’t imagine that will be very
appealing to many Republi-
cans,” added Senate Republican
Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)
in Kentucky on April 5.
One analysis found no evi-
dence “of widespread benefits
of any kind resulting changes
in corporate behaviors” due to
the lower corporate tax rate, al-
though House Republicans said
last year the rate cut spurred job
creation and economic growth.
Biden could struggle to get
enough votes for his package
because even a single Demo-
crat defection in the 50-50
Senate would kill the bill if
Democrats decide to pursue the
reconciliation route, cutting out
the need to draw support from
10 Republicans.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.)
said April 5 that he didn’t want
to raise the corporate rate back
to 28 percent, preferring a small-
er increase to 25 percent.
“As the bill exists today, it
needs to be changed,” Manchin
said during a radio show. “If I
don’t vote to get on it, it’s not go-
ing anywhere.
“There’s six or seven other
Democrats who feel very strong-
ly about this. We have to be com-
petitive, and we’re not going to
throw caution to the wind.”
White House press secretary
Jen Psaki told reporters in Wash-
ington several hours later that
the administration is “open to
hearing ideas and proposals
from members and we encour-
age them to put them forward.”
Transportation Secretary Pete
Buttigieg said on April 4 that the
administration’s plan would
see corporations pay their “fair
share at a rate, by the way, that
would be lower than it’s been for
most of my life.”
A4 | NATION
Blunt Urges Biden to Cut Infrastructure Package by
70 Percent for ‘Easy Win’ on GOP Backing
CONTINUED FROM A1
Now that Biden has unveiled the
next big bill—another $2 trillion
package, nominally about infra-
structure but actually padded
with climate change and social-
program spending, Republicans
argue—the issue of bipartisanship
is again coming into focus.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Gran-
My advice for the
White House has
been, take that
bipartisan win, do
this in a more tra-
ditional infrastruc-
ture way.
Sen. Roy Blunt
holm said in an interview on CNN
on April 4 that, while Biden would
prefer to win Republican backing
for the infrastructure plan, he’d
likely back the same procedural
strategy of “reconciliation” that
Democrats used with the Ameri-
can Rescue Plan to get the Ameri-
can Jobs Act passed without the
need for any GOP votes.
Responding to questions from
Chris Wallace on Fox News Sun-
day about bipartisanship on Capi-
tol Hill and Republican concerns
about big bills adding to public
debt, Blunt said, “We’ve seen one
incredibly partisan bill from the
new administration followed by
Georgia Secretary of State Asks Court
Not to Give Petitioners Access to Ballots
ZACHARY STIEBER
A Georgia voting integrity group
that seeks to examine ballots cast
in the 2020 election shouldn’t be
granted access to the original bal-
lots, the state’s secretary of state
said in a new filing.
Giving plaintiffs in the court case
access to the original ballots would
violate recent updates to the Geor-
gia Open Records Act, Secretary of
State Brad Raffensperger said in an
April 2 motion in Fulton County
Superior Court.
The office of Raffensperger, a Re-
publican, said he takes no position
on the merits of the case, but “re-
spectfully requests that the Court
permit Petitioners to inspect ballot
images only, and deny Petitioners’
request to inspect and scan bal-
lots.”
“This result is consistent with
Georgia law, and appropriately
balances Petitioners’ interests in
inspecting ballot images with the
State’s and the public’s interest in
maintaining the security and in-
tegrity of confidential ballots,” the
filing states.
The amicus brief was filed in Fa-
vorito et al. v Cooney et al.
Garland Favorito, head of a vot-
ing integrity group called VOTER
GA, along with other voters, filed
the case, alleging there were ab-
normalities in how ballots were
counted in Georgia in the 2020
presidential race.
The petition cited multiple poll
workers who said they observed
unusual occurrences during ballot
counting and noted that Election
Day observers at State Farm Arena
in Atlanta were led to believe that
counting was over for the night,
only to resume after all observers
had left.
Election officials failed to com-
ply with state law that requires the
government to treat similarly situ-
ated individuals in a similar man-
ner, the petitioners said, asking the
court to give them access to ballots
to ensure the election results were
correct.
The judge hearing the case, Hen-
ry County Superior Court Judge
Brian Amero, said last month that
what appears to be—will be—an-
other incredibly partisan bill.”
Blunt, in a statement, called the
American Jobs Act a “so-called
‘infrastructure’ plan that spends
less than a third on transporta-
tion infrastructure and is paid for
with job-destroying tax hikes as
the economy begins recovering
from the pandemic.”
He told Wallace that around $615
billion of the American Jobs Act
can actually be considered direct-
ly infrastructure-related, adding
that paring the proposal down to
that amount would win Republi-
can backing.
“I think there’s an easy win here
for the White House if they would
take that win, which is make
this an infrastructure package,
which is about 30 percent—even
if you stretch the definition of
infrastructure some—it’s about
30 percent of the $2.25 trillion
they’re talking about spending,”
Blunt said.
“My advice for the White House
has been, take that bipartisan
win, do this in a more traditional
infrastructure way,” Blunt said,
adding that the Biden administra-
tion would still have all the tools
needed to pass a separate package
with additional spending priorities
at a later time.
“I think it’s a big mistake for the
administration,” he said. “If we’d
go back and look at roads and
bridges and ports and airports,
and maybe even underground wa-
ter systems and broadband, you’d
still be talking about less than 30
percent of this entire package.”
Fulton county workers count absentee ballots at State Farm Arena in Atlanta
on Nov. 6, 2020.
JESSICA MCGOWAN/GETTY IMAGES
Georgia Secretary of State Brad
Raffensperger holds a press confer-
ence in Atlanta on Nov. 6, 2020.
he’s inclined to order the ballots
unsealed and reviewed by experts
hired by Favorito. Fulton County
officials didn’t immediately return
a request for comment. A county
official on April 5 told the court in
a document that she objects to the
proposed order to unseal election
materials.
Raffensperger in the new filing
asked Amero not to let the group
examine the ballots without con-
sidering his brief.
Favorito told The Epoch Times in
an emailed statement: “Secretary
of State Raffensperger never ceases
to amaze me. He is now officially
on record in adamant opposition
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) speaks alongside Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) (L) and Sen. John Thune
(R-S.D.) to the media at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Dec. 8, 2020.
Biden said on March 31 that the
American Jobs Act is “the largest
American jobs investment since
World War Two.”
“It’s not a plan that tinkers
around the edges. It’s a once-
in-a-generation investment in
America, unlike anything we’ve
seen or done since we built the
interstate highway system and
the space race decades ago,” the
president said.
The American Jobs Act calls for
$621 billion to rebuild the nation’s
JESSICA MCGOWAN/GETTY IMAGES
to transparent elections.”
“If the November 3, 2020, elec-
tion controversy does not justify
unsealing the ballots, then what
ever would? Ballots have no voter
information, so there is nothing
secret about them as the brief tried
to imply,” he added. “The ballots
belong to the people of Georgia,
not Brad Raffensperger. Citizens
like us should not have to spend
thousands of dollars and hours of
our time to sue officials so we can
see what should be public records
in the first place.”
Raffensperger said in a statement
on April 5 that some media outlets
were mischaracterizing the mo-
tion.
“The paper ballots have been
sealed, and recent updates to the
Georgia Open Records Act allow
for the public disclosure for ballot
images only (not ballots). In fact,
we worked with the Georgia legis-
lature to make sure ballot images
could be made available for review.
Nonetheless, it is our responsibility
to protect the security and confi-
dentiality of the ballots according
to the requirements of the Georgia
Elections Code,” he wrote.
“We welcome the public disclo-
sure of these ballot images, and
simply request that the judge set
up a process to prevent any party
from creating and spreading false
information.”
TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2021
infrastructure, including a $174
billion investment in the electric
vehicle market that sets a goal of
a nationwide charging network
by 2030.
Congress will also be asked to
put $400 billion toward affordable
housing and community-based
care for aging Americans and
people with disabilities.
There is $213 billion provided to
build and retrofit affordable and
sustainable homes along with
hundreds of billions to support
34 Shot, 8 Murdered in Chicago
Over the Weekend
ZACHARY STIEBER
Chicago saw a violent weekend,
with 30 shootings between Fri-
day evening and Sunday night.
Thirty-four people were shot
and eight were murdered, ac-
cording to statistics from the
Chicago Police Department.
The incidents took place be-
tween 6 p.m. on April 2 and 11:59
p.m. on April 4. Two additional
shootings took place on Friday
afternoon.
The violence started at ap-
proximately 2:18 p.m., when a
19-year-old man was shot in the
5000 block of West Monroe. He
was taken to a hospital and was
last reported in good condition.
No suspect was in custody.
Another shooting occurred
less than an hour later in the
4000 block of West Potomac. A
male victim of unknown age
“heard shots and felt pain.” He
was treated for a gunshot wound
to the foot. No suspects were in
custody.
Two other shootings unfolded
on April 2, including a 54-year-
old male being struck in the leg
and taken to Loyola Hospital in
serious condition.
Six additional shootings took
place on April 3 before 6 a.m.
In one case, around 1:20 a.m.,
a green SUV with an unknown
number of occupants began
shouting gang slogans before
opening fire at a 25-year-old male
who was trying to pump gas in
the 7700 block of South Kedzie.
The victim was struck and rushed
to the hospital.
Easter Sunday proved espe-
KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
KEVIN DIETSCH-POOL/GETTY IMAGES
U.S. manufacturing, bolster the
nation’s electric grid, enact na-
tionwide high-speed broadband,
and revamp the nation’s water
systems to ensure clean drink-
ing water.
Biden aims to put corporate
America on the hook for the tab,
which is expected to grow to a
combined $4 trillion once he rolls
out the second part of his econom-
ic plan in April.
Reuters contributed to this report.
cially violent, with 16 shootings
and a spate of homicides.
The violence started before 1
a.m., when a 38-year-old man
driving eastbound on West 37th
Street heard gunshots and felt
pain. A bullet had gone through
his rear window and struck his
right arm. The man was taken to
Mercy Hospital in good condition.
Five more shootings were re-
ported before 7 a.m.
In one of the killings, two males
were driving northbound on
North Humboldt Drive around
8 p.m. when two males ap-
proached the vehicle on sepa-
rate orange dirt bikes and be-
gan shooting as they passed the
vehicle. A 19-year-old in the car
was struck in the neck and pro-
nounced dead at Stroger Hospi-
tal. The other man survived but is
in critical condition at St. Mary’s
Hospital.
Another murder took place just
before midnight. A 45-year-old
male was found on the ground
with multiple gunshot wounds to
his chest on South Throop Street.
“The victim was unable to com-
municate details regarding the
incident due to the severity of
his injuries,” police said in an
incident summary. The man was
transported to the hospital and
declared dead.
No suspects are in custody for
any of the shootings that took
place over the weekend.
The previous weekend saw 23
shootings, 30 people shot, and
three murders.
Most major U.S. cities, includ-
ing Chicago, saw a spike in the
murder rate in 2020.
A Chicago
Police officer
monitors the
scene after
a shooting
in Chicago
on March
14, 2021.
 TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2021 NATION | A5

McConnell: Corporate Pushback Against Georgia Voting

Law Is ‘Economic Blackmail’ and Disinformation
SAMIRA BOUAOU/THE EPOCH TIMES
TOM OZIMEK

Senate Minority Leader Mitch Mc-

Connell (R-Ky.) on April 5 admon-
ished corporate leaders for their
criticism of Georgia’s new voting
law, accusing them of falling for
“absurd disinformation” and  of
“dabbling in behaving like a woke
parallel government.”
“Our private sector must stop
taking cues from the Outrage-
Industrial Complex,” McConnell
said in a statement. “Americans do
not need or want big business to
amplify disinformation or react to
every manufactured controversy
with frantic left-wing signaling.”
The top Republican in the Sen-
ate said the discussion around SB
202, or the Election Integrity Act
of 2021, has become unmoored
from fact.
“There is no consistent or factual
standard being applied here,” Mc-
Connell said. “It’s just a fake narra-
tive gaining speed by its own mo-
mentum. ... Businesses must not
use economic blackmail to spread
disinformation.”
Dozens of CEOs and corpora-
tions—including Atlanta-based
Delta Air Lines and Coca-Cola—
have railed against SB 202, alleg-
ing voter suppression. Last week,
dozens of black business executives
from around the country, includ- The U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 2, 2020.
ing Merck chief executive Ken- BENNETT RAGLIN/GETTY IMAGES FOR NAACP LDF

neth Frazier and former American they amount to voter suppression

Express chief executive Kenneth
Chenault, released a joint letter in
The New York Times urging corpo-
rate America to stand up forcefully
to oppose it.
“There is no middle ground here,”
Chenault said in the letter. “You ei-
ther are for more people voting, or
you want to suppress the vote.”
Broadly, Georgia’s voting law
institutes more stringent require-
ments around voting, including
more rigorous voter ID laws, lim-
its on the use of ballot boxes, and
giving the Georgia legislature more
control over its elections. Propo-
nents say the measures are nec-
essary improvements to shore up
integrity and build confidence in
the state’s elections. Opponents, in-
cluding the business leaders, argue
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) talks to reporters in the Rus-
sell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 16, 2021.
that will hit communities of color
Americans do not especially hard.
need or want big President Joe Biden has also
business to amplify weighed in, criticizing SB 202 as
“a blatant attack on the Constitu-
disinformation or tion and good conscience,” add-
react to every man- ing: “What I’m worried about is
ufactured contro- how un-American this whole ini-
tiative is. It’s sick.”
versy with frantic Biden also described the law as
left-wing signaling. “Jim Crow on steroids.”
McConnell responded to Biden’s
Senate Minority Leader Mitch comment in his statement saying
McConnell
that opposition to SB 202 was part
of “a coordinated campaign by
powerful and wealthy people to
mislead and bully the American
people.”
“The President has claimed re-
peatedly that state-level debates
over voting procedures are worse
CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES than Jim Crow or ‘Jim Crow on
steroids.’ Nobody actually believes
this,” McConnell said. “Nobody
really thinks this current dispute
comes anywhere near the horrific
racist brutality of segregation. But
there’s an old cynical saying that
‘history is just the set of lies agreed
upon.’ And a host of powerful
people and institutions apparent-
ly think they stand to benefit from
parroting this big lie.”
The  reforms included in SB
202 include requiring photo or
state-approved identification to
vote absentee by mail. They also
mandate that secure drop boxes
be placed inside early voting loca-
tions, with constant surveillance.
The law also shortens the election
cycle for runoffs from nine weeks
to four, and expands early voting
across the state, addressing a key
Democrat concern.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp also
refuted Biden’s characterization
of the law.
“It is obvious that neither Presi-
dent Biden nor his handlers have
actually read SB 202, which I signed
into law yesterday,” Kemp said in
a statement emailed to The Epoch
Times. “This bill expands voting
access, streamlines vote-counting
procedures, and ensures election
integrity.”
McConnell, in his statement on
April 5, said corporations protest-
ing the law could “invite serious
consequences” if they “become a
vehicle for far-left mobs to hijack
our country.”
Citing data that over 70 percent
of Americans, including a major-
ity of Democrats, support voter ID
requirements, McConnell argued
that the opposition to SB 202 was a
way to build support for Democrat-
led efforts to reform election laws.
“Washington Democrats want to
Kenneth
Chenault
speaks in
New York
on Nov.
7, 2019.
pass a sweeping bill that would let
them rewrite all 50 states’ election
laws and turn the Federal Election
Commission into a Democrat-run
partisan body,” McConnell said.
“This power grab is impossible
to defend, so the left wants to de-
flect. Instead of winning the de-
bate, they want to silence debate
by bullying citizens and entire
states into submission.”
The legislative thrust he was pre-
sumably referring to was H.R. 1, the
For the People Act of 2021, which
passed the Democrat-controlled
House on March 3 on a largely
party-line vote of 220–210, with all
Republicans and one Democrat—
Rep. Bennie Thompson of Missis-
sippi—voting against it. The bill
awaits action in the Senate.
Democrats—and other propo-
nents—have framed the bill as a
crucial step against voter suppres-
sion, while Republicans—and oth-
er opponents—argue it weakens
security measures and makes elec-
tions more prone to fraud.

THINK
THE EPOCH TIMES
BUT FOR TV
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A6 | NATION
Suicide Rate Fell to 5-Year Low in 2020 But
COVID-19, Overdoses May Mask True Figure: Experts
CONTINUED FROM A1
higher. But subject matter experts
say it’s too early to jump to conclu-
sions—and not just for the obvious
reason that the data is preliminary
and subject to change.
The American Association of
Suicidology (AAS), in a statement
commenting on the newly released
report, called it a “very promising
estimate” that it hopes is an indica-
tion of a trend in lowered suicide
deaths in the United States—and
an encouraging sign that suicide
prevention efforts are bearing fruit.
The association questioned
whether misclassification in cause-
of-death reporting left some sui-
cides out of the equation.
“We do not know if some suicides
are being masked by COVID deaths
in 2020, meaning some of those
2,677+ people who would have died
by suicide, instead died by COVID
or had COVID at the time of their
suicide and were characterized as
such by coroners/medical examin-
ers,” the association stated.
Questions have been raised
before about the accuracy of
deaths-due-to-COVID reporting
and, given the fact that the JAMA
report shows that most of the
17.7 percent rise in over-the-year
deaths in 2020 was attributed to
COVID-19, even a small fraction
of misclassified deaths could have
an effect on the nominal number
of suicides. The JAMA report in-
dicated COVID-19 as the cause
of death for 345,323 people in the
United States last year.
The suicidology association also
wondered about another aspect
of the JAMA report’s numbers,
namely the surge in “unintention-
al injuries,” which were largely
driven by drug overdose deaths.
After staying mostly flat around
the 170,000 mark for three years,
that number jumped 11 percent
to 192,176 in 2020.
La Palma Correctional Center detainees protest in a housing area on April
13, 2020.
DHS Watchdog Finds
Mistreatment of Illegal
Immigrants at Holding Facility
CONTINUED FROM A1
other areas. Officials also reviewed
surveillance footage from various
places inside the facility, and inter-
viewed ICE personnel, detainees,
and facility employees.
The inspection, which ran from
August to November 2020, “iden-
tified violations of ICE detention
standards that threatened the
health, safety, and rights of detain-
ees,” the watchdog report stated,
adding that “detainee reports and
grievances allege an environment
of mistreatment and verbal abuse,
including in response to peaceful
detainee protests of the facility’s
handling of the pandemic.”
The correctional facility didn’t
enforce ICE precautions such as
the recommended use of face cov-
erings and didn’t meet standards
for medical care, segregation,
and communication of detainee
grievances.
That lack of enforcement may
have contributed to a COVID-19
outbreak that saw some 17 percent
We do not know
if some suicides
are being masked
by COVID deaths
in 2020, meaning
some of those 2,677+
people who would
have died by suicide,
instead died by CO-
VID or had COVID
at the time of their
suicide.
American Association
of Suicidology
LPCC VIA DHS OIG
of the 1,223 detainees test positive
for the disease on Aug. 19, 2020.
The medical unit, which was criti-
cally understaffed, took an average
of 3.35 days to respond to detainee
sick call requests and neglected to
fill some prescriptions. The facil-
ity didn’t consistently provide re-
quired care for illegal immigrants
in segregation, and didn’t consis-
tently record when medicine was
given or when medical visits were
conducted.
Additionally, the facility “did
not give timely responses to most
detainee grievances and, in some
cases, did not respond at all.”
Detainees complained to watch-
dog officials about alleged exces-
sive use of force, including the use
of pepper spray, pepper balls, and
chemical agents. Officials con-
firmed that such substances have
been used to end protests, such as
one on April 13, 2020.
An image from surveillance vid-
eo showed facility staff deploying
the agents to bring an end to the
protest.
“Overdose deaths also increased
in 2020, and it is often hard to dis-
tinguish some overdoses from sui-
cides, again possibly masking the
true number,” the AAS wrote.
Yet another factor could be the
established historical pattern of
suicides falling in times of crisis,
only to spike again in subsequent
years.
“We should be cautious in cel-
ebrating this decrease too early as
the data points from 2019 and 2020
do not necessarily indicate a trend,”
the association said. “We may see
a delayed increase in suicides in
2021 or 2022, similar to what we
witnessed following the financial
collapse in 2008.”
The association also stated there
are “very poor mechanisms” in
place in the United States for
gauging the number of suicide
attempts, and noted that some
Juliana Manzanarez, an attorney
representing several detainees, told
12 News that he wasn’t surprised by
the report findings.
“Some of the things that were
listed in the report are not new
and unfortunately people that are
in detention have to deal with that,”
the attorney added.
ICE said in a statement that it
is “committed to ensuring that all
those in our custody reside in safe,
secure, and humane environments
and under appropriate conditions
of confinement.”
“Many practices initiated at La
Palma, such as the 14-day quar-
antine period, resulted in reduced
detainee-to-detainee exposure
among the general population, and
this aspect was acknowledged in
the OIG draft report,” the agency
stated. “ICE takes issue with the
accuracy of other findings in the
draft report which relied on un-
corroborated allegations and lack
of appropriate context regarding
medical staffing.”
CoreCivic, a company that helps
manage the facility, said the report
included numerous falsehoods
about the facility.
“We operate every day in a chal-
lenging environment that was
made all the more difficult by a
pandemic with which the entire
world has and continues to strug-
gle with,” a spokesperson told news
outlets. “We always appreciate the
feedback and accountability that
our partners provide, and we strive
every day to do better in our service
to them and the people in our care.”
A follow-up inspection in January
found improved compliance with
pandemic-related standards.
COR R EC T ION
The article “Georgia Republican
Announces Primary Campaign Against
Gov. Kemp,” published on April 2,
misstated the office for which John King
is running. He is seeking another
term as Georgia insurance and safety
fire commissioner.
The Epoch Times regrets the error.
TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2021
JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES
metrics suggest despair may still
be running high.
“So while a lowered rate of sui-
cides is a good signal, it doesn’t
necessarily indicate a lowered level
of despair in the country,” the as-
sociation said. “In fact, many recent
reports have shown higher levels
of mental health issues, including
Former Gaetz Staffer Says FBI Agents
Contacted Him With ‘Baseless’ Claims
ZACHARY STIEBER
A former adviser to Rep. Matt
Gaetz (R-Fla.) on April 5 said
FBI agents recently approached
him with allegations he knew to
be false, causing him to believe
that the recent claims against his
ex-boss are also untrue.
Agents went to the home of
Nathan Nelson on March 31 to
question him about accusations
against Gaetz, which reportedly
include a claim that he paid for
sex with a minor. But the agents
asserted to Nelson they were told
that he’d resigned from Gaetz’s
office because of knowledge
about wrongdoing.
“Nothing could be further from
the truth. Neither I nor any other
member of Congressman Gaetz’s
staff had any knowledge of illegal
activities,” Nelson, who worked
with Gaetz for more than six
years when he was a state law-
maker and another four years in
Congress, told reporters during
a press conference.
“This baseless claim against
me leaves me further convinced
that the allegations against Con-
gressman Gaetz are likewise fab-
ricated and merely an attempt to
discredit a very vocal conserva-
tive,” Nelson added.
Nelson said his departure in
the fall of 2020 was planned and
he wanted people to know what
he believes to be true based on
his encounter with the agents.
He said he remains “loosely af-
filiated” with Gaetz’s office as
an unpaid adviser. He said he
hasn’t spoken to Gaetz in several
months.
The FBI referred The Epoch
Times to the Department of
Justice when asked about the
reported Gaetz investigation; the
DOJ didn’t immediately respond
ILLUSTRATION - AWESPRODUCTION/SHUTTERSTOCK
A sign for an
emergency
phone on the
Golden Gate
Bridge in San
Francisco,
in this file
photo.
anxiety, depression, and suicide
thoughts in certain demographics.”
People struggling with suicidal
thoughts or in crisis can call the
National Suicide Prevention Life-
line at 800-273-8255 for free and
confidential support, or visit the
associated website for helpful re-
sources.
to a request for comment.
The briefing from Nelson was
the latest effort to refute allega-
tions against Gaetz and his office.
After the allegations first became
public through an anonymously
sourced report in The New York
Times, Gaetz went on Fox News
to say his family were victims of
an extortion attempt.
“Over the past several weeks,
my family and I have been vic-
tims of an organized criminal
extortion involving a former
DOJ official seeking $25 million,
while threatening to smear my
name. We have been cooperating
with federal authorities in this
matter and my father has even
been wearing a wire at the FBI’s
direction to catch these crimi-
nals,” Gaetz said in a statement.
“The planted leak to the New
York Times tonight was intended
to thwart that investigation. No
part of the allegations against me
are true, and the people push-
ing these lies are targets of the
ongoing extortion investiga-
tion. I demand the DOJ imme-
diately release the tapes, made at
their direction, which implicate
their former colleague in crimes
against me based on false allega-
tions.”
Documents published by the
Washington Examiner indicated
a group tried to obtain $25 mil-
lion from Gaetz’s father, former
state Sen. Don Gaetz, in return
for making Rep. Gaetz’s “future
legal and political problems go
away.”
Don McGee, a Florida lawyer
allegedly involved in the scheme,
has denied Gaetz’s counter-ac-
cusations. Another man, former
Air Force officer Bob Kent, said
on April 5 he was part of the
group but denied that what hap-
pened amounted to extortion.
 TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2021
Portland School Delays Vote on Changing Mascot
to Tree Over Racism Concerns
ZACHARY STIEBER
The adoption of a new mascot for
a Portland, Oregon, high school
has been delayed because officials
believe using a tree could be con-
nected to the history of lynching in
the United States.
Ida B. Wells-Barnett High
School, which was recently re-
named from Woodrow Wilson
High School, is also in the process
of changing its mascot to an Ever-
green from a Trojan.
We were looking at
the symbolism more
as a tree of life than
a tree of death. And
you could certainly
take it either way.
Martin Osborne, member, Port-
land Public Schools Board of
Education
“Evergreens are characterized by
the life-giving force of their foliage,
the strength of their massive trunk,
and the depth of their roots—in an
individual tree and as a forest of
trees,” Ellen Whatmore, a teacher
and mascot committee member at
the school, read from a resolution
during a March 30 meeting.
“They provide shelter and sus-
tenance. They have histories that
preclude us and will continue in
perpetuity after we are no more.
This symbolic choice is ground-
ed in the spirit of Portland, and
Supreme Court Dismisses Lawsuit
Over Trump Blocking Critics on Twitter
ZACHARY STIEBER
The Supreme Court moved on
April 5 to dismiss a lawsuit from
former President Donald Trump
that asked the justices to allow him
to block critics on Twitter.
The nation’s highest court agreed
with the Department of Justice
(DOJ), which told it in January
that the case would become moot
when Joe Biden was sworn in as
president.
“That transition will moot this
case, as then-President Biden will
have no ability to control the use of
Donald J. Trump’s personal Twit-
ter account. Because this case
warrants review but will become
moot  pending such review, the
Court should follow its established
practice of granting certiorari and
vacating the judgment,” the DOJ
said in a filing.
Under Trump, the DOJ had asked
the Supreme Court to overturn a
ruling from the 2nd Circuit Court of
Appeals, which, in 2019, ruled that
Trump violated the First Amend-
ment when he prevented some us-
ers from viewing or commenting
on his Twitter posts.
Acting Solicitor General Jeffrey
Wall said in the 2020 petition that
the appeals court erred by not
making a distinction between the
president’s official communica-
tions on Twitter and the personal
nature of his decision to prevent
certain users from interacting
with him.
The Supreme Court agreed with
the DOJ’s latest position, vacating
the appeals court judgment and
remanding the case to the court
with instructions to dismiss it as
moot.
The lawsuit was brought by a
group of users who were blocked
by Trump, along with the Knight
First Amendment Institute at Co-
lumbia University.
In a concurring opinion, Justice
Clarence Thomas agreed with the
dismissal but said it was “rather
odd to say that something is a
government forum when a private
company has unrestricted author-
ity to do away with it.”
is representative of Ida B. Wells
Barnett’s legacy.”
There was “loud and clear sup-
port” across the school for the new
choice, she said.
The vote on the resolution was
delayed, though, because Portland
Public Schools Board of Educa-
tion Director Michelle DePass was
worried about trees being used for
lynchings in the past.
“I’ve heard from a couple of
community members now about
the idea of using a tree—which, of
course, I mean, personally, I love
evergreens, I’m from Oregon—but
using a tree that’s used to lynch
people in our mascot, if there was
any consideration as to the imagery
there, that we’ve all seen from peo-
ple hanging from trees and using
this mascot,” she told the meeting.
“Because I think that, you know,
everyone comes with blind spots.
And I think that might have been
a really, really big blind spot. That
just wasn’t considered,” she added.
Filip Hristic, the principal of the
school, told board members that
Wells-Barnett’s family has been
supportive of promoting the legacy
of Wells, although he hadn’t spoken
to them about the mascot issue.
“Ida Wells has a very particular
connection to Woodrow Wilson,
which we thought was a wonder-
ful counterpoint to the history that
we were trying to both surface and
move away from. And it was some-
body who stood strong and stood
proud against what Woodrow Wil-
son and many others, like him have
promoted,” he said.
“And so we felt like she was a very
The Supreme Court in Washington on Sept. 21, 2020.
Then-President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on Dec.
7, 2020.
“The disparity between Twitter’s
control and Mr. Trump’s control is
stark, to say the least. Mr. Trump
blocked several people from inter-
acting with his messages. Twitter
barred Mr. Trump not only from
interacting with a few users, but
removed him from the entire plat-
form, thus barring all Twitter us-
ers from interacting with his mes-
sages. Under its terms of service,
Twitter can remove any person
from the platform—including the
President of the United States—
‘at any time for any or no reason,’”
wrote Thomas, a George H.W. Bush
nominee, referring to Twitter’s ban
An image from Google Street View shows Ida B. Wells Barnett High School in Portland, Ore.
appropriate choice for us in re-
sponse to his legacy. And in choos-
ing the mascot, as we looked around
our community to see what is most
prominent, what is most reflective
of where we are, evergreen seemed
like an obvious choice.”
Hristic added that “the last thing
I would want is to inadvertently
cause harm, or to in any way be
associated with what she devoted
her life to fight against,” telling De-
Pass that she was “raising, clearly,
an important question.”
Martin Osborne, another board
member, responded by saying: “The
idea of symbolism and imagery in
SAMIRA BOUAOU/THE EPOCH TIMES
SAUL LOEB/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
of Trump in early January, while
the Republican was still in office.
“The petitions highlight two im-
portant facts. Today’s digital plat-
forms provide avenues for histori-
cally unprecedented amounts of
speech, including speech by gov-
ernment actors. Also unprecedent-
ed, however, is the concentrated
control of so much speech in the
hands of a few private parties.
“We will soon have no choice
but to address how our legal doc-
trines apply to highly concentrat-
ed, privately owned information
infrastructure such as digital
platforms.”
the United States history is fraught
with different ways that it can be
taken. So ... our choice of the ever-
green had nothing to do with the
horrible history of lynching in the
United States. Lynching trees typi-
cally are not evergreens.
“We were looking at the symbol-
ism more as a tree of life than a tree
of death. And you could certainly
take it either way, depending upon
your position.”
DePass said she wanted the board
“to do our due diligence” and im-
plored her white colleagues to side
with her “in disrupting situations,
practices that are racist.”
Utah Law Requires Fathers to Pay
Half of Pregnancy Costs
LORENZ DUCHAMPS
Biological fathers in Utah are now
legally required to pay half of the
medical costs associated with the
mother’s pregnancy and delivery,
under a measure recently signed
into law by Republican Gov. Spen-
cer Cox.
The law will only
apply to fathers
whose paternity
can be confirmed.
The legislation received wide-
spread support in the GOP-con-
trolled chamber.
Under the new law, fathers are
required to pay 50 percent of a
mother’s insurance premiums
and other pregnancy-related
medical costs—including the
hospital birth of the child—that
aren’t paid by another person.
The new law only applies to
fathers whose paternity can be
confirmed.
If an abortion is performed
without the consent of the father,
he won’t be financially respon-
sible unless the termination of
the pregnancy was necessary to
prevent the death of the mother
or if the pregnancy was the result
of rape.
In March last year, former Utah
Gov. Gary Herbert signed into law
House Bill 136, which would ban
abortion in the state after 18 weeks
gestation, with some exceptions.
The exceptions to the 18-week
JEFFREY D. ALLRED/DESERET NEWS VIA AP
NATION | A7
SCREENSHOT VIA THE EPOCH TIMES
The vote on the resolution to
adopt the evergreen as a mascot
was ultimately delayed after mem-
bers said they wanted to consult
Wells’s family members about the
decision.
“Ida B. Wells Barnett devoted
her life to stopping lynching as
she described it as ‘our national
crime.’ And so it seems prudent,
just to before we make this sort of
long term, lasting decision, to just
check in, since it wasn’t considered
as part of the earlier discussions.
That’s what I’d be most comfortable
with,” board member Julia Brim-
Edwards said.
ban include cases when doctors
determine a fetus is not viable
or that giving birth to the child
would put a mother at serious
risk, and cases of rape and incest.
Republican Rep. Brady Bram-
mer, who sponsored the Utah
measure, said he had grown
frustrated with the number of
merely “anti-abortion” measures
going through the Legislature and
wanted to pursue a measure that
would make it easier to bring life
into the world.
“We want to help people and ac-
tually be pro-life in how we do it as
opposed to anti-abortion,” Bram-
mer said. “One of the ways to help
with that was to help the burden
of pregnancy be decreased.”
According to Utah’s Planned
Parenthood Association and
sponsors of the bill, the state ap-
pears to be the first in mandating
prenatal child support.
The move has been applauded
by pro-life activists, saying it
will protect the lives of unborn
children by supporting women
through their pregnancy.
Abortion activists and Demo-
cratic lawmakers have questioned
whether the new law will actually
help to cover costs and whether it
will actually meet women’s needs.
“In the grand scheme of things,
having a child and raising them
to adulthood is going to be a lot
more money,” Planned Parent-
hood spokeswoman Katrina
Barker said.
The Associated Press
contributed to this report.
From NTD News
Utah Gov.
Spencer J.
Cox speaks
during a
briefing at
the Utah
Capitol in
Salt Lake
City on Jan.
8, 2021.
A8 | NATION
Law enforcement investigate the scene where a vehicle charged a barricade at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on April 2, 2021.
US Capitol Attacker May Have Suffered
From Drugs or Mental Illness: Family
ZACHARY STIEBER
The man who allegedly rammed a car into
a barrier at the U.S. Capitol on April 2 may
have been suffering from drugs or mental
illness, his family says.
Green posted on Facebook
that he had left his job due
to ‘afflictions’ and to seek
‘a spiritual journey,’ and
that he was facing ‘fear,
hunger, loss of wealth.’
Noah Green, 25, was violently ill the night
before he allegedly carried out the attack,
brother Brendan Green told the Washing-
ton Post.
Brendan, who had agreed about two
weeks prior to let his brother move into
his apartment in Virginia, later received
a text message from Noah stating, “I’m
sorry but I’m just going to go and live and
be homeless.”
Noah Green played football for Christo-
pher Newport University, but began showing
signs of mental instability, such as when he
claimed a group of teammates and room-
NOAH GREEN/FACEBOOK VIA REUTERS
An undated photograph of Noah Green
obtained from social media.
Florida Jail
Evacuated Over
Concerns of
‘Catastrophic
Flooding’
JACK PHILLIPS
A Florida jail was evacuated over the week-
end amid concerns of potentially “cata-
strophic flooding” after a reservoir leak
was discovered near a containment area in
Manatee County.
Manatee County Jail public information
officer Randy Warren told news outlets that
345 inmates will be taken to “an undisclosed
secure location in order to free up bed space
for the remaining 721 inmates on the upper
A screenshot of Noah Green’s Facebook account.
mates drugged him with Xanax in 2019.
Green experienced hallucinations, heart
issues, and suicidal thoughts, his brother
said, adding that those might have stemmed
from drugs or mental illness.
Green posted on Facebook that he followed
the Nation of Islam and its radical leader
Louis Farrakhan, according to posts ar-
chived before the technology giant removed
the account. He wrote last month that he had
left his job due to “afflictions” and to seek
“a spiritual journey” and was facing “fear,
hunger, loss of wealth.” He also claimed that
government agencies were poisoning him
and described the U.S. government as the
“#1 enemy of Black people.”
“What is viewable of Greene’s [sic] social
media presence suggests he might have been
very troubled, but terrorism should not be
ruled out (both scenarios can be true at
once),” Rita Katz, director of the SITE Intel-
ligence Group, wrote on Twitter.
Robert Contee, the Washington police
chief, told reporters on April 2 that the in-
cident “does not appear to be terrorism-
related, but obviously we’ll continue to in-
vestigate to see if there’s some type of nexus
along those lines.”
The Nation of Islam’s website wasn’t work-
TIFFANY TOMPKINS/THE BRADENTON HERALD VIA AP
A reservoir near the old Piney Point phosphate
mine, in Bradenton, Fla., on April 3, 2021.
level of the Manatee Jail.”
Details about where they will be housed
weren’t provided due to security concerns.
“[Manatee Sheriff Rick] Wells and staff are
still in constant communication with offi-
cials on the situation. We aren’t expecting
more than a foot of water on jail property,
in the worst-case scenario,” Warren told
NewsChannel8.
WIN MCNAMEE/GETTY IMAGES
SCREENSHOT VIA THE EPOCH TIMES
ing properly on April 5 to send an inquiry.
Farrakhan has a history of racist remarks
against white people and Jews. The group
doesn’t appear to have remarked publicly
on the attack.
In a statement to The Washington Post,
Green’s family said he was “not a terrorist by
any means” but that he was suffering from
“depression and potential mental illness,”
citing head injuries during his time playing
football as a possible source.
While Green’s social media presence was
scrubbed, an online profile remains from his
time playing football. In it, Green describes
having nine siblings, dreaming of a vacation
to Jamaica, and wanting to meet Malcolm X.
After crashing the vehicle into a security
barrier, Green exited the car with a knife
in his hand and started to run aggressively
toward an officer, Pittman said. He was
shot dead.
One officer died following the attack: Wil-
liam “Billy” Evans was an 18-year veteran of
the U.S. Capitol Police. The other officer was
being treated at a hospital.
“Please keep Officer Evans and his family
in your thoughts and prayers,” Capitol Police
Acting Chief Yogananda Pittman said in a
statement.
Meanwhile, Acting Manatee County Ad-
ministrator Scott Hopes told reporters at an
April 4 news conference that officials “moved
the medical unit and all personnel to the sec-
ond floor, which puts them well over 10 feet
above the base level.” But those plans were
scrapped and Wells ordered the inmates be
bused to another location, Warren told the
Bradenton Herald.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on April 4 de-
clared a state of emergency as county offi-
cials evacuated residents near a phosphate
processing plant over the weekend. Officials
warned that a pond filled with toxic waste-
water could collapse “at any time.”
“A portion of the containment wall at the
leak site shifted laterally,” Manatee County
Public Safety Director Jake Saur told WSTP
after a “significant leak” was discovered at
the Piney Point processing plant. Saur fur-
ther cautioned that “structural collapse could
occur at any time.”
The sheriff’s office expects up to one foot of
TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2021
RONALD MARTINEZ/GETTY IMAGES
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott at Globe Life Field
in Arlington, Texas, on Oct. 20, 2020.
Texas Governor
Declines First-Pitch
Invite Over MLB
Moving All-Star Game
From Georgia
ZACHARY STIEBER
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says he declined
to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at
the Texas Rangers’ home opening game
because of Major League Baseball’s de-
cision to move the All-Star Game from
Atlanta in response to Georgia’s sweeping
new voting laws.
Abbott thanked Neil Leibman, MLB’s
chief operating officer, for the invitation.
“I was looking forward—until Major
League Baseball adopted what has turned
out to be a false narrative about the elec-
tion law reforms in Georgia, and, based
on that false narrative, moved the MLB
All-Star Game from Atlanta,” he wrote
in a letter.
“It is shameful that America’s pastime
is not only being influenced by partisan
political politics, but also perpetuating
false political narratives.”
Texas won’t seek to host any MLB special
events and Abbott is forgoing all future
participation in league events, although
he maintains respect for the Texas Rang-
ers, whose home opener was on April 5
against the Toronto Blue Jays.
MLB didn’t immediately respond to a
request by The Epoch Times for comment.
The league on April 2 announced it was
moving its All-Star Game and amateur
player draft from Georgia in retaliation for
lawmakers passing a law that proponents
say strengthens election safeguards but
has been criticized for allegedly making
it harder to vote.
MLB Commissioner Robert Manfred Jr.
said the move was “the best way to dem-
onstrate our values as a sport,” adding that
the league “fundamentally supports vot-
ing rights for all Americans and opposes
restrictions to the ballot box.”
He didn’t specify which provisions in
the law he opposed.
The move was cheered by some, includ-
ing people around the league.
“Baseball is our national pastime and
preserving the right to vote is a pillar of
our American democracy,” Baltimore
Mayor Brandon Scott and Baltimore
Orioles CEO John Angelos said in a joint
statement. “The City of Baltimore and
the Birds of Baltimore applaud MLB’s
patriotism in supporting voting rights,
and encouraging everyone to use this
moment to fight for fair elections and
register eligible Americans to vote and
make their voices heard.”
But the decision drew backlash from
others, including against corporations
such as Delta and Coca-Cola that have
criticized the law.
A group of Georgia lawmakers asked
Coca-Cola to immediately remove their
products from their offices, while former
President Donald Trump called for boy-
cotts against corporations that went pub-
lic with their opposition to SB 202.
“Don’t go back to their products until
they relent,” Trump said. “We can play
the game better than them.”
floodwater in the vicinity of the jail should
the Piney Point site be breached.
“The reasoning for that is just to create
better security for us within the facility on
the upper level and to give us enough bed
space for the remaining 721 inmates,” War-
ren told the Herald.
The main concern regarding Piney Point
is the amount of phosphogypsum, which is
“radioactive waste” in the pond from pro-
cessing phosphate into a state that it can be
used for commercial fertilizer, according to
the Center for Biological Diversity.
The water being pumped out of the site is a
mix of seawater, rain runoff, and stormwater,
state and county officials said.
“The water meets water quality standards
for marine waters with the exception of pH,
total phosphorus, total nitrogen, and total
ammonia nitrogen,” the state said in a state-
ment. “It is slightly acidic, but not at a level
that is expected to be a concern, nor is it ex-
pected to be toxic.”
 TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2021
How One Renegade Province in the Pacific Is Standing
Up to Beijing’s Pressure, Bribes, Belt and Road
DANIEL Y. TENG
In September 2019, two Pacific na-
tions—the Solomon Islands and
Kiribati—decided to drop diplo-
matic recognition of Taiwan in
favor of the People’s Republic of
China (PRC). The move was the
latest step in the Beijing regime’s
continuing efforts to chip away at
Taiwan’s international standing.
In the face of the Solomon Is-
lands’ national government’s de-
cision, Daniel Suidani, the premier
of the Islands’ most populous re-
gion, Malaita Province, has con-
tinued to stand firm in his support
for Taiwan, despite pressure from
federal colleagues and Beijing.
“What we have seen with the
PRC’s involvement in other coun-
tries in the region is that every-
thing looks quite good at the start,
but at the end of the day, the coun-
tries eventually find it difficult to
handle the problems that come
with dealing with China,” he told
The Australian.
“As far as Malaita goes, we don’t
want any help from the PRC, as we
don’t want to have any constraints
put on our independence.”
Upon winning the provincial
election in June 2019, Suidani said
he was approached by agents act-
ing on Beijing’s behalf and was
offered 1 million Solomon Island
dollars (U.S. $125,200) to switch
allegiance to the PRC from Taiwan.
“I received the offer by phone,
and they told me where they were
and said they wanted to meet with
me to discuss it,” he said. “I knew
I needed to take a strong stance
against such an offer, and I drove to
where they were staying so I could
tell them that I do not accept.”
“When I arrived, I made up my
mind that it is not right for me to
even go up and see them. I called
and said I was not for sale and they
should keep their money.”
Suidani said he wasn’t able to
comment on whether other politi-
cians received bribery offers, but
if Beijing was willing to approach
him, then it was likely other lead-
ers were being propositioned. He
believes the PRC may have helped
fund election campaigns for par-
liamentarians, which may have
spurred the national Parliament’s
decision to switch diplomatic rec-
ognition.
The prospect of Beijing interfer-
ing in the Solomon Islands’ de-
mocracy didn’t dampen Suidani’s
resistance.
Just a month after the diplomat-
ic switch occurred, Suidani, with
fellow leaders’ support, launched
the Auki Communique, rejecting
the Chinese Communist Party’s
(CCP) ideology and its Belt and
Road Initiative.
Chinese Officials Trying
to Dodge COVID-19
Vaccinations, Citing Health
Reasons: Leaked Documents
EVA FU
As the Chinese regime races to in-
oculate tens of millions through
coercive policies and a propaganda
blitz, some local officials are qui-
etly dodging the shots themselves.
Amid Beijing’s aggressive vac-
cine push, dozens of officials from
parts of Liaoning, a province in
northeastern China, have cited
various health reasons not to take
the Chinese COVID-19 vaccine,
internal documents obtained by
The Epoch Times reveal.
In a town called Xintai, located
in the center of the province, only
three out of 66 officials have got-
ten vaccinated, with another two
on the registration list—showing
a dismal willingness rate of less
than 10 percent.
Fifty government officers and
those with the local judicial of-
fice and law enforcement gave
reasons such as underlying illness,
Caption ssimaio. Nequodit offictis nectame ndebis ullupta con cus. Nequod eicto que omnis et vent eumquam niet que dollitAndipsum sit, voloria ndessita
dolutem facestorenim ha
The Parliament House building in Honiara, Solomon Islands, on April 24, 2019.
As far as Malaita
goes, we don’t
want any help
from the PRC, as
we don’t want to
have any con-
straints put on our
independence.
Daniel Suidani,
premier of Malaita Province,
Solomon Islands
“Let us remind ourselves that
China or the PRC is no ordinary
country like many other countries
of the world. They have a global
ambition to dominate the world,”
he told a crowd at the provincial
assembly.
“For instance, China overwhelm-
ingly targets destitute countries
like Solomon Islands that cannot
pay their debts and loans. China
has confiscated parts or entire
seaports from countries that are
unable to pay their debts.”
In June 2020, during the initial
outbreak of COVID-19, Suidani ap-
proached Taiwan for assistance in
its pandemic response.
The move sparked a strong re-
sponse from the Solomon Islands
foreign affairs minister and the
allergy, pregnancy, recent surgery,
or a cold, according to a chart that
summarizes the region’s vaccina-
tion efforts.
Allergy stood out as the top rea-
son, cited 22 times. Twenty people
also cited high blood pressure
while five mentioned diabetes—
even though both are chronic
diseases that would mark them
as highly vulnerable to the CCP
(Chinese Communist Party) virus.
In Tai’an County, which has ju-
risdiction over the town, only four
people in the 56-member Housing
and Urban-Rural Development
Bureau consented to being inocu-
lated, with three people excusing
themselves over “poor health.”
In the county’s political and legal
affairs committee, a well-funded
CCP organ that has direct over-
sight over the court system, one
person mentioned toothache. In
Tai’an’s fiscal service center, some
said they’re taking Chinese medi-
local Chinese embassy, particu-
larly for referring to Taiwan as the
Republic of China, which implies
that the island is a self-governing
entity separate from Beijing.
“Such divisive statement from
a provincial premier threatens
the unity of the country at a time
when we need to work together in
keeping COVID-19 from entering
our borders and not politicize the
virus,” Foreign Affairs Minister Jer-
emiah Manele said in a statement.
A spokesperson from the Chi-
nese embassy responded with
the statement, “The claims and
actions by the Malaita provin-
cial leaders are illegitimate, in-
appropriate, and entirely wrong.
It breaches the sovereignty and
territorial integrity of China and
hurts the national feelings of the
Chinese people.”
Days later, Suidani told The Aus-
tralian that the federal government
seized a shipment of medical sup-
plies from Taiwan, calling it an “act
of defiance.”
With the Solomon Islands and
Kiribati choosing to align with
Beijing, the remaining South Pa-
cific island nations to retain dip-
lomatic relations with Taiwan are
Tuvalu, Nauru, Marshall Islands,
and Palau.
Efforts to isolate Taiwan on the
diplomatic world stage come as
Beijing continues its soft power
cine or have unspecified illnesses.
The vaccination acceptance is no
more sanguine in the Tai’an Oc-
cupation Education Center, the
county’s major technical college,
where around a third claimed to
have an allergic constitution and
many said they were recovering
from the seasonal flu.
The low participation rate from
the officials, who have been tasked
with “leading by example” in Chi-
na’s vaccination drive, appears to
signal a greater lack of enthusiasm
within the country.
The regime has been promoting
its homegrown vaccines at home
and abroad, shipping free doses
to 69 countries and celebrating a
record of 100 million administered
across China by the end of March.
Gao Fu, head of the country’s Cen-
ter for Disease Control and Pre-
vention, recently told state media
they were aiming to vaccinate 70
to 80 percent of the Chinese popu-
lation to achieve herd immunity.
Some overzealous officials have
gone door to door to vaccinate
residents and even threatened to
blacklist the uncooperative. The
program has meanwhile been
riddled with questions about vac-
cine quality.
Still very little is known about
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare (R) and Chinese Premier
Li Keqiang inspect honour guards during a welcome ceremony at the Great
Hall of the People in Beijing on Oct. 9, 2019.
push into the region via propa-
ganda, foreign aid, and infrastruc-
ture investment under the Belt and
Road Initiative (BRI).
The BRI is Beijing’s trillion-dol-
lar, global infrastructure funding
scheme that has been criticized for
leaving developing countries laden
with debt.
The United States and Australian
governments have responded to
Beijing’s efforts in the Pacific with
their own counter-initiatives.
Taiwan Foreign Affairs Minister
Joseph Wu has warned that Bei-
jing could eventually militarize the
the Chinese vaccines the regime
has rushed to distribute. The lead-
ing vaccine maker, state-owned
Sinopharm, announced plans on
March 28 to conduct third stage
trials overseas to observe how long
protection from the virus would
last. In Hong Kong, at least 12 lo-
cals have died following Beijing’s
Sinovac shots.
Neither company has made its
clinical data public, although the
World Health Organization on
March 31 vouched for efficacy
levels being above 50 percent—
the minimum bar for a vaccine’s
public use.
“We know nothing about this
vaccine,” a mainlander surnamed
Li told the Chinese-language NTD,
an affiliate of The Epoch Times.
“There’s no third stage trial data
nor analysis on whether it can pro-
duce antibodies at all, whether we
can still get infected or infect oth-
ers. We know nothing.
“We are better off simply hav-
ing a few bowls of chicken soup
at home to boost our immunity,
don’t you think?”
Amid public skepticism, the re-
gime has been drumming up the
pressure. State media anchors
have endorsed vaccination slogans
urging people to “lend an arm.”
CHINA | A9
ROBERT TAUPONGI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
WANG ZHAO/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
South Pacific beyond foreign aid
and diplomatic relations, trans-
forming it into “another South
China Sea.”
“We have seen reports that China
is interested in reopening this ra-
dar station in Kiribati and build-
ing a naval base in the Western
Province of Solomon Islands,” he
said during the 2019 Pacific Islands
Dialogue.
“I certainly don’t want to see the
Pacific turned into another South
China Sea, with us one day all
sighing that it is too late for us to
do anything.”
In southern Hainan Province, a
local town called Wancheng told
residents they wouldn’t be able to
take buses or go to restaurants and
supermarkets without vaccination
certificates.
“If you don’t take vaccines, it will
affect your children’s schooling,
work, joining the military, and
housing in the future,” according
to a notice that has since gone vi-
ral on Chinese social media. The
officials later apologized amid
the backlash and rescinded the
mandate.
Mr. Wu from China’s central
city of Wuhan recently received a
text from his local neighborhood
committee and his workplace
telling him to get the vaccine on
a certain date.
Both he and his father, a gov-
ernment official, consider it un-
necessary, he said, citing a his-
tory of issues with past Chinese
vaccines.
Another retired Beijing official
also expressed concerns about
possible adverse reactions.
“A lot of common people are
worried about this, and so am I,”
he told The Epoch Times in a re-
cent interview.
Luo Ya contributed to this report.
A10 | WORLD TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2021

HANDRIANUS EMANUEL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

evacuation centers, but rescue op-

UK Offers Twice-
Weekly COVID-19
Tests to Everyone
in England
ALEXANDER ZHANG
Everyone in England will be of-
fered free rapid COVID-19 testing
twice a week beginning April 9,
the UK government announced
on April 5.
The Department of Health and
Social Care (DHSC) said this is
a “significant step forward” that
“paves the way for businesses and
society reopening” as the ongo-
ing CCP virus lockdown is gradu-
ally eased.
“As we continue to make good
progress on our vaccine program
and with our roadmap to cautiously
easing restrictions underway, regu-
lar rapid testing is even more im-
portant to make sure those efforts
are not wasted,” Prime Minister
Boris Johnson said.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock
said one in three people who have
COVID-19 don’t show symptoms
but could still be infectious, so rapid
testing “is going to be fundamental
in helping us quickly spot positive
cases and squash any outbreaks.”
“Reclaiming our lost freedoms
and getting back to normal hinges
on us all getting tested regularly,”
he said.
But Allyson Pollock, professor of
public health at Newcastle Uni-
versity, told The Epoch Times, “It’s
a hugely expensive and incoher-
ent policy and not a public health
strategy.”
The mass testing will use lateral
flow devices, which can produce a
result in less than 30 minutes with-
out the need for laboratory testing.
The mass testing program has
been criticized by some medical
experts, who are worried that it
could backfire due to the limited
accuracy of the technology, espe-
cially with self-administered tests.
A study in the British Medical
Journal (BMJ) showed the pilot
in Liverpool missed 60 percent of
cases and 30 percent of those with
the highest viral loads.
The BMJ said in a November 2020
editorial that the program was “an
unevaluated, under-designed, and
costly mess.”
It said the mass testing program
shouldn’t continue or be used as a
basis of whether people should self-
isolate until it has been externally
and independently scrutinized.
“Recent analysis from NHS Test
and Trace shows that for every 1,000
lateral flow tests carried out, there
is less than one false-positive re-
sult,” the government said.
Lily Zhou and Simon Veazey
contributed to this report.
AUTHOR
Villagers return to check their damaged homes after a flash flood in Lembata, East Flores, Indonesia, on April 5, 2021.
Tropical Cyclone Kills at Least
113 in Indonesia, East Timor
MALAKA, Indonesia—Floods
and landslides triggered by tropi-
cal cyclone Seroja in a cluster of
islands in southeast Indonesia and
East Timor have killed 113 people,
with many still unaccounted for
and thousands displaced, officials
said on April 5.
At least 86 deaths were report-
ed on several islands in Indone-
sia’s West and East Nusa Teng-
gara provinces, while 71 others
Taiwan Reports New Incursion by Chinese Jets Into Defense Zone
TAIPEI, Taiwan—Taiwan’s De-
fense Ministry on April 5 report-
ed a new incursion by China’s air
force into the island’s air defense
identification zone, made up of
eight fighter jets and two other
aircraft, one of which flew through
the strategic Bashi Channel.
Chinese-claimed Taiwan has
complained over the past few
months of repeated missions by
China’s air force near the island,
concentrated in the southwestern
part of its air defense zone near the
Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands.
Late last month, Taiwan re-
ported 20 Chinese aircraft were
involved in one such incursion.
In the latest incident, Taiwan’s
Defense Ministry said four Chi-
nese J-16 and four J-10 fighters were
involved, as well as an early warn-
ing plane and anti-submarine air-
craft, the latter of which flew to the
were missing, after the cyclone
brought flash floods, landslides,
and strong winds amid heavy
rain over the weekend, disaster
agency BNPB said.
In East Timor, which shares the
Timor island with Indonesia, at
least 27 people were killed by land-
slides, flash floods, and a falling
tree, while 7,000 were displaced,
its government said.
On Lembata island, authorities
A Chinese J-16 fighter jet performs in the sky in Changchun, China, on Oct.
17, 2019.
south of Taiwan through the Bashi
Channel that connects the Pacific
to the South China Sea.
Taiwan’s air force sent up a com-
bat air patrol to warn the Chinese
aircraft away, the ministry added.
feared bodies had been washed
away.
“We are using rubber boats to
find bodies at sea. In several vil-
lages, flash floods hit while people
were sleeping,” Thomas Ola Lan-
goday, deputy head of Lembata
district government, told Reuters
by phone.
About 30,000 people have been
impacted by floods in Indonesia,
some already taking shelter in
AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
While there was no immediate
response from China’s Defense
Ministry, the flights coincided
with other Chinese military ac-
tivity to Taiwan’s north.
Japan’s Defense Ministry said on
erations have been made difficult
after five bridges collapsed and
falling trees blocked some roads,
BNPB spokesman Raditya Jati said.
A continuing storm had also
halted evacuations in some places,
local authorities said.
Hundreds of houses and other
facilities such as a solar power
plant were damaged, BNPB said.
Ships and motorboats sank as the
cyclone set off waves as high as 6
meters (almost 20 feet).
Powerful currents continued
to flow through villages in the
Malaka district on Timor island
on April 5, even though the rain
had stopped. Some residents there
hauled themselves to their roofs to
escape the rising floodwaters.
“We had to dismantle the zinc
roof. We went out through the
back door and pulled ourselves out
with a rope,” Agustina Luruk, 36,
told Reuters as she and her three
daughters waited to be evacuated
by the side of a muddy road.
President Joko Widodo offered
his condolences and ordered
speedy disaster relief efforts.
The Seroja cyclone hit the Savu
sea southwest of Timor island early
on April 5, Indonesia’s weather
agency said.
Within 24 hours, the cyclone’s in-
tensity could strengthen, bringing
yet more rain, waves, and winds,
although it was moving away from
Indonesia, the agency said.
Dwikorita Karnawati, the agen-
cy’s head, said that the cyclone
would be weakening in the next
two days.
By Yos Seran &
Agustinus Beo Da Costa
From Reuters
April 4 that the Chinese aircraft
carrier Liaoning, accompanied
by five escort ships, had transited
the Miyako Strait on their way to
the Pacific.
Although China’s air force hasn’t
flown over Taiwan itself, the flights
have ramped up pressure, both
financial and physical, on the is-
land’s air force to ensure its aircraft
are ready to go at any moment in
what security officials describe as
a “war of attrition.”
The Chinese regime views dem-
ocratic Taiwan as its own territory
and has never renounced the use
of force to bring the island under
its control.
While Taiwan’s air force is well
trained, it’s dwarfed by that of
China’s.
By Ben Blanchard
From Reuters

MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/SPUTNIK/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

RUSSIA
Putin Signs Law
Allowing Him 2
More Terms as
Russia’s Leader
Russian President Vladi-
mir Putin has signed a law
allowing him to potentially
hold onto power until 2036,
a move that formalizes
constitutional changes en-
dorsed in a vote in 2020.
The July 1 constitutional
vote included a provision
that reset Putin’s previous
term limits, allowing him
to run for president two
more times. The change
was rubber-stamped by the
Kremlin-controlled legis-
lature, and the relevant law
signed by Putin was posted
April 5 on an official portal
of legal information.
The 68-year-old Russian
president, who has been in
power for more than two
decades—longer than any
other Kremlin leader since
Soviet dictator Josef Sta-
lin—said he would decide
later whether to run again
in 2024 when his current
six-year term ends.
He has argued that
resetting the term count
was necessary to keep his
lieutenants focused on their
work instead of “darting
their eyes in search for pos-
sible successors.”
— The Associated Press
KOSOVO
Kosovo Gets New
President, Its 2nd
Female Leader
Lawmakers in Kosovo have
elected and sworn in a new
president for a five-year
term, the Balkan nation’s
second female leader in the
post-war period.
Russian
President
Vladimir
Putin in
Moscow
on March
27, 2021.
The 120-seat parliament,
which convened in an ex-
traordinary session for two
days, gave 71 votes for Vjosa
Osmani-Sadriu, the former
parliament speaker, in the
third round of voting, while
11 votes were invalid.
Two opposition parties
and the ethnic Serb mi-
nority party boycotted the
voting.
In November, the 38-year-
old Osmani-Sadriu tem-
porarily replaced former
President Hashim Thaci,
a guerrilla leader during
Kosovo’s war for indepen-
dence from Serbia in the
late 1990s, who resigned
after facing charges for war
crimes and crimes against
humanity at a special court
based in The Hague.
Osmani-Sadriu, post-war
Kosovo’s seventh president
and its second female one,
had the backing of the left-
wing Self-Determination
Movement, or Veteven-
dosje!, which won Kosovo’s
Feb. 14 early election in a
landslide. The party now
holds the three top posts:
the president, the speaker,
and the prime minister.
— The Associated Press
MEXICO
Mexico’s President
Now Says He Won’t
Get COVID-19
Vaccine
Mexico’s president said he
won’t get a COVID-19 vac-
cine because his doctors
told him he still has a high
level of antibodies from
when he was infected in
January.
“I have sufficient levels of
antibodies, and right now it
isn’t indispensable for me to
get vaccinated,” said Presi-
dent Andrés Manuel López
Obrador.
López Obrador would
have gotten a shot of the
AstraZeneca vaccine last
week, based on his address
in a borough in the city’s
center, where he lives in an
apartment at the National
Palace.
— The Associated Press
JORDAN
Estranged Prince
Hamza Defies
Jordan’s Military
in Voice Recording
Jordan’s estranged Prince
Hamza said in a voice
recording that he would
disobey orders by the army
not to communicate with
the outside world after he
was put under house arrest
and accused of trying to
destabilize the country.
The half-brother of King
Abdullah and former heir
to the throne said in the re-
cording released by Jordan’s
opposition that he wouldn’t
comply after being barred
from any activity and told to
keep quiet.
While Prince Hamza isn’t
seen as a direct threat to the
king, his actions suggest
he wants to shore up his
position with the Jordanian
public after being removed
from the royal succession.
— From Reuters
GERMANY
German CDU
Chairman Calls for
Harder Lockdown
Measures
Armin Laschet, chairman
of Angela Merkel’s Christian
Democrats and her would-
be successor as chancellor,
said that Germany needed
harder lockdown measures
to break a rise in coronavi-
rus infections.
Germany, despite months
of restrictions, has seen a
rise in infections.
The statements by Las-
chet, premier of Germany’s
most populous state of
North Rhine-Westphalia,
follow comments from an-
other prominent politician
who called for a shorter and
even harder lockdown.
— From Reuters
 TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2021
COVID-19 Death Risk on the Rise for
Young, Middle Aged Adults in Brazil: Study
ISABEL VAN BRUGEN
The risk of death in young and middle-
aged adults in Brazil after contracting
COVID-19 is on the rise, researchers have
found.
The researchers noted that Brazil is cur-
rently suffering a “deadly surge” of CO-
VID-19 infections, which has been attrib-
uted to the spread of a new strain known
as P.1 (B.1.1.28.1).
They examined public COVID-19 data
from the southern Brazilian state of Pa-
rana—the largest state in the southern half
of the country—which has seen a total of
553,518 positive cases from September
2020 through March 17.
Medical professionals
have suggested that lim-
ited vaccines and the P.1
variant that first emerged
in the city of Manaus late
last year, coupled with the
UK variant, have contrib-
uted to the rise.
Their report, published on medRxiv on
April 2 ahead of peer review, found that the
proportion of patients who died either held
steady or declined between September
and January. However, starting February,
fatality rates rose for almost all groups over
age 20.
From January to February, these rates
tripled among COVID-19 patients aged
20 to 29, from 0.04 percent to 0.13 percent,
and doubled among those aged 30 to 39,
40 to 49, and 50 to 59.
“Individuals between 20 and 29 years of
age whose diagnosis was made in Febru-
ary 2021 had an over three-fold higher risk
of death compared to those diagnosed in
Philippines’ Defense Chief Says
Beijing Intends to Occupy More
South China Sea Areas
MANILA—The Philippines’ defense chief
says Beijing is looking to occupy more areas
in the South China Sea, citing the continued
presence of Chinese vessels that Manila be-
lieves are manned by militias in disputed
parts of the strategic waterway.
“The continued presence of Chinese
maritime militias in the area reveals their
intent to further occupy (areas) in the West
Philippine Sea,” Defense Secretary Delfin
Lorenzana said in an April 4 statement, us-
ing the local name for the South China Sea.
It was the second statement by Lorenza-
Behind the
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People wait in line outside a Caixa Econômica Federal bank in São Gonçalo, Brazil, on May 5, 2020.
January 2021,” the researchers said.
“Taken together, these preliminary
findings suggest significant increases in
case fatality rates in young and middle-
aged adults after identification of a novel
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It’s unclear what is driving the growing
infection rate among Brazil’s younger
population. Medical professionals have
suggested that limited vaccines and the
P.1 variant that first emerged in the city
of Manaus late last year, coupled with the
UK variant, have contributed to the rise.
Government data shows that last month,
more than 2,030 Brazilians aged 30 to 39
died from COVID-19, the disease caused
by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party)
virus. That’s roughly double the number
recorded in January. Of those in their 40s,
na in two days as he repeated calls by the
Philippines for the Chinese boats to leave
Whitsun Reef, which Manila calls the Ju-
lian Felipe Reef, located within its 200-mile
exclusive economic zone.
Chinese diplomats have said the boats an-
chored near the reef—numbering more than
200, based on initial intelligence gathered
by Philippine patrols—were sheltering from
rough seas and that no militia were aboard.
On April 3, Lorenzana said there were still
44 Chinese vessels at Whitsun Reef, despite
improved weather conditions.
“Completely “Bringing morality back to
straightforward.” newspapers.”
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TRUTH AND TRADITION
LUIS ALVARENGA/GETTY IMAGES
there were approximately 4,150 fatalities
in March, compared to 1,823 deaths in
January. For those aged between 20 and
29, fatalities spiked from 242 to 505.
Local doctors also told CNN last week
that young Brazilians are getting sicker
after being infected with COVID-19 than
during previous waves of the pandemic.
The P.1 strain features mutations asso-
ciated with higher viral infectivity and
greater resistance to antibodies—though
experts caution that more study is needed
to verify the “fitness” of the mutant virus.
“Last year, we had more critical elderly
patients. Now it’s completely distinct.
We’re dealing with a substantial number
of severe patients in their 30s to 50s,” Dr.
Anne Menezes from Manaus’s Getulio
Vargas Hospital told Al Jazeera.
Reuters contributed to this report.
MANDEL NGAN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Philippines Defense Secretary Delfin
Lorenzana speaks during a meeting at the Pen-
tagon in Washington on April 1, 2019.
“I am no fool. The weather has been good
so far, so they have no reason to stay there,”
he said.
The Chinese Embassy in Manila respond-
ed to Lorenzana’s comments, saying it was
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WORLD | A11
Australia, US
Preparing
‘Contingencies’
Around Possible
Taiwan Conflict
CONTINUED FROM A1
taining power in the Indo-Pacific region.
“One thing that we’re determined to
do is we’re not going to get out in front
of our allies,” he said.
“In fact, we’re going to move with
them because that really is the secret
sauce of our power in the Indo-Pacific.”
In December 2020, Taiwanese Foreign
Minister Joseph Wu called on Australia
to stand up for democracy and defend
the island against potential threats.
“Australia has been a very powerful
element or actor in the Indo Pacific,” he
told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
“I see like-minded countries like Ja-
pan and Australia and India and the
United States can also work together
to prevent China from further expan-
sionism.”
Australian Prime Minister Scott Mor-
rison in 2020 called the Indo-Pacific
region the “epicenter of rising strate-
gic competition” while announcing a
10-year, $270 billion funding package
into upgrading the Australian Defence
Force.
One of the main focuses will be to
give the military more long-range
strike power to influence the “calculus
of cost” for an adversary if it decided to
attack Australia.
The Biden administration meanwhile
last month sought to assure Taiwan that
the United States would support its ally
by establishing a Coast Guard Working
Group. The United States has tradition-
ally been the largest arms supplier to
Taiwan as well.
War game analysts believe an at-
tack on the island from Beijing could
be around the corner, with one expert
believing the regular incursions into
Taiwanese airspace, are in fact simula-
tions of a purported invasion.
“completely normal” for Chinese vessels to
fish in the area and take shelter near the reef
during rough sea conditions. It added, “No-
body has the right to make wanton remarks
on such activities.”
An international tribunal invalidated Bei-
jing’s claim to 90 percent of the South China
Sea in 2016, but the Chinese Communist
Party said it does not recognize the ruling
and has built artificial islands in the dis-
puted waters equipped with radar, missiles
batteries, and hangars for fighter jets.
“They have done this (occupy disputed
areas) before at Panatag Shoal or Bajo de
Masinloc and at Panganiban Reef, brazenly
violating Philippine sovereignty and sov-
ereign rights under international law,” Lo-
renzana said in his statement.
From Reuters
“Not emotionally going up
and down. ”
A12 TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2021

I N A W O R L D O F C E N S O R S H I P, T H E T R U T H I S Y O U R W E A P O N .

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Atlanta’s Truist Park would have been the site of the 2021 All-Star Game had Major League Baseball not pulled out.
Virtue Signaling Replaces Baseball
as America’s National Pastime
ROGER L. SIMON
By moving the All-Star
Game out of Atlanta,
the morally narcissistic
ignoramuses who run
Major League Baseball
have inadvertently given
us the defining moment
in the ultimate decline and fall of the
United States of America as we know it.
In a sense, we should be grateful to
them for the wake-up call, even if the
likelihood of it being heard and respond-
ed to isn’t sufficiently great. The symbol-
ism is perfect.
Forget the actual details of the Georgia
voting law they claim to be protesting.
Facts are immaterial. The national pas-
time has joined the ranks of the “woke”
virtue signalers.
Yes, that national pastime has scarcely
been what it was for some time, but then
what is? Basketball and football are also in
decline. No sports are left, really, at least
spectator sports.
Virtue signaling itself has become our
national pastime.
Everyone, at least that percentage of the
country who voted for the current presi-
dent, practice it on a daily or even hourly
basis, like a catechism.
The president himself we could call the
virtue signaler-in-chief. He began his
“virtuous” journey in law school where
he was almost ejected for plagiarism,
begged to stay in, and then later told us he
graduated at the top of his class. (He actu-
ally graduated at the bottom, as would
any plagiarist, if they graduated at all.)
And then there were numerous other
“virtuous” cases of plagiarism, including
from the British politician Neil Kinnock,
but no matter. Our great legal scholar
president knows the Georgia election law
is wrong. Not only is it wrong, it’s racist.
So he led the charge in moving the
game out of Atlanta and essentially gave
permission to league executives to make
their reactionary move.
The result: Baseball is virtually dead
from virtual signaling. Call it murder by
idiotic ideology.
But baseball is just a game and America
is no such thing. It was once the beacon
of all humanity when it came to democ-
TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2021 • A13
(Left) Cardboard cutouts of fans in an otherwise empty stadium face the field during a baseball game in Atlanta on July 30, 2020.
(Right) An event to register Gen Z voters, in Compton, Calif., on Sept. 19, 2020.
racy and freedom, but that is no more.
Like any good moral narcissist (i.e., he or
she who virtue signals) we are no longer lib-
erty and freedom lovers. We are now woke.
Woke, however, isn’t an American idea.
Neither were, completely, the Declara-
tion of Independence and the Bill of
Rights. To some extent, they came from
Europe, influenced, as many readers
know, by John Locke, among others, but
they were developed and enhanced in
a uniquely American way by Jefferson,
Madison, et al. The Federalist Papers
were a flower of the Enlightenment.
Not so woke. Its antecedents are en-
tirely European and have little to do with
democracy and freedom and everything
to do with a kind of neo-Marxist, top-
down power game of a fascistic nature.
The American idea and woke are, in es-
sence, opposites.
Perhaps I’m being a bit snobbish, but
I’d wager the MLB executives who just
exercised their supposedly anti-racist
druthers have never heard of the man
many believe is the godfather of woke—
its John Locke, so to speak—the French
philosopher Michel Foucault.
I’m skeptical our virtue signaler-in-
chief has ever heard of him either, or
perhaps only vaguely, although I imag-
ine some of his more educated Cabinet
members, those who made it through
law school without plagiarizing, such
as Anthony Blinken, are familiar. And
Chuck Schumer may have pretended to
AP PHOTO/JOHN AMIS, FILE
have read the Frenchman way back in
some Harvard bull session.
But just who is this godfather of woke?
Well, there’s a lot of convoluted gradu-
ate school rhetoric, but it turns out the
reality of the man may not be very flat-
tering. Rumors of a certain amount of
perversion have surrounded Foucault
for some time, but now testimony has
surfaced that is distinctly “unwoke.”
I have never done this before. In fact,
I despise the idea of trigger warnings in
general, but if you are easily nauseated, I
would suggest you move on before read-
ing the following:
“French-American professor Guy Sor-
man accused French philosopher Michel
Foucault of being a ‘pedophile rapist’ in an
interview with The Sunday Times. Sor-
man, a friend of Foucault, said that the phi-
losopher sexually abused Arab children
while living in Tunisia in the late 1960s.
“Stating that he learned of the situation
when he visited Foucault, Sorman said:
‘The young children were running after
Foucault to say, what about me? Take
me, take me. They were 8, 9, 10 years old.
Foucault was throwing money at them
and would say, ‘let’s meet at 10 p.m. at the
usual place.’ He would make love there
on the gravestones with young boys. The
question of consent wasn’t even raised.’”
Now, admittedly, just because the godfa-
ther of woke was allegedly a very sick and
deeply evil man, a monster, really, doesn’t
necessarily mean all its precepts are
TODD KIRKLAND/GETTY IMAGES
VALERIE MACON/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
wrong, but this should give one pause.
I put in the “allegedly” because it is pro
forma, but this has more than the usual
ring of truth. The interview, behind The
Sunday Times paywall, has become, not
surprisingly, the No. 1 topic of the so-
called intellos of Paris.
But we don’t have to get lost in those
intellectual gyrations. We have our own
traditions and country to defend.
America has been led astray, far astray, so
far we are in danger of never coming back.
The time to stop this insanity is long past.
But, in their abject stupidity, MLB execu-
tives may have given us a second chance.
Our disgust with them should wake
us up. In their disrespect for millions of
people, they are emblematic of the ig-
norant group think and conformity that
comprises the woke.
As the law of physics dictates, their mo-
ronic action deserves—in fact, demands
and awakens—an equal and opposite
reaction.
But it shouldn’t be moronic on our end.
It should be definitive.
Indeed, we should break that law of
physics, increase the force in any way
possible and smash the woke completely
to pieces before they destroy all that is
good in our country and the world.
Roger L. Simon is an award-winning
novelist, Oscar-nominated screenwriter,
co-founder of PJ Media, and now a col-
umnist of The Epoch Times.
A14 | OPINION TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2021

with elected officials so all views can be ing in a voter’s mind on election day.

Readers to Politicians: considered.

Well, judging from the amount of mail
I’ve gotten, citizens are, indeed, contact-
From Pat Wittorf in Oklahoma: “As for
contacting my representatives, I do that
with sufficient regularity that I have a

You’re Not Listening! ing their representatives. The problem?

DIANE DIMOND
A few weeks ago, this column
focused on the need for citizens
who are unhappy with the
state of our political and justice
systems to speak up about their
concerns.
Your opinion can’t be counted if
you stay silent, I wrote. Or as one of my
A man readers put it, “We now have the govern-
crosses ment that we have earned but not the
Pennsylva- government our children deserve.”
nia Avenue Apathetic mainstream voters have
overlook-
allowed a minority of outspoken activ-
ing the U.S. ists to dominate the national conversa-
Capitol in
tion on myriad topics: defunding police,
Washing-
ton on Feb. immigration, selective prosecutions,
3, 2019. federal spending, and lots more divisive
issues. I urged citizens to get in touch
Politicians are ignoring them.
“I email my U.S. Senators frequently to
encourage them, or at least make them
aware that there are other points of view
out there,” Sara Karl wrote. “I have not
got a response in over a year, not even
A warning to their form letters.” Karl believes her
elected officials are too consumed with
politicians reelection to care about what she thinks.
everywhere: “Same here in N.J.,” wrote L. Grace.
Beware. The tide “I do get a response, but it is a canned,
elitist political speech extolling the vapid
of apathy is lifting, virtues of the very thing I am writing
and dismissive against.”
treatment has a Steve Robel in North Carolina declared
that voters absolutely must “Hold them
way of sticking in accountable while they are in office.”
a voter’s mind on Robel supports term limits.
Gregstocks2005 emailed to say: “Our
election day.
government officials both local and feder-
al, are nothing more than echo chambers,
busy listening to one another. They are
not interested in either their constituents’
voices, or the voices of common people.”
And reader Thomas Spencer appears
SAMIRA BOUAOU/THE EPOCH TIMES ready to give up trying to contact his
representatives.
“With little or no response from them
I know they do what they like,” he says.
“Most of the time I receive an email
justifying their actions with the invisible
middle finger hidden in the words.” Ouch.
So, what are the citizens supposed to
do when their own member of Congress
won’t listen or respond? Reader Sally
Grave said she wrote directly to the
speaker of the House.
“I have tried to contact Pelosi to com-
plain about her actions but because I
am not a resident of California I cannot,”
she said.
Well, that doesn’t seem right, does it?
If Pelosi controls the House of Represen-
tatives, shouldn’t she be responsive to all
Americans?
A warning to politicians everywhere:
Beware. The tide of apathy is lifting, and
dismissive treatment has a way of stick-
mental image of their staff seeing my
email address and muttering, ‘Not her
again!’”
A defeated Cindy Merrill appears to
have given up trying to get someone to
listen to her opinions.
“We can’t debate,” she wrote. “If we try
we’re called racists.”
A Mr. Gato emailed to say: “They know
what we want. And too many of them are
too corrupt with their own power and
egos to care. We must keep speaking out!”
Carl Morris made an intriguing point
by suggesting many of us are victims of
“learned helplessness.” He wrote, “The
public is being trained/gaslighted into
feeling like no matter what they do they
are wrong and will be punished, so they
may as well give full control to someone
else.” Never a good idea, I say.
Messages of political dissatisfaction
came in from across America. Yet many
expressed determination to keep politi-
cians’ feet to the fire. From Ohio, Robert
Runkle advised, “Even if they ignore
you keep writing, calling, and emailing.
Flood their offices with calls and mail!”
Texas Patriot Gal wrote: “We didn’t get
into this mess in 1 or 2 cycles. It will take
time and diligence to get it back on track,
but the freedom in the United States of
America is worth fighting for and we can
make the changes necessary.”
If you are unhappy with the direction
the U.S. is taking, get involved. Write.
Call. Demand transparency and a
response. And let your politicians know
you are a motivated voter.
Diane Dimond is an author and investiga-
tive journalist. Her latest book is “Thinking
Outside the Crime and Justice Box.”

COMICS
DILBERT GARFIELD

PEANUTS GINGER MEGGS

RED AND ROVER

BIG NATE

GRAND AVENUE DRABBLE

MUTT & JEFF FRANK AND ERNEST

 TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2021
SPECIAL SERIES: HOW THE SPECTER OF COMMUNISM IS RULING OUR WORLD
Chapter Seventeen:
Globalization and Communism
The Epoch Times here serializes
an adaptation from the Chinese
of “How the Specter of Communism
Is Ruling Our World,” a new book
by the editorial team of the “Nine
Commentaries on the Communist
Party.”
3. Political Globalization
Political aspects of globalization
include increased cooperation among
states, the emergence of interna-
tional bodies, and the formulation of
international agendas and treaties.
Following the emergence of such
international institutions, as well as
rules and regulations that transcend
national borders, these organizations
have developed into bases of inter-
national power, weakening national
sovereignty and eroding the cultural,
social, and moral foundations of indi-
vidual nations. In the name of pro-
moting world peace and international
understanding, globalist institutions
aim to consolidate power for the
gradual advancement of the commu-
nist program.
The communist specter promotes
and uses international organiza-
tions to bolster the strength of left-
ist factors, promoting the Marxist
philosophy of struggle and commu-
nist regimes’ twisted definitions of
human rights and freedom. Global-
ism promotes socialist ideas on a
global scale, including attempts to
redistribute wealth and form a world
government to eventually bring all of
humanity under totalitarian rule.
a. Expanding Communist
Political Power Through the UN
The United Nations, the largest in-
ternational organization, was estab-
lished after World War II to strength-
en cooperation and coordination
among countries. As a supranational
entity, the U.N. has been used by
communist forces in their goal of
weakening and abolishing nation-
states. From its establishment, the
U.N. was compromised by the Soviet-
led communist bloc, and it has served
as a tool to advance the interests of
communist regimes.
When the U.N. was founded and its
charter drafted, the Soviet Union was
one of the sponsoring countries and
a permanent member of the Security
Council, playing a decisive role. The
secretary-general of the 1945 U.N.
Conference on International Orga-
nization was Alger Hiss, a U.S. State
Department official and important
adviser to President Franklin D. Roo-
sevelt. Less than five years later, Hiss
was convicted of perjury in connec-
tion with the charge of being a Soviet
spy. The U.N. Charter and conven-
tions contain “back doors” that are
beneficial to communist regimes,
STF/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
U.N. Secretary
General Trygve
Lie at Hunter
College in New
York on April 24,
1946.
which likely has a great deal to do
with Hiss’s involvement. These con-
ventions have been used to directly or
indirectly promote communist ideas
and expand communist power.
The heads of many important
U.N. agencies are communists or
fellow travelers. A number of secre-
taries-general have been socialists
and Marxists. For example, the first,
Trygve Lie, was a Norwegian socialist
who initially received strong sup-
port from the Soviet Union. His most
important task was to advocate for
bringing the PRC into the United
Nations.
His successor, Dag Hammarsk-
jold of Sweden, was a socialist and
a sympathizer for a global com-
munist revolution. Hammarskjold
often fawned over high-ranking CCP
official Zhou Enlai. The third secre-
tary-general, U Thant of Burma (also
known as Myanmar), was a Marxist
who believed that Lenin’s ideals were
consistent with the U.N. Charter.
The sixth secretary-general, Boutros
Boutros-Ghali of Egypt, began his po-
litical career in the regime of Gamal
Abdel Nasser and was formerly the
vice president of the Socialist Interna-
tional. [9] Considering this, it’s easy to
understand why the heads of com-
munist regimes regularly receive the
highest courtesy from the U.N.
The highest mission of the U.N. is to
The One Belt, maintain world peace and security.
One Road Its peacekeeping forces are overseen
initiative is by the under-secretary-general for
political and peacebuilding affairs.
a means for
the Chinese Of the 14 individuals who held this
position from 1946 to 1992, 13 were
Communist Soviet citizens. Though the Soviet
Party to Union used “safeguarding world
expand its peace” as its slogan, the regime never
international relinquished its attempt to expand
hegemony. communist power, and it had no
interest in contributing to world
OBOR has
peace. Its real aim was to hijack the
left many U.N., using it as a pro-socialist orga-
countries in
nization to advance the communist
debt crises. movement. Communist influence
OPINION | A15
TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Stephen Gregory, Publisher
Jasper Fakkert, Editor-in-Chief
Channaly Philipp, Life & Tradition,
Travel Editor
Chrisy Trudeau, Mind & Body Editor
Crystal Shi, Home, Food Editor
Sharon Kilarski, Arts & Culture Editor
ABOUT US
The Epoch Times is a media
organization dedicated to seek-
ing the truth through insightful
and independent journalism.
Standing outside of politi-
cal interests and the pursuit of
profit, our starting point and our
goal is to create a media for the
public benefit, to be truly respon-
sible to society.
We endeavor to educate read-
ers about today’s most impor-
tant topics, seeking to broaden
and uplift minds. We believe that
rational, balanced debate is key
for fostering a healthy democ-
racy and a compassionate
society.
As an independent media out-
A U.N. police officer stands let, we use our freedom to inves-
at an empty entrance at
tigate issues overlooked—or
the United Nations in New
York on Sept. 22, 2020. avoided—by other media outlets.
We seek to highlight solutions
and what’s good in society rather
than what divides us.
We report respectfully, compas-
sionately, and rigorously.
We stand against the destruc-
tion wrought by communism,
was so entrenched in the U.N. that the including the harm done to cul-
organization acted as a veritable front tures around the world.
group for the Soviet Union. FBI Direc-
We are inspired in this by our
tor J. Edgar Hoover stated in 1963 that
own experience. The Epoch
communist diplomats assigned to the
Times was founded in 2000 to
U.N. “represent the backbone of Rus-
bring honest and uncensored
sian intelligence operations in this
news to people oppressed
country.” [10]
by the lies and violence in
Even after the collapse of the
communist China.
Soviet bloc, the communist legacy
remained widespread in the U.N. We still believe journalism is a
The Wall Street Journal reported in noble vocation, but only when it
1991, on the eve of the Soviet col- genuinely seeks to serve its com-
lapse: “Many of those working within munities and help them to flour-
the Secretariat, or at missions in its ish. In all that we do, we will hold
vicinity, argue that communism left ourselves to the highest stand-
a legacy within the U.N. bureaucracy. ards of integrity. This is our
... ‘It works like a scorpion’s stinger,’ promise to you.
says one U.N. professional. ‘The
scorpion—East Bloc socialism—dies.
But the stinger remains poisonous, CONTACT US
and strikes new victims.’ ... [Over the
years,] Westerners who worked at the The Epoch Times Association Inc.
U.N. ... found themselves surrounded 229 W. 28th St., Fl. 7
by what many have called a commu- New York, NY 10001
nist mafia.” [11] Advertising
Today, the CCP uses the U.N. as a advertisenow@epochtimes.com
propaganda platform. For example,
top U.N. officials, including the Subscriptions
secretary-general, have promoted the Help.TheEpochTimes.com
CCP’s One Belt, One Road (OBOR), a General Inquiries
global infrastructure and investment Help.TheEpochTimes.com
initiative, as a way to tackle poverty
Letters to the Editor
in the developing world. In reality, the
lettertoeditor@epochtimes.com
initiative is a means for the CCP to
expand its international hegemony.
OBOR has left many countries in
debt crises; Pakistan, for example,
requested a $6 billion bailout from
the International Monetary Fund
because of the country’s debt result-
ing from OBOR loans. Others have
been forced to cede control of critical
infrastructure to the PRC. Sri Lanka
had to lease its strategic port of Ham-
bantota to Beijing for 99 years to pay
off its debt. Moreover, the initiative
enables the CCP to exert control over
the politics and economies of partici-
pating countries, while undermin-
SUBSCRIBE
ing human rights and democracy in
those countries. [12]
Notes
9. William F. Jasper, “Global Tyranny ...
Step by Step: The United Nations and the
Emerging New World Order” (Appleton,
TODAY
Wis.: Western Islands Publishers, 1992),
chap. 4.
Get the
10. J. Edgar Hoover, as quoted in G. Edward
independent news
Griffin, “Fearful Master: A Second Look at
the United Nations” (Appleton, WI: Western
you won’t find
Islands, 1964), 48. anywhere else.
11. Amity Shlaes, “Communism Becomes
Cronyism at the U.N.,” The Wall Street Subscribe and get the
Journal, Oct. 24, 1991. insights only The Epoch Times
can provide, delivered to your
door every week.
See next edition for the next installment.
ReadEpoch.com
To purchase the books, visit Epoch-
Shop.com
A16 | OPINION
(Left) Workers check the quality of newly manufactured wind turbine blades at a factory in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, China, on July 31, 2018. (Right) Wind turbines are shown on a wind
farm in Colorado City, Texas, on Jan. 21, 2016.
Cybersecurity of Wind Power
a Growing Concern
BONNER R. COHEN
The Biden White House’s March
29 announcement that it will
expedite the development of
offshore wind projects along
the Atlantic coast of the United
States underscores the adminis-
tration’s commitment to move the
nation away from fossil fuels to increased
dependence on renewable energy.
But the prospect of giant wind tur-
bines sprouting up in coastal waters
stretching from New England to Florida
may further complicate cybersecurity
concerns that are already being raised
about wind power.
Wind energy recently surpassed 7
percent of U.S. power production and,
thanks to generous taxpayer subsidies
and renewable energy mandates in
The Book You’ve Been
Waiting for...
“Extremely well “The Truth, as horrifying as it is,
researched and true.” shall set us free. This should be
on this country’s academia’s
list of required reading.”
HOW THE
SPECTER OF COMMUNISM
IS RULING OUR WORLD
The specter of communism did not
disappear with the disintegration of the
Communist Party in Eastern Europe
ORDER NOW!
EpochShop.com
-/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
some states, its percentage is likely to
Whether carrying continue rising. The more wind instal-
lations that come into service, the more
out cyberattacks cybersecurity challenges their integrat-
from afar or ed control systems and related tech-
spying from up nologies will pose. For cybercriminals
and terrorists, wind power—whether
close, America’s offshore or land-based—makes for an
adversaries have inviting target.
a lot to gain from
‘Significant Cybersecurity Concerns’
the expansion of “As wind becomes an ever-increasing
wind power. part of the ‘smart grid’ landscape, the
bidirectional communication upon
which wind energy equipment is reliant
also introduces significant cybersecu-
rity concerns,” a July 2020 report by the
U.S. Department of Energy concluded.
“Standards for communications,
equipment, and security practices are
currently underdeveloped or absent
from the wind industry. Cybersecurity
standards specific to the wind indus-
try currently do not exist. The wind
industry largely depends on standards
developed for other energy systems and
technologies, meaning that the specific
cybersecurity needs of wind energy
technologies are not well understood.”
Underscoring the seriousness of the
problem, the DOE report, “Roadmap
for Wind Cybersecurity,” makes several
additional points:
NOW I Cyber incidents targeting wind en-
ergy systems have already occurred,
BIGGER SIZE, just as with other aspects of the En-
EASIER TO READ ergy Sector, and will likely increase in
FORMAT sophistication and number.
I The wind plant life cycle involves
many parties; effective cybersecurity
practices are difficult to establish,
maintain, and trace through the
supply chain from construction to
operation to repowering to decom-
missioning.
I Wind generation assets require ro-
bust cybersecurity practices to ensure
continued integration with the bulk
electric system.
I Wind energy technologies and devel-
opments are highly diverse; no single
cybersecurity strategy can apply to all
wind plants.
I Effective, available cybersecurity
options may be cost-prohibitive for
some wind installations.
I Few specific cybersecurity standards
specific for wind exist.
I Few incentives for wind energy
stakeholders have been established
to prioritize cybersecurity over other
investments (e.g., reliability, perfor-
mance, etc.).
I Cyber threat, vulnerability, incident,
and mitigation sharing is limited
among wind energy stakeholders.
I The current market offers few and
underdeveloped wind-specific cy-
bersecurity services, products, and
strategies.
Joseph M. Weiss, an international
authority on cybersecurity, control
systems, and system security, confirms
that wind turbines have been targeted,
though the attacks haven’t been widely
reported. The attackers went after
wind installation SCADA (Supervisory
Control and Data Acquisition) networks
and wind turbine gearboxes, he said.
“The lack of public awareness of wind
farm cyber incidents has negatively
TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2021
SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES
affected the industry’s focus on ad-
dressing cybersecurity,” Weiss said.
“Consequently, it may take a real test to
demonstrate that wind turbine cyber
vulnerabilities can cause damage to
critical equipment such as gear boxes.”
SCADA is a computer system that re-
ceives real-time data in order to control
that system.
Cyberattackers generally exploit pre-
viously known vulnerabilities. The vul-
nerabilities of wind-energy equipment
are well-known among bad actors, as
their repeated attacks attest. While
cybersecurity is a concern to all energy
producers connected to the grid, the
Biden administration’s plans to expand
wind power—offshore and on land—
entail risks that the public may not fully
appreciate.
The White House has set a target of
30 gigawatts of wind capacity by 2030,
nearly double the forecasts by the end
of the decade. Currently, the United
States has two small offshore wind
installations—a 30-megawatt facility off
Block Island, Rhode Island, and a pilot
project off the coast of Virginia that
hasn’t yet come online.
Coastal wind turbines recently re-
ceived another boost when Rep. Elaine
Luria (D-Va.) established the bipartisan
Congressional Offshore Wind Caucus.
“In addition to helping us avoid the
most severe impacts of climate change,
expanding offshore wind energy would
create long-term job opportunities for
countless Americans,” Luria said in a
statement.
Chinese Interest
American wind installations, with
their potential to serve as a gateway
to the nation’s power grid, have al-
ready caught the attention of Beijing.
Houston-based GH America Energy is
a wholly owned subsidiary of Chinese
Guanghui Industry Investment Group,
which, since 2015, has purchased some
140,000 acres of land about 200 miles
west of San Antonio, Texas.
The Xinjiang-based parent company is
a massive conglomerate with extensive
holdings in real estate, liquified natu-
ral gas, transportation, and chemicals.
Guanghui’s billionaire founder, CEO,
and Communist Party member, Sun
Guangxin, wants to erect hundreds of
wind turbines and perhaps several giant
solar arrays in the Devils River area of
West Texas. Sun’s Devils River property
happens to be located near Laughlin Air
Force Base, a training center for pilots.
If Sun’s project comes to fruition,
Chinese-owned wind turbines reach-
ing hundreds of feet into the air will
be in close proximity to a U.S. military
base. As Daniel N. Hoffman, a former
chief of station with the CIA, wrote in
the Washington Times on Aug. 13, 2020:
“GH America would use the cover of a
windmill farm renewable energy busi-
ness to spy on behalf of China’s ruthless
dictatorship.”
Whether carrying out cyberattacks
from afar or spying from up close,
America’s adversaries have a lot to gain
from the expansion of wind power.
Bonner R. Cohen, Ph.D., is a senior fellow
at the National Center for Public Policy Re-
search and a senior policy analyst with the
Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow.
 TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2021
A GameStop store in New York on Feb. 2, 2021.
GameStop to Capitalize
on ‘Stonks’ Rally With
$1 Billion Stock Sale Plan
GameStop Corp on April 5 increased the
value of new stock it may sell from $100
million to $1 billion, as the U.S. video game
retailer seeks to capitalize on a surge in its
shares from a Reddit-driven rally this year.
GameStop stock has rampaged over 900%
higher since January in highly volatile trad-
ing as amateur investors organized on social
media sites such as Reddit staged a stubborn
buying spree, winning out over Wall Street
hedge funds that had shorted its shares.
The company has not sold any new shares
since the frenzy started, mainly because
security laws prevented it from doing so
without disclosing its latest financial in-
formation, Reuters reported in February.
GameStop said it may sell up
to 3.5 million shares worth no
more than $1 billion, and use
the proceeds to hasten its shift
to e-commerce.
GameStop reported fourth-quarter earn-
ings on March 23, and on April 5 it pub-
lished unaudited sales results for its fiscal
first quarter to date, to bring investors up
to date with its financial situation.
GameStop said it may sell up to 3.5 mil-
lion shares worth no more than $1 billion,
and use the proceeds to hasten its shift to
e-commerce in an overhaul being led by
billionaire Ryan Cohen, GameStop’s big-
gest shareholder, and board member.
In a regulatory filing for the offering, the
US Consumer Watchdog
Proposes Lifeline of Sorts for
Struggling Mortgage Borrowers
WASHINGTON—A U.S. consumer watch-
dog on April 5 issued a proposal to allow
homeowners who have fallen behind on
their mortgage payments due to the CO-
VID-19 pandemic to have an opportunity to
be thoroughly evaluated before mortgage
firms initiate foreclosure.
The proposed rule changes by the Con-
sumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB),
which are subject to public consultation
before they can be adopted, would give bor-
rowers more time to settle their mortgage
payments with servicers by establishing an
emergency pre-foreclosure review period
for COVID-19-related disruptions until Dec.
31, 2021, the agency said in a statement.
The proposal would also temporarily per-
mit mortgage servicers to offer certain loan
modifications to borrowers experiencing
a hardship related to the pandemic. The
agency also seeks public consultation on
amendments to lender obligations around
early intervention and reasonable dili-
gence ahead of evicting homeowners who
default.
Servicers play a critical role in the mort-
gage-finance ecosystem, receiving pay-
ments from borrowers and passing them on
to investors, tax authorities, and insurers.
“Millions of families are at risk of losing
their homes to foreclosure in the coming
months, even as the country opens back
up,” CFPB Acting Director Dave Uejio said
on April 5.
“Our proposal is aimed at allowing ser-
vicers to get borrowers into affordable
CHUNG I HO/THE EPOCH TIMES
Grapevine, Texas-based GameStop ad-
dressed the extreme gyrations in its shares
in the last three months, which have swung
from as low as $19.94 to as high as $347.51.
“During this time, we have not experi-
enced any material changes in our finan-
cial condition or results of operations that
would explain such price volatility or trad-
ing volume,” GameStop said.
“Investors that purchase shares of our
common stock in this offering may lose
a significant portion of their investments
if the price of our common stock subse-
quently declines.”
GameStop had registered in December
with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) to sell $100 million
worth of stock through an at-the-market
offering (ATM), which it never deployed.
The company said on April 5 that global
sales for the nine-week period ending April
4 rose about 11 percent.
“A lot of interested parties have been ask-
ing about when GameStop would do some-
thing like this,” Telsey Advisory Group ana-
lyst Joseph Feldman said.
“The stock has remained elevated, so the
company is taking advantage of the access
to capital.”
The prospectus for the new $1 billion
ATM offering filed with the SEC replaces
the previous $100 million proposal. The
ATM program allows GameStop to sell
stock over a prolonged period of time.
By Uday Sampath Kumar
& Joshua Franklin
From Reuters
payments faster while establishing some
additional guard rails to ensure the modi-
fications are consumer-friendly,” he told
reporters.
The agency found that as of February,
there were nearly 3 million homeowners
behind on their mortgages, with an esti-
mated 2.1 million mortgages in forbear-
ance and at least 90 days delinquent. If
current trends continue, there may be 1.7
million such loans in September 2021, the
agency said.
Millions of families are at risk of
losing their homes to foreclosure
in the coming months, even as
the country opens back up.
Dave Uejio, acting director, CFPB
The CFPB said the measure would en-
sure that servicers and borrowers have the
tools and time to work together to prevent
avoidable foreclosures as existing emer-
gency protections for homeowners begin
to expire later this year.
Last week, the CFPB issued an enforce-
ment bulletin to warn mortgage servicers
that the consumer watchdog would closely
monitor how servicers engage with bor-
rowers.
By Katanga Johnson
From Reuters
BUSINESS & ECONOMY | A17
Malaysian Ex-PM Najib Appeals
Graft Conviction in 1MDB Saga
PUTRAJAYA—A Malaysian court on April Defense lawyers say Najib has been
5 began hearing an appeal by ex-Prime denied a fair trial. One of his lawyers,
Minister Najib Razak to overturn his con- Farhan Read, told The Associated Press
viction and 12-year jail sentence linked that the high court judge made “serious
to the massive looting of the 1MDB state misdirections” in the trial.
investment fund that brought down his Najib’s defense team earlier sought a
government in 2018. one-month postponement to give it more
The appeal came more than eight months time to obtain documentary evidence
after a high court found Najib guilty of but the three-member appellate bench
abuse of power, criminal breach of trust, rejected the application.
and money laundering, making him the Last July, Najib made brief remarks un-
first Malaysian leader to be convicted. He der oath before his sentencing, saying
has said he was misled by rogue bankers he wasn’t aware of the 42 million ringgit
and that the case against him is political. ($10 million) channeled into his bank ac-
counts from SRC International, a former
1MDB unit.
But the judge ruled that Najib’s argu-
Defense lawyers say Najib Razak ment that he was duped by Malaysian fu-
has been denied a fair trial.
The ruling was part of the first of sev-
gitive financier Low Taek Jho into believ-
ing the money was part of a donation by
the Saudi royal family, to keep Najib from
eral corruption trials against Najib that
are linked to the 1MDB scandal, which
sparked investigations in the U.S. and
being suspicious of 1MDB plundering,
was far-fetched and a weak fabrication.
Investigators have identified Low as the
several other countries. U.S. investigators
alleged that over $4.5 billion was stolen
from 1MDB and laundered by Najib’s as-
mastermind behind the looting of 1MDB
and he remains at large.
Najib’s second and third trials involv-
sociates. ing some of the remaining charges are
Najib, 67, arrived at the Court of Appeal ongoing. His wife and several officials
early April 5 but didn’t speak to report- from his party and previous government
ers. Najib, who set up 1MDB shortly af- have also been charged with graft related
ter taking office in 2009, has denied all to 1MDB corruption.
wrongdoing and his sentence was stayed
pending the appeal. From The Associated Press
MOHD RASFAN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Malaysia for-
mer prime
minister
Najib Razak
(C) arrives
at the court
of appeal in
Putrajaya on
April 5, 2021.
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A18 | PUZZLES TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2021

CROSSWORD CONSTRUCTED BY TOM HOUSTON

EPOCH TIMES STAFF
10. In physics, having no 4NUMBERS CONSTRUCTED BY C. CHANG
AT 4NUMS.COM DAILY BRIDGE CLUB
particular directional Ups and downs
Use the four numbers in the corners, and
characteristics the operands (+, - X, and ÷) to build an BY FRANK STEWART, TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY
equation to get the solution in the middle.
11. Beach There may be more than one “unique” so- ©2021 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
12. Tie up lution but, there may also be “equivalent”
“I hear things at the observatory are looking
solutions. For example: 6 + (7 X 3) +1 = 28
13. Appraise and 1+ (7 X 3) + 6 = 28
up.” — graffiti
Today’s South picked up a 22-point hand
14. Parrot and got to 3NT. When West led the deuce of
15. Solemn stretch clubs, South thought things were definitely
looking up. East took the ace — declarer
20. Hoo-ha followed with the four — and led a low spade.
26. Nahuatl speaker South took the ace and cashed the king
of clubs, and matters began to go downhill
27. Write-up when East threw a heart. South next took
28. Foolish the ace of diamonds, overtook his queen
with the king and cashed the jack, hoping
32. Shank for a 3-3 break. When East threw another
33. Lot of loot heart, South led the ten of hearts from
dummy. East grabbed his ace and led
34. Well-chosen another spade, and with careful defense,
36. Hit the slopes South was doomed: He won eight tricks.
37. 1850s Indian soldier Hard 1 - 1 Solution
FIRST CLUB
38. Crack I look down on South’s play. When East
plays the ace on the first club, South can
39. “Men always hate follow with the queen.
most what they ___ South wins the spade shift, takes
the king of clubs and A-Q of diamonds,
most”: Mencken and leads a low club. He reaches
40. Selection of un- dummy with the ten of clubs to run the
diamonds, winning five diamonds, two
dressed furs clubs and two spades.
42. Entangle
DAILY QUESTION
43. PBS matters You hold: k J 10 5 4 2 j A Q 7 3 2
44. Risk taker i 10 9 h A. Your partner opens one
club, you bid one spade, he rebids two
45. Like a depth finder clubs and you try two hearts. Partner then
Hard 2 - 1 Solution
Across 37. SpaceX vehicle 72. Patterned fabrics 46. Two cents worth rebids three clubs. What do you say?
ANSWER: This problem is uneasy.
1. Smidgens 73. Legal 47. Can You might make four hearts — partner
39. Squeeze (out)
5. Egg-shaped 74. Arch above a monas- 51. Pours liquor over and might have three-card support — but
40. Hireling game chances are uncertain at best. Pass.
10. Stellar tery door ignites Incidentally, although a new-suit bid by
41. Cheerful tune
16. District 75. Most wise 52. Most ethereal responder is regarded as forcing, some
42. Bipolar pairs would treat your two hearts as not
17. Electrician 76. Intimidate, with “out” 53. Really good forcing.
47. Warhead type (abbr)
18. Wrap 77. “Chariots of Fire” beat 54. Procession South dealer
48. “Thanks ___!” N-S vulnerable
19. Social _____ it for Best Picture 55. Boded
49. A word before meal NORTH
21. Take up the slack 56. Approves of k9 3
50. Fustian 59. Deficiency of vigor j10 4
22. Assaulted a la Moe Down
53. In the least 60. 2 or 3, to 6
iK J 6 4 2
23. “Alea iacta ___” (“The 1. Amphibian with gills Easy 1 - 1 Solution h10 8 5 3
54. Subway alternative 2. Musical passages 61. Job
die is cast”) WEST EAST
57. Sycophant’s answer 3. It may be covered with 62. Harvard, Yale, Brown, kQ 8 6 kJ 10 5 4 2
24. Put forward j9 8 jA Q 7 3 2
25. A real pain in the joints 58. Malicious look icons etc. i8 7 5 3 i10 9
29. Nutcase 59. Singer DiFranco 4. Shiny material 63. Sellout hJ 9 6 2 hA

30. Menagerie 60. Unfair? 5. Control 64. Theories SOUTH

61. Air fare is a ___ kA K 7
31. Home of the Railroad 6. Appointed ruler 65. Greek promenade jK J 6 5
64. Panama and others iA Q
Museum of Oklahoma 7. Upper cruster 66. “What’s your sine?” hK Q 7 4
32. Getaway 67. Churchill’s sign 8. “Beethoven’s ___” subj.
South West North East
35. “Ghost Whisperer” 68. Beat for Byron (Brahms’ First Symphony, 70. Yodeler’s perch 2h Pass 2i Pass
skill 69. Flash jocularly) 71. Addis Ababa’s land: 2 NT Pass 3 NT All Pass

36. Sloppy digs 70. Certain mail 9. Unit of work Abbr. Easy 2 - 1 Solution Opening lead — h 2

WORDSEARCH CONSTRUCTED BY TOM HOUSTON

EPOCH TIMES STAFF SUPER KAKURO CONSTRUCTED
BY EPOCH TIMES STAFF

Help with Today’s Crossword Puzzle? Kakuro puzzles are like crosswords that use numbers instead of words. The goal is to fill the blank squares associated with a clue (called a “run”) with the numbers 1-9
so that the numbers add up to the corresponding clues. Like Sudoku, digits in a run cannot repeat. When the grid is filled, the puzzle is complete.

AERIEST BLESSES LEGIT SERAPE

ANERGY CHORE MOIRES SONIC
ANGELIC CORTÈGE OVATE SPACESHIP
ARIOSOS DARER PELTRY STROBE
ARISTO DESKTOP POKED TAUTEN
ARTY-FARTY FACTOR PSYCH TENTH
ASSERT FLAMBÉS REPORT TRUSS
ASTATIC ICTUS SAGEST VICEROY
ASTRAL INANE SATEEN WIRER
AUGURED ISTHMI SEASIDE
AZTEC IVIES SEPOY

SOLUTIONS
CROSSWORD SUPER KAKURO 4NUMBERS

HARD 1

HARD 2

EASY 1

EASY 2
 TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2021 PUZZLES | A19
SUDOKU CONSTRUCTED
BY KANNAN SANKARAN SUPERSUDOKU CONSTRUCTED
BY KANNAN SANKARAN

Fill in the boxes using numbers between 1 and 9 so that each column, each Fill in the boxes using numbers from 0 to 9 and letters from A to F so that each column, each row, and
row, and each 3x3 square contain all nine numbers only once. each 4x4 square contain all ten numbers and six letters only once.
Hard

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CRYPTIC QUOTE
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
2 6

EPOCH DOKU CONSTRUCTED

BY EPOCH TIMES STAFF

WORK SPACE

KAKURO CONSTRUCTED
BY EPOCH TIMES STAFF JUMBLE BY DAVID L. HOYT
& JEFF KNUREK

Kakuro puzzles are like crosswords that use numbers instead of words. The goal THAT SCRAMBLED WORD GAME
is to fill the blank squares associated with a clue (called a “run”) with the numbers By David L. Hoyt and Jeff Knurek
1-9 so that the numbers add up to the corresponding clues. Like Sudoku, digits Unscramble these Jumbles,
in a run cannot repeat. When the grid is filled, the puzzle is complete. one letter to each square,
Get the free JUST JUMBLE app • Follow us on Twitter @PlayJumble

to form four ordinary words.

Easy
VEOMI
EPOCH ESCAPE MAZE
ZAAEM

ISNIHF

BPUTRA
Now arrange the circled letters
©2021 Tribune Content Agency, LLC to form the surprise answer, as
All Rights Reserved. suggested by the above cartoon.
Answer “ -
”
here:

WORK SPACE

SOLUTIONS
SUPERSUDOKU SUDOKU: EASY JUMBLE EASY KAKURO
the — “ATMOS-FEAR” Clothesline
because they didn’t like
Transylvanian restaurant
They left the vampire’s
Answers:

ABRUPT
FINISH
AMAZE
SUDOKU: HARD EPOCH DOKU
MOVIE
Jumbles:

CRYPTIC QUOTE
man, but in the occasion.
Heroism is not only in the

Contact the Puzzle Master @: Feedback@EpochTimes.com

A20 | TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2021

Truth and Tradition

The Gift of Strength in a Challenging Time
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TRUTH AND TRADITION

 PUBLIC DOMAIN
TRADITIONAL CULTURE
The True End of Education
Today, we mistakenly think that the aim of education
is utilitarian and servile. It’s not.
See B6
HISTORY   |   LITERATURE   |   ENTERTAINMENT
In the early 1200s, 12 stained glass windows, about 30 feet tall, were made to depict the events of Thomas Becket’s life and death, including miracles attributed to him. The series of windows, called the
“miracle windows,” surround where Becket’s now-lost shrine was once placed. This particular window (L, the top half of the window, R, the bottom half) shows how Becket helped ordinary people.
HISTORY
A Window Into Thomas Becket’s Life,
Death, Sainthood, and Miracles
The exhibition: ‘Thomas Becket: Murder and the Making of a Saint’ at The British Museum, London
LORRAINE FERRIER
Three short It is Dec. 29, 1170, at Canterbury Cathe-
years after dral in southeast England, one of the
most important places of worship in the
his death, country. The archbishop of Canterbury,
in 1173, Thomas Becket is settling down for din-
Becket ner in the Archbishop’s Palace after a
busy day.
became St. It is a day like any other, yet an ex-
Thomas of traordinary event is about to happen, a
heinous act of sacrilege that will affect
Canterbury. the king, country, and much of Europe for
centuries to come.
Five vivid eyewitness accounts, some of
them graphic, help us re-create the scene.
Outside Canterbury Cathedral, four of the
knights of King Henry II have just arrived
from Normandy, France, home of the royal
court. They traveled to England with an
express purpose: to avenge the king.
The whole Barging their way into the palace, the
view of the
knights demand Becket’s arrest. He
fifth window
displaying a few refuses to cooperate. Becket’s monks
of the miracles persuade him to take refuge in the cathe-
attributed to dral. But the sanctity of the church will
St. Thomas not protect him from the knights’ blood-
Becket. thirsty rage.
PUBLIC DOMAIN
Storming into the cathedral, the
knights abruptly interrupt the glorious
sound of monks singing and chanting
Vespers, evening prayers. The knights
shout: “Where is Thomas Becket, traitor
to the king and the kingdom?”
Pandemonium ensues.
Becket grabs one of the cathedral’s
pillars in another attempt to resist ar-
rest. Enraged, one of the knights raises
his sword high over his head, and then
strikes the archbishop. The other knights
follow his lead, until England’s most
powerful churchman lies lifeless in a
pool of blood.
His murder shook Europe. Three short
years after his death, in 1173, Becket
became St. Thomas of Canterbury.
‘Thomas Becket: Murder and the
Making of a Saint’
Becket’s life and martyrdom has fascinat-
ed many for centuries. The British Mu-
seum in London hopes to open in May its
new exhibition: “Thomas Becket: Murder
and the Making of a Saint.”
Remarkably, the exhibition is the first
large UK show dedicated to the saint and
LITERATURE
Dostoevsky’s Crystal Ball
As Dostoevsky’s “Demons” predicted the fall of
Russia to socialism, the book could have been written
about today.
See B2
TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2021 B1
ALL PHOTOS BY THE CHAPTER, CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL
focuses on Becket’s life and legacy, how
he rose and fell, and how 350 years after
he died, he was once seen as a traitor by
King Henry VIII.
Stunning pieces of jewelry, sacred reli-
quaries, illuminated manuscripts, and
an 800-year-old stained glass window
from Canterbury Cathedral are some
of the items that shed light on Becket’s
intriguing life and legacy.
From Clerk to Archbishop
Becket’s parents came from Normandy
and settled in England after the Norman
Conquest. His father was a merchant of
no notable wealth. He was educated in
Merton Priory in southwest London, and
then he studied in Paris for a few years.
On his return to England, Becket began
working as a clerk for Theobald of Bec,
the archbishop of Canterbury.
Becket was charming, intelligent, and
had an authoritative presence. These
qualities impressed the archbishop to
such an extent that he put his clerk for-
ward for the role of royal chancellor.
Continued on B4
B2 TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2021

PUBLIC DOMAIN

2021 NTD 8TH

International
Chinese Vocal
Competition

Bolshevik revolutionaries attacking the czarist police in the early days, 1917, of the Russian
Revolution. From Edward Alsworth Ross’s “The Russian Bolshevik Revolution,” 1921.

LITERATURE

Undermining
the Foundations:
Lessons
From Fyodor
Dostoevsky’s
‘Devils’
JEFF MINICK a real-life incident of a revolutionary

E
murdered because he wanted out of

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punched by a Russian. A dead
Russian, as a matter of fact.
Let me explain.
Late in December, I made
a New Year’s resolution to read at least
six classics that were new to me in the
coming year. Sir Walter Scott’s “Ivan-
hoe” was my first choice, and I found
that excursion into the days of King
Richard and Robin Hood an agreeable
adventure.
Next up for investigation was Fyodor
Dostoevsky’s “Devils,” the Constance
Garnett translation that had sat un-
opened on my shelf for years. Long ago,
I’d read “Notes From the Underground,“
The Brothers Karamazov,” and “Crime
and Punishment,” and I later taught
these last two books to my Advanced
Placement Literature students.
And so I began “Devils,” unfazed by
the novel’s length—almost 700 pag-
es—and inspired to make my march
through that story by the book’s blurb,
which proclaimed that the novel cen-
tered on a group of radicals and revolu-
tionaries in 1860s Russia, a “prophetic
account of modern morals and politics,
with its fifty-odd characters, amazing
events and challenging ideas.”
For almost 200 pages, I read of love
affairs and intrigue, listened in on bi-
zarre conversations, and met strange
characters like those who inhabit all
the books I’ve read by Dostoevsky. “So
where are the radicals?” I kept asking
myself, and was shocked when the
author revealed that several of them
were already planted in the story. Like
real revolutionaries, they had hidden
themselves away until the time came
to put their plans into action.
That was the punch that knocked me
to the canvas.
Now let’s look at “Devils.”
The Plot
The above subhead is a double enten-
dre, for here I will briefly summarize a
complicated plot that in fact involves
a plot. Also titled “The Demons,” “The
Devils,” or “The Possessed,” depend-
ing on the translator, “Devils” involves
a group of conspirators in a fictional
provincial town that has links to other
cells of those seeking to overthrow the
government.
Composed primarily of atheists,
socialists, idealists, adventurers, and
criminals, this collection of radicals
intends to seize control of society and
begin the process of leading the Rus-
sian people toward a heaven on earth.
Eventually, a sort of rebellion takes
place. At first, a few people are mur-
dered or commit suicide—Dostoevsky
based the execution of one man on
the movement—but by the end of the
novel, the pages are littered with more
bodies than at the close of “Hamlet.”
Some of the key figures in this move-
ment are Stepan Trofimovitch Ver-
hovensky, a school teacher and liberal
idealist who unintentionally helped
create some of these radicals; his son
Pyotr Verhovensky, who is a leading
figure among the revolutionaries; Ivan
Shatov, who initially is a member of
the group but comes to despise their
ideas; and the charismatic Nikolay
Stavrogin, who tests the limits of mo-
rality while acting as a skeptical com-
mentator on the plans of the radicals.
When the Russian
Revolution occurred,
many contemporaries
of that event pointed to
Dostoevsky as a prophet,
a prognosticator who had
foretold this upheaval.
Difficulties
“Devils” is not an easy read. First, the
Russian names ring unfamiliar in the
ears of most of us, and so many char-
acters step in and out of the story that
for a while keeping track of them was
difficult for me.
Moreover, as I wrote above, the
blurb mentions “fifty-odd characters,”
referring, of course to the number, but
if we remove that hyphen, the descrip-
tion would be just as apt. Here are
odd souls indeed, men and women
very different from fictional American
characters then or now.
Dostoevsky’s Russians dash from
self-pity to anger, from love to hatred,
in the blink of an eye. The stiff up-
per lip and restraint associated with
such American characters like Natty
Bumppo in “The Leatherstocking
Tales” or even the obsessed Captain
Ahab in “Moby Dick” stand in stark
contrast to the nervous tics of the in-
habitants of Dostoevsky’s novels.
A tip: Readers who decide to under-
take reading “Devils” might consider
using the online sites that distill the
plot, themes, and characters of this
novel as guides for this journey.
Prophecies and Philosophies
Despite these stumbling blocks, “Dev-
ils” has much to say to our own time.
When the Russian Revolution oc-
curred, many contemporaries of
 TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2021
PUBLIC DOMAIN
Apparently, Dostoevsky could foretell the
future. A portrait of Fyodor Dostoevsky,
1872, by Vasili Perov. Tretyakov Gallery.
that event pointed to Dostoevsky
as a prophet, a prognosticator who
had foretold this upheaval. I would
go even further than these men and
women of letters and declare “Dev-
ils” a crystal ball in which the author
predicted the totalitarian movements
of the last 100 years, with their statist
philosophies, their utopianism, and
their willingness to murder, often on
a grand scale, to advance an agenda
and to seize power.
In “Part Two: Chapter Seven: A
Meeting,” for example, we encounter
a gathering of “the flower of the red-
dest Radicalism of our ancient town.”
This assemblage discuss subjects as
diverse as the family (“a superstitious
form”), a moral compass (“There’s no
such thing as moral or immoral”),
and “the division of mankind into
two unequal parts,” with one-tenth,
an elite, acting as governors while the
others “have to give up all individual-
ity and become, so to speak, a herd,
and through boundless submission,
will by a series of regenerations attain
primeval innocence, something like
the garden of Eden.”
The More Things Change,
the More They Remain the Same
As Pyotr Verhovensky says, “It’s a new
religion, my good friend, coming to
take the place of the old one.”
Original artworks, canvas wraps,
art posters, and framed prints of
Award-winning oil paintings
now available for purchase at
I n s p ire d O r i g i n a l .O rg
B3
At one point, Pyotr Verhovensky
tells Stavrogin: “A teacher who laughs
with children at their God and at
their cradle is on our side. The lawyer
who defends an educated murderer
because he is more cultured than his
victims and could not help murdering
them to get money is one of us … The
juries who acquit every criminal are
ours. The prosecutor who trembles
at a trial for fear he should not seem
advanced enough is ours, ours. Among
officials and literary men we have
lots, lots, lots, and they don’t know it
themselves.”
Sound familiar?
In ‘Devils,’
a collection of
radicals intend
to seize control of
society.
Ultimate Goals
Near the end of “Devils,” one of the
radicals confesses his part in the at-
tempted uprising. When asked what
was “the object of so many murders
and scandals and dastardly outrages,”
he replies: “It was with the idea of
systematically undermining the
foundations, systematically destroying
society and all principles, with the idea
of nonplussing everyone and making
hay of everything, and then, when
society was tottering, sick and out of
joint, cynical and skeptical though
filled with an intense eagerness for
self-preservation and for some guiding
idea, suddenly to seize it in the hands, Dostoevsky depicted demons, possessed by revolutionary furor, attacking the foundations of civiliza-
raising the standards of revolt….” tion. An engraving, “The Temptation of St. Anthony,” circa 1480–90, by Martin Schöngauer. The Met-
Sprinkle this explanation with some ropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
of the obscenities used by today’s
radicals, and you could well be listen-
ing to a member of Antifa spelling out Jeff Minick has four children and a growing platoon
that organization’s goals. of grandchildren. For 20 years, he taught history,
This year marks the 150th anniver- literature, and Latin to seminars of homeschooling
sary when installments of “Devils” students in Asheville, N.C. He is the author of two
first began to appear in “The Russian novels, “Amanda Bell” and “Dust On Their Wings,”
Messenger.” Given humanity’s various and two works of nonfiction, “Learning As I Go” and
catastrophes since then, we are appar- “Movies Make The Man.” Today, he lives and writes in
ently a race of slow learners. Front Royal, Va. See JeffMinick.com to follow his blog.
B4
1 2
THE CHAPTER, CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL
HISTORY
A Window Into Thomas Becket’s
Life, Death, Sainthood, and Miracles
Continued from B1
It was as chancellor that Becket and King
Henry II became firm friends, enjoying
the pleasures of the royal court, includ-
ing hunting and traveling together.
As royal chancellor, Becket had a lav-
ish lifestyle, living in opulent homes and
traveling to France on his own ships.
When the archbishop died on April 18,
1161, Henry wanted Becket to become
archbishop. The king had a political mo-
tive for appointing his friend: He wanted
Becket to be both chancellor and arch-
bishop so that he could have a close ally
in the church. Ultimately, as king, Henry
wanted to reduce papal dominance and
restore sovereign power to the state, as it
had been during the reign of his grand-
father, Henry I.
At the time, Rome exerted dominance
over much of England. For instance,
most of England was educated by the
church. In addition, any crime commit-
ted by an ordained churchman was tried
in the church court and was not under
the crown’s jurisdiction, regardless of
the crime committed.
An illumination shows Becket’s martyrdom on an English manuscript, mid-
1180s, containing Alan of Tewkesbury’s “Collection of St. Thomas Becket’s
Letters,” and John of Salisbury’s “Life of St. Thomas Becket.”
THE CHAPTER, CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL
Becket was appointed archbishop
on May 23, 1162, and consecrated on
June 3. But Henry’s idea did not go as he
planned. Becket resigned as royal chan-
cellor later that year, and he fully em-
braced his responsibilities as archbishop.
From Friend to Firm Foe
In just a few years, a firm rift would form
between the king and the archbishop—
Becket would stay loyal to the church
and its interests while Henry still hoped
to restore the crown’s power. The fallout
THE TRUSTEES OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM
This 13th-century
English ampulla would lead to Becket’s murder.
shows Thomas In the years prior to Becket’s death,
Becket between two the problems between the two men
knights. worsened. In October 1164, Henry sum-
moned Becket to the King’s Council
where, among other accusations and de-
mands, he was ordered to relinquish all
non-landed property and to make his
accounts from when he was chancellor
available for scrutiny. He refused to ac-
cept the council’s decisions.
In 1165, Becket fled to north-central
France, where he spent six years exiled
at Pontigny Abbey. During that time,
Henry’s son, Henry the Young King, was
THE BRITISH LIBRARY crowned (becoming joint sovereign) by
the archbishop of York, Becket’s rival.
Becket was furious: Coronations were
traditionally presided over by the arch-
bishop of Canterbury.
Becket appealed to the pope, and after
intense negotiations, Henry and Becket
spoke for the first time in years. Henry
promised to restore Becket as arch-
bishop of Canterbury and assured him
that it was safe for him to return home to
England.
But before Becket left France, he wrote
to the archbishop of York and two of the
bishops present at the recent coronation,
excommunicating all three. This action
may have proved fatal for Becket.
The archbishop of York and the two
bishops traveled to Henry’s court in
Normandy and told the king what had
happened. Henry was incensed: “What
miserable drones and traitors have I
nurtured and promoted in my house-
hold who let their lord be treated with
such shameful contempt by a low-born
clerk!” he said, according to one of
Becket’s biographers.
To this day, no one knows if Henry
himself sent his knights to Canterbury. A
commonly held belief is that the knights
set off on their own accord, after hearing
the king’s angry outburst.
A Window Into Becket’s Miracles
After Becket’s death, Canterbury Cathe-
dral became an important pilgrimage
site, with many seeking cures for their
diseases. In medieval times, illness was
believed to be divine retribution for sins,
and so saints were often sought for
a cure.
At the cathedral, monks filled ampul-
lae, often pewter flasks, with Becket’s
diluted blood that they believed had
miraculous properties. Pilgrims could
TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2021
purchase these ampullae filled with
this concoction they called St. Thomas’s
Water.
Several artifacts in the exhibition dem-
onstrate how the water was used. One
astonishing ampulla depicting Becket
flanked by two knights is on display.
The knights have their swords drawn as
if they have been caught the moment
before they strike the archbishop.
For the first time, one of
the 30-foot-tall stained
glass windows will leave
Canterbury Cathedral to
be installed in The British
Museum exhibition.
Detailed scenes of pilgrims using St.
Thomas’s Water are depicted on some
of Canterbury Cathedral’s stained glass
windows, called “miracle windows,”
made in the early 1200s. The series of
12 windows once surrounded Becket’s
shrine in Canterbury Cathedral’s Trinity
Chapel. Becket’s shrine no longer exists,
but seven of the windows do and show
the miracles that  occurred in the three
years after he died.
The cathedral’s miracle windows are
the only known media to show Becket’s
miracles. The stories on the windows
must have been “reassuring and uplift-
ing” to the pilgrims who had journeyed
to the cathedral, said Leonie Seliger,
director of stained glass conservation at
Canterbury Cathedral, in the exhibition
press release.
For the first time, one of the 30-foot-tall
stained glass windows will leave Can-
terbury Cathedral to be installed in The
British Museum exhibition. The chosen
window is the fifth in the series of 12 that
shows several stories of healings.
Last year, researchers working on the
windows in preparation for the exhibi-
tion made a startling discovery. Looking
at the window under a microscope, they
realized that some of the glass panels
were in the wrong order. They deduced
that, when the window was restored
in the 1660s, the craftsmen must have
made the mistake when the window was
reconstructed. For the first time in over
350 years, the window can be seen as it
was intended.
The Stories of the Miracles
The window in the exhibition shows
depictions of common folk being healed.
At the top of the window,  in the left-hand
teardrop, Ralph de Longeville sits next
to Becket’s tomb, where an attendant
bathes his legs in St. Thomas’s Water,
after which he is cured of leprosy. Be-
low the four teardrop panels showing
Longeville, Goditha of Hayes enters on
 TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2021   B5

3 4

THE CHAPTER, CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL

THE CHAPTER, CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL

Details from the fifth “miracle window” at Canterbury Cathedral shows pilgrims
seeking cures: 1) Ralph de Longeville has leprosy, and Goditha of Hayes has dropsy;
2) Etheldreda comes with a high fever, and Saxeva from Dover suffers from painful arms and
a stomachache; 3) Eilward of Westoning recovers from blindness and castration; and
4) monk Hugh is purged of an illness.

DAVID ILIFF/CC BY-SA 3.0

the left; her stomach appears swollen

from dropsy. Moving along to the right
of the window, she’s seen leaving the
tomb, looking slimmer and healed of her
disease.
The second story (from the top) of
the window shows a group of women
traveling to Becket’s tomb. Among them
is Etheldreda who suffered from a high
fever, and Saxeva who had painful arms
and stomach. Both women are depicted
as being healed.
In the third panel from the top of the
window, Eilward of Westoning is de-
picted. This is the only known medieval
artwork to depict a castration. Eilward
had been blinded and castrated as pun-
ishment for stealing. Remarkably, after
he prayed at Becket’s tomb, his eyesight
returned, as did his testicles.
Interestingly, “The ineffectiveness
of surgeons and physicians is a theme
in the miracles of St. Thomas,”  said
expert of medieval visual culture M.A.
Michael, on the Getty website. This is
especially clear in the bottom story of
the exhibition’s miracle window. In the
left-hand teardrop, Hugh, a monk from
Jervaulx Abbey in Yorkshire, north-
east England, is bedridden and being
attended to by a lay physician. Hugh’s
story progresses in the top teardrop,
where he’s at Becket’s tomb, sipping St.
Thomas’s Water. In the right teardrop,
his illness can be seen being purged by
a sudden and violent nosebleed.

The Legacy of St. Thomas

of Canterbury
On July, 12, 1174, a remorseful Henry
walked barefoot three miles to Canter-
bury Cathedral, confessing his sins in
an act of penance. When he entered the
cathedral, he ordered the bishops, who
had been present when Becket was mur-
dered, to each flog him five times with
a rod. He then commanded each of the
80 monks to flog him with the rod three
times. Henry’s blood spilled on the spot
where Becket died.
Before Henry’s penance, his wife,
Eleanor of Aquitaine, and two elder
sons were plotting against him with
his archrivals William II of Scotland
and Louis VII of France to take over his
land. After Henry repented at Becket’s
tomb, miraculously nothing came of the
rebellion, and his sons sought Henry’s On the southern side of Canterbury Cathedral’s Trinity Chapel, seven stained glass “miracle windows” depict the miraculous healings
forgiveness. that were said to have taken place at St. Thomas of Canterbury’s tomb between 1170 and 1220. The fifth of these windows is part
From that day, Henry often prayed at of a new exhibition at The British Museum.
Becket’s shrine. THE TRUSTEES OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON

Becket’s legacy traveled far and even

prompted England’s first visit by a head
of state: Louis VII. The French king’s
14-year-old son, Prince Philip, was grave-
ly ill, prompting the king to make the
pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral in
the hope that St. Thomas of Canterbury
would heal his son. Philip recovered.
Even now, Becket’s martyrdom is
remembered by world dignitaries. Last
year, on the 850th anniversary of Beck-
et’s murder, President Donald Trump
said: “Thomas Becket’s death serves
as a powerful and timeless reminder
to every American that our freedom
from religious persecution is not a mere
luxury or accident of history, but rather
an essential element of our liberty.”

The British Museum’s exhibition

“Thomas Becket: Murder and the
(Left) Thomas Becket’s murder is depicted on an alabaster altarpiece panel, around 1425–50, in England. The sculpture would
Making of a Saint” is due to open in May,
probably have been part of a sequence of similar sculptures showing scenes from Becket’s life and death.
pending COVID-19 restrictions. To find
out more, visit BritishMuseum.org (Right) French reliquary casket showing the murder of Thomas Becket, about 1180–1190.
B6
TRADITIONAL CULTURE
The End of Education
SEAN FITZPATRICK
The school should always have as
its aim that the young man leave it
as a harmonious personality, not
as a specialist. This in my opinion
is true in a certain sense even for
technical schools … The develop-
ment of general ability for inde-
pendent thinking and judgment
should always be placed foremost,
not the acquisition of special
knowledge.—Albert Einstein
T
here are at least two sens-
es of the word “end”—the
one being fulfillment of
an aim, the other, the
death or failure of some-
thing. A large part of the crisis in
education today is that the aim, the
fulfillment, or end of education is so
mistaken in schools and the world
at large that it effectively takes on its
other meaning: an end, or a failure,
of education.
One major source of this misun-
derstanding of education’s purpose
is that education is seen as utilitar-
ian. The purpose of education, how-
ever, is not servile. It is liberal. That
is, education is not for the sake of a
career; it is for the sake of charac-
ter. The aim of education is to bring
people to more perfect knowledge
of themselves in the context of the
highest realities, and when it devi-
ates from that end, education ends.
Education Today
Modern schooling strategies tend
to apply broad-based benchmarks
to arm students with 21st-century
skills before marching them off like
money-making militants to collab-
orate, innovate, and compete in a
21st-century global economy. The
prevalent Common Core initiative
is especially retrograde and degrad-
ing, developing and implementing
comprehensive statistics together
with assessment systems to measure
student performance, to ensure that
all students are equally provided
with a program of prepackaged ex-
pectations designed to meet the re-
quirements of colleges and careers.
But the end of education, of true
education, is not to get a degree or
a job or a financial portfolio. It is a
Marxist principle that man is de-
termined by his technologies, his
means of production, and an “edu-
cation” modeled after commercial
culture is not leading out (e-ducere)
but digging in. The world sorely
needs to go back to school, as in, go
back to schooling.
The aim and end of education is to
form the whole person according to
timeless, intrinsic values, rather than
train all people to conform to a con-
temporary set of uniform, economic
standards. Thus, education responds
to the universal truths of man rather
than to the specific particulars of the
multitude. When first things are put
first, the rest tends to fall into place.
The Common Core standards are
far too common to address the hu-
man core. It shrinks learning into
a one-size-fits-all centralized set of
informational sessions designed to
achieve success by narrowing the
focus to basic facts for measurable
recall. This requires a reduction of
the human to empirical calculus in
a lowest-common-denominator
paradigm—which is so far from
the end of education, it only serves
to bring an end to education.
‘A Call to Something
Higher Than Ourselves’
Real education lifts the intellects of
all students to the highest aspira-
tions of man, encompassing a stu-
dent’s capacity for imaginative and
emotional appreciation of reality,
as well as for analytic and scientific
habits of mind. It is that cultivation
of mind which, as John Henry New-
man says, “implies an action upon
our mental nature, and the forma-
tion of a character.”
For the ancients, the ends of action
and of education were the confor-
mance of the soul to reality for the
sake of wisdom. For the moderns,
the ends of action and of educa-
tion are the conformance of reality
to the soul by means of technique.
Excesses of technique and overspe-
cialization, however, dull the desire
to experience through the distance
they create from reality and life, and
thereby dull the ability to learn.
Dr. John Senior, who headed a
storied program at the University of
Kansas in the 1970s called the Inte-
grated Humanities Program, and
whose legacy is gaining attention
and traction in various spheres of
academia, once wrote: “Education
is not the acquisition of marketable
skills, or self-improvement, culture,
personal fulfillment, or even knowl-
edge—though these benefits nor-
mally occur; but, essentially, it is a call
to something higher than ourselves.”
I remember being summoned to
things higher than myself at the
boarding school I attended. The first
time was at six o’clock in the morn-
ing. I was awakened by the head-
master, who stood below my bunk in
rubber boots. None of my five room-
mates were stirring, but the birds
Since ancient times and until recently, education has meant the for-
mation of character. “The School of Athens” fresco by Renaissance
artist Raphael depicting the Platonic Academy, a famous school in
ancient Athens founded by the philosopher Plato in the early fourth
century B.C. In the center are Plato and Aristotle, in discussion.
were. He informed me that one of
his sheep down in the barn had hoof
rot to the point where he had to shoot
it with his revolver, and the carcass
needed to be disposed. “You look
like you could use the experience,”
he told me matter-of-factly, and he
G.K. Chesteron was right. After some brief instruc-
at work at Crisis
tion, he left me, a city kid, with the
Magazine.
filthy, inconceivable task of haul-
ing a 200-some pound dead sheep
over hill and dale to the dump at the
crack of dawn.
The second time was at night.
“There’s a ewe giving birth to a
lamb in the barn,” the headmaster
told me. “I want you to stay with her
until the lamb can stand.” Down I
tramped with a flashlight. Blood
last week and this week, birth. A
full circle was completed that was
educational—and not because I
was studying to be a sheep farmer.
Education is about furnishing
such real lessons in reality—pure
teaching moments that corrobo-
rate the readings and lectures on
the true, the good, and the beauti-
ful, and prepare students for the hu-
man condition, for life and death.
The whole But to achieve this, education must
be governed with exceptional care
point of that cultivates experiences that both
complement and confirm a curricu-
education is lum and fosters genuine character
that it should in an atmosphere of friendship: ex-
periences in classrooms, on playing
give a man field, in the woods, or any place least
expected—like a sheep pen. Educa-
abstract tion can happen anywhere, and it
and eternal happens best when it points students
toward encounters with real life that
standards, by are informative and formative.
which he can This approach involves launching
students into interactions with real-
judge material ity by leading them in a relationship
that balances hardship and friend-
and fugitive ship. English teachers should spur
conditions. students to undertake Shakespeare,
and then congratulate them when
G.K. Chesterton, they share a thought on a sonnet
English author before peers. Coaches should push
their charges in facing physical fears,
and then acknowledge a young ath-
lete when they bloody their nose
on a rugby pitch. Choir directors
should demand perfection, and then
honor a student for singing beau-
tifully at Mass. Camping leaders
should command excellence, and
then praise a youngster for telling
a story around a fire.
Education pursues its end when
it dwells in what all people should
know as knowers—the truth. The
result of this is not necessarily “use-
ful,” but it is good and beautiful and
humanizing.
At its best, education assumes tra-
TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2021
ALL IMAGES IN PUBLIC DOMAIN
ditional anthropology that includes
treatment of the human as a spiritual
being in possession of appetites, in-
tellect, imagination, and will; thus,
it cultivates wonder as the root of
inquiry and the beginning of wis-
dom. At its worst, it cuts people off
from divine and moral agency and
is reduced to a set of objectives and
operations geared toward gainful
employment; thus, subordinating
the higher inclinations of man to the
acquisition of functional and worka-
day knowledge.
Such an “education” leaves stu-
dents prepared for a limited life,
and not prepared at all to live in the
contemplation of truth for its own
sake—which is the end of education.
This philosophical mindset goes be-
yond mere knowledge, rising above
the accumulation of facts to a frame-
work whereby all things might be
understood in their proper relation
to one another—a vision that is not
only the end of education but the end
of human life as well.
“The whole point of education,”
wrote English author G.K. Ches-
terton, “is that it should give a man
abstract and eternal standards, by
which he can judge material and
fugitive conditions.” Education as-
cends to excellence in cultivating the
virtues, leading toward that interior
knowledge and exterior knowledge
which comprehends the order of re-
ality, both visible and invisible. To
know the whole truth of things and
to think well for the sake of living
well is the excellence that education
strives for: to gain self-rule and the
habit of virtue.
Education has descended to con-
sidering man’s excellence as consist-
ing of mere means rather than ends.
The modern mantra is to work rigor-
ously and vigorously for the sake of
living well—which is to say, to gain
self-sufficiency and the marks and
accoutrements of worldly success.
There is far more to living, however,
than making a living. The current
concept of worldly success is for the
sake of economic excellence, while
education’s end is for the sake of hu-
man excellence. Anything less than
the latter educational end is a par-
ticipation in the end of education.
Sean Fitzpatrick serves on the fac-
ulty of Gregory the Great Academy,
a boarding school in Elmhurst, Pa.,
where he teaches humanities. His
writings on education, literature,
and culture have appeared in a
number of journals including Cri-
sis Magazine, Catholic Exchange,
and the Imaginative Conservative.
 TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2021
1.
2.
1. Rockers Lou (Olivia Cooke) and Ruben (Riz Ahmed) coming to grips with the reality that their profession has damaged Ruben’s hearing, in “Sound of Metal.” 2. Ruben Stone (Riz Ahmed, C)
begins to get the hang of sign language. 3. Joe (Paul Raci, L) and Ruben (Riz Ahmed) have a facing-reality talk. 4. Ruben Stone (Riz Ahmed) tries to convince his girlfriend Lou (Olivia Cooke) not
to leave him. 5. Dr. Paysinger (Tom Kemp, L) conducts a hearing test on Ruben Stone (Riz Ahmed). 6. Ruben Stone (Riz Ahmed) behind his drum kit.
FILM INSIGHTS
Mark Jackson grew up in Spring Val-
ley, N.Y., where he attended a Waldorf
WITH MARK
school. At Williams College, his pro-
fessors all suggested he write pro-
fessionally. He acted professionally
JACKSON
Don’t Take
Your Soundscape
for Granted
MARK JACKSON
I love the sound of metal. That is, the un-
muffled rumble of V-8 and V-twin engines
of American muscle cars and Harley-Da-
vidson motorcycles, respectively. I own a
bike of significant loudness. I also used to
drum in a rock band. I sometimes worry
about … my ears.
Early in my riding career, like an addict
needing a stronger fix, I took the baffles out
of my exhaust pipes. Crossing Manhattan’s
George Washington Bridge at rush hour was
an immediate, literal power trip. When cars
and trucks hear that infernal din encroach-
ing on their six o’clock, they part like the
Red Sea—you sail through an hour’s worth
of traffic jam in ten minutes. It’s like having
Thor’s hammer connected to your throttle
hand. Loudness is power; power is addictive.
After a month of that, even with earplugs,
my ears started complaining. I also real-
ized I’d become one of those super-loud
bikers people tend to hate. I put the baffles
back in the pipes. But many Americans also
love that sound and will stand at attention
on their porch and salute you even if you
weren’t in the military like you should have
been. Hmmm ... I should quit it. But I don’t
wanna. Just yet.
When the Ears Can’t
Handle the Profession
“Sound of Metal” is about a metal drum-
mer (“metal” = a form of hard rock music)
who loses his hearing. Ten minutes into the
film, and after seeing the lead character
experiencing familiar symptoms of hearing
loss, I noticed a state of denial coming on; I
suddenly didn’t want to watch it anymore.
Luckily, I had a job to do.
6.
5.
3. 4.
Riz Ahmed plays Ruben Stone, a for-
mer heroin addict with bleached-blond
hair and many tattoos, who drums in a
White-Stripes-like two-person band with
his girlfriend Lou (Olivia Cooke) who’s got
for 20 years instead. Now he bleached-blond eyebrows, and many self-
writes professionally about harm cutting scars on her forearms.
acting. In the movies. They appear to have done rather well,
living a nomadic life touring the USA in
a well-appointed, cozy Airstream RV that
doubles as a recording studio on wheels.
When Ruben’s world suddenly goes silent
after many ignored warning signs, their
relationship, both personal and profes-
sional, is immediately on thin ice. Hearing
tests are taken; there’s a possible expensive
surgical option that Ruben, in a complete
state of denial, decides will be a tidy fix to
this temporary setback.
But Lou, recognizing the warning signals
of an imminent addict-relapse stemming
from Ruben’s heightened stress levels, in-
sists he go another route. In the form of a
‘Sound of Metal’ rural farm-and-school community of recov-
ering addicts who also happen to be deaf.
Director
Darius Marder
Fork in the Road of Life
Starring The pervading philosophy of this commu-
Riz Ahmed, Olivia Cooke,
Paul Raci, Lauren Ridloff,
nity, espoused eloquently by deaf 12-step
Mathieu Amalric counselor and community leader Joe (Paul
Raci), is that theirs is not a disability, and
Rated silence is a reality to be embraced—cel-
R
ebrated even—and not run from, especially
Running Time not run from in the addictive state of mind
2 hours that Ruben is displaying.
Release Date There’s an extended period of dissonance,
Dec. 4, 2020, when Ruben slowly acclimatizes and ac-
on Amazon Prime Video; cepts his situation, learning a new lifestyle,
in cinemas May 17
sign language and all, of how to be deaf.
Throughout most of the film, though, Ru-
ben clings desperately to his old life, sneak-
ing into Joe‘s office to research online, bor-
rowing from Peter to pay Paul, obsessing,
and contemplating selling his beloved RV
for money to get the operation.
However, the seeds are planted early
that this will be a spiritual journey. As it
is said in faith-oriented literature: When
one leaves the shore and heads out on the
stormy seas (like the boats leaving the Grey
Havens in “Lord of the Rings”), one should
be prepared to not see land for a long time.
Meditation is introduced, along with the
concept that if one can learn to embrace
and cherish the deep, cozy silence—that
gift will be forever. As opposed to the fickle
and potentially addictive information com-
ing to us through the five senses.
Will Ruben get the surgery? Will it res-
urrect his old life, such as it was, with the
intense assault and battery of his ears?
The couple’s Will he reconnect with Lou? Will there
well-appointed RV. be a resolution of the dissonance? Will the
journey into silence be completed—or will
B7
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF AMAZON STUDIOS
Ruben exit this movie in a cloud of Lou’s
power chords and shrieked vocals, accom-
panied by his own drum-kit bash-ery?
Performances
Ruben is not an easy character to like: an
edgy, hair-trigger temper in an aggressive,
arrogant, dismissive, hyper type-A person-
ality. It’s easy to be thoroughly annoyed
with him until at least halfway through the
film. If there was ever someone who has to
learn the hard way, it’s him.
Armchair quarterbacking is easy; to roll
one’s eyes when we can predict the outcome
of certain actions is facile. Teaching is hard.
And so it becomes easy, watching “Sound
of Metal,” to appreciate the wisdom and
patience of good teachers (like Joe) who can
see the mistakes and the pain coming but
don’t interfere in the process.
There’s also a sense that Ruben is trying
hard to learn and change. And so Ahmed’s
is a virtuoso piece of acting. He walks a fine
edge of being off-putting and yet generating
just enough likability for us to root for him.
‘Sound of Metal’ has been
nominated for a Best
Picture Academy Award.
Olivia Cooke as Lou is tasked, on the one
hand, with the challenging portrayal of a
woman with enough low self-esteem to have
had self-harm issues, along with the code-
pendent-addictive connection to an addict,
and on the other, someone with enough
self-awareness to try to evolve beyond her
dependency on Ruben. It’s pretty masterful.
The third main character in this film is the
sound design. It depicts and simulates how
losing one’s hearing happens. It also func-
tions as a powerful reminder for hearing
people not to take life and its run-of-the-
mill sounds for granted—coffee dripping,
birdsong, wind, talking on the phone.
It brings to mind Albert Einstein’s obser-
vation that there are only two ways to live
life: One is as though nothing is a miracle;
the other is as though everything is a mir-
acle. Part of the path of spiritual cultiva-
tion and evolution is learning to cherish ev-
erything in the moment for its miraculous
wonderment. It seems like a no-brainer.
But go have your hearing taken away by
“Sound of Metal,” and you will go home
with a heightened appreciation of the subtle
noisescape around you.
The film also brings up the understand-
ing that it’s only by way of experiencing
hardship that we ever really change for
the better. We often hear people say they
wouldn’t trade their bouts with cancer for
anything, knowing how far they were able
to evolve spiritually. It’s the universal law
of “No loss, no gain.” The riches hidden be-
hind pain and sacrifice are always more
desirable than the unawakened state. As
Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not
worth living.”
That said, should I maybe sell the bike ...
? I feel like Saint Augustine, saying, “Dear
Lord give me quiet pipes. But don’t give
them yet.” Or was it chastity? I’m pretty
sure it was chastity. Similar deal.
“Sound of Metal” has been nominated
for a Best Picture Academy Award, and Riz
Ahmed and Paul Raci have been nomi-
nated for Best Actor and Best Supporting
Actor Oscars, respectively.
B8
POPCORN AND INSPIRATION
Biopic About Self-Determination and Self-Reliance
IAN KANE
S
erendipity is astounding. I recently
began watching a series of motiva-
tional videos, and once in a while
they feature a black gentleman
with a distinctively deep voice,
but I never see his name. One of the things
he says over and over is that you have to do
things yourself because the cavalry isn’t
coming to save you. I kept wondering why
they’d intertwine his parts of the videos
with scenes from a movie featuring Will
Smith and his son Jaden. Curious, I looked
up Smith’s filmography (well, scoured
through it, actually) and found out that the
film was titled “The Pursuit of Happyness.”
I also discovered that it’s a biographical
piece covering the rags-to-riches life of a
man named Chris Gardner.
And guess what! After watching the
film, I looked up Gardner and discovered
that he was the man who has affected me
in all of those motivational videos.
‘The Pursuit of Happyness’
should compel many folks
to feel more than inspired.
A New Dream
Helmed by director Gabriele Muccino,
the film is set in San Francisco during
the early 1980s. Salesman Chris Gardner
(Will Smith) has invested virtually all of
his money in bone marrow scanners. He
lives with his wife, Linda (Thandie New-
ton), and young son, Christopher (Jaden
Smith). Through the opening scenes, we
can see that Linda constantly nags Chris
and isn’t supportive of him in the least.
One day, Chris is walking the city
streets to sell his medical devices when
he spies an elegant, red sports car. The
car’s expensively suited driver steps out,
and Chris spontaneously asks the man
what his profession is. How can he afford
such a vehicle? When the man replies
that he’s a stockbroker, Chris’s eyes light
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up: His destiny has been decided.
But when Chris reveals his new dream
to Linda, their divide ruptures and she
walks out on both her husband and their
son. Instead of wallowing in despair,
an ambitious fire engulfs Chris, and
through much effort, he scores an in-
ternship with a major brokerage firm.
However, there’s a catch: He’ll have
to not only survive but strive through
a six-month unpaid internship to earn
his shot at a paid position. He also has to
compete with other hungry interns.
Hard Work and a Positive Attitude
The rest of the film covers his many
ups and downs as he struggles to keep
himself and his son from falling into
homelessness, and works his behind off
at the firm, while maintaining a positive
outlook about his slim prospects.
Much of the film features Chris run-
ning from place to place, either with his
son, a briefcase, or one of his devices, in
the “pursuit” of happiness, both literally
and figuratively.
This film has many outstanding scenes,
some tragic and heartbreaking, and
others heartfelt and inspirational. Of
course, there’s a little of that good old
Will Smith comedy sprinkled in to keep
things from becoming overly serious or
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self-indulgent.
For example, there’s a humorous scene
where Chris shows up at a run-down day-
care center in Chinatown to drop off his
son. The place is run by a Chinese woman
who speaks broken English and seems to
think that having the kids watch TV all
day is educational. When he complains
about that, as well as that the daycare’s
sign outside spells “Happiness” as “Hap-
pyness” (the film’s title), she responds in
some fast-talking Cantonese, and we get
the gist of what she’s intimating.
The more dramatic scenes are handled
equally well, such as when Chris and his
son get kicked out of their low-rent apart-
ment and have to spend their nights
sleeping in a scummy (and dangerous)
subway bathroom. Despite their circum-
stances, Chris’s ever-positive spirit rises
to the occasion: He portrays the bath-
room to his son as a cave where they’re
hiding out from dangerous creatures.
One of the things that I really appreci-
ated about this film is that it never pulled
out the tired and worn-out race card
found in so many movies that portray
blacks struggling. Chris’s story simply
(Top) Father and son Will and reveals that with inner fortitude and
Jaden Smith play father and son self-reliance, anybody can make it in this
in a story of a man working hard to great country, no matter where they’re
achieve his dream. from on the socioeconomic spectrum.
(Above) Christopher (Jaden
The actors’ performances were also
Smith, L) and Chris Gardner (Will spectacular, with Smith turning in a riv-
Smith) struggle to keep a roof over eting portrayal of Chris Gardner. Smith
their heads. never becomes overly dramatic to make
scenes feel impactful. Instead, he regis-
ters subtle emotions in both his facial ex-
‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ pressions and his body language. Smith’s
son Jaden, as well as Thandie Newton,
Director were also excellent as his wiser-than-his-
Gabriele Muccino
years son and angry ex, respectively.
Starring “The Pursuit of Happyness” should
Will Smith, Thandie Newton,
Jaden Smith compel many folks to feel more than
inspired. It’ll make you feel like you can
Running Time
1 hour, 57 minutes
take on the world—and win. I think that’s
a pretty good message to broadcast in
Rated today’s tumultuous and uncertain times.
PG-13
Release Date Ian Kane is a filmmaker and author
Dec. 15, 2006 (USA)
based out of Los Angeles. To learn more,
visit dreamflightent.com
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