NEW YOR K | DC EDITION | F R I D A Y, A P R I L 16 , 2 0 21 Truth & Tradition VOL . X V I I I | N O . 2 , 9 41 $1.

0 0
ANN WANG/POOL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

AFGHANISTAN
In the News Secretary of
NEWS

Some 5,800 Americans

have tested positive for CO-
VID-19 despite being fully
vaccinated, federal officials
say. ... A8
The Biden administration
has imposed new sanctions on
Russia and expelled diplomats
over cyberattacks allegedly
carried out by Moscow against
the United States. ...A4
House Speaker Nancy Pe-
losi says that she hopes for
bipartisan backing on Presi-
dent Joe Biden’s infrastruc-
ture plan, but Democrats are
ready to take it through the
reconciliation process. ... A5
Former Minneapolis police
officer Derek Chauvin has
declined to testify during his
trial. ... A2
Former police officer Kim
Potter has been ordered to
appear in court in May over
the fatal shooting of Daunte
Wright during a traffic stop
in Minnesota. ... A7
The CDC says it has learned
State Visits
Afghanistan in
Surprise Trip
Trip by Secretary Antony
Blinken comes less than
24 hours after the US
announced all troops would
be leaving the country
BY ZACHARY STIEBER
Secretary of State Antony Blinken
visited Afghanistan on April 15, less
than 24 hours after President Joe
Biden announced that all American
troops would be leaving the coun-
try by Sept. 11.
Blinken, in an unannounced trip,
met in Kabul with  the country’s
president, Ashraf Ghani, and anoth-
er top official, Abdullah Abdullah.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen speaks at a meeting with former U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd
TAIWAN and the U.S. delegation, at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Taiwan, on April 15, 2021.
It’s very important that the
Taiwan President Warns of Beijing Taliban recognize that it will
never be legitimate.

of a seventh woman who de-

veloped a rare and severe
type of blood clot after re-
Threat, Welcomes US Delegation Secretary of State Antony Blinken

The overarching message was that

ceiving the Johnson & John-
son vaccine. ... A8
Federal agencies are send-
ing out a fifth batch of stimu-
lus checks, the IRS says. ... A4
The UK will begin withdraw-
ing its military presence in
Afghanistan by May 1 in co-
ordination with its NATO al-
STR/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES the United States will continue sup-
Delegation headed dispatched military vessels and porting Afghanistan despite plans
aircraft to carry out maneuvers to pull out all troops.
by former Sen. Chris in waters and airspace surround- “We’ve achieved the objective we
Dodd comes as Beijing ing Taiwan. These actions alter the set out nearly 20 years ago. We nev-
status quo in the Indo-Pacific and er intended to have a permanent
steps up its provocative threaten regional peace and stabil- military presence here. The threat
actions in the region ity,” Tsai said while welcoming a from Al Qaeda in Afghanistan is
visiting U.S. delegation before the significantly degraded. Osama bin
BY FRANK FANG two sides held closed-door talks at Laden has been brought to justice.
A J-16 fighter jet performs during the

T
lies, the Ministry of Defence
says. ... A10
Guatemalan President
Alejandro Giammattei says
that smugglers have exploit-
ed the White House’s “con-
fusing” messages and have
ramped up their operations in
sending people over the U.S.–
Mexico border. ... A10
CHINA
AIPEI, Taiwan—Taiwan
President Tsai Ing-wen
warned on April 15 that
China’s military activities
against the self-ruled island pose
a threat to regional peace.
“Recently, China has frequently
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
the Presidential Office.
The delegation was headed by
former U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-
Conn.), who arrived in Taiwan on
April 14. The former senator was
accompanied by former Deputy
Secretaries of State Richard Armit-
age and James Steinberg, as well as Continued on A9
After years of saying that we would
People’s Liberation Army Air Force Avi-
leave militarily at some point, that
ation Open Day in Changchun, Jilin
Province, China, on Oct. 17, 2019.
time has come. But even when our
troops come home, our partnership
Dan Biers, director of the Office of with Afghanistan will continue,”
Taiwan Coordination at the State Blinken told reporters during a
Department. press conference.
Continued on A4
DREW ANGERER/GETTY IMAGES
US–CHINA

Chinese government bonds DOJ Urges Beyond the

have far exceeded the perfor-
mance of their U.S. counter- Supreme Court Dollar: China’s
parts, leading some experts
to say they could overtake Not to Accept Plan to Replace
U.S. Treasurys as the de facto
“safe haven” asset. ... A1
Legal Challenge US Treasurys
Chinese telecom compa- to All-Male BY FAN YU

nies can make their way into

the U.S. network through a
“glaring loophole,” FCC com-
missioner says. ... A1
BUSINESS
Fewer workers are losing
their jobs, Americans are ea-
ger to spend more, and corpo-
rate profits are getting fatter,
economic data show. ... A17
The cargo ship that blocked
the Suez Canal and is now
caught in a legal dispute is fit to
sail once approval is given, its
technical manager says. ...A17
OPINION
Newt Gingrich: The Crisis of
American Civilization...A13
Lloyd Billingsley: Joe Biden’s
Hidden Handler...A14
Wesley J. Smith: Euthanizing
the Mentally Ill...A16
Military Draft News Analysis
The regime in Beijing, which has
BY MATTHEW VADUM experienced limited success in its
quest to overtake the U.S. dollar as
The Biden administration is urging (L–R) Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), House Judiciary the global trade currency, might
the Supreme Court not to take up a Committee Chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), and Rep. Mondaire Jones have an easier time persuading
petition asking the court to strike (D-N.Y.) hold a press conference in front of the Supreme Court on April 15, 2021. the world to accept its govern-
down as unconstitutional a law that ment bonds as an investment
authorizes military conscription SUPREME COURT alternative to U.S. Treasurys.
solely for men. So far this year, Chinese govern-
The Trump administration de-
Democrats’ Supreme Court Packing Bill Is ment bonds have far exceeded
fended the current system in the Political ‘Takeover’ of Judiciary, Expert Says the performance of their U.S.
lower courts. President Joe Biden’s counterparts. While Chinese
Department of Justice (DOJ) ob- BY PETR SVAB ping, federal judiciary expert at the government bonds were relatively
tained two deadline extensions conservative Heritage Foundation flat in terms of returns from Jan.
before filing its response. Several Democratic lawmakers think tank and former counsel to 1 through the end of March, the
The case is National Coalition for have announced a bill to expand Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Treasury
Men v. Selective Service System, the Supreme Court by adding four He pointed out that to push the Total Return Index fell 4.2 percent
court file 20-928. additional justices, which would bill through the Senate, Democrats during the same period.
In 1981, the Supreme Court ruled “fundamentally compromise and would need to abolish the legisla- Some investment experts
6–3 in Rostker v. Goldberg that the undermine two branches of gov- tive filibuster, which requires 60 think Chinese government bonds
Military Selective Service Act, un- ernment,” according to an expert. votes to pass most bills rather than could overtake U.S. Treasurys as
der which men, but not women, are “This would be the greatest take- a simple majority. the de facto “safe haven” asset.
required to register for the draft, over of the judicial branch by the “That would be the most radi- “China’s emergence as a new and
survived constitutional scrutiny political branches since America cal change in the Senate, as an credible safe haven destination for
Continued on A3 was founded,” said Thomas Jip- Continued on A3 Continued on A9

FEATURES
CCP INFLUENCE
In Patrick County, Virginia, BORDER SECURITY
locals cling proudly to their
FCC Commissioner Calls for Closing ‘Loophole’ Allowing
strong Appalachian heritage
Chinese Telecoms to Access US Networks NOEM SAYS SD WON’T
BE TAKING ILLEGAL
and colorful past. ...B5

Kings Mountain in South
Carolina is the site of a Rev-
olutionary War battle that
was fought entirely between
Americans. ...B4
DON’T DELAY.
SUBSCRIBE TODAY.
READEPOCH.COM
Published in New York,
Washington, Houston, Chicago,
Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
IMMIGRANTS
BY RYAN BAO & JAN JEKIELEK sion (FCC) commissioner. as they use private funds.
The FCC in 2020 banned “To me, that is a glaring loophole
Americans have come to un- carriers in the United States that makes no sense,” Carr said in “My message
derstand the national secu- from using an $8.3 billion a recent interview with The Epoch to illegal
rity threat posed by China- federal fund to purchase Times’ “American Thought Lead- immigrants
based telecom companies, equipment from China-based ers” program. ... call me
but they might be surprised to telecom companies Hua- The commissioner highlighted when you’re
Brendan an American,”
learn that equipment from the wei and ZTE after deeming the espionage risk posed by China-
Carr. South Dakota Gov.
telecom firms continues to be them to be national security based technology firms.
used in U.S. networks, accord- threats. However, carriers are Under Chinese laws, “these com- Kristi Noem said.
ing to Brendan Carr, Federal allowed to buy and use the ex- panies basically have to fork over any Read more on A6
Communication Commis- act same equipment as long Continued on A9

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.
A2 | NATION FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2021

JOHN MINCHILLO/AP PHOTO

Former Minneapolis
Police Officer
Chauvin Declines to
Testify at His Trial
ZACHARY STIEBER

Former Minneapolis police officer

Derek Chauvin on April 15 invoked
his Fifth Amendment right against self-
incrimination and declined to testify in
his trial in the death of George Floyd.
Chauvin took a microphone and was
asked by his lawyer, Eric Nelson, if he
understood that he had a right not to
take the stand.
“Yes,” Chauvin said.
The former officer also said he knew
that he could waive that right and an-
swer questions, but that if he did, he
would be subject to cross-examination
by prosecutors.
“We’ve had this conversation repeat-
edly, correct?” Nelson said.
“Correct,” Chauvin said.
Nelson advised the former officer that
it was up to him whether to testify.
“I will invoke my Fifth Amendment
privilege today,” Chauvin said in the
People take part in a protest outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department in Brooklyn Center, Minn., on April 14, 2021.
Hennepin County court.
County Judge Peter Cahill empha-
sized to the defendant that he had to
make the decision himself and that he
shouldn’t be influenced by Nelson.
24 Arrested in 4th Night of Unrest in
Chauvin told the judge it was his
choice and he was not under any threats
or promises to testify or not.
Minnesota City Following Police Shooting
“I’m convinced then that this is your
personal decision and you are aware of JOHN MINCHILLO/AP PHOTO

your rights,” the judge said. ZACHARY STIEBER

The judge offered to read a set of
sentences to the jury in regards to
Chauvin’s decision, which would ex-
plain to jurors that Chauvin had no
obligation to prove innocence, that he
had the right not to testify, and advise
them not to make any inference about
the decision. Chauvin said he would
like the script to be read.
Chauvin is on trial for second-degree
murder, second-degree manslaughter,
and third-degree murder in the May 25,
2020, death of Floyd.
Chauvin was one of four officers to
respond to a 911 call regarding the use
of counterfeit money at Cup Foods in
Minneapolis. After Floyd resisted be-
ing placed into a patrol car, he was
restrained on the ground by Chauvin
and two other officers. Chauvin knelt
on his back and neck. Floyd eventually
stopped breathing and was declared
dead.
The county medical examiner ruled
the death a homicide caused by law
enforcement restraint, with drugs and
Floyd’s history of heart conditions con-
tributing factors.
The three other officers will go on trial
on lesser charges later this year.
Prosecutors wrapped their defense
earlier this week. Nelson has been call-
ing witnesses. On April 14, one testified
that Floyd’s death should be classified
as “undetermined.”
“In my opinion, Mr. Floyd had a sud-
den cardiac arrhythmia due to his ath-
erosclerosis and hypertensive heart dis-
ease ... during his restraint and subdual
by the police,” Dr. David Fowler, who
previously headed a medical exam-
iner’s office in Maryland, told the court.
A man in Floyd’s vehicle when officers
first located them also invoked his Fifth
Amendment right this week.
Morries Hall told the judge that he
was “fearful of criminal charges going
forward.”
About two dozen people were arrested
in  Brooklyn  Center, Minnesota, late on
April 14 as unrest continued for a fourth
night in the wake of a fatal police shooting
of a 20-year-old man.
Demonstrators gathered around the Brook-
lyn Center Police Department and erected
makeshift barricades before lobbing bricks,
bottles, and other projectiles at law enforce-
ment officers.
The arrests were among
those who remained
and were largely for cur-
few violations or rioting.
Eventually, the mix of state and local offi-
cers, bolstered by National Guard members,
ordered the crowd to disperse.
“We were very thankful that there was not a
strong entrenchment mentality of the people
that were there at the event. The group largely
scattered. It was almost uneventful,” Minne-
sota State Patrol Col. Matt Langer told report-
ers in an early morning briefing on April 15.
The arrests were among those who re-
mained and were largely for curfew viola-
tions or rioting.
In addition to the crowd not swelling to the
size seen the night prior, Langer said “the
anxiety, the tension, and the stress seemed
to be lower even though emotions are still
running high.”
Sixty people were arrested the previous
night in a riot.
Officials vowed to keep protecting Brook-
lyn Center, a suburb of Minneapolis, from
those intent on destruction.
“We will stop violence and criminal activ-
ity. We will not abandon the city and the citi-
zens of Brooklyn Center,” Hennepin County
Sheriff David Hutchinson said.
John Harrington, commissioner of the
Minnesota Department of Public Safety,
A protester during a standoff with police, outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department in Brook-
lyn Center, Minn., on April 14, 2021.
received calls from people on the ground
who conveyed frustration that their desire
to remain peaceful was being ignored by
agitators.
“They were out on the ground and they
were calling to say that they wanted the
peace kept. They wanted the looting to stop.
That they did not want to see their city burn,”
Harrington said.
“And that they were a bit frustrated that
when they’ve tried to have conversations
with some of the folks that were there at
Brooklyn Center Police Department, that
they didn’t feel like their messages were being
listened to, were being heard. The crowd pre-
sented significant public safety challenges as
they pulled on the fence, shot pyrotechnics,
lobbed bricks and bottles over the fence.”
Most of those arrested had addresses out-
side of Brooklyn Center.
No looting occurred for the second night
in a row in Brooklyn Center. Officials in St.
Paul and Minneapolis also reported no stores
were looted.
Demonstrators are upset that Daunte
Wright, a 20-year-old black man, was shot
after resisting arrest and trying to flee from
officers on April 11. Wright had been pulled
over for a traffic violation and officers tried
to take him into custody on an outstanding
warrant. Body camera footage showed that
Wright slipped from the grasp of an officer
and went into his car. After a struggle, officer
Kim Potter shot him accidentally, intending
to use her Taser.
The death has been ruled a homicide, the
gunshot wound to the chest being the cause.
Potter, 48, resigned two days after the
shooting. She has been charged with second-
degree manslaughter.
Jaylani Hussein, the executive director of
the Minnesota chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, said on April
15 that Potter should face murder charges.
“What do we want? Murder charges! What
she did was murder,” he told people outside
the police department.

Twitter Permanently Bans Project CNN thing for three days—I guess we are
too effective.”
have been reelected in 2020.
“Look at what we did, we got Trump out,”

Veritas Founder O’Keefe In a statement sent via text, O’Keefe said

BOWEN XIAO
The Twitter account of James O’Keefe, the
founder of Project Veritas, was permanently
suspended on April 15 following a series of
recordings the undercover journalism non-
profit posted as part of an expose on CNN.
A Twitter spokesperson didn’t immediately
respond to a request for comment. How-
ever, other reporters said the social media
platform told them that O’Keefe had been
banned “for violating the Twitter Rules on
platform manipulation and spam.”
Twitter pointed to a section in the com-
pany’s rules, which states: “You can’t mis-
lead others on Twitter by operating fake ac-
counts,” and “you can’t artificially amplify
or disrupt conversations through the use of
multiple accounts.”
At the time of the suspension, O’Keefe had
over 900,000 followers. A link to his profile
he will sue the social media platform for
Chester said. “I am 100 percent going to say
it. And I 100 percent believe it that if it wasn’t
defamation. for CNN, I don’t know that Trump would have
now shows a screen that states “account “I’m suing Twitter for defamation because got voted out.”
suspended.” they said I, James O’Keefe, ‘operated fake ac- He told the undercover reporter, who pre-
O’Keefe told The Epoch Times he had heard counts.’ This is false, this is defamatory, and tended to be a nurse during the fake dates,
something about a Twitter source report- they will pay. Section 230 may have protected that he decided to work at the network be-
edly saying the ban was due to “running them before, but it will not protect them from cause he ”wanted to be a part of that.”
a network of accounts that claimed to me. The complaint will be filed Monday.” “Our focus was to get Trump out of office,
be things they weren’t.” He said the A CNN staffer was recently caught right? Without saying it, that’s what it was,”
social media company would be on hidden camera saying that the Chester said.
emailing him momentarily with network worked during the 2020 Other videos showed that a CNN head had
a formal reason. presidential election to produce personally intervened to order the cable net-
O’Keefe later posted a screen- content that would help lead work’s staff to display the number of people
shot on Telegram of the email President Joe Biden to victory. who have died of COVID-19 during a broad-
Twitter sent to him regarding his Project Veritas published the first cast.
account. That email said he was of three recordings on April 13. In February, Twitter suspended the account
“permanently suspended” specifi- Charlie Chester, a technical direc- of Project Veritas and locked the account of
cally for “fake accounts” used to “ma- tor at CNN, was secretly filmed by the O’Keefe at the time, after he released a
nipulate Twitter conversations.” James Project Veritas during a number of video of a Facebook official talking about the
“I don’t know what they think, that O’Keefe, fake Tinder dates set up over the past social media website’s policies.
I’m a Russian bot?” O’Keefe said in a founder of month. He suggested that if it weren’t
phone call. “I don’t know what they Project Ver- for the network’s “propaganda,” for- Jan Jekielek and Isabel van Brugen
are talking about. We just did the itas Action. mer President Donald Trump would contributed to this report. 
 FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2021 NATION | A3
DREW ANGERER/GETTY IMAGES

Judiciary Committee.
Obama was a “lame-duck president” and
the electorate sapped his mandate by giving
majorities in both the House and the Senate
to Republicans in the 2014 midterms, Mc-
Connell argued.
To Democrats’ chagrin, McConnell en-
sured a speedy confirmation for Justice Amy
Coney Barrett, Trump’s nominee, shortly
before the 2020 election. Unlike Obama,
Trump was looking toward possible reelec-
tion, and his first midterm performance—
losing the House, but expanding the Senate
majority—was generally better than that of
several of his predecessors.

(L–R) Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Rep. Mondaire
Jones (D-N.Y.), Chris Kang, co-founder and chief counsel of Demand Justice, Meagan Hatcher-Mays, director of Democracy Policy of Indivisible, and
Aaron Belkin, director of Take Back The Court, hold a press conference in front of the U.S. Supreme Court to announce legislation to expand the num-
ber of seats on the high court, in Washington, on April 15, 2021.
Democrats’ Supreme Court Packing Bill
Political ‘Takeover’ of Judiciary, Expert Says
CONTINUED FROM A1
institution, in more than 200 years,” Ji-
pping told The Epoch Times. “And there
is no conceivable argument that that is
worth the cost to the liberty that judicial
independence makes possible.”
Democrats only hold 50 seats in the Senate,
with Vice President Kamala Harris avail-
able to cast tie-breaking votes. To nix the fili-
buster, they’d need to reinterpret the Senate
rules to state that three-fifths of the chamber
in fact means 51 of 100, Jipping noted.
Current State
Six of the current nine Supreme Court jus-
tices have been appointed by Republican
presidents, giving conservatives better
chances to challenge laws and regulations
coming from the Democrat-held Congress
and White House for overstepping the Con-
stitution. Packing the court would give Presi-
dent Joe Biden a chance to appoint justices
more sympathetic to his agenda, reversing
the situation.
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), the leading
proponent of the bill, pronounced the Su-
preme Court “broken” during an April 15
This would be press conference.
the greatest “It is out of balance and it needs to be fixed,”
takeover of he said. “Too many Americans question the
court’s legitimacy” and because of that, “the
the judicial rights of all Americans but especially people
branch by of color, women and our immigrant com-
the politi- munities are at risk.”
cal branches ‘Biden Rule’
since America Democrats have criticized how President
was founded. Donald Trump and congressional Repub-
licans handled nominations to the court in
Thomas Jipping, fed- recent years.
eral judiciary expert, In 2016, when President Barack Obama
Heritage Foundation nominated Judge Merrick Garland to the
court, the Republican Senate wouldn’t con-
sider the nomination.
Then-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
(R-Ky.) called it the “Biden rule,” referring
to Biden’s 1992 comment “that once the po-
litical season is underway, and it is, action
on a Supreme Court nomination must be
put off until after the election campaign is
over.” At the time, Biden chaired the Senate
History
The number of Supreme Court justices has
remained the same since 1869. Since its
founding in 1789, the number has been in-
creased several times, but always in connec-
tion with an expansion of the circuit court
system. At the time, two justices would be
responsible for one and later two circuit
courts. They would need to periodically
travel their circuit and personally handle
lower court cases.
As more states joined the Union, Congress
would add more circuits and one more jus-
tice for each. By the early 20th century, the
“circuit riding” virtually ceased as justices
seldom needed to tend to any lower court
duties. The additions of the 10th, 11th, Fed-
eral, and District of Columbia circuits were
no longer accompanied by an expansion of
the bench.
“There’s literally no argument that it needs
more justices,” Jipping said, noting that the
court has half the workload now that it had
several decades ago.
Congress had twice passed bills to reduce
the number of justices. Once in 1801 from
six to five, which was reversed within a year,
and once in 1866 from nine to seven, which
was reversed in 1869.
In 1937, when President Franklin D. Roos-
evelt pushed for a Supreme Court expansion,
fellow Democrats in the Congress resisted,
despite holding supermajorities in both
chambers.
“They said judicial independence is more
important than politics,” Jipping said. “And
it still is.”
Prospects
It isn’t clear whether the court-packing bill
will get any traction. On April 9, Biden or-
dered the creation of a commission to study
court expansion. He said he’s not ready to
say whether he supports or opposes the bill.
The bill has several backers in the House,
including Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), head
of the Judiciary Committee. But House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said she
doesn’t plan to bring the bill to the floor.
“I think it’s an idea that should be consid-
ered and I think the president is taking the
right approach, to have a commission study
such a thing. It’s a big step,” she said.

SAMIRA BOUAOU/THE EPOCH TIMES

The Supreme
Don’t Accept Legal Court in Wash-
ington on March
Challenge to All-Male 10, 2020.

Military Draft, DOJ Urges

Supreme Court
CONTINUED FROM A1
because women at that time
were categorically prohibited
from serving in combat roles.
Because the primary purpose of
registration was to replace com-
bat troops, the court stated, “the
existence of the combat restric-
tions clearly indicates the basis
for Congress’ decision to exempt
women from registration.”
Any reconsidera-
tion of the consti-
tutionality of the
male-only registra-
tion requirement
… would be prema-
ture at this time.
Elizabeth Prelogar,
U.S. acting solicitor general
Although the Department of De-
fense rescinded the ban on women
in combat in 2013, the obligation
to register for the draft remains
limited to men. From age 18 to
26, men are required to submit
their information to the Selective
Service System in case a draft is
deemed necessary in the future.
In a brief filed with the high
court on April 14, the Biden ad-
ministration carefully avoided
taking a position on whether the
draft system should be changed,
explaining that Congress was now
taking a look at the issue.
“Any reconsideration of the con-
stitutionality of the male-only reg-
istration requirement ... would be
premature at this time,” Acting So-
licitor General Elizabeth Prelogar
wrote in the document.
“Congress is actively consider-
ing the scope of the registration
requirement, and Rostker itself
made clear that the Court should
defer to Congress where possible
in this sensitive military context.
“Congress’s attention to the
question may soon eliminate any
need for the Court to grapple with
that constitutional question.”
The organization that brought
the case is the San Diego-based
National Coalition for Men
(NCFM), which was “founded in
1977 upon the realization that men
needed a unified voice in address-
ing issues concerning men and
boys,” according to its website.
The NCFM is represented in
the case by the American Civil
Liberties Union (ACLU), which
takes the position that scuttling
the men-only registration re-
quirement would undo one of
the last examples of overt sex
discrimination in federal law af-
ter the Supreme Court allowed
gay marriage and found last year
that employment discrimination
against gays and transgender in-
dividuals was illegal.
“The question presented is
whether ... the federal requirement
that men but not women register
for the Selective Service ... violates
the right to equal protection guar-
anteed by the Fifth Amendment,”
NCFM stated in its petition.
The Michigan-based Center for
Military Readiness (CMR) argued
in a friend-of-the-court brief filed
March 12 that the Supreme Court
should turn away NCFM’s peti-
tion because Congress, not the
courts, is authorized by Article
1, Section 8 of the Constitution
to set military policy.
“We support the Selective Ser-
vice System as an insurance policy
in the case of a catastrophic na-
tional emergency,” CMR President
Elaine Donnelly previously told
The Epoch Times in an interview.
In a recent interview after the
government brief was filed, Don-
nelly said her group wasn’t sure
what position the Biden admin-
istration was going to take.
“The argument that they make
that Congress” is responsible for
the issue “is essentially the same
as the one we make in our amicus
brief,” she said, referring to her
group’s amicus curiae, or friend-
of-the-court, brief.
“They did not, however, address
the elephant in the room—wheth-
er men and women are similarly
situated, essentially interchange-
able in combat units.”
CMR’s Supreme Court brief ac-
knowledges that some women
have proved themselves capable
of meeting the high standards
that combat demands and previ-
ous policies regarding women in
combat billets have been repealed,
but “the physiological differences
between men and women have
not been repealed.”
Ria Tabacco Mar, counsel of
record for NCFM and director of
the ACLU Women’s Rights Project,
was critical of the Biden adminis-
tration’s filing.
“Noticeably absent from the gov-
ernment’s brief is any argument
that men-only registration is con-
stitutional. That is not surprising
given that men-only registration
is outdated, based on gender ste-
reotypes, and no longer recom-
mended by the military itself,” she
told The Epoch Times.
“Rather than try to defend men-
only registration, the government
asks the Supreme Court to give
Congress more time to update the
law. But President Carter made the
same ask in 1980, and Congress
hasn’t fixed the problem despite
having 40 years to do so. It’s long
past time for the Supreme Court to
declare that men-only registration
is unlawful sex discrimination.”
A4 | NATION
US Secretary of State
Visits Afghanistan in
Surprise Trip After
Biden’s Withdrawal
Announcement
CONTINUED FROM A1
Biden said a day prior that the initial
military action in 2001, which he backed
as a senator, had a clear objective and
the cause was just.
But as far back as 2008, when Biden,
vice president-elect at the time, and in-
coming President Barack Obama flew to
Afghanistan, Biden said he saw that an
“endless American military force could
not create or sustain a durable Afghan
government.”
“After consulting closely with our allies
and partners, with our military leaders
and intelligence personnel, with our
diplomats and our development ex-
perts, with the Congress and the Vice
President, as well as with Mr. Ghani and
many others around the world, I have
concluded that it’s time to end Ameri-
ca’s longest war. It’s time for American
troops to come home,” he said.
The withdrawal was already set for this
year under an agreement hammered
out during the Trump administration,
provided the Taliban kept violence lev-
els low. Military officials, though, have
repeatedly cast doubt on the Taliban
meeting those conditions.
Blinken warned that the Taliban
should understand that any attack on
U.S. forces as they withdraw would be
met with force, but conceded that it was
time for other parties to take over the
primary responsibilities in paving a
path forward.
“It’s very important that the Taliban
recognize that it will never be legitimate
and it will never be durable if it rejects
a political process and tries to take the
country by force,” he told reporters.
A readout of the secretary of state’s
meeting with Ghani said the officials
discussed “[a] shared investment in Af-
ghanistan and the importance of pre-
serving the gains of the last twenty years,
especially in building a strong civil soci-
ety and protecting the rights of women
and girls” and “counter-terrorism coop-
eration and [a] shared commitment to
ensure al-Qa’ida never regains a foot-
hold in Afghanistan.”
Ghani told Blinken that Afghani lead-
ers “respect the decision” of the United
States on withdrawing and “are adjust-
ing our priorities,” The Associated Press
reported.
Blinken also convened with Abdullah,
the chair of the Afghanistan High Com-
mission for National Reconciliation, go-
ing over the continued work toward a
permanent ceasefire between the Tali-
ban and the Afghan government.
SAPIDAR PALACE VIA AP
Abdullah Abdullah (C), chairman of the High
Council for National Reconciliation, walks
with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken
at the Sapidar Palace in Kabul, Afghanistan,
on April 15, 2021.
Federal Agencies Send Out 5th Batch
of Stimulus Checks Worth $3.4 Billion
TOM OZIMEK
The IRS said on April 14 that federal agencies
are in the midst of sending out a fifth batch
of stimulus checks, amounting to nearly
2 million payments worth more than $3.4
billion, with eligible recipients likely to see
the funds arriving in their bank accounts
starting April 14.
The IRS, Department of the Treasury, and
Bureau of the Fiscal Service jointly began
processing the latest batch of payments
on April 9, with an official payment date of
April 14, the tax agency said in a statement.
The fifth batch includes nearly 1.2 mil-
lion direct deposit payments, and around
800,000 paper checks. The IRS earlier urged
people to monitor their mail carefully as
some people had thrown out checks un-
der previous stimulus rounds thinking they
Journalists wait in front of the Russian Foreign Ministry headquarters in Moscow on April 15, 2021.
Biden Administration Expels Russian
Diplomats, Imposes New Sanctions
JACK PHILLIPS
The Biden administration on April 15 im-
posed fresh sanctions on Russia and ex-
pelled some diplomatic personnel over cy-
berattacks allegedly carried out by Moscow
against the United States.
President Joe Biden signed an executive
order that “provides strengthened authori-
ties to demonstrate the Administration’s
resolve in responding to and deterring the
full scope of Russia’s harmful foreign activi-
ties,” the White House said in a statement.
The executive order was designed to send
a message to the Kremlin that the White
House will “impose costs in a strategic and
economically impactful manner on Russia
if it continues or escalates its destabilizing
international actions,” including “efforts
to undermine the conduct of free and fair
democratic elections” and institutions in
the United States.
The White House news release also made
mention of Russia’s alleged attempts to “en-
gage in and facilitate malicious cyber activi-
ties against the United States and its allies
and partners.”
Russia is accused of facilitating a cyber-
attack in December against SolarWinds
software used by a number of federal agen-
cies. In that intrusion, Russian hackers are
believed to have infected widely used soft-
ware with malicious code, enabling them to
access the networks of at least nine agencies
in what U.S. officials believe was an intelli-
gence-gathering operation aimed at mining
government secrets.
A spokesperson for the Kremlin, Dmi-
try Peskov, condemned the fresh round of
sanctions and promised that Russia would
respond against the United States.
“We condemn any pursuit of sanctions,
we consider them illegal. In any case, the
principle of reciprocity in this matter is
valid; reciprocity in a way that best serves
our interests,” Peskov said, according to the
TASS news agency.
About a possible Putin–Biden meeting,
Peskov said, “It goes without saying that
possible sanctions being discussed would
by no means promote such a meeting.”
were junk mail or scams.
The bulk of the payments under this round
went out to people who filed a 2020 tax re-
turn, including nearly 850,000 checks to
those for whom the IRS didn’t have informa-
tion on file to send a payment to until they
filed a tax return.
This batch also includes around 700,000
“plus-up” payments to people who already
received stimulus checks based on their
2019 tax returns, but whose 2020 tax returns
made them eligible for a new or larger pay-
ment.
It also includes more than 320,000 pay-
ments to Veterans Affairs beneficiaries who
receive compensation and pension benefit
payments but who don’t normally file a tax
return, as well as 72,000 checks to Social
Security beneficiaries who didn’t file tax
returns for the past two years.
Then-U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and then-Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, in Moscow
on March 10, 2011.
According to the White House: “The [Rus-
sian Foreign Intelligence Service’s] com-
promise of the SolarWinds software supply
chain gave it the ability to spy on or poten-
tially disrupt more than 16,000 computer
systems worldwide. The scope of this com-
promise is a national security and public
safety concern. Moreover, it places an undue
burden on the mostly private sector victims
who must bear the unusually high cost of
mitigating this incident.”
The executive order announced April
15 includes sanctions against six Russian
firms that support the country’s cyber ac-
tivities, and 32 individuals were also hit
with sanctions.
The Biden administration said that the
10 diplomats being expelled include repre-
sentatives of Russian intelligence services.
Despite the new order, Biden believes he
should hold a summit with Russian Presi-
dent Vladimir Putin to talk about “issues
facing our relationship,” said national se-
curity adviser Jake Sullivan in a CNN inter-
view on April 15. U.S.–Russia relations can
be “stable and predictable,” he said.
“President Biden made no bones about
SAMIRA BOUAOU/THE EPOCH TIMES
IRS headquarters in Washington on March
8, 2018.
The agencies will continue to send pay-
ments on a weekly basis to eligible indi-
viduals for whom the IRS previously did
not have information to issue a payment
but who recently filed a tax return, and to
people who qualify for “plus-up” payments
based on their 2020 tax returns.
The IRS urged federal benefits recipients
who don’t normally file tax returns to file a
2020 return so as to provide the agency with
information it needs to send them an addi-
FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2021
ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
REUTERS/ALEXANDER NATRUSKIN
the fact we will be taking actions this week,
but he also indicated that he wants to get
to that stability in this relationship, and he
believes that if President Putin is prepared to
do that as well, we can find a course ahead
that does not lead to a cycle of confronta-
tion,” Sullivan said.
The actions are the second major round
of sanctions imposed by the Biden admin-
istration against the Russian government.
Last month, the U.S. sanctioned seven mid-
level and senior Russian officials along with
more than a dozen government entities for
its treatment of opposition leader Alexei Na-
valny and his subsequent jailing.
The White House decided to keep the
Trump-appointed U.S. ambassador to Rus-
sia and invited Putin to a climate change
conference in late April.
It wasn’t immediately clear what, if any,
other actions might be planned against
Russia. Officials had previously said they
expected to take actions both seen and
unseen.
The Associated Press contributed
to this report.
tional payment for qualifying dependents.
Also, people who don’t receive federal ben-
efits and don’t normally file tax returns are
also urged to file a 2020 tax return, as they
may be eligible for a payment.
If, for some reason, eligible recipients
don’t receive a check at all under the Ameri-
can Rescue Plan round of economic impact
payments, then they can claim the stimulus
money that they should have received as
a Recovery Rebate Credit on their 2021 in-
come tax return, which won’t be filed until
next year.
The fifth batch of payments brings the to-
tal disbursed so far up to around 159 million
payments, with a total value of more than
$376 billion, the IRS said.
The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan
authorizes individuals earning less than
$75,000 per year—and married joint fil-
ers making less than $150,000—to receive
the full $1,400 payment. The checks then
ramp down to zero for individuals earning
$80,000 or above and for joint filers making
$160,000 or more.
 FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2021 NATION | A5

Pelosi Aims for Bipartisan Backing on Infrastructure

Plan, ‘Ready’ to Resort to Reconciliation
JOE RAEDLE/GETTY IMAGES
TOM OZIMEK

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-

Calif.) said on April 15 that she
hopes some Republicans will back
President Joe Biden’s infrastruc-
ture plan but, if not, Democrats
are ready to go it alone through
the reconciliation process to push
through another major piece of
legislation.
Pelosi began her weekly press
conference on Capitol Hill by
talking about the American Res-
cue Plan, the $2 trillion pandem-
ic relief package that drew zero
Republican backing and which
Democrats ended up approv-
ing via budget reconciliation, a
process that had allowed them
to sidestep the filibuster in the
50-50 split Senate.
“About 160 million Americans
have received their checks from
this legislation,” she said. “Those
checks are part of nearly a tril-
lion dollars in the pockets of the
American workers.
“We said our purpose in the plan
was vaccines in the arm, money
in the pocket, children safely in
school, workers safely back at
work—and that is what is happen-
ing now. And so we’re very proud
of that.”
“But we have more to do,” Pelosi
Construction workers build the Signature Bridge, replacing and improving a busy highway intersection at I-95 and I-395, in Miami on April 13, 2021.
said, referring to Biden’s $2.3 tril-
lion infrastructure package, the CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES

American Jobs Plan, which has
already drawn the scrutiny of Re-
publicans, who are wary of its price
tag and argue that it goes well be-
yond what people normally think
of as infrastructure.
Biden’s plan includes $100 bil-
lion in workforce development
programs,  $400 billion toward
expanding access home- or
community-based care for aging
relatives and people with dis-
abilities, $25 billion to increase
the supply of child care, $300 bil-
lion to strengthen manufacturing
supply chains, and $10 billion for
a new Civilian Climate Corps that
will work on conserving public
lands and waters.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch
McConnell took to Twitter on April
13. “There is a bipartisan appetite
for smart infrastructure bills. In
fact, all the multi-year highway
bills have been bipartisan going
back decades. There isn’t an appe-
tite for using the word ‘infrastruc-
ture’ to justify a multitrillion-dollar
slush fund for unrelated bad ideas.”
McConnell reiterated the point in
remarks from the Senate floor on
April 13, calling Biden’s package
“misleadingly titled legislation.”
“The White House has lumped
together a motley assortment of
the left’s priciest priorities,” he said.
“Less than 6 percent of this pro-
posal goes to roads and bridges. It’s
not remotely targeted toward what
Americans think they are getting
when politicians campaign on in-
frastructure.
“But instead of coming up with
a better bill, Democrats have de-
The White House
has lumped to-
gether a motley
assortment of the
left’s priciest
priorities.
Senate Minority Leader
Mitch McConnell
cided it’s the English language that
has to change. They are embark-
ing on an Orwellian campaign to
convince everybody that any gov-
ernment policy whatsoever can be
labeled infrastructure.”
Pelosi told reporters that she
believes the American Jobs Plan
is “not an opportunity of a gen-
eration, but of a century,” before
adding that, for the plan to meet
its objectives, “you have to have
human infrastructure to go with it.
“And that is workforce develop-
ment that is very much a part of
all this: women being able to par-
ticipate fully in how we build back
better,” she said. “That means we
have to have adequate child care”
so “they can confidently be part
of the workforce knowing that
their children or loved ones are
cared for.”
Pelosi said that, in March, she
directed Democratic committee
chairs to reach across the aisle
and find common ground on the
package. Now that the chairs have
begun to hold committee hearings
and started drafting the bill, she
said she hopes a “substantial” part
of it will be done by the end of May.
“I hope it will be bipartisan and
that is what we are striving for
now,” she said.
Asked about the possibility of
advancing the bill via reconcilia-
tion if Democrats fail to win bipar-
tisan backing, Pelosi said, “I hope it
wouldn’t need a reconciliation bill,
but we’ll be ready if it does.
“How we process it, we’ll see.”
Biden said he hopes to win bi-
partisan backing for the plan and
is “prepared to negotiate” on both
its size and funding. The president
met with lawmakers from both
parties on April 12 to discuss the
package as they returned to Wash-
ington following a recess.
“I’m prepared to negotiate as to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) holds a news conference at the Capitol
the extent of my infrastructure Visitors Center in Washington on March 11, 2021.
project, as well as how we pay for STEFANI REYNOLDS/GETTY IMAGES
it,” Biden said ahead of an Oval Of-
fice meeting with House and Sen-
ate members from both parties. “I
think everyone acknowledges we
need a significant increase in in-
frastructure. It’s going to get down
to what we call infrastructure.”
“It’s not just roads, bridges, high-
ways.”
In a statement following Biden’s
meeting with lawmakers, the
White House stated that the sides
“had a good exchange of ideas,
and the President asked for their
feedback and follow-up on pro-
posals discussed in the meeting,
while underscoring that inaction
is not an option.”
Republicans, meanwhile, say
they plan to unveil a narrower in-
frastructure package to counter Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) at the Russell Senate Office
Biden’s sweeping proposal. Building in Washington on April 13, 2021.

THINK
THE EPOCH TIMES
BUT FOR TV
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form your own opinion.

GET NTD ON TV WATCH US ONLINE PAUL GREANEY TIFFANY MEIER STEFANIA COX KEVIN HOGAN
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and Deep Dive Evening News News Today
A6 | NATION
South Dakota Won’t Be Taking Illegal
Immigrants, Gov. Noem Says
JANITA KAN
South Dakota won’t accept any
illegal immigrants that the Biden
administration is looking to re-
locate from America’s southern
border, Gov. Kristi Noem vowed
on April 14.
“South Dakota won’t be taking
any illegal immigrants that the
Biden Administration wants to
relocate. My message to illegal
immigrants ... call me when
you’re an American,” Noem
wrote in a statement on Twitter.
Her comment comes as me-
dia reports that the Biden ad-
ministration is reaching out to
numerous states for assistance
on housing illegal immigrants
amid the burgeoning crisis at the
southern border. The Washing-
ton Post has also reported that
the Biden administration is con-
sidering flying migrant families
and children to states near the
Canadian border for processing.
The Biden adminis-
tration is reaching
out to numerous
states for assistance
on housing illegal
immigrants.
Fellow Republican Govs.
Henry McMaster of South Caro-
lina, Pete Ricketts of Nebraska,
and Kim Reynolds of Iowa said
separately in recent weeks that
they have declined the adminis-
tration’s request to accept illegal
immigrants into their states. Mc-
Master also signed an executive
order that directs the state to pri-
oritize the needs of children in
South Carolina and prevent the
placement of unaccompanied
minors into residential care or
foster care facilities in the state.
Noem spokesman Ian Fury
told the  Des Moines Register
on April 14 that the governor
hasn’t received a request from
the federal government, but was
sending a message should such
a request be made.
Mike Lindell: Free, Clean
Speech Social Media Site Set
to Launch Monday
MASOOMA HAQ
MyPillow’s  Mike Lindell an-
nounced on April 15 that his
new social media platform called
“Frank,” with the mission of pro-
viding a place for free speech as
laid out in the U.S. Constitution,
will launch on April 19.
In a video statement, Lindell
said he’s taken steps to make sure
the site is most secure, with his
own servers, and will not be sub-
ject to censorship on the whims
of big tech companies such as
Amazon and Google.
“And we are going to get our
voice of free speech out there,”
Lindell said. “On Monday morn-
ing at 9 a.m., we’re going to have
the biggest launch. ... I call it a
Frank-a-thon.”
“I’m going to be on there live
all day long. ... It’s like a YouTube
Twitter combination; you’ve nev-
er seen anything like it,” Lindell
said of his new project.
“You’re not going to have to
worry about what you’re saying
and worry about being able to
speak out freely.”
He added that the exceptions
to this are speech that threatens
violence and using foul language,
which will not be permitted.
“You don’t get to use the four
swear words—the C-word, the
N-word, the F-word, or God’s
name in vain. Free speech is not
pornography; free speech isn’t
‘I’m going to kill you,’” he said.
Many conservatives have
Illegal immigrants line up to board a van that will take them to a processing center, in El Paso, Texas, on May 16, 2019.
In an attempt to address the
surge of unaccompanied mi-
nors, the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services
(HHS) stated that it’s seeking to
build capacity for 13,500 beds,
with the potential for additional
capacity in order to meet what
has been a continuous flow of
unaccompanied minors com-
ing across the border. The HHS
has opened multiple temporary
facilities in the past two weeks.
For the month of March,
CBP agents encountered more
than 172,000 illegal immi-
grants, according to statistics re-
leased on April 8. That’s a sharp
increase from just over 101,000
individuals encountered in Feb-
ruary.
Among those who crossed il-
legally into the United States
last month were more than
18,800  unaccompanied mi-
nors, double the number who
illegally arrived in the United
States in February (more than
9,300 encounters). That’s com-
pared to 5,585 unaccompanied
minors in January, and 4,993 in
December 2020.
A top HHS official  has de-
scribed the surge of illegal bor-
der crossings as “unprecedent-
been censored by social media
platforms such as Twitter and
Facebook or have had their
posts labeled as inaccurate. A
Pew 2020 survey took a random
national sample of almost 5,000
people and found that most
Americans think social media
sites censor users based on po-
litical viewpoints.
In addition, the survey found
that conservatives trust social
media companies much less
than liberals do when it comes
to them making a determina-
tion about which post should
be labeled as inaccurate. Ninety
percent of conservatives have
little to no confidence in the
platform’s ability to label a post
fairly, as compared to 52 percent
of liberal users.
You’re not going to
have to worry about
what you’re saying.
Mike Lindell,
CEO, MyPillow
Congressional Republicans are
trying to hold big companies ac-
countable for what they call cen-
soring of conservatives, by cur-
tailing Section 230, which is part
of the Communications Decency
Act (CDA) of 1996, which largely
provides protection to big tech
companies from being sued for
content on their websites. While
ed” and told a federal judge in
a sworn declaration that she
believes the influx is likely to
increase in the “coming weeks
and months.”
“As an initial matter, it is im-
portant to understand that the
current influx is not limited to
the January-March time period
but is an ongoing challenge that
will likely increase in severity in
the coming weeks and months,”
Cindy Huang, director of HHS’s
Office of Refugee Resettlement
(ORR), wrote in her testimony.
Republicans have argued that
the burgeoning crisis is a result
of President Joe Biden’s move
to overturn several Trump-
era immigration policies that
had helped to curb the flow of
illegal border crossings. This
includes his predecessor’s cor-
nerstone Migrant Protection
Protocols, which effectively
ended the problematic “catch-
and-release” policy that signifi-
cantly stemmed the surge of il-
legal immigrants that was seen
at the southern border in 2019.
In a return to the Obama-era
policies that facilitate “catch-
and-release,” the Biden admin-
istration is again releasing un-
accompanied minors into the
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell speaks during a rally on the National Mall in
Washington on Dec. 12, 2020.
many bills have been introduced
in Congress by GOP lawmakers,
none have become law.
On the state level, Republican
leaders have begun adding laws
to rein in Big Tech control over
what is labeled false and who is
deplatformed on their sites.
The Texas Senate recently
passed a bill that forbids social
media companies that have at
least 100 million users per month
from blocking, banning, demon-
etizing, or discriminating against
any of their users because of their
political views. Other states are
following the example.
Lindell’s platform will try to
counter such censorship and be
a place to congregate for those
who have been removed from
sites such as YouTube, Facebook,
and Twitter.
“They’re going to have a safe
place. You won’t have to walk
on eggshells anymore,” Lin-
dell said during an appearance
on NTD’s “Focus Talk.”
Projections indicate that
PAUL RATJE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
country. The lawmakers argue
that Biden’s act has been inter-
preted as a signal to prospective
migrants to travel to the United
States.
“He is the one that opened
the borders. He needs to be re-
sponsible for this, and he needs
to stop it,” Iowa’s Reynolds said
on April 8.
Meanwhile, the Biden ad-
ministration has sought to shift
the blame to former President
Donald Trump’s administra-
tion, with Homeland Security
Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas
saying that the previous gov-
ernment had “dismantled the
orderly, humane, and efficient
way of allowing children to make
their claims under United States
law in their own country.”
It has also sought to downplay
the severity of the situation at the
border by asserting that the in-
flux was driven by normal sea-
sonal patterns rather than the
administration’s new policies.
“It happens every single soli-
tary year. There is a significant
increase in the number of people
coming to the border in the win-
ter months of January, February,
March. It happens every year,”
Biden said on March 25.
SAMIRA BOUAOU/THE EPOCH TIMES
Frank will draw tens of millions
of users in the first week of op-
eration, Lindell told The Epoch
Times, pointing to how one of
his recent documentaries was
watched by 150 million people
around the world.
Initially, there’s no intention to
make money from Frank.
“I put in all my money. I’m not
out to make money. Right now,
I’m out to get the word out for free
speech. I want people to go out
there, all these influencers, and
talk about” election fraud claims,
Lindell said.
Down the road, advertisements
can be added to the platform to
help fund it.
One twist the site will have:
When people sign up, they’ll
automatically follow every in-
fluencer. They’ll have the option
to stop following influencers
whose posts they don’t want to
see anymore.
Zachary Stieber
contributed to this report.
FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2021
Democratic
Lawmakers
Propose Ban on
Gun Magazines
That Hold More
Than 10 Rounds
JACK PHILLIPS
Several Democratic members of
Congress have proposed firearm
legislation that would ban the sale,
transfer, possession, manufacture,
or importation of magazines that
can hold more than 10 rounds.
Several states including New York
and California have previously im-
posed bans on magazines that hold
more than 10 rounds. Magazines
that held more than 10 rounds were
banned under the Federal Assault
Weapons Ban of 1994, which ex-
pired in 2004.
On April 14, Sen. Bob Menendez
(D-N.J.) as well as Reps. Diana De-
Gette (D-Colo.), Dina Titus (D-Nev.),
and Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) introduced
the measure, known as the “Keep
Americans Safe Act.”
The Department of Justice has
previously said that the 1994 fed-
eral ban on so-called high-capacity
magazines didn’t lead to a signifi-
cant drop in shootings and mur-
ders. That study has been often cited
by gun-rights groups including the
National Rifle Association (NRA)
and Gun Owners of America for
why such legislation would be in-
effective.
“We cannot clearly credit the ban
with any of the nation’s recent drop
in gun violence,” the DOJ stated in
2004. “Should it be renewed, the
ban’s effects on gun violence are
likely to be small at best and per-
haps too small for reliable mea-
surement.”
But Menendez said the bill is de-
signed to end mass shootings, such
as last month’s incidents in Boulder,
Colorado, and Atlanta.
“High-capacity magazines are
good for one thing and one thing
only—high-capacity killing,”
Menendez said in an April 14 state-
ment. “The Keep Americans Safe
Act is a common-sense piece of
legislation that will save lives and
will finally limit the sale of large-
capacity magazines that are de-
signed for killing as many people
as possible without having to stop
and reload.”
With the 60-vote filibuster in
place, it’s unlikely that Menedez’s
bill—in its current form—would
be approved by the Senate. Re-
publicans have signaled opposi-
tion to President Joe Biden’s recent
executive actions against “ghost
guns,” “red flag” law proposals,
and re-classifying pistols with sta-
bilizing braces as rifles—as well as
his nominee to lead the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and
Explosives (ATF).
Menendez’s bill also would mod-
ify “the high-capacity definition to
prevent coupled or joined maga-
zines,” create a buyback program
for magazines holding more than
10 rounds, “requires devices manu-
factured after enactment to have
conspicuous serial numbers and
date of manufacture to help law
enforcement identify restricted
magazines,” and would allow the
ATF and FBI to destroy magazines
holding more than 10 rounds.
Gun Owners of America, in a
statement, said that the new pro-
posal suggests that its Democratic
sponsors have an “ignorance about
modern firearm technology and the
Bill of Rights.”
“Most modern home defense
rifles and carry handguns come
standard with magazines that hold
more than the arbitrary limit of ten
rounds,” the group stated. “The idea
that magazines that hold 100, 50, or
30 rounds are neither for sport nor
self-defense is a farce. Gun owners
commonly equip their self-defense
firearms with so-called ‘high ca-
pacity magazines’ and shoot them
for sport all the time.
“Senator Menendez’s standard
capacity magazine ban is obsolete,
and Gun Owners of America will
make sure it never becomes law.”
The reason why, the group says,
is because gun owners can man-
ufacture their own 17-round or
30-round Glock magazines via a
3-D printer.
 FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2021 NATION | A7
HAL333/PUBLIC DOMAIN VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

origin, disability, gender, gender identity,

or sexual orientation. But throughout the
process, proponents of SB 622 have vehe-
mently opposed their inclusion.”
Sen. Jimmy Hickey Jr., who is also the state
Senate president and the legislation’s chief
sponsor, said earlier in April that he believes
the legislation would still include crimes
targeting transgender people. But he said
it would also cover crimes committed tar-
geting others.
“If someone targets someone because
they’re transgender, that’s obviously an
identifiable group,” Hickey said on April
1, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette report-
ed. “If someone targets someone because
they’re a Baptist or Methodist minister,
that’s also an identifiable group.
“It’s more fair this way.”
State Sen. Jim Hendren said that the bill’s
definitions were too broad.
Rep. Matthew Shepherd, who is the state’s
House speaker, said that the language of
the bill on how it defines groups of people
ensures that every single class of people is
covered—even if newer groups of people
arise in the future.
“Once we enact it, it’s there. You’re cov-
ered. Every class, every category, every
group is covered, across the board, and
really isn’t that the way it’s supposed to
be?” Shepherd said on April 1, according
to Nexstar Media Group.
Hutchinson said he supports the SB 622
The Arkansas Capitol in Little Rock. measure but acknowledged it wasn’t his
first choice. Prior to the signing of the bill,

Arkansas Governor Signs Alternative

Hutchinson said the measure would still
provide greater penalties for offenders who
seek to target someone because of their race,

Hate Crimes Bill

MIMI NGUYEN LY
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on April 14
signed into law what’s been deemed as an
alternative hate crimes bill.
Arkansas SB 622, introduced as a class pro-
tection bill, requires criminal defendants to
serve at least 80 percent of their sentences if
it’s found that they had “purposely selected
the victim because the victim was a member
of or was associated with a recognizable
and identifiable group or class who share
mental, physical, biological, cultural, politi-
cal, or religious beliefs or characteristics.”
The bill, filed in the state Senate on April
1, was approved 22–7 on a party-line vote
on April 7. The state’s Republican-ma-
jority House voted 65–26 in favor of the
measure  on April 12, before it headed
to Hutchinson’s desk.
The law applies to those found guilty of “se-
rious felonies involving violence,” including
first- and second-degree murder, first-de-
gree battery, aggravated assault, terroristic
acts, arson, unlawful discharge of a firearm
from a vehicle, or an attempt, solicitation, or
conspiracy to commit felony offenses.
It doesn’t apply to other crimes, including
misdemeanors.
Critics slammed the bill as not being a true
hate crimes bill, saying it doesn’t refer spe-
cifically to categories such as race, sexual
orientation, or gender identity. The Anti-
Defamation League called the legislation a
sham and one under which “virtually any
violent crime based on a person’s association
or belief would be covered, including crimes
targeting white supremacists or neo-Nazis.
“Let’s be clear, the legislation is not a hate
crime bill, and if enacted, Arkansas will
remain one of the last states without a hate
crime law,” the ADL said in a statement.
“Hate crimes are message crimes that
target individuals because of immutable
characteristics.
“Immutable characteristics does not mean
being part of any ‘recognizable and identi-
fiable group.’ It refers to particular catego-
TOMMY METTHE/ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE VIA AP
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson in the Senate
Chamber of the state Capitol in Little Rock on
April 8, 2020.
ries of people who have been historically
targeted for violence and discrimination.
Any legitimate hate crime law must ‘name
the hate’ by enumerating the immutable
characteristics of race, religion, national
sexual orientation, or gender identity.
“The protection provided and the in-
creased penalties are the ultimate test,
and while I preferred different language,
I am confident that this bill accomplishes
the objective of increased penalties for hate
crimes,” Hutchinson said in a statement.
The first hate crimes bill filed during the
state’s legislative session, Arkansas SB 3,
had been introduced in November 2020,
sponsored by Hendren, and remained with
the state’s Senate Judiciary Committee since
January, but was later voted down by the
committee amid debate among lawmakers.
This measure called for up to a 20 percent
addition to any fine, imprisonment, proba-
tion, or suspended sentence, if the criminal
defendant is found guilty of having commit-
ted the offense “due to [the] victim’s race,
color, religion, ethnicity, ancestry, national
origin, homelessness, gender identity, sex-
ual orientation, sex, disability, or service in
United States Armed Forces.” It would have
applied to both felonies and misdemeanors.
Hutchinson had previously called for sup-
port for a similar version of SB 3 in August
2020 in the previous legislative session.
The Associated Press contributed
to this report.

BEN CRUMP LAW, PLLC. VIA AP

Minnesota Former Officer Who Shot Daunte Wright

Police Union
Chief: Daunte
Wright Would
Be Alive Today
If He Had
Complied
With Orders
JACK PHILLIPS
The head of Minnesota’s largest
police union says Daunte Wright,
who was killed by an officer over
the weekend, would be alive if he
had complied with police orders.
“This is going to be an unpopular
statement,” Brian Peters, executive
director of the Minnesota Police
and Peace Officers Association,
said during a WCCO interview
on April 14. “Daunte Wright, if
he would have just complied. He
was told he was under arrest. They
were arresting him on a warrant
for weapons. He set off a chain of
events that unfortunately led to
his death.”
Of the shooting, Peters said that
he is “not excusing it” but noted
that “what we’re seeing in policing
these days is that noncompliance
by the public.”
Tim Gannon, the former police
chief of Brooklyn Center, Min-
nesota, where Wright was shot,
said the officer in question was
26-year Brooklyn Center Police
Department veteran Kim Potter,
who allegedly mistakenly drew her
gun instead of her Taser when she
shot Wright. Potter resigned from
her position and was later charged
with second-degree manslaughter.
Wright was resisting a felony out-
standing warrant and was trying
to flee in his car.
Black Lives Matter protesters
have descended on Brooklyn Cen-
ter and have looted businesses, en-
gaged in riots, and clashed with
officers in front of the precinct
building following Wright’s death.
Dozens have been arrested and
the state was forced to deploy the
National Guard.
Peters, meanwhile, said that
Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike El-
liott likely can’t deal with the riots.
“This is way over his head,”
Peters said. “Both Curt Boganey
and Tim Gannon were political
pawns in whatever game the cur-
rent mayor is playing. If I were the
mayor, I would not allow the politi-
cal activists to run the show.”
Boganey, the city manager, also
resigned from office this week.
Police say Wright was pulled
over for expired tags on April 11,
Daunte
Wright and
his son
Daunte Jr., in
an undated
photo.
but they sought to arrest him after
discovering he had an outstand-
ing warrant. The warrant was for
his failure to appear in court on
charges that he fled from officers
and possessed a gun without a
permit during an encounter with
Minneapolis police in June 2020.
Body camera footage released by
Gannon on April 12 shows Potter
approaching Wright, who is being
arrested by another officer in front
of his car.
As Wright struggles with the
police officer, Potter shouts: “I’ll
tase you! I’ll Tase you! Taser! Taser!
Taser!” before firing a single shot
from a handgun in her right hand.
A criminal complaint against
the former officer noted that Pot-
ter holstered her handgun on the
right side and her Taser on the left.
To remove the Taser—which is yel-
low and has a black grip—Potter
would have to use her left hand,
the complaint stated.
The Associated Press
contributed to this report.
to Remain Free on Bail
ZACHARY STIEBER
The former police officer who fatal-
ly shot a man during a traffic stop in
Minnesota over the weekend was
ordered on April 15 to appear in
court next month.
In a brief appearance via Zoom,
Kim Potter was told to appear on
May 17 in person before Henne-
pin County Judge Regina Chu, un-
less other arrangements are made
with the judge.
Potter, 48, was arrested on April
14 on a second-degree manslaugh-
ter charge. She was released from
jail hours later after posting a
$100,000 bond.
Potter will remain free until her
next court appearance, a judge said
during the virtual hearing.
Potter was reminded that she
“must remain law abiding and
must make all future court appear-
ances” and that Minnesota law re-
quires that she not possess, use, or
transport firearms, ammunition,
or explosives.
Potter had pulled her gun out
during an encounter with Daunte
Wright, 20, on April 11 in Brooklyn
Center, a suburb of Minneapolis.
When Wright resisted arrest and
hopped back into his driver’s seat,
Wright shot him.
Potter believed she was firing a
Taser she also had on her, former
Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim
Gannon told reporters in a briefing.
Potter and Gannon both submitted
their resignations on April 13.
According to the criminal com-
plaint against Potter, obtained by
The Epoch Times, Potter’s hand-
gun was holstered on the right side
of her belt, and the Taser was hol-
stered on the left side.
Potter would have had to use her
left hand to draw the Taser because
it was “set in a straight-draw posi-
tion,” Minnesota Bureau of Crimi-
nal Apprehension agent Sam Mc-
Ginnis said.
Wright’s death was declared a
homicide by Dr. Loren Jackson, a
county medical examiner, with its
cause the gunshot wound to the
man’s chest.
“Certain occupations carry an
immense responsibility and none
more so than a sworn police offi-
cer. With that responsibility comes
a great deal of discretion and ac-
countability,” Imran Ali, Washing-
ton County assistant criminal divi-
sion chief and director of the Major
Crime Unit, said in a statement an-
nouncing the charge against Potter.
“We will vigorously prosecute
this case and intend to prove that
Officer Potter abrogated her re-
sponsibility to protect the public
when she used her firearm rather
than her taser. Her action caused
the unlawful killing of Mr. Wright
and she must be held accountable.
County Attorney Peter Orput and I
met with the family, expressed our
deepest sympathies and assured
them we would spare no resources
in seeking justice for Mr. Wright.”
Ben Crump, a lawyer for Wright’s
family, alleged that Potter “execut-
ed” the man. In a news conference
on April 14, he said the family was
concerned that Potter would not be
held accountable.
Wright’s death sparked riots in
Brooklyn Center and elsewhere,
with dozens of arrests made.
A8 | NATION
5,800 Fully Vaccinated Americans Have Contracted
COVID-19, 74 Dead: CDC
ZACHARY STIEBER
Some 5,800 Americans have con-
tracted COVID-19 despite being
fully vaccinated against the virus
that causes it, federal officials said
April 15.
The Americans contracted the
CCP (Chinese Communist Party)
virus, which causes COVID-19,
despite getting both doses of the
Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, or the
single-shot Johnson & Johnson
vaccine, the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) told
The Epoch Times via email.
Of the 5,800 fully vaccinated
people who were confirmed as
so-called breakthrough cases,
nearly 400 required treatment at
hospitals and 74 died.
A little over 40 percent of the in-
fections were in people 60 years of
age or older, and 65 percent were
female. The CDC declined to make
a state-by-state breakdown avail-
able, though it has developed a
national database where state
health department investigators
can enter, store, and manage data
for cases in their jurisdiction.
The figures were for cases
through April 13.
More than 78 million people
have been fully vaccinated against
COVID-19 in the United States as
of April 15.
“To date, no unexpected patterns
have been identified in case demo-
graphics or vaccine characteris-
tics,” the CDC stated.
“COVID-19 vaccines are effec-
tive, and are a critical tool to bring
the pandemic under control. All of
the available vaccines have been
proven effective at preventing se-
vere illness, hospitalizations, and
deaths. However, like is seen with
other vaccines, we expect thou-
sands of vaccine breakthrough
cases will occur even though the
vaccine is working as expected.”
CDC Director Rochelle Walen-
sky stated during a congressio-
nal hearing on April 15 that the
causes of the breakthrough cases
CDC headquarters in Atlanta on Oct. 13, 2014.
7th Case of Rare, Severe Blood
Clot Linked to J&J Vaccine
JACK PHILLIPS
The Centers for Disease Con-
trol and Prevention (CDC) said
on April 14 that it learned of a
seventh woman who developed
a rare and severe type of blood
clot after receiving the Johnson &
Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 vaccine.
The seventh possible patient
was identified as a 28-year-old
woman, as the Advisory Commit-
tee on Immunization Practices
debates whether the J&J vaccine
should be used. The committee
said more information is needed
to make an informed recommen-
dation.
Several million doses of the J&J
vaccine have been administered
so far, meaning that the risk of
developing clots appears to be
extremely low.
Earlier this week, the CDC and
(L–R) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci; Health and Human Services Depart-
ment Chief Science Officer for COVID Response David Kessler; and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Direc-
tor Rochelle Walensky speak before a hearing on the pandemic, on Capitol Hill in Washington on April 15, 2021.
A little over 40
percent of the
infections were in
people 60 years of
age or older, and
65 percent were
female.
JESSICA MCGOWAN/GETTY IMAGES
the Food and Drug Administra-
tion (FDA) recommended paus-
ing usage of the J&J single-shot
vaccine. It came after six cases of
blood clots were reported.
“We do need to better under-
stand the risk, which we know is
going to be very rare, very low,
but we really don’t know exactly
how low,” Dr. Beth Bell, a mem-
ber of the panel who also works at
the University of Washington in
Seattle, said during the advisory
committee meeting.
J&J didn’t respond to a request
for comment by press time.
In a statement on April 14, as the
CDC advisory panel met, J&J said:
“We strongly support awareness
of the signs and symptoms of this
extremely rare event to ensure the
correct diagnosis, appropriate
treatment, and expedited report-
ing by health care professionals.
are being probed.
“Some of these breakthroughs
are, of course, failure of an im-
mune response in the host. And
then some of them we worry might
be related to a variant that is cir-
culating. So we’re looking at both,”
she said.
The number of cases the CDC has
identified does not include people
who contracted COVID-19 less
than two weeks after their final
dose, according to Walensky.
In March, states began report-
ing numbers for people who
had gotten infected despite full
vaccination. Epidemiologists in
Washington state identified 217
of the cases, five of whom died.
In Michigan, 246 of the cases
were recorded between Jan. 1
and March 31. Three of those
patients died.
“We continue to believe in the
positive benefit-risk profile of our
vaccine. We value the consider-
ation of the Advisory Committee,
and we will continue to collabo-
rate with medical experts and
global health authorities, includ-
ing the CDC, U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), European
Medicines Agency, and the World
Health Organization, as we work
toward continuing vaccinations
to end the global pandemic.”
Some members of the advisory
committee expressed concern
over the continued pause of the
vaccine amid the number of
COVID-19 cases being reported
each day.
Other blood clot cases include
a 45-year-old woman living in
Virginia who died. The woman
got the J&J vaccine in March and
was hospitalized 11 days later,
authorities said.
A 48-year-old woman in Ne-
braska was taken to an emergen-
cy room and remains critically ill
after getting the vaccine.
A 38-year-old woman suffered
from cerebral venous sinus
thrombosis and hasn’t recovered.
A 59-year-old woman with no
known history of coronary ar-
tery disease took the J&J vaccine
and had extensive deep venous
thrombosis on her left side seven
days later.
An 18-year-old from Nevada
with unknown risk factors also
developed cerebral venous sinus
thrombosis two weeks after the
shot and hasn’t yet recovered,
authorities said.
And a 26-year-old woman in the
Pennsylvania–New Jersey area
got the J&J vaccine and had symp-
toms of blood clots, officials said.
She has been discharged from the
hospital.
COVID-19 is the disease caused
by the CCP (Chinese Communist
Party) virus.
SUSAN WALSH/POOL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Texas, South Carolina, and Or-
egon are among the other states
that have reported more than 100
cases among residents.
Washington state Health Secre-
tary Umair Shah said in a state-
ment: “Finding evidence of vac-
cine breakthrough cases reminds
us that, even if you have been vac-
cinated, you still need to wear a
mask, practice social distancing,
and wash your hands to prevent
spreading COVID-19 to others who
have not been vaccinated.
“We encourage everyone to get
vaccinated as soon as they are
eligible, and encourage friends,
loved ones, and co-workers to do
the same.”
According to U.S. drug regula-
tors, Pfizer’s vaccine is 95 percent
effective in preventing infection
by the CCP virus. Moderna’s was
3rd Pfizer
COVID-19 Vaccine
Dose ‘Likely’
Needed Within a
Year, CEO Says
JACK PHILLIPS
People who have received the
Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine are
“likely” to need a third dose
sometime within a year after be-
ing fully vaccinated.
“A likely scenario is that there
will be likely a need for a third
dose, somewhere between six and
12 months and then from there,
there will be an annual revacci-
nation,” CEO Albert Bourla said
during an online event on April 15.
“But all of that needs to be con-
firmed. And again, the variants
will play a key role,” he said. “We
need to see what would be the
sequence, and for how often we
need to do that, that remains to
be seen.”
Bourla also said it “is extremely
important to suppress the pool of
people that can be susceptible to
the virus.”
Both the Pfizer and Moderna
vaccines require two shots, while
the Johnson & Johnson vaccine
requires one. U.S. health agencies
this week recommended a pause
in administering the J&J vaccine
after several reports of blood clots
out of millions of vaccinations.
J&J CEO Alex Gorsky several
weeks ago suggested that people
will have to get COVID-19 shots
annually, similar to seasonal flu
shots. COVID-19 is the disease
caused by the CCP (Chinese Com-
munist Party) virus.
Pfizer and BioNTech, mean-
while, said earlier this month that
their vaccine is 91 percent effective
through at least six months.
FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2021
shown in a clinical trial to be 94.1
percent effective, while Johnson
& Johnson’s was 66.9 percent ef-
fective. The Johnson & Johnson
vaccine was tested when variants
were circulating, unlike the others.
The percentages are based on re-
sults from vaccine recipients two
weeks after the final vaccination.
The percentage of vaccine break-
throughs in a population depends
on multiple factors, including vac-
cine efficacy, the amount of virus
circulating, and the length of time
since vaccination, according to
Natalie Dean, an assistant profes-
sor of biostatistics at the University
of Florida.
“I love to see small numbers as
much as anyone, but know that
numbers like this cannot be di-
rectly interpreted as a measure
of vaccine efficacy (although I
have a feeling they will be). We
can only interpret them against a
background rate in unvaccinated
people,” Dean wrote on Twitter.
“Similarly, ‘most breakthroughs
have been in elderly adults’ should
not be read as the vaccine is less
effective in elderly adults. The
majority of vaccinations (and the
longest amount of follow-up time)
have been in elderly adults. Again,
we need more info to interpret.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the longtime
head of the National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Diseases,
stated in a briefing last week that
the breakthrough cases are not a
cause for concern.
“I think the important thing is to
look at what the denominator of
vaccinated people is, because it is
very likely—and what we’re hear-
ing at least indirectly, and we’re
certainly going to be confirming
that—that that number of indi-
viduals who were breakthrough
infections is not at all incompatible
with a 90-plus percent vaccine ef-
ficacy,” he said.
“So I don’t think that there
needs to be concern about any
shift or change in the efficacy of
the vaccine.”
“These data also provide the
first clinical results that a vaccine
can effectively protect against
currently circulating variants, a
critical factor to reach herd im-
munity and end this pandemic for
the global population,” BioNTech
co-founder and CEO Ugur Sahin
said in a statement at the time.
Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel
said in an interview on April 14
that the firm is aiming to have a
booster shot, or a third dose, avail-
able in the fall.
The United States is tracking in-
fections in people who have been
fully vaccinated, Dr. Rochelle
Walensky, director of the U.S. Cen-
ters of Disease Control and Preven-
tion, told a House subcommittee
hearing on April 15.
There will be likely
a need for a third
dose, somewhere
between six and 12
months and then
from there, there
will be an annual
revaccination.
Albert Bourla, CEO, Pfizer
Of 77 million people vaccinated
in the United States, there have
been 5,800 such “breakthrough
infections,” Walensky said, in-
cluding 396 people who required
hospitalization and 74 who died.
Walensky said some of these
infections have occurred be-
cause the vaccinated person
didn’t mount a strong immune
response. But the concern is that
in some cases, they’re occurring
in people infected by more con-
tagious virus variants.
Reuters contributed to this report.
 FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2021 CHINA | A9
ANN WANG/POOL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Taiwan President
Warns of Beijing’s
Threat to Region
While Welcoming
US Delegation
CONTINUED FROM A1

The visit marks the first U.S.

delegation to visit Taiwan since
President Joe Biden took office
in January.
Tsai said, “We are very willing
to work with like-minded coun-
tries, including the United States,
to jointly safeguard the peace
and stability of the Indo-Pacific
region and deter aggression and
provocation.”
The Chinese Communist Party
(CCP) sees Taiwan as a part of its
territory and has threatened war
to bring the island into its fold.
Since the start of this year, the
Chinese military has been send-
ing aircraft into Taiwan’s air de-
fense identification zone (ADIZ)
on a near-daily basis.
On April 12, 25 Chinese military
aircraft, including 14 J-16 fighter
jets, entered Taiwan’s ADIZ. It
was the largest incursion ever
reported by Taiwan’s Ministry
of National Defense.
Two days later, on April 14, Chi-
na’s Maritime Safety Administra-
tion announced that the Chinese
military will hold live-fire drills at
waters near the Nanpeng Islands
in the South China Sea from April
15 to April 20.
Hours after Tsai’s remarks, Chi-
I can say with
confidence that
the United States’
partnership with
Taiwan is stronger
than ever.
Chris Dodd,
former U.S. senator
na’s military aircraft entered the
island’s ADIZ again, according to
local outlet Liberty Times.
Bejing is angry at the U.S. visit.
On April 14, at a daily briefing,
China’s foreign ministry spokes-
person Zhao Lijian said China
has “lodged solemn representa-
tions with the U.S.” He also called
on Washington to “prudently
handle Taiwan-related issues”
in order to “avoid further grave
damage to China–U.S. relations.”
Also on April 14, China’s hawk-
ish mouthpiece Global Times
stated that the “unofficial” nature
of the visit showed that the Biden
administration “has no intention
of crossing China’s red line on the
Taiwan question and is still grop-
ing for its Taiwan policy.”
Washington currently has no
formal diplomatic ties with Tai-
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and former U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) attend a meeting at the presidential office in
Taipei, Taiwan, on April 15, 2021.
pei but has maintained a robust
relationship with the island
based on the Taiwan Relations
Act, which was signed into law by
former President Jimmy Carter
in April 1979. The United States
is also Taiwan’s biggest arms
supplier.
Speaking after Tsai at the Presi-
dential Office, Dodd reaffirmed
Washington’s relationship with
Taipei.
“I can say with confidence that
the United States’ partnership
with Taiwan is stronger than
ever,” Dodd said.
“At the request of my long-
standing friend, President Joe
Biden, to reaffirm the U.S. com-
mitment to this partnership and
to deepening our cooperation on
the multitude of interests that we
share in common.”
Dodd said that the Biden ad-
ministration will deepen its
economic ties with Taiwan in
addition to helping the island to
expand its “international space”
and supporting Taipei’s “invest-
ments in self-defense.”
Beijing opposes Taiwan’s par-
ticipation in international orga-
nizations and meetings, seeing
any international presence that
the island might enjoy as tanta-
mount to suggesting that Taiwan
is a de facto nation-state. Cur-
rently, Taiwan is not a member
of the World Health Organization
because of objections by Beijing.
Steinberg applauded Taiwan’s
success in containing the spread
of the CCP virus, which causes
the disease COVID-19. Taiwan
has had a total of 1,068 infection
cases and 11 related deaths as of
April 15.
“Taiwan’s magnificent efforts
in responding to the COVID-19
outbreak are a testament to how
a democracy can provide strong
effective governance for the ben-
efits not only for its own citizens,
but for the globe,” Steinberg said
at the Presidential Office.
On April 15, Taiwan’s Ministry
of Foreign Affairs took to Twit-
ter to say that talks between the
two sides were “warm, expansive,
and highly productive” and that
U.S.–Taiwan relations “are rock
solid and in great shape.”
In early March, U.S. Adm.
Philip Davidson, head of the U.S.
Indo-Pacific Command, warned
that China could invade Taiwan
“in the next six years.” Other ana-
lysts believe the timeline could
be much shorter.

EVA HAMBACH/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Beyond the Dollar: China’s
Plan to Displace US Treasurys
CONTINUED FROM A1
bondholders should gradually
chip away at the status of the dol-
lar and U.S. Treasurys as the only
safe place to hide,” Gustavo Me-
deiros, deputy head of research
at Ashmore Group, recently
told Bloomberg. Ashmore is an
emerging market investment
firm, with almost $100 billion in
assets under management as of
Dec. 31, 2020.
Morgan Stanley also expects
foreign investors to continue
pouring into China’s government
bonds, as “valuations remain
attractive vs. other (developed
markets) bonds and provide
huge diversification benefits for
global fixed income portfolios,”
Asia Chief Economist Robin Xing
wrote in a March 5 note to clients.
The ongoing push from banks
and brokers can’t be overlooked.
In February 2020, J.P. Morgan
Chase added Chinese local gov-
ernment bonds into its JPMorgan
Government Bond Index—
Emerging Markets. In September
2020, FTSE Russell announced it
would add Chinese government
bonds to its World Government
Bond Index. Combined, these
two index additions could drive
more than $100 billion of inflows
from foreign insurers, asset man-
agers, and pension funds into
Chinese government bonds.
While arguments for diversifi-
cation aren’t new, investors have
been buying into this view more
recently because of the rout in
U.S. Treasurys so far this year.
Treasurys fell their most in more
than a decade, steepening the
yield curve on specters of higher
inflation and the Federal Re-
serve’s continued dovishness.
Despite the recent price de-
clines, there is still a significant
yield gap between Chinese gov-
ernment bonds and Treasurys.
The Federal Reserve has signaled
that rates will stay near zero until
2023, which creates a challeng-
ing environment for U.S. bond
investors.
As of April 9, 10-year Treasurys
are yielding 1.66 percent. By
comparison, the 10-year China
government bond is yielding
almost twice that amount at
3.23 percent. Of course, China’s
government creditworthiness is
less stellar—it’s rated A-plus by
S&P and Fitch, while the United
States is rated higher at AA-plus
Packs of freshly printed $20 bills are processed for bundling at the U.S. Trea-
sury’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington on July 20, 2018.
and AAA, respectively.
Government bonds in the
There is still a sig- United States and Europe pay
nificant yield gap such little interest that many in-
between Chinese vestors are forced to go elsewhere
to obtain sufficient returns. That’s
government bonds especially true for pension funds
and Treasurys. and insurance companies that
must meet certain returns in
order to generate sufficient cash
to pay liabilities.
While Chinese corporate bonds
have garnered recent headlines
around increased default rates
and less presumed support by the
Beijing regime, Chinese govern-
ment bonds are believed to be far
safer. The Chinese Communist
Party (CCP) will likely let far more
private corporate bonds default
before its central government
bonds are allowed to default.
But the investment thesis in
Chinese government bonds isn’t
as clear cut as the economics
would suggest.
The Chinese debt market is far
smaller—and less liquid—than
the $21 trillion U.S. Treasurys
market. Unlike the massive U.S.
Treasurys outstanding, Chinese
government bond issuances are
less than 20 percent of China’s
GDP, according to JPMorgan
estimates. The lower liquidity
means the bid-ask spread on
Chinese bonds is far greater than
government bonds issued by the
United States, Germany, Japan, or
the UK.
Market access remains a big ob-
stacle. While China has loosened
restrictions on who can purchase
its bonds, foreign investors are
still limited to access through
Hong Kong (Bond Connect) and
applying for the Qualified For-
eign Institutional Investor (QFII)
program.
FTSE Russell, which initially
said the inclusion of Chinese
bonds would take less than 12
months, announced in March
that the phase-in period could
take up to 36 months after some
client feedback regarding liquid-
ity and market access.

FCC Commissioner: Close ‘Loophole’ Allowing Chinese Telecoms to Access US Networks

CONTINUED FROM A1
information or data that the com-
munist party might be seeking.”
Carr said the FCC has evidence
of an unnamed carrier controlled
by the Chinese Communist Party
(CCP) taking internet traffic origi-
nating in California and destined
for Washington, D.C., and rerout-
ing the traffic through Guang-
zhou, China.
“You don’t need to be a network
engineer to understand that route
is not the most efficient way to route
traffic if what you cared about was
simply delivering the data in an ef-
ficient manner,” he said.
China Telecom, a state-owned
company, has previously
attracted scrutiny for
diverting overseas in-
ternet traffic through
China in several in-
stances, raising con-
cerns about whether
the data was accessed
by the communist regime.
China-based companies
can’t be trusted to comply
with laws in the West, Carr
said.
“There’s no world in which
you can have a company
like Huawei that engages
in the race-based surveil-
lance and other practices in
China, and yet create a wall
in which they’re going to
respect Western values
when they do business
in America,” he said.
Just like how the
concept of “one coun-
try, two systems” is
failing in Hong Kong,
the idea that China-based
telecom companies can en-
gage with the United States
Federal under the banner of “one
Commu- company, two systems” is
nication
going to be equally unten-
Commis-
sion Com- able, Carr said.
missioner “One country, two sys-
Brendan tems” is the framework un-
Carr. der which China’s commu-
nist regime had promised to
rule Hong Kong when sovereignty
was transferred from Britain in
1997. Beijing had pledged to allow
the city autonomy and freedoms
not enjoyed in the mainland.
But over the years, especially in
the past 12 months, the regime
has moved to drastically curtail
freedoms and democracy in the
city, effectively reneging on this
promise.
The FCC is engaging in a process
called “rip and replace” in which
they seek to replace network gear
from Huawei and ZTE already in-
stalled in the United States. Con-
gress approved $1.9 billion to fund
the removal of such equipment in
December 2020.
In 2019, the FCC banned China
Mobile, one of the largest cellular
carriers in the world, from the U.S.
market. It has also moved toward
barring three other China-based
telecom carriers due to national
security concerns.
Carr is also proposing that the
FCC demand companies that
import devices into the country
prove there isn’t slave labor in-
volved in those products. The CCP
has forced Uyghurs detained in
China’s Xinjiang region to work in
factories and fields as part of an ex-
pansion campaign of repression.
“We can’t let communist China
profit from their forced labor prac-
tices,” Carr said.
A10 | WORLD
Iran, World Powers Resume Nuclear Talks Amid
Strains Over Enrichment, Natanz Attack
VIENNA—Iran and global powers
resumed talks on April 15 to rescue
the 2015 nuclear deal in an effort
potentially complicated by Tehran’s
decision to ramp up uranium en-
richment and what it called Israeli
sabotage at a nuclear site.
Casting a shadow over the Vienna
talks, Tehran on April 13 announced
its decision to enrich uranium at 60
percent purity, a step closer to the 90
percent that is weapons-grade ma-
terial, in response to an explosion at
its key Natanz facility on April 11.
Calling the move “provocative,”
the United States and the European
parties to the deal warned that Teh-
ran’s enrichment move was con-
trary to efforts to revive the accord
abandoned by Washington three
years ago.
The 2015 agreement sought to
make it harder for Iran to develop
an atomic bomb in return for lifting
sanctions.
Tehran’s refusal to hold direct
talks with the United States forced
European intermediaries to shuttle
between separate hotels in Vienna
last week when Iran and the other
signatories—Britain, China, France,
Germany, and Russia—held what
they described as the first round of
“constructive” negotiations.
Senior diplomats, excluding the
United States, initially met to set the
tone on April 15 in what diplomats
anticipated would be a tougher
round of talks to salvage the pact.
Two expert-level groups, seeking
to marry lists of sanctions that the
United States could lift with nuclear
obligations Iran should meet, have
now resumed their discussions.
“Currently I think the nuclear
UK to Begin
Pullout of
Troops From
Afghanistan
by May 1
ALEXANDER ZHANG
The United Kingdom will begin the
drawdown of its military presence
in Afghanistan by May 1 in coor-
dination with its NATO allies, the
Ministry of Defence has confirmed.
The British military presence in
Afghanistan began in 2001 as part
of a NATO operation in the wake
of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the
United States.
“NATO assembled one of the larg-
est coalitions in history to serve in
Afghanistan,” the trans-Atlantic
military alliance said in an April
14 statement. “Our troops went into
Afghanistan together, we have ad-
justed together, and now we are
leaving together.”
The UK Ministry of Defence is-
sued statements following the
NATO announcement.
“The people of Afghanistan de-
serve a peaceful and stable future,”
UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace
said in a statement.
“As we drawdown, the security
of our people currently serving in
Afghanistan remains our priority
and we have been clear that attacks
on Allied troops will be met with a
forceful response.
“The British public and our
Armed Forces community, both
serving and veterans, will have
lasting memories of our time in
Afghanistan. Most importantly we
must remember those who paid the
ultimate sacrifice, who will never
be forgotten.”
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab
said the UK is standing with NATO
and the people of Afghanistan “to
support a more stable, peaceful
future for the country, and the
wider region.”
“We will support an orderly de-
parture of our forces, whilst build-
ing up Afghanistan’s capacity for
self-governance, and continuing
counter-terrorism support—to pro-
tect the gains made over the last 20
Police officers stand outside a hotel where a meeting on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or Iran nuclear deal,
was held, in Vienna on April 15, 2021.
working group is more advanced,
much more advanced, than [the]
sanctions-lifting working group,”
Wang Qun, China’s ambassador to
the U.N. atomic watchdog, told re-
porters after the Joint Commission
meeting of senior officials.
“So currently we should do away
with all disruptive factors, moving
forward as swiftly as we can on the
work of negotiation, especially by
zeroing in on sanctions-lifting.”
Iran’s foreign ministry said its
British soldiers at the scene of a suicide attack on a European Union police
vehicle along the Kabul–Jalalabad road in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Jan. 5, 2015.
Ben Wallace, UK secretary of state for defense, on Downing Street in London
on Sept. 1, 2020.
years,” he said in a statement.
U.S. President Joe Biden said on
April 14 that he will withdraw all
U.S. troops from Afghanistan by
Sept. 11, commenting that it’s now
“time to end America’s longest war”
and “time for American troops to
come home.”
His predecessor, former President
Donald Trump, attempted several
times to draw down troop lev-
els. Last year, Trump announced an
agreement with the Taliban, saying
troops would be withdrawn from
Afghanistan by May 1.
NATO said the drawdown will
be “orderly, coordinated, and
deliberate” and any Taliban at-
tacks on Allied troops during the
withdrawal will be met with “a
forceful response.”
The alliance stated that it will
negotiators had defended their
decisions and expressed their
disappointment at “the weak re-
action” from European powers to
the attack on Natanz.
Sanctions
Highlighting Western concerns, a
senior diplomat said that while the
desire was to make progress, Iran’s
latest violation couldn’t be ignored
and made efforts to achieve a break-
through before the June 18 Iranian
WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
DAN KITWOOD/GETTY IMAGES
“continue to support the ongo-
ing Afghan-owned and Afghan-
led peace process,” and urged
the Afghan government and the
Taliban to “adhere to their com-
mitments to the peace process
initiated by the U.S.-Taliban
agreement and the U.S.-Afghan-
istan Joint Declaration.”
“NATO Allies and partners will
continue to stand with Afghani-
stan, its people, and its institutions
in promoting security and uphold-
ing the gains of the last 20 years,”
according to the NATO statement.
“Withdrawing our troops does not
mean ending our relationship with
Afghanistan. Rather, this will be the
start of a new chapter.”
Jack Philips contributed
to this report.
REUTERS/LEONHARD FOEGER
presidential election harder.
“The seriousness of Iran’s latest
decisions has hurt this process and
raised tensions,” the senior Western
diplomat said.
“We will have to see how in the
coming days we address these vio-
lations with the will to press ahead
in the talks.”
Tehran has repeatedly stated that
all sanctions must be rescinded
first, warning that it may stop nego-
tiations if the measures aren’t lifted.
Guatemalan President: White
House’s ‘Confusing’ Messages
Exploited by Smugglers
JACK PHILLIPS
Guatemalan President Alejandro
Giammattei says that drug cartel-
backed human smugglers have
exploited messaging from Biden
administration officials and have
ramped up their operations in
sending people to the U.S.–Mexico
border.
“I’m nobody to make a judgment
here, but I believe in the first weeks
in the Biden administration, mes-
sages were confusing,” Giammat-
tei said in an interview with MS-
NBC. “They were compassionate
messages that were understood by
people in our country, especially to
coyotes [border smugglers] to tell
families, ‘We’ll take the children,
the children can go in, and once
they’re there, the children can call
their parents.’”
Giammattei said that White
House officials’ “messages were
confusing, not because of the way
they were communicated but be-
cause of the way they were trans-
lated here.”
The Central American leader said
that he’s particularly concerned
about unaccompanied children
trying to travel to the U.S.–Mexico
border, adding that some may end
up in “prostitution networks” and
in other organized crime activi-
ties. He noted that there have been
instances of inhumane activity or
violence at the border itself, includ-
ing an incident in which human
MOISES CASTILLO/AP PHOTO, FILE
Honduran President Juan
Hernández at the National Theater
in Guatemala City, Guatemala, on
Jan. 14, 2020.
FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2021
Washington wants Iran to reverse
the breaches of the deal that it made
in retaliation for tough sanctions
imposed by then-U.S. President
Donald Trump.
“Iran’s ‘seriousness of purpose’ in
pursuing diplomacy was tested in
the three years since Trump with-
drew from the nuclear accord,”
Iranian Foreign Minister Moham-
mad Javad Zarif wrote on Twitter.
“Iran—by remaining in the deal—
passed with flying colors. The Biden
administration, however, has only
shown a commitment to Trump’s
maximum pressure.”
Enrique Mora, EU chief coordi-
nator for the talks, wrote in a tweet
that it was good to see participants
resume the talks “despite very chal-
lenging events and announcements
over the past days.”
Israel, which Tehran refuses to
recognize, opposes the deal, an
accord that Iran and U.S. Presi-
dent Joe Biden are trying to revive
after Trump quit it in 2018 and re-
instated sanctions. Israel hasn’t
formally commented on the April
11 Natanz incident.
The United Arab Emirates, which
also supported the decision to
quit the 2015 accord and reim-
pose sanctions on Tehran, urged
Washington to push for a better ac-
cord, and a Gulf diplomatic source
said the Riyadh-based Gulf Coop-
eration Council had sent letters to
global powers stressing the need
for Gulf involvement in ongoing
negotiations.
By Francois Murphy &
Parisa Hafezi
From Reuters
In the first weeks in
the Biden adminis-
tration, messages
were confusing.
Guatemalan President
Alejandro Giammattei
smugglers dropped two young
children over a 14-foot-tall border
ball and another when a 6-month-
old girl was thrown by smugglers
from a raft along the Rio Grande
River.
“So a huge wave of migrant unac-
companied children starts, that’s a
matter of concern because as soon
as they cross the border between
Mexico and the U.S., they fall into
the hands of cartels for prostitution
networks and so on,” Giammattei
said.
Vice President Kamala Harris,
who has been tapped by Presi-
dent Joe Biden to lead the admin-
istration’s immigration efforts,
will travel to Mexico and Central
American countries in the near
future, she confirmed.
“The president has asked [Home-
land Security Secretary Alejandro]
Mayorkas to address what is going
on at the border, and he has been
working very hard and is show-
ing some progress,” Harris told
reporters on April 14. “I have been
asked to lead the issue of address-
ing the root causes, similar to what
the then-vice president did many
years ago.
“I will tell you that these are not
issues that are going to be ad-
dressed overnight.”
It isn’t clear when she will visit
the U.S.–Mexico border after Re-
publicans have implored her to
do so.
In March, Border Patrol agents
apprehended 172,000 illegal aliens,
according to data released on April
8 by the U.S. Customs and Border
Protection. An additional 1,000
illegal immigrants per day are
evading capture, officials added.
In February, border agents appre-
hended around 101,000 people, the
data show.
 FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2021 WORLD | A11

Greek, Turkish FMs Meet to Mend Ties, Trade Barbs Instead

ANKARA, Turkey—A meeting
aimed to improve fraught ties be-
tween NATO allies Greece and Tur-
key quickly descended into a tense
exchange of accusations between
the two countries’ foreign minis-
ters on April 15.
The meeting soon
turned sour after
Dendias accused
Turkey of violating
Greece’s sovereign
rights in the east-
ern Mediterranean.
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos
Dendias traveled to Ankara to dis-
cuss ties with his Turkish counter-
part Mevlut Cavusoglu, following a
slight easing of tensions. Appear-
ing before the cameras to deliver
their press statements, the two men
initially spoke about keeping the
channels of dialogue open and in-
creasing economic cooperation in
an effort to improve relations.
But their meeting soon turned
sour after Dendias accused Tur-
key of violating Greece’s sovereign
rights in the eastern Mediterranean
and warned that Ankara would
face European Union sanctions if
the violations continue. Cavuso-
glu retorted back calling Dendias’
words “unacceptable.”
The two ministers then proceed-
ed to list their grievances.
The visit was the first by a Greek
minister following a tumultuous
year. Angered by what it perceived
to be a lack of support for its poli-
cies in Syria, Turkey announced in
2020 that it was opening its western
borders, prompting thousands of
migrants to gather at entry points
to Greece, which promptly closed
them down. This led to chaotic
scenes at the frontier.
Tension flared again in the sum-
mer over maritime boundaries and
energy exploration rights in the
eastern Mediterranean, leading
to a military buildup that featured
warships from the two countries
facing off. The dispute strained
Ankara’s relations with the whole
European Union.
Tensions eased after Turkey
pulled back its energy research ves-
sel and adopted a more conciliatory
tone toward Greece and other EU
nations.
“The potential for taking mea-
sures is always on the table of the
[European] Council,” Dendias said.
“If there are delinquent and illegal
TURKISH PRESIDENCY VIA AP
Turkish
President
Recep Tayyip
Erdogan (R)
with Greek
Foreign
Minister
Nikos Dendias
prior to their
meeting in
Ankara, Turkey,
on April 15,
2021. Dendias
traveled to
Ankara for
talks on the
two NATO
allies’ fraught
relationship,
following a
slight easing
of tensions
between the
neighbors. In
an indication of
the meeting’s
importance,
Dendias was
invited to
meet Erdogan
as well as his
counterpart,
Mevlut
Cavusoglu.
actions against the sovereignty and Dendias’ visit was also meant to to the brink of war three times since
our sovereign rights, there is always pave the way for a meeting between the 1970s.
the possibility for measures to be Turkish President Recep Tayyip Er- Turkey and Greece have also
taken. Of course, we hope with all dogan and Greek Prime Minister traded accusations over unauthor-
our hearts there will not be illegal Kyriakos Mitsotakis. In an indica- ized migration. The Turkish coast
actions.” tion of the meeting’s importance, guard, as well as numerous refugee
Cavusoglu responded: “Nikos Dendias met with Erdogan as well rights organizations, have accused
Dendias, unfortunately, made as Cavusoglu. the Greek coast guard of conduct-
some extremely unacceptable ac- His visit follows talks between ing pushbacks—illegal summary
cusations against my country. ... Turkish and Greek diplomats who deportations—by returning their
He said ‘Turkey violated Greece’s have met in Istanbul and Athens, boats to Turkey without allowing
sovereign rights.’ It is not possible resuming a series of meetings de- them to apply for asylum in Greece.
for us to accept this.” signed to build trust between the Greece denies it carries out push-
“Turkey is obliged to protect its historic regional rivals. The two backs and accuses Turkey of failing
own rights, especially in the East- have been at odds over decades- to crack down on migrant smug-
ern Mediterranean, and those of old issues including the extent of glers operating from its shores.
Cypriot Turks; all the steps we take air and maritime boundaries in the
are aimed at protecting our rights,” Aegean Sea and the future of ethni- By Suzan Fraser
Cavusoglu said. cally split Cyprus. They have come From The Associated Press

UK Local COVID-19 Restrictions May Return If South African Variant Isn’t Curbed: Expert
ALEXANDER ZHANG
The UK may need to reimpose lo-
cal COVID-19 restrictions if the
ongoing mass testing operation
fails to put the South African vari-
ant under control, a medical ex-
pert has warned.
“I think there is a significant risk
of a wave occurring in the sum-
mer,” professor John Edmunds,
an expert on infectious diseases
at the London School of Hygiene
and Tropical Medicine, told ITV’s
Peston Podcast.
But there is “huge uncertain-
ty” about how serious it will be
in terms of hospitalizations and
deaths, said Edmunds, who is a
member of the UK government’s
Scientific Advisory Group for
Emergencies (SAGE).
Talking about the different vari-
ants of the CCP (Chinese Commu-
nist Party) virus, he said, “Of the
ones that are known at the mo-
ment, the South African variant
is probably the most worrying,
and so I think it’s right that we do
everything we can to try and keep
the cases of that down.”
UK health authorities are carry-
ing out surge testing operations in
several London boroughs in an at-
tempt to identify and isolate cases
of the South African variant.
“What we are looking at in South
London is an example of what we’ll
see now in the coming months, as
we try our best to keep that variant
out or at as low a level as we pos-
sibly can,” Edmunds said.
If the mass testing fails to curb
the spread, he said, “then it’s pos-
sible that we will have to impose
some sort of local restrictions back
in place” even though “nobody
wants to do it.”
The Department of Health and
Social Care (DHSC) said on April
14 that additional testing and ge-
nomic sequencing are being pro-
vided in a targeted area within
the N3 postcode area in the North
London borough of Barnet, where
a confirmed case of the South Afri-
can variant had been found.
This case is not linked to the
cluster identified earlier in South
London, according to genomic
sequencing results cited by the
DHSC.
Surge testing was already on-
going in the South London bor-
oughs of Southwark, Lambeth,
and Wandsworth, where at least
44 confirmed cases and 30 prob-
able cases have been found.
Medical experts have warned
that the South African variant is
more resistant to antibodies than
the original variant and may re-
duce the effectiveness of vaccines.
A study published in February
showed that the Oxford/Astra-
Zeneca vaccine didn’t seem to
offer protection against mild and
moderate cases of COVID-19 re-
sulting from the South African
variant.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock
said in February that UK authori-
ties would “come down hard” on
the mutant virus to curb its spread
in communities.

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Portland police officers chase demonstrators after a riot was declared during civil unrest in response to the shooting in Minnesota of Daunte Wright, in Portland, Ore., on April 12, 2021.
The Crisis of American Civilization
NEWT GINGRICH
We are now in a crisis of
American civilization
fully as dangerous and
real as the crisis of the
Civil War or World War II.
During both those
crises, if America had lost, it
would have ceased to be America—and
the cause of freedom around the world
would have been dramatically weakened.
Today, we face combined internal
and external threats that are as great or
greater.
Internationally, we face a surging Chi-
na whose economic, scientific, and tech-
nological power is now fully competi-
tive with the United States. The recent
aggressiveness in the South China Sea,
against Taiwan, and in domestic repres-
sion (including concentration camps and
genocide against the Uyghurs, crushing
Tibetan Buddhist culture, and repressing
the freedom movement in Hong Kong)
are all signs of the Chinese Communist
Party’s self-confidence.
The announcement of a joint China–
Russia moon project is an example of the
collective authoritarian challenge to the
American-led freedom coalition. Russia’s
movement of military forces around the
border of Ukraine is another signal of the
potential aggressiveness of the authori-
tarian states.
However dangerous the foreign chal-
lenges are, they fade away when com-
pared with the domestic threats to
American civilization.
Consider these indicators that our civi-
lization is beginning to fall apart.
Several days of looting and rioting in
Minnesota have occurred even as a trial
of a former policeman is underway, prov-
ing the rule of law works.
A policeman is killed during a car stop
in New Mexico, and our elites ignore
the murder. In fact, Mayor Mike Elliott
of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, said in
the middle of the rioting: ”I don’t believe
that officers need to necessarily have
weapons, you know, every time they—
they’re—they’re making a traffic stop or
engaged in situations that don’t neces-
sarily call for weapons.”
There is a war on police underway, with
264 killed in 2020, a jump of 96 percent
over the previous year. In New York City,
FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2021 • A13
hostile forces use Molotov cocktails to set
police cars on fire. Murder rates are sky-
rocketing around the country, with 2020
the biggest one-year jump in homicides
in American history—36.7 percent.
Faced with aggressive criminal be-
havior and violence against innocent
people—including young children
being killed—Democratic Rep. Rashida
Tlaib calls for “no more policing, incar-
ceration, and militarization.” Ironically,
Tlaib represents Detroit. According to
the City of Detroit’s 2020 Crime Report,
there were 327 homicides in 2020, up
from 275 the previous year—a 19 per-
cent increase. There were 1,173 non-fatal
shootings in 2020. This is up from 767
the previous year, which is a 53 percent
increase.
In Milwaukee, Seattle, and Portland,
Oregon, no-go zones similar to those
in France have been created, which are
effectively localized secessions from the
United States.
Portland continues to be attacked
nightly by anarchists. Despite pious
statements by public officials, no effec-
tive action is underway to restore law
and order.
In San Francisco, the declaration by
the communist district attorney that
theft under $900 will not be prosecuted
has led to so much shoplifting that Wal-
greens is closing all 10 of its drugstores
in the city.
The threat to American civilization
goes far beyond violence in the streets.
Woke CEOs who refuse to condemn
genocide and police state tyranny in
China are quick to attack the U.S. state
of Georgia—even though President Joe
Biden was just plain wrong (perhaps
lying) about the state’s new election law.
Moving the All-Star Game to Colorado
from Georgia hurts black small busi-
nesses. (There are eight times as many
employees of black-owned businesses in
Georgia than in Colorado).
Furthermore, Colorado’s current voting
laws are stricter than Georgia’s new ones.
For the woke, it is virtue signaling—not
fact—that matters.
The television establishment system-
atically lied to defeat President Donald
Trump in the 2020 election. CNN’s Char-
lie Chester recently asserted: “I came to
CNN to be a part of that. Look what we
did, we [CNN] got Trump out. I am 100
However dangerous
the foreign
challenges are,
they fade away
when compared
with the domestic
threats to American
civilization.
A rioter stomps the wind-
shield of a police cruiser
during a riot, after the police
shooting death of Daunte
Wright, in Brooklyn Center,
Minn., on April 11, 2021.
NATHAN HOWARD/GETTY IMAGES
percent going to say it, and I 100 percent
believe that if it wasn’t for CNN, I don’t
know that Trump would have got voted
out. ... I came to CNN because I wanted
to be a part of that.”
Of course, The New York Times, The
Washington Post, MSNBC, NBC, CBS,
and ABC would dispute any CNN claim
that it alone defeated Trump. The two
papers won Pulitzer Prizes for lying
about Trump.
Traditional media hostility and dishon-
esty are overshadowed by the internet
giants, which are increasingly acting
like Russian oligarchs. They are trying
to erase a leader who was supported by
more than 75 million Americans with a
ruthlessness worthy of Soviet tyranny
and the Chinese Communist Party.
Crony capitalism is becoming bolder as
big government and big business rein-
force each other at the country’s expense.
Overt racism through race-based repa-
rations, school quotas, and anti-white
and anti-male curricula are a return to
government-fueled discrimination and
segregation.
Finally, when the state of California
is considering requiring students to
chant every day to an Aztec god who
was the center of a human sacrifice
cult, there are sound reasons to believe
American civilization is in crisis.
If we are going to remain America,
we must oppose the forces trying to
destroy us.
Newt Gingrich, a Republican, served as
House speaker from 1995 to 1999 and ran
as a presidential candidate in 2012.
STEPHEN MATUREN/GETTY IMAGES
A14 | OPINION FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2021

PETE SOUZA/WHITE HOUSE PHOTO VIA GETTY IMAGES

That marks a contrast with President

Joe Biden’s Vice President

Joe Biden
(2nd L) arrives
Bill Clinton, who, in 1992, referred to the
“butchers of Beijing.”
On Biden’s watch as vice president, Chi-

Hidden for a meeting

with Presi-
dent Barack
Obama, Sec-
na ramped up internal repressions and
became more aggressive, modernizing
its military and creating island bases that
put key U.S. allies and interests at risk. In

Handler retary of State

LLOYD BILLINGSLEY
In his March 25 White
House press conference,
President Joe Biden said
China’s goal of becom-
ing the leading country
in the world was “not go-
ing to happen on my watch.”
Reporters seemed unaware that China
had already made great strides in that
direction on Biden’s watch, which began
in 2012.
That year, as Steve Clemons of The At-
lantic reported, “Biden Gets China,” and
with Xi Jinping as “China’s president-in-
waiting,” the White House “will move
Vice President Joe Biden to the helm of
the Obama administration’s U.S.–China
policy.” That move had been orches-
trated by Tom Donilon, once described
by James Mann in Foreign Policy as
“Obama’s Gray Man,” seldom mentioned
in the press but wielding “enormous
power” behind the scenes.
Donilon served as a campaign staffer
for Walter Mondale in 1984 and in 1988,
advised then-Sen. Biden in his first
run for the presidency. From 1999 to
2005, Donilon was chief lobbyist for the
Federal National Mortgage Association,
commonly known as Fannie Mae, where
he presided over massive misconduct
that drew a fine of $400 million.
That prompted Robert Scheer of Truth-
dig to brand Donilon a “top hustler” and
wonder why President Barack Obama
would tap Donilon for the sensitive post of
national security adviser. As it happened,
Donilon also was a crony of Vice President
Biden. Donilon’s brother Michael also
advised Biden, and Donilon’s wife, Cathy,
served as chief of staff to Jill Biden.
Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates
allegedly predicted that Donilon would
be a “disaster” as national security ad-
viser. In “Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at
War,” Gates wrote that Donilon charac-
terized the U.S. military as “in revolt”
and “insubordinate.” Donilon “bridled”
when Gen. Stanley McChrystal an-
nounced a “counterinsurgency” strategy
in Afghanistan. While hard on the U.S.
military, Donilon was soft on China.
In a June 2013 speech to the Asia So-
ciety, Donilon said, “I disagree with the
premise put forward by some historians
and theorists that a rising power and an
established power are somehow destined
for conflict.” Donilon didn’t clarify that
the “rising power” was a genocidal com-
munist dictatorship and the “established
power” a constitutional democracy.
As Donilon saw it, “a deeper U.S.–China
military-to-military dialogue is central
to addressing many of the sources of
insecurity and potential competition be-
tween us.” Biden held similar views.
Biden voted against strong sanctions
on communist China as a response to
the Tiananmen Square massacre. In
1998, the United States again proposed
sanctions on the People’s Republic of
Hillary Rod-
ham Clinton,
and national
security
adviser Tom
Donilon in
the Oval
Office on July
18, 2012.
China, including visa restrictions, and
Biden was part of a group of 10 senators
who opposed the measures. In 2001,
Biden, then head of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, supported China’s
entry to the World Trade Organization.
As he explained, “The United States wel-
comes the emergence of a prosperous,
integrated China on the global stage,
because we expect this is going to be a
China that plays by the rules.”
Biden is OK with China’s
‘norms,’ so on his current
watch, Xi Jinping can do as
pleases with the Uyghurs,
Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
In May 2011, Biden said he believed
“that protecting fundamental rights and
freedoms such as those enshrined in
China’s international commitments as
well as in China’s own constitution is the
best way to promote long term stability
and prosperity—of any society.” The U.S.
vice president didn’t specify the “funda-
mental rights and freedoms” in China’s
constitution, and his statement offered
no criticism of the communist regime.
2020, on the anniversary of the Tianan-
men Square massacre, Biden called for
“recommitting to the universal struggle
for human dignity” but offered no direct
criticism of China’s communist regime.
During the 2020 election campaign,
Biden described the Chinese regime as
“not bad folks,” and not competition for
the United States. That has been his posi-
tion all along, the same as Biden crony
Tom Donilon, who orchestrated the move
for Biden to “get China” in 2012.
In November 2020, CNN reported that
Donilon was one of Biden’s “leading con-
tenders” for director of the CIA. Donilon
reportedly turned it down, but the family
influence remains strong. Donilon’s wife
Cathy served on Biden’s transition advi-
sory board and was appointed director
of the White House Office of Presidential
Personnel. Mike Donilon, Biden’s chief
strategist during the 2020 campaign, is
now a senior adviser and, as The New
York Times reported, “the defender of the
Biden brand.”
In that brand, the communist Chinese
are “not bad folks,” and “not competi-
tion for us.” Biden has also addressed
the symmetry between the rising power
and the established power. In a Feb. 17
interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper,
Biden said, “Culturally, there are differ-
ent norms that each country and they—
their leaders—are expected to follow.”
Biden is OK with China’s “norms,” so on
his current watch, Xi Jinping can do as
he pleases with the Uyghurs, Hong Kong,
and Taiwan. That “deeper U.S.–China
military-to-military dialogue” may not
be long delayed.
Lloyd Billingsley is the author of “Yes I
Con: United Fakes of America,” “Barack
‘em Up: A Literary Investigation,” “Holly-
wood Party,” and other books.

COMICS
DILBERT GARFIELD

PEANUTS GINGER MEGGS

RED AND ROVER

BIG NATE

GRAND AVENUE DRABBLE

MUTT & JEFF FRANK AND ERNEST

 FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2021
SPECIAL SERIES: HOW THE SPECTER OF COMMUNISM IS RULING OUR WORLD
Chapter Eighteen:
The Chinese Communist
Party’s Global Ambitions
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.”
2. Communist China’s
Strategies for World
Domination
a. One Belt, One Road Initiative:
Territorial Expansion Under the
Guise of Globalization
In 2013, Beijing officially introduced
its OBOR initiative, also known as
Belt and Road. The plan is for China
to invest trillions of dollars to build
critical infrastructure, such as ports,
bridges, railroads, and energy facili-
ties, in dozens of countries, with the
aim of bringing them under China’s
influence. It is the biggest investment
project in history.
“One Belt” refers to the Silk Road
Economic Belt, which consists of
three land-based components: from
China through Central Asia and Rus-
sia to Europe and the Baltic Sea; from
northwestern China through Central
and West Asia to the Persian Gulf and
the Mediterranean; and from south-
western China through the Indochina
Peninsula to the Indian Ocean.
“One Road” refers to the Twenty-
First-Century Maritime Silk Road,
which is a two-pronged effort: The
first route goes from Chinese ports
to the South China Sea, through the
Strait of Malacca and on to Europe via
the Indian Ocean; the second heads
to the southern Pacific Ocean.
The land-based One Belt consists of
six economic corridors:
J China–Mongolia–Russia
J
J
J
The New Eurasian Land Bridge
China–Central Asia–West Asia
China–Indochina Peninsula
J China–Pakistan
J Bangladesh–China–India–Myanmar
The New Eurasian Land Bridge will
be based on rail links between China
and Europe, such as Yiwu to Madrid
and Wuhan to Hamburg and Lyon.
Transportation from China to Europe
takes just over 10 days by rail, com-
pared to more than 30 days by sea.
The China Railway Express, which
runs along these rail links, began
operations in 2011 and has been an
important component of OBOR.
The China–Pakistan Economic
Corridor is a joint plan by the two
governments. It includes a highway
connecting Kashgar in China’s Xinji-
ang Province with the port of Gwadar
in Pakistan, on the Indian Ocean. The
CCP gained the right to operate the
port, Pakistan’s gateway to the Persian
Gulf and Arabian Sea, in 2013. The
port occupies a critical strategic loca-
tion, connecting the Strait of Hormuz,
through which 40 percent of the world’s
crude oil passes, to the Arabian Sea.
The general framework of the sea-
based One Road is to build a number of
strategic ports so as to gain control over
global sea transportation. In financially
robust countries, Chinese companies
enter into equity participation or joint
The Digital ventures. In financially weaker coun-
Silk Road is tries, the PRC invests large amounts of
considered money locally and attempts to obtain
the rights to operate their ports.
an advanced
In 2013, China Merchants Port Hold-
stage in ings Co. Ltd. bought 49 percent equity
the OBOR from Terminal Link SAS in France.
project. It With this purchase, it obtained the
mainly operating rights to fifteen terminals
includes in eight countries on four continents,
including the South Florida Container
building
Terminal in Miami and the Houston
fiber-optic Terminal Link (now called the Termi-
infrastruc- nal Link Texas). [5]
ture, digital Other ports and terminals now
information under China’s control include the
services, ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge in
Belgium, the Suez Canal Container
international
Terminal in Egypt, the Kumport (or
telecommuni- Ambarli) in Turkey, the Port of Piraeus
cations, and in Greece, the Pasir Panjang Terminal
e-commerce. in Singapore, the Euromax Terminal
Additionally, Rotterdam in the Netherlands, the
the Great second-phase terminal at Khalifa
Port in the United Arab Emirates, the
Firewall
Port of Vado in Italy, the Kuantan Port
is being in Malaysia, the Port of Djibouti in
exported East Africa, and the Panama Canal.
to OBOR In addition to investment, the CCP
countries. also uses the debt traps created by
OBOR to obtain control of strategic
locations, as in the case of Sri Lanka’s
Hambantota Port, which in 2017 was
leased to a Chinese company for
ninety-nine years.
The CCP launched its Digital Silk
Road in 2018 with the intention of re-
shaping the future development of in-
ternet infrastructure. The Digital Silk
Road is considered an advanced stage
in the OBOR project, and it mainly in-
cludes building fiber-optic infrastruc-
ture, digital information services,
international telecommunications,
and e-commerce. The Great Firewall,
which filters internet traffic in China,
is being exported to OBOR countries,
as are the systems of mass surveil-
lance already used within China. Ad-
ditionally, many countries involved in
MARCO DI LAURO/GETTY IMAGES
A general view of the
Pier VII is seen at Tri-
este’s new Port on
April 2, 2019 in Tri-
este, Italy. The his-
toric city of Trieste
was preparing to open
its new port to China,
with Italy becoming
the first Group-of-
Seven nation to sign
on to China’s “One
Belt, One Road” infra-
structure project.
OBOR do not have a complete credit
system. The CCP aims to introduce its
systems of e-commerce and electron-
ic payment services, such as Alipay, to
these countries, while totally shutting
out Western competition.
The extent of the CCP’s strategic
reach can be seen from its investment
in global infrastructure. According
to a November 2018 report by The
New York Times, the CCP has con-
structed or is constructing more than
forty pipelines and other oil and gas
infrastructure projects; more than
two hundred bridges, roads, and
railways; almost two hundred power
plants for nuclear power, natural gas,
coal, and renewables; and a series of
major dams. At the time of the report,
the CCP had invested in at least 112
countries, most of which belonged to
the OBOR initiative. [6]
As OBOR took shape, the CCP re-
gime’s efforts to supplant the United
States on the world stage grew. It ag-
gressively promoted the yuan as an in-
ternational currency, as well as its own
credit system. Chinese-made telecom-
munications networks (including 5G)
are being pushed as the future in many
countries, as are Chinese-built high-
speed rail lines. The aim is to eventu-
ally establish a set of standards that is
controlled by the CCP and indepen-
dent of the current Western standards.
In the early stages of OBOR, the CCP
focused on neighboring countries,
reaching as far as Europe. Very quick-
ly, the CCP expanded its reach to Afri-
ca, Latin America, and even the Arctic
Ocean, covering the entire world. The
Maritime Silk Road originally con-
sisted of just two routes. A third route,
the Polar Silk Road, was added to con-
nect to Europe via the Arctic Ocean.
Prior to OBOR, China had already
invested heavily in countries in Africa
and Latin America. These countries
are now part of the major structure of
OBOR, which has enabled the CCP to
more rapidly expand its financial and
military reach in those continents.
Notes
5. “CMHI and CMA CGM Complete the
Terminal Link Transaction,” CMA-CGM and
CMHI, June 11, 2013.
6. Derek Watkins, K. K. Rebecca Lai, and
Keith Bradsher, “The World, Built by China,”
The New York Times, Nov. 18, 2018.
See next edition for the next installment.
To purchase the books, visit Epoch-
Shop.com
OPINION | A15
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
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A16 | OPINION FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2021

ETIENNE ANSOTTE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

should not be a ban on euthanasia: “In

the end, only the patient can judge how
unbearable the suffering is, and there-
fore, how much weight should be given
to the possibility that it will end, either
with further treatment or on its own.”
Oh, Wesley! That’s just a “slippery
slope” argument! Doctors will never
actually kill the mentally ill.
Wrong! Belgium and the Netherlands
legally permit euthanasia based on men-
tal illness alone. Meanwhile, Canada’s
Parliament just legalized lethal jabs of
the mentally ill after a waiting period to
permit bureaucratic death protocols to
be worked out. This is particularly wor-
risome for the United States as Canada is
our closest cultural cousin.
And here’s an insidious twist: Eutha-
nasia for mental illnesses has become
conjoined with organ donation in both
the Netherlands and Belgium. Such kill-
and-harvest procedures have even been
written up approvingly—or at least with-
out criticism—in notable international
organ transplant medical journals.

Once people accept the lethal

premise that killing/suicide

Euthanizing
proverbial camel’s nose under the tent.
Once people accept the lethal premise
that killing/suicide are proper responses
are proper responses to
suffering, there’s no permanent
way to logically limit ‘death

the Mentally Ill

WESLEY J. SMITH
Should psychiatrists and
other doctors assist the
suicides of mentally ill
patients? Not that long
ago, the answer to that
question would have been
an unequivocal no.
The job of a mental health professional
is to save the lives of suicidal patients, not
help them die.
But that was before assisted suicide
became an up-and-coming cultural
cause. Most people think that the “right
to die” movement is restricted to people
with terminal illnesses. While true in
this country—so far—that’s just the
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
A “euthanasia kit,” availa-
ble at 250 locations of phar-
macy chain Multipharma, for
general practitioners who
want to practice euthanasia
at their patients’ homes, in
Brussels on April 18, 2005.
Assisted and rational
suicide are really
about abandonment.
NOW
BIGGER SIZE,
EASIER TO READ
FORMAT
to suffering, there’s no permanent way
to logically limit “death with dignity” to
those who are diagnosed as dying.
There is already abundant advocacy in
professional journals and among eutha-
nasia activists to allow lethal injection or
prescribed suicide as a “treatment” for
the suffering caused by mental illness.
Welcome to the subversive mental health
concept known as “rational suicide,” a
concept now deemed wholly respectable
and worthy of reasoned discussion and
debate in learned medical journals.
Under the theory, mental health profes-
sionals only have an absolute duty to stop
suicides that are impulsive or frivolously
based. If the suicidal person is deemed
by the mental health professional to have
a rational basis for self-destruction—that
is, if the patient “is able to reason, possess
sufficient information, have a realistic
worldview, and act [to end their own life)
according to their own essential inter-
ests”—the professional’s duty shifts to
nonjudgmentally help the patient engage
in proper decision-making techniques
about whether to commit suicide.
Indeed, some advocates believe that
the proper response to a patient’s “ratio-
nal” desire to die is for the mental health
professional to facilitate the suicide as if
death were a palliative medical treatment.
The rational suicide movement appears
to be gaining traction, helping advance
the assisted suicide public acceptability
well beyond the terminal illness limita-
tion. Once society rejects the sanctity
of human life ethic, that makes sense.
If killing/suicide is an acceptable and
respectable response to suffering, why
should it be limited to the dying? After
all, people with mental illnesses may
suffer far more intractably—and for a far
longer time—than the terminally ill.
The acceptance of joint killing
and harvesting sends the cruel
message to mentally ill people
and society: ‘Your deaths have
greater value than your lives.’
That’s certainly what the influential
Princeton bioethicist Peter Singer thinks.
In a recent column, he wrote, “There
can be little doubt that some mentally ill
people are not helped by treatment and
with dignity’ to those who are
diagnosed as dying.
For example, one study discussed the
euthanasia and harvesting of four non-
terminally ill patients in shocking detail:
“Donors were admitted to the hospital a
few hours before the planned euthanasia
procedure. A central venous line was
placed in a room adjacent to the operat-
ing room. Donors were heparinized [a
drug to maintain organ viability] imme-
diately before a cocktail of drugs was giv-
en by the treating physician who agreed
to perform the euthanasia. The patient
was announced dead on cardiorespira-
tory criteria by 3 independent physicians
as required by Belgian legislation for
every organ donor. ... The deceased was
then rapidly transferred, installed on the
operating table, and intubated [in prepa-
ration for organ removal].”
Ponder the enormity of what was done
by doctors! Four people—who were not
otherwise dying—were killed and then
swiftly wheeled into a surgery suite to have
their organs removed. One of these was
mentally ill. In a particularly bitter irony,
the latter patient was a chronic self-harm-
er, the “treatment” for which was adminis-
tration of the ultimate harm: death.
Some might ask, if mentally ill patients
want euthanasia, why not get some good
out of their deaths by taking their usable
organs?
But coupling organ harvesting with
the “mercy killing” of the mentally ill
creates a strong emotional inducement
for people in anguished mental states to
commit suicide. Indeed, it could be the
tipping point that pushes patients into
the abyss.
Worse, the acceptance of joint killing
and harvesting sends the cruel message
to mentally ill people and society: “Your
deaths have greater value than your
lives.” In such a milieu, self-justifying
bromides about “choice” and the “vol-
untary” nature “of the process” become
mere rationalizations.
Here’s the bottom line: Assisted and
rational suicide are really about aban-
donment. It might start slowly with
restrictions. But once a society accepts
the lethal premise that killing is an ac-
ceptable answer to suffering, sheer logic
will take us where Belgium, Netherlands,
and Canada already are. We go down

SPECTER OF COMMUNISM
do suffer greatly.” that road at our great moral peril.
Hence, he could think of no reason
why “incurable mental illness should not Award-winning author Wesley J. Smith

IS RULING OUR WORLD

also be sufficient” grounds for facilitated
death. In his view, even a mental health
professional’s disagreement with the
suicide or the prospect for amelioration
is chairman of the Discovery Institute’s
Center on Human Exceptionalism. He is
also a consultant to the Patients Rights
Council.
MEDIA WHALESTOCK/SHUTTERSTOCK

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 FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2021 BUSINESS & ECONOMY | A17

Economic Data Shows Fewer Workers

Losing Jobs and Americans Eager to Spend
JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES

TOM OZIMEK U.S. economy, which is mostly driven by

A suite of stronger-than-expected econom-
ic data on jobs, retail sales, and corporate
earnings came out April 15, reinforcing
the view that a potential boom, much-an-
ticipated by economists, may be getting
more traction.
Overall, the data shows fewer workers
losing their jobs, Americans eager to spend
more, and corporate profits getting fatter,
sending all three major Wall Street indexes
higher on the opening bell.
On the jobs front, the Labor Department
said in a release that the number of U.S.
workers filing for unemployment fell last
week to 576,000. That’s the lowest number
of weekly jobless claims since the onset of
the pandemic, which sent them surging
above 6 million in March 2020. Economists
polled by Reuters predicted 700,000 jobless
applications last week.
“With a huge, better-than-expected de-
cline in new claims for unemployment as-
sistance, at long last, the economic recovery
appears to be picking up speed,” Bankrate.
com senior economic analyst Mark Ham-
rick told The Epoch Times in a statement.
“Not only did the headline number of
seasonally adjusted initial claims drop
beneath the 700,000 level, but it contin-
ued on below 600,000 to the lowest since
mid-March of 2020.”
Still, the Labor Department figures in-
dicate 16.9 million people continuing
to collect unemployment benefits in all
programs, showing that the labor market
has a ways to go before recovering to pre-
pandemic levels. While the unemployment
rate in March fell to 6 percent, it remains
well above the 3.5 percent in February
2020, before the outbreak sent it soaring
to 14.8 percent.
Alfredo Ortiz, president and CEO of the
Job Creators Network, told The Epoch
Times in an email that “the reason our
economy is recovering is because state and
local governments are relaxing their lock-
downs and businesses are opening up,”
A customer walks by a “Now Hiring” sign at a BevMo store in Larkspur, Calif., on April 2, 2021.
but that this isn’t stopping some officials
“from calling for more lockdowns—even
though our small business community
can’t afford that.”
Ortiz also pushed back on President Joe
Biden’s “plan to increase taxes by $2.5 tril-
lion,” citing a study indicating that the move
“will eliminate more than 1 million jobs.”
The study that Ortiz referred to was con-
ducted by Rice University economists
John W. Diamond and George R. Zodrow
for the National Association of Manufac-
turers (NAM). It found that under Biden’s
proposed tax hikes, the average annual
job losses would be 600,000 each year over
10 years, and real wages would fall by 0.6
percent in the long run.
“This study tells us quantitatively what
manufacturers from coast to coast will tell
you qualitatively: increasing the tax bur-
den on companies in America means fewer
American jobs. One million jobs would be
lost in the first two years, to be exact,” Jay
Timmons, president and CEO of the NAM,
said in a statement.
The drop in jobless claims coincides with
a strong uptick in retail sales, painting a
picture of Americans increasingly willing
to shop, eat out, and otherwise spend again
as the economy reopens.
Sales at stores, car dealers, and restau-
rants jumped 9.8 percent in March. It’s the
biggest gain since retail sales surged by 18
percent last May, in a sharp bounce-back
from the April 2020 lockdowns. Econo-
mists polled by Reuters had forecast that
retail sales would increase 5.9 percent in
March.
The broad-based rebound was led by sales
at clothing stores, which soared 18.3 per-
cent, and in motor vehicles, with receipts at
auto dealerships surging 15.1 percent after
falling 3.5 percent in February. Consum-
ers also boosted spending at restaurants
and bars, leading to a 13.4 percent jump
in receipts, while sales at building material
stores vaulted 12.1 percent.
Strong retail sales are a big boost for the
consumer spending.
Optimism was further lifted by upbeat
quarterly earnings reports from compa-
nies including Citigroup, Bank of America,
and BlackRock, which all beat analysts’
forecasts.
Economic growth is expected to top sev-
en percent this year, which would be the
fastest pace since 1984.
But with growth expectations so high,
some investors are worried that inflation
could swing up and stay high. A key risk
is that a bout of sustained inflation could
send bond yields higher, hurting corporate
profits, and triggering volatility in markets.
So far, U.S. Treasurys stayed subdued
after April 15’s stronger-than-expected
reports, while longer-term yields actually
fell, to the surprise of some analysts.
The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield had
surged to a 14-month high of 1.776 percent
on March 30 on bets that massive fiscal
stimulus would speed up a U.S. recovery
and stoke faster inflation. But yields have
eased this month, in part owing to the Fed’s
insistence that labor market slack will pre-
vent the economy from overheating and in
part due to strong uptake in recent Trea-
sury auctions, which also serves to tame
yields.
“A fair amount of the recent increases in
the 10-year and 30-year Treasury yields are
due to the anticipation of a more robust
recovery than previously forecast,” Steven
Saunders, director and portfolio adviser at
Round Table Wealth Management, told The
Epoch Times in an email.
“Coming into the year, most other asset
classes had already priced in a recovery
and above average growth for 2021, re-
bounding back to and above pre-COVID
levels, while Treasury yields were still de-
pressed. Those depressed levels were likely
unsustainable given the recovery that was
already underway.”
Reuters and The Associated Press contrib-
uted to this report.

MAHMOUD KHALED/GETTY IMAGES

The container ship Ever Given is refloated, unblocking the Suez Canal, in Suez, Egypt, on March 29, 2021.
Arrested Suez Ship Fit for
Onward Passage, Manager Says
CAIRO—The cargo vessel that blocked
global shipping in the Suez Canal and is
caught in a legal dispute in Egypt is fit to
sail once approval is given, its technical
manager said on April 14.
The Ever Given was declared suitable for
onward passage from the Great Bitter Lake
to Port Said, where it would be assessed
again before departing for Rotterdam, Ber-
nhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM)
said in a statement.
The ship has been in the lake, which sits
between two sections of the canal, since
being dislodged on March 29. The 400-me-
ter (430-yard) vessel was stuck in the canal
for six days, blocking traffic.
The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) stated on
April 14 that negotiations aimed to reach
an agreement “may take some time.”
It has made a $916 million compensa-
tion claim against the ship’s Japanese
owner, Shoei Kisen, said one of its insurers,
UK Club.
The SCA has also obtained a court order
to detain the ship as discussions over com-
pensation continue.
“The SCA’s decision to arrest the vessel is
extremely disappointing. From the outset,
Behind the
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Your subscription will not only provide you with
accurate news and features, but also contribute
to the revival of American journalism and help
safeguard our freedoms for future generations.
BSM and the crew onboard have cooperated
fully with all authorities,” BSM chief execu- We aim to tell you what we see, not how to think; we
tive Ian Beveridge said in the statement.
“BSM’s primary goal is a swift resolution strive to deliver you a factual picture of reality that
to this matter that will allow the vessel and lets you form your own opinions.
crew to depart the Suez Canal.”
Taiwan’s Evergreen Line, which is the
Ever Given’s charterer, said separately on We believe that we live in truly epochal times, where
April 14 it was investigating the scope of the faithful representation of our current events
the Egyptian court order “and studying won’t just be important for the people of today, but
the possibility of the vessel and the cargo
on board being treated separately.” also for the generations to come. The records we
Panama’s Luster Maritime and Japan’s keep now will directly inform the foundations of the
Higaki Sangyo Kaisha, the vessel’s regis- history they’ll learn and the values they’ll cherish—
tered owners, have started legal proceed-
ings in London’s High Court to open a limi- and this knowledge is what drives us.
tation fund that lawyers say will serve as a
cash pool of around $115 million to satisfy Learn more at
valid British claims.
Japan’s Shoei Kisen is the beneficial, or EpochSubscription.com
ultimate, owner of the vessel.
Two Suez Canal Authority sources told
Reuters that the owner had offered $100
million in response to the Canal’s claim.
Shoei Kisen declined to comment. TRUTH AND TRADITION
By Jonathan Saul
From Reuters
A18 | PUZZLES FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2021

CROSSWORD CONSTRUCTED BY TOM HOUSTON

EPOCH TIMES STAFF 9. Mock suffix 4NUMBERS CONSTRUCTED BY C. CHANG
AT 4NUMS.COM DAILY BRIDGE CLUB
10. Office messages Risky undertaking
Use the four numbers in the corners, and
11. Buckwheat and rose the operands (+, - X, and ÷) to build an BY FRANK STEWART, TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY

family, botanically equation to get the solution in the middle.

There may be more than one “unique” so- ©2021 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
12. Undercover operation lution but, there may also be “equivalent”
13. Pink-slips solutions. For example: 6 + (7 X 3) +1 = 28 In a money game at my club, East was John
and 1+ (7 X 3) + 6 = 28 Underwood, known as “The Undertaker”
14. Diarist Frank because he tries to beat every contract
15. Arable pasturelands: by four tricks — and as a result he often
doesn’t beat them at all.
Var. John was East. West led the queen
20. U.S army in W.W.I of hearts against four spades, and the
defense took three hearts. John then led
(Abbr.) a trump. Since he had dummy’s diamond
26. Vestige suit well stopped, he saw no danger. South
won in dummy and led the jack of clubs,
27. Distinguished as if about to take a finesse ... and John
28. Not o’er played low!
32. David of “Rhoda”
SQUEEZED
33. Cold cuts, e.g. When South’s king won, he ran all his
34. Couldn’t “write” to it trumps. With two tricks left, he had the
Hard 1 - 1 Solution queen of clubs and a diamond, and dummy
36. “The Murders in the had the A-Q of diamonds. John was
___ Morgue” (Poe story) squeezed. He discarded his ace of clubs,
hoping W est had the queen, and South
37. Excessive claimed the last two tricks.
38. Desire “I saw it and don’t believe it,” West
39. Bone head? sighed.
If John had bared his king of diamonds
40. Vehicle with caterpil- at the end, South would have led to the
lar treads ace. He could infer that John had the king,
otherwise even John might have taken his
42. Mideast’s Gulf of ___ ace of clubs earlier.
43. Certain W.M.D.
DAILY QUESTION
44. Emulate Demos- You hold: {107 6 A8 3 K109 2
thenes yA96. Your partner opens one heart. The
Hard 2 - 1 Solution next player passes. What do you say?
45. Small African ante- ANSWER: In “Standard” methods, respond
Across 39. “Certainement!” 70. The best restaurants lope two diamonds. If partner rebids two hearts,
1. Chat room overseers, 40. Little twerp have it 46. “Respect for Acting” raise to three. In today’ s “two-over-one”
41. Crowd noise 72. From which you may style, in which a new-suit response at the
for short author Hagen two level would force to game, you must
5. Stockholm native 42. When things may get the lead out 47. Wee, to Burns respond 1NT, which in that style is treated
10. Computer “teaching” become clearer 73. Property claims as forcing. “Two- over-one” is a dominant
51. Showy flower style; it has advantages and drawbacks.
language 47. It’s not clean 74. Units of work
48. Don Juan, e.g. 75. Fergie’s ex 52. Anticipated West dealer
16. Domain N-S vulnerable
17. More terrible 49. 66, e.g.: Abbr. 76. Rich veins 53. “Good going!”
18. 87 or 89 rating, com- 50. Mug 77. Scottish explorer 54. Guts
monly 53. Vardalos of “My Big John and his wife 55. Free
19. Lie Fat Greek Wedding” 56. Reserve
21. Climb 54. ___ deferens Down 59. Like most eyeglasses Easy 1 - 1 Solution
22. Tequila source 57. “Wheel of Fortune” 1. One who accepts 60. Narc’s target
23. Tell a whopper purchase charges 61. Scrooge
24. Becomes edgy 58. “___ chance!” 2. Sauce ingredient 62. 4:1, e.g.
25. Final judgment 59. Josh 3. Late 63. “Alley ___!”
29. Wallet wad 60. “Enterprises of 4. Discharges
64. 1971 Ravi Shankar
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on hazardous chemicals documentary
31. Bash Hamlet
32. Big inits. in trucks 61. Fraudulently in the workplace (Abbr.) 65. “Blackboard Jungle”
35. Bacillus shape 64. Time in power 6. Foolish author Hunter
36. “Kidnapped” author’s 67. French soul 7. Beethoven No. 3 sym- 66. Put a coat on
inits. 68. Anc. Italian. phony 70. The whole shebang
37. Not safe 69. Dispatch boats 8. “10” star Bo 71. “Boo-o-o-o-o!” Easy 2 - 1 Solution

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.

ACHENES GALENA ORATE SHINNY

AGAVE LIENS OREGANO SHYNESS
ANEMONE LODES ORIBI SNO-CAT
AT-LARGE MAKE A OSCAN STING
ATMOSPHERE FACE PASCAL SWEDE
AVISOS MATADOR PUSHER TENSES
DELAYED MISER RATIO UNASSURED
DEREK NEATH REGIME UNDUE
DIRER NICE ONE RELIC VISCERA
EROICA OCTANE RIMMED WITLESS
FORESAW OF NOTE SALVOS

SOLUTIONS
CROSSWORD SUPER KAKURO
4 NUMBERS
HARD 1

HARD 2

EASY 1

EASY 2
 FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2021 PUZZLES | A19
SUDOKU CONSTRUCTED
BY KANNAN SANKARAN SUPERSUDOKU CONSTRUCTED
BY KANNAN SANKARAN WORK SPACE
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,
row, and each 3x3 square contain all nine numbers only once. each row, and each 4x4 square contain all ten numbers and six letters only once.
Hard

Easy

CRYPTIC QUOTE

EPOCH DOKU CONSTRUCTED

BY EPOCH TIMES STAFF

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,
Get the free JUST JUMBLEDSS‡)ROORZXVRQ7ZLWWHU@PlayJumble

in a run cannot repeat. When the grid is filled, the puzzle is complete. one letter to each square,
to form four ordinary words.
Easy GACOR
EPOCH ESCAPE MAZE
WLRIH

CRNETH

IKIBIN
Now arrange the circled letters
©2021 Tribune Content Agency, LLC to form the surprise answer, as
All Rights Reserved. suggested by the above cartoon.

“ - ”

WORK SPACE

SOLUTIONS
SUPERSUDOKU SUDOKU: EASY JUMBLE EASY KAKURO
“IN-CHOIR” WITHIN
they’d need to — WORK SPACE

being a church singer,

To get more info about
Answers:
BIKINI
TRENCH
WHIRL
CARGO
Jumbles:
SUDOKU: HARD EPOCH DOKU

CRYPTIC QUOTE
of public opinion.
based on its perception
the court made a decision
undermined in any case if
of the court would be
I think that the legitimacy
A20 | FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2021

Truth and Tradition

The Gift of Strength in a Challenging Time
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informed—it can also give you the strength to fight and to nation’s values still remain strong. You can show them that
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SOUTH CAROLINA VIRGINIA

Revisiting History at Kings Enjoying the Simple Life

Mountain National Military Park in Patrick County
Kings Mountain is unique in that it is one of It offers an immersion in a locale where people
the few battles of the war fought entirely by cling proudly to their strong Appalachian
Americans on both sides. heritage and colorful past.
See B4 See B5

DESTINATIONS | TRENDS | TIPS FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2021 B1

ALL PHOTOS BY SHUTTERSTOCK

The Dead Sea

is known as the
lowest point on
Earth.

Finding Wild Times in Israel

TIM JOHNSON

It’s a strange and thrilling moment. “Hold Entering the

on tight and, if you’re nervous, don’t look water is unlike
down,” my guide tells me as I settle into
the harness and prepare to drop. We’ve any other aquatic
reached the edge of this cliff on mountain
bikes, spotting Nubian ibex and other curi- experience. Once
ous desert creatures as we rolled through you’re immersed,
the Negev, a wilderness of biblical propor-
tions. it’s like trying to
Now, teetering on the edge of the world’s
largest erosion cirque, more than 1,600 feet
do a breaststroke
deep at its bottom, I have a few second through cotton
thoughts. But I won’t have long to think
it through. candy.
“Ready?” he asks. And I am. A moment
later, I’m rappelling into a crater so big and
wide, it swallows me whole.
I’m in Israel, a tiny nation with a long,
storied history and more wild country than
you can imagine. Roughly the size of the
state of New Jersey, Israel has shorelines on
three seas (Dead, Med, and Red), desert,
mountains, oases, and much more.

Continued on B2

(Above) A woman relaxes in the

water of the Dead Sea.
(Left) A fearless Ibex towers over
the Ramon Crater (Makhtesh
Ramon), in Israel’s Negev desert,
just after sunrise.
(Right) A climber rappels down a
cliff in Mitzpe Ramon in the Negev
desert.
B2
Behind the
Subscription
Your subscription will not only provide you with
accurate news and features, but also contribute
to the revival of American journalism and help
safeguard our freedoms for future generations.
We aim to tell you what we see, not how to think; we
strive to deliver you a factual picture of reality that
lets you form your own opinions.
We believe that we live in truly epochal times, where
the faithful representation of our current events
won’t just be important for the people of today, but
also for the generations to come. The records we
keep now will directly inform the foundations of the
history they’ll learn and the values they’ll cherish—
and this knowledge is what drives us.
Learn more at
EpochSubscription.com
TRUTH AND TRADITION
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The Wadi Zin, the longest valley in Israel.
Finding Wild
Times in Israel
Continued from B1
The country has captured recent
headlines with its super-fast vaccina-
tion campaign, which has reopened
its economy more quickly than almost
anyplace else.
While many visitors come here for
a Holy Land experience, I go beyond,
finding some truly wild times.
Highlights
Of course, you can’t come here and
not hit the highlights. Arriving in
Jerusalem, I stay at the storied King
David Hotel, every evening wandering
out the grand lobby, passing through a
gate, into the walled Old City. Always
exploring, I make my way through
each of the five quarters (Jewish,
Christian, Muslim, Armenian, and
Moroccan), putting my hand on the
Western Wall. I also stop for a little
hummus at a hole-in-the-wall restau-
rant.
There, I pause to people-watch, ob-
serving the fascinating mix of faiths,
all drawn to this city like a magnet.
One day, I take a little hike up to the
top of Mount Zion and the Mount of
Olives, passing famous places from
history and antiquity, including the
spot where the Gospels say Jesus as-
cended to heaven. Later in the week, I
ride a Segway, led by the two owners
of the company, zooming through
local parks and, unfortunately, falling
headlong over the handlebars when
my machine strikes a short post.
Fortunately, because I’m well-padded,
the only thing I’ve hurt is my pride.
The Dead Sea
And then, it’s time to get out of town.
First, to the Dead Sea, only about an
hour outside of Jerusalem. Stopping
at a small eco-hotel, I change into my
bathing suit and descend some steps
to the beach. Famously the lowest
place on Earth, I stand some 400 feet
below sea level. The “sea” is actually a
salt lake, the deepest hypersaline lake
in the world. And salty, it is—almost
10 times saltier than the ocean.
I take a little hike
up to the top of
Mount Zion and
the Mount of
Olives, passing
famous places
from history and
antiquity.
You don’t actually swim—you can’t,
really. Entering the water is unlike
any other aquatic experience. Once
you’re immersed, it’s like trying to do
a breaststroke through cotton candy.
Staying afloat takes zero effort at all—
in fact, fighting it, trying to stay on
your feet and move around, that’s the
hard part. I give in, the water swoop-
ing me up. And I float, soaking up the
afternoon sun, completely relaxed,
arms and legs akimbo on the surface,
the salt supporting all my limbs.
And from sea to sea. I head all the
way south, to Eilat, a small city set
on an arm of the Red Sea. Here, the
Middle East comes together—Egypt,
FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2021
ALL PHOTOS BY SHUTTERSTOCK
Israel, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia all
surround the thin tip of the Gulf
of Aqaba (also known as the Gulf
of Eilat), their borders all just a few
miles apart. A beach town, big hotels
welcome vacationers, and many who
come here don’t make it past the pool.
I will admit that all those loungers
look rather inviting.
Instead, I opt for a slightly sur-
real experience, arriving at the Coral
Beach Nature Reserve, just outside of
town. Affixing a mask and snorkel, I
drop off a dock, into the aquamarine
water, where everything feels a little
like the Caribbean. As I follow a rope
tied to a series of buoys, the reef bursts
with life, hundreds of species of fish,
swirling around my fins.
Roughly the size
of the state of New
Jersey, Israel has
shorelines on three
seas (Dead, Med,
and Red), desert,
mountains, oases,
and much more.
Then, the dolphins. While most
dolphin-swim experiences take place
in a tank, here, the dolphins remain
wild, free to enter and leave at will a
huge enclosure set in the sea. Back in
a mask and snorkel, my guide gives
me a bit of advice.
“Let them come to you,” she says. “And
don’t be afraid—they’re a lot bigger
when you’re in the water with them.”
While fear of a few friendly bottle-
nosed dolphins seems almost laugh-
able—they’re almost cartoonishly
cute—she’s right. Growing to a length
of more than 12 feet, they can weigh
more than 400 pounds. Swimming di-
rectly below me, usually in pairs, they
look a lot more like whales, moving so
much faster than they appear when
you’re spotting them from a boat, or
dry land.
Timna Valley
Leaving the coast and headed back
north, toward Jerusalem, I spend
some more time in the wilderness.
In Timna Park, I ride in a safari-style
jeep, venturing well off-road through
some of the 15,000 preserved acres in
the dramatic Timna Valley, home to
one of the world’s first copper mines.
The metal mined here has been found
in weapons and jewelry used by the
Egyptian pharaohs. Rumbling past
deep red sandstone formations with
evocative names (Solomon’s Pillars,
The Mushroom—which really looks
like a mushroom), I take a short hike
to view a bit of ancient graffiti, writ-
ing scratched into the wall by those
ancient miners.
Wadi Zin
And soon enough, I find myself
descending that cliff. The day starts
with a hike through the Wadi Zin, the
longest valley in Israel. It’s long served
as a corridor, for both people and
animals. Nabateans on the Spice Trail
from Gaza to Petra once walked here,
as did Roman traders. And storks and
flamingos still use it as a thoroughfare
 FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2021   B3

on their migrations down to Africa.

Ascending a series of steps carved into
the sandstone, next to the Zin River,
my guide explains that the caves right
beside the trail were once inhabited
by Byzantine monks 1,600 years ago.
“They considered it holy ground,” he
explains, noting that just being here,
they felt closer to God.
After biking the lip of the Ramon
Crater, I don that harness and de-
scend. Ignoring the advice of my
guide is a bad move—for a moment, I
look down, and the ground feels like
it’s a million miles away. Hanging
there for a few seconds is a remark-
able feeling, the breeze blowing, the
desert, quiet and peaceful. I’m just
getting comfortable when two fighter
jets, training for the Israeli Defense
Forces, roar just overhead. Every-
thing, even the atmosphere, seems to
shake. Adrenaline pumping, I reach
the ground, ready to do it all again.

Toronto-based writer Tim Johnson is

always traveling, in search of the next
great story. Having visited 140 coun-
tries across all seven continents, he’s
tracked lions on foot in Botswana,
dug for dinosaur bones in Mongolia,
and walked among a half-million
penguins on South Georgia Island. He
contributes to some of North Amer-
ica’s largest publications, including
CNN Travel, Bloomberg, and The
Globe and Mail. The Solomons Pillars in Timna Park, near Eilat.

A geological rock formation known as the Mushroom in Timna A coral reef in Aqaba. The Negev desert landscape.
Park.

Unmoved
Oil on canvas
Size: 29 1/2 x 39 1/2 in

Original artworks, canvas wraps,

art posters, and framed prints of
Award-winninvg oil paintings
now available for purchase at

I ns piredOrigina l.Org
B4  FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2021

NPS/ViCTOriA STAuFFeNBerg JNix/ShuTTerSTOCK

The obelisk memorial at Kings Mountain A man walks down Battlefield Trail at Kings Mountain National Military Park.
National Military Park.

Revisiting History at Kings

Mountain National Military Park
Rachael Dymski pays tribute to ordinary men who fought the mountains served, Washington said,

U
bravely for the seed of a nation in its very ‘as proof of the spirit and resources of
p a windy road lined with The battle beginnings. the country.’” These Over Mountain Men
trees in Blacksburg, South
Carolina, stands Kings
of Kings The Battle
had a stake in the land and were willing
to fight for it.
Mountain National Military Mountain is As President Herbert Hoover said dur-
Park. My children, ages 2 ing his visit to the battlefield on its 150th Visiting Kings Mountain
and 4, had begged us to stay at the near- considered anniversary in 1930: “Here less than a Today, Kings Mountain is a tranquil, sce-
by (and equally beautiful) Kings Moun- by many thousand men, inspired by the urge of nic setting, open to the public daily from
tain State Park, which had, among other freedom, defeated a superior force ... it 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The 1 1/2-mile paved path
amenities, an impressive playground. historians was a little army and a little battle, but it up to the Kings Mountain Monument
Luckily, my husband is as enthusiastic was of mighty portent. History has done was an easy one for our children to make,
a lover of history as I am, and we soon
the turning scant justice to its significance, which and the 83-foot monument at the end is
found ourselves strolling the trail at the point of the rightly should place it beside Lexington, well worth the walk. The park has other
national park, our children lost at play as Bunker Hill, Trenton, and Yorktown.” more strenuous trails available for hiking
they ran circles around us. Revolutionary The battle of Kings Mountain is con- as well.
Due to COVID-19, the visitor’s center is
currently closed, but a park ranger met
War in the sidered by many historians the turning
point of the Revolutionary War in the
As we walked, I wondered what it felt
like for the man I met earlier to retrace
us outside with some details about the South. South. In October 1780, the loyalties of the footsteps of his distant relative; to
park. As we approached, a small crowd the South were fiercely divided, some- stand on the shoulders of the man he
gathered around the ranger. I heard one times even among households. Skir- called kin but had never known face
man explain that a relative of his fought mishes between loyalists and patriots to face. It was a reminder to me that
here at Kings Mountain, and this was his erupted even as the war drew to a close. heroes, before they get their label, are
first visit to the park. I was surprised at Kings Mountain is unique in that it is ordinary men and women. This man’s
first to note the emotion in his voice as one of the few battles of the war fought relative might have fought for his family
he spoke, and then remembered that I entirely by Americans on both sides. and his property, but in doing so, he
shouldn’t have been. In August 1780, British Gen. Charles gave a gift to many of us, years later.
Parks and memorials exist to remind us Lord Cornwallis moved his troops into The men who fought at Kings Mountain
of our past, and this facet of our nation’s North Carolina. To protect his flank, he held on to an idea that was bigger than
collective past was very personal to him. sent Maj. Patrick Ferguson and 1,000 any one individual, and in doing so,
The national park at Kings Mountain men westward to stand guard. By early they gave us a significant part of our
JNix/ShuTTerSTOCK October, Ferguson received word that heritage.
(Left) The gravesite of Col. American militiamen from the Carolinas
Patrick Ferguson on Bat- and parts of Tennessee were gaining on
tlefield Trail. his men. Ferguson and his men assumed
fighting positions in the highest, most
(Below left) A plaque
commemorates the bat-
strategic place on Kings Mountain.
Despite the downhill disadvantage
Kings Mountain is
tle that took place on Oct.
7, 1780. of the Over Mountain Men, the patriot unique in that it is one
fighters surrounded and eventually over-
(Below right) Kings Moun- whelmed Ferguson’s men, whooping and of the few battles of the
tain State Park, which
borders Kings Mountain
hollering as they gained ground. In the war fought entirely by
course of battle, Ferguson was shot down
National Military Park.
Many of the parks’ trails
from his horse and died. The Loyalists Americans on both sides.
are connected. surrendered shortly thereafter, marking
a significant blow for the British forces.
What is fascinating about the Battle of Rachael Dymski is an author, florist, and
Kings Mountain is that no one general or mom to two little girls. She is currently
leader secured the victory. Historian Jack writing a novel about the German occu-
Kelly wrote that “the crude, spirited, har- pation of the Channel Islands and blogs
dy determined volunteers who crossed on her website, RachaelDymski.com
JNix/ShuTTerSTOCK NPS/ViCTOriA STAuFFeNBerg
 FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2021   B5

Enjoying the Simple Life

in Patrick County, Virginia PuBLiC DOMAiN

VicTOR BlOck

One place that my wife, Fyllis, and I visited

promised a “luxury boutique” that has won
accolades as among the best resorts in the
country. The other invited us to “experience
the simple life.”
These very different settings stretch along
the Virginia–North Carolina border. To-
gether, Patrick County, Virginia, and the
Primland resort offer an inviting getaway
with an eclectic appeal. Primland com-
bines touches of elegance with a friendly,
casual atmosphere and opportunities to
enjoy activities not found at many resorts.
The surrounding area of Patrick County
offers an immersion in a locale where people
cling proudly to their strong Appalachian
heritage and colorful past. Much of the traf-
fic in the region consists of trucks carrying
freshly downed trees, horse trailers, and an
occasional plow heading for a farm.
Country stores left over from earlier times
attracted our attention and in some cases
our cash. We were experiencing the lure
and lore of Appalachia, a place that is as
much a lifestyle as a destination.
The rambling Poor Farmers Market lives
up, and down, to its claim to be an “old-
fashioned country store.” Homemade jams,
jellies, cakes, and pies share shelf space
with bags of grits, barrels of beans, and
sacks of locally grown fruit.
1
Jams, jellies, and a taste of history tempt
those who stop at the Mayberry Trading FAMArTiN/CC BY-SA 4.0 PuBLiC DOMAiN

Post. Corncob pipes, wooden toys, and

quilt patches serve as reminders that the
store opened in 1892 and once also served
as the local post office.
Some flour sold at the Trading Post was
ground at Mabry Mill, which has been in
operation since 1905. The water-driven
gristmill is the main attraction along a
walking path that also leads to a black-
smith shop, tiny cabin, moonshine whisky
still, and early farm implements.
While most people who lived in the area
toiled and died in anonymity, Patrick
County had its share of those who went
on to become well-known. One was James
Ewell Brown Stuart, better known as Jeb.
He spent his early years on a plantation
and after graduating from the U.S. Military
Academy served in the U.S. Cavalry. When
Virginia seceded from the Union in 1861,
Stuart resigned his commission and even-
tually commanded the army of Northern 2 3
Virginia’s cavalry forces.
PuBLiC DOMAiN COurTeSY OF ViCTOr BLOCK COurTeSY OF LArrY MeTAYer/DreAMSTiMe.COM
This story is told at Stuart’s birthplace and
family home. Its 75 acres contain family graves
that date back to 1780 and a slave cemetery.
A very different type of plantation is re-
called at the Reynolds Homestead, home
of the founder of the tobacco company
that bears his name. He gained fame and
fortune as the first major marketer of ciga-
rettes. Construction of the Victorian home
began in 1843 and included a separate
kitchen, milk house, ice house, and other 4 5 6
structures that still stand. A hand-hewn
barn represents the sheds where tobacco
leaves were hung to dry. 1. Mayberry Presbyterian Church was built WHEN YOU GO
in 1925.
In addition to brick, native fieldstones were
used as construction material. Six lovely rock
Jams, jellies, and A stay at the somewhat quirky
2. A view from the Lovers Leap Overlook Uptown Suites of Stuart adds to
churches that date to the early 20th century along u.S. route 58 (Jeb Stuart highway) a taste of history the immersion in the destination.
also dot the area. The Mayberry and Slate on Spoon Mountain in Patrick County.
Mountain Presbyterian churches, the two tempt those who The five accommodations are
3. Confederate Major general J.e.B. Stuart. located on the second floor of a
I dropped by, are nearby neighbors. Those stop at the Mayberry building that was constructed in
who wish to visit all of them can follow a 4. Jack’s Creek covered bridge over the 1928 to provide office space. They
scenic backroads tour route. Smith river. Trading Post. include a living room, kitchen,
Depending upon when they make the 5. Some flour sold at the Mayberry Trading and the usual amenities. Rates
trip, visitors are treated to sounds of gospel Post in Patrick County, Va., was milled at begin at $95: 276-694-4471 or
music, which, along with other musical the famous Mabry Mill. UptownSuitesOfStuart.com
genres, play an important role in the Ap-
palachian culture. Settlers from Europe 6. Mountain music is always on offer in Pat- When it comes to dining, El Rancho
rick County, Va.
in the 18th century arrived with their in- restaurant is a favorite among
struments, dances, and songs, and a strong 7. Mabry Mill. locals seeking burritos, fajitas, and
musical tradition was born. Over time, it JOe rAVi/ShuTTerSTOCK other authentic Mexican cuisine.
evolved into bluegrass, country, and other Its lengthy menu also includes a
home-grown melodies. variety of shrimp, chicken, and
Today music is everywhere. Scheduled beef entrees ($9.95–$14.95).
performances are augmented by pop-up The atmosphere is inviting and
sessions that can occur at almost any time the waitstaff pleasant: 276-694-
and place. As Fyllis and I passed a restau- 8555 or ElRanchoInc.com
rant one afternoon in Stuart, the minuscule
county seat, four men had gathered inside The place for breakfast, early
to jam with their guitars and banjos. lunch, and some down-home
Stuart was named for the Civil War major flavor is the Coffee Break Cafe. A
general and is a stop along Virginia’s Heri- full breakfast (egg, bacon, potato,
tage Music Trail. Two sections of the tiny and pancake) costs $5, and a
town are listed on the National Register of giant-size cup of coffee is just
Historic Places. They fit comfortably into $1. The walls are covered with
a destination that combines a rich history photos of music groups, and diners
with many charms of the past. sometimes eat to the sounds of
locals taking part in an impromptu
Victor Block is a freelance writer. To read jam session: 276-694-4232.
features by other Creators Syndicate writ-
ers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syn- To learn more about Patrick
dicate website at Creators.com. Copyright County: 276-694-6094 or
7 VisitPatrickCounty.org
2021 Creators.com
B6
ERINKELLY716/SHUTTERSTOCK
Funk, Frivolity,
and Florida History
in Key West
FYLLIS HOCKMAN
K
ey West, Florida, is more than
a place. It’s a spirit, a funky
energy that enters your soul
and takes residence in your
worldview as well as your in-
ner vision. A state of mind more than a city;
One of the many roosters in Key West. a way of life more than a place to live. It’s
a lifestyle, not a destination. All expressed
DENNIS KARTENKAEMPER/SHUTTERSTOCK
in the absurdist poetry that is Key West, a
language not spoken anywhere else in
the country.
But even recognizing all this, I
didn’t fully have a grasp on the es-
sence of the town until I spotted
several older men playing bocce
ball. I asked another observer if
lawn bowling is popular because
many people of Italian descent live
in Key West.
“Oh, no,” she chuckled. “It’s popular
because you can play bocce with one
hand and hold a drink in the other.”
Welcome to Key West. Turn a corner on
a nondescript street or pass a random res-
taurant and guitar riffs assault your recep-
tive eardrums. Either that—or it’s a rooster
crowing. Actually a lot of roosters—they’re
everywhere.
Many a house bears a plaque dating to
the 1800s—and a number of other historic
markers a century earlier. Old Town, the
largest predominantly wooden-housed
historic district in the country—featuring
almost 3,000 structures—is deserving of a
truth-in-advertising award. There’s a sign
near Duval Street, the town’s epicenter,
which reads: “On this site in 1897, nothing
happened.” This is probably one of the only
spots in Key West where that’s true.
Renovated cigar factories share space
with Victorian mansions laced with gin-
gerbread trimming; upscale art galleries
Key West is the southernmost city in the continental United States. reside next to tacky T-shirt shops. Fashion,
FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2021
funk, and frivolity define the town; art and
shlock and whimsy coexist on the same bar
stool. Those stools are there in abundance,
and many claim that Ernest Hemingway,
the most famous Key West resident, oc-
cupied that seat, as well.
His home is one of the most visited sites in
the city. The tiny second-story studio where
CO U
R TESY
OF VIC T OR B
L OC
K
he wrote his memorable novels remains
exactly as he left it; photos, books, and fur-
nishings recall his life there of more than
a decade in the 1930s. Stuffed heads of
animals he shot on safari adorn the
walls. You can almost feel the pres-
ence of the quirky and fairly dis-
turbed author everywhere. Almost
as famous as Hemingway himself
was his beloved six-toed cat, Snow-
ball, dozens of whose descendants
still reside there.
An equally notable but very dif-
ferent personality also resided in Key
West, but only in the winter. Harry S.
Truman’s Little White House has its own
colorful history, with tales of lively poker
games and “loud Hawaiian shirt” contests
our 33rd president enjoyed with staff and
Ernest Hemingway’s guests.
house in Key West is one It’s also rumored that he insisted on down-
of the most-visited spots
in the city.
ing an early morning “shot of bourbon fol-
lowed by a large glass of fresh-squeezed
Florida orange juice,” allegedly on the ad-
vice of his doctor. Hemingway, an ardent
imbiber himself, would most certainly have
approved of his neighbor’s breakfast ritual,
which might have made both welcome visi-
tors at Schooner Wharf. This spot boasts the
earliest happy hour in town, beginning at
7:30 a.m. The theory is that you can’t actually
drink all day if you don’t start early.
Hemingway, a hunter of game; Truman,
a hunter of humor; Mel Fisher, a hunter of
treasure. And his own museum contains
treasures—both literal and figurative—for
the visiting public. The intrepid fortune-
Original artworks, canvas wraps,
art posters, and framed prints of
Award-winning oil paintings
now available for purchase at
I nspiredOr iginal.Org
 FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2021
hunter spent 16 years seeking the wrecks of
Spanish galleons that sank in 1622 off the
coast of Key West. The $450 million trea- Many a house
sure included more than 40 tons of gold bears a plaque
and silver as well as emeralds, Chinese
porcelain, and other precious artifacts. But dating to the
even more fascinating than the exhibits
themselves is the story of his search for 1800s—and
the valuable cache. a number of
These are the three attractions for which
Key West is most famous, but peeling back other historic
the proverbial onion proffers many more
enticing sites: the always enchanting bo-
markers a
tanical gardens; the oldest wooden house century earlier.
with its original furnishings, artifacts,
and island history dating back to 1829;
Tennessee Williams’s small cottage that
lends insight into another literary giant;
and my favorite, the Shipwreck Treasure
Museum. There you get to relive the lives
of wreckers—either those brave souls
who saved people and ships careening
off the dangerous reefs surrounding the
island or greedy pirates who pillaged the
lost treasures, depending upon your per- The Shipwreck Treasure
spective—who played an important part Museum.
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B7
COURTESY OF VICTOR BLOCK
of Key West’s vibrant history. The resulting
salvage industry is what Key West is built
on. For a time, that enterprise made the
tiny island the richest city per capita in
the United States.
For me, the best way to experience the
inimitably funky charm of the town is to
just wander the streets, laughing your way
from one T-shirt slogan to another, most of
which can’t be repeated in a family news-
paper. And should you get hungry, be sure
to stop at Blue Heaven, where in the 1930s
Hemingway, an amateur boxing aficio- Tennessee Williams’s cottage in Key West gives
nado, refereed matches—yes, he certainly insight into what motivated the popular writer.
did get around.
WANGKUN JIA/SHUTTERSTOCK
Fyllis Hockman is a freelance writer. To
read features by other Creators Syndicate
writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators
Syndicate website at Creators.com.
Copyright 2021 Creators.com
WHEN YOU GO
For more information: fla-keys.com Shops on Duval Street.
HELEN89/SHUTTERSTOCK
FOTOLUMINATE LLC/SHUTTERSTOCK
A house in the historic district of Key West.
COURTESY OF VICTOR BLOCK
The poker table at Harry S. Truman’s Little White House
in Key West is set up as if a game is about to begin.
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