NEW YOR K | DC EDITION
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In the News
NEWS
Former Minneapolis po-
lice officer Derek Chauvin
has been convicted of sec-
ond-degree murder, second-
degree manslaughter, and
third-degree murder in the
death of George Floyd. ... A3
Foster parents in California
are being asked to take in unac-
companied minors who illegally
crossed the southern border
from Central America. ...A1
Rep. Chip Roy is seeking
to force the House to vote on
keeping the Trump adminis-
tration’s anti-COVID-19 bor-
der rules. ... A7
House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi says that Rep. Max-
ine Waters shouldn’t have
to apologize for comments
calling on protesters to “get
more confrontational” over
the weekend in the event of
an acquittal in the Chauvin
trial, and sought to defend
her colleague. ... A6
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
says that lockdowns issued
amid the CCP virus outbreak
last year were a “huge mis-
take,” including those in his
own state. ... A1
Former President Donald
Trump is focused on helping
Republicans flip the House of
Representatives in 2022 but
is also mulling another presi-
dential run in 2024. ... A6
BUSINESS
In pushing for his green
energy plan, President Joe
Biden has declared war
against U.S. domestic energy
producers, one of the largest
sources of new jobs in the
country, economist Stephen
Moore says. ...A22
Although there is an up-
grade in global GDP recov-
ery, it comes mostly from
high government spending
and rising debt, while the job
recovery is much slower than
in previous cycles, economist
Daniel Lacalle says. ...A23
OPINION
John Mills: The United States
of 2 Americas...A13
Roger L. Simon: A Real (Con-
sumer) Revolution Is Starting
to Take Over Education...A15
Michael Walsh: Withdrawal
From Afghanistan Timed to Hu-
miliate US...A16
FEATURES
Our new series “What Good
Is Poetry?” looks at poems
that, once memorized, bestow
a gift: an antidote to the cyni-
cism of our age. ...B9
In “Dear Next Generation,”
a reader reflects, “History is
written and held together
by this one golden thread of
hope.” ...B6
The antibodies from natural
immunity may outlast those
from the vaccine, research
finds. ...C1
Weight gain doesn’t have
to be a source of shame, but
we do need to take steps to
improve our health. ...C4
DON’T DELAY.
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| W E D N E S DA Y, A P R I L 21, 2 0 21
Chris Buckner sits inside his son Dylan’s bedroom in Northbrook, Ill., on April 16, 2021.
The Cost of Lockdowns
A father is warning against extended lockdowns
after son took his own life
By BOWEN XIAO
N
ORTHBROOK, Ill.—Dylan
Buckner’s bedroom looks
like a typical teenager’s
room, filled with sports trophies
and plastered with posters of
football stars.
Chris Buckner, Dylan’s father,
points to photos and toys of chee-
tahs, saying Dylan liked the ani-
mals because of their speed. He on April 16, 2021.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis during a meeting at the governor’s office in Tallahassee,
Fla., on April 1, 2021.
EXCLUSIVE
Florida Gov. DeSantis Says
Lockdowns Were a ‘Huge Mistake’
By IVAN PENTCHOUKOV & JAN JEKIELEK
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued
a statewide stay-at-home order on
April 1 last year, locking down the
Sunshine State for 30 days amid
global panic about the CCP (Chinese
Communist Party) virus outbreak.
Sitting in his office exactly one year
later, he told The Epoch Times that
the lockdowns were a “huge mis-
take,” including in his own state.
“We wanted to mitigate the dam-
HUMAN RIGHTS
Standing for
Justice: A Peaceful
Appeal in China
That Made History
By EVA FU
NEW YORK—It was a gray day like
any other in Beijing when Zhang
Yijie, a division head at Ministry of
Foreign Trade and Economics Coop-
eration, got back home from a month-
long business trip to Germany.
Continued on A10
Accuracy The Epoch Times was founded in 2000 as an independent newspaper with the goal to restore accuracy and
integrity in media. We have received numerous awards for our reporting, including from the Society of Professional
& Integrity Journalists, the Society for News Design, and the New York Press Association.
Truth & Tradition VOL . X V I I I | NO. 2,944 $3.
BORDER SECURITY
SAMIRA BOUAOU/THE EPOCH TIMES
Foster Parents
Asked to Take in
Unaccompanied
Minors From
Central America
By CHARLOTTE CUTHBERTSON
Foster parents in California are be-
ing asked if they can take in unac-
companied Central American chil-
dren who have recently crossed the
southern border.
Automated emails and phone
calls from the state’s Community
Care Licensing Division (CCLD)
have asked foster parents if they
can take anywhere from one to 26
or more children.
Continued on A3
HOME DELIVERY ADDRESS :
PANDEMIC
SAMIRA BOUAOU/THE EPOCH TIMES
gestures to a large model of a fish,
a life-sized replica of the first one
he caught with Dylan.
Almost everything in the room
has been left untouched since
Dylan’s death three months
ago—an attempt by his parents
to preserve his memory.
On Jan. 7, the 18-year-old took
Chris Buckner holds a photo of his son his own life due to depression ex-
Dylan, at his home in Northbrook, Ill., acerbated by the state’s pandemic
Continued on A8
THE EPOCH TIMES FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
EDUCATION
Parents Organize
to Push Back
Against Critical
Race Theory
Parents blame the Chinese soldiers in Beijing, in this
quasi-Marxist theory file photo.
for crating a toxic CCP THREAT
environment in schools
B y PETR SVAB
Beijing Waging
American parents are increasingly
‘Political Warfare’
putting their heads together to find
ways to block the spread of the qua-
Against the West,
si-Marxist critical race theory (CRT) Expert Warns
in the schools where they send their
children. B y CATHY HE
They see the doctrine as a culprit
in creating a toxic environment and Propaganda. Censorship. Disin-
exacerbating problems it claims to
ameliorate. School officials have
formation. Espionage. Blackmail.
Bribes. Sexual enticement. Coer-
age. Now, in hindsight, the 15 days to been responding with silence and cion. Assassination. Kidnapping.
slow the spread and the 30—it didn’t denials, saying, for instance, that Physical attacks. Gang violence.
work,” DeSantis said. “We shouldn’t CRT isn’t used in their schools Cyber attacks. Malign influence
have gone down that road.” while expressing the underlying campaigns.
Florida’s lockdown order was no- tenets of the ideology under a dif- These are just some of the weapons
tably less strict than some of the ferent name. used by the Chinese Communist
stay-at-home measures imposed CRT has been spreading through- Party (CCP) in its all-encompassing
in other states. Recreational activ- out academia, entertainment, gov- war against the free world, accord-
ities like walking, biking, playing ernment, schools, and corpora- ing to Kerry Gershaneck, author of
golf, and beachgoing were allowed, tions. It redefines human history the 2020 book “Political Warfare:
while what constituted an “essential as a struggle between the “oppres- Strategies for Combating China’s
business” was broadly defined. sors” (white people) and the “op- Plan to ‘Win Without Fighting.’”
Continued on A4 pressed” (everybody else), similarly Continued on A11
to Marxism’s reduction of history to
CHUNG I HO/THE EPOCH TIMES
a struggle between the “bourgeoi-
sie” and the “proletariat.” It labels US-CHINA
institutions that emerged in major-
ity-white societies as “systemically”
BILL TO PROTECT US
WORKERS FROM CHINA
or “structurally” racist.
Many parents have missed CRT
entering their children’s schools
“For decades,,
because it usually comes dressed
up as “equity,” “anti-racist,” or China’s unfairr
“culturally responsive” initiatives. trade practices
es
have cost
It has given rise to an industry of countless
speakers, trainers, and consultants U.S. jobs
who get paid to diagnose an organi- and hurt our
zation as “systemically racist,” then economy,”
get paid more to prescribe the rem- Sen. Rob
edy (CRT-based initiatives), and Portman said.
d.
Falun Gong practitioner Zhang Yijie in then get paid again to implement Read more on n A6
New York on April 18, 2021. Continued on A7
A2 | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021

NEWS BRIEFS
IMAGES BY SHUTTERSTOCK; PHOTOS BY GETTY IMAGES; AP; INSTAGRAM; THE EPOCH TIMES

Capitol Police Officer Sicknick

SUPREME COURT Died of Natural Causes From
Strokes After Capitol Breach:
Dear reader, Declines GOP Challenge to Medical Examiner

A
Pennsylvania Ballot Rules U.S. Capitol Police officer
year of lock-
The Supreme Court has declined to hear a lawsuit Brian Sicknick suffered two
down measures strokes and died of natural
in different regarding a Pennsylvania voting dispute nearly six
months after the Nov. 3, 2020, election. causes a day after the Jan.
parts of the 6 Capitol breach, Fran-
country has taken its toll. The court rejected an appeal from a Republican
congressional candidate’s unsuccessful challenge of cisco J. Diaz, chief medical
While much has been said about the economic examiner for Washington,
Pennsylvania’s mail-in ballot initiatives, which is the
impact of the lockdowns, one tragic conse- final Nov. 3-related lawsuit to be dismissed related to told The Washington Post,
quence that has been largely overlooked is the the state’s voting laws. ending speculation that he
impact on our younger generations. was beaten to death by Trump supporters.
In this week’s edition, you will read about Diaz said that Sicknick died Jan. 7 after suffering
Chris Buckner from Northbrook, Illinois, whose two strokes and didn’t suffer from an allergic reac-
tion after being sprayed with chemical irritants as
18-year-old son, Dylan, committed suicide ear-
he engaged with the crowd, Diaz said.
lier this year. The examiner said he found no evidence of inter-
Buckner blames the prolonged strict lockdown nal or external injuries.
measures for the depression that caused his son
to take his own life.
“I think if the stricter lockdown portions of White House Walks Back State-
it would have been shorter ... and if kids had ment on Mexico, Guatemala, and
been allowed to play football like they were in Honduras Agreements
so many other states, I think that Dylan would
The Biden administration has shifted its portrayal
still be here,” Buckner said. Read the full story
of ongoing discussions with Mexico, Guatemala, and
starting on A1. Honduras, acknowledging no formal agreements
As the crisis on the southern border continues, were reached on those countries building up their
foster parents in California are being asked to forces at their respective borders.
take in unaccompanied minors that illegally FDA Orders J&J Contractor to White House press secretary Jen Psaki told report-
crossed the border. Pause Vaccine Production ers in Washington: “We never described it as a formal
“We were outraged. They’re literally going to Emergent BioSolutions, which has a contract to declaration or a formal agreement, but additional steps
use the foster system to facilitate human traf- manufacture bulk drug substance for Johnson that they were taking to increase personnel at the bor-
ficking,” one foster parent in California told The & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, said in an SEC der. And those are steps you can
Epoch Times. Read the full story starting on A1. filing that the Food and Drug Administration re- confirm with those countries
And in an exclusive interview with The Epoch quested a pause in production of any new material that they have taken.”
at its Bayview facility in Baltimore, which has had Earlier, Psaki said it
Times, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis talks about
previous contamination mishaps. The FDA also requested was fair to say that
his state’s handling of the CCP virus pandemic agreements with
that existing vaccine substances be put into quarantine while
and how he believes the lockdowns were a “huge the three coun-
regulators carry out an inspection.
mistake.” Read the full interview starting on A1. tries had been

170,000
struck recently,
Jasper Fakkert in the past
Editor-in-chief few weeks.

MASKS
Customs and Border Protection has stopped a shipment
of more than 170,000 counterfeit N95 masks from China
with an estimated retail price of almost $350,000, the
agency said.

Trump Ally Vernon Jones San Francisco Overdose Deaths in

Announces Run for
We can and should Georgia Governor
get out earlier. Democrat-turned-Republican and for-
Nineteen years is mer Georgia state Rep. Vernon Jones
announced a 2022 bid for governor
enough, in fact, far of the state against incumbent Gov.
too much and way Brian Kemp, who lost favor with former
President Donald Trump and many in
too long. the Republican Party over his state’s
handling of the Nov. 3 presidential
Former President Donald Trump,
election.
saying in a statement that
President Joe Biden’s decision to
keep U.S. troops in Afghanistan Michigan Expands Mask
past the May 1 deadline agreed
upon by the Trump administration
is the wrong one.
Requirement to Children
as Young as 2
2020 Far Outpaced COVID-19 Deaths
Almost three times as many people died from
accidental drug overdoses in San Francisco
in 2020 than from the CCP (Chinese Com-
munist Party) virus, according to preliminary
data released by the city’s office of the Chief
Medical Examiner.
A total of 713 people died from drug over-
doses in the city in 2020 compared to 255
who died from the CCP virus, commonly known as the novel
coronavirus.
$2 MILLION
The Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against
Biden Administration Orders
Halt to Use of Term ‘Illegal Alien’
The White House has ordered officials in Immi-
gration and Customs Enforcement, and Customs
and Border Protection, to stop using several terms
including “illegal alien."
Terms that are to be changed include “alien,”
which will now be “noncitizen” or “migrant”; “unac-
companied alien children” will be “noncitizen unac-
companied children”; “undocumented alien” will be
“undocumented noncitizen,” “undocumented indi-
vidual,” or simply “migrant”; and “illegal alien” will
be “undocumented noncitizen,” “undocumented
individual,” or simply “migrant.”
“Assimilation” has been changed to “integration,”
or “civic integration,” according to memos obtained
by The Epoch Times, while “immigrant assimilation”

$1.6
veteran political operative Roger Stone and his wife to is now “immigrant integration.”
recover nearly $2 million in unpaid taxes and interest.

Blinken Defends Biden’s Decision

BILLION
MyPillow has sued Dominion
Voting Systems for $1.6 billion,
asserting that the election
technology company unlawfully
interfered with the free speech
rights of CEO Mike Lindell.
Michigan officials have ordered chil-
dren as young as 2 to wear masks.
Under the previous version of the
state’s Gatherings and Mask epidemic
order, children under 5 were exempt
from masking requirements.
The expanded mandate takes effect
on April 26.
Democrats Propose
Ban on Gun Silencers
Democratic lawmakers
have introduced legisla-
tion to ban the sale and
possession of firearm suppressors,
known as silencers.
to Maintain Trump-Era Refugee
National Police Association Caps Until May
Spokesperson on Ashli
Babbitt’s Jan. 6 Death
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in an interview
with ABC on April 18, defended the Biden admin-
istration’s decision to maintain Trump-era refugee
Sgt. Betsy Smith, spokesperson for the National caps amid capacity constraints.
Police Association, said that the American public “It’s going to be very hard to meet the 62,000 this
deserves to know more about the fatal shooting of fiscal year,” Blinken said of
U.S. Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt during the Jan. 6 the Biden administra-
Capitol breach. tion’s earlier goal for
Smith said that Babbitt was wrong in being part of the group refugee admissions,
that entered the Capitol, but that the message the Department after being asked about
of Justice sent by choosing not to prosecute the officer who
killed her shows a double standard.
the April 16 directive to
keep the Trump ad-
ministration’s
cap of 15,000.
If you get a vaccine, the vaccines

20,000 MINORS
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and are effective, you’re immune,
Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) and so, act immune.
said that the 2021 Help Empower
It’s past time to Americans to Respond Act would ban Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, telling a
the sale, importation, manufacturing, crowd in Lakeland, Florida, that people
bust up Big Tech and possession of silencers. who have been fully vaccinated against
companies, restore The measure will also create a si- the CCP virus shouldn’t have to worry
lencer buyback program, give Amer- about wearing masks anymore.
competition, and icans a 90-day period after the bill
give power back becomes law, and it would provide
exceptions for law enforcement and
to the American other personnel.
consumers.
Sen. Josh Hawley, in a statement,
about why he introduced an
antitrust bill that would ban
Amazon and Google from running
$1.7 BILLION
The Biden administration says that More than 20,000 children, mostly from Central
an online marketplace and it is giving states $1.7 billion to track America, are currently being held in facilities
simultaneously selling goods on variants of the CCP (Chinese Com- operated by Health and Human Services at a
that marketplace. munist Party) virus. taxpayer cost of at least $60 million per week.
 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021 NATION | A3
CHARLOTTE CUTHBERTSON/THE EPOCH TIMES

Foster Parents
Asked to Take in
Unaccompanied
Minors From
Central America
Parents express concern
over enabling child
trafficking industry,
displacing American
foster children
CONTINUED FROM A1

Travis and Sharla Kall received a voice

message and then a follow-up email in mid-
March with the request. A group of illegal immigrants is processed by Border Patrol after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in La Joya, Texas, on April 10, 2021.
“At first, it was just strange,” Travis Kall told CHARLOTTE CUTHBERTSON/THE EPOCH TIMES

The Epoch Times. He thought it was a mis-

take until Diandra Causey, a friend and also
a foster parent, confirmed with her agency
that it was a request to foster unaccompa-
nied minors who had recently crossed the
border illegally.
“We were outraged. They’re literally going
to use the foster system to facilitate human
trafficking,” he said.
Causey’s agency sent her a confirmation
email stating that CCLD is “trying to ad-
dress the needs of a record number of unac-
companied children who are arriving from
Central America, who are escaping impos-
sible situations such as poverty, violence,
and natural disasters.”
The email, which The Epoch Times ob-
tained, adds that the agency will compile a Illegal immigrants wait for Border Patrol after crossing the U.S.–Mexico border in La Joya, Texas, on April 10, 2021.
list of its families and hopes to partner with JACQUELINE JONES

the California Department of Social Services
“in this endeavor.”
Unaccompanied minors—children under
18 who cross the border without a parent or
guardian—have traditionally fallen under
the purview of the Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS) after being pro-
cessed by Border Patrol.
During influxes of unaccompanied mi-
nors, HHS has operated as a proxy foster
system, charged with placing children with
a parent or sponsor in the United States—
most often a parent or close family relative
who already is in the country illegally.
On April 10, The Epoch Times talked to two
boys from Honduras who had just crossed
the U.S.–Mexico border into La Joya, Texas.
One said he was 17, the other 13; they said
their father was in South Carolina. Another
group included a girl, 16, and two boys, aged
14 and 7; they said they were from Honduras
and their father was in Houston.
“Parents living here will hire a criminal
organization to bring their child into the
country,” former Acting ICE Director Tom
Homan told The Epoch Times. He criticized
the Biden administration for facilitating
18,000 family separations in March by dis-
mantling border security measures.
The number of unaccompanied minors
crossing the border illegally hit a record
monthly high in March, with 18,663 children
apprehended by Border Patrol—more than
double that of February. April is projected to
be higher still.
“We know 31 percent of women had been
assaulted making that trip. We know chil-
dren have been assaulted, we know there’s
children in the hands of criminal cartels, we
know what happens to them ... and it’s just
a travesty,” Homan said.
By law, unaccompanied minors can’t
be returned to their home country unless
they’re Mexican or Canadian nationals
(from contiguous countries).
The foster system, however, has usually
Sharla and Travis Kall.
They’re literally
going to use the
foster system to
facilitate human
trafficking.
Travis Kall,
foster parent, California
been reserved for American children who
are in dire circumstances and don’t have a
parent to look after them.
“That’s why they’re there, because they are
in terrible situations,” Travis’s wife, Sharla
Kall, told The Epoch Times. “They’re sitting
in a home being neglected. Perhaps, they’re
in a home with domestic violence, perhaps
they’re in a home with drug abuse.”
She said foster parents are being placed
“between a rock and a hard place” because
there are currently 30,000 American chil-
dren in the Los Angeles County foster system
waiting for placement.
“We have children that are in horrible
conditions right here, right here in our own
neighborhoods,” she said. “Someone loses
a bed and it’s not fair.”
The majority of unaccompanied minors
entering the United States are between the
ages of 12 and 17, which is also the most
difficult age group for finding foster care
placements.
The California Department of Social Ser-
vices said it sent out the initial survey to
licensed children’s residential facilities in
response to a request from HHS. The depart-
ment declined to respond to an Epoch Times
query asking how many Central American
minors it’s trying to place in foster care.
The Kalls both said they believe they’d be
fueling the human trafficking trade if they
participated in the new initiative.
“Do I want to help them, yes. But I want to
know why they’re really here. I find it hard
to believe that someone didn’t traffic them
here,” Sharla Kall said. “There’s no way that
all of these kids came voluntarily. I can’t
fathom that. Not in the world that we live in,
not when human trafficking is a $150-plus-
billion industry.”
Once an unaccompanied minor is placed
into the foster system, they’re automatical-
ly on a fast track to citizenship through a
special immigrant juvenile status. The SIJ
status provides a green card to individuals
and entitles them to qualify for state spon-
sored programs, financial aid, transitional
housing, and other supportive programs,
according to the Los Angeles County Social
Services website.
“If you’re going to have the American peo-
ple and their tax dollars supporting these
children, then we deserve to know the plan.
We deserve to know, are you throwing them
into this special immigration status? Is that
your goal?” Sharla Kall said. “Show me the
plan and we will do it, because we are a
great country and we are a great people.
And we do care. But we deserve to know
exactly what’s happening. So that we can
properly help.”
Currently, the administration is spending
at least $60 million per week on detaining
more than 20,000 unaccompanied minors.
The Kalls, who are currently fostering
4-month-old twins, also run a nonprofit
organization, Goods for Hope, that fights
human trafficking.
“They’re asking us to participate in the very
thing that we’re fighting against,” Travis Kall
said of the foster agency.
“American citizens need to call their con-
gressmen and senators and tell them they
don’t want their money going to human
trafficking.”

Derek Chauvin Found Guilty on All Charges in Death of George Floyd

ZACHARY STIEBER
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek
Chauvin was convicted on April 20 on all
three counts in the death of George Floyd.
Jurors spent about eight hours and 20
minutes deliberating over two days be-
fore convicting Chauvin of second-degree
murder, third-degree murder, and second-
degree manslaughter. He faces up to 75
years in prison.
Traffic camera footage showed numer-
ous vehicles exiting downtown Minne-
apolis just before the verdict was read,
amid fears of fresh riots, though a sizable
crowd gathered around the Hennepin
County Courthouse, where the verdict
was read.
Floyd, 46, died on May 25, 2020, after be-
ing restrained by Chauvin and two other
officers. He had been taken into custody
on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill
at a nearby convenience store but refused
to be placed into a patrol car.
Floyd was pinned on the ground by
Chauvin and the other officers next to the
car and steps away from the store where
he allegedly committed the crime.
Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck and back
for nine minutes and 29 seconds. Floyd
complained that he couldn’t breathe and
eventually stopped breathing. He was
rushed by ambulance to a hospital, where
he was pronounced dead.
Chauvin, 45, joined the Minneapolis
Police Department in 2001. He was fired
along with three other officers involved
in the arrest of Floyd the day after the in-
cident. Former officers Tou Thao, Thomas
Lane, and Alexander Kueng are scheduled
to go on trial later this year on charges of
aiding and abetting murder.
Floyd’s death sparked protests and riots
across the country. More than 1,000 build-
ings were burned or otherwise damaged
in Minneapolis alone during the unrest.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz declared an
emergency on April 19 because of con-
cerns about potential fresh rioting.
During the trial, jurors heard from a se-
ries of experts who testified that Floyd died
from asphyxia, or lack of oxygen.
“A healthy person subjected to what Mr.
Floyd was subjected to would have died
as a result of what he was subjected to,”
Dr. Martin Tobin, a lung specialist at the
Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital and Loyola
University’s medical school in Chicago,
told the trial.
Dr. Andrew Baker, Hennepin County
medical examiner, concluded that Floyd’s
death was a homicide as a result of car-
diopulmonary arrest in the context of law
enforcement. The fentanyl and metham-
phetamines detected in Floyd’s body in the
autopsy, in addition to his health history,
contributed to the death, the medical ex-
aminer’s office found.
“It was the stress of that interaction that
tipped him over the edge, given his under-
lying heart disease and his toxicological
status,” Baker told the court.
A4 | NATION
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in his office in Tallahassee, Fla., on April 1, 2021.
Florida Gov. DeSantis
Says Lockdowns Were a
‘Huge Mistake’
CONTINUED FROM A1
“Our economy kept going,” DeSantis said.
“It was much different than what you saw
in some of those lockdown states.”
However, the governor now regrets issu-
ing the order at all and is convinced that
states that have carried on with lockdowns
are perpetuating a destructive blunder.
After the initial 30-day lockdown in Flor-
ida lapsed, DeSantis commenced a phased
reopening. He faced fierce criticism at each
stage from establishment media, as well
as segments of his own constituency be-
holden to the lockdown narrative.
The governor fully reopened Florida on
Sept. 25, 2020. When cases began to rise
as part of the winter surge, he didn’t re-
impose any restrictions. While lockdown
proponents forecasted doom and gloom,
DeSantis stood his ground.
The governor’s persistence wasn’t a leap
of faith. Less than two weeks after Florida’s
full reopening in late September, scientists
from Stanford, Harvard, and Oxford uni-
versities went public with the Great Bar-
rington Declaration, which disavowed
lockdowns as a destructive and futile miti-
gation measure. The declaration, which
has since been signed by 13,985 medical
and public health scientists, calls on public
officials to adopt the focused protection
approach—the exact strategy employed
by DeSantis.
Despite dire predictions about the pan-
demic in Florida, DeSantis has been vin-
dicated. On April 1, Florida ranked 27th
among all states in deaths per capita from
the CCP virus, commonly known as CO-
VID-19.
The ranking’s significance is amplified
because the Sunshine State’s population
is the sixth oldest in the United States by
median age. California—the lockdown
CLIFF HAWKINS/GETTY IMAGES
Signage indicates that the beach is temporarily
closed, in Miami Beach’s South Pointe Park on
July 4, 2020.
EXCLUSIVE
THE EPOCH TIMES
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis state often compared to Florida due to its
listens to a report lower per-capita death rate—is the sixth
from a member of his youngest. The risk of dying from the CCP
administration during a virus is highest for people over 55, with the
meeting at the governor’s group accounting for 93 percent of deaths
office in Tallahassee, Fla., nationwide.
on April 1, 2021.
While Florida is either performing better
or relatively the same as the strict lock-
down states in terms of CCP virus mor-
talities, the state’s economy is booming
compared to the crippled economies in
California and New York.
They weren’t Though less quantifiable, the human
suffering from lockdown-related suicides,
going to open mental health issues, postponed medical
this stuff up treatments, and opioid deaths is undeni-
unless I pried ably immense.
“It’s been a huge, huge mistake in terms
it open. of policy,” DeSantis said on April 1.
Florida Gov. “All I had to do was follow the data and
Ron DeSantis just be willing to go forward into the teeth
of the narrative and fight the media.
“As people were beating up on me, what
I said was I’d rather them beat up on me
than have someone lose their job. I’d rather
have them beat up on me than have kids
locked out of school. I’m totally willing to
OCTAVIO JONES/GETTY IMAGES
A worker makes cigars at Nicahabana Cigars in Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis poses for a photo with attendees at the Clay County
Tampa, Fla., on June 26, 2020. Fair on April 1, 2020.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021
take whatever heat comes our way because
we’re doing the right thing.”
‘Don’t Let Them Roll Over Us’
The Epoch Times spent a day embedded
with DeSantis as he crisscrossed the state
on April 1, jetting southeast from the seat
of state government in Tallahassee to a
press conference in Titusville and then
back north to the Clay County Fair on the
outskirts of Jacksonville.
Across dozens of encounters with Florid-
ians from all walks of life, one trend persist-
ed: People thanked DeSantis for his work
and his policies. Business owners praised
him for not shutting them down.
Chris Allen, the owner of Java Jitters,
opened a coffee shop in Orange Park Mall
during the pandemic.
“We could not have done that if it wasn’t
for Ron DeSantis,” Allen told The Epoch
Times after personally thanking the gov-
ernor during an encounter at the Clay
County Fair.
At the time of the interview, Florida’s
unemployment rate was 4.7 percent com-
pared to 6.2 percent nationally. Lockdown
states like New York, New Jersey, Penn-
sylvania, and California had some of the
highest rates in the country—8.9 percent,
7.8 percent, 7.3 percent, and 8.5 percent
respectively.
“I have a tough time paying for a meal in
Florida just because I saved a lot of these
restaurants from oblivion,” DeSantis said.
Hours after this claim, a curly fries stand
at the fair declined to charge the governor.
DeSantis said some people get emotional
when they meet him. Several of the interac-
tions with the governor at the Clay County
Fair resembled that description. A visibly
moved elderly veteran urged the governor
to not “let them roll over us.”
“If we hadn’t stood up, these people may
not have jobs, the businesses may have
gone under, the kids wouldn’t be in school,
there’d be all these things,” DeSantis said.
“This really, really impacts people in a very
personal way. And I don’t think anything
prior to COVID that I’ve seen in politics
can quite do it on this level. And it’s really
unfortunate that there were governors that
had power [who did] the opposite. It really
shouldn’t depend on the governor.”
Reopening the state wasn’t as easy for
DeSantis as lifting his own stay-at-home
measures. When he issued the final re-
opening order in late September 2020,
he signed a companion order prohibiting
local Florida governments from restrict-
ing people from working or operating a
IVAN PENTCHOUKOV/THE EPOCH TIMES
 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021
SCREENSHOT VIA THE EPOCH TIMES
business. The order had far-reaching con-
sequences across the state, especially in
densely populated, liberal-leaning locales
where the local authorities imposed their
own strict measures.
DeSantis adopted a hands-off approach
to local regulations at first, thinking that
voters would ultimately hold local authori-
ties responsible. It eventually became obvi-
ous that some places within the state would
choose to remain locked down, despite the
data showing that doing so would have no
positive impact on the spread of the virus.
“They weren’t going to open this stuff up
unless I pried it open,” DeSantis said.
“We had the data. We talked to some of
the best scientists in the country,” he said,
referring to Martin Kulldorff from Harvard,
Jayanta Bhattacharya from Stanford, and
Sunetra Gupta from Oxford. “Every Florid-
ian has a right to work. Every business has
a right to operate.”
In areas that were forced to reopen as a
result, the economies are now booming
with new hotels and restaurants opening,
DeSantis said.
DeSantis received a law degree from Har-
vard and is a textualist when interpreting
the Constitution. He believes barring the
local authorities from placing restrictions
on the people and businesses of Florida
was squarely within his authority.
“You can’t have 67 different minimum
wages, or 67 different regulations on ho-
tels. We are one state economy, and we
need to have certain rules of the road,”
DeSantis said.
‘They Are Never Going to Admit They
Were Wrong’
Standing behind the desk in his office in
Tallahassee, DeSantis leafed through a
folder of praise he’s received from around
People stand in line to enter a restaurant on Ocean Drive in Miami Beach, Fla., on June 26, 2020.
the nation and across the globe. Hanging
on the walls around the relatively small
space were a portrait of Abraham Lincoln
and copies of the Constitution and the
Bill of Rights, as well as the uniform the
governor wore as the captain of the Yale
baseball team.
When asked why he chose Lincoln, De-
Santis said the president is the best exam-
ple of a leader who had to make difficult
decisions in a time of crisis. When asked
why some of the leaders of today have
continued with lockdowns—even with
ample evidence of their ineffectiveness—
the governor theorized that the people
involved have committed too much to the
narrative and have made it impossible to
change course.
“You have a situation where if you’re in
this field, the pandemic, that’s something
that you kind of prepare for and you’re
ready for,” said DeSantis. “And a lot of these
people muffed it.
“When push came to shove, they ad-
vocated policies that have not worked
against the virus but have been very, very
destructive. They are never going to admit
they were wrong about anything, unfor-
tunately.”
Elected leaders aren’t the only ones to
blame, according to the governor. The me-
dia and big tech companies played a major
role in perpetuating fears about the virus
while selectively censoring one side of the
mitigation debate. DeSantis said the me-
dia and tech giants stood to benefit from
the lockdown as people stayed home and
consumed their products.
“It was all just to generate the most clicks
that they could. And so that was always
trying to do the stuff that would inspire
the most fear,” DeSantis said.
The fear-mongering worked, DeSantis
said, pointing to CDC statistics showing
that 4 out of 10 American adults delayed or
avoided getting urgent or routine medical
treatment in June 2020. The agency’s report
said that the pattern may have contributed
to the excess deaths reported during that
period, due to preventable illnesses and
injuries going untreated.
Emergency room doctors have reported
that fewer people were coming in with
cardiac-related chest pains, while more
were coming in with late-stage appen-
dicitis, something that is usually caught
much earlier. The pandemic has also led
to a sharp decrease in cancer screenings
and detections.
As people were beating up
on me, what I said was I’d
rather them beat up on me
than have someone lose
their job.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
“When you have people too scared to
go to the emergency room when they’re
literally having a heart attack, that didn’t
happen in a vacuum,” DeSantis said. “Cor-
porate media played a role in that, by really
whipping up people into a frenzy.”
The profit motive wasn’t the only factor
potentially driving the media’s slanted cov-
erage, according to the governor. The pan-
demic hit the United States in an election
year, presenting an opportunity to heap
the blame on President Donald Trump.
“They viewed it as an opportunity to dam-
age Trump. Obviously, they hated Trump
more than anything,” DeSantis said.
‘Council of Censors’
In the April 1 interview, DeSantis criticized
big tech companies for censoring critics
of lockdowns. Less than a week after the
interview, the governor himself became
the victim of censorship. YouTube, without
warning, scrubbed videos of a roundtable
discussion between DeSantis and promi-
nent scientists from Harvard, Oxford, and
Stanford who assessed that lockdowns are
ineffective.
The American Institute for Economic
Research (AIER) was the first to flag the
video’s disappearance. The original clip
is now hosted on a different platform, ap-
pearing along with a full transcript on the
AIER website.
“Google and YouTube have not been,
throughout this pandemic, repositories
of truth and scientific inquiry, but instead
have acted as enforcers of a narrative, a
big tech council of censors in service of
the ruling elite,” DeSantis said in response
to YouTube’s censorship during an April
12 video conference call with three of the
scientists from the banned video.
“When they took down the video ... they
were really continuing what they’ve been
doing for the past year. [They] stifle debate,
short-circuit scientific inquiry, make sure
that the narrative is not questioned. And
I think that we’ve seen already that that
has had catastrophic consequences for
our society.”
The takedown of the video suggests that
Big Tech intends to keep exercising the
awesome power it directed against Trump
in the closing days of the previous admin-
istration. Twitter and Facebook banned
the president, cutting off a direct line of
communication between the commander
in chief and tens of millions of Americans.
DeSantis thinks that the power monopo-
lies have now is far more extensive than
what the United States witnessed at the
turn of the century.
“What we’ve seen with the Big Tech and
the censorship, they are exercising more
power than the monopolies at the begin-
ning of the 20th century ever could have
exercised,” the governor said. “The type of
power that they’re exercising now, in some
respects, is even more profound than the
type of power that government typically
exercises.”
No End in Sight
Desantis believes lockdown states may
never fully reopen because their leaders
have invested so heavily in the narrative—
and the voters have grown fearful.
While restrictions are easing across the
nation, only six states, including Florida,
have fully reopened, according to a track-
er maintained by USA Today. Eight states
never issued a stay-at-home order.
“I think if your goal is no cases, then there
may never be an end to it, because you’re
never gonna have zero COVID,” DeSantis
said, adding that a more pragmatic goal
would be to aim toward a hospitalization
rate indicative of a respiratory virus en-
demic.
“But I don’t know that they’re willing to
accept that reality. I think they’re going
to try to have no cases at all, which would
basically mean there would never be a full
end to these policies, which is scary.”
This article is the first in a series based
on interviews conducted with Gov. Ron
DeSantis and senior members of his
cabinet in early April 2021.
CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
NATION | A5
Parler Says
It Will Return
to Apple’s
App Store
Next Week
JANITA KAN
Parler said on April 19 that it plans
to make a comeback on the Apple
App Store next week after Apple
said it has approved several pro-
posed changes that would lead to
the social media app’s reinstate-
ment.
Parler’s anticipated return to
the Apple ecosystem comes after
months of communication be-
tween the two companies, Parler
said. As a result, the social media
company has crafted new safe-
guards that will help it detect posts
that don’t fall “within the protec-
tions of the First Amendment.”
The version of Parler that can be
downloaded by Apple users will
differ from the web-based and An-
droid versions of Parler. The Apple
version won’t show some posts that
are acceptable under Parler policy
but prohibited by Apple.
OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
The Apple version of Parler will not
show some posts that are acceptable
under Parler policy but prohibited by
Apple.
“Parler has and will always be a
free and open forum where users
could engage in the free exchange
of ideas in the full spirit of the First
Amendment to the United States
Constitution,” Mark Meckler, Par-
ler’s interim CEO, said in a state-
ment.
“We have worked to put in place
systems that will better detect un-
lawful speech and allow users to
filter content undesirable to them,
while maintaining our strict prohi-
bition against content moderation
based on viewpoint.”
Apple responded to a letter from
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rep.
Ken Buck (R-Colo.), telling the
lawmakers that it agreed to bring
Parler back on its App Store after
the platform made changes to the
way it moderates user content.
“Parler has proposed updates to
its app and the app’s content mod-
eration practices, and the App Re-
view Team has informed Parler as
of April 14, 2021, that its proposed
updated app will be approved for
reinstatement to the App Store,”
Apple wrote in the letter.
“Apple anticipates that the up-
dated Parler app will become
available immediately upon Parler
releasing it.”
Big Tech companies sought to
terminate the platform’s opera-
tion following the breach at the
U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Apple and
Google dropped Parler from their
app stores while Amazon removed
the platform from its web hosting
service. All three companies took
issue with the company’s alleged
lax approach to removing violent
content posted by its users, and
“repeated violations” of their terms
of service related to that type of
content.
Parler denied the claims and
argued that the tech companies
had colluded against it, while not
taking any action against competi-
tors such as Twitter and Facebook,
which had similar content on their
platforms regarding the events of
Jan. 6. Parler also sued Amazon for
a breach of contract, defamation,
and anticompetitive behavior.
In a statement to The Associated
Press, Google said on April 19 that
“Parler is welcome back in the Play
store once it submits an app that
complies with our policies.”
A6 | NATION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021

CHARLOTTE CUTHBERTSON/THE EPOCH TIMES

Pelosi Says Waters Shouldn’t Apologize

for Comments on Chauvin Trial
CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES
JANITA KAN

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

(D-Calif.) says that Rep. Maxine
Waters (D-Calif.) doesn’t have to Then-President Donald Trump at a
apologize for comments calling campaign rally in the BOK Center in
on protesters to “get more con- Tulsa, Okla., on June 19, 2020.
frontational” over the weekend
should an acquittal be handed
down for a former Minneapolis Trump ‘Very
police officer over the death of
George Floyd, and sought to de-
Seriously’
fend her colleague. Considering 2024
In response to a reporter’s
question on whether Waters
Run, Plans to Help
should apologize for the re- GOP in 2022
marks, Pelosi said no. “Maxine
talked about confrontation in the ZACHARY STIEBER
manner of the civil rights move-
ment,” she said. Former President Donald Trump
“I myself think we should take is focused on helping Republicans
our lead from the George Floyd flip the House of Representatives
family. They’ve handled this in 2022 but is also mulling another
with great dignity and no ambi- presidential run two years later.
guity or ... misinterpretation by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) (2nd L) and House Democratic leaders, including Rep. Maxine “We are going to help with the
the other side. No, I don’t think Waters (D-Calif.) (R), talk to reporters at the White House on Feb. 5, 2021. House. I think we have a really
she should apologize.” good chance. I’m working with
When pressed further on to comment directly on the con- get their own house in order and everybody, including [House Re-
whether Waters’s comment could gresswoman’s actions. Instead, tamp down on the vile rhetoric.” publican Leader] Kevin McCarthy,
incite violence, Pelosi replied, Psaki spoke generally about pro- Maxine talked Pelosi told reporters that she in taking back the House. I think
“No, absolutely not.” tests, saying that it’s “the most about confronta- believes McClain should apolo- we have a really good chance,”
Pelosi’s attempt to downplay American thing” to demonstrate gize for her comments on the Trump said during an interview
criticism of Waters’s comments against injustice.
tion in the man- floor; McClain said she wouldn’t. with Fox News’ Sean Hannity that
comes after Republicans called “[President Biden] has been ner of the civil Waters’s office didn’t respond to aired late April 19.
the remarks made at a protest in very clear that he recognizes the rights movement. a request by The Epoch Times for Wresting back control of the
Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, on issue of police violence against comment by press time. Senate will be harder, but Trump
April 17 “dangerous.” people of color, communities of ... I don’t think she Waters has since dismissed the and his team plan to help with
Waters said she was “going to color, as one of great anguish, and should apologize. Republican accusations, tell- that as well.
fight with all of the people it’s exhausting and quite ing news site theGrio that she’s “If they need a rally, we’ll do a ral-
House Speaker
who stand for justice” emotional at times,” a “nonviolent” person. She claims ly. We’ll do calls, we’ll do all sorts of
Nancy Pelosi
and persuaded pro- Psaki said. that the calls for her expulsion are things. No, no—we’re all in,” Trump
testers to “stay on the “His view is also part of Republican rhetoric to de- told Hannity.
street,” “get more ac- that exercising First “This weekend in Minnesota, nounce Democrats. Trump views Rep. Mo Brooks (R-
tive,” and “get more Amendment rights Maxine Waters broke the law by “Republicans will jump on any Ala.) as a strong candidate to win a
confrontational,” if and protesting injus- violating curfew and then incited word, any line and try to make it seat in Alabama that will become
former officer Derek tice is the most Amer- violence. Speaker Pelosi is ignor- fit their message and their cause vacant with the retirement of Sen.
Chauvin wasn’t found ican thing that anyone ing Waters’s behavior—that’s why for denouncing us and denying Richard Shelby (R-Ala.). He sees
guilty of murder. can do. I am introducing a resolution to us, basically calling us violent ... New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu
“We’ve got to make sure “But as he also always censure Rep. Waters for these any time they see an opportu- as a potential winner in the race
that they know that we Former says, protests must be dangerous comments,” McCar- nity to seize on a word, so they there, as Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-
mean business,” Waters Minneap- peaceful. That’s what he thy wrote on Twitter. do it and they send a message N.H.) battles for another term, and
said. olis police continues to call for and Similarly, Rep. Lisa McClain to all of the white supremacists, says the GOP has good candidates
She also said the former officer what he continues to be- (R-Mich.) accused Waters of the KKK, the Oath Keepers, the in Ohio, where Sen. Rob Portman
police officer should be Derek lieve is the right way to ap- “openly calling for violence in [Proud] Boys and all of that, how (R-Ohio) is leaving office.
found guilty of murder, a Chauvin. proach responding.” Minnesota” and argued that if this is a time for [Republicans]
comment that elicited a Meanwhile, Republi- Waters was a Republican law- to raise money on [Democrats]
strong rebuke from the judge pre- cans have raised concerns about maker, the Democratic-con- backs,” Waters said.
siding over Chauvin’s trial. The Waters’s comments, which come trolled chamber would be voting The congresswoman also ar- If they need a rally,
judge added that Waters’s com- against a backdrop of violent riot- to expel her from committees gued that her comments were we’ll do a rally. We’ll
ments could be grounds for ap- ing and looting over the summer and possibly Congress. related to “confronting the jus-
pealing the verdict of the trial. following Floyd’s death. “The words ‘get more confron- tice system” and “policing that’s
do calls, we’ll do all
“I’ll give you that Congress- House Minority Leader Kevin tational’—what do those words going on.” sorts of things. No,
woman Waters may have given McCarthy (R-Calif.) character- mean? Are those not the words Responding to the judge’s com- no—we’re all in.
you something on appeal that ized Waters’s remarks as “dan- that someone would use if they ments on April 19, Waters told a
may result in this whole trial be- gerous rhetoric” and announced wanted to incite more violence CNN reporter that “the judge Former President Donald Trump
ing overturned,” he said. on April 19 that he would intro- or insurrection?” McClain asked. says my words don’t matter,” and
The White House has sought to duce a resolution to censure the “If the majority cares about this she falsely claimed that the judge “Almost everybody I endorse
distance itself from Waters, with California Democrat after Pelosi institution, if the majority cares didn’t say her comments may be wins,” Trump said, taking credit
press secretary Jen Psaki refusing refused to act. about our nation, they need to grounds for appeal. for boosting Rep. Julia Letlow (R-
La.) in her recent race to succeed
her husband, who died before being
SCOTT OLSON/GETTY IMAGES
sworn in.
Senators Unveil Candidates were told to run on
Trump’s “Make America Great
Workers band Again” agenda if they want to
Bipartisan Bill to Protect a steel coil that
was set aside
win, fighting for things such as
strong border enforcement and
US Workers From China’s for quality-
control testing
lower taxes.
“If they want to win, yes,” Trump
during steel
‘Unfair Trade Practices’ production
at the NLMK
said.
“If you want to win and win big,
Indiana steel you have to do that. You have to do
ISABEL VAN BRUGEN overcapacity that leaves steel- mill in Portage, it,” he said, recalling how Texas Gov.
workers and companies in the Ind., on March Greg Abbott conveyed to him that
Two U.S. senators on April 16 state at a competitive disadvan- 15, 2018. the state’s Republican candidates
unveiled a bipartisan proposal tage, they stated. saw the biggest Hispanic vote in
that seeks to strengthen do- In the past decade, China’s omy,” Portman wrote on Twitter Brown said in a statement that decades in the 2020 election.
mestic trade remedy laws and communist regime has cre- in announcing the legislation. “trade cheats” have shuttered Trump supported many Republi-
protect U.S. workers from what ated large state-owned enter- “It’s time we stand up to China plants across Ohio, put resi- cans in the election, campaigning
they called China’s “unfair trade prises in several industries such by taking action to protect jobs dents out of work, and distorted across the country for candidates
practices.” as aluminum, steel, and solar in sectors that are important to markets. for reelection or election in both the
Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) panels through hefty govern- Ohio and the nation as a whole.” “This bipartisan legislation will upper and lower chambers.
and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) in- ment subsidies. Portman said the bill will strengthen our trade remedy Republicans lost three seats in
troduced the Eliminating Global Then-President Donald Trump, strengthen U.S. antidumping laws, make clear the U.S has the the Senate in the election. Because
Market Distortions to Protect in an effort to tackle China’s un- and countervailing duty laws to tools to fight back against these they also lost the White House, they
American Jobs Act, saying in a fair trade practices, imposed challenge China’s trade practices harmful practices, and will help ceded control of the upper cham-
statement  that strengthening tariffs on a long list of Chinese and protect American workers. keep Ohio workers on the job,” ber to Democrats. Each party has 50
U.S. laws will ensure they remain imports, including aluminum “Nowhere is China’s disdain he stated. senators, but Vice President Kamala
“effective tools” to fight back and steel, which sparked the for the free market more evident Kevin Dempsey, president Harris can cast tiebreaking votes.
against Beijing’s trade practices. U.S.–China “trade war.” than in the steel overcapacity cri- and CEO of the American Iron Republicans flipped 15 seats in
The legislation will protect U.S. The two sides signed a phase sis. Twenty years ago, China pro- and Steel Institute (AISI), ap- the lower chamber, including one
workers in industries that are im- one trade deal in January 2020, duced 18 percent of the world’s plauded the proposal. He says held by a Libertarian. The party
portant to the state of Ohio, Port- requiring China to buy an addi- supply of steel. Now it is roughly that it’s a push in the right di- narrowed the Democrats’ major-
man and Brown stated. tional $200 billion in U.S. goods 50 percent,” Portman stated. rection toward promoting fairer ity to six from 35, including Letlow’s
The bill would establish a new and services during 2020 and “Today, it is steel, but tomor- competition for U.S. industry, recent win.
concept of “successive investiga- 2021, compared to 2017 levels. row, it could be electric vehicles and will give Americans con- As for 2024, Trump said he still
tions” to improve the effective- However, a report published in or semiconductors. This overca- fidence that their government hasn’t made a final decision.
ness of the U.S. trade remedy February found that China has pacity is the result of deliberate “has every tool available to fight “I say this. I am looking at it very
system in responding to “repeat bought just 57 percent of what it choices by China to subsidize for a level playing field for every seriously. Beyond seriously,” he
offenders and serial cheaters,” promised under the deal. their industries and degrade the American worker.” said.
helping to level the playing field “For decades, China’s unfair free market in pursuit of global “From a legal standpoint, I don’t
for U.S. workers. trade practices have cost count- market dominance, all at the ex- Frank Fang contributed want to really talk about it yet. It’s a
It also would help block steel less U.S. jobs and hurt our econ- pense of American jobs.” to this report. little too soon.”
 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021 NATION | A7
CHARLOTTE CUTHBERTSON/THE EPOCH TIMES

block entry into the United States by in-

A group of illegal immigrants wait for Border Patrol after crossing the U.S.–Mexico border in La Joya, Texas, on April 10, 2021.
Rep. Roy Seeks to Force House Vote on Keeping
Trump’s Anti-COVID-19 Border Rules
MARK TAPSCOTT
Being a Texan, Republican Rep. Chip Roy
knows all about big things, so it may not
surprise his constituents back home that
he’s taking on one of the biggest legislative
challenges possible.
Roy filed a discharge petition on April 19
to force Rep. Yvette Herrell’s (R-N.M.) H.R.
471—the Protecting Ameri-
cans from Unnecessary Spread
CHARLOTTE CUTHBERTSON/THE EPOCH TIMES
“Discharge is generally the only pro-
cedure by which Members can secure
What remain- consideration of a measure without co-
ing enforce- operation from the committee of refer-
ment the ral, or the majority-party leadership and
the Committee on Rules. For this reason,
administra- discharge is designed to be difficult to ac-
tion has left complish and has infrequently been used
with success.”
in place is Herrell’s proposal has 46 co-sponsors, all
the one thing Republicans, with the most recent being
dividuals carrying the CCP virus, which
causes the disease COVID-19.
Enforcement could only end when all
state and federal lockdowns, stay-at-home
orders, curfews, and other COVID-19 man-
dates end; all public and federal public
health emergencies for COVID-19 end; and
the Centers for Disease Control and Pre-
vention (CDC) traveler health risk level for
Canada and Mexico is reduced to Level 1.
“When the new administration came in,
President Biden ended President Trump’s
Title 42 enforcement for thousands of chil-
dren and families, and he may still decide
to end enforcement altogether, all to ap-
pease his anti-borders base,” Roy said in
a statement.
“Suspending Title 42 enforcement in part
has already signaled to cartels and coy-
otes that the era of catch-and-release has
returned and encouraged them to expand
their atrocious operations across our bor-
der and into our communities.
“What remaining enforcement the ad-
ministration has left in place is the one
thing standing between the current cri-
sis—as bad as it is—and a full-scale rush
on our southern border. With Congress-
woman Herrell’s legislation and this dis-
charge petition, Congress has the power
to override this administration’s reckless
policies now and prevent this crisis from
getting worse.
“There is no reason that we shouldn’t vote
on this as soon as possible. I look forward
to finding out how many of my colleagues
in each party agree.”
Herrell said in the same statement that
“Title 42 border health protections may be
the only thing keeping Biden’s border crisis
from becoming a full-blown catastrophe.”
“Congress must act to ensure the Border
Patrol keeps their authority to quickly ex-
pel migrants who have or may have been
exposed to COVID-19,” she said.
Advocates of strict immigration policies
support Roy’s discharge petition, accord-
ing to the statement.
“It is absolutely critical, as this pandemic
continues, that the protections put into
place by executive branch agencies under

upon Entry from COVID-19 Act standing Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.). the last administration are kept in place,”
of 2021—out of the Committee Herrell’s bill would require President said Rosemary Jenks, director of govern-
on Energy and Commerce and between the Joe Biden, Secretary of Homeland Secu- ment relations for NumbersUSA.
onto the floor for a decision by current cri- rity Alejandro Mayorkas, and Health and
the full House. sis—as bad as Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra Congressional correspondent
House rules allow represen- to continue enforcing Title 42 regulations, Mark Tapscott may be reached at
tatives to file discharge peti- it is—and a created by President Donald Trump to mark.tapscott@epochtimes.nyc.
tions, which can force a bill full-scale rush DARIO LOPEZ-MILLS/POOL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
out of a committee in which on our south-
it’s held and to the floor for an Young minors
up or down vote. ern border. lie inside a pod
Discharge petitions are chal- Rep. Chip Roy
at the Donna
Rep. Chip Roy lenging because they require the signatures Department of
(R-Texas) of at least 218 members of the House in order Homeland Security
testifies to suspend the usual legislative process and holding facility, the
at a House move the targeted bill straight to the floor. main detention
hearing in For Roy to succeed, he must receive the center for
front of the unaccompanied
signatures of all 212 of his Republican col-
Committee children in the Rio
on Oversight leagues and at least six Democrats. There Grande Valley run
and are also additional procedural technicali- by the Customs
Reform, in ties that can further complicate the process. and Border
Washington The most recent publicly available report Protection, in
on July on the discharge petition includes this ob- Donna, Texas, on
12, 2019. servation: March 30, 2021.

Parents Organize to Push Back One teacher told a class that students can
go protest and be excused from school as
sexual orientation, and/or ability.”
The parents argue the effect is just the op-

Against Critical Race Theory

CONTINUED FROM A1
it over the years to come.
The existence of “systemic racism” is usu-
ally claimed based on disparate outcomes
for different groups, such as lower average
test scores or more detentions for black
students.
Some scholars have pointed out the argu-
ment is specious.
“Every system you could possibly think
of produces some kind of racial or sexual
or class discrepancy. And this allows the
radicals to be radicals eternally, and to
claim that everything is racist,” said Wil-
fred Reilly, an associate professor of politi-
cal science at Kentucky State University
who specializes in empirically testing
political claims.
Once parents learn what CRT actually is,
they often strongly disagree.
One group that attracted media atten-
tion is the Parents Against Critical Theory
(PACT) in Loudon County, Virginia.
Local parents originally began to organize
in June 2020, asking for schools to reopen
that have been shuttered in response to the
COVID-19 pandemic. But it was the remote
learning the district put in place that al-
lowed parents to learn more about what
their children are being taught and raised
some red flags.
“We’re seeing what our kids are learning
and our goal changes from opening schools
to ‘Oh my gosh. What are we sending our
MICHAEL LOCCISANO/GETTY IMAGES
Students file into a classroom in New York on
Feb. 25, 2021.
children back to?’” said one parent, who
asked to remain anonymous because of
concern about reprisals.
“Basically, they’re categorizing children by
race to determine the quality of education
each will have, which is absolutely unac-
ceptable,” she told The Epoch Times.
She decided her children won’t return to
their school.
One parent was shocked to hear her
daughter ask her whether she was a Ku
Klux Klan (KKK) member. Apparently,
the child heard about it in class, but came
away with a confused picture of what the
KKK is. The parent had to explain that
membership in such an organization is a
bad thing. The child had no idea that the
organization was started by Democrats
more than a century ago and barely exists
today, according to the parent.
long as they are at least 14 years old and
get parental consent, the mother learned
from her child.
The school denied it, she said, but wasn’t
convinced.
“I’m going to believe my daughter prob-
ably over anything that they say.”
A video posted online shows a teacher
during a virtual class pushing a student to
pay attention to racial differences, accusing
the student of “being intentionally coy” by
refusing.
Another student was told he’d be marked
absent from a pre-class session when he
refused to talk about his “values.” He told
his mother he was worried he’d be bullied
and questioned if he disclosed his beliefs,
she told The Epoch Times.
“We’ve been banging on drums for about
nine or 10 months now, and parents are fi-
nally coming around to see what is going
on here,” PACT founder Scott Mineo told
The Epoch Times.
The district has responded by denying
that CRT is used in schools, but acknowl-
edged the district has adopted a “culturally
responsive framework,” which the parents
say is the same thing by another name.
“They are flat-out lying to the community,”
Mineo said.
The framework document quotes Loud-
on County Public Schools Superintendent
Eric Williams as saying: “LCPS calls for
all students, staff, families, and other
members of our community to engage in
the disruption and dismantling of white
supremacy, systemic racism, and hateful
language and actions based on race, re-
ligion, country of origin, gender identity,
posite.
“They’re forcing this doctrine that won’t
result in less racism. It’ll result in a toxic
environment,” one parent said.
While the movement started locally, the
response has been national.
“The messages, the prayers, the thanks,
the donations are actually coming from all
across the country,” he said.
One teacher and one parent from two elite
schools in New York City recently objected
to CRT, while Florida is working on a civics
curriculum that will explicitly exclude CRT,
Gov. Ron DeSantis says.
There has been action on the other side
of the issue as well. Some parents, teach-
ers, and school officials in Loudon County
have formed a group that discussed how to
make a list of the non-compliant parents,
“infiltrate” their ranks, and even solicited
“hackers who can either shut down their
websites,” The Daily Wire reported.
PACT’s GoFundMe page was shut down
by the crowdfunding platform, although
the group has already formed a new one on
GiveSendGo, raising about $13,000.
The pushback has prompted the parents
to “double down,” Mineo said.
It may be off-putting for parents to try to
find their way through the jargon-filled
world of CRT ideologues, he acknowledged,
but his point is to oppose CRT practice, rath-
er than theory.
“What matters is how it’s manifesting itself
and who is responsible,” he said.
Loudon County Public Schools spokes-
man Wayde Byard said he couldn’t respond
to emailed questions on short notice; he
promised to respond by April 21.
A8 | NATION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021

(Left) Chris
Buckner, holds a
photo of his son
Dylan, who com-
mitted suicide
due to depression
amplified by the
lockdowns, at his
home in North-
brook, Ill., on April
16, 2021.
(Right) Sports
caps in Dylan
Buckner’s room
in Northbrook,
Ill., on April
16, 2021.

Chris Buck-
ner, whose son
Dylan commit-
ted suicide due to
depression ampli-
fied by the lock-
downs, looks at
a photo album
at his home in
Northbrook, Ill., on
April 16, 2021.

The Cost of Lockdowns

Father is warning against extended lockdowns after son took his own life
CONTINUED FROM A1
lockdown measures. Dylan booked
a hotel room not far from his home
and jumped to his death.
His dad told The Epoch Times
there is “no doubt in his mind” that
the school closures and the state’s
extended stay-at-home order aggra-
vated and worsened Dylan’s mental
health to the point of no return.
Chris said his wife, Karen, now
sometimes sleeps on Dylan’s bed,
likely a way to cope with the grief of
losing their son. He says he’s telling
his son’s story in the hope that it will
save a future life and to alert parents
People are to their children’s mental health.
worried about COVID-19-related lockdowns en-
acted across the country and around
a possible the world have been linked to a rise
second wave of in mental health issues particularly
the virus, but I among youth, who have been robbed
of in-person interactions, freedom
can guarantee to leave the home, and have been
we will have a forced to attend online Zoom ses-
second wave sions for hours on end to continue
their education.
of mental Medical and psychiatric experts are
health crisis. increasingly worried about the toll
the pandemic has had on the next
Nicole Avena, generation.
assistant professor Doctors have reported children—
of neuroscience, some as young as 8—intentionally
Mount Sinai School running into traffic, overdosing on
of Medicine pills, and self-harming amid the pan-
demic. A health care executive told
The Epoch Times in August last year
that the mental health crisis is “now
an epidemic within a pandemic.”
A Family Crisis
Over the course of a few hours, Chris
Buckner talked about how his son
showed no visible signs of depres-
sion and how lockdown measures
and school closures need to be reex-
amined when it comes to the health among experts, there has been a clear years, depression had started to take
of teens. rise in mental health problems. The hold before the aspects of his life that
As Chris gave a tour of his home New York Times reported in January once gave him joy were abruptly
from Dylan’s bedroom to his workout that an early warning system among taken away.
room in the basement, the family’s schools in Nevada had tracked 3,100 Dylan’s suicide in January was ac-
dog, Lilo, quietly tagged along. It was mental health episodes since March tually his second attempt. His first
obvious that Lilo was a great source 2020 and by December, 18 students was in September last year when he
of comfort for him. had taken their own lives, prompt- jumped off a bridge.
Chris kept his emotions from visi- ing schools in the area to push for “I thought he had the perfect life
bly showing until he was asked about reopening. until he made his first suicide attempt
the memories Among ... up until that point, we really had no
of Dylan that 5,412 Ameri- inkling at all that he was struggling,”
particularly cans surveyed Chris said. “He was popular. ... he was
stood out. at the end of an excellent student, very athletic,
“I just miss June last year, and good at anything he tried to do.”
everything— 41 percent Chris says the pandemic and the
getting to hug reported at government’s response to it great-
him and talk least one ad- ly contributed to his son’s demise.
to him was the verse mental Looking back with the benefit of
best part of or behavioral hindsight, Dylan’s depression “was
my life,” Chris health condi- exacerbated by the pandemic and
said as he tion, accord- by the lockdown.”
broke down ing to an Aug. In March of last year, when the lock-
in tears. 14 Morbidity down measures really started hitting
“Getting to and Mortal- Illinois, Dylan was getting ready to
watch him A photo of the Buckner family. ity  report  by play spring seven-on-seven football.
grow up and the  Centers At the time, schools were shut down,
graduate from high school, go on for Disease Control and Prevention and students took half-day classes via
to college, get married, and have (CDC). The number is higher among Zoom. Before the pandemic, Dylan,
grandkids—It’s all gone, and it’s not young adults between the ages of 18 who was very routine-oriented, typi-
coming back.” and 24, with 75 percent of respon- cally got up early, went to school, then
The family is also worried about dents reporting experiencing at least did something football-related.
Dylan’s younger brother, Ethan, and one adverse mental health condition. For the first 30 or 45 days, the shut-
the added struggles he has now. Chris While Dylan had some level of downs were just an inconvenience
said Dylan was “a great big brother” depression before the pandemic, to many people, and Chris said he
to his younger sibling. his parents had no idea their son supported the initial measures. But
On the afternoon of Jan. 7, Dylan’s was suffering. He had none of the soon, as Dylan found himself with
friends warned his parents about a stereotypical symptoms and hadn’t an abundance of unstructured time
possible danger. Karen used location reached out to his parents about any on his hands and without his normal
services to track her son’s location of his struggles. outlets and social activities at school,
on his phone—it showed he was at a A high school senior, Dylan was it began taking its toll. As the summer
nearby hotel. Chris frantically drove a star quarterback and sported a hit, the pandemic was still going, and
to the location, but he knew he was 4.7 grade point average and mul- all summer football activities were
too late when he saw the police cars. tiple offers to play football at Divi- canceled.
While data linking teen suicides sion III schools; he was planning to Not long after that, Illinois offi-
to the pandemic or school closures go to the Massachusetts Institute cials made the decision that most
is scant and is a subject of debate of Technology. However, in recent sports, including football, wouldn’t
 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021
be played in the fall, unlike in other
states in the country. Normally in
early September, there would be for-
mal football practices and games. It
was at this time that Dylan made his
first suicide attempt.
“There were no signs [of depression]
that you might see,” Chris said. “But I
think the pandemic, the shutdowns,
the loss of structure, the inability to
interact with his friends, and the in-
ability to play football pushed him
into that suicidal zone that came to
pass in September.”
Other stories like Dylan’s have
emerged in recent months. One
mother in Illinois, Lisa Moore, is
now suing Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker,
citing the state’s restrictions as the
“proximate cause” of her son’s death.
Chris acknowledged that the pan-
demic is a complex issue and that he
doesn’t have all the answers. But he
and his family believe had the pan-
demic not happened or had the Il-
linois government done a better job
at handling it, their son would still
be alive.
“I think if the stricter lockdown por-
tions of it would have been shorter ...
and if kids had been allowed to play
football like they were in so many
other states, I think that Dylan would
still be here,” he said.
Chris believes it’s important to as-
sess the lockdown measures in terms
of how to respond over the course of
time. He pointed out that treatments
for the disease have improved and
that a vaccine is now available.
Lockdown measures need to “be
appropriately changed in response
to that,” he said.
After Dylan’s first attempt on his
life, his parents did everything they
could to try to help him. There was
extensive inpatient and outpatient
therapy in the months that followed,
and they tried many, if not all, of the
common anti-depression medica-
tions for children. He also had tradi-
tional talking therapy, among other
services.
But at the end of the day, the drugs
and psychotherapy “weren’t really
effective for him,” Chris said.
“It’s made me realize that men-
NATION | A9
ALLL PHOTOS BY SAMIRA BOUAOU/THE EPOCH TIMES UNLESS OTHERWISE PROVIDED.
tal illness for Dylan was much like are “absolutely much better off in took a special interest in some kids (Top) Chris Buckner in
many forms of cancer, where we school.” While there might be some at summer camp who had special his son Dylan’s room at
just don’t really know the cure, or students who for whatever reason needs. And in tough games or after his home in Northbrook,
we don’t really have effective treat- might do better on Zoom or other re- tough losses, Dylan was always more Ill., on April 16, 2021.
ments,” he said. mote learning, the issue is the choice worried about how his teammates (Above Left) Chris
Mental illness, according to Chris, as those children can make the de- were doing. Buckner in his son
might be similar to substance abuse cision to stay at home. But in many Before the pandemic, suicide was Dylan’s room at his home
in that teens are going to try to hide places, teens don’t have the choice to already a problem for youth. In 2018, in Northbrook, Ill., on April
it from their parents. Part of the be able to attend school. it was the second-leading cause of 16, 2021.
symptoms of feeling depressed and New York-based psychiatrist Dr. death “among individuals between
(Above Middle) A photo
suicidal is thinking that you’re a bur- Zlatin Ivanov has witnessed first- the ages of 10 and 34,” according to
of Dylan Buckner.
den. Hence, hand a recent the Centers for Disease Control and
telling your spike in cli- Prevention (CDC). That year, the sui- (Above Right) Dylan
parents about ents suffering cide rate among males was nearly Buckner’s room in
these troubles from anxiety, four times higher (22.8 per 100,000) Northbrook, Ill., on April
might exacer- telling The than among females (6.2 per 100,000). 16, 2021.
bate that feel- Epoch Times Chris has a message for other teens
ing. that “cases of suffering mentally: It’s OK not to be
After they depression OK, and things will get better. What
received the went through these teens are feeling “is not unique
call from po- the roof” last to you” and that parents “will love
lice in Sep- year. Ivanov you unconditionally.” He encourages
tember when said many any children who are struggling to
Dylan made Trophies in Dylan Buckner’s room in Northbrook, are strug- talk with their parents or some other
the first at- Ill., on April 16, 2021. gling from trusted adult.
tempt on his missing out “Don’t be embarrassed by it,” he
life, Chris thought the authorities on their daily routines and other said. “You didn’t do anything wrong.
had called the wrong number—they seemingly small pleasures. ... So get help.”
didn’t think it was possible. In Dylan’s While medical professionals agree More resources need to be invested I just miss
case, there was no clear interpersonal that social distancing is crucial for into treating mental illness and de- everything—
crisis, such as a sign of a breakup. mitigating the spread of COVID-19, pression, he said. Talking about these
“We did everything we could, and “the psychiatrists are well aware of conditions also needs to be normal- getting to hug
nothing worked for him,” Chris said. the psychological impact this will ized in order to eliminate any associ- him and talk
“I know that’s the case for a lot of peo- have on a person’s life,” he said. ated stigma. to him was
ple that battle, and ultimately lose A person is considered to be expe- Three months have passed since his
their battle, with mental illness. riencing a mental health issue when son’s death, but Chris said the pain the best part
“The idle minds do the devil’s work they struggle with day-to-day life, ac- the family feels is constant. The day of my life.
stereotype ... I think absolutely ap- cording to Ivanov. People often come before the interview, Chris had at-
plied,” he said. to him because they don’t feel like tended a Zoom meeting with other Chris Buckner,
Nicole Avena, assistant professor of themselves, get angry easily, lack parents who had lost their children, father of Dylan
neuroscience at Mount Sinai School energy, feel restless, can’t sleep, or and someone on the group was still Buckner
of Medicine in New York City and a experience panic attacks out of the battling grief 20 years after losing
visiting professor of health psychol- blue. their child to suicide.
ogy at Princeton University, told The Chris still doesn’t know exactly “It’s just very hard to imagine a pain
Epoch Times last year that mental what caused his son’s depression. He worse than the loss of a child through
health problems should “absolute- said Dylan was very empathetic and suicide,” he said. “The person that
ly” be treated as a national health after talking with other parents and commits suicide only dies once but
crisis. survivors of suicide, he learned that the survivors die 1,000 deaths reliv-
“People are worried about a pos- perhaps empathetic kids are more at ing it, wondering why and what they
sible second wave of the virus, but I risk of depression and suicide “be- could have done differently or what
can guarantee we will have a second cause they struggle hearing about caused it.”
wave of mental health crisis, which their friends’ problems and take on As Chris got ready to drop his son
is already unfolding with increased some of those struggles.” Ethan off at football practice, he
suicides, drug overdoses, and alcohol Dylan had many friends with spe- said he was lucky to have Dylan for
use,” she said. cial needs, and he was active as a 18 years and said he will try to live
On the matter of school closures, buddy and mentor, according to his his life like he would have wanted
Chris said he believes children dad. Even before high school, he them to.
A10 | CHINA
Falun Gong practitioner Shi Caidong in New York on April 18, 2021.
Standing for Justice: A Peaceful a
Appeal in China That Made History
CONTINUED FROM A1
She immediately started mak-
ing phone calls the moment she
put down her luggage, forget-
ting even to eat. She was eager
to touch base with her group of
friends with whom she studied
Falun Gong teachings and prac-
ticed meditative exercises daily.
But there was no one to be
found.
Suddenly, her husband, who
also worked at the foreign trade
ministry, received an urgent
phone call from their director,
Shi Guangsheng. Her husband
sprinted to another room and
shut the door behind him.
All of this made Zhang feel un-
easy. Standing on tiptoe outside
the door, she heard that a group
of Falun Gong practitioners had
gone to Zhongnanhai, the com-
pound of the top Chinese Com-
munist Party (CCP) leadership.
The director told her husband
to go to the demonstration and
tell all foreign trade ministry
staff attending the event to leave
immediately.
The day, April 25, 1999, would
eventually see around 10,000
adherents from all over the
country congregate mostly
along the red walls enclosing the
government complex on Fuyou
Street to appeal for their right to
freely practice Falun Gong, also
known as Falun Dafa.
So as long as
something is
right, I will stick
to it to the end.
Luan Shuang,
Falun Gong practitioner
First introduced to the public
in 1992, the spiritual practice
spread by word of mouth across
the country, with between 70
million and 100 million people
practicing by 1999. Adherents
could be seen doing the prac-
tice’s slow meditative exercises
every morning in parks across
China. Yet the practitioners
had begun to feel more and
more pressure from authori-
ties in recent years, with the
practice’s books banned from
distribution, state-owned pro-
grams spewing propaganda
vilifying the practice, and the
public security bureau ordering
a thorough investigation into
the practice.
The Chinese regime would
later portray the April 25 event
as a provocative protest in order
to justify an all-out persecution
campaign targeting Falun Gong,
which would be launched in July
the same year—and which con-
tinues to this day.
But Zhang, who soon jumped
on her bike and rushed toward
CHUNG I HO/THE EPOCH TIMES
Zhongnanhai, saw nothing
threatening about the adher-
ents’ demeanor that day. With
pride, she and many others
who were there recall the long,
straight rows of practitioners
lined up neatly along the street.
Many were reading books or sit-
ting on the ground to meditate.
Some, holding plastic bags,
made rounds to collect trash
from the demonstrators.
One simply feels different
when among such a peaceful
crowd, Zhang said.
“When have you seen a peti-
tion like this?” Zhang, now in
the United States, said in an in-
terview with The Epoch Times.
“The pedestrian paths and the
main road were all clear. There
was no shouting at all, not a
single scrap of paper on the
ground.”
Shi Caidong, who was work-
ing on a master’s degree at the
state-run Chinese Academy of
Sciences at the time, was one of
three delegates who met with
Premier Zhu Rongji that morn-
ing to explain their requests.
Zhu reaffirmed his support for
their freedom of belief and ar-
ranged for four officials to meet
with them, including his vice
secretary in chief and the state
petitioning bureau director. The
three delegates delivered three
major requests: to release the
dozens of practitioners from the
nearby city of Tianjin who had
been beaten and detained two
days prior, to allow the publi-
cation of Falun Gong books,
and to restore an environment
in which they could exercise in
public without fear.
The officials accepted a few
copies of the practice’s main
book of teachings, “Zhuan Fa-
lun,” and promised to relay the
situation to the top leadership
of the CCP.
The masses gradually dis-
persed in the evening when
word got out that the Tianjin
practitioners had been set free.
“If the ‘besieging’ was real,
would Zhu Rongji appear so
composed when he came out?”
Shi said, rebutting the state
media’s characterization of the
event.
Tensions grew in the afternoon
when riot police appeared, car-
rying rifles, but none of the dem-
onstrators stirred, according to
Kong Weijing, another delegate.
Zhang stayed until dark and
left quietly after most of the pe-
titioners withdrew.
Some practitioners with in-
sider knowledge later told her
that the regime had originally
prepared to use violence on
the demonstrators that eve-
ning. She credited the crowd’s
extraordinary tranquility for
circumventing a possible re-
peat of the Tiananmen Square
massacre—the regime’s bloody
suppression of student protest-
Falun Gong practitioner Zhang Yijie in New York on April 18, 2021.
ers, which had taken place just
down the road a decade earlier.
Sticking to What’s Right
The second day after the appeal,
official orders were sent to com-
panies nationwide alerting or-
dinary citizens about what had
taken place.
It was the first time that Luan
Shuang, a human resources di-
rector in a transportation firm in
the city of Shenzhen, had heard
about Falun Gong.
The Chinese regime’s brutal
killing of unarmed students in
Tiananmen Square years earlier
was fresh in people’s memories
and had left Luan feeling disil-
lusioned. Hearing of this new
protest, she was struck by those
people’s bravery, she said.
“I wouldn’t have gone even if
they gave me a bonus for it—
wouldn’t that be putting an
end to your own career?” she
recalled thinking at the time.
Determined to find out why
people would take such a risk,
she asked for a Falun Gong book
from a coworker who happened
to be a practitioner. After read-
ing it once, she made up her
mind to practice.
She described the values em-
phasized in the book as a beam
of light into her “muddled” life.
“I know now that I can use
the standard of ‘truthfulness,
compassion, and tolerance’ to
evaluate everything,” she said,
referring to the core tenets of the
practice. “So as long as some-
thing is right, I will stick to it to
the end.”
Retaliation
Despite the officials’ concilia-
tory stance on April 25, the re-
gime had deemed the practice’s
popularity a threat and began a
statewide campaign just three
months later, aiming to wipe
it out. In the years since, sev-
eral million practitioners have
suffered detention for persist-
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021
practitioners peacefully appeal outside
Zhongnanhai, the central headquarters
The belief in the
truth, when it’s
elevated from
an emotional to
a rational level,
transcends any
suffering.
Zhang Yijie,
Falun Gong adherent
ing in their faith, according to
estimates from the Falun Dafa
Information Center, and un-
known numbers of adherents
have been killed using various
forms of torture.
After meeting with the premier
during the appeal, Shi was tar-
geted by the Party committee
at his workplace, which began
monitoring his activities. Law
enforcement officers combed
through files about his past that
very night, although they didn’t
find any issues.
Zhang, the foreign trade offi-
cial, paid a dearer cost. Over sev-
en years, she experienced seven
arrests and spent 28 months in
a labor camp, where she was
beaten, starved, force-fed, and
deprived of sleep—the longest
stretch being 42 days nonstop.
When the grueling session was
over, her hair had turned white
and her teeth had become loose.
“The fact that I survived was
proof of Falun Dafa’s wonder,”
she said.
This was in sharp contrast to
her pre-persecution life, when
she held a lucrative government
post and had a perfect family,
with a daughter and a son both
about to go to college.
“Many people could work
their whole life without reach-
ing where I was,” she said. “At
that time, if I had agreed to stop
practicing, I wouldn’t have lost
anything.”
CHUNG I HO/THE EPOCH TIMES
Roughly 10,000 Falun Gong
for the Chinese Communist Party, in
Beijing on April 25, 1999.
MINGHUI.ORG
In 2001, Luan, the human re-
sources director, was prepared
to lose everything as she went
to Tiananmen Square to protest
the persecution—the very place
that two years earlier she said
she “wouldn’t have gone even
if they gave [her] a bonus” to
protest.
Luan was thrown into a de-
tention center and endured
three months of torture there.
The Party expelled her from its
membership, cutting off the
economic and political privi-
leges associated with the affili-
ation. Her company organized a
“denunciation meeting” to an-
nounce her expulsion and as-
signed her to the lowliest jobs.
During the meeting, Luan was
made to endure an endless
stream of criticism about her
faith from company higher-
ups. She eventually submitted
her resignation.
No Regrets
Recounting their journeys, the
three adherents, who now live
in the United States, said that
despite the serious hardships
they endured, they would still
choose to do the same.
“The belief in the truth, when
it’s elevated from an emotional
to a rational level, transcends
any suffering,” said Zhang, who
made her escape through Thai-
land in 2006.
On April 18, they gathered with
about 1,000 other practitioners
in New York for a parade and
rally to commemorate the his-
toric demonstration of peaceful
resistance and to “say no” to the
CCP’s continued repression of
their faith, they said.
“If everyone was like those at
the April 25 appeal, Chinese
society would be better off,”
Luan said. “Because of April
25 ... I finally became one of
those good people who stand
for justice, which I had aspired
to be since I was young.”
 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021
The State Department in Washington on Sept. 19, 2018.
‘Fighting Us on a Daily Basis’:
Expert Sounds Alarm on CCP’s
Political Warfare
CONTINUED FROM A1
Dubbed “political warfare,”
although also known by other
names such as “unrestricted
warfare,” this mode of war stops
just short of full-fledged military
assaults. But it’s no less lethal,
he notes, given that the goal is to
win against an enemy without fir-
ing a single shot.
The CCP is “willing to fight war
with everything. There are no
boundaries,” Gershaneck, who
has been a visiting scholar at Tai-
wan’s National Chengchi Univer-
sity for the past three years, told
The Epoch Times in an interview.
It’s a concept the West doesn’t
understand, he said.
In his book, Gershaneck, who
previously served in senior
strategic communications and
in counterintelligence assign-
ments in the U.S. government
and taught at universities in
Southeast Asia, recounts draw-
ing blank looks from instructors
at the institutes that train State
Department and Pentagon staff
when he inquired about the topic.
“I may as well have asked
them to explain how they taught
quantum mechanics or matter-
antimatter asymmetry, for they
had no idea what I was talking
about,” he writes, recalling an
interaction a few years ago with
instructors who taught public
affairs at the State Department’s
Foreign Service Institute in Ar-
lington, Virginia.
Institutional Ignorance
This ignorance, which pervaded
successive U.S. administrations
from the end of the Cold War
until President Donald Trump
took office, was the result of the
West being lulled into a false
sense of security after defeating
the Soviet Union, Gershaneck
said. At the end of the Cold War,
Democracy had prevailed once
and for all over communism, the
thinking went.
[The CCP is] willing
to fight war with ev-
erything. There are
no boundaries.
Kerry Gershaneck, author
“We naively ignored the other
growing threat—and that was
the People’s Republic of China,”
he said.
The Chinese regime would even-
tually become more democratic
as it increased its trade and en-
gagements with the international
community, the thinking went. So
the United States shut down the
political warfare apparatus it had
built during the Cold War.
“We dismantled the U.S. In-
SAMIRA BOUAOU/THE EPOCH TIMES
formation Agency,” Gershaneck
said. “We stopped teaching [po-
litical warfare] in our military,
higher-level schools. We stopped
teaching it in the Foreign Service
Institute. ... We stopped teaching
it in ... schools like Georgetown
and others that feed a lot of our
candidates for foreign service.”
Alongside ignorance, there was
also willful blindness among
those in Washington who did
perceive the Chinese threat.
Among bureaucrats, many filed
the issue in the “not my job” cat-
egory, Gershaneck said.
“They saw it and they thought it
was too much trouble. So ‘It’s not
my job to fight Beijing’s malign
influences intimidation, its coer-
cion, its infiltration, subversion,’”
he said.
For elected officials, they’d be
thinking, “I don’t want to know it
exists because that might interfere
with my funding for my next cam-
paign,” according to Gershaneck.
The book also details that Beijing
has proven adept at manipulating
America’s political, business, and
cultural elite through a variety of
methods including economic co-
ercion, bribery, threats, and psy-
chological manipulation.
The net result is that the United
States had been in a “death spiral”
for many years, leading up to the
turnaround brought about by the
Trump administration.
“Key people across the whole of
NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
government [in the administra-
tion] ... were beginning to under-
stand the very serious threats,”
he said.
With the State Department tak-
ing the lead, the Trump admin-
istration pushed back against an
array of CCP predations from its
crackdowns in Hong Kong and
Xinjiang to its theft of U.S. tech-
nology.
“I think now, based on the foun-
dation that was set under the
Trump administration, the new
administration will have more
backbone and will have more
understanding of the threat,”
Gershaneck said. “They’re older
and wiser.”
United Front
The Chinese regime has found
particular success in its “United
Front” operations aimed at influ-
encing America’s elite to get them
to act in ways approved by Beijing,
Gershaneck says.
Dubbed by CCP leaders as a
“magic weapon,” “United Front
work” involves the efforts of thou-
sands of overseas groups that
carry out political influence oper-
ations, suppress dissident move-
ments, gather intelligence, and
facilitate the transfer of technol-
ogy to China. Many of the groups
are coordinated by a Party agency
called the United Front Work De-
partment (UFWD).
An investigation last year by
Newsweek found about 600 such
groups in the United States.
“United Front organizations
have been allowed to operate with
near impunity in the United States
for many, many years,” Gersha-
neck said.
During his time at a U.S. think
tank and in academia, Gersha-
neck witnessed firsthand the re-
gime’s United Front operations in
action. He found that Chinese in-
fluence agents were “very success-
ful” in wooing analysts, academic
figures, and business leaders.
“I saw how Chinese agents of in-
fluence ... [and] United Front Work
Department operatives were wel-
comed in education institutions
and think tanks,” he said.
These Americans, the targets
of influence operations, would
be invited to dinners or flown to
China, to be wined and dined by
Chinese operatives who might
CHINA | A11
Military del-
egates arrive
for the clos-
ing session
of the Chi-
nese regime’s
National Peo-
ple’s Con-
gress at the
Great Hall of
the People in
Beijing on May
28, 2020.
supply them with valuable insid-
er information, such as activity
behind the curtains among the
CCP’s top leadership.
“So they think they’re impor-
tant. They have no idea ... how
manipulated they have been,”
Gershaneck said.
This psychological manipula-
tion of U.S. targets is a testament
to the effectiveness of the CCP’s
United Front efforts, according to
Gershaneck.
“All too often, I’ve seen Ameri-
cans who interact routinely with
UFWD personnel do exactly what
the CCP wants them to do—advo-
cate on behalf of the CCP as part
of their normal thought process,”
he said.
“They’ve been conditioned to
basically parrot the PRC [People’s
Republic of China] position on al-
most any issue without being told
to do it.”
Gershaneck says the United
States needs to get serious about
identifying and exposing United
Front groups and operatives in the
country, and taking legal action
against them.
The Trump administration
started this process by designat-
ing the National Association for
China’s Peaceful Unification, an
organization controlled by the
UFWD, as a foreign mission. It
also did the same for the Confu-
cius Institute U.S. Center, the body
that promotes Beijing-funded
Confucius Institutes on American
college campuses and in school
classrooms.
More broadly, the United States
needs to do more to start defend-
ing itself against the CCP’s politi-
cal warfare offensive, Gershaneck
said. The first step is to under-
stand the nature of the threat;
the second is to come up with a
comprehensive strategy to push
back, which includes building
institutional and educational ap-
paratuses to combat the regime’s
assaults.
If this can be done, “then we
have a fighting chance,” he said.
“If we don’t fight back, they’re
going to win without firing a shot.”
Gershaneck’s book “Political
Warfare: Strategies for Combat-
ing China’s Plan to ‘Win Without
Fighting’” is available online from
Marine Corps University Press.  
A12 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021

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TRUTH AND TRADITION


OPINION
How to Start a War
Victor Davis Hanson
See A14
OPINION |BUSINESS | ECONOMY|PERSONAL FINANCE
A street stands empty in New York on March 1, 2021.
The United States of 2 Americas
JOHN MILLS
If you haven’t no-
ticed, the United
States is reor-
ganizing itself
into two Ameri-
cas—blue and red.
Although there is
a president of the United States,
state governors are in many ways
now driving the national narra-
tive in this new America.
The president and the vice presi-
dent are who they are now be-
cause six Republican-controlled
states forwarded questionable
electoral votes, and Vice President
Mike Pence missed a historic op-
portunity to challenge those votes.
The current president and vice
president seem trapped in foggy
and abstract ideological slogans
rather than providing executive
leadership. Vague generalities and
virtue signaling aren’t replace-
ments for executive leadership.
And who are the true execu-
tive leaders of the two Americas?
Florida and Texas on one side,
California and New York on the
other side. Their governors essen-
tially dominate the bully pulpit
formerly occupied by a sitting
president. Many of the rest of the
American states have aligned
with one side or the other.
The American political conver-
sation has become a modern Dr.
Seuss’s “Sneetches With Stars” on
steroids as Americans are now be-
ginning to group, assemble, and
march separately according to our
ideologies. Both sides have equal
ownership of this behavior—nei-
ther side should be excused or let
off the hook on this matter.
2 Americas/2 Systems
A part of this blue/red separation
is the manifest “Digital Apart-
heid” that is being applied by the
blue side to the red side to create
two social media systems. This
Digital Apartheid is pervasive and
driven by the new, vicious, lock-
step, “social justice” mantra that
has taken over the automatons
who lead U.S. social media.
We are experiencing an unprec-
edented shakedown by groups
such as Black Lives Matter (BLM)
and Antifa who broadcast
through their relentless bullhorn
of social media and old media.
There are now two business
systems in America—blue and
red. Many of the businesses that
lead major market sectors have
now revealed themselves to be
de-facto thought police to enforce
Social Justice.
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell is
the poster child of this, as he has
been targeted for elimination by
the self-appointed high priests of
“wokism.”
We’re also finding out there are
two financial systems in America,
as those with capital now act as the
gatekeepers of who receives capital
and who is excluded. Bank of
America has become “Bank of who
I decide to allow access to the capi-
tal system.” That’s a far cry from the
intent of its founder, who wanted to
make sure all had access. The mod-
ern bank staff has now become an
appendage of the virtue-signaling
synchronized chorus.
There are now two media sys-
tems in America. The Hollywood
award shows are now a Roman
circus of self-loathing, lecturing,
and virtue signaling. Few are
watching these award shows—in
fact, few are watching legacy me-
dia as ratings collapse.
It’s curious from an agnostic
business perspective how CNN
even survives at this point in time.
Somehow the citizen’s pocketbook
GOOGLE MAPS
OPINION
A Real (Consumer)
Revolution Is Starting
to Take Over Education
Roger L. Simon
See A15
is being fleeced by corporations
The biggest and advertisers who recycle ad
revenue through “woke” media to
manifestation of keep them alive when it’s patently
this rapid reset of obvious the viewership has im-
America into blue ploded—but that’s the beauty of the
new era of crony capitalism (which
and red camps is a transition phase to socialism).
is the incredible The citizens of our nation have
internal movement consciously or unconsciously cho-
sen sides. If you’re angry at yourself
of Americans. for not being woke enough and
have righteous virtue-signal signs
in your yard lauding BLM, you’re
likely on the blue side. If the drivel of
virtue signaling makes no sense to
you, you’re probably on the red side.
US Population Relocates
The biggest manifestation of this
rapid reset of America into blue
and red camps is the incredible
internal movement of Americans.
Americans are moving to Texas
from California in significant
numbers. California has seen its
first decline in population since
1900. Americans are on the move,
and it’s mostly from blue to red,
with Texas and Florida receiving
People walk past a Bank the refugees from New York and
of America branch in California. My dreams of a large,
Chicago on April 9, 2019. inexpensive home in Florida have
evaporated with the rise in home
SCOTT OLSON/GETTY IMAGES
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021 A13
SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES
prices in my target localities.
I would suggest the numbers
are even greater than what is be-
ing reported. This type of socio-
economic data traditionally lags in
reporting due to the time it takes
to collect, aggregate, sort, and
analyze. I would say there is easily
six months to a year of lag in this
reporting.
Last year, I found it difficult to
find data on the population flows.
Yet, at the same time, anecdotal
data pointed to a strong move-
ment not yet reflected. I was
in New York in July 2020 and
was shocked by the abandoned
streets, yet little data pointed to
movement at that time.
The data is starting to hit now.
Among blue locales, Washington
state is still showing population
gains—I would suggest they’ve hit
their apogee and will start down
the backside of an arc as Seattle
expands its footprint of boarded-
up stores and restaurants, and
major companies leave, as well as
population.
We’re seeing the beginnings of
the “Detroit Syndrome” on scale
in blue states as Americans vote
with their feet. The common
refrain from conservatives is “I’m
concerned this will flip Texas and
Florida!” I, however, prefer to look
at this from an optimistic per-
spective as an opportunity.
Where Are We Headed?
Despite the attempts of the cur-
rent administration to transform
American society with uncon-
trolled borders, I see unantici-
pated consequences of the Blue
strategy that will work in the red
state’s favor. Big Government’s
plans always go awry and deliver
unintended consequences.
Continued on A16
A14 | OPINION
How to Start a War
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON
Wars often arise from un-
certainty. When strong
countries appear weak,
truly weaker ones take
risks they otherwise
would not.
Sloppy braggadocio and
serial promises of restraint can trigger
wars, too. Empty tough talk can need-
lessly egg on aggressors. But mouthing
utopian bromides convinces bullies that
their targets are too sophisticated to
counter aggression.
Sometimes announcing “a new peace
process” without any ability to bring ei-
ther novel concessions or pressures only
raises false hopes—and furor.
Every new American president is tested
to determine whether the United States
can still protect friends such as Europe,
Japan, South Korea, and Israel. And will
the new commander in chief deter U.S.
enemies Iran and North Korea—and
keep China and Russia from absorbing
their neighbors?
Joe Biden, and those around him, seem
determined to upset the peace they
inherited.
Soon after Donald Trump left office,
Vladimir Putin began massing troops on
the Ukrainian border and threatening to
attack.
Putin earlier had concluded that
Trump was dangerously unpredictable,
and perhaps best not provoked. After all,
the Trump administration took out Rus-
sian mercenaries in Syria. It beefed up
defense spending and upped sanctions.
The Trump administration flooded the
world with cheap oil, to Russia’s chagrin.
It pulled out from asymmetrical missile
treaties with Russia. It sold sophisticated
arms to the Ukrainians. The Russians
concluded that Trump might do any-
thing, and so waited for another presi-
DILBERT
PEANUTS
RED AND ROVER
GRAND AVENUE
MUTT & JEFF
dent before again testing America.
By contrast, Biden often talks provoca-
tively—while carrying a twig. He has
gratuitously called Putin “a killer.” And
he warned that the Russian dictator “will
pay a price” for supposedly interfering in
the 2020 election.
Unfortunately, Biden’s bombast follows
four years of a Russian-collusion hoax,
fueled by a concocted dossier paid for by
the Democratic National Committee and
the campaign of 2016 Democratic presi-
dential candidate Hillary Clinton. Biden
and others claimed Trump was, in the
words of Barack Obama’s former director
of national intelligence, James Clapper, a
“Russian asset.”
If Biden is seeking to provoke a nation
with more than 6,000 deliverable nuclear
weapons, he is certainly not backing up
his rhetoric with force.
Biden may well decrease the Pentagon
budget. He also seems to have forgotten
that Trump was impeached for suppos-
edly imperiling Ukraine, when in fact he
sold Ukraine weapons.
Empty tough talk can
needlessly egg on aggressors.
But mouthing utopian bromides
convinces bullies that their
targets are too sophisticated
to counter aggression.
While Biden was talking loudly to Pu-
tin, his administration was being serially
humiliated by China. Chinese diplomats
dressed down their American counter-
parts in a recent meeting in Anchorage,
Alaska. They gleefully recycled domestic
left-wing boilerplate that a racist America
has no moral authority to criticize China.
If Trump was unpredictably blunt,
COMICS
Biden is too often predictably confused.
And he appears frail, sending the mes-
sage to autocracies that America’s com-
mander in chief is not fully in control.
Biden has not, as he promised, de-
manded from China transparency about
the origins of the COVID-19 virus in Wu-
han. By summer, that plague may have
killed 600,000 Americans.
More disturbing, as Russia puts troops
on the Ukrainian border, China is fly-
ing into Taiwanese air space, testing its
defenses—and the degree to which the
United States cares.
For a half-century, American foreign
policy sought to ensure that Russia was
no closer to China than either was to the
United States. Now, the two dictatorships
seem almost joined at the hip, as each
probes U.S. responses, or lack thereof.
Not surprisingly, North Korea in late
March resumed its firing of missiles over
the Sea of Japan.
In the Middle East, Biden inherited a
relatively quiet landscape. Arab nations,
in historic fashion, were making peace
with Israel. Both sides were working to
deter Iranian-funded terrorists. Iran
itself was staggered by sanctions and
recession. Its arch-terrorist mastermind,
Gen. Qassem Soleimani was killed by a
U.S. drone strike.
Under Trump, the United States left the
Iran nuclear deal, which was a prescrip-
tion for the certain Iranian acquisition
GARFIELD
GINGER MEGGS
BIG NATE
DRABBLE
FRANK AND ERNEST
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021
ANDREW HARNIK-POOL/GETTY IMAGES
President
Joe Biden
speaks at the
White House
on April 14,
2021.
of a nuclear weapon. The theocracy in
Tehran, the chief sponsor of terror in the
world, was in its most fragile condition in
its 40 years of existence.
Now U.S. diplomats bizarrely express an
interest in restoring cordial relations with
Iran, rebooting the Iran deal and dropping
sanctions against the regime. If all that
happens, Iran will likely get a bomb soon.
More importantly, Iran may conclude
that the United States has distanced itself
from Israel and moderate Arab regimes.
One of two dangers will then arise. Either
Iran will feel it can up its aggression, or
its enemies will conclude they have no
choice but to take out all Iranian nuclear
facilities.
Biden would do well to remember
old American diplomatic adages about
speaking softly while carrying a big stick,
keeping China and Russia apart, being
no better friend (or worse enemy), and
letting sleeping dogs lie.
Victor Davis Hanson is a conservative
commentator, classicist, and military his-
torian. He is a professor of classics emeri-
tus at California State University, a senior
fellow in classics and military history at
Stanford University, a fellow of Hillsdale
College, and a distinguished fellow of the
Center for American Greatness. Hanson
has written 16 books, including “The
Western Way of War,” “Fields Without
Dreams,” and “The Case for Trump.”
 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021
NATHAN HOWARD/GETTY IMAGES
Police officers chase rioters following the death of Daunte Wright, in Portland, Ore., on April 12, 2021.
Postcards From the Catastrophe
ROGER KIMBALL
Let’s play “one of these
things not like the other.”
On April 11, a young
black man named
Daunte Wright was ac-
cidentally shot and killed
while resisting arrest in
Brooklyn Center, Minnesota.
At first, rumors flew around that Wright
had been pulled over because he had an
air freshener dangling from his rearview
mirror. In fact, he had an outstanding
arrest warrant for first-degree attempted
aggravated robbery when stopped.
Who knows where the air freshener
meme came from: probably from the
same emporium that supplied the “Hands
Up, Don’t Shoot” lie to twist the true story
of Michael Brown’s assault on the police in
Ferguson, Missouri, a few years back.
The officer who shot Wright did so
inadvertently. Police released bodycam
footage soon after the incident so we know
exactly what happened.
The officer had mistaken her pistol for
her Taser.
Bad training there, no doubt.
But here’s the thing. I say “her” because
it was only a matter of hours before the
Brooklyn Center police released the of-
ficer’s name: Kim Potter.
Potter quickly resigned from the force.
She was arrested and charged with man-
slaughter. As I write, she is out of custody
on $100,000 bail.
Ashli Babbitt
Contrast that story with the story of Ashli
Babbitt, the young veteran and pro-Trump
A Real (Consumer) Revolution Is
Starting to Take Over Education
ROGER L. SIMON
You can forget—or at
least try to ignore for a few
minutes—the riots going
on in our cities, as repel-
lent and often frightening
as they may be.
A real and ultimately more
significant revolution is brewing, in this
case, a positive one, in education. And it’s
manifesting from kindergarten to college.
People are fed up. They’re trying to
change and often leaving the educational
system altogether.
They’ve had enough of the “woke” tak-
ing over our schools.
Just one recent example of this is how a
letter from an angry father who is pulling
his daughter out of New York City’s up-
scale Brearley School has gone viral. This
father, Andrew Guttman, accused the
all-girls’ private school of “cowardly and
appalling lack of leadership [for] appeas-
ing an anti-intellectual, illiberal mob.”
The letter, something of a tour de force,
hits many nails on present-day heads,
among them:
“If the administration was genuinely
serious about ‘diversity,’ it would not insist
on the indoctrination of its students, and
their families, to a single mindset, most
activist, who was shot and killed at the Jan.
6 melee at the Capitol.
Babbitt was unarmed. She was going
through a shattered window, but was in
close proximity to several armed Capitol
Police officers.
Who shot her and why?
We don’t know the answers to those
questions.
What Kurt Schlichter aptly calls our “gar- democracy” (meaning, not your democ-
bage media” has displayed a
disconcerting lack of curios-
ity about the matter.
Babbitt was a useful prop
when the media was in over-
drive describing the Jan. 6
events as an “armed insur-
rection,” in which wild sup-
porters of Donald Trump,
supposedly (but not really) at
his instigation, attacked the
Capitol with the intention of
overturning the rigged 2020 Ashli Babbitt, in an undated
election. photo posted on social media.
That “rigged” is my addition
to The Narrative.
You remember The Narrative.
According to it, five people, including
Babbitt, died in the skirmish. Moreover,
Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick was
actually bludgeoned to death by a raging
Trumpster wielding a fire extinguisher.
That gem came from The New York
Times—speaking of garbage media—and
it was instantly picked up and spread like
a Chinese virus, much like the hysterical
lies about the “Covington kid” Nick Sand-
mann were spread by a willfully credulous Capitol Riot.”
media.
The boy was wearing a red MAGA hat,
for God’s sake, he just had to be guilty!
reminiscent of the Chinese Cultural Revo-
lution.”
The overnight popularity of this letter
(read the whole thing, as they say) across
the internet is a measure of how this man
is speaking not just of Brearley but of what
is now the majority of educational institu-
tions, public and private, in this nation.
Families are voting with their children’s
feet, you might say, taking them out of
these doctrinaire institutions, an increas-
ing number to be homeschooled. Percent-
ages are way up—aided by the pandemic,
which encouraged homeschooling when
traditional schools were shut.
Also contributing during the pandemic
was the ability for parents to see what
their children were being taught via
Zoom. They didn’t like it.
So what is evolving is a consumer
revolution in the most crucial field to our
country’s future—education.
This includes charter schools—opposed
by the teachers’ unions and many Demo-
crats—where people who can’t afford the
Brearleys of the world can send their chil-
dren—not that they should want to send
them to the Brearleys at this point.
Schools supposedly exist for the students
and their families, to prepare the students
to be educated citizens of a democratic
republic and to contribute to society as
But he wasn’t.
And there was no “armed insurrection”
at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Of course, it’s absolutely critical to the
Democratic narrative that the Jan. 6
incident be made to seem as violent and
crazed as possible.
Only thus can pro-Trump Americans
be excluded from what the left calls “our
ASHLI BABBITT/TWITTER
racy) and transformed into
“domestic extremists” if
not, indeed, into “domestic
terrorists”—you know, the
ordinary folks languishing
in jails courtesy of Christo-
pher Wray’s corrupt FBI.
(Don’t miss Julie Kelly’s
superb reporting on
this truly egregious abuse
of the police power of the
state by the Harris–Biden
administration and their
deep state puppeteers.)
Yes, five people died at or
near the Capitol on Jan. 6 or a couple of
days later.
None was murdered by the protesters.
Babbitt was shot in the neck at close range
by we know not whom.
That was the only shot fired at the Capitol
that day.
The liberal commentator Glenn Gre-
enwald further diminished the “armed
insurrection” meme in an important
column titled “The False and Exagger-
ated Claims Still Being Spread About the
Kevin Greeson, Greenwald notes, was
killed not by the protesters but died of a
heart attack outside the Capitol; Benjamin
members of the working world. They don’t
exist for the teachers, administrators, or
ideologically interested politicians.
The former, anyway, are the people
whose services are being purchased,
either by taxes or tuition, by the consum-
ers (the students and their families), no
matter what our teachers’ unions seem to
be saying through their militant and often
stubborn actions.
Teachers are supposed to provide a ser-
vice that will be of use to their students, to
teach them how to think for themselves,
not to indoctrinate them.
This consumer approach is beginning to
percolate, consciously and unconsciously,
through the educational system. It goes
from the lower grades, where home-
schooling (some with new forms that
make it more enriching than most con-
ventional schools) takes precedence, all
the way up to college and graduate school
where new methods of evaluating their
usefulness are being scrutinized.
Should everyone go to college? Is it
worth it? And if so, where?
The vaunted Ivy League these days has
turned into the very fount of woke, with
Princeton admitting a mere 30 percent
white students to its new freshman class.
That’s roughly half the percentage of
whites who live in our country, if you
count Hispanics as white, and consider-
ably less if you don’t.
Affirmative action is one thing. This is af-
firmative action on steroids and radically
discriminatory. Something’s out of whack.
Some people (those in control of “elite”
OPINION | A15
Philips, 50, the founder of a pro-Trump
website called Trumparoo, died of a stroke
that day; and Rosanne Boyland, a fanatical
Trump supporter, was, the NY Times says,
inadvertently “killed in a crush of fellow ri-
oters during their attempt to fight through
a police line.”
So, four of the five who died were pro-
Trump protesters. And the fifth? Well, that
was Sicknick, also pro-Trump, who, pace
The New York Times, went home, told his
family he felt fine, and died a day later
from, as The Washington Post just report-
ed, “natural causes.”
2 Tiers
So: Potter is instantly arrested and charged
with manslaughter.
The chap or chapette who killed Ashli
Babbitt?
Not only do we not know who it was, we
have recently been told that he or she will
not be charged.
In the aftermath of the Jan. 6 event, “Mad
Max” Maxine Waters screamed that Don-
ald Trump was “inciting” violence and
“trying to create a civil war.”
Trump did nothing of the kind. But now,
we see Waters traveling to Brooklyn Center
and demanding that people stay in the
streets.
As the New York Post and others have
reported, Waters broke the law by violating
curfew (“she didn’t agree with it”) and said
that if Derek Chauvin isn’t found guilty of
murdering George Floyd (a conviction for
manslaughter is not enough), then “we’ve
got to get more confrontational.”
How much more confrontation can the
mob be? They are already looting, rioting,
and destroying property in cities across
the country.
The Post is right: Waters is inciting
violence. She is the one who is “trying to
create a civil war.”
Yes, “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should
strip her of her committee assignments
and move for a vote to remove Waters from
office.”
But of course, she won’t. Nor will Jack
Dorsey remove her from Twitter.
He removed Trump. James O’Keeffe was
just suspended for life because he embar-
rassed CNN. Dorsey and the rest of Big
Tech tried to destroy Parler.
But that is different because—reasons.
In fact, we know the reasons.
We are living in a society with a two-tier
justice system.
Moreover, it is a society with a two-tier
system of social values.
If you have that populist Walmart
stink that attaches to those Hillary Clinton
placed in her infamous Basket of Deplo-
rables, then you belong to a different tribe,
almost a different species, from those
whom the governing bureaucracy has
anointed.
It’s not what the founders of this country
envisioned. But it’s been clear for some
time that our masters hold everything as-
sociated with that dispensation, from the
Constitution on down, in utter contempt.
Roger L. Simon is an award-winning
novelist, Oscar-nominated screenwriter,
co-founder of PJMedia, and now editor-at-
large of The Epoch Times. He was recently
interviewed by Dr. Carol Swain.
institutions) are out of whack.
Meanwhile, beyond the Ivies and similar
institutions, college is becoming less desir-
able with fewer people applying across the
country.
Many colleges are suffering economically
and are on the edge of shutting their doors.
Some are even looking for (gasp!) conserva-
tive students. This offers many opportuni-
ties for the students and their families to
take more control of their education—as
consumers—and to effectuate change.
If the consumer wants a more balanced
education, whether they know it or not,
he or she has the leverage to demand it.
As colleges struggle for students, this will
become clearer. Change will have to occur
for the colleges to stay in business.
This kind of change is possible at private
prep schools as well, and even at some
public schools.
We all need to take this consumer power
over education for the sake of our coun-
try—and almost all of us can. Almost
everyone has a friend or relative going to
school.
Seize the day. The movement to change
education is one in which every citizen
can participate. If you’re looking to do
something to make up for a troubling
election, it’s a good place to start. You’ll be
subversive in the best way.
Roger L. Simon is an award-winning
novelist, Oscar-nominated screenwriter,
co-founder of PJMedia, and now editor-at-
large of The Epoch Times. He was recently
interviewed by Dr. Carol Swain—here.
A16 | OPINION
Withdrawal From
Afghanistan Timed
to Humiliate US
MICHAEL WALSH
As if there were any doubts
about the animos-
ity directed by the left
against the United States
of America, President
Joe Biden’s announce-
ment that all U.S. troops will
be withdrawn from President George
W. Bush’s ill-conceived and thoroughly
wasteful war in Afghanistan by Sept. 11,
2021, finally ought to dispel them.
Think they picked that date out of a hat?
Think again.
Thanks to Biden’s absurdly long posi-
tion at the Washington trough (he was
first elected to the Senate in 1972), this
president will now have the distinction of
being in Washington for two of America’s
greatest defeats: the hasty and panicked
retreat from Vietnam in 1975 (from which
war Biden received no less than five draft
deferments and never served a day in
uniform) and the war in Afghanistan that
should have been over a month or so after
it started, not 20 years later.
That Biden has finally done the right
thing is almost accidental. Lunch Pail Joe,
the “fighter” for the little guy, has in reality
never been in a fight he actually wanted to
win, beginning in 1973, when the United
States pulled its forces from South Viet-
nam in the wake of the “peace with honor”
Paris Peace Accords signed by President
Richard Nixon and welcomed at the time
by the communists of North Vietnam as a
sign of their inevitable victory. Since then,
the opportunistic but fundamentally char-
acterless Biden has simply drifted with his
party, ever leftward.
War on the Constitution
Indeed, the only war for which he’s
shown any enthusiasm is the one he’s
currently fronting: the battle against the
constitutionally ordained government
of the United States, and its replace-
ment with a cultural-Marxist junta of
“wokesters” determined to overturn both
the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
From the Vietnam era to the present,
“liberals” have been pleased to use the
The United States of 2 Americas
CONTINUED FROM A13
Trend lines are bad for blue—the elites
can socially engineer all they want—
their blue states are collapsing because
of the brilliant plans of the leaders of the
four corners of deceit in modern Amer-
ica: Big Tech, Big Finance, Big Govern-
ment, and Big Academia.
By fortifying Washington, D.C.—in
a way that is eerily reminiscent of the
American Civil War—House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has rendered
fortified our capital of diminishing
protections of our founding documents—
freedom of speech, assembly, faith, a bar
on unreasonable search and seizure, the
right against self-incrimination—only as
long as they were useful.
Now, with victory heaving into view
beyond the barbed-wire fences of official
Washington, marred only by the cloud of
the midterm elections of 2022, those ba-
sic rights can be as easily dispensed with
as the Paris Peace Accords: a means to an
end. And when your movement’s motto is
“by any means necessary,” well, you can
figure out what comes next.
In fact, then-President Donald Trump
had already announced a May 1 target
deadline for withdrawal from the Hindu
Kush, part of his campaign to end the For-
ever Wars bequeathed to him by a biparti-
san, decades-old coalition of his predeces-
sors, Bush, Clinton, Bush, and Obama.
But Biden and his handlers, it seems,
just couldn’t resist the symbolic impor-
tance of the 20th anniversary of 9/11: as a
monument not only to American lack of
will to win a battle against the supersti-
tious goatherds of the Taliban, but also as
a celebration of what is viewed in the Is-
lamic world as a triumph for the Taliban
against the Great Satan.
It’s a stunning propaganda vic-
tory for the inheritors of Osama
bin Laden’s war on the West.
The importance of dates and anniversa-
ries looms large in Islam. Sept. 11, for exam-
ple, marked the day of the Muslim assault
on the gates of Vienna in 1683, a decisive
battle that broke the Turkish incursion into
central Europe and began the long rollback
of Islamic conquest in eastern Europe.
The collapse of the World Trade Center
and the damaging of the Pentagon was
payback for that defeat, which still ag-
grieves many Muslims, and the opening
of a new front in a clash of civilizations
that extends back to the 7th century A.D.
and includes the Christian reconquest
of the Holy Land in 1099 during the First
relevance. Austin, Tallahassee, and most
importantly, Mar-a-Lago, are now the
centers of gravity for America.
Big Tech can manipulate search results
all they want; they are now living in their
self-made Ministry of Truth and will
go the way of MySpace and the Sears
catalog, as Lindell and other innovators
establish alternatives.
The real game, the one that I haven’t
mentioned yet, is the fast-approaching
showdown with China. Red states, in
many ways, control the world’s food and
energy supplies—both of which China
U.S. Army soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division retrieve their duffel bags after returning home
from a nine-month deployment to Afghanistan at Fort Drum, N.Y., on Dec. 10, 2020.
Crusade, the fall of Constantinople to the
Turks in 1453, and the sieges of Malta and
Szigetvar in 1565–1566.
Propaganda Victory
What Biden means to do, therefore, is to
announce to the Muslim ummah that 9/11
was a great and glorious victory for Islam,
and in acknowledgment, the “Franks”
(radical Muslims still employ the termi-
nology of the Crusades) will formally ad-
mit defeat exactly 20 years later and march
away with their tails between their legs.
It’s a stunning propaganda victory for
the inheritors of Osama bin Laden’s war
on the West and a craven and humiliating
defeat for the meals-on-wheels, three-
cups-of-tea U.S. military, which now
hasn’t won a war since 1945 and is in no
position to stop either the Chinese or the
Russians on a field of fight.
That’s not because Americans can’t fight.
Two hundred and forty-five years ago, on
April 19, 1775, the militias at Lexington and
Concord, Massachusettes, took up arms in
defense of the colonies’ right to self-deter-
mination, shedding the first blood of what
became the Revolutionary War.
The proximate cause was a British at-
tempt to confiscate American arms and
military supplies (if you think the second
amendment was written to protect hunt-
ers, think again). The end result was a free
and independent nation that later fought
a bloody civil war over slavery and seces-
sion; intervened in the Great War to deliver
victory to Britain and France; and defeated
Imperial Japan less than four years after
the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.
Americans can fight, all right; it’s just
that we won’t. Korea, which was nomi-
is desperate for. The third leg of strategic
essentials for national success is access
to the world’s capital markets, and finan-
cial firms are beginning to exfiltrate to
red areas from New York.
China is estranged from access to capi-
tal, which is the lifeblood of the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP). Hopefully, the
evolving United States is able to deter
open conflict with an increasingly iso-
lated CCP, but if kinetic conflict begins,
likely nothing will be off the table for the
CCP, and the blue states are still highly
concentrated with their diminishing
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021
JOHN MOORE/GETTY IMAGES
nally fought under U.N. auspices, ended
in stalemate, but at least our troops came
home with honor. Vietnam, a brainchild
of two Democrat presidents, was fought
to keep fighting, never to win.
And it was during this conflict that baby
boomers began to come of age, opposing
the draft (sensibly, as it turned out, since
neither President Lyndon B. Johnson nor
President Richard Nixon had a plan for
victory), and turning hard left under the tu-
telage of communist philosopher Herbert
Marcuse and other members of the Frank-
furt School, who had recently been rescued
from Hitler and transplanted to Columbia
and other major U.S. universities.
Those same boomers rioted in the
streets of Chicago in 1968 against LBJ’s
vice president, Hubert Humphrey,
grabbed the 1972 nomination for peace-
nik George McGovern, engineered
Nixon’s ouster less than two years after
one of the greatest electoral landslides in
history, and have been in the driver’s seat,
both culturally and politically, ever since.
Since JFK dragged the country into the
Big Muddy of Vietnam, no American pres-
ident except for Ronald Reagan has known
how to articulate the only meaningful
objective of war: “We win, they lose.”
The Republican nominee in 2024 would
be wise to keep that in mind—no matter
who the enemy is, foreign or domestic.
Michael Walsh is the editor of The-Pipe-
line.org and the author of “The Devil’s
Pleasure Palace” and “The Fiery Angel,”
both published by Encounter Books. His
latest book, “Last Stands,” a cultural study
of military history from the Greeks to the
Korean War, was recently published.
populations, which make them very vul-
nerable to additional biological, and God
forbid, nuclear strikes from the CCP.
Bottom line, let blue wallow in their
destructive and nihilistic French Revolu-
tion bloodbath of trying to out-virtue-
signal each other. They’ll never be happy,
never satisfied, and seem to be removing
themselves from the gene pool of their
own accords. The rest of us can focus on
defeating the CCP.
Col. (Ret.) John Mills is a national secu-
rity professional with service in five eras:
Cold War, Peace Dividend, War on Terror,
World in Chaos, and now—Great Power
Competition. He is the former director of
cybersecurity policy, strategy, and interna-
tional affairs at the Department of Defense.
 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021
News Media That Conspired to Dismiss
Biden Laptop Scandal as ‘Russian
Disinformation’ Are Now Trapped
BRIAN CATES
If you limit your news
reading to only the U.S.
corporate media, you
miss a lot.
For instance, you likely
missed hearing anything
about this explosive story in
the UK’s Daily Mail last week about how
forensic experts have proven the Hunter
Biden laptop contents weren’t faked.
The corporate news media and the big
tech social media conglomerates made
extensive efforts to blunt the impact
of the emerging laptop scandal so it
wouldn’t affect the outcome of the fast-
approaching 2020 presidential election.
The popular media take is that their
censorship worked beautifully: Trump
was voted out and Biden won handily.
It Was Bound to Happen: The Return
of the Biden Laptop Scandal
The big question that’s been looming
ever since last November is this: What
happens when the laptop scandal resur-
faces again, as it’s doing now?
Some people seem to think this situ-
ation is going to remain in stasis for the
next four years. That every time more of
the laptop’s awful contents are revealed,
President Joe Biden will laugh loudly
when a reporter dares to ask him about
it and say: “C’mon man! That’s Russian
disinformation!” and the corporate news
media will obediently drop the issue.
I’m not sure that expectation is correct.
Last month, I commented about how
the federal investigation that is target-
ing Hunter Biden hasn’t ended yet.
Which is strange, if the conventional
wisdom is accurate that the investiga-
tion was only started back in 2018 to
protect the Biden family. Joe Biden is
safely in the White House now. What
would the FBI be waiting for?
If the investigation into Hunter Biden
has been subsumed by politics—as is
widely assumed—why haven’t the people
running it made defensive leaks on be-
half of the Bidens?
Wouldn’t there have been leaks to the
media from inside the FBI about how
“we’re not finding anything” and “after
two years it’s time to end this, we’re wast-
ing our time, there’s nothing here”?
Some of these dying news
media outlets need this Biden
scandal to survive.
Instead, there have been no leaks from
any of the investigators involved.
You know why that’s strange?
We already know what a politicized
group of political partisans at the FBI
or in a special counsel’s office would
look like.
Because we’ve spent more than four
years seeing evidence declassified re-
garding the FBI’s handling of the Cross-
fire Hurricane “counter-intelligence”
investigation and the Mueller special
counsel’s handling of the Lt. Gen. Mi-
chael Flynn case.
If the people in the FBI running the
Biden investigation or in Durham’s
special counsel’s office were political
partisans, they’d also be leakers. Regu-
lar leakers, who would be using media
allies to drive certain political narratives
centered around their designated targets,
either to shield those targets or to arouse
suspicions against them.
Well, pardon me if I keep pointing this
out: The people handling the federal
investigation of Hunter Biden and those
working with Durham since April 2017
investigating Spygate don’t leak anything.
Regularly or otherwise.
Durham’s people and the FBI’s Biden
investigators don’t leak anything to the
media about any of the central figures of
their probes. There have been no leaks
about James Comey, Andrew McCabe,
Hunter Biden, Tony Bobulinski, or any-
one else involved in these investigations.
That’s because the investigations are
real, and they aren’t being run by political
partisans, and they will conclude and an-
nounce their findings at the proper time.
Hunter Biden arrives at the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden on the West Front of the U.S.
Capitol in Washington on Jan. 20, 2021.
Given the nature of the kind of behav-
ior that we know Hunter Biden has been
engaging in for years, the fact that noth-
ing is leaking from the investigation into
him is remarkable.
Contrast Donald Trump Jr.
With Hunter Biden
Of all the children of Donald Trump,
it’s his eldest son, Donald Jr., who gets
most of the press attention. While his
other grown-up son Eric and daughters
Ivanka and Tiffany are also in the public
spotlight, it’s Don Jr. who comes clos-
est to matching his father’s bombastic
public persona and love of opining on
social media.
And for this reason, much of the corpo-
rate media enthusiastically pursued Don
Jr. just as avidly as it did his father.
For several years, sensational stories
appeared in the mainstream press that
sold the idea that Don Jr. was in mounting
legal trouble for serious crimes.
Which was always nonsense, because
any research into Don Jr. will establish
that he’s a successful businessman
who enjoys a stable family life. He’s
never been tied to drugs, and despite
rabid news media partisans franti-
cally searching for years, no evidence of
him being a family bag man for foreign
bribes has ever emerged.
We were repeatedly assured by legal
experts and reporters with high-level
sources that Don Jr. was headed to prison
just based on the notorious Trump Tower
meeting with some Russian political op-
eratives who turned out to be connected
to Fusion GPS, the very same firm that
was paid by the Hillary Clinton campaign
to produce the fake Steele dossier.
We heard for months in anonymously
sourced news reports that Mueller was
closing in on the dastardly Trump Crime
Family, how former Trump associates
such as Flynn, former Trump lawyer Mi-
chael Cohen, and others had flipped on
the president and were loudly singing to
Mueller about the Russian collusion.
And none of it was true.
Not only was Don Jr. never charged
with “collusion,” but Mueller also
couldn’t even find any evidence of viola-
tions of campaign finance laws, since
no money or anything of real value was
exchanged at the meeting. So there was
much wailing and gnashing of teeth in
the mainstream press as Don Jr. got away
with—absolutely nothing.
Meanwhile, what was the story with
Hunter Biden the past few years as Don
Jr. was supposedly involved in all kinds
of nefarious activity?
From Trying to Invent Fake Scandals to
Trying to Hide Real Ones
I can’t tell you how ironic it is that after
five years of the mainstream media try-
ing to nail Don Jr. on something, any-
thing, this has now happened: Hunter’s
abandoned laptop allegedly has videos
on it that he apparently made of himself
with multiple prostitutes.
And now all the corporate media out-
lets that engaged in deliberate conspira-
cy to hide the laptop scandal are now—
like Hunter in many of these shocking
videos and pictures—caught with their
pants down.
The mainstream corporate media has
blithely moved on from helping to launch
OPINION | A17
WIN MCNAMEE/GETTY IMAGES
And that is absolutely unforgivable.
This same corporate media that spent
more than four years claiming Spygate
was a right-wing conspiracy theory while
enthusiastically pursuing the Trump–
Russia collusion hoax turned around and
babbled to the country that the Hunter
Biden laptop was a Russian disinforma-
tion campaign. Because Joe said so.
We all know they did it to keep the
laptop scandal from hurting Biden’s
chances against Trump in the presiden-
tial election.
Well, Trump is gone now. They can’t jus-
tify continuing this blatant conspiracy to
suppress the truth about the laptop and
what it reveals about the Bidens to hurt
Trump. They can’t even find Trump these
days, much less hurt him.
These media companies are laying off
personnel at a frantic pace as the U.S.
economy continues to improve and
unemployment is dropping to its lowest
and drive numerous fake Trump family point since the pandemic began more
scandals to enthusiastically covering up than a year ago.
Biden family scandals. And nothing will bring the viewers and
The end result of all of this was that readers back like a good old-fashioned
when it was vitally important for the juicy political scandal about a presidency,
American public to know the truth about the likes of which the country hasn’t seen
the family that was seeking to enter the since Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky
White House, the American corporate were discovered to have been doing un-
media conspired among themselves to mentionable things in the Oval Office.
deliberately suppress and hide a genuine You must understand: The news media’s
political scandal in order to influence the wall of silence is going to crack.
2020 presidential election. Some of these dying news media out-
When the history of our time is writ- lets need this Biden scandal to survive.
ten, it’s going to look very unkindly on They’re not going to be able to help them-
these people in the American media selves. Their own self-interest is going
who weren’t only getting the major sto- to outweigh the political calculations of
ries wrong because they let their biases protecting the Bidens.
influence everything, but were also cov-
ering up for potentially real criminals Brian Cates is a writer based in South
while trying to turn innocent people Texas and author of “Nobody Asked For
into criminals. My Opinion ... But Here It Is Anyway!”
Fascism!
IBU
TIO
N
Rebellion.
R
Then?
RE T
R
FEVE
Mos
s
rd
icha
Ge ne R
A novel.
1991: After the collapse of the Soviet Union some “experts” predicted
that democracy would sweep the world. This author, a well-published
pioneer in the application of Biobehavioral Science, disagreed. More
likely, Fascism would be the future. Sadly, his prediction is coming true.
1922: Benito Mussolini instituted it in Italy. Mussolini was the Father
of Fascism. He was successful initially at the cost of individual liberty.
1933: Adolf Hitler instituted it in Germany. He, too, was successful
initially at the cost of individual liberty ... then millions of lives.
2021: the Democrats in these United States gained control of the
federal government. Now, they are instituting Fascism here.
“Think a thousand times before taking a decision but, after taking the decision,
never turn back even if you get a thousand difficulties!” -Adolf Hitler
Like Hitler, Democrats are making their play hard and fast while
Republicans talk. Democrats have taken the decision. Talk will not
turn them back.
“Fight them!” Republicans say.
“How?” you ask. Republicans don’t say.
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Americans towards fascistic tyranny?
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A18 | OPINION
The Readers’ Turn
‘Where Have All The Soldiers Gone?’
“Where Have All The Soldiers Gone?”
A line, of course, from Peter, Paul, and
Mary’s iconic song from the ’60s. Some
might remember the words and music.
If not, dig deeper into the memory bank
and try, “Hell No, We Won’t Go.” These
were both products of the Vietnam War
era, both having a tremendous impact
on soldier recruitment and willingness
to fight.
The former was a rhetorical question;
the latter the cry of draftee protest-
ers, American youths selected to serve
alongside our volunteers to fight in the
jungles of Southeast Asia. These protes-
tors opted not to serve, escaping to the
safety of Canada or elsewhere. Others,
still with a sense of responsibility and
patriotism, stayed, and fought.
But these are not the ’60s. Two genera-
tions have passed. In that time, eight
years of William Clinton and eight years
of Barack Obama, permitted each to
formulate national policies that allowed
infectious socialism to creep into the
minds of our young population through
our grade and high school teachers, and
the subversive teachings of the leftist
professorial elite at our major universi-
ties. No one bothered nor wanted to
stop them. Few were even aware it was
happening.
High school and university graduating
classes have been raised to believe
America was and remains an evil
country needing its history rewritten
and revised to reflect the ideology of
Karl Marx and Saul Alinsky.
Simultaneously, almost covertly, were
signs appearing of the acceptance of an
emerging socialist nucleus in our con-
gressional ranks in both houses. This,
like a cancer, grew. As with our edu-
cational system, no one bothered nor
cared to stop it.
Here is the problem, America. In the
two generations that have passed, “Hell
No, We Won’t Go” and the turncoat ac-
tions by a relatively few draftees have
turned into defiant cries by members of
the “entitled generation”—members of
society who have been raised to believe
they are victims of injustice and require,
as a minimum, reparations, not respon-
sibility to our country.
Add to the list members who believe it
is their birthright to receive “free every-
thing” in lieu of “earning anything.” Add
members of high school and university
graduating classes raised to believe
America was and remains an evil coun-
try needing its history rewritten and
revised to reflect the ideology of Karl
Marx and Saul Alinsky.
Keep in mind wars are fought not by
generals photo-op’d on the steps of the
Pentagon. They are won by 18-year-old
soldiers on the ground, slogging through
swamp, in jungles, on deserts, in urban
areas, in dirt and sand and mud, all to
prosecute a war dictated by politicians.
In truth, with the changing times, a
Renaming San Francisco Schools
I was very encouraged by Judge (re-
tired) Quentin Kopp’s article about
renaming San Francisco schools
[“Recall, Rescind, and Recapitulate in
San Francisco,” published April 7 in the
Northwest edition].
The San Francisco School Board had
decided to strip public schools of the
names of George Washington, Thomas
Jefferson, John Muir, Father Serra, Paul
Revere, Francis Scott Key, and Dianne
Feinstein.
While I understand that some have
concerns about the two slaveholders on
the list, they were still founding fathers
of our country and in personal writ-
ings expressed reservations about the
institution. Re: Jefferson, Monticello.
org states, ”He believed that slavery
presented the greatest threat to the
survival of the new American nation.
He thought that slavery was contrary to
the laws of nature, which decreed that
everyone had a right to personal liberty
These views were radical in a world
where unfree labor was the norm.”
I regret that he did not see fit to carry
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021
If you would like to submit a letter to the editor, please contact us: 
Email: lettertoeditor@epochtimes.com
Mail: The Epoch Times 229 W. 28th St., Fl. 7, New York, NY 10001
Kudos
large segment of our future force would I am intellectually and finan- in this nucleus infographic.
come from a different environment than cially grateful for your superb Impartial and factual!
those of the ’60s. It would be the prod- overview (so user friendly) of As always, kudos to The
uct of the now broken public education “Biden Admin’s $2.3 Trillion Epoch Times. Journalism’s
system, students deprived of the study of Infrastructure Plan” [pub- noblest profession is to
history, English, civics, and social stud- lished on April 7]. Whoever educate!
ies, basic courses that explain America created the two-page layout
and its greatness, and no longer taught guide is a genius. It is concise BARBARA R. BELLAR, MD, JD, MA,
MPH, M.DIV
in many of our public schools. and your average astute read- CHIEF MEDICAL DIRECTOR, CITY OF
Sadly, this reality is never challenged ership can understand it all CHICAGO, OPSA
by parents paying the taxes to support
the schools, or parents who seemingly
have little interest in the production of
a curriculum affecting their own chil-
dren. In short time, such students, now Infrastructure, by Whom?
in their formative years, will be exposed Thomas Jefferson, our third character.”
to university staff allowed to instill president, explained that By the time of Harry Truman
the merits of a socialism perceived as infrastructure improvements (our 32nd president), America
needed to govern America along with could only be accomplished was shipping tax-payer dollars
the modification of her Constitution. by the states. To change this, overseas to rebuild war-torn
Justification for service to our country, a constitutional convention Europe. Eisenhower (our 33rd)
then, is increasingly nonexistent. A sav- would be needed, because, as initiated the national highway
vy group of young men and women, who James Madison said, the enu- system. President George W.
at one point held political heroes, both merated powers given to the Bush (our 42nd) promised to
Republican and Democrat, as symbols national government did not rebuild every power station
of strength and patriotism, find instead include the ability to build in Iraq.
purposely divisive congressional lead- things like roads and canals. Today, the multitrillion
ers, many who are weak, abject failures James Polk, our 11th Presi- dollar projects proposed by
in meeting their responsibilities to gov- dent, and Franklin Pierce, our President Biden will have
ern, but desperately seek to gain reelec- 14th, vetoed or opposed fed- to be financed by America’s
tion and maintain perks and power. eral infrastructure measures. creditors, including com-
Into this ideological morass, it will Under emergency condi- munist China. Why should
be largely pointless to ask our young tions, Lincoln (our 16th) Chairman Mao step up to the
Americans to fight the nation’s battles, pushed through federal plate before the 50 American
as we, as a nation, have fairly well lost railroad, rivers, and harbors states? Who’s living in this
our moral authority to do so. legislation. Rutherford Hayes country anyway?
Reality is that the most essential ele- (our 19th) was OK with fed-
ment of our fighting forces, our volun- SINCERELY,
eral infrastructure projects KIMBALL SHINKOSKEY
teer soldiers, may not be there to fight if they were “of a national UTAH
the next war. They’ll have no reason, as
over the years our country has failed
and continues to fail in building into
them a love of our great America and a
reason to protect her. What Can We Do?
Picture, if you will, tomorrow’s youth
O Take full responsibility for and grandkids are learning
storming the beaches of Normandy. An
ourselves and families. No or NOT learning in school.
impossible delusion.
excuses. Resist asking gov- O Limit TV and social media
To the greater point, we may have
ernment for help, whether it participation.
already lost the next ground war, should
is a grant, subsidy, waiver, ex- O Search for, support, and elect
that day ever come. No longer is there
ception as special privileges candidates who support
a need to ask, “... Where have all the
for our “special interests.” “Making American Great.”
soldiers gone?” They definitely will have
O Write letters to news editors, O Support organizations and
refused to join the ranks in the first
our local legislatures, and foundations that do push
place, as they believed themselves to
Congress. back against government
be “entitled” to freedom from respon-
O Subscribe to The Epoch overreach.
sibility, totally unlike today’s patriots,
Times for excellent report- O Work with our state legisla-
volunteer men and women defending
ing, which includes a section ture to protect and defend
our nation every day.
clearly labeled Opinion. the integrity of our elections.
Sadly, in two crucial generations, we
O Enroll in Hillsdale College (Florida’s successful 2020
failed to teach our youth they had a na-
free online courses (Con- election process is an excel-
tion to defend as citizen soldiers. This,
stitution, Federalist Papers, lent example.)
then, left our country with few willing
American Heritage, etc.) for
to protect her; and thus may have begun SINCERELY,
knowledgable talking points. DYKSTERHUIS
the crumbling of the greatest democracy
O Pay attention to what our kids OREGON
in history, as any semblance of deter-
rent power was lost, and “peace through
strength” became a pipe dream.
Reversible? Yes. But only if the nation’s
cultural course is reset toward restora-
tion of old and true American values
‘The Fall of Chile’ by Stephen Moore
as, for example, those of our “Greatest While Mr. Moore’s commen- by the amount of distrust that
Generation.” tary on the rise and fall of the remains almost 50 years after
economic stability of Chile the overthrow of Allende
MATTHEW R. KAMBROD IS A FREQUENT OP-ED [“The Fall of Chile Is a Warn- among people who were once
CONTRIBUTOR ON DEFENSE ISSUES ing to America, published friends and compatriots. The
AND AUTHOR OF “LOBBYING FOR DEFENSE:
AN INSIDER’S VIEW.” March 31, 2021] has some atrocities of both the left-
salient points, he neglects to and right-wing dictators still
mention a few of the facts that impact society in ways that
have had a profound and long make citizens (particularly
lasting impact on Chileans. those over the age of 50) dis-
In 1969, Salvador Allende was trustful of their government,
elected as Chile’s president. unwilling to share their
Although he openly espoused thoughts about politics and
those high ideals into his private life. But a leftist agenda, he was not policy, and unsure who can
that was 220 years ago, approximately. able to move the economy be trusted.
George Washington said, “I never forward as he hoped. Four The younger generation sees
mean to possess another slave by pur- years later, Augusto Pinochet inequities and inconsisten-
chase, it being among my first wishes to and the military ousted Al- cies in a constitution that was
see some plan adopted, by which slav- lende in a bloody coup that written quickly at the end of
ery in this country may be abolished led to 17 years of a right-wing the Pinochet dictatorship and
by law.” dictatorship, over 3,000 peo- is eager to try to do a better
Great Britain abolished slavery in ple who were assassinated or job. While there are certainly
1807, the United States in 1865, Brazil “were missing,” and 40,000+ those who would advocate for
in 1888. Saudi Arabia abolished slavery plus victims of human rights a leftist agenda, there are also
in 1962, when I was 7 years old, at the abuses. It was during this many who understand the
insistence of the Kennedy administra- period (1973–1989) that Mr. importance of an economy
tion. Wow. America’s not such a bad Moore states that Chile “em- that supports international
country after all. barked on one of the boldest investments (think copper,
Or maybe it could turn out to be, if we sets of free-market economic wine, agriculture) and free
kowtow to the neo-Stalinist revisionism reforms in history.” market capitalism. It will
practiced by the school board of San He goes on to state that the be interesting to watch as
Francisco. In the novel “1984” by George situation today is bad and talks begin and the multiple
Orwell, the hero was employed in re- growing worse. Interestingly, parties try to promote their
writing history so that it would conform the current president is a concept of what government
to the Party’s official version. right-wing conservative with should become. Perhaps the
In any case, I would like to thank strong ties to the U.S. and bigger concern is the Chinese
Judge/Senator Kopp for his many years other influential democratic efforts to “invest” their way
of service to California and the Bay Area. governments. into Chile’s future.
CLAYTON RICH When I visited friends in MARY RANDALL
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO Chile in 2019, I was stunned CALIFORNIA
 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 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 Strat-
egies for World Domination
b. The Periphery Diplomacy
Strategy to Exclude the
US From the Asia-Pacific
Region (cont.)
Using Debt Traps to Seize Control
of Central Asia’s Resources
Following the dissolution of the
Soviet Union, the CCP has gone to
great effort to develop and cement its
relationships with the Central Asian
countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz-
stan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and
Uzbekistan. The goal of the CCP’s
strategy in Central Asia can be viewed
from several angles: For one, Central
Asia is an unavoidable land route in
China’s westward expansion. Further,
when China constructs infrastruc-
ture to transport goods in and out of
China, it can also expand its commer-
cial interests in Central Asia. Sec-
ond, China aims to seize the natural
resources, including coal, oil, gas, and
precious metals, that are abundant
in these countries. Additionally, by
controlling Central Asian countries
that are geographically and culturally
close to China’s Xinjiang Province,
the regime can tighten its control over
the ethnic minorities there.
The CCP has become the most in-
fluential actor in Central Asia. The In-
ternational Crisis Group, a Brussels-
based think tank, released a report
in 2013 saying that China has been
rapidly growing into an economi-
cally dominant power in this region
by taking advantage of social unrest
in Central Asia. Beijing sees Central
Asia as a supply base for raw materi-
als and resources and as a market for
its low-priced, low-quality products.
[30] Meanwhile, the CCP has also
poured millions of U.S. dollars into
investment and aid in Central Asia in
the name of maintaining stability in
Xinjiang.
A huge network of highways, rail-
ways, airways, communications, and
oil pipelines has closely connected
China with Central Asia. The China
Road and Bridge Corporation and its
contractors have been responsible
for the construction of highways,
railways, and electricity transmission
lines in Central Asia. They pave roads
on some of the most dangerous and
complex terrain and construct new
roads to transport China’s goods to
Europe and the Middle East, as well
as to ports in Pakistan and Iran. From
1992 to 2012, in the two decades of
diplomatic relations between China
and the five Central Asian countries,
the total volume of trade between
China and Central Asia grew a hun-
dredfold, according to Chinese state-
run media. [31]
In Central Asia, the CCP has pro-
moted investments in large state-
run, credit-financed infrastructure
projects. Some scholars have realized
that such investments could form
the basis of a new international order
-ABDUAZIZ MADYAROV/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Journalists take
pictures out-
side the venue
of a summit at
the Belt and
Road Forum in
Beijing on May
15, 2017. The
Belt and Road
Forum focused
on the “One
Belt, One Road”
trade initiative.
in which China would play a domi-
nant role. Seen from this perspec-
tive, Central Asia, like Australia, is
another testing ground for the CCP’s
conceptual revolution in diplomatic
strategy. [32]
Beijing tends to support corrupt
authoritarian leaders in Central Asian
countries, and its opaque investment
projects are considered beneficial
primarily for the local elites. The
Beijing tends International Crisis Group’s report
to support noted that each of the Central Asian
governments is weak and corrupt,
corrupt
and the countries they rule fraught
authoritarian
with social and economic unrest. [33]
leaders in
The large infrastructure projects pro-
Central
moted by the CCP are not only linked
Asian to massive loans, but also involve offi-
countries, cial approvals and permits, which are
based on vested interests. This gives
and its
rise to and worsens the corruption in
opaque these regimes.
investment In Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov, the
projects are former first secretary of the Commu-
considered nist Party of the Uzbek Soviet Social-
beneficial ist Republic in the USSR, served as
the country’s president from the time
primarily
of independence in 1991 to his death
for the in 2016. In 2005, government forces
local elites. clashed with protesters in the eastern
city of Andijan, resulting in hundreds
of deaths. The CCP placed itself as
an ally of Karimov, rendering firm
support to the regimes in Uzbekistan
and other countries in the region in
their efforts to safeguard the status
quo. [34]
The fragile economic structures of
Central Asian countries, in combina-
tion with massive PRC infrastructure
loans, leave these countries especially
prone to falling into China’s debt trap.
Turkmenistan has suffered from a
severe economic crisis, with an esti-
mated annual inflation rate in 2018
of 300 percent, estimated unemploy-
ment at more than 50 percent, severe
food shortages, and rampant cor-
ruption. In 2018, China was the only
major buyer of Turkmen gas, and also
the largest creditor of its foreign debt,
which stood at $9 billion (estimated
at 30 percent of GDP in 2018). [35] [36]
Eventually, Turkmenistan may have
no choice but to hand over its natural
gas fields—which generate 70 percent
The KTZE-
of the country’s revenue—to the PRC
Khorgos Gate-
way dry port, to pay off its debt. [37]
In 2018, Tajikistan borrowed more
a logistics hub
on the Kazakh than $300 million from China to build
side of the a power plant. In return, it transferred
China–Kazakh- the operating license to a gold mine to
stan border, on PRC control for the length of time the
April 15, 2019. mine produces enough gold to repay
the debt. [38]
The Kyrgyzstan economy is also in
danger, as large-scale infrastructure
projects run by the PRC also caused
it to fall into the debt trap. The coun-
try will likely have to cede part of its
natural resources to pay the debt.
Kyrgyzstan also cooperated with
Chinese communications companies
Huawei and ZTE to build digital com-
munication tools in order to tighten
governmental control over people,
while also leaving the CCP regime a
backdoor to extend its surveillance
into these countries. [39]
Beijing took advantage of the power
vacuum in the aftermath of the dis-
solution of the Soviet Union to enter
THOMAS PETER, POOL/GETTY IMAGES
the Kazakh energy sector. The Ka-
zakh economy depends on its crude
oil production, and its oil revenue is
used to buy cheap Chinese products.
Apart from oil drilling, this nation’s
industrial foundation is fragile. With
the flow of cheap Chinese products
into its market, the Kazakh manufac-
turing industry collapsed. [40]
Another motive for the CCP’s
expansion in Central Asia is to crack
down on Uyghur dissidents living in
the region. The Shanghai Coopera-
tion Organization, a regional alli-
ance driven by China and Russia,
allows for extradition between the six
member countries. A member coun-
try can even send its own officials to
another member country to conduct
an investigation. In this way, the CCP
can extend its suppression of Uyghurs
abroad and arrest Uyghur dissidents
who have taken refuge in nearby
countries. [41]
Notes
30. International Crisis Group, “China’s
Central Asia Problem,” report, no. 244, Feb.
27, 2013.
31. Wu Jiao and Zhang Yunbi, “Xi Proposes
a ‘New Silk Road’ With Central Asia,” China
Daily, Sept. 8, 2013.
32. Raffaello Pantucci and Sarah Lain,
“China’s Eurasian Pivot: The Silk Road
Economic Belt,” Whitehall Papers 88, no. 1
(May 16, 2017): 1–6.
33. International Crisis Group, “China’s
Central Asia Problem.”
34. Kong Quan 孔泉, “Zhongguo zhichi
Wuzibiekesitan wei guojia anquan suo zuo
nuli” 中國支持烏茲別克斯坦為國家安全
所做努力 [“China Supports Uzbekistan’s
Efforts for National Security”], People.cn,
May 17, 2005.
35. Benno Zogg, “Turkmenistan Reaches
Its Limits With Economic and Security
Challenges,” IPI Global Observatory, July 31,
2018.
36. Jakub Jakobowski and Mariusz
Marszewski, “Crisis in Turkmenistan: A Test
for China’s Policy in the Region,” Centre for
Eastern Studies, Aug. 31, 2018.
37. Eiji Furukawa, “Belt and Road Debt
Trap Spreads to Central Asia,” Nikkei Asian
Review, Aug. 29, 2018.
38. “Tajikistan: Chinese Company Gets Gold
Mine in Return for Power Plant,” Eurasianet,
April 11, 2018.
39. Danny Anderson, “Risky Business:
A Case Study of PRC Investment in
Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan,” The Jamestown
Foundation, China Brief, 18, no. 14, Aug. 10,
2018.
40. Juan Pablo Cardenal and Heriberto
Araújo, “China’s Silent Army: The Pioneers,
Traders, Fixers and Workers Who Are
Remaking the World in Beijing’s Image,”
trans. Catherine Mansfield (New York:
Crown Publishing Group, 2013), chap. 2.
41. Lindsey Kennedy and Nathan Paul
Southern, “China Created a New Terrorist
Threat by Repressing Secessionist Fervor
in Its Western Frontier,” Quartz, May 31,
2017.
See next edition for the next installment.
To purchase the books, visit Epoch-
Shop.com
OPINION | A19
Stephen Gregory, Publisher
Jasper Fakkert, Editor-in-Chief
Channaly Philipp, Life & Tradition,
Travel Editor
Chrisy Trudeau, Mind & Body Editor
Crystal Shi, Home, Food Editor
Sharon Kilarski, Arts & Culture Editor
ABOUT US
The Epoch Times is a media
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and independent journalism.
Standing outside of politi-
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As an independent media out-
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A20 | OPINION
A teacher
instructs
students in
Provo, Utah,
on Feb. 10,
2021.
Echoes of Mao: Weaponizing
Schools With ‘Critical Race Theory’
ALEX NEWMAN
Long before Califor-
nia’s infamous “ethnic
studies” curriculum
made national headlines
last month for literally
suggesting children chant
to the Aztec gods of canni-
balism and human sacrifice, the insidi-
ous weaponization of “race” and “rac-
ism” had already overtaken the nation’s
government school system.
The racist effort to divide and conquer
Americans by “race,” all under the guise
of examining everything through the
“lens of racism” and fighting “structural”
or “systemic” racism, has come to be
known as critical race theory, or CRT.
Just think of it as half-baked pseudo-in-
tellectual gobbledygook aimed at stirring
up as much racial hatred, resentment,
division, and conflict as possible.
Like cult leaders, the growing overpaid
legions of tax-funded “experts” in CRT
want the public to believe that this is
some complicated and mysterious “epi-
demic” that only overpaid “experts” can
understand. But the reality behind CRT
is actually pretty simple.
The premise is basically this: All “white
people” are racist oppressors with power
and privilege, and all non-white people
are oppressed victims.
From that flows the silly premise that
America—among the least racist nations
on earth, studies show—is a “systemi-
cally racist” abomination that must be
“decolonized” and dismantled.
In fact, any institutions created by
peoples or nations of mostly European
heritage are evil and must be pulverized.
And any people who lack sufficient mela-
nin must repent for their collective guilt.
If all that sounds evil and unhinged,
good—it is.
Unfortunately, it’s also now a staple in
the diet of impressionable young victims
of government schools across America.
The goal isn’t really fighting racism, as
its proponents claim.
In fact, a number of studies show that
“diversity training,” an offshoot of CRT
aiming to put the cult’s views into practice,
“can activate bias or spark a backlash,” the
Harvard Business Review warned.
“Many participants actually report
more animosity toward other groups
afterward,” it said.
Duh!
The same is true for children: When
they’re bombarded with racial division
and hyper-racial extremism, they not
only begin thinking in terms of race, they
also begin resenting those supposedly in
other “groups” alleged to be in conflict
with them.
And that’s precisely the point. In the
Soviet Union, like Marx decades earlier,
totalitarians divided people by “class,”
driving a wedge between the “bourgeoi-
sie” and the “proletariat.”
Similar divisions were created and
exploited by Chairman Mao in commu-
nist China.
In America, where the poor live
materially better than the rich in many
nations, the “class conflict” narrative
was not as effective.
And so, as in National Socialist (Nazi)
Germany, socialist and communist
agents from abroad and homegrown
subversives turned to “race” as the key
fault line to exploit.
It has been bubbling beneath the
surface in America for years—even
decades. But in recent months, it has
exploded into the national conscious-
ness as increasingly extreme examples
of tax-funded CRT indoctrination spark
outrage from parents and normal people.
There’s a long history behind this ideol-
ogy of hate in America.
Part 6 of this series explored the enor-
mous influence of the Marxist Frankfurt
School and its “critical theory” schemes
on American culture—and particularly in
its government-controlled education sys-
tem. CRT is an outgrowth of this deadly
weapon, adapted to the American scene.
A big part of the lie depends on fraudu-
lent history taught to children such as
the almost universally discredited “1619
Project” and the debunked diatribes of
communist Howard Zinn, as document-
ed in part 17 of this series.
The end result is disaster.
In America,
where the poor live
materially better
than the rich in
many nations,
the ‘class conflict’
narrative was not
as effective.
Red Guards, high school and
university students, wav-
ing copies of Chairman Mao
Zedong’s “Little Red Book,”
parade in Beijing’s streets at
the beginning of the Cultural
Revolution in June 1966.
JEAN VINCENT/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021
GEORGE FREY/GETTY IMAGES
Tax-Funded CRT at School
Naturally, adults of all “races” with even
basic critical-thinking skills, common
sense, and a rudimentary understand-
ing of history could see right through the
CRT propaganda.
But young children in government
schools for five days a week? They make
for easy victims. After all, mommy and
daddy said to listen to the teacher.
That’s why the forces behind CRT are
focusing so heavily on targeting chil-
dren.
What do CRT and the race-mongering
look like in practice?
In California, for example, the newly
adopted “Ethnic Studies Model Cur-
riculum,” approved by the state Board of
Education on March 18, suggests chil-
dren seek help from pagan Aztec gods for
“a revolutionary spirit” in a chant.
“The chants have a clear implication:
the displacement of the Christian god,
which is said to be an extension of white
supremacist oppression,” writes Christo-
pher F. Rufo.
The Los Angeles Unified School Dis-
trict, the largest district in the nation, has
already indicated that it will be requiring
“ethnic studies” for graduation starting
in 2023. The whole state may eventually
follow. And the cancers that begin in
California often spread nationwide.
In one of the wealthiest districts in the
nation, Silicon Valley’s Cupertino Union
School District, third-grade students
were reportedly ordered to “deconstruct”
their racial, gender, religious, family
structure, and sexual identities.
After that, they were told to create an
“identity map” and rank themselves
based on the “power and privilege”
received from the “intersection” of their
various “identities.”
“A white, cisgender man, who is
able-bodied, heterosexual, considered
handsome and speaks English has
more privilege than a Black transgender
woman,” offered the school materials
in an example of how to understand the
results.
In short, under this twisted worldview,
your melanin content makes you either
an oppressor to be destroyed, like the
bourgeoisie, or a victim who must de-
stroy others, like the proletariat.
This sort of madness is taking place all
across “red” states, too.
North Carolina’s largest school district,
Wake County, for instance, launched
a campaign to eradicate “whiteness in
educational spaces.” As part of that,
teachers were ordered to “disrupt white-
ness” and “override families,” according
to Rufo.
It’s not new, either. In 2017, outraged
parents fumed at a Rockingham County,
 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021
North Carolina, Board of Education
meeting after learning that a teacher
forced children of European heritage to
stand in front of the class and apologize
for their “white privilege.”
In Ames, Iowa, and other cities and
towns across America in recent years, the
“Black Lives Matter Week of Action” has
been peddling “diversity and globalism,”
“the disruption of the Western nuclear
family,” “transgender, queer affirming,
and collective value,” and more.
To understand just how aggressive
the peddlers of this Marxist narrative in
schools have become, consider news re-
ports from mid-March about government-
school teachers who plotted to “infiltrate”
parents’ groups opposed to the indoctri-
nation, use “hackers” to mess with their
communications, and even “expose these
people publicly” for speaking out.
What is happening in America
today with CRT, in our
schools, in our workplaces and
governmental agencies, really
reminds me of what happened
during the Cultural Revolution.
Lily Tang-Williams, Chinese exile
Similar Tactics in Communist China
Victims of these tactics who have lived
through the horrors that stem from them
recognize the same schemes clearly.
Prominent Chinese exile Lily Tang-
Williams, who grew up under Mao but
eventually fled to the United States, re-
members those exact tactics being used
in Mao’s government-indoctrination
centers for children, masquerading as
“public schools.”
“It creates hatred, guilt, and division in
our country,” she said about CRT being
peddled on children in school. “It is a
tool used by the radical left to divide and
conquer.”
Having grown up during Mao’s reign
and experienced the entire 10-year
Cultural Revolution, Williams sounded
the alarm about what’s happening in
America today.
“Let me tell you, this racist theory is
nothing more than a tactic to separate
citizens into ‘oppressed’ and ‘oppressor’
classes, and it is something I have heard
before,” said Williams, who recently tes-
tified before the New Hampshire legisla-
ture on this issue.
Mao’s regime sought to destroy the
“four olds,” she told The Epoch Times,
referring to the mass-murdering com-
munist Chinese tyrant’s campaign to
eradicate China’s old ideas, culture,
habits, and customs.
“He and his regime used identity poli-
tics to divide people into 10 classes: five
red and five black,” she explained. “The
red classes included poor and lower-
middle peasants, workers, revolution-
ary soldiers, revolutionary cadres, and
revolutionary martyrs. The black classes
were landlords, rich farmers, counter-
revolutionaries, bad-influencers, and
rightists.”
Every member of the “black classes”
was considered guilty by association,
simply for having been born into a fam-
ily, and was said to have been “born
black.”
“Mao urged Red Guards to publicly
shame the black classes by raising their
fists, making them do self-criticism, con-
fess and denounce themselves, or they
would get beat up, locked up in a room to
write about their ‘blackness,’ apologize
for their families or themselves, and be
sent to re-education camps to do hard
labor,” Williams continued, adding that
some young members of the families
would do anything to escape the shame
and association, including reporting
their own relatives to the Chinese Com-
munist Party.
Tens of millions of Chinese died amid
the Cultural Revolution “due to those
murderous policies,” said Williams,
who serves on the advisory board of U.S.
Parents Involved in Education along with
this writer and others in the field.
“What is happening in America today
with CRT, in our schools, in our work-
places and governmental agencies, really
reminds me of what happened during
the Cultural Revolution,” she added.
Bad for Children
Aside from being destructive to society,
the CRT madness is going to harm chil-
dren of all types, too, experts say.
“It is horrendous and utterly harm-
ful psychology to tell people, especially
young children and teens, who do not
believe that they are racists, and may
actively despise racism, that there is
nothing they can do to stop themselves
from being racists,” explained Doctor
of Clinical Psychology Gary Thompson
with the Early Life Child Psychology and
Education Center.
“Woke Supremacy is just as psycho-
logically destructive on people as White
Supremacy,” added Thompson, who hap-
pens to be a black American.
Thompson told The Epoch Times that
many public schools are now teaching
children as young as second and third
grade that “whiteness is synonymous
with evil, that the police systemati-
cally hunt down and murder black men
deliberately, and all these other highly
charged political convictions that they’re
teaching as if they’re uncontested fact.”
How to Fight Back
Parents across the nation are scrambling
for ways to fight back and protect their
children.
Thompson, who also serves on the
advisory board of U.S. Parents Involved
in Education, said his personal opinion
is that attempts by average parents to
eliminate CRT from their children’s pub-
lic school would be “futile.”
“If CRT does not fit your family values,
the option of leaving public schools may
be a viable option for parents,” he said,
echoing a growing sentiment in America
as enrollment in public schools contin-
ues to plummet.
Partly in response to CRT propaganda,
millions of parents have fled government
schools over the last year for home-
schooling and private schools.
Unfortunately, the CRT madness is
no longer confined just to government
schools. Even many “woke” elite and
self-styled “Christian” schools have been
jumping on the bandwagon, so parents
must do their due diligence.
Ignoring the voices of some of Amer-
ica’s most prominent black Christian
leaders—Voddie Baucham and Bishop
E.W. Jackson, for instance—many liberal
churches and seminaries have taken the
plunge, too.
Some critics have argued that indoc-
trinating children with CRT at taxpayer
expense is already against the law.
Wu Wenyuan, executive director of the
Californians for Equal Rights Founda-
tion, has been fighting the battle in Cali-
fornia and beyond for years. She argues
that CRT in the classroom is “illegal and
unconstitutional.”
“Teaching CRT that’s predicated on
racial divisions and a social dichotomy of
victim versus oppressor fundamentally
violates the 14th Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution—which guarantees equal
protection of the laws—Title VI/VII of
the 1964 Civil Rights Act, California’s
constitutional principle of equal treat-
ment, and a plethora of anti-discrimina-
tion laws,” she warned.
In Florida, top officials are taking
action. In fact, Republican Gov. Ron De-
Santis just promised the ideology would
not be included in his state’s public
schools.
“Let me be clear there is no room in
our classrooms for things like critical
race theory, teaching kids to hate their
country and to hate each other is not
worth one red cent of taxpayer money,”
DeSantis said.
“They’re trying to make people view
each other based on race, I want to do
the opposite. I want to treat people as
individuals,” he added. “I want to treat
people based on character.”
But of course, dividing people is the
goal—not an unintended side effect—
and the constant appeals to “white
supremacy” are simply a red herring
designed to force critics to remain silent.
The stakes couldn’t be higher.
CRT’s leaders and cult-like adherents
have labeled virtually everything the
far-left and Marxists hate as “white su-
premacy”: the U.S. Constitution, Christi-
anity, math, the rule of law, punctuality,
individualism, Western civilization, the
nuclear family, objective truth, and more.
Nothing and nobody is safe.
Adults largely recognize the evil and
idiocy of this. However, America’s chil-
dren—like children in other nations who
have been indoctrinated to hate their
parents and their compatriots before
committing ghastly atrocities—do not
know better.
It will be up to parents to protect their
own children, and thereby the nation
and its freedoms.
Alex Newman is an award-winning
international journalist, educator, author,
and consultant who co-wrote the book
“Crimes of the Educators: How Utopians
Are Using Government Schools to Destroy
America’s Children.” He is the executive
director of Public School Exit, serves as
CEO of Liberty Sentinel Media, and writes
for diverse publications in the United
States and abroad.
A kindergarten class socially distances while preparing to leave their classroom at Stark
Elementary School in Stamford, Conn., on Oct. 21, 2020.
Freedom of Thought
SAM SORBO
The elegant woman with the beautiful
10-year-old looked forlorn.
“She’d probably love it, and Lord
knows, it’s been ... complicated at
school since COVID, but we’re too
much alike!” She shook her head.
We were casually chatting about home-
schooling—my favorite topic—outside a
restaurant while waiting dutifully for our
take-out orders under a COVID-blamed,
unconstitutional lockdown. It amazes
me the variety of excuses parents find
to send their children away from them.
And how difficult it is to reach them with
truth. Even self-acknowledged truth-
seekers and freedom-lovers unquestion-
ingly believe in government schools.
Do we want freedom or enslavement?
Too late! We are already enslaved by
the chains of thought that schooling
has instilled in us.
Government schools convinced us
that the only way for children to be “edu-
cated” is by attending classes and mov-
ing at the sound of a bell. Learning hap-
pens only inside specifically dedicated
institutions, even if test results indicate
failure and costs rise disproportionately
to value. Socialization is, strangely, more
valuable than education.
Homeschooled children outperform
public-schooled children by 34 to
39 percentile points. In fact, “Home-
schoolers were seen to have an average
standardized test score of 87th percen-
tile as per the National Home Educa-
tion Research Institute’s study.” Public
school students were, naturally, at the
50th percentile. The level of educa-
tion of the parent, according to Home
School Legal Defense Association, had
little impact on the results for students.
Even self-acknowledged
truth-seekers and freedom-
lovers unquestioningly
believe in government schools.
Parents still choose public school be-
cause they’ve been schooled in thought
and lack brain elasticity to reconsider.
Incidentally, the homeschool–public
school testing disparity isn’t entirely aca-
demic, because performance is linked to
students’ fluidity of thought—not simply
their ability to regurgitate information.
Lord Bertrand Russell, No. 1 fan of
the one-world government, wrote in his
1951 “Impact of Science on Society”:
“I think the subject which will be of
most importance politically is mass
psychology. ... Its importance has been
enormously increased by the growth
of modern methods of propaganda.
Of these the most influential is what is
called ‘education.’ ... It may be hoped that
in time anybody will be able to persuade
anybody of anything if he can catch the
patient young and is provided by the
State with money and equipment.”
OPINION | A21
JOHN MOORE/GETTY IMAGES
As public school students themselves,
parents have been “persuaded” that they
cannot accomplish the education of their
offspring and shouldn’t even desire to
try. In fact, to even think it commits a
kind of intolerable treason of the revered
status quo embedded in every student.
Seeing now the recent depletion of
variety and freedom in the marketplace
of ideas, where certain philosophies
and ideas have been banished (The sit-
ting president of the greatest nation was
deplatformed and deleted, and YouTube
recently removed Florida Gov. Ron
DeSantis’s video with noted medical
professionals.), we ought to step back
and understand that the censorship we
witness today is a product of schools of
thought from yesterday, engendered in
public schools.
Limiting the free exchange of views
and opinions represents a paucity men-
tality and a control that is anathema to
the American way, but remarkably simi-
lar to what government schools validate.
For example, taxes from the many fund
the schools for the few. Government
schools are a socialist structure and train
children to sit down and shut up, wait
in line, move at the sound of a bell, and
never speak out of turn. In fact, children
must obtain permission to ask a question,
fear being wrong, and rely on the teacher
for all the answers. This isn’t the teach-
ers’ fault—it’s the paradigm. Children are
naturally inquisitive, but public schools
force children to curtail their curiosity to
“fit in” and adhere to a schedule.
Children absorb that conformity is
the better part of valor. They learn that
evolution is the answer to how they got
here, i.e., there’s no reason for being and
survival of the fittest is the rule. Then,
contradictorily, that bullying is bad.
But ... “survival of the fittest!”
Of course, parents should all home
educate, so children understand they
are loved, created for a purpose as free
individuals, and worthy. The only stick-
ing point to this formula is, of course,
the parents, who are so trained by a
system of schooling (not education)
that they can’t hear or digest the mes-
sage that is ringing clearly in the air.
If you desire freedom for your
children, don’t enslave them to the
thought-killing government schools.
A public school teacher confessed to me
she would never choose to home educate.
“That’s odd,” said I, “because I’d
imagine you’d be the perfect candidate
to educate your child, since you ‘know
what you’re doing.’”
“No,” she answered. “I like the struc-
ture it gives the child.”
Sure. Like prison, I thought to myself,
snidely. What child doesn’t crave that
kind of confinement? Perhaps that’s
why we don’t cherish our freedoms as
we used to in this nation.
Sam Sorbo is an actress, talk radio host-
ess, and author of “They’re Your Kids: An
Inspirational Journey from Self-Doubter
to Home School Advocate.”
MANDEL NGAN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Monica Utsey,
49, is seen
with her chil-
dren Zion
(C), 17, and
Ayinde, 10,
who she
homeschools
at her apart-
ment in Wash-
ington on Feb.
24, 2017.
A22 | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021
BUSINESS & ECONOMY $146,000
How Crypto Will
Undercut Wall Street
DeFi entrepreneurs circumvent financial gatekeepers
FERGUS HODGSON
Commentary
Bitcoin was born
with an ambitious
goal: rendering fiat
currencies such as
the U.S. dollar obso-
lete. Although bitcoin has yet to suc-
ceed—mostly due to transaction
costs and price volatility—visionar-
ies have built on bitcoin’s underly-
ing technology, the blockchain, to
take on another target: Wall Street.
Decentralized finance (DeFi)—
the ecosystem of cryptocurren-
cies, exchanges, and shadow
banks—is heralding a new era
of digital investing. The rising
deposits locked in DeFi lending
or claims ($55 billion) are the tip
of the iceberg of what is to come.
Four clear trends point to a future
where cryptoassets host a mo-
mentous swath of global finance.
Low Rates Drive
Search for Alternatives
Developed economies have
entered uncharted waters with
a low-yield environment for fixed-
income assets. Bonds are fall-
ing out of favor with individual
investors and institutions such
as pension funds that must meet
financial obligations.
Even before the pandemic,
central banks were driving interest
rates down to zero, or even nega-
tive, to encourage borrowing and
spur economic activity. The CO-
Biden’s Green Energy Plan Declares War on American Energy
STEPHEN MOORE
Commentary
Am I the only
one who finds
it head-scratch-
ing that Presi-
dent Joe Biden,
who wants to spend $2 trillion
of taxpayer money on “infra-
structure,” is the same president
whose first act in the White
House was to kill a multibillion-
dollar oil and gas pipeline that
would create some 15,000 jobs?
The Keystone XL pipeline that
he canceled was vital to our en-
ergy infrastructure and wasn’t
going to cost taxpayers a penny.
The Biden infrastructure plan
is a head fake. The agenda here
isn’t about creating “millions of
new jobs.” It’s a declaration of war
against one of the largest sources
of new jobs in the United States:
our domestic energy producers.
Some 80 percent of our energy
today comes from fossil fuels,
and well more than half of it
comes from oil and natural gas.
VID-19 upheaval has cemented that
trend and made sure rates stay low
for the near future. In the United
States, the Federal Reserve has been
clear it won’t change course for
years.
Hedge funds, where investors
often turn for higher returns, no
longer justify the rising cost. They
have been converging on a costly 3
percent management fee for assets
under management plus 30 percent
of gains.
With no end in sight, there’s
time for investors to acquaint
themselves with cryptoassets
that can compete by disrupting
bureaucracy and regulations.
Mainstream Adoption
Already Happening
Years ago, getting into cryptocur-
rencies required technical savvy
and venturing to shady, foreign-
based websites. Now, anyone in
the United States with a smart-
phone and a PayPal, Robinhood, or
CashApp account can buy bitcoin.
As for institutional players, they’re
creating investment funds and
exchange-traded funds (ETFs)
dedicated to cryptoassets. Holdouts
are becoming a stubborn minority,
missing out on the opportunities.
A survey conducted in Europe by
the Crypto Research Report and
Cointelegraph Consulting in Oc-
tober 2020 revealed 61 percent of
professional investors had bought
or planned to buy cryptoassets.
In December 2020, for example,
Massachusetts Mutual Life Insur-
JACK GUEZ/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
I wonder if Joe Biden—or any-
one on his energy team—knows
that. Do they know that in the last
week of 2020, during President
Donald Trump’s final weeks in
office, the United States imported
zero barrels of oil from Saudi Ara-
bia for the first time in 35 years?
America became the world’s
largest energy exporter under
Trump, and it wasn’t because of
big conglomerates such as Exxon
Mobil Corp. or BP, who do a lot of
their drilling outside of the Unit-
ed States. It was “wildcatters,”
with their hydraulic fracturing
operations entirely situated
within the United States, that
nearly doubled domestic drilling.
Such smaller enterprises don’t
have complex “global footprints.”
As a White House economics
adviser, I used to discuss energy
policy with Trump. I would tell
him that we should strive to
make America “energy-inde-
pendent.” But he would chastise
me and insist, “I want to make
America energy-dominant.”
This saved the country more
than $200 billion a year—money
Years ago,
getting into
cryptocurrencies
required technical
savvy and
venturing to shady,
foreign-based
websites. Now,
anyone in the
United States with
a smartphone
and a PayPal,
Robinhood, or
CashApp account
can buy bitcoin.
Over
$55
BILLION
is deposited in
decentralized-finance
(DeFi) lending or claims.
A person holds a visual
representation of the
cryptocurrency bitcoin
in Tel Aviv, Israel, in this
file photo.
that used to flow to the Saudis,
Iran, and OPEC nations, many
of whom hate us. Trump wanted
our oil and gas to come from
Texas, Oklahoma, Ohio, and
Pennsylvania, and he consulted
regularly with on-the-ground
experts such as Harold Hamm,
the president of Continental Re-
sources and the largest driller of
the Bakken shale in energy-rich
North Dakota.
When America eliminated its
dependency on foreign produc-
ers, it also lowered energy prices
for the poorest Americans, with
gas prices in many states falling
to below $2 a gallon. As I write,
gas prices are hitting $4 a gallon
in many states.
The quest for energy domi-
nance also yielded massive job
gains. The number of Americans
directly employed by oil and gas
producers hit 800,000 last year.
The domestic oil and gas indus-
try accounted for a larger share
of all new jobs created in the first
five years coming out of the 2008
financial crisis than any other in-
dustry. Many truckers and drill-
JPMorgan has
argued bitcoin’s
price could reach
$146,000 and
dethrone gold as
the premier safe-
BITCOIN’S PRICE haven asset.
ance made a $100 million bet on
bitcoin. Even renowned hedge-
fund managers such as Paul Tudor
Jones are dropping their skepti-
cism and turning bullish.
Stablecoins Overcome
Use Concerns
Bitcoin’s meteoric rise has been
making headlines since the turn
of the year. It doubled its price in
less than one month and recently
surpassed $63,000. JPMorgan has
argued it could go to $146,000 and
dethrone gold as the premier safe-
haven asset—and that is a conser-
vative prediction. Bitcoin’s market
cap has surpassed $1.1 trillion.
Dramatic price swings, although
exciting and lucrative for specula-
tors, impede use and scare risk-
averse investors. Enter stablecoins.
Relatively new to the crypto-space,
these cryptocurrencies have values
pegged to some other currency or
basket of currencies. As their name
says, they aim for price stability.
For instance, one USD coin (USDC)
tracks the value of the U.S. dollar.
Stablecoins lessen the worry
about price volatility and serve as
a parking venue between trades.
Investors no longer need to exit the
crypto market and pay unneces-
sary fees by converting their digital
assets to fiat currencies. They can
just use stablecoins and wait for the
next investment opportunity.
New Opportunities for Yields
The vast cryptocurrency market
capitalization of $2.2 trillion begs
the question: Why leave funds in
an idle wallet when you can lend
them out? Decentralized exchang-
es cater to that exact market, con-
necting cryptocurrency holders
with startups and people needing
them for different purposes. Devel-
opers, for example, need ether to
create the self-executing contracts
and software that power peer-to-
peer lending platforms.
No longer are cryptocurrencies
mainly vehicles for payments or
speculation. Now, investors can
add a new use: earning a yield.
Although the space is still in
its infancy, dozens of firms now
allow holders of cryptocurrency
to lock it in lending pools with
annual yields that easily run in
the double digits. Compare that
with the meager returns on sav-
ings accounts or certificates of
deposits in traditional U.S. banks
(spoiler: they are under 1 percent).
Platforms can even connect
lenders with buyers automatically.
Neither knows—nor needs to
know—who is on the other end of
the deal. When repayment is due,
funds go from one wallet to the
ers in the oil patch make $100,000
a year or more—far more than
workers installing solar panels.
Biden and his media and tech-
nocratic allies view domestic
energy production as a villain
to vanquish. They are prepared
to sacrifice the industry and its
workers on the altar of climate
and “sustainability.” The left sees
job losses in this industry as a
small price to achieve its—un-
reachable—goal of zero carbon
emissions by 2035.
As a presidential candidate,
Biden promised he wouldn’t
push those workers into unem-
ployment, and he even went so
far as to endorse fracking. Now,
he’s banning drilling on fed-
eral lands in many states, even
though we have tens of trillions
of dollars of energy resources.
Let’s have a grown-up discus-
sion on energy policy. The Unit-
ed States is going to continue to
use oil and gas for decades to
come. Today, only 10.7 percent
of our energy comes from wind
and solar power. Approximately
2 percent of the cars on the road
COVERING
IMPORTANT NEWS
OTHER MEDIA IGNORE
ReadEpoch.com
other. Contrast that with the per-
sonal information, credit scores,
and other requirements one must
go through in traditional finance
to merely apply for a loan.
Although borrowers in DeFi
must pledge more than enough
cryptocurrency to cover for de-
fault scenarios, entrepreneurs are
busy working to enable uncollat-
eralized loans in the future.
Middlemen Need to Learn to Code
The running theme across DeFi’s
competitive advantage is the
cutting out of middlemen such
as banks, stock exchanges, and
bureaucrats by setting up permis-
sionless systems. These remove
barriers to entry so that virtually
anyone can benefit from financial
assets and invest in promising
startups, not just the walled com-
munity of accredited investors.
Writing for Forbes, economists
Benedikt Christian Eikmanns,
Isabell Welpe, and Philipp Sand-
ner argue that “DeFi has reached an
important intermediate step to be-
come a substitute for traditional fi-
nance solutions” that “will be more
efficient, convenient to use, and
secure than traditional finance.”
Granted, cryptoassets are no
run-of-the-mill investments. At
present, they remain riskier and
exhibit less market efficiency,
which means more responsibility
on the individual participant. Reg-
ulators have barely scratched the
surface of this market, succeeding
only in applying anti-money-laun-
dering requirements at the fiat-to-
crypto exit points. This means the
probability of fraud or self-serving
schemes is higher, and there has
been no shortage of both.
There’s an upside to this free-
dom, however. It allows entre-
preneurs to innovate and quickly
dislodge inefficient products or
services without having to wade
through regulatory red tape; the
dizzying amount of altcoins, proj-
ects, and exchanges is testament
to the vibrancy of this industry.
The trade-off between risk and
reward ultimately lies with every
investor. When the trodden Wall
Street path offers mediocrity and
cronyism, the excitement of DIY-
finance can be hard to pass.
Fergus Hodgson is the founder and
executive editor of Econ Americas, a
Latin American intelligence publica-
tion and financial consultancy. He is
also the roving editor of Gold News-
letter and a research associate with
the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.
Daniel Duarte contributed to this
article.
are electric vehicles. Even if that
were to rise by tenfold over the
next decade, we will still have 80
percent of cars using good old
gasoline. If we don’t produce the
oil and gas here, we are going
to fill our tanks with oil and gas
from the Middle East or Russia.
Biden must put jobs first and
stop treating our domestic oil
and gas producers as the ene-
mies of progress. Oil and natural
gas power our computers, our
cars and trucks, our factories,
our furnaces, our cellphones—
and all that our $22 trillion in-
dustrial economy encompasses.
To “build back better,” let those
producers be part of an “all-of-
the-above” clean, cheap, and re-
liable all-America energy policy.
Stephen Moore is an economics
journalist, author, and colum-
nist. The latest of many books he
co-authored is “Trumponomics:
Inside the America First Plan to
Revive Our Economy.” Currently,
Moore is also the chief economist
for the Institute for Economic
Freedom and Opportunity.
 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021
The International Monetary
Fund Shows the Jobless Recovery
DANIEL LACALLE
Commentary
The International
Monetary Fund
(IMF) has pub-
lished its April
outlook for the global
economy. It has been hailed by
most commentators because of the
strong upgrade in GDP recovery.
The report states that “global
growth is projected at 6 percent in
2021, moderating to 4.4 percent in
2022. ... The upward revision re-
flects additional fiscal support in
a few large economies, the antici-
pated vaccine-powered recovery
in the second half of 2021, and
continued adaptation of economic
activity to subdued mobility.”
However, there are important
warning signs that should be con-
sidered, because headlines have
been predominantly euphoric
about this optical upgrade.
Two factors that affect the quality
of the recovery should worry us: The
upgrade comes mostly from higher
government spending and rising
debt, and the job recovery is much
slower than in previous cycles.
The unemployment rate in the
euro area will remain well above
2019 levels, even in 2022 (rising to
8.5 percent in 2022 from 7.9 percent
in 2020). Only Germany shows a
positive employment outlook that
leads its unemployment ratio to fall
to 3.7 percent. On the opposite side,
Spain, according to IMF estimates,
will end with an unemployment
rate of 15.8 percent in 2022, from
15.5 percent in 2020. This would
make Spain the eurozone econ-
omy with the highest unemploy-
ment rate even in 2022 and one of
the highest in the world.
The United States is estimated to
end 2022 with a 4.2 percent unem-
ployment rate, a rapid decrease
from the current 6 percent, but
The 3 Rules About Social Security Checks Everyone Should Know
TOM MARGENAU
There are some
basic facts about
when and how
Social Security
checks are due
and delivered
that confuse many
people. To help you understand,
here are three rules about get-
ting Social Security checks that
everyone needs to know.
No. 1: Social Security benefits are
paid one month behind. In other
words, the benefit payment for
May will be sent to you in June.
No. 2: For most people, your
Social Security benefit arrives in
your bank account on the sec-
ond, third, or fourth Wednesday
of each month. Although, some
people, mostly old-timers, get
their check on the third of each
month.
No. 3: Social Security benefits are
not prorated. As you will learn,
this is good news while you are
alive. But it can be bad news for
your survivors after you die.
The rest of this column will
explain these rules.
So, the first rule is pretty cut
BRADLEY C. BOWER/AP PHOTO
still above pre-pandemic levels.
China’s unemployment is expected
to remain low at 3.6 percent, and ad-
vanced Asia will likely show the best
improvement in unemployment,
reaching near-record lows in 2022.
Even with these optimistic
estimates of recovery, the IMF is
showing that the COVID-19 crisis
is going to result in millions of
workers being left behind, and
that it will be particularly nega-
tive in an area that prides itself
on social policies and high public
spending, the eurozone.
This crisis has proven that being
rich and having elevated govern-
ment spending didn’t help man-
age the health and economic crisis
better.
The biggest loser of this crisis has
been the middle class. Accord-
ing to Bloomberg, “An estimated
150 million slipped down the
economic ladder in 2020, the first
pullback in almost three decades.”
Massive liquidity injections
and large government spending
programs have not helped the
middle class, and we could argue
that it created a negative effect.
Why? The middle class has been
the most negatively affected by
the loss of employment while its
savings and real wages have been
eroded by inflation as central
banks pumped trillions into gov-
ernment debt, creating a perverse
spiral of rising prices when dispos-
able real income fell dramatically.
We could argue that it would
have been worse without central
bank intervention and govern-
KAREN BLEIER/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
and dried. Some may wonder
why checks are sent one month
late. In a nutshell, the law says
you must meet all the eligibil-
ity requirements for an entire
month in order to get a Social
Security check for that month.
In other words, the government
must wait until the month is over
before it knows for sure that you
are due benefits for that month.
One other point about this rule:
When the Social Security retire-
ment application asks you which
month you want your benefits
to start, don’t worry about the
month you will actually be paid.
Just put down the eligibility
month. For example, if you want
benefits to start at age 65, and
you are 65 in May 2021, indicate
May as your starting month—not
June, even though that is when
you will actually be paid.
The second rule takes a little
more explanation. For decades,
all Social Security benefits were
paid on the third of each month.
But as the number of Social Se-
curity beneficiaries grew, Social
Security officials noted that this
once-a-month payment sched-
ule was putting a huge work-
load on their field offices and
call centers at the beginning of
each month. So, they decided to
Trays of printed
Social Security
checks at the
U.S. Treasury’s
Financial Man-
agement ser-
vices facility in
Philadelphia, in
this file photo.
BUSINESS & ECONOMY | A23
ment spending, but there’s abso-
As time passes, lutely no evidence that shows it
should have been as massive and
we have grown indiscriminate as it was in 2020.
used to hearing We have been told to ignore the
‘trillion-dollar size of the stimulus or its effective-
ness and just accept these massive
stimulus’ repurchase and spending pro-
and thinking grams as essential. No one seems
it’s not enough. to ask how much is too much and
even less when the results are a
bloated GDP recovery due to debt
and public expenditure with a
poor job recovery ratio. As time
passes, we have grown used to
hearing “trillion-dollar stimulus”
and thinking it’s not enough.
This poor return on capital em-
ployed in government and central
bank programs would result in
layoffs of management in any
company. We’re not discussing di-
minishing returns of monetary and
The International fiscal policy, but outright negative
Monetary Fund head- effects if we add asset bubbles and
quarters in Washing- high leverage.
ton, in this file photo. Any serious analyst would be
stagger Social Security payment 85. The law says John must be
dates on each of three Wednes- alive the entire month to get a
days throughout the month. benefit for that month. So, John’s
wife or family won’t be due the
I If you were born on the first proceeds of his October check,
through 10th of the month, payable in November. However,
you will get your Social Se- if his wife is eligible for wid-
curity check on the second ows benefits, she will get those
Wednesday of each month. benefits for the entire month of
I If you were born on the 11th October, even though she was a
through 20th of the month, widow for only two days of the
you will get your Social month.
Security check on the third And now that you have a better
Wednesday of the month. understanding of these basic
I If you were born on the 21st rules, I’m going to throw in one
through 31st of the month, little twist that I’ve discussed
you will get your Social many times in other columns.
Security check on the fourth And that is the quirky little “born
Wednesday of each month. on the first of the month” rule.
There is an odd common law
Having said that, some people (not a Social Security law) that
(mostly people who were says you legally attain your age
already getting benefits before on the day before your actual
the staggered delivery schedule birthday. For example, I was
went into effect) still get their born on June 22, 1949, meaning
benefits delivered on the third I will turn 72 on June 22, 2021.
of each month. And for reasons But I actually legally attain age
I haven’t been able to figure out, 72 on June 21, 2021. This little
some members of a married rule is usually meaningless for
couple will get his or her benefits most of us. But when it comes
on the Wednesday delivery date to Social Security eligibility, it’s
that applies to the other spouse. full of meaning for people born
And as I hinted earlier, when it on the first of the month.
comes to the third rule, the pro- Here is an example. Jane was
ration of Social Security checks, born on May 1, 1955. She wants
it is generally good news on the her Social Security benefits to
front end of your Social Security start at her full retirement age.
experience but bad news on the She will reach her full retire-
back end. For example, let’s say ment age of 66 and 2 months on
Mary was born on Aug. 28, 1955, July 1, 2021. And normally, the
and wants her benefits to begin at first check she would be due is
her full retirement age of 66 and the July check, payable in Au-
2 months—or Oct. 28, 2021. She gust. But this quirky common
will get a Social Security check law says she actually attains her
for the entire month of October full retirement age of 66 and 2
(payable in November), even months on June 30, 2021. So, she
though she was 66 and 2 months gets a full retirement age Social
for only two days of the month. Security check for June (payable
On the other hand, let’s say in July), even though her real
John dies on Oct. 28, 2021, at age birthday isn’t until July.
Gareth Kerr, the
owner of Cafe Kick,
in the closed sports
bar in London on
April 24, 2020.
LEON NEAL/GETTY IMAGES
appalled at the figures of unem-
ployment and growth shown by
the IMF after spending close to $20
trillion in chained stimuli. Further-
more, any serious analyst would
be seriously warning about the
negative consequences of making
central banks and government the
lender of first resort, not the last
resort. What’s the biggest risk? That
the 2022 estimates prove to be too
optimistic, again, and governments
and central banks push for an even
higher level of interventionism.
The destruction of the free mar-
ket, competition, and innovation
may seem appealing to some now,
but the likely outcome of poor
employment, negative real wage
growth, and stagnation should be
a real cause for concern.
Daniel Lacalle, Ph.D., is chief
economist at hedge fund Tressis and
author of “Freedom or Equality,” “Es-
cape from the Central Bank Trap,”
and “Life in the Financial Markets.”
This same odd common law
can help another subset of po-
tential Social Security benefi-
ciaries—people born on the sec-
ond day of the month who start
their benefits at age 62. And it
has to do with another odd law
that says you must be 62 every
day of the month before you
can get your first Social Security
check. (This rule only applies to
people starting their benefits at
age 62.) The best way to explain
this is with another example.
Jack was born on May 2, 1959,
meaning he turns 62 on May 2,
2021. And he wants his benefits
to start at age 62. Because of that
“must be 62 for every day of the
month” rule, he figures he must
wait until June (the first month
he is 62 for the entire month) to
start his benefits. And the June
check is payable in July.
But that quirky common law
says Jack actually attains his
62nd birthday on May 1, 2021. So,
he is legally age 62 for every day
of the month of May, meaning his
first Social Security check will be
the May check, payable in June.
Tom Margenau worked for 32
years in a variety of positions
for the Social Security Adminis-
tration before retiring in 2005.
He has served as the director of
SSA’s public information office,
the chief editor of more than 100
SSA publications, a deputy press
officer and spokesman, and a
speechwriter for the commis-
sioner of Social Security. For
12 years, he also wrote Social
Security columns for local news-
papers, and recently published
the book “Social Security: Simple
and Smart.” If you have a Social
Security question, contact him at
thomas.margenau@comcast.net
A24 | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021

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holders that we answer to, who keep us on the right track.

DEAR NEXT GENERATION
Hope Is the Key
To have hope in the most discouraging circumstances
is more than being optimistic. It is being heroic.
See B6
TRADITION|VALUES|FAMILY
LIFE & TRADITION
Through modeling and
discussions, parents
can pass on the love
of liberty and country
to their children.
Teaching Children History
A conversation with John De Gree, founder of The Classical Historian
BARBARA DANZA
Ensuring our children are given a solid
education in history is becoming an
ever-pressing issue. I recently asked
John De Gree, founder of the history
curriculum company, The Classical
Historian, about his thoughts on and
tips for teaching history. Here’s what
he said.
Classical Historian.
The Epoch Times: What inspired you to
dedicate yourself to teaching history?
John De Gree: I received an apprentice-
NANA_STUDIO/SHUTTERSTOCK
IOFOTO/SHUTTERSTOCK
COURTESY OF JOHN DE GREE
ship in teaching history to young people
from a master, and I did not realize
this until I was in my mid-20s. My dad
taught middle school history and then
was an assistant principal for a total of
30 years. He and my mom had 11 chil-
dren, and I was their 10th.
As a youngster, I remember my dad
John De Gree, telling interesting and funny stories
founder of The about his students in the classroom and
about education, in general. As the fam-
ily shared our mom’s meals, there were
always discussions, sometimes heated,
on politics, religion, and current events.
CULTURE
What Good Is Poetry?
What the world needs, what people need is a
psychological and spiritual renewal: a renewal of
politics, culture, parenthood, education … and poetry.
See B9
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021 B1
Saving
Liberty
One Child
at a Time
Teaching our children
and grandchildren to
embrace good values
begins at home
JEFF MINICK
A
esop long ago told the story of the
wolf and the dog.
The wolf is starving, thin as a
rail, when he meets a well-fed,
strong dog. When the dog
learns the wolf is barely surviving, he in-
vites him to come and live with him on the
farm. “You’ll get plenty of food and treats of
all kinds,” the dog says. “And all you have
to do is bark at strangers and make a fuss
over the farm’s owners and children. It’s
an easy life.”
The wolf is salivating at this prospect
when he notices the dog’s collar. “What’s
that around your neck?”
“Oh, that,” the dog replies. “It’s nothing.
It’s just used when they chain me up.”
“You have to wear a chain? You aren’t
free to do what you want or go where you
please?”
“Not all the time,” the dog says. “But who
cares?”
“Thank you very much,” the wolf says,
“but I’ll keep my freedom!”
And with that, he turns and runs off into
the forest.
The Battlefield Today
Aesop’s fable serves as an excellent meta-
phor for the turmoil in today’s body politic.
Some Americans want to preserve their
traditional liberties and to live as much as
possible without government interference
in their affairs. Others, like Aesop’s dog, are
willing to wear a collar if their masters care
for them. This difference in values is at the
core of today’s political battles.
That collectivism has gained favor among
21st-century Americans cannot be doubt-
ed. A 2019 Gallup poll, for example, shows
an increase in those who have positive
views of socialism, but reports as well that
American views on socialism are “com-
plex” and “nuanced and multifaceted.”
Continued on B2
PUBLIC DOMAIN
Engraving by J.D. Cooper
of Aesop’s tale “The Dog and the Wolf.”
My dad was a master at asking ques-
tions and challenging others to think for
themselves. Sometimes, it was difficult
to figure out exactly what he thought.
Because I was one of the youngest kids,
I mainly listened. Both my dad and
mom had a sincere care for all children,
and my dad had a sound understanding
of communism.
From 1990 to 1996, I studied and
lived in Germany, Austria, Turkey, and
Czechoslovakia.
Continued on B4
B2 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021

Saving Liberty One Child at a Time

PEPPERSMINT/SHUTTERSTOCK

Continued from B1 see America as a land of opportunity may

be seen on our southern border, where
I suspect one reason those views are “com- masses of immigrants are asking for en-
plex” and “nuanced” stems from igno- try. No one is hammering at the gates to
rance, particularly among our younger get into North Korea, Cuba, or China.
citizens. According to the group Victims
of Communism, a third of millennials We Stand in the Gap
believe more people were killed under So what can we as individuals do to
George Bush than under Joseph Stalin. thwart this turn toward socialism and
Nearly half of the older members of Gen- promote a love of America and free en-
eration Z, those born in 1997 and later, terprise among our fellow citizens?
report they would vote for a socialist, and We can begin, as with so many good
1 in 5 would vote for a communist. If true, things, in our homes and with our fami-
we must assume these young people know lies, particularly with our children and
absolutely nothing of the dark underbelly grandchildren. In those citadels, we can
of collectivist movements of the past 100 teach and practice independence, respon-
years, the murders of millions of people sibility, free enterprise, and patriotism.
around the world, the
imprisonment of mil- Independence
lions more, and the We must love—and
suppression of the most love with a passion— bed and breakfast and a bookstore, cart- We can
basic of freedoms. the freedoms found in ing books around the Southeast to sell at teach
But positive views our Bill of Rights and What can we homeschooling book fairs, and working children
of socialism or com- our other liberties be- outside the home at various part-time jobs about
munism come not just stowed by natural law.
as individuals to make ends meet. Kris and I were, I freely responsibility
less through
from brainwashing or The right to our own do to thwart confess, terrible at business and personal
words
ignorance of collec- thoughts, the freedoms finance, but that’s not what my four kids
tivism’s history. These of speech and peaceful this turn saw. They witnessed their parents working
and more
through our
same young people assembly, the right to toward hard and independently, and all of them actions.
are also ignorant about own firearms, and all have copied that example with, I am proud
capitalism, the Consti- of nature’s other en- socialism to say, much greater success than I ever
tution, and traditional dowments: These aren’t achieved.
American liberties. dispensations given by and promote
any government but are a love of Free Enterprise
Our Lost Love of the God-given rights of Capitalism and free enterprise, not col-
Country the human person. America lectivism, have enriched the world. In the
In his 1995 book “The Americans have died, years just before the pandemic brought
End of Education,” Neil “Land of Hope: An Invitation bled, and suffered for
and free lockdowns and failed businesses, world
Postman examines a to the Great American Story” the maintenance of enterprise poverty was declining, and unemploy-
report assessing edu- by Wilfred McClay. these rights. To sur- ment in the United States was also on the
cational goals involv- render them casually among wane, with significant gains in the
ing the New York Board of Regents. In- to any government or political movement our fellow job market among blacks and
cluded in the report were 41 goals aimed is to spit on the past, bring ruination to Hispanics.
at “what children should be, know, and the present, and jeopardize our future. citizens? We must teach our chil- Our dining
be able to do.” Postman then notes that Instead, we must treasure that liberty and dren the great good that room table
one goal— “acquiring and/or deepening teach its principles to our children. free enterprise brings to can serve as
a love of one’s country”—is absent in the the world and to the hu- a classroom.
report. He then writes that this omission Responsibility man spirit. We must show
isn’t unusual, but that this “reluctance to With liberty comes responsibility. them as well that collectivist
include patriotism as a ‘value’” is typical Responsibility means bearing the governments such as Venezu-
of school systems around the country. weight, good and bad, of our actions. ela, Cuba, and North Korea result
And that was 26 years ago. When we take command of our circum- in misery and poverty for the citizens of
Many Americans of all political stripes stances, we are then obliged to take com- those countries.
are angered by cancel culture, political mand of ourselves as well. We don’t need a classroom or textbooks
correctness, and a collectivist mentality We can teach our children about respon- to pass on these lessons. Our dining room
among our mainstream news reporters, sibility less through words than through table can serve as a classroom, and dis-
our academics, and some of our politi- our actions. When they see us accepting cussions during a meal can be the lessons
cians, but we forget that these people are the repercussions of decisions we’ve made for the day.
only echoing what others have taught rather than pointing a finger at fate or at
them. They apparently never learned other people, we are leading them one Patriotism
the virtues of America, the beauty of the step farther into adulthood. Despite all the attacks on the United States
American Dream, and the accomplish- Let me offer as an example my own from within and without in the past few
ments and ideas that made this nation a children. They grew up watching my decades, the fact remains that our country
land of opportunity. Proof that many still wife and me working hard: operating a has done more good for its citizens and for

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF CHRISTA STEGEMANN

date other Canadian girls.

Dance
of a Lifetime
Woman recalls the spring
dance that sparked 60
years of wedded bliss
LOUISE BEVAN
Christa Stegemann, 79, and Jochen Stege-
mann, 82, fell in love as teens in the Cana-
dian town of Cranbrook, British Columbia.
Over six decades later, as they celebrate
their strong bond, they reminisce about the
dance that brought them together.
Jochen was born in Berlin, Germany,
one year prior to the onset of World War II.
Christa’s parents, of German descent, fled
Russia during the Bolshevik revolution and
met in Poland.
“I was born there during World War
II,” Christa wrote to The Epoch Times via
email.
The family together fled to a small village
in northern Germany in 1945, where Christa
met Jochen at school. “Our lives intersected
in that village,” she reflected. Yet, as chil-
dren, they were just mere acquaintances.
In 1953, Christa and her family emigrated
to Canada. Immigration authorities direct-
ed them to Cranbrook, British Columbia,
where they had an unexpected sponsor.
Jochen’s family followed the same over-
seas route in 1959.
The two were then reunited, quite by
chance.
On the couple’s 56th wedding anniversary,
in the summer of 2016, Christa took pause
to compose a beautiful account of her very
first “proper” meeting with her husband as
a teen one spring afternoon in Cranbrook.
“Two young men walked along the path
The Stegemanns on their wedding day.
Our fondest memories
surface when we sit by
the fire with a glass of
wine and one of us says,
‘Remember when ... ?’
Christa Stegemann
of my parents’ garden. Spring birds sang
their eternal songs, praising their Creator
and hoping their melodious trills will sound
inviting to a potential mate,” she wrote.
“Each of the men carried a suitcase. Peter,
the shorter of the two, had been living in a
cabin on my dad’s property for the past two
years. The other one was taller and carried
himself with visible self-assurance,” she
recalled.
The taller man, said Christa, reminded
her of Elvis.
However, the two men disappeared into
the cabin right after. That very same day,
Jochen and Christa Stegemann.
Christa recalled her friend Irene had called,
asking if she would be interested to go for a
dance that evening at the Bluebird.
While Christa was curious to know the
man Peter had brought with him, she as-
sumed that the handsome stranger was
his brother who was supposed to visit from
Germany.
“Later in the afternoon I saw Peter leave in
his 1948 Ford Jalopy,” Christa remembered.
“Shortly after that, Jochen came out of the
cabin and sauntered into the backyard,
sitting down on the ground and leaning
against the fence.”
This was Christa’s chance. She introduced
herself, spontaneously asking the hand-
some teen if he would like to join herself and
Irene at the Bluebird, and Jochen accepted.
At the dance hall, “Jochen, having taken
formal dancing lessons prior to leaving
Europe, impressed me greatly by solemnly
bending his head in my direction while po-
litely asking me if he may have this dance. I
happily stepped into his arms,” she wrote.
“I became the center of his attention for the
rest of the evening as he whirled me around
the floor, dance after dance ... Thus began
a love affair that has lasted a lifetime and
will last far beyond this life,” wrote Christa.
Christa then helped Jochen with his
English, and their friendship blossomed.
Her husband now often jokingly says at
times that his “fate was sealed,” as, ow-
ing to the language barrier, he couldn’t
The pair eventually fell in love and tied
the knot on July 16, 1960.
The couple made their home together and
Jochen became an electrician. Christa gave
birth to the couple’s first child in 1965. A
second child was born in 1969, and the
couple adopted four more.
“These four adopted children had been
labeled ‘unadoptable’ because they all
were older than five years of age,” Christa
said. “The following eighteen years were
very busy.”
However, when the couple’s youngest son
turned 18, Christa and Jochen reclaimed
their independence and began to travel.
“We ran a bed and breakfast in the sum-
mer and blew all our money in the winter,”
said Christa.
The couple has so far seen 64 countries and
every continent except Antarctica over 26
adventurous years. Sharing about their most
memorable moments as a couple, Christa
said: “Our fondest memories surface when
we sit by the fire with a glass of wine and one
of us says, ‘Remember when ... ?’” adding
“much laughter often follows that sentence.”
Happily married for over six decades,
Christa and Jochen are now grandparents
to six and have shared their secrets to a long-
lasting marriage.
The first, says Christa, is commitment.
“When two people decide to spend their
lives together, each one coming from a dif-
ferent background and having different
value systems and viewpoints, they have
to forgive and accept the other person, again
and again,” Christa explained.
Secondly, she emphasized, “There is
something very valuable in the old saying,
‘The ones who pray together, stay together!’”
Share your stories with us at emg.in-
spired@epochtimes.com, and get your
daily dose of inspiration by signing up for
the Epoch Inspired newsletter at TheEpoch-
Times.com/newsletter
 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021
SAMIRA BOUAOU/THE EPOCH TIMES
the world at large than any other nation
in history.
Are we perfect? By no means. Have we
made mistakes? Of course.
But the prosperity of our citizens over
time and the foreign aid we have distrib-
uted around the globe are proof of the
Teen Tech Guru Assists Seniors
ANDREW THOMAS
The technology we use to gather infor-
mation and connect with others is more
important than ever in this time of pan-
demic, and one Florida teenager is help-
ing seniors in his community catch up.
Sam Friedman, a 17-year-old high school
student in West Palm Beach, Florida, has
always been the tech-savvy member of
his family, helping his aunts, uncles,
and grandparents with everything from
phones to televisions to computers.
The organization has
gone from working with
just a couple of seniors
to sometimes receiving
300 tech assistance
requests a week.
Over time, Friedman realized that there
were many other seniors in his commu-
nity who didn’t have somebody like him
to help them with their technical difficul-
ties. In an effort to address this need in
his community, he founded South Florida
Tech for Seniors in 2019.
In the early days of the organization,
Friedman would go to local synagogues
by himself and offer his expertise. Today,
South Florida Tech for Seniors has about
40 student volunteers. The organization
has gone from working with just a couple
of seniors to sometimes receiving 300 tech
assistance requests a week.
“We’re trying to expand and to help as
many of them as possible,” Friedman said.
fruits of our ideals and values. Rather than
denigrate the United States, we should
teach our children to honor this country
for its many successes and to understand
its failures.
In “Land of Hope: An Invitation to the
Great American Story,” a book I recom-
Information and Connection
Before the pandemic, Friedman and
volunteers would work with seniors in
person. South Florida Tech for Seniors
is still offering individual support, and
the elderly are calling their phone line,
which is the easiest option. Seniors with
some technological ability can request
help through the organization’s website.
All services are free of charge.
South Florida Tech for Seniors offers a
variety of services including help with
email and Facebook. Since the pandemic
began, the main request for assistance
has been how to use Zoom.
“A lot of people are really looking to
learn how to use Zoom, and use that to
stay connected with their friends and
family,” Friedman explained.
Friedman always tries to empathize
with the people he works with.
“One of the things I always try to keep
in mind is to try to see the issue from
their perspective. I realize that most of
this stuff is not really made with them in
mind,” Friedman said. “I think once you
take a step back and realize where their
frustration is coming from, you can try
to be more understanding.”
The Tech Reckoning
For most seniors, getting online and using
devices has been the only way to connect
with friends and family, and access criti-
cal information. Friedman says that while
many people had resisted modern tech-
nology, the pandemic has forced them
to reconsider.
“All of the sudden, you couldn’t say no
to it anymore. It was the only option for
communication and access to informa-
tion, and particularly for a lot of these
seniors; they’re often the most isolated
out of anyone,” Friedman said. “Now all
PUBLIC DOMAIN
mend to everyone, Wilfred McClay writes,
“One of the worst sins of the present—not
just ours but any present—is the tendency
to condescend toward the past, which is
much easier to do when one doesn’t trou-
ble to know the full context of that past or
try to grasp the nature of its challenges as
Sam Friedman (L) founded South Florida Tech for Seniors in 2019.
of the sudden with this pandemic when
nobody is even allowed to come see them,
being able to use the technology is even
more important than it ever was before.”
South Florida Tech for Seniors provides
assistance over the phone, via Zoom, and
can remotely access computers. Seniors
with hardware issues such as a faulty
computer battery can even drop off their
devices for repair. The organization also
features a number of video tutorials as
part of its “Tech Tip Tuesday” series.
While Friedman has been in the teacher
role, he’s also learned from the seniors
he works with. His work has made him
look at issues from a different perspective,
and he’s learned how to explain complex
topics in simple terms. He’s also gained
a greater appreciation for human con-
nection, especially during the pandemic.
Friedman plans to continue with South
Florida Tech for Seniors after he leaves
high school and will pass on responsi-
bilities to his younger siblings and vol-
unteers. He’d also like to expand the or-
B3
“Freedom of Speech”
by Norman Rockwell.
they presented themselves at the time.”
All too often, our students are taught the
negatives about our country’s past. Our
textbooks and our teachers should instead
offer a balanced take on our history. We
can help with this task by introducing our
children to books such as “Land of Hope”
and through family discussions.
Collectivism: A Positive View
Of course, we can’t be Robinson Crusoe,
living on a desert island and looking out
only for ourselves. We live in communities
and in a country with a long history of vol-
unteers and associations to promote the
public good. Most of us believe in provid-
ing education for our young, helping the
poor and the elderly, making our streets
and cities safe, defending our shores from
foreign invaders, and working together to
build a better society.
This too is collectivism. The difference is
that we enter into these endeavors through
elections and free choice. Until recently,
the government didn’t impose its will on
Americans. Those who worked for the gov-
ernment—politicians and bureaucrats—
were regarded as servants of the people.
We have now flipped that idea on its head.
It’s time for a change, and we can again
start by teaching our children the dangers
of a government that acts as a dictator.
Remembering Who We Are
On April 19, 1775, American tradesmen
and farmers fired the first shots of the Rev-
olutionary War at the battles of Lexington
Green and Concord. Fighting both as in-
dividuals and as a collective force against
British troops, they were battling oppres-
sion and “taxation without representa-
tion.” Eventually, they would be fighting
for freedom.
Let’s keep the memory of those patriots
alive as we too fight to keep our liberties.
Let’s remember all the men and women
whose sacrifices and dreams helped build
this country, and make sure our children
know their names and deeds as well. Let’s
remember that we are still the “land of
the free and the home of the brave.” Let’s
remember that we are the heirs and lovers
of liberty.
Let’s remember that we are Americans.
Jeff Minick has four children and a
growing platoon of grandchildren. For
20 years, he taught history, literature,
and Latin to seminars of homeschool-
ing students in Asheville, N.C. He is the
author of two novels, “Amanda Bell” and
“Dust on Their Wings,” and two works
of non-fiction, “Learning as I Go” and
“Movies Make the Man.” Today, he lives
and writes in Front Royal, Va. See 
JeffMinick.com to follow his blog.
COURTESY OF SAM FRIEDMAN
ganization’s efforts outside of West Palm
Beach. He plans to attend college and will
likely study computer science and tech-
nology. Ultimately, he’d like to start his
own technology company.
Modern technology has opened a whole
new world of possibilities, from con-
necting with people around the world
on Facebook to the NASA Perseverance
rover transmitting video footage of the
Red Planet back to Earth, Friedman said.
“The opportunities for what you can do
with technology really are endless, and
I think it takes people who know how to
use that technology to be able to make a
difference with it.”
C OR R E C T ION
The article “The Enduring Architecture of
Kyoto, Japan’s Ancient Capital,” published
on April 14, included an incorrect photo.
The Byodo-in Temple shown in the photo
is a replica building in Hawaii. The Epoch
Times regrets the error.
 B4 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021

AKIMOV IGOR/SHUTTERSTOCK

Taking children
on excursions
to museums
or into nature
offers good
stimulation
and shows
them there is
a larger, more
interesting
world beyond
digital devices.

Teaching Children History

A conversation with John De Gree, founder of The Classical Historian
ARCHIVE PHOTOS/GETTY IMAGES

Continued from B1
While I lived in Europe, I used my father’s
skill of asking questions and getting to
know others as a way to help me learn
German, Czech, and European history.
After trying a few entry-level positions
in various fields, I landed a high school
teaching job in Prague. Right from the
beginning, I knew that teaching history
was for me.
The Epoch Times: Something often heard
these days is: “Why should anyone take
the time to study history? You have all of
the information at your fingertips through
your digital devices, don’t you?” How
would you respond to this?
Mr. De Gree: Studying history involves at
least two things: learning history content
and acquiring the thinking skills of the
historian. While some may think that all
of the information in history “is at our fin-
gertips through our digital devices,” this
is not completely true. There are many
websites and social media platforms that
promote a false account or view of history,
or they censor meaningful historical con-
tent and do not present the full picture.
One can find web sources
that deny the Holocaust or
FPG/HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES
The Epoch Times: Why should history
be a fundamental part of a person’s edu-
cation?
Mr. De Gree: We need citizens who
understand the past, who understand
our place in history as a culture and as a
country, and we need people who have
and use the tools of the historian because
these help a person be more human. If
students understand the development of
individual liberty throughout the history
of Western civilization, they will be more
likely to defend the truths of the past and
reject falsehoods. If students understand
ideas such as presentism, (which is the
fallacy of judging the past by present-day
morals) they will not be so quick to dis-
miss America’s Founding Fathers because
of their imperfections.
What is currently happening in our
school system in many states is a rewrit-
ing of America’s past and an effort to in-
doctrinate students into a particular way
of thinking and acting that runs counter
to individual freedom.
Revisionist historians are trying to
rewrite the meaning of our past so that
our youth hate their own country. If this
happens, nobody will want to defend the
rights and liberties that all Americans
have, and we will become similar to those
Classes offered by The
Classical Historian for
grades 6 through 12 include
discussions based on the
Socratic method.
children learn how their parents think
and discuss and they learn how to listen.
During the meals, parents should realize
they are the leaders of the household and
take responsibility to lead discussions, ask
questions, and make sure that everyone
has an opportunity to speak and share.
If something of interest happened in the
news that day, it should be brought up as
part of the conversation, and each person
should be given the chance to say what he
knows and what he thinks about it.
Beyond this crucial visiting time, par-
ents should try to take their children to
visit museums, art galleries, and out in
nature. These out-of-the house adven-
tures stimulate a child’s mind and show
him there is a larger world outside of his
city and away from digital devices. In our
family, our children don’t receive a phone
until the ninth grade. We try to shower
them with attention and invest time with
them.
As with parents, it’s important for teach-
ers to strive to be honest and consistent
and to be respectful of students. For
teachers to ignite a genuine interest or cu-
riosity in history, I recommend they teach
young children up to the age of 11 by read-
ing out loud, playing games, and having
children give summaries of the history

claim we never landed on places in the world where there is despo-

the moon. Recently, one
social media platform even
censored my biographies
on Margaret Sanger, Ame-
lia Earhart, and Mildred
Jackson.
A study of history requires
learning skills that enable
someone how to search for
the truth in history. These
skills include distinguishing
between fact and opinion,
forming judgment based on
historical evidence, how to
analyze primary and sec-
ondary sources, the Socratic
De Gree discussion in history, writing in history,
suggests
and others.
open-ended
questions to
Acquiring the skills of the historian and
using them requires time, patience, hon-
engage teens,
esty, a good curriculum, a good teacher,
such as “Did
the New Deal and in the best of circumstances, another
strengthen student or a few students to discuss and
or weaken argue the meaning of the past. These
America?” higher-level thinking and rhetorical skills
Above, needed for the study of history prepare
President a student to make sense of all the digital
Franklin D. sources of information available and al-
Roosevelt low him to independently ascertain con-
(1882–1945) nections and meanings in history.
salutes the
Humans are designed to think on their
flag during a
parade, circa own, to communicate with others, and
1938. to ponder the meaning of history. While
learning history with a classical approach
is natural, it has become unique. Instead
of learning history content and the think-
ing and rhetorical skills of the historian,
students in most schools are indoctri-
nated to memorize a certain version of the
past and are dissuaded from learning how
to think for themselves.
tism and misery.
But beyond the ramifications for our
own country, the study of history enables
the student to think, speak, and listen to
others regarding the meaning of what it
means to be a person. Appreciating and
loving life comes from understanding
its meaning. The study of history helps a
person grapple with these issues.
The Epoch Times: Kids today seem to
have a significant blind spot when it
comes to history. What can parents and
teachers do to reignite a genuine interest
or curiosity about history in them?
Mr. De Gree: The most important thing
parents can do to ignite a genuine inter-
est or curiosity in history is to teach their
children a strong sense of morality and
to inspire their children to live a life of
virtue. For some, this may mean fol-
lowing a religion that is based on love,
mercy, and truth.
When children strive to be honest in
the home and with their parents and
siblings, it will carry over into their
studies. When they study history, it will
be natural for them to want to search
for the truth. It will be easier for them to
recognize lies and falsehoods or narra-
tives that don’t make sense because their
youth has been spent on moral training
for what is good and just.
The second most important thing par-
ents can do to inspire their children to
have an interest in history is to talk with
their children as much as possible and to
build a loving and caring relationship.
One thing in common many successful
students have is eating dinner with their
families. During mealtimes, especially,
The most they are studying. Younger children are
important excited to please adults, to show what they
know, and they are content to learn an-
thing parents swers to the questions “who, what, when,
can do to ignite and where.” Students through grade five
love learning about how people of the past
a genuine dressed, what they ate, the jobs they held,
and what their daily lives looked like.
interest or For teachers of students ages 12 and
curiosity in over, they should teach the tools of the
historian, challenge students with open-
history is to ended questions, and engage students in
teach their Socratic discussions. These students are
more interested in answers to the ques-
children a tion, “Why” and want to share with others
and learn what other students think.
strong sense of These older students want to argue and
very often they think they know better
morality and
than others, especially their parents.
to inspire their Teenagers may want to argue, but they
need to learn how to do this in history.
children to live Teachers have to show students that
a life of virtue. evidence from secondary and primary
sources is needed to support arguments.
John De Gree, founder, Instead of having students simply memo-
The Classical Historian rize the past, it is better they grapple with
open-ended questions, such as “Was
Charlemagne more Christian or pagan?”
or “Did the New Deal strengthen or
weaken America?” Teachers then should
guide students in the Socratic discussion
in history, gently challenging students to
argue with each other, encouraging civil
debate.
The Epoch Times: Homeschooling has
seen a significant rise this past year. What
advice would you give new homeschool-
ers who want to teach their children
history?
Mr. De Gree: The best thing you can do
for your children is to play history games,
 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021
read history books and talk about them,
and commit to learning history yourself
with a history book club. For children ages
12 and over, parents should learn and
then teach their children the tools of the
historian. Students should answer open-
ended history questions by researching in
primary and secondary source texts, and
parents should engage them in Socratic
discussions. While it can be helpful to
have a small group of students for discus-
sion, we taught our oldest son one-on-one,
and he is still one of my best students.
Classical Historian publishes fun and
educational history games for all ages in
our History Go Fish card game series. I
would set up a schedule where you have
at least a once-per-week game time with
your kids. Our game for ages 5 to 10 is the
American History Memory Game, and
for ages 8 to 18, we have Go Fish cards
in Ancient History, Medieval History,
American History, U.S. Presidents, and
the Constitution. We are coming out with
three new games by June 1: Classical
Greece and Rome, Modern U.S. History,
and Modern World History. In this game
is one version called “Collect the Cards,”
where kids have to learn history then
guess the card before someone else in the
group does. Children love this social and
exciting game.
For a book that teaches Western Civi-
lization and American history for junior
high students and above, I recommend
“The Story of Liberty: America’s Ancient
Heritage Through the Civil War.” This
book teaches kids how the ancient and
medieval world influenced the founding
of America, it shows the political phi-
losophy that created the freest country
in the world, and it traces the history of
America through its most destructive war
that ended slavery, the Civil War. It shows
how Americans have the rights they enjoy
and it explains how the United States of
America is unique in the world, specifi-
cally teaching American exceptionalism
and civics. There is a great need in our
society for this book.
Our company’s website, ClassicalHisto-
rian.com, has a wealth of information and
tips to teach homeschool history. We offer
hundreds of free biographies and history
lessons, products, and services. For grades
3 through 12, we teach online courses.
Classes for younger children focus on in-
troducing youth to history and encourag-
ing young children to observe and share
what they see or notice. Classes for grades
6 through 12 center on learning history
content and the tools of the historian with
the Socratic discussion as the most excit-
ing part of the process. Students can also
take our writing course in history, which
teaches how to take and argue a historical
perspective.
For homeschool parents or for teach-
ers of history wanting training in how to
teach the tools of the historian and how
to lead the Socratic discussion in history,
they should become a member of The
Dolphin Society, our educator’s member-
ship service. They will find a treasure
trove of help and support, a forum for
discussion, and monthly live training
seminars. In addition, we offer monthly
History and Constitution Bees for mem-
ber children.
The Epoch Times: History itself seems
PUBLIC DOMAIN
“Truth, Time
and History”
by Francisco
Goya y
Lucientes.
up for debate, with different versions ap-
pearing in different resources. How do
you recommend parents and teachers vet
the history resources being offered their
students?
Mr. De Gree: There are two recommen-
dations I have in this area. This first one
is a long-term answer and requires time,
energy, and discernment, whereas the
second gives you immediate resources.
For the longer answer, the parent or
teacher should first acquire the skills of
the historian, and then apply them in a
setting that is encouraging and allows
the parent and teacher to practice history
discussions with other adults.
Being part of a history book club that
is led by a caring teacher will give the
parent and teacher practical experience
in analyzing the past and sharing ideas
with others who are searching for the
truth in history. With this experience in
using the skills of the historian, the par-
ent and teacher will be able to discern for
himself the reliability of various sources.
Classical Historian offers a history book
club through its Dolphin Society, and in
this society are also all the tools of the
historian.
The short-term answer for which re-
sources to trust and use with students is to
use everything Classical Historian uses,
including our games, curriculum, and
various sources for our online learning.
All of the titles of our sources are available
on our website.
The Epoch Times: What practical tips
could you offer to parents and teach-
ers who want to make history engaging
and fun?
Mr. De Gree: I love history games. Our
Memory games are ideal for kids ages 5
to 10 and our Go Fish games are perfect
for kids ages 8 to 18. Each Go Fish game
includes a history booklet with ideas for
about 10 games. Important for the family
is to set aside one day a week, or one hour
a week, and make this game day. With
the game day planned, just simply follow
through and play a game with your child.
They will love the extra attention they re-
ceive from the parent, and in the process,
they will learn history.
The favorite game of the children we
teach is the “Collect the Cards” version of
our Go Fish games. In this game, students
learn history and try to guess what is on
the card based on a number of hints. It is
like a ready-made History Bee that kids
can play with each other.
For kids ages 12 and over, to make his-
tory fun and engaging, parents need to
teach open-ended history questions and
teach with the Socratic discussion in his-
tory. Every teenager believes, at one time
or another, that he knows more than his
parents, and that his generation will set
things right.
Answering open-ended history ques-
tions gives the student the freedom to
search for and analyze and then create
what he thinks is the best answer to ques-
tions that have many possible answers. In
discussing and arguing with their peers
and with their parents, students become
excited to prove their point, to learn more,
and to interact with others. Learning
with the Socratic discussion in history is
fun because the student is thinking and
engaging with others the entire time.
Firearms and Fear:
Some Thoughts on Guns
JEFF MINICK
In our adolescence, two friends, my
brother, and I spent many summer days
playing war in the fields and woods near
my house. We fought British Redcoats,
Yankees and Rebels, Nazis, and many
times, each other. When I was 11 and
received a BB gun, we’d fire away for
hours at bottles or at targets we’d drawn
on cardboard boxes.
In 1969, I entered the U.S. Military
Academy. That summer as a plebe, us-
ing an M-14, I qualified as an expert on
the firing range. The next summer, when
I was a yearling, which is a sophomore,
my classmates and I fired M-16s, grenade
launchers, artillery, M-60 machine guns,
and tanks.
After my resignation in the middle of my
yearling year—honorable, by the way—
I occasionally would go shooting with
friends. When my children were growing
up, I took them into the woods and let
them plink away first with a BB gun and
later with a .22 rifle.
Which is to say that I am familiar with
firearms. Unlike some of my friends,
however, I never developed more than
a cursory interest in guns and shooting.
On the other hand, I’ve never really
understood why other friends and fam-
ily members regard guns as anathema,
somehow evil in and of themselves. For
me, a firearm is a tool with a specific pur-
pose, an inert object requiring the hand
of a human being to make it work, to use
or misuse it. Some of their fear stems from
what they read in the news, some from
misinformation.
Let’s take a look at guns.
Why Do People Want Guns?
Other than collecting firearms as one
might collect coins or stamps, there are
only three reasons to own a rifle or a pis-
tol.
The first is for hunting and sport. Here
in rural Virginia where I live are several
men and women who hunt deer, rab-
bits, and squirrels. They return home
with their game, butcher it, and freeze
it. In Haywood County, North Carolina,
where I used to live, a bunch of these
hunters would throw a “meat feed” for
their friends, which is where I tasted bear
in some version of hunter’s stew. I also
know several people who simply enjoy
going to a target range and improving
their marksmanship.
Next, gun ownership acts as a hedge
against dictators and tyranny. The Second
Amendment of our Constitution states, “A
well regulated Militia, being necessary
to the security of a free State, the right of
the people to keep and bear Arms, shall
not be infringed.” Often, those on both
sides of the issue of gun control debate
these words, but in those quarrels, they
frequently overlook the words “the se-
curity of a free State.” We may read that
statement as describing the use of arms
to resist either an invasion by a foreign
power or domestic tyranny.
American citizens own approximately
393 million guns, according to research
by Small Arms Survey. That figure should
serve as a deterrent to those wishing to
harm or do away with our democracy.
The 3rd Reason
In the article “Guns in America,” USA
Today reports that, in 2020, Americans
purchased nearly 40 million guns. Many
of these were first-time buyers of fire-
arms, and many of them were minorities
and women.
The vast majority of these buyers want-
ed a gun for self-protection. The USA To-
day article tells us that some social scien-
tists and commentators believe that the
pandemic, the riots, and the tumultuous
presidential election led to this steep rise
in gun purchases. It’s safe to say as well
that the breakdown of law and order in
some of our cities—defunding the po-
lice, no bail policies, restrictions on law
enforcement—and the consequent ex-
plosion of violent crime in these places
B5
also pumped up the sale of guns.
And certainly, guns are a great equal-
izer.
One wife and mother I know in her
early 30s is 5 feet 3 inches tall and prob-
ably weighs about 115 pounds. Several
years ago, on the parking deck of a mall,
she witnessed several young men curs-
ing and fighting one another just a few
yards from her van. This incident ter-
rified her. Three of her little children
were with her, and she wondered how
she might defend herself and her kids if
such men attacked her.
She bought a handgun, paid for the
training to use it properly, and now car-
ries it in her purse for protection.
Stats That May Surprise
Sometimes we hear that firearms kill up
to 40,000 Americans every year. This is
true, but once we remove those who com-
mit suicide with a gun, that figure falls to
less than half of that number.
Whether deliberately or not, those who
wish to ban or confiscate certain “assault
weapons” also mislead us. In 2019, hand-
guns killed 6,368 people, while murderers
used rifles in 364 instances. “Firearms
type not stated” accounted for another
3,281 deaths.
Meanwhile, in his article “Guns Pre-
vent Thousands of Crimes Every Day,
Research Shows,” Lawrence W. Reed re-
ports that “Guns prevent an estimated 2.5
million crimes every year…” and that “Ev-
ery year, 400,00 life-threatening violent
crimes are prevented using firearms,”
figures he gathered from the website
GunFacts.info. Even if we were to halve
those numbers, it should be apparent that
guns in the right hands do protect their
owners from violence and crime.
Owning a Gun
Let’s say you decide to buy a gun to pro-
tect yourself and your family. For the sake
of discussion here, let’s say you bought
a handgun. You purchased it legally,
bought the ammunition to go with it,
and carried it home.
What next?
The laws regarding gun ownership and
concealed carry vary from state to state.
You’ve acquainted yourself with those
laws, but find that your state requires no
formal training in gun use or safety.
So here’s some advice. No matter how
your state law reads, find an instructor to
teach you about your gun: how to shoot it,
how to clean it, and how to store it so that
it’s in a safe place yet readily available.
Once you’ve gone through the training,
even if it’s with a friend, go to a range sev-
eral times and fire the weapon until you
feel comfortable using it and until you
can actually hit what you are aiming at.
The Ongoing Debate
The argument over gun control versus
gun rights will continue. Where we stand
on this issue has much to do with how we
were raised, what sort of neighborhood
we live in, our politics, and our experience
with firearms.
In a recent issue of The Epoch Times,
Leonetta Harris of Chicago, a victim of
a gun-related crime who now carries a
firearm and is a member of a women’s
gun club, stated: “I’m a homeowner and
I have kids. I just want to make sure I’m
safe and able to defend myself against
any harm.”
We ourselves may not wish to own guns,
but we should listen to those citizens
who believe they need that protection
for themselves and their families.
Jeff Minick has four children and a
growing platoon of grandchildren. For
20 years, he taught history, literature,
and Latin to seminars of homeschooling
students in Asheville, N.C. He is the
author of two novels, “Amanda Bell”
and “Dust on Their Wings,” and two
works of nonfiction, “Learning as I Go”
and “Movies Make the Man.” Today,
he lives and writes in Front Royal, Va.
See JeffMinick.com to follow his blog.
SAMIRA BOUAOU/THE EPOCH TIMES
Second
Amendment
advocates
attend a
hearing at the
Virginia State
Capitol in
Richmond, Va.,
on Jan. 13,
2020.
B6 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021

would swallow them if they surrendered

DEAR NEXT GENERATION to it. They never lost their dreams. They
held on to the fact that there would be a
tomorrow. If one should lose everything in

Hope Is the Key his or her life, yet not lose their hope, they
have lost nothing.
We often give in to negative thoughts too
easily. We give them too much credit and
make them heavier than they actually are.
PUBLIC DOMAIN To counter all attacks of negativity and to
« Advice from our readers simply render them helpless, we should not
dwell so much on the negative. We must
to our young people hope for better times instead.

Dear Next Generation:

Ever feel trapped as if you are watching

your life deteriorate in front of your eyes
and you can do nothing? Or certain dif-
ficult circumstances lead you into wishing
for a new life? But that new life will never
come. Or so you think; or so your negativ-
ity wants you to think. An unseen enemy
is always waiting for you to give up and
then he pounces on you. He sometimes
pulls your strings just so he can do just that.
You are then either made miserable or you
commit something harmful. Depending
upon what it is, it might not be as hurtful
to those around you at first. But beware,
misery or caving into misery always has
repercussions that will eventually cause
harm or maybe worse.
History is written and
held together by this one
golden thread of hope.
However there is one thing you can do
to counter this trap. It is very well-known
concept but not recognized for its true be-
ing. It is simply to hope. Hope is the most
powerful of virtues. C.S. Lewis said that
“Courage is the foundation of virtues,” but
it takes a specific kind of hope to be cou-
rageous. Hope is more than wishing that
tomorrow will be sunny. It is more than
just implicit optimism. It is holding onto
something even when everything else is
pushing against it. To have hope in the
most discouraging circumstances is more
than being optimistic. It is being heroic.
Therefore, hope is essentially courage.
Hope is the armor we wear to fight in the
battles of life. Discouragement, alone, is
our utter ruin. So putting this into perspec-
tive, wouldn’t hope—the refusal of such a
thing—be the perfect remedy?
History is written and held together by
To have hope in the
most discouraging
circumstances is more
than being optimistic.
It is being heroic.
Padre Pio stated wisely, “Pray, hope, and
don’t worry.” Better times will come, as long
as we stay focused on our hope.
But it doesn’t stop here. It is not a matter
simply to say, “OK, I’ll be more hopeful.”
It takes time, and patience to keep this re-
solve. We must choose to persevere in hope.
It doesn’t simply come to you, it must be
invited. It is essentially a plant, one that
must be nurtured each day; it won’t blos-
som into a flower if you ignore it. The only
way hope will die, is in our hearts. There-
fore, we must ignite the perpetual flame
and resist all discouragements.
Even in our times, this is a battle all of
us face. However when we have hope, we
become unstoppable. The Victory is theirs
who stay firm.
—M. C. Furgal, New York
What advice would you like to
give to the younger generations?
We call on all of our readers to share the
timeless values that define right and
this one golden thread of hope. Why do wrong, and pass the torch, if you will,
Georgiana Maria soldiers sacrifice their life if they have not through your wisdom and hard-earned
Leicester, Lady de the hope that future generations may be experience. We feel that the passing down
Tabley, as “Hope” by delivered? How could a man who has lost of this wisdom has diminished over time,
Thomas Lawrence. and that only with a strong moral founda-
his legs run and win a race? Or a blind and
tion can future generations thrive.
deaf woman learn to read, write, and even
speak? What makes the gravest sinner into Send your advice, along with your full name,
the holiest saint? It is because even in their state, and contact information to NextGen-
darkest trials they had hope as their only eration@epochtimes.com or mail it to:
light. They proceeded onward, undaunt- Next Generation, The Epoch Times, 229
ed by the doubt and discouragement that W. 28th St., Floor 7, New York, NY 10001

Book Review: ‘Too Long Ago’ by David Pietrusza

HERBERT W. STUPP Shepherd was regaling listeners were so central to the city’s econo- ally becomes permanent. David
COURTESY OF DAVID PIETRUSZA

On the cover of “Too Long Ago,”
there is a black-and-white photo of
the happiest 4-year old boy you can
imagine, holding his great-uncle’s
hand at the latter’s bar in Amster-
dam, New York. That boy is now the
deservedly heralded presidential
author and biographer, David Pi-
etrusza.
Today, Pietrusza’s default facial
expression is “business somber” (he
appears more than occasionally on
C-SPAN), and his memoir indeed
explains the “stoicism” of many
Polish Americans, an immigrant
group whose odysseys and impres-
sive successes in America haven’t
gotten enough attention.
One of the 1960s’
buzzwords was
‘urban renewal,’ and
Pietrusza explains
how it came to
Amsterdam, and
with a vengeance.
Yet Pietrusza has written an
unsomber recollection of grow-
ing up in Amsterdam, New York,
with affection, appreciation, and
tongue-in-cheek observations of
how his city and the United States
operated in the 1950s and 1960s. “A
vanished world,” he writes, right on
the book cover.
Pietrusza admired noted racon-
teur Jean Shepherd, whom I got to
know a bit during my early career
years in New York television, while
with tales of growing up in Indi-
ana on WOR-AM five nights a week,
without notes or scripts.
Shepherd would be proud of his
devotee, as in Pietrusza’s analysis
as to why his young self’s St. Stan-
islaus elementary school tuition
was “a cool fifteen dollars a year” in
1950s Amsterdam: “Such a bargain
was made possible by low over-
head, and the school passed the
savings on to us. Nuns, of course,
were virtually slave labor. Or, at
least, Slav labor.”
Such gems populate this fine rec-
ollection of a unique time and place.
This book only touches on the
politics of the era, but does illus-
trate the value of cultural conser-
vatism, from the properly reflexive
anti-communism of Poles and their
descendants to the central role of
the Catholic church in pre-Vatican
II upstate New York.
Pietrusza catalogs how general ac-
ceptance of Catholic values in Am-
sterdam created a generally kinder
and gentler society than in the de-
cades to follow. The drop-off in week-
ly Mass attendance and in vocations
to the priesthood and the convent,
he suggests, can be linked to the
rapid rush to “reform” the Catholic
church in the 1960s and ’70s.
Pietrusza introduces us to an ar-
ray of memorable characters, many
in his family, his neighborhood,
and his school, and all of them real.
He reports on Amsterdam being
a “hard-drinking” city with many
illegal gambling enthusiasts, but
also a blue-collar, hard-working
place as well.
Kirk Douglas and Benedict Ar-
nold (the congressman, not the
traitor) were sons of Amsterdam.
The carpet manufacturing mills
my, the minor league baseball team
was named the “Amsterdam Rug-
makers.” Runoff from the mills pol-
luted tributaries of the Mohawk Riv-
er to such an extent that locals could
tell what color carpeting was made
on a given day by the hues in the
Chuctanunda Creek, and eventually
the connecting great Mohawk.
Author David
Upstate New York is littered with
Pietrusza.
cities that have declined as their
primary industries found greener
pastures in which to manufacture.
Buffalo lost its steel mills; Roches-
ter witnessed the collapse of Ko-
dak and the departure of Gannett
newspapers and Xerox’s corporate
headquarters; Syracuse lost Car-
rier Corporation; and Amsterdam
coughed up the carpet mills.
Correspondingly, the city’s popu-
lation peaked at around 35,000 in
“Too Long Ago:  1930, with a steep decline of more
A Childhood Memory than 50 percent, down to only some
A Vanished World” 17,000 residents today.
David Pietrusza
Church & Reid Books, 2021
Among upstate cities, only Al-
319 pages bany has a perpetual “manufac-
turer” and conveyor belt of every-
increasing, high-paying jobs. Their
primary “product” is immense and
expanding state government, all
at the expense of New York’s long-
suffering taxpayers.
Pietrusza writes about family
anguish as his father’s job in the
mills disappears with his employ-
er’s move out of New York. He pro-
vides a poignant travelogue about
a family pilgrimage to Connecti-
cut, where his father could visit
the newly consolidated home of
Bigelow-Sanford Carpet Mills, to
see “where (his) job went.”
After a sequence of heavy lifting
positions, the elder Pietrusza gets
hired as a temporary U.S. Postal
Service letter carrier, and eventu-
Pietrusza’s mother, also employed
in manufacturing for years, eventu-
ally feels the gravitational appeal of
government work herself, taking
and passing the New York state civil
service exam.
To get to her job in Albany each
morning, Mrs. Pietrusza relied on
a mix of carpools to traverse the
40-mile, one-way commute. But
at least the family’s financial con-
cerns had been put to rest.
One of the 1960s’ buzzwords was
“urban renewal,” and Pietrusza
explains how it came to Amster-
dam, and with a vengeance. The
downtown neighborhood was torn
up in favor of an arterial highway
that would speed motorists from
the New York State Thruway across
the Mohawk River.
The problem with this “renewal”
was that the modern roadway by-
passed restaurants and other es-
tablishments, as well as destroying
homes and a church, accelerating
the city’s decline. My family and I
traverse this route each year, on our
way to or from the Adirondacks,
taking notice of St. Mary’s Hospi-
tal, which was built in part by my
father-in-law’s work as a construc-
tion foreman.
Next time we’re in Amsterdam,
thanks to Pietrusza’s entertain-
ing memoir, we’ll be sure to get off
that arterial, gassing up the car and
sitting down at a local restaurant.
We’ll be able to imagine that “van-
ished world” that Pietrusza has
brought back to the mind’s eyes of
his readers.
Herbert W. Stupp is the editor
of GipperTen.com. He was a New
York City commissioner from 1994
to 2002.
 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021 B7

LARGER THAN LIFE: ART THAT INSPIRES US THROUGH THE AGES

A Neoclassical Gem for a Grieving Nation:

Auckland War Memorial Museum in New Zealand
ALL PHOTOS BY SHUTTERSTOCK UNLESS NOTED OTHERWISE

On April 25, 1915, the Australian and New

Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) landed on
the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey. Their
mission was to capture the Dardanelles, a
strait in the northwest of the country, from
the Ottomans, who were Germany’s allies.
For over eight months, soldiers on both
sides suffered greatly: 87,000 Ottoman
Turks and 44,000 Allied forces, including
8,500 Australians and 2,779 New Zea-
landers, were killed. One in six of the New
Zealanders sent to fight in Gallipoli died
in battle.
Today, April 25 is ANZAC Day, a national
day of mourning for Australians and New
Zealanders to gather and commemorate
their fellow countrymen who died to en-
sure peace for future generations. In New
Zealand, one of the ways people honor
their war heroes is by gathering for dawn
services, the time when ANZAC troops
landed in Gallipoli. The ceremonies held
throughout the country are based on a tra-
ditional military funeral. In central Auck-
land, people gather outside the Auckland
War Memorial Museum on the consecrated
ground of the Court of Honor—akin to
a graveyard for all those who have fallen—
and the Cenotaph, an empty tomb.
Originally, the Auckland War Memo-
rial Museum was created in 1929 to honor
those who died in World War I, but now it’s
a monument to all New Zealanders who An aerial view of the Auckland War Memorial Museum, in Auckland, New Zealand.
have lost their lives in conflicts.
design, and the Auckland firm Grierson, The decorations evoke an appreciation Greek statesman Pericles, which was part
The People’s Memorial Aimer, and Draffin won. The winning of patriotic valor. On the original build- of the annual public funeral for the dead of
The Auckland War Memorial Museum neoclassical design echoes a Greek or Ro- ing’s façade, scenes from World War I run the Peloponnesian War. It states:
was built for the people by the people. The man temple. The building’s colonnades along a frieze. And engraved above each “The whole earth is the sepulcher of fa-
building funds came from Aucklanders are nearly an exact copy of the Parthenon’s window are battles where New Zealanders mous men. They are commemorated not
who donated after World War I in remem- in Greece. once fought. only by columns and inscriptions in their
brance of their war dead. The original building has been extended And above the columns, engraved on the own country. But in foreign lands also by
In 1922, the Royal Institute of British Ar- twice, first in the 1950s and then more re- north façade entablature, is an excerpt from memorials graven not on stone, but on the
chitects ran a competition for the building cently over the past two decades. the profound funeral oration by the ancient hearts of men.”
PHIL WALTER/GETTY IMAGES

Poppies are placed on the Cenotaph following the dawn service

at the Auckland War Memorial Museum on April 25, 2017.
PHIL WALTER/GETTY IMAGES

(Left) Neoclassical architecture and native art can be seen throughout the Auckland War Memorial Museum. In the center, a frieze A veteran watches the dawn service at the Auckland War
decorated with repeating koru, an unfurling silver fern frond, can be seen. The silver fern is a New Zealand native and a motif that is Memorial Museum on April 25, 2017.
traditionally used in Maori art to represent peace, growth, and strength. (Right) The stained glass in the World War Two Hall of Mem-
ories commemorates New Zealanders not represented in the memorial, such as nurses, and women who served in the Navy, Army,
and Air Force. Also included are the elderly, women, and children who stayed at home. (Below) ANZAC Day: Every year on April 25,
Australians and New Zealanders commemorate their fellow countrymen who died at war. In Auckland, New Zealand, soldiers gather
for the dawn service at the Auckland War Memorial Museum.
AUCKLAND WAR MEMORIAL MUSEUM-TAMAKI PAENGA HIRA

(Above) Traditionally, the ANZAC

Day dawn service concludes with
the fourth verse of Laurence
Binyon’s poem “For the Fallen,”
which is inscribed on the above
plaque: “They shall grow not old,
as we that are left grow old/ Age
shall not weary them, nor the
years condemn/ At the going
down of the sun and in the morn-
ing/ We will remember them.”
(Left) The Auckland Cenotaph
is a replica of Sir Edwin Luyten’s
design of the Cenotaph in White-
hall, London. The blueprints for the
London Cenotaph were expensive,
so one of the Auckland architects
spent hours patiently watching
movie theater newsreels, wait-
ing for the London Cenotaph to
appear, and sketching the design.
B8
‘Orestes Pursued by the Furies’
“Orestes Pursued by the Furies,” 1862, by William-Adolphe Bouguereau. Oil on canvas, 91 inches by 109 5/8 inches. Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Va.
ERIC BESS
W
e sometimes come across
people in our lives who
cause us pain. It can be
tempting to want to make
them pay for the pain they
cause us, but William-Adolphe Bou-
guereau’s painting “Orestes Pursued by
the Furies” may provide visual insight as
to why it’s better to forgive.
The Vengeance of Orestes
In Greek legend, Orestes was the son of
King Agamemnon, who is best known as
a military leader who guided the Greeks
during their war with the Trojans.
After being exiled to Sparta by Aegisthus,
Agamemnon married Clytemnestra with
whom he had three daughters and a son,
Orestes.
Agamemnon, however, angered the god-
dess Artemis when he killed one of her sa-
cred deer and claimed to be a better hunter
than she was.
To appease Artemis, he sacrificed his
daughter Iphigenia. Some versions of the story
state that Artemis saved Iphigenia at the last
moment by replacing her with a deer. Other
versions state that Agamemnon brutally sac-
rificed his daughter, who was still a child.
In sacrificing his daughter, Agamemnon
provoked the hatred of his wife. Thus, while
he was off fighting the Trojans, Clytemnes-
tra had an affair with the very man who
had exiled him, Aegisthus. Together, the
lovers conspired to kill Agamemnon when
he returned.
When Agamemnon returned home after
defeating the Trojans, his wife and her lover
carried out their brutal plan. Agamemnon’s
son, Orestes, a child at the time, vowed to
avenge his father’s death and kill his moth-
er and Aegisthus.
After eight years, Orestes, now an adult,
took his revenge and killed them both.
For the crime of matricide, Orestes was
haunted by the Furies, who were goddesses
from the underworld and haunted people
for their wickedness.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021
REACHING WITHIN: WHAT TRADITIONAL ART OFFERS THE HEART
The Woes of Revenge:
PUBLIC DOMAIN
The Furies came in threes, and were often Sometimes, revenge seems like the only A Broader Perspective
named Unceasing Anger, Avenger of Mur- course of action when we feel we’ve been Outside of revenge, I find another layer of
der, and Jealousy. Orestes would spend the wronged. We want revenge because we interpretation when I look at this painting
next part of his life trying to free himself think it will make right the suffering we’ve as separate from the myth.
from their wrath. endured. We want to cause pain to those Orestes is the young man representing a
who caused us pain in the hope that we new generation, with its own thoughts and
Orestes Suffers for His Vengeance will feel better afterward and that justice beliefs. Clytemnestra, as Orestes’s mother,
The 19th-century, French Academic paint- will be served. represents the older generation which has
er William-Adolphe Bouguereau skillfully But revenge does not make Orestes feel its thoughts, beliefs, and traditions. From
painted the moment that Orestes stabs his better; he feels worse. He tries to cover his this viewpoint, Orestes’s act is one of de-
mother, and the Furies instantly come to ears to stop the Furies, and his body is po- stroying tradition in favor of a new way of
haunt him. sitioned in such a way as to suggest that he thinking: Out with the old and in with new.
The focal point is Orestes, who is painted wants to run from the pain. Orestes’s unwillingness to learn from the
in a field of darkness in front of the other But Orestes is unable to escape because the past and build from it causes suffering he
figures. He wears a white cloth that partially Furies are goddesses from the underworld. As wasn’t able to foretell. The Furies represent
covers him. His facial expression is one of goddesses, their power exists in their ability the resulting pain that occurs in society
anguish, and he puts his hands to his ears to spiritually haunt him wherever he goes. when tradition is wholly destroyed for the
to try to stop the Furies from causing him That is, Orestes will be unable to avoid novelty of youth.
any more pain. the pain no matter how Even if traditions contain within them
The three Furies are be- he tries because he now unhealthy thoughts and beliefs, destroy-
hind Orestes. They are suffers spiritual pain for ing them completely only furthers the un-
identified by the lifeless taking revenge. Pointing healthy practice of destruction itself. Un-
color of their skin, the The Furies came at the knife and shriek- willing to learn from the past, Orestes risks
snakes in their hair, and the in threes, and ing at Orestes, the Fu- bringing the most dangerous elements of
anger on their faces as they ries serve as a constant the past into the future.
taunt Orestes. The Fury to were often named reminder of his deed, a Is there a way that the generations can
the right holds a torch in deed that heightened his work together to learn from and build upon
her hand, while the Fury Unceasing Anger, suffering instead of alle- positive traditions rather than resist them?
immediately to her left Avenger of Murder, viating it. Is it possible to build cultures and tradi-
holds a snake in hers. Is it the case that seek- tions around forgiveness so that we may
The Fury to the far left, and Jealousy. ing revenge only causes potentially avoid the wrath of the Furies?
however, supports Or- us more suffering? Does
estes’s dying mother with it ever really bring any The traditional arts often contain spiritual
one arm. All three Furies point at the knife satisfaction that makes it a worthwhile representations and symbols the mean-
lodged in Clytemnestra’s chest. Even Cly- endeavor? ings of which can be lost to our modern
temnestra uses the strength she has left to Could Orestes have approached this situ- minds. In our series “Reaching Within:
reach her hands toward the knife. With so ation in a way that resolved the issues he What Traditional Art Offers the Heart,”
many hands pointing toward the knife, it had with his mother and prevented him we interpret visual arts in ways that may
becomes a secondary focal point. from having to endure the wrath of the Fu- be morally insightful for us today. We do
ries? What could Orestes have done that not assume to provide absolute answers to
Avoiding the Wrath of the Furies potentially would have alleviated suffering questions generations have wrestled with,
Let’s take a close look at this painting to see instead of causing it? but hope that our questions will inspire
what moral lessons we might derive from it. Is forgiveness a better course of action? a reflective journey toward our becom-
Bouguereau depicted Orestes in the Both Clytemnestra and Orestes sought re- ing more authentic, compassionate, and
middle of the painting surrounded by the venge because of their suffering, yet their courageous human beings.
Furies and the darkness of his deed. He’s revenge only begot more suffering. Would
fulfilled the revenge he sought on his moth- forgiveness have prevented all the pain Eric Bess is a practicing representational
er by taking her life. His success, however, caused by both Clytemnestra and Orestes, artist and is a doctoral candidate at the
brings him no joy; it instead brings him a pain that they both caused themselves by Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual
more pain. way of their acts? Arts (IDSVA).
 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021
What Good Is Poetry? An Introduction
SEAN FITZPATRICK
The series “What Good Is Poetry?” looks
at poems that, once memorized, bestow a
gift: an antidote to the cynicism of our age.
There is an old Chinese proverb: If a per-
son does not learn poetry as a child, he or
she will not know how to pray as an adult.
A more arresting thing could hardly be
said, especially in an age when poetry
itself asks the question “to be, or not to
be?” as it is either shrugged off with indif-
ference or dismissed as unimportant.
Reality must be touched by the miracle
of imagination if we are to escape from
the straitjacket of logic alone and stay
in tune and in touch with the invisible
and idealized world that at once per-
plexes and perfects our logic. As a writer
of poetry himself, the theologian and
philosopher Thomas Aquinas knew well
that, as Robert Burns wrote, “the best
laid schemes o’ mice and men gang aft
agley,” and that when logic and rhetoric
fail, we must look to poetry—though our
times threaten to look to it nevermore.
Poetry’s Good Gifts
“The world is so full of a number of
things,
I’m sure we should all be as happy as
kings.”
Considering how much unhappiness
there is in the world today, there might
be a temptation to dismiss this poem
by Robert Louis Stevenson and its ilk as
optimistic delusion—which is part of
the cause of unhappiness. There is a sad
tendency prevalent to view the world as
a wasteland rather than a wonderland.
This is, perhaps, one of the deepest errors
of our time—the error of cynicism.
Keep, modern lands, your storied pomp.
What the world needs, what people need
is a psychological and spiritual renewal: a
renewal of politics, culture, parenthood,
education … and poetry. Of all these
things that the world stands in need of,
however, poetry should stand as a priority.
Without doubt, the world needs prag-
matists like scientists and soldiers in
the cultural and spiritual war zones to
defend good, true, and beautiful things.
But in as much as civilization needs pro-
fessionals, so too does it need poets—and
that for a very simple reason. Scientists
without poetry can be slaves to systems.
Soldiers without poetry can be barbar-
ians devoid of chivalry. A people without
poetry cannot be preservers of culture
because the charm and glory of faith, life,
nature, and art shine with poetry.
PUBLIC DOMAIN
Robert Louis Stevenson
A portrait of William Wordsworth, said to be
an 1873 reproduction of an 1839 watercolor
by Margaret Gillies (1803–1887). The Uni-
versity of Texas–Austin.
PUBLIC DOMAIN
Photo portrait of Robert Louis Stevenson,
1893, by Henry Walter Barnett. State Library
of New South Wales.
Without poetry, death is a bleak finality,
instead of one to be not proud. Without
poetry, without some intimation or ex-
pression of goodness, truth, and beauty,
there is less hope of attaining the glori-
ous ends of purpose and peace—wheth-
er through war, marriage, work, or any
given Tuesday.
Poetry offers that primary knowledge,
and thus offers us a window to view and
begin to understand a world so full of
a number of things. Poems should be
lifelong teachers, and they should begin
their lessons in the hearts of the young.
Once there, they can give satisfying
expression to those mysteries of child-
hood that are beyond a child’s ability to
express. And in so doing, poetry can not
only begin to introduce children to the
outward world and inward emotions, but
also give all things their proper place and
The world is relation, comparing just the right beauty
to a summer’s day.
so full of a
Dare to Lead
number of Perhaps the most significant obstacle
things, to providing today’s children with the
experience of poetry is that many of to-
I’m sure we day’s parents and teachers have not had
should all be the experience of poetry themselves. It is
never too late to mend.
as happy as Look on her works, ye Mighty, and
do not despair. Poetry—that art which
kings. meditates on beauty, rest, perfection,
and a small participation in the essence
of things—is good for grown-ups too. No
matter how old you are, or how busy you
are, it is always important to be reminded
of the aim of beauty and mystery that all
our distracting means are for the sake of.
If you never thought about the impor-
tance of poetry, do not, by any means,
let this article convince you. Go to the
source in the bliss of solitude. Take the
time. Read Shelley, Keats, and Byron.
Read Wordsworth and Poe. Read the
Psalms. Read Homer, Virgil, Chaucer,
Shakespeare, Milton, Coleridge, and
Hopkins. Write your own book inscrip-
tions and Christmas cards to your loved
ones in verse. Be attentive of eye and
ear and heart. They also serve who only
stand and wait.
Immerse yourself. Dare to engage the
fearful symmetry. And above all else, en-
joy it. Take the time. No parent or teacher
can give their child or charge what they
For more do not have. No pupil will take to heart
arts and culture what is brushed off by their parents or
teachers. If parents and teachers want
articles, visit
their children to be virtuous, they must
TheEpochTimes. be virtuous first. If parents and teach-
com
ers want their children to be kind and
hardworking, they must be kind and
hardworking before them. If parents and
teachers do not read and savor poetic
works, neither will their children.
Let us, then, be up and doing. The first
step to giving your loved ones the gift
of poetry is to love it first yourself. The
rhythms of poetry reflect the rhythms
of creation, of life, and the human heart.
They put profundities in the mouths of
babes, fortifying them for those times
when, as adults, they will cry out from
the depths.
The reinforcements of beauty must not
be lost. Like the coming of spring, the
world will be saved by beauty, as Dos-
toevsky wrote. And a line of poetry may
make all the difference in a person’s salva-
tion. In the immortal words of John Keats:
“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all Ye
know on earth, and all ye need to know.”
B9
NITO/SHUTTERSTOCK
Make today
Poetry
Day. April
is National
Poetry month.
A Good Beginning
There is nothing like a poem held in the
heart, like a fire in the hearth, to give the
first and final context of earthly experi-
ence. There are many excellent poems—
some of the best ever written in English,
in fact—that are not hard to memorize.
And they should be memorized, and
brought along on the adventure of our
lives, and taught to children, grandchil-
dren, and students.
This article begins a series presenting
a few very memorable poems. They are
not long or difficult. It doesn’t take long
to learn them, nor is it difficult to recite
them on a walk, in the car, at the table,
or in the living room. Take this series
to heart. Teach your young minds and
hearts the poems that will be presented
in these pages and plant the power of
poetry in their lives, and perhaps even
the power of prayer and meditation.
They will be only a beginning, true, but
any good poem is a good start. And that is
one of the good things about poetry. It is
always setting out on the right foot, seek-
ing afresh, trying to arrive at some end,
some destination, that we all have some
inkling of but that we must ever strive for
in this life even if we don’t get there fully.
And this is the paradox of all good po-
ems and what makes poems good—that
they must fail to capture their subjects,
for their subjects are worthy of poetry
only if they cannot be captured. And
thus is the lovers’ elusiveness alive be-
tween the poem and the primal, bring-
ing forth the truth that there are tears
in things—tears both of inexpressible
sorrow and inexpressible joy.
But even though they fail, poems such
as the ones to come will not fail those who
commit their hearts to poetry by commit-
ting poetry to heart. It is in the striving that
poetry rejoices, and so must we.
Sean Fitzpatrick serves on the faculty
of Gregory the Great Academy, a boarding
school in Elmhurst, Pa., where he teaches
humanities. His writings on education,
literature, and culture have appeared in a
number of journals including Crisis Mag-
azine, Catholic Exchange, and the Imagi-
native Conservative.
Did You Notice?
As you, dear reader, contemplate a
poetic sojourn, remember to prepare
your heart and mind to notice little gems
of language that can change your life. For
an exercise in attentiveness, or perhaps
just some detective work, woven within
this article are phrases from 12 immortal
poems. Did you notice them?
“The Tyger” by William Blake
“Sonnet 18” by William Shakespeare
“The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe
“The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus
“The Aeneid” by Virgil
“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by
William Wordsworth
“A Psalm of Life” by Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow
“To a Mouse” by Robert Burns
“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
“Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley
“Sonnet 19” by John Milton
“Psalm 8” the Bible
B10
PARENTING MATTERS
Be the Person
You Want
Your Children
to Become
Parents are their children’s main role models.
PARNELL DONAHUE
H
ello from Nashville, Tennessee, the
home of country music, beautiful
weather, and right living. What an
honor and a pleasure to write for
The Epoch Times and hopefully make a dif-
ference in the lives of our nation’s children.
Some years ago I was a guest on a Father’s
Day radio talk show in Milwaukee. Toward
the end of the show a dad called to say, “It
sounds like, that in parenting, everything
you do is important. Is that true?”
I assured him it was, and advised him to
be careful of how he acts because kids are
mirrors that reflect what their parents do.
I asked him not to worry that they don’t
always listen to what you say, but be con-
cerned that they see everything you do. They
become us! “Be the person you want your
kids to become!” had become my mantra.
Recently my wife, Mary, and I were in-
vited to give a series of talks on parenting
at a local Methodist Sunday school. Dur-
ing the third session, a woman remarked
that the class was so different from what
she thought it would be. “It’s more about
doing the right thing than pediatrics,” she
said. “I thought pediatricians only treated
sick kids, did physicals, and gave shots.
This class is more of a how to live a good
Study: A Manly Father Is Good for Children
ANNIE HOLMQUIST
In an age when feminism seems to rule,
there’s a lot of pressure for fathers to start
acting softer and more feminine in dealing
with their children. Not a trace of that “toxic
masculinity” should come through!
Perhaps that is why we see increasing
condemnation of competition (“everyone
gets a participation trophy!”) or “dangerous”
activities like winter sledding (“little Johnny
could hit a tree!”), or allowing children to
stray a few blocks from home without adult
supervision (“they might be kidnapped!”).
Why would we want parents, particularly
fathers, to stress the traditionally mascu-
line virtues of competition and adventure
to their children when we’re trying to root
toxic masculinity out of society?
But while this mindset is subtly promoted
by today’s culture, it’s now being challenged
by a new study published in the journal Psy-
chology of Men and Masculinities. The study
lists the stereotypical masculine character-
istics—“competitive, daring, adventurous,
dominant, aggressive, courageous and
standing up to pressure”—as positive traits,
and fathers who demonstrated these were
“rated as showing good parenting behavior.”
Researchers expressed surprise at this
link between masculine qualities and good
parenting. The study’s lead author, Sarah
Schoppe-Sullivan, acknowledged, however,
that “fathers who see themselves as competi-
tive and adventurous and the other mascu-
line traits tended to be really engaged with
their kids.”
Perhaps this is surprising to those living
in a “woke,” politically correct, feminist so-
ciety, but it shouldn’t be to those who look at
fathers through history. Take Teddy Roos-
evelt, for example. In a letter to a friend in late
1900, Roosevelt explained how he had been a
sickly child—likely the type who would have
been teased and labeled a sissy by other boys
his age. His father helped him through this
life than how to parent, isn’t it?”
“What a great observation,” I answered.
“We pediatricians see a lot of sick kids, give
plenty of shots, and do many physicals. We
call them ‘health evaluations’ now, because
we concentrate on the health habits kids are
forming, and how those habits will control
their life. But, you have the message 100
percent right! This class is geared to help
parents be the kind of person they want
their kids to become. It is a ‘how to be a good
parent’ class, not a ‘how to parent’ class. I’m
glad you noticed the difference.”
Not only do parents have
a major role in influencing
values, their expectations
also greatly influence
future performance.
The Cart Before the Horse
“How to be a good parent” classes, or books,
start with the parent—if the parent does this,
the child will do that. “How to parent” lit-
erature starts with the child—if the child
does this, the parent should do that. This
latter type of parenting has the cart before
difficult childhood, not only through gentle-
ness, but also through his manly character.
Roosevelt explains:
“I was fortunate enough in having a father
whom I have always been able to regard as
an ideal man. It sounds a little like cant to say
what I am going to say, but he really did com-
bine the strength and courage and will and
energy of the strongest man with the ten-
derness, cleanness and purity of a woman.
... He not only took great and untiring care
of me—some of my earliest remembrances
are of nights when he would walk up and
down with me for an hour at a time in his
arms when I was a wretched mite suffer-
ing acutely with asthma—but he also most
wisely refused to coddle me, and made me
feel that I must force myself to hold my own
with other boys and prepare to do the rough
work of the world.”
Roosevelt’s father was manly—daring and
courageous—and passed these traits on to
his son, enabling him to stand firm under
pressure. It was through these manly traits
DGLIMAGES/SHUTTERSTOCK
the horse. These parents try to lead from
behind. That just doesn’t work.
Too often pediatricians, other parenting
experts, and parents, think parenting is
about the children. But, parenting is about
the parent. And because parents are the
most influential role models kids have,
this training is an essential part of a well-
child visit.
Like it or not, for good or bad, parents are
the main role models for their children. Not
only do parents have a major role in influ-
encing values, their expectations also great-
ly influence future performance. A 1997
JAMA article about a study conducted by
the University of Minnesota of 12,000 kids
in grades 7 through 12 concluded: “If par-
ents expect adolescents to get good grades
and refrain from sex, those expectations
influence the adolescents’ behavior pow-
erfully through twelfth grade, regardless
of family income, race, or single or dual-
parent status.” The lead researcher, Michael
Resnick, said, “Adolescents are often very
effective at convincing us that what we say
is irrelevant to their lives, and the mistake
we make as adults is that we believe it.”
In a Horatio Alger survey on The State of
Our Nation’s Youth (2005–2006), 68 percent
of the girls ages 14 to 19 and 70 percent of
boys that age, named a parent, sibling, or
FPG/GETTY IMAGES
A portrait of President
Theodore Roosevelt
(1858–1919) with his
second wife, Edith Carow
Roosevelt and his first
five children, mid-1890s.
Roosevelt’s
father was
manly—
daring and
courageous—
and passed
these traits
on to his son,
enabling
him to stand
firm under
pressure.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021
other family member as their role model.
Only 15 percent named a friend, and even
fewer mentioned an entertainment celeb-
rity or an athlete.
To test these national statistics, I asked
the 103 teens I evaluated one summer,
who most influenced their values of right
and wrong. Of these, 83 said mom, dad,
or parents; three said brothers or sisters;
three credited themselves as their main
influence; three said others (teacher, coach,
minister); while three had no one to credit.
Only eight said friends. (One 15-year-old
boy actually said Rush Limbaugh.)
The following statistics show us where
parenting from behind has led, and why
we need to change our focus and put the
parent first!
Every day in the U.S., in 2019, 1,840 kids
are abused or neglected, according to the
American Society for the Positive Care of
Children. That’s over 660,000 kids and more
than 400,000 of them were abused by a par-
ent. Five abused kids die each day. Accord-
ing to the Children’s Defense Fund, each
day in 2020, eight kids or teens committed
suicide, nine children or teens were killed
with a gun, 126 children were arrested for
violent crimes, and 248 children were ar-
rested for drug crimes.
Parents as Leaders of the Family
We can change those horrid statistics forced
upon our kids, our families, and our world
by moving the cart back behind the horse.
We must put the parents back in their role
as leaders of the family, and let the kids be
followers. That is one of the long-term goals
of this column.
To be sure, I don’t pretend to know all
the answers, but my wife Mary and I have
raised four very successful children. I have
spent half a century studying kids, fami-
lies, and society, and I have been instruct-
ing parents for many decades.  I know that
something has to change or our society will
not survive. I ask your forbearance and your
help in making the changes.
Some years ago, Tennessee-born Rodney
Adkins recorded a song about parenting,
called “Watching You” (bit.ly/2QvUI34). It
quickly became popular in country music
fandom. Listen to the words and watch the
video. You’ll love it, and it will convince you
of the importance of “being the person you
want your child to become.”
Enjoy the children in your life, and may
God continue to bless you and your family!
Dr. Parnell Donahue is a pediatrician, mili-
tary veteran, author of four books and the
blog ParentingWithDrPar.com, and host of
WBOU’s “Parenting Matters” show. He and
his wife Mary, have four adult children; all
are Ph.D.s, two also are MDs. Contact him
at Parenting-Matters.com
that Roosevelt’s father fostered respect and
love for himself in the heart of his son:
“I cannot say that he ever put it into words,
but he certainly gave me the feeling that I
was always to be both decent and manly,
and that if I were manly nobody would laugh
at my being decent. In all my childhood he
never laid hand on me but once, but I always
knew perfectly well that in case it became
necessary he would not have the slight-
est hesitancy in doing so again, and alike
from my love and respect, and in a certain
sense, my fear of him, I would have hated
and dreaded beyond measure to have him
know that I had been guilty of a lie, or of cru-
elty, or of bullying, or of uncleanness or of
cowardice.”
However much one may despise or adore
Roosevelt’s politics, one has to admit that
he led an impressive life, showing courage
on the battlefield, exhibiting both strong
intellect and a strong work ethic, and dem-
onstrating leadership from the highest of-
fice in the land. Would he have achieved
such success if his father had coddled him,
refusing to balance the tender care of his
sickly son with his manly qualities? It seems
doubtful.
We have today what authors Warren Farrell
and John Gray call a “boy crisis”—a crisis in
which boys fail to become men, struggle in
school, get in trouble, and have difficulty
finding wives. Would we see that crisis begin
to be resolved if we encouraged fathers to
practice and model their manly virtues once
again, showing not only love and gentleness,
but courage, competitiveness, and an adven-
turous spirit as well?
Annie Holmquist is the editor of Intellectual
Takeout and the online editor of Chronicles
Magazine, both projects of Charlemagne
Institute. This article was originally pub-
lished on Intellectual Takeout.

Cricket.
by Rudyard Kipling
Thank God who made the British Isles
And taught me how to play,
I do not worship crocodiles
Or bow the knee to clay!
Give me a willow wand and I,
With hide and cork and twine,
From century to century
Will gambol round my Shrine.
H
orses
have truly been
a blessing for
mankind.
They have been used for many
purposes, including pulling farm
implements to pulling carriages
and, of course, for riding,
whether for pleasure or for
battle. Many famous generals
and heroes used their horses to
great advantage in war, so much
so that the horses themselves
became famous as well.
AMAZING
ESCAPES!
USE THE FOUR NUMBERS IN THE CORNERS, AND THE OPERANDS
(+, - AND X) to build an equation to get the solution in the middle. There may be
more than one “unique” solution but, there may also be “equivalent” solutions.
For example: 6 + (7 X 3) +1 = 28 and 1+ (7 X 3) + 6 = 28
Easy puzzle 1 Medium puzzle 1
2 7 11
48
1 4
+ − × ÷ + − × ÷
Solution For Easy 1 Solution for Medium 1
(7 − 1) × 4 × 2
(7 + 1) × (4 + 2)
FOR KIDS ONLY
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021
This
Week in
History
WHY DID THE
QUARTERBACK
SIGN UP FOR THE MOST
DIFFICULT HUBBLE
CLASSES? TAKES
FLIGHT
O
n April 24, 1990,
HE COULD PASS. The Hubble Space
BECAUSE HE KNEW
Telescope was
launched into
ANDREY YURLOV/SHUTTERSTOCK
orbit by NASA’s space
shuttle Discovery. The
giant telescope, named after
American astronomer Edwin P. Hubble, has
allowed scientists to view images of planets,
galaxies, black holes, and more. The telescope
Make each can be visited for upgrade and repair. Since
day your its launch, five shuttle missions have
carried astronauts to Hubble.
masterpiece. The telescope remains in
operation today. Check
out amazing images
on HubbleSite.org.
ALL IMAGES BY SHUTTERSTOCK
JOHN WOODEN
(1910–2010),
AMERICAN
BASKETBALL
PLAYER AND
COACH
ECOPRINT/SHUTTERSTOCK MICHAEL GORDON (STATUE); LEUNGCHOPAN (BALL)/SHUTTERSTOCK; (PHOTO ILLUSTRATIONS) THE EPOCH TIMES
By Aidan Danza, age 14
WARHORSES
Gen. Robert E.
Lee on his horse
Traveller.
“Napoleon
Crossing the
Alps” by Jacques-
Louis David. It
is believed that
the horse in
TRAVELLER bought Greenbrier for $190 and the painting is
renamed the horse “Traveller.” Marengo.
Traveller belonged to Gen.
Robert E. Lee, the leader of the
Lee rode Traveller for most of the
war, even after Traveller threw
Confederate forces in the Civil
War. The horse was born in 1857 Lee at the Second Battle of
Manassas. Once, Lee’s soldiers MARENGO always remained calm in a crisis.
and christened “Jeff Davis” after Unlike Traveller, Marengo never
actually had to grab Traveller’s Marengo was an Arabian breed once threw Napoleon in its 15
the Mississippi senator who
would later gain fame as the reins to prevent Lee from leading horse from Egypt. Marengo was years of service, even though it
Confederate president. Jeff Davis from the dangerous front line. Lee purchased at the age of 6 in 1799, was wounded eight times during
(the horse) won two blue ribbons himself said that “the saddle was and carried Napoleon through the that period. Eventually, Napoleon
scarcely off his back” for some Battle of Marengo, which allowed
in the Greenbrier County Fair. It and his horse were defeated at
soon came under the ownership of the war, and that Traveller was its rider, Napoleon Bonaparte, Waterloo in 1815, and it was
of Captain Joseph M. Broun who the only one of his horses that to take northern Italy. Napoleon put on display in London. To this
renamed the horse “Greenbrier.” held up for the whole war without named the horse after this battle. day, Marengo’s skeleton is still
Lee met Greenbrier in 1861, fail. Traveller died in 1871, only a Like its famous rider, Marengo displayed at the Natural History
and it was love at first sight. Lee year after the death of its master. was very short for a warhorse, but Museum in London.
LUKASZ SZWAJ (BACKGROUND); NATALIIA K (WHITE FRAME); TATIANA POPOVA (WOODEN FRAME)/SHUTTERSTOCK; PUBLIC DOMAIN (TRAVELLER) (MARENGO); (PHOTO ILLUSTRATIONS) THE EPOCH TIMES
1 2 3
4
Down
2 Sport with arrows (7)
5 6
3 “Salute to the sun” discipline (4)
7 4 Sport performed on ice (7)
5 Game with brooms on ice (7)
START
8 9 6 This sport uses barbells (13)
7 It starts with a break (9)
10 9 The New York Jets play this game (8)
11
10 Sport on walls and mountains (8)
13 Art of self defense (4)
12
14 18-hole game (4)
13
14 15
16
Hard puzzle 1 17
15 10 36
68 13 B Y R U G
N G
F G
B O W L I N
Across
5 12 4 35
L I D O I
1 Kind of chop (6) 15 Michael Jordan & LeBron James’
B A L L K E T A S U G B
A F D J M
N G B I D I R I game (10)
5 British game with bats (7)
+ − × ÷
T L A G P O O L
G O T I N C
16 A game with a strikes and spares (7)
N O H L I Y 7 “Field of Dreams” sport (8)
I F I N G T L L W R E S
17 Game football came from (5)
Solution for Hard 1 T I I R E 8 Collegiate sport (9)
B A L L A S E B U H
(12 + 5) × (15 − 11) 35 + 10 + 4 − 36
K G W T C R I C K E 11 Game with a Cue ball (4)
S O R
Y K A R A T E
12 Fun with horses (6)
B12 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021

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COVID-19 BECOMING MINIMALIST

Americans Gained Weight Growing Up ‘Poor’ Taught

During Lockdown Me About Minimalism
Weight gain doesn’t have to be a source of shame, A life of hard work and few possessions can be
but we do need to take steps in the right direction. full of meaning with an important legacy.

See C4 See C6

WELL-BEING|DIET|FITNESS WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021 C1

COVID-19
WILL THOSE WITH

Natural
Immunity GET SOME FREEDOM?

The antibodies
from natural
immunity may
outlast those from
the vaccine,
research finds.

Questions remain
about the quality of
natural versus vaccine-
induced antibodies People are
being strongly
CONAN MILNER encouraged to
get vaccinated,
illions have rolled up their even if they
sleeves to take the COVID-19 have natural
vaccination because the jab immunity.
promises protection against
the notorious pathogen.
However, millions more remain hesitant.
Now, officials are pushing a new incentive:
freedom.
A growing number of universities now
require that students get vaccinated before
they return to campus. Airlines and work-
places are devising apps that allow entry
based on inoculation status. And several
countries are either set to unveil, or have
already rolled out, a vaccine passport pro-
gram. Details in each system may vary, but
they all involve lifting restrictions for those
who take the COVID-19 vaccine, and main-
taining restrictions for those who haven’t.
RONSTIK/SHUTTERSTOCK
Most governments haven’t tried to man-
date the vaccine—a gene therapy released
under emergency use authorization in the
United States that is still undergoing clinical and discriminatory. But supporters say these United States, provided they remain masked
trials. And even as they promote the idea of measures are a vital step toward easing the during their trip. Everyone else is still urged
vaccine passports, officials maintain that Critics call world safely back to normalcy. to get tested before they depart, and quar-
the decision to get the shot is still a matter vaccine-freedom On April 2, the U.S. Centers for Disease antine when they return.
of personal choice. But, after a year of social Control and Prevention (CDC) announced “Vaccines can help us return to the things
restrictions, the promise of any measure of programs that fully vaccinated individuals (those who we love about life, so we encourage every
freedom certainly makes taking the jab a bit manipulative and took their last recommended dosage more American to get vaccinated as soon as they
more tempting. than two weeks ago) were permitted to freely
Critics call such programs manipulative discriminatory. travel by bus, train, or plane anywhere in the Continued on C2

Surprising Ways to Get a Better Night’s Sleep With the pandemic still in full swing, we
may have even more sleep problems than
usual. Worries about our health and safety,
jobs, kids’ disrupted education, and more
Research suggests that practicing Certain practices that are keeping many of us up at night, creating
improve your overall fatigue and stress the next day. This could
gratitude, forgiveness, mindfulness, quality of life are also
and self-compassion may improve also lead to more serious mental health
unexpectedly helpful
issues such as depression and even suicide.
our sleep during stressful times in giving you a quality
night’s rest. Improving “sleep hygiene” is a good rem-
edy—including going to bed at the same
JILL SUTTIE time every night, making sure your room
is dark and quiet at bedtime, forgoing af-
A lot of us are suffering from lack of sleep ternoon caffeine, and creating sleep-time
these days. According to the Centers for rituals (like putting on cozy pajamas and
Disease Control and Prevention, about 35 reading a book before bed). But many
percent of adult Americans regularly get people still suffer from sleep problems
less than seven hours of sleep per night, even after making these adjustments.
with African Americans and other minor-
ity groups sleeping even less than that. Continued on C7
PRISCILLA DU PREEZ/UNSPLASH
C2 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021

COVID-19

Planned Giving Consultant Needed Will Those

With Natural
The Epoch Times is hiring planned giving consultant/firm.
If interested, please contact Lisa at Lisaw@epochtimes.com

TRUTH AND TRADITION

Immunity Get
Some Freedom?
Questions remain about the quality of

LIES KILL, TRUTH SAVES

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www.newwarriorfitness.com
(917) 270-7339
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A
LICENSE, NUMBER PENDING, for On
Premises Liquor has been applied for by
the undersigned to sell Liquor, Wine, Beer
& Cider at retail in a Restaurant under the
Alcoholic Beverage Control Law at 941 Wil-
loughby Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11221. Kings
County, for on premises consumption. Bush-
wick Friendship LLC.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A
LICENSE, NUMBER 1334852 for Restau-
rant Wine has been applied for by the under-
signed to sell Wine, Beer & Cider at retail in
a Restaurant under the Alcoholic Bever-
age Control Law at 216-17 Northern Blvd.,
Bayside, NY 11361. Queens County, for on
premises consumption. SK & SP Inc. d/b/a
Modoo Chicken and Noodle Bar.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A
LICENSE, NUMBER 1335002, for Restau-
natural versus vaccine-induced antibodies
Continued from C1 eight months after infection.”
It was clear in vaccine trials that natural
have the opportunity,” CDC Director Dr. immunity was a force to be reckoned with.
Rochelle Walensky said in the statement. Drugmaker Merck gave up on both of the
The reasoning behind these vaccine-for- vaccines it developed last year to guard
freedom programs is that vaccinated indi- against COVID-19. On Jan. 25, Merck re-
viduals are less likely to spread
pread or contract searchers announced their decision after
the disease, and thereforee deserve to have they discovered the vaccines
vacc offered less
Classifieds less restrictions than those
of transmitting a potentially
ose at greater risk
ially deadly virus.
protection than just contracting the vi
itself and developing antibodies natura
virus
naturally.
advertisenow@epochtimes.com Community immunity ty is the goal, and Whether or not you recovered from CO- C
health officials say thee vaccinated earn VID-19, health officials want everyone
everyon to
Personal Chef/Companion their freedom by contributing
ibuting to this goal take the shot. But the benefit this tr treat-
Personal Chef/Companion from CT, with 12lb through their antibodies. es. The pres- ment offers those who have already
alr
Therapy dog, is seeking a live-in position for an ence of these immunee cells are created their own immunity isn’t
elderly woman in the West Palm Beach area. I will
do light housework and errands. I am a mature proof that vaccinated individuals
ndividuals clear. In December 2020, the CDC
Conservative, non-smoker. I have a clean driver’s possess protection thatt the unvac- stated that the Pfizer vaccine dem-
license but no car yet. Excellent references. cinated do not. onstrated benefit for those with
Call 203.873.8387 But vaccination isn’t n’t the only evidence of prior COVID-
COVID-19 in-
road to antibody protection.
ection. Just fection, but the health agency
a
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ered, many have likely ikely earned who recovered from COVID-19
CO
Economic Warfare & Massive Data Theft their antibodies naturally.
turally. that would function in much
m the
Is An Accelerating Risk So if the goal is disease
sease defense, same way that vaccine p passports
Risk: Highly organized nation- state adversaries want
your sensitive data and use every means necessary to doesn’t natural immunity
mmunity de- Vaccines aim work. However, when it comes
obtain it. Nearly every organization is continuously serve a pass, too? to prompt to handing out freedom
freedo to the
attacked and compromised. Reduce your risk, Drugmakers point nt to evidence the immune naturally immune folks
folks, there are
increase your defensive and competitive position, of the antibodiess produced in system to form concerns to consider: HHow strong
increase performance and response to your customer
with SPECTRE. Call: +1.202.888.4991 subjects who’ve taken their jabs. antibodies.
ib dies is their protection and how long
In April, Pfizer announced re- DANIEL SCHLUDI/ will it last?
Email: contact@blackopspartners.com UNSPLASH
sults of a phase 3 clinical trial These concerns are discussed in
showing that its vaccine provided more a February report from The Royal Society
than 91 percent protection for at least six in the UK. The report points to qualitative
Legal Notice months after the second dose. studies that suggest that antibodies gener-
But natural immunity against COVID-19 ated by natural infection provide “strong
has demonstrated promise as well. protection against illness”—between
holic Beverage Control Law at 613 Grand retail in a Catering Establishment under
St., Brooklyn, NY 11211. Kings County, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law at 41 According to research funded by the Na- 70 and 90 percent efficacy for at least six
for on premises consumption. La Chacra W. 33rd St., New York, NY 10001. New
Restaurant Inc. York County, for on premises consump-
tional Institutes of Health (NIH) and pub- months. However, researchers are con-
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A
tion. ZCL Inc. lished in January in the journal Science, the cerned that natural immunity may also
LICENSE, NUMBER PENDING for On Prem- NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A immune systems of more than 95 percent be less effective in reducing infectiousness
ise Liquor has been applied for by the under- LICENSE, NUMBER PENDING, for On
signed to sell Liquor, Wine, Beer & Cider at Premise Liquor, has been applied for by of people who recovered from COVID-19 and transmission, particularly against as-
retail in a Restaurant/Bar under the Alco-
holic Beverage Control Law at 2 St. Marks
he undersigned to sell Liquor, Wine, Beer
& Cider at retail in a Restaurant under the
had “durable memories of the virus up to ymptomatic infection.
Pl., New York, NY 10003. New York County, Alcoholic Beverage Control Law at 407 E.
for on premises consumption. Pegasus Pizza 161st St., Bronx, NY 10451. Bronx County,
LLC. for on premises consumption. Porto Salvo
Cafe LLC.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A
LICENSE, NUMBER PENDING for Restau- NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A
rant Wine has been applied for by the under- LICENSE, NUMBER 1335007, for Liquor,
signed to sell Wine, Beer & Cider at retail in a
Cafe under the Alcoholic Beverage Control
Wine & Beer has been applied for by the
undersigned to sell Liquor, Wine & Beer at
COVID-19
Law at 4110 4th Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11232. retail in a Restaurant under the Alcoholic

Support Your Body in

rant has been applied for by the undersigned
to sell Wine, Beer & Cider at retail in a Restau-
rant under the Alcoholic Beverage Control
Law at 1207 Lexington Ave., New York, NY
10028. New York County, for on premises
consumption. Du Boeuf Inc. d/b/a NAR.
Kings County, for on premises consumption.
BJ0857 LLC.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A
LICENSE, NUMBER PENDING for Restau-
Beverage Control Law at 6 Stone St., New
York, NY. New York County, for on prem-
ises consumption. More Peas LLC d/b/a
Roxannes. 

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A

LICENSE, NUMBER 1334927 for On Prem-
ise Liquor has been applied for by the under-
signed to sell Liquor, Wine, Beer & Cider at
retail in a Restaurant under the Alcoholic
Beverage Control Law at 105-02 Rocka-
way Blvd., Store 1, Ozone Park, NY 11417.
Queens County, for on premises consump-
tion. Loui Rockaway LLC d/b/a Cap’t Loui
rant Wine has been applied for by the under-
signed to sell Wine, Beer & Cider at retail in
a Restaurant under the Alcoholic Bever-
age Control Law at 35-66 73rd St., Jack-
son Hgts., NY 11372. Queens County, for
on premises consumption. ONS Food Inc.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A
LICENSE, NUMBER PENDING for On
Premise Liquor has been applied for by
the undersigned to sell Liquor, Wine, Beer
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A
LICENSE, SERIAL # 130939, for On Prem-
ise Liquor has been applied for by the under-
signed to sell Liquor, Wine, Beer & Cider at
retail in a Restaurant under the Alcoholic
the Fight Against COVID
Beverage Control Law; relocating to 268
Putnam Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11216. Kings
County, for on premises consumption.
For people who’ve been infected, or face lingering
Calaca of BK Inc.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A
symptoms, it’s especially important to support
LICENSE, NUMBER 1334452, for Tavern

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A

LICENSE, NUMBER PENDING for Restau-
rant Wine has been applied for by the under-
signed to sell Wine, Beer & Cider at retail in
a Restaurant under the Alcoholic Beverage
Control Law at 47-15 Northern Blvd., Long
Island City, NY 11101. Queens County, for
on premises consumption. Sushi X 9 Inc.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A
LICENSE, NUMBER PENDING for Sum-
mer Restaurant Wine has been applied for
by the undersigned to sell Wine, Beer & Cider
at retail in a Restaurant, from April 1st until
Oct. 31st, under the Alcoholic Beverage
Control Law at 140 Reynolds Ave., Bronx,
NY 10465. Bronx County, for on premises
consumption. Bayside Marina at Locust
Point Inc.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A
LICENSE, NUMBER PENDING for Restau-
rant Wine has been applied for by the under-
signed to sell Wine, Beer & Cider at retail in
a Restaurant under the Alcoholic Bever-
age Control Law at 160-28 Northern Blvd.,
Flushing, NY 11358. Queens County, for
on premises consumption. JNQ Mandoo
House Inc.  a Restaurant under the Alcoholic Beverage
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A
LICENSE, NUMBER PENDING for On Prem-
ise Liquor has been applied for by the under-
signed to sell Liquor, Wine, Beer & Cider at
retail in a Karaoke Bar under the Alcoholic
Beverage Control Law at 36-13 Colllege
Point Blvd., Flushing, NY 11354. Queens
County, for on premises consumption. New
Eastern Pearl Inc.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A
LICENSE, NUMBER PENDING for On Prem-
ise Liquor has been applied for by the under-
signed to sell Liquor, Wine, Beer & Cider at
retail in a Restaurant under the Alcoholic
Beverage Control Law at 278 Smith St.,
Brooklyn, NY 11231. Kings County, for
on premises consumption. Thai Golden
House Inc.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A
LICENSE, NUMBER PENDING for On Prem-
ise Liquor has been applied for by the under-
signed to sell Liquor, Wine, Beer & Cider at
retail in a Restaurant/Bar under the Alco-
& Cider at retail in a Restaurant under the
Alcoholic Beverage Control Law at 10-91
Jackson Ave., Long Island City, NY 11101.
Queens County, for on premises consump-
tion. Issara Inc.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A
LICENSE, NUMBER PENDING for On Prem-
ise Liquor has been applied for by the under-
signed to sell Liquor, Wine, Beer & Cider at
retail in a Restaurant/Bar under the Alco-
holic Beverage Control Law at 25-22 Astoria
Blvd., Long Island City, NY 11102. Queens
County, for on premises consumption. Atori
NY Inc.  Control Law at 50 W. 125th St., New York,
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A
LICENSE, NUMBER PENDING for On Prem-
ise Liquor has been applied for by the under-
signed to sell Liquor, Wine, Beer & Cider at
retail in a Cateing Establishment under
the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law at 22
Astoria Blvd., Long Island City, NY 11102.
Queens County, for on premises consump-
tion. Astoria Food Hall Inc.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A
LICENSE, NUMBER PENDING for Restau-
rant Wine has been applied for by the under-
signed to sell Wine, Beer & Cider at retail in
Control Law at 251-20 Northern Blvd., Lit-
tle Neck, NY 11362. Queens County, for
on premises consumption. Cha Menya Inc.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A
LICENSE, SERIAL # 1334896 for Restau-
rant Wine has been applied for by the under-
signed to sell Wine, Beer & Cider at retail in
a Restaurant under the Alcoholic Beverage
Control Law at 14-18 150th St., Whites-
tone, NY 11357. Queens County, for on
premises consumption. Sushi Me Inc.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A
LICENSE, NUMBER PENDING for Restau-
rant Wine has been applied for by the under-
signed to sell Wine, Beer & Cider at retail in
a Restaurant under the Alcoholic Beverage
Control Law at 136-73 41st Ave., Flushing,
NY 11355. Queens County, for on premises
consumption. New Song Lai Xiang Inc.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A
LICENSE, NUMBER PENDING for On Prem-
ise Liquor has been applied for by the under-
signed to sell Liquor, Wine, Beer & Cider at
Wine, has been applied for by the under-
signed to sell Wine, Beer & Cider at retail
their immune system and combat the virus
in a Deli & Grocery Store under the Alco-
holic Beverage Control Law at 111 Worth
St., New York, NY 10013. New York County, ASHLEY TURNER managing stress are crucial for pre-
for on premises consumption. ELIM EAT-
ERY CORP. venting any viral infection, including
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A
As we continue to face COVID-19, we COVID-19.
LICENSE, NUMBER 1334453, for Restau- want to emphasize the importance Here are some other approaches that
rant Wine, has been applied for by the under-
signed to sell Wine, Beer & Cider at retail in of proper immune function. Whether can help you give your body more of
a Restaurant under the Alcoholic Beverage
you have had COVID-19 and want to what it needs:
NY 10027. New York County, for on prem-
ises consumption. PEE DEE STEAK HOUSE
facilitate the best recovery possible,
II CORP. desire to avoid triggering an autoim- Vitamin D
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A mune condition, or want to bolster Research indicates that individuals
LICENSE, NUMBER 1334456, for Restau- your immune system to avoid suc- with low levels of vitamin D are more
rant Wine, has been applied for by the under-
signed to sell Wine, Beer & Cider at retail in cumbing to a serious case, you can likely to succumb to more serious ill-
a Restaurant under the Alcoholic Beverage
Control Law at 2006 3rd Ave., New York, NY take steps to strengthen your immune ness from SAR-CoV-2. Vitamin D has
10029. New York County, for on premises
consumption. 2006 PEE DEE STEAK INC.
response. been shown to activate macrophages,
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A
For those that have had COVID and stimulate antimicrobial peptides, and
LICENSE, NUMBER 1334345, for Tavern are suffering lingering symptoms—a modulate TH17 cells. Vitamin D also
Wine, has been applied for by the under-
signed to sell Wine, Beer & Cider at retail in condition known as post-viral syn- modulates cytokines. Due to these
a Deli & Grocery Store under the Alcoholic drome that can happen to some peo- powerful immune-supporting prop-
Beverage Control Law at 720 2nd Ave., New
York, NY 10016. New York County, for on ple after any viral infection—holistic erties, patients taking vitamin D have
premises consumption. ORGANIC DELI &
KIMCHI INC. approaches offer a way to help resolve seen reduced progression, severity,
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A
the ailment. Functional medicine and duration of illness. Furthermore,
LICENSE, NUMBER 1334515, for Restau-
rant Wine, has been applied for by the under-
emphasizes holistic and integrative symptoms of post-viral syndrome
signed to sell Wine, Beer & Cider at retail in supplements, diet, and lifestyle fac- seem to resolve relatively quickly by
a Restaurant under the Alcoholic Bever-
age Control Law at 154-05 Northern Blvd., tors that are safe and effective and can optimizing vitamin D levels. A note for
Flushing, NY 11354. Queens County, for on help your body recover. readers to consider is that vitamin D
premises consumption. JKKL INC.
Before we get into some specifics, is a fat soluble vitamin so taking too
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A
LICENSE, SERIAL # 1220300, for On Prem- a reminder: focus on the basics. We much can cause toxicity.  Therefore
ise Liquor has been removed from 1295A
Madison Ave., NY, NY 10128 and moved
often underestimate the power that knowing your blood levels is impor-
to 1361 Lexington Ave., NY, NY 10128, by
the undersigned to sell Liquor, Wine, Beer
diet and lifestyle have on the immune tant to supplement safely. The safest
& Cider at retail in a Restaurant under the system, especially with regard to CO- source of vitamin D is sunlight.
Alcoholic Beverage Control Law, for on
premises consumption. Paola’s Restau- VID-19. Ensuring proper sleep, con-
rant Group LLC. suming an anti-inflammatory diet, Glutathione
getting adequate movement, and Glutathione is the body’s master anti-
 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021
Virtually every nasal spray influenza (flu) vaccine
for 2020–2021 contains four different flu virus
strains in an often difficult battle to anticipate
the dominant strain for the year ahead.
Another problem is that there is no stan-
dard to measure natural antibody protection.
“With regard to developing a satisfactory
passporting test, no standard antibody assay
yet exists and there are no validated anti-
body concentrations that correlate with or
signify protection, either against illness or
infectivity,” the report stated.
The issues of testing and standards for an-
tibody levels were also discussed in a 2020
report from the World Health Organiza-
tion examining the ethical considerations
of immunity passports. Not only have these
important markers not been scientifically
established, but, more importantly, there are
several cases of people who catch COVID-19,
recover, and then catch it again.
“As such, the World Health Organization
(WHO) has advised against the use of immu-
nity certificates at this time as they have the
potential to increase the risk of continued
transmission,” the report stated.
To be fair, the longevity of protection the
vaccine offers has also proven unreliable. On
April 5, The Detroit News reported that as
many as 246 Michigan residents considered
fully vaccinated against COVID-19 were later
diagnosed with the virus. Three of this group
oxidant and serves to protect the body
from damage caused by infections. We
also know that glutathione plays an
important role in supporting the body’s
immune system, improving insulin
sensitivity, decreasing inflammation,
and facilitating proper detoxification.
Research shows that glutathione defi-
ciency is linked with serious manifesta-
tions of COVID-19. Therefore, optimiz-
ing glutathione levels could potentially
be a beneficial treatment during illness
and throughout recovery. For certain
individuals, N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC),
will be better tolerated than glutathi-
one. NAC is a precursor to glutathione
and can be an effective tool for building
up glutathione levels as well.
We often recommend liposomal glu-
tathione supplementation for the best
bioavailability. We have seen patients
benefit from nebulized glutathione to
directly affect the lung tissue in the
face of COVID-19. Also, providing glu-
tathione with IV therapy ensures glu-
tathione is delivered directly into the
bloodstream.
Immune Support
We believe supporting the immune
system is vitally important to protect
the body from a COVID-19 illness. This
is just as true for recovery. Our doctors
personally use and recommend vari-
ous immune-supporting nutrients and
compounds including vitamin C, zinc,
vitamin A, curcumin, resveratrol, and
more. We also utilize various immune-
supporting nutrients and compounds
via intravenous nutrition therapy,
ensuring these nutrients make their
way directly into the bloodstream and
therefore are ultimately utilized by the
cells. We recommend immune-sup-
porting IV nutrition for preventative
care and especially recovery. Another
died following their diagnosis.
Cases were reported between Jan. 1 and
March 31. A spokeswoman for the Michigan
Department of Health and Human Services
said the cases are undergoing further review.
Similar reports of so-called “breakthrough”
cases have appeared in Washington State,
Hawaii, New York, and other states.
Conditions for Freedom
The WHO report lists three conditions that
would need to be met for immunity certifi-
cation to be a reasonable policy approach.
Two require scientists to establish antibody
standards.
First, what are reliable indicators for pro-
tection? And second, since declining immu-
nity is common in coronavirus infections, a
minimum length of immunity must be es-
tablished.  This duration must be “monitored
over time so as to understand whether and
when certificate holders need to reassess
their immunity status and, possibly, renew
their certificate.”
The third condition requires the availabil-
ity of accurate tests to identify immune indi-
viduals. However, the technology currently
available is time-consuming, and requires
Viruses don’t have their
own energy source.
When they inhabit a
host, they must rely on
the host’s energy and
metabolic function.
important consideration is that certain
nutrients may be beneficial in slowing
viral replication. These can include L-
lysine, melatonin, and zinc.
Manage Stress
Stress. It seems to be ubiquitous with
the times. While much of what we
discuss in this article are physical or
environmental stressors, the mental
and emotional burden must also be
considered. Utilizing coping skills for
mental and emotional stress are criti-
cally important for ensuring that the
immune system is able to function
properly. Helpful strategies include
prayer, meditation, mindfulness, cul-
tivating gratitude, various breathing
practices, and socializing with loved
ones and friends. Maintaining a sup-
port system with other people is vital to
promoting mental health and decreas-
ing anxiety or depression.
Reduce Exposure to
Environmental Toxins
We all face environmental toxin ex-
posure in our world today. Some main
culprits of toxin exposure are the air,
water, food, cleaning products, per-
sonal care products, petrochemicals,
plastics, and others. These toxins can
accumulate within the body and con-
The quality of natural antibodies
may affect any future “natural-
immunity” freedoms.
TOPSELLER/SHUTTERSTOCK
tribute to an overall toxic burden that
impairs the body’s ability to function
optimally.
We cannot overemphasize the im-
portance of reducing your toxic load by
scrutinizing the toxins you are exposed
to. Unfortunately, we have collectively
employed very toxic compounds to
sanitize everything in this season to kill
the virus. This contributes to immune
system impairment and disruption of
the microbiome; not the eradication of
illness. We encourage our patients and
readers to use safe, non-toxic options
for cleaning and sanitation.
Ketogenic: Diet and Fasting
The metabolic state of an individual
either hinders or fosters viral replica-
tion. Unfortunately, those who are in a
constant sugar-burning state are those
most susceptible to viral infections.
This is a significant reason for why we
see individuals with certain comor-
bidities have more serious outcomes.
Switching the host metabolism from
a sugar-burning to a fat-burning state
has been shown to slow the replication
of viruses. Any time blood sugar rises,
the body uses sugar as its main energy
state. Our bodies were designed to go
in and out of sugar- and fat-burning
states. Our bodies often thrive when we
are in a fat-burning, ketogenic meta-
bolic state.
Viruses don’t have their own energy
source. When they inhabit a host, they
must rely on the host’s energy and met-
abolic function. When the host is in a
sugar-burning state, viruses of various
kinds are able to replicate very quickly
because of the abundance of sugar as
a fuel source. What happens in this
sugar-burning metabolism is that the
coronavirus essentially coats itself in
sugar in order to replicate. When the vi-
C3
CDC/UNSPLASH
expensive lab analysis, making widespread
antibody testing not so feasible.
But researchers are already developing
solutions to meet these challenges. Earlier
this month, a group of Canadian scientists
announced a new, inexpensive test that can
detect COVID-19 antibodies in less than an
hour using one drop of blood. It utilizes a bio-
luminescent enzyme called luciferase that
gives fireflies their glow. The test has proven
to be highly accurate. It doesn’t require a
lab and is easy to read. The more antibodies
found, the brighter the test card glows.
Of course, none of this will be necessary
in places that don’t require vaccines for free-
dom, and so far at least three states have ex-
ecutive orders that forbid these programs. In
a March 29 press conference, Florida Gov.
Ron DeSantis said that it’s “completely unac-
ceptable” for the government or the private
sector to impose that people show proof of
vaccine simply to participate in normal so-
ciety.
“I think this is something that has huge
privacy implications and is not necessary to
do,” DeSantis said. “[Vaccination] is some-
thing we want available for all, but mandated
for none.”
rus does this, it also camouflages itself
from the immune system. This allows
the virus to replicate rapidly and take
a greater hold on the host who is in a
sugar-burning state, has comorbidities,
and metabolic dysfunction.
To combat this, we recommend re-
ducing sugar and carbohydrate con-
sumption and focusing on healthy fats
and proteins. Additionally, extending
your fasting window overnight to at
least 12–14 hours and working up to
longer intermittent fasts will also help
shift the body from burning sugar to
burning fat so that the virus can’t rep-
licate quickly or efficiently.
Consider Underlying Causes
Oftentimes there are ongoing underly-
ing factors that may lead to someone
being more susceptible to symptom-
atic expression of a viral illness. Oth-
er aspects to consider looking at are
metabolic dysfunction or altered blood
sugar handling, hormone imbalances,
food allergies and sensitivities, autoim-
mune disease, environmental toxin ex-
posure, gut dysbiosis, and other latent
or chronic infections. Identifying and
uprooting these factors can have a pro-
found impact on the immune system
and overall health.
It’s important to work with a skilled
practitioner to discover what else is
contributing to symptoms. The body
must be looked at as an interconnected
whole for long-term health and well-
ness to be achieved.
Dr. Ashley Turner is a board-certified
doctor of holistic health, traditionally-
trained naturopath, author, homestead-
er, and homeschooling mother of three
sweet daughters. You can reach her at
Restorative Wellness Center where she
practices functional medicine.
C4
Americans Are Getting
Quite Plump During Lockdown
Weight gain doesn’t have to be
a shame, but we do need to take
steps in the right direction
JOSEPH MERCOLA
I
t was about one year ago, in spring
2020, when the jokes about the
“quarantine 15” weight gain began
making the rounds. But one year
later, a longitudinal cohort study by
researchers at the University of Califor-
nia shows that we underestimated the
problem.
According to the Trust for America’s
Health State of Obesity 2020 report, 42.4
percent of U.S. adults are obese, which
is the first time the national rate has
topped 40 percent. To put this into per-
spective, the overall rate has increased
26 percent from a mere 13 years ago
(2008). In 2012, there was no state with
a rate above 35 percent. Data from the
2020 report showed there were 12 states
with a rate above 35 percent.
Childhood obesity is also growing,
with the latest information showing 19.3
percent of young people ages 2 to 19 are
obese, as compared to 5.5 percent in the
mid-1970s.
Data from the National Health
and Nutrition Examination Survey
(NHANES) showed another 30.7 percent
of adults were overweight and 9.2 percent
were severely obese (BMI over 40).
This means that 73.1 percent of the
population is either overweight, obese, or
severely obese.
New data gathered during 2020 by the
Centers for Disease Control and Preven-
tion reveals these rates may be even
higher in the next NHANES survey,
increasing the number of people who
experience higher risks of cardiovascular
disease, diabetes, high blood pressure,
sleep apnea, mental illness, and all-
cause mortality.
Americans Gained
Weight Steadily During 2020
The results of the University of Califor-
nia’s longitudinal cohort study, publish
found that participants experienced a
consistent weight gain of 0.27 kg (0.59
pounds) every 10 days. The results were
gathered from 269 participants in the
Health eHeart Study.
Participants volunteered to report
their weight using their Fitbit or iHealth
smart scale. The cohort was not fully
representative of the general public, as
they resided in 37 states and the District
of Columbia, 48.3 percent were men,
77 percent were white, and their mean
age was 51.9. At the end of the study, the
researchers had 7,444 separate weight
measurements spanning Feb. 1, 2020, to
June 1, 2020.
This offered data before lockdowns
were in place as well as after. Dr. Gregory
Marcus, senior author of the study, ex-
pressed concern that the trending weight
gain, which totaled 1.5 pounds per
month, may extend after the lockdown
restrictions end.
Over the course of a year, this would
have totaled 20 pounds. He noted that
many of those being tracked had been
losing weight prior to the lockdown or-
ders. Speaking to The New York Times,
he said:
“It’s reasonable to assume these individ-
uals are more engaged with their health
in general, and more disciplined and on
top of things. That suggests we could be
underestimating—that this is
the tip of the iceberg.”
“We know that weight gain
is a public health problem in
the U.S. already, so any-
thing making it worse is
definitely concerning,
and shelter-in-place
orders are so
ubiquitous that
the sheer number
of people affected
by this makes it
extremely rel-
evant.”
Marcus went on
to hypothesize
that the weight
gain was likely
Childhood
obesity is
also growing.
The latest
information
shows 19.3
percent of
young people
are obese, as
compared to
5.5 percent in
the mid-1970s.
related to a lack of physical activity and
greater accessibility to food while work-
Jogging is one way to
exercise. You can also
ing from home. Since working remotely
walk in nature, play may become the new norm after the
sports, or garden. pandemic is behind us, he suggests a
focus on mitigating “work-from-home-
related adverse health effects.”
A second survey by the American Psy-
chological Association (APA) was con-
ducted by the Harris poll, providing data
for this year’s Stress in America survey.
Information was gathered from Feb. 19,
2021, to Feb. 24, 2021, among 3,013 adults
over 18 who lived in the U.S.
The data revealed that 61 percent of
the adults surveyed reported experienc-
ing an undesired weight change, either
weight gain or loss, since the start of the
pandemic. Overall, 42 percent told the
surveyor they had gained more weight
than intended, and the average gain was
29 pounds.
When the information was broken
down by generation,the results revealed
that of those surveyed who reported an
undesired weight change, 48 percent of
millennials had an average gain of 41
pounds. Baby boomers had reported
the least amount gained, 16 pounds,
AFRICA STUDIO/SHUTTERSTOCK and there wasn’t enough sample size of
adults over age 76 to report the average
amount of unwanted weight gain or loss.
Focus on Health Not Shame
Many health experts are concerned that
this growing waistline trend will con-
tinue to rise, along with rates of obesity
and the negative health effects associ-
ated—including poor outcomes from a
COVID-19 infection. Others—including
health websites such as Healthline—are
encouraging people to accept their new
weight and the health risks that go along
with it with rationalizations such as:
Feeling lonely and being
stuck at home with ample
food can easily lead to
r
Dieting is not without risk, as it can
weight gain. lead to eating disorders or nutritional
deficiencies
r
Your body image struggles are a brain
issue, not a body issue
r
We need a war on weight stigma, not
“obesity”
r
You deserve to experience joy at
every size—and you can
r
You shouldn’t be
ashamed of those extra
pounds
Weight is a sensitive
topic, and shame is un-
necessary and unhelp-
ful. And while you can’t
control the opinion of
others and the unrea-
sonable body image
VECTORIUM/SHUTTERSTOCK promoted by the model-
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021
ing industry, you can take greater control
over your health and wellness.
Unfortunately, governmental initiatives
have not focused on the importance of
proper nutrition and exercise, which are
both foundational to health. Instead, the
media and agencies have been focused
on COVID-19 “cases,” mask mandates,
social distancing, and lockdowns in
preparation for massive vaccination
programs.
Unfortunately,
government
initiatives have
not focused on the
importance of proper
nutrition and exercise—
both foundational
to health.
Health and wellness have taken a back
seat to living through chemistry. The
researchers from the cohort study pub-
lished in JAMA concluded:
“It is important to recognize the unin-
tended health consequences SIP [shel-
ter-in-place] can have on a population
level. The detrimental health outcomes
suggested by these data demonstrate a
need to identify concurrent strategies to
mitigate weight gain, such as encourag-
ing healthy diets and exploring ways
to enhance physical activity, as local
governments consider new constraints
in response to SARS-CoV-2 and potential
future pandemics.”
Strategies to Mitigate
Weight Gain Also Help COVID Illness
There are specific health conditions that
increase your risk of severe COVID-19,
according to the CDC. Heart disease,
obesity, severe obesity, Type 1 or Type 2
diabetes, high blood pressure, and cere-
brovascular disease all make the list of
health conditions that increase your risk
of severe illness from the SARS-CoV-2
virus.
Many of these are ameliorated by
improving your metabolic inflexibility,
which British cardiologist and author
Dr. Aseem Malhotra believes is another
factor that significantly increases your
risk of severe illness. Malhotra recog-
nized a clear link between metabolic
 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021
inflexibility and worse outcomes from
the virus when data were first coming in
from China and Italy.
He talked about the link between in-
sulin resistance and cytokine storms in
our interview in October 2020. Accord-
ing to Malhotra, the good news is that
these lifestyle factors can be modified in
as little as 21 days by simply changing
your diet.
This focus has been sorely missed from
messaging during the pandemic. The
central thesis of his book, “The 21-Day
Immunity Plan: How to rapidly improve
your metabolic health and resilience to
fight infection,” is that we had a pandem-
ic of metabolic inflexibility or metabolic
ill-health. There are five primary parame-
ters of metabolic ill health, which include
having:
r
A large waist circumference
r
Prediabetes or Type 2 diabetes
r
Prehypertension or hypertension (high
blood pressure)
r
High blood triglycerides
r
Low HDL cholesterol
Metabolic syndrome can triple the risk of
a fatal COVID-19 infection. While main-
stream media have reported that weight
gain and the health conditions associ-
ated with it increase the risk of severe
COVID, it is obvious that much of the
focus is on surveillance and behavioral
control. In response to the overwhelm-
ing attention on vaccinations instead of
healthy lifestyle choices, Russian lawyer
Jenia Finegan wrote on Twitter in March:
“If this is the case, should we not have
mandatory weight passports? Mandatory
exercise and compulsory weight man-
agement programmes? Close all fast food
outlets? No job for those refusing to lose
weight? What else?”
Consider These Tips to
Eat Healthy and Start Moving
The pandemic and subsequent lockdown
changed many people’s activity levels.
While it may not have seemed like much,
walking up and down the stairs, going
to meetings and grabbing coffee with a
friend all meant being slightly more ac-
tive than sitting in front of a computer at
home all day.
Even those small steps can add up to
big results. Added to a lack of activity is
a rising level of anxiety, greater access to
food just steps away in the kitchen, and
increasing boredom.
If you need to lose weight, I recommend
adopting a cyclical ketogenic diet, which
involves radically limiting carbs (replac-
ing them with healthy fats and moderate
amounts of protein) until you’re close to
Childhood obesity can set
a metabolic pattern that
carries through to adult-
hood and contributes to a
wide variety of diseases.
UFABIZPHOTO/SHUTTERSTOCK
or at your ideal weight, ultimately allow-
ing your body to burn fat—not carbohy-
drates—as its primary fuel.
Consider using the accompanying tips
to begin making healthier choices:
Create a daily routine. It’s important to
get up at the same time each morning,
and work to get seven to nine hours of
quality sleep each night. Plan your meals
for the day, including the timing of your
meals and any healthy snacks.
Get dressed every day. Loose-fitting
sweats or shorts make it easier to ignore
weight gain.
Include exercise in your daily routine
and avoid sitting for long periods. If
you work at a computer, stand instead of
sitting for the majority of your day. If your
favorite gym is closed, consider other
forms of activity such as walking, hiking,
biking, dancing, or an exercise tape.
Incorporate a high-intensity interval
training regime. Doing a quick but
intense workout two to three times a day
can raise your activity level.
Manage your stress. Unfortunately,
many use food as comfort during
times of stress. This only increases the
difficulty in maintaining a healthy
weight. Instead, consider exercise, yoga,
meditation, connecting with friends or
Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT).
You’ll find a library of demonstrations
at this link, including EFT for stress and
anxiety.
Be mindful. It’s easy to overeat and over-
snack when you’re watching television
or visiting with friends. Avoid eating or
grabbing a snack while you’re driving,
watching television, or working. When
you’re busy, it’s also easy to underesti-
mate how much you’re eating each day.
Change your routine. Steer clear of
settings or situations you associate with
overeating. After a stress-filled day, avoid
the gallon of ice cream in the freezer or
the six-pack in the refrigerator. Instead,
consider meditating, a soak in a hot tub,
or a walk with the dog.
Dr. Joseph Mercola is the founder of Mer-
cola.com. An osteopathic physician, best-
selling author, and recipient of multiple
awards in the field of natural health, his
primary vision is to change the modern
health paradigm by providing people
with a valuable resource to help them take
control of their health. This article was
originally published on Mercola.com
CHINESE WISDOM FOR SEASONAL LIVING
Tips for Relieving Late
Spring Blues for a
Smooth Transition to
Summer
‘Grain Rain’ (April 20–May 4)
MOREEN LIAO
A solar term is a period of about
two weeks and is based on the sun’s
position in the zodiac. Solar terms
form the traditional Chinese calen-
dar system. The calendar follows the
ancient Chinese belief that living in
accordance with nature will enable
one to live a harmonious life. This ar-
ticle series explores each of the year’s
24 solar terms, offering guidance on
how to best navigate the season.
Solar Term: ‘Grain Rain’
2021 Dates: April 20–May 4
As spring progresses, the rains and
humidity also increase. This mois-
ture supports life. “Grain Rain”
means it’s time for a lot of rain to
nourish all grains. It puts pressure
on grain stalks to produce, on flow-
ers to bloom, and on humans to get
outdoors and release uncomfortable
feelings.
Heat and humidity are both high
within our bodies during Grain Rain
(April 20–May 4), which can lead to
nerve pain, joint pain, and a sense of
pressure, as well as feelings of anxi-
ety and anger. People who are prone
to water retention may feel lower
body muscle tightness, sore joints,
and swelling during this time.
It is important to pay attention to
our physical and mental health and
to manage any negative emotions.
The change of season and allergies
can be very hard on some peo-
ple. There is a widespread miscon-
ception that rates of suicide spike
around Christmas time, but histori-
cally the rates are actually higher
around mid-April to early May—a
stark reminder to take extra care of
ourselves and others at this time.
Grain Rain is the last of the six
spring solar terms.
Take Time for Tea
Grain Rain is not only the time when
grains ripen; it’s also when tea grow-
ers enjoy their first harvest—a healthy
reward for their hard work. Enjoying
freshly brewed tea from the tea gar-
dens is a popular activity throughout
Southeast Asia at this time.
However, a large amount of rain-
fall is not good for growing tea, as
it can damage the plant’s delicate
leaves. Warm temperatures and
excess rainfall make the plants grow
too fast, which affects the taste of
fine and premium teas—much like
grapes for wine.
Tea harvested before Grain Rain
is called yu qian cha, which means
“tea before the heavy rain.” Teas
from this time are most beneficial for
‘Grain Rains’ is when tea growers enjoy their first harvest. These tea leaves are best
suited to hydrate and prevent inflammation.
C5
hydrating and preventing inflamma-
tion in the body, and are believed to
enhance health and longevity.
The Peony Rebellion
Most flowering plants have shown
their best blooms before this so-
lar term, with the exception of the
peony, which is the flower associ-
ated with Grain Rain.
According to Chinese legend, in
the deep of winter, Empress Wu
Zetian of the Tang Dynasty once
ordered that all of the flowers in her
royal garden in the ancient capital
city of Chang’an were to bloom.
The flowers, afraid of the power of
the empress, all bloomed, except for
the peony. This enraged the em-
press, who ordered that the peony
be moved to the city Luoyang. Since
then, the plant has flourished there.
4 Tips for Living in Harmony With
‘Grain Rain’
r
Visit open spaces with grand
views to help relax the eyes and
the mind.
r
Get exercise and sweat a bit, which
are good for improving blood cir-
culation and reducing pressure.
r
Avoid going out in the rain, to
protect yourself against catching
a cold.
r
Massage or stimulate the tips of
the fingers to help yourself stay
calm. Using the nail of one thumb,
press hard on the fingertips of the
opposite hand. These 10 points are
called shi xuan xue, which means
“10 relief valve points.” This can
bring immediate relief when one
feels upset, angry, or depressed.
Seasonal Foods
Beneficial foods at this time include
fish, asparagus, black sesame seeds,
pear, red beans, tofu, tempeh, wheat
germ, and vegetables with white-
colored roots, such as radishes.
Getting lots of vitamin B and zinc
can relieve the uncomfortable feel-
ings of this season and boost energy
levels. To protect the liver, avoid
sour-tasting foods. Avoid spicy and
deep-fried foods as well.
Ginger, vanilla, and citrus peel are
helpful herbs to consume. Green
and floral teas—such as calendula,
rose, jasmine, and chrysanthe-
mum—are very beneficial.
Epoch Times contributor Moreen
Liao is a descendant of four genera-
tions of traditional Chinese medi-
cine doctors. She is also a certified
aromatherapist, former dean of the
New Directions Institute of Natural
Therapies in Sydney, and the founder
of Ausganica, a certified organic
cosmetic brand. 
NATNN/SHUTTERSTOCK
C6 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021

BECOMING MINIMALIST

What Growing Up
‘Poor’ Taught Me
About Minimalism
A life of hard work and few
possessions can be a life of deep
meaning with an important legacy

CHERYL SMITH

I
was raised in a household with an
income that fell below the poverty
line. Dad’s upbringing was in a home
with an even lower income. He only
achieved an eighth-grade education,
and because of that, he had to be one of
the hardest workers I have ever known.
Mom was a dedicated stay-at-home wife
and mother.
We had only one vehicle, so Mom and I
usually drove Dad to and from work. One
of the images engraved most indelibly
in my mind is Dad walking toward our
car, his clothes soaked with sweat from
an honest-to-goodness hard day’s work.
On payday, his wages seemed so meager
and unequal to the amount of himself he
poured into earning them.
Seeing
ng Mom and Dad constantly worry
about making ends meet no matter how
hard Dad tried to provide for us lit a fire
ged determination inside of me. I
of dogged
made up my mind that when I grew up,
I would d do anything I had to do to rise
above such intense struggle to survive,
even if that meant living above my means
and financing
nancing everything I owned. That
strong-willed
-willed sense of resolve to avoid
“poverty”ty” was alive and well when I met
the man an of my dreams, fell in love, and
got married
arried at the age of 21.
For the
he first several years of our mar-
riage, my husband and I successfully ac-
cumulated
lated the stuff that makes up the
Americancan dream. We both worked hard
to meet et the demands and expectations
of whatat that “dream” should look like—
home ownership, two jobs, two cars, lots
of physical
sical possessions, and a lav-
ish amount
ount of available credit to
make itt all come true. All along,
it seemed
med so important to me
to havee the things I thought
rents “lacked.”
my parents
Then,, while we weren’t
looking,
ng, those long
days turned into
short years, and
life hadd progressed
to middle
dle age. Dad,
who had always
been strong
trong and stout
and thee hardest work- k
er I ever
er knew, passed
away long before his
Teaching
your children
how to live is
much more
important
than
anything
money
can buy.
Parents can bestow a much richer legacy to their children than anything defined by luxuries of material
time. I watched as the ensuing sadness
of widowhood consumed Mom’s heart
and life. And then, after nearly 12 years
of profound loneline
loneliness and health issues,
she, too, passed awa away.
Standing beside both of my
Standin
parents’ bedsides as their
earthly llives came to an end,
knowing they would no lon-
knowin
ger be part of my everyday
life, aand feeling that sense
of final
finality forced me to face
my own mortality. It was the
most sobering
sob thing I have
ever exp
experienced.
Suddenly, the fact that my
Sudden
parents lived their entire lives be-
ing “poor” didn’t se seem so important. It
didn’t seem so sad tthat they owned very
little because they weren’t able to take
one single thing with them from earth to
heaven anyway. They The left this world just
like they entered it. They
Th brought nothing
into it, and they carried
car nothing out. As
their final breaths were breathed and
their last feeble g goodbyes were spo-
ken, the fact that they were poor was
the farthest thin
thing from our minds. It
nothing.
meant nothing
What did mamatter and what firmly
remained wa was the strong founda-
tion of faith they
t had so thought-
fully laid anand upon which they
had taught m me to build, the value
of hard work they had instilled
in me, and th the deep bond of love
that even death
deat will never be able
to sever.
After Mom died, it took us only one day
to go through her tiny apartment and pack
up what was left of her and Dad’s belong-
ings. There was no cause for beneficiary
rivalry or squabbling over their posses-
sions because living a life of necessitated
minimalism removed that prospect. At
that point, the fact that Mom and Dad
were poor brought a great sense of relief.
Not long after Mom passed away, my
little family and I felt an impassioned
call toward a simple, minimal life. We
sold what we had to pay what we owed,
and with reckless abandon, gratefully
released the “American dream” and all
it demanded of us. We are now three
years into this amazing adventure, 100
percent debt-free, and have never been
happier or more at peace.
The nuggets of wisdom I gleaned from
being raised in a low-income family are
countless, and I wouldn’t trade those life
lessons for anything.
Here are 10 of them.
1. People are worth immeasurably more
than things.
2. Teaching your children how to live is
much more important than anything
money can buy.
3. It’s amazing how little it takes to sur-
vive if you learn to “make do” and im-
provise.
4. You don’t have to own something to
love and enjoy it.
5. Experiences with the ones you love
create the most precious memories,
and most of the time cost nothing.
Memories are lightweight, take up zero
space, cannot be stolen, don’t have to

MLADEN MITRINOVIC/SHUTTERSTOCK

WISE HABITS to create more resilience. If we don’t re-

move the extra stress, we’ll never do the

The First 2 Steps to

things we need to take care of ourselves
or to train our minds to be more resilient.
So removing unnecessary stress is the

Creating Resilience
first step.
Some examples:

H If you’re drinking a lot, reduce it to 1 to

Our world can be overwhelming, which
makes resilience all the more important
LEO BABAUTA
When life is shaking us up and we’re feel-
ing stressed, it can be tough to feel resilient.
Resilience helps us to deal with chaos
and overwhelm. But how do we create it
when we feel like we’re underwater?
The first step is to remove things that
are adding unnecessary stress. The sec-
ond step is to do things that help us feel
replenished.
Those two steps won’t get us all the way to
full resilience, but they’re a huge huge start.
Remove Extra Stress
Some stress is inevitable. Wishing for a
life where we feel zero stress is just going
to add more stress.
But if we are flooded with stress, remov-
ing some of it can help us to clear the space
2 glasses of wine a night. Zero might
be even better for some, but it’s useless
to ask someone to quit alcohol when
they’re flooded with stress.
H Similarly, reducing smoking or other
narcotics or drugs would be a big help.
Wishing for H If you’re working late into the night, cre-
a life where ating a stopping point earlier would be
a big help, if possible.
we feel zero H Cut back on your workload a bit, if you’re
able to.
stress is just H Stop saying yes to everything, and take
going to add fewer meetings.
H If you’re fighting a lot with someone,
more stress. refrain for a bit. Take a breather and let
yourself settle.
H If you’re watching things or playing
games late into the night and getting And so on.
little sleep, cut back on that. Removing these stressors will help you
H If you’re watching news or reading things catch your breath.
online that really get you angry, stop that
for a while. Then Replenish Yourself
H Cut out social media if that gets you I don’t mean that you have to take a spa
anxious. weekend, though that would be great! I
 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021 C7

Surprising Ways to Get

ALL PHOTOS BY SHUTTERSTOCK

a Better Night’s Sleep

LOPOLO/SHUTTERSTOCK

Continued from C1 day, or nothing at all. After two weeks,

wealth.
be maintained, and never cause worry.
To invest in them is infinitely wiser
than accumulating stuff.
6. It’s smart to rent a home if “ownership”
requires going into debt and living
above your means.
7. Holding a clear title to one car is wiser
than incurring debt to have two.
8. Grieving loved ones shouldn’t be laden
with the added burden of dealing with
excess, left-behind possessions.
9. Working hard never hurt anyone. In
fact, there are few things more grati-
fying than the completion of a hard
day’s work.
10. When you die, you take nothing from
earth with you, and the main thing
you should leave behind is the legacy
of a life well-loved.
The other day, it occurred to me that we
are, by choice, living a life that looks very
similar to the life my parents lived by
necessity. It seems that I have come full
circle in my way of thinking, and those
childhood lessons weren’t lost after all. I
finally fully appreciate their wisdom for
what it’s truly worth.
Cheryl Smith blogs at Biblical
Minimalism. Her family sold their
home, released 90 percent of their
physical possessions, got out of debt, and
now share their story and their Christian
faith on their blog. Her book, “Biblical
Minimalism,” is now available. In it, she
approaches minimalism from a biblical
perspective. This article was republished
from BecomingMinmalist.com
And, though turning to sleeping pills
can be effective, they can also be addic-
tive, or they can disrupt our dreaming,
which leads to lower-quality sleep.
Fortunately, there may be other things
worth trying to help us sleep that have
more to do with our minds than our
bodies. Recent research suggests that
many of the well-being practices we can
do to be happier also have a positive
effect on sleep. Here are some of those
practices.
Mindfulness Meditation
A recent analysis of several high-quality
studies (randomized controlled trials)
concluded that mindfulness medita-
tion programs help people fall asleep
more easily and experience better-
quality sleep overall.
One study conducted in Wuhan,
China, actually looked at how mindful-
ness might be useful for sleeping better
during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the
study, people spent 10 days using an
app that either guided them through
mindfulness meditation or induced
mind wandering (unfocused attention).
They then reported how mindful they
were and how much sleep they got the
next day.
After taking into account other factors
influencing sleep (such as how much
caffeine people drank, their age, or
prior anxiety levels), the researchers
analyzed how long people slept as the
virus spread and deaths proliferated in
their community. Those who practiced
mindfulness and became more mind-
ful didn’t lose as much sleep as those in
the other group, likely because mind-
fulness protected them some from wor-
ry and rumination. Mindfulness helps
people recognize and accept negative
thoughts and feelings without fight-
ing them, reducing their intensity and
preventing them from spiraling out of
control.
If you’ve not already tried mindful-
ness meditation, you can find many
online resources to give it a go—in-
cluding apps, which seem to be at
least somewhat effective. You can also
go to Greater Good in Action and try
our practices—including a body scan,
mindful breathing, or common hu-
manity meditation. These exercises,
besides potentially helping with sleep,
have been found to reduce stress and
depression and increase happiness and
satisfaction with life, too.
Self-Compassion
Self-compassion is something all of us
could use right now, especially as lock-
downs drag on and we find ourselves
feeling more tired, unhappy, and un-
productive than usual. Getting down
on ourselves for perceived mistakes and
flaws could exacerbate low-grade de-
pression, which many of us already feel.
Self-compassion helps us to be
kinder to ourselves as we go through
Gratitude strengthens relationships,
improves happiness, and improves the
quality of our sleep.
the ups and downs of life. According
to researcher Kristin Neff, self-com-
passion involves paying attention to
our internal and external experiences
(mindfulness), recognizing when we
are suffering, sending kind messages
to ourselves, and keeping in mind our
common humanity—that we aren’t
alone in our imperfections or suffering.
Studies have found that more self-
compassionate people have better
sleep, including less trouble falling
asleep after a stressful day. In that study,
people who were more self-compas-
sionate were also in a better mood and
felt more alert upon awakening than
those with little self-compassion.
Self-compassion can be strengthened
with practice, and that improves sleep,
too. In one study, participants were
asked to think about personal mis-
takes they’d made before going to bed
and assigned to do a self-compassion
meditation, a self-compassion writ-
ing exercise, or neither of those (as a
comparison). Based on their reports
the next morning, those who did a self-
compassion exercise slept significantly
better and ruminated less than those
who didn’t try self-compassion. These
practices even helped people who
started out more depressed, which is
good to know, given how many of us
are ruminating more these days.
A new paper analyzing the results
of several studies found there was “a
significant association between self-
compassion and self-reported sleep
quality.” Though more rigorous stud-
ies could be done to confirm this, we
can always benefit from practices such
as writing ourselves a self-compassion
letter or taking a self-compassion break.
Gratitude
Feeling grateful is a good way to feel
happier and strengthen our relation-
ships. Now, it appears to help with
sleep, too.
In one study, 119 young women were
randomly selected to write about peo-
ple and things they were grateful for
each day, things that happened each
people’s sleep quality improved sig-
nificantly in the gratitude group, and
this helped improve their well-being
and optimism and reduce blood pres-
sure, too. In a recent review of gratitude
exercises and their effects on physical
health, researchers found that one of
the strongest impacts of gratitude was
on sleep quality.
One reason gratitude may affect sleep
is that a grateful mindset seems to help
us embrace more positive thoughts and
let go of more negative ones before we
go to bed. This means that it doesn’t
take as long for us to fall asleep at night.
To try gratitude practices yourself,
you might consider keeping a gratitude
journal (or use the GGSC’s Thnx4 online
journal) or writing a gratitude letter.
These are designed to increase your
positive thoughts and feelings, which
may be key to better sleep.
Forgiveness
For some people, forgiving others is
hard—especially if you equate for-
giveness with letting someone “off the
hook” and condoning their harmful
actions. But those who study forgive-
ness consider it to be not necessarily
about healing relationships between
people, but mostly important for our-
selves, helping us to let go of grudges
that decrease our personal well-being.
If what’s keeping you up at night is
holding on to grudges—pandemic-
related or not—it could be worth con-
sidering practicing forgiveness. Though
there is little or no direct research on
how forgiving someone affects sleep
directly, there is at least one study that
found forgiving types were more likely
to sleep better at night than others.
Additionally, those who were more
self-forgiving in the study also slept
better because they were able to let go
of mistakes they’d made more easily.
Forgiving someone can make us feel
happier, more hopeful, less depressed
and anxious, and less vulnerable to
stress. And it can improve our relation-
ships with others, especially our closest
ones, which is important when so many
of us have limited ability to interact with
others right now. Each of these benefits
is also tied to better sleep, which is all
the more reason to try practicing for-
giveness.
The nice thing about all of these prac-
tices is that they can be used alone or in
tandem, and they don’t have undesir-
able side effects. Not only that, practic-
ing these keys to happiness can have
the desirable side effect of helping you
become a happier, healthier person.
That’s something we can all cheer about
in these dark times. Just don’t try cheer-
ing right before you want to fall asleep!
Jill Suttie, Psy.D., is Greater Good’s
book review editor and a frequent con-
tributor to the magazine. This article
was originally published by the Great-
er Good online magazine.

mean doing little things that help you feel
more recharged and settled.
These things fill you up, so that you can
better take on the world.
For example:
H Go for walks out in nature.
H Create space for reading, having tea, tak-
ing a bath, journaling.
H Talk with someone regularly, in person
or over the phone.
H Take naps.
H Get better sleep.
H Take a weekend off.
H Get some sunshine, if there’s any where
you are.
H Take moments of stillness and deep
breathing during your day.
These little things can make a huge dif-
ference.
You won’t get all the way to resilience
with these two steps—but you’ll have given
yourself what you need to take the further
steps of shifting your thinking patterns and
practicing resilience.
Leo Babauta is the author of six books;
the writer of Zen Habits, a blog with
more than 2 million subscribers;
and the creator of several online pro-
grams to help you master your habits.
Visit ZenHabits.net
Long Work Hours Linked
to High Rate of Repeat
Heart Attack
MAT LECOMPTE
The whole idea of working long hours never made
sense to me. Why put so much emphasis on one
thing at the expense of so many others?
A new study by researchers at Université La-
val published in the Journal of the American Col-
lege of Cardiology is showing that those long hours
don’t make sense to your heart, either.
Life, of course, is expensive. People need to earn a
living. But pulling long work hours could be earn-
ing them a death, too. New research is showing
that working 55 hours per week or more is linked
to double the risk of a repeat heart attack for those
who have had one.
The additional risk is compared to those who work
between 35 and 40 hours per week.
It’s been repeated ad nauseum, but a healthy life-
style is all about balance. A balanced diet, some
exercise, and what is termed as “work-life balance.”
Of course, this is more achievable for some than
others, as many North Americans work long hours
simply to make ends meet.
But if you are working long hours and putting
your health at risk because you don’t know what
else to do with your time, it’s worthwhile (especially
for your heart) to take your foot off the gas to slow
down and look around.
Those long hours on the job are potentially putting
your life at risk. So, really, does the extra money it
may result in really have any value?
There are several factors in working long hours
that may contribute to the risk for repeat heart at-
tacks. Stress, exposure to on-the-job pollution or
chemicals, physical exertion, or excessive heat and
cold can all wear the body down and challenge
your heart.
Unfortunately, working fewer hours isn’t an op-
tion for everybody. A high cost of living and low-
paying jobs are a reality of the North American
economy.
If you can find ways to cut costs in a way that
allows you to work less, try it. It could be the best
investment for your future.
Mat Lecompte is a freelance health and wellness
journalist. This article was first published on Bel
Marra Health.
Correction
The article “How to Remain Calm When Others
Are Out of Control,” published on April 14, was
printed with the wrong caption on C7, due to a
production error. The caption should have read:
“We can move beyond the negativity around us by
thinking about the positive.”
The Epoch Times regrets the error.
C8 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021

ALL IMAGES BY SHUTTERSTOCK

Mother’s Day
is just one
opportunity
to share our
appreciation.

The Goodness and Gifts (Top, above,

and left)

of Gratitude
Taking the time
to show our
appreciation is
as rewarding
for us as the
Our acts of appreciation can lift others people we
acknowledge.

and leave us with fewer regrets

JEFF MINICK In my case, I’ve frequently failed to say or for a gift is really quite simple.
“thank you” for good deeds and gifts I Suppose that employee I mentioned above
young man I know drives to I have wished have received at the hands of others. I works overtime to get you the information

A work from Front Royal to the

traffic-tangled roads of North-
ern Virginia. He recently told a
mutual acquaintance that he
uses the hour-long trek to prepare his mind
for the day’s tasks.
On the way home, however, he spends
that same drive decompressing from work
and readying himself to cheerfully greet
his wife and young children. When he ar-
rives home, his first act is to tell his wife
how much he appreciates all she has done
for their family that day.
I wish I’d possessed his wisdom when I
was his age.
In the movie “Cool Hand Luke,” the war-
den of a prison strikes an inmate, Luke, with
his club and then utters one of the film’s best-
known lines: “What we’ve got here is failure
to communicate.”
Today we often have a failure to appreciate.
Most of us, myself included, often fail to
express our gratitude for the gifts bestowed
on us by others.
An employee goes above and beyond the
call of duty putting together a special report
for her boss, delivering vital information well
ahead of a deadline, but she receives no more
recognition than a nod of the head. The wife
who has spent all day with the children
hands them over to her husband as soon
as he steps through the door without ask-
ing one question about his day. The grown
children who receive money or gifts for their
birthdays forget all about writing a thank you
note or making a phone call of appreciation.
many times
that I would
have thanked
my wife
have wished many times that I would have
thanked my wife more often for her love and
care for me and our children. I wish I had
told my mother before she died how grateful
I was that she had taught me the values of
hard work, perseverance, tender love, and
forgiveness. I hope that others who have in-
more often. fluenced me—teachers, employers, friends,
and even family members—know of my
gratitude for the lessons they imparted and
the help they provided.
There are two things I’ve learned about
gratitude. First, when our loved ones die
and you wish you’d told them how much
they’d done for you, it’s too late. As I write
these words, I am thinking of an old col-
lege professor and good friend who surely
knew of his powerful impact on my life, but
I never directly expressed my thanks to him
before he died.
Second, while those who have helped us
are still alive, it’s never too late to express our
appreciation for them. In my ninth-grade
year at Southwest Junior High School in For-
Our gestures syth County, North Carolina, Mr. Darden
of apprecia- taught us a block class of literature and
tion can take geography. He was an excellent teacher,
any form, from and 30 years later, when I began teaching,
a thoughtful I recreated some of his projects in my own
gift to an email classes. After another 10 years of teaching,
to a childhood I wrote him a note of thanks for all he had
teacher. done for us. He replied with a kind letter,
happily surprised, I think, that someone had
remembered his efforts, and he also encour-
aged me in my own teaching.
Expressing our gratitude for a job well done
you need. Pay your compliments on her hard
work with a personal note or even some flow-
ers as well as a spoken thank you. When a
spouse returns at the end of a long day, offer
them a word of appreciation. If Grandma,
Uncle John, or anyone else sends you a gift,
take the five minutes needed to write out a
thank-you note, address an envelope, slap
on a stamp, and put it in the mailbox.
There are plenty of websites explaining
the great blessings of bestowing such ap-
preciation, not just for the recipient of your
appreciation but for you as well. Expressing
gratitude doesn’t just help the receiver, it also
makes the givers healthier and happier. It
deepens our relationships and even affects
our physical health, allowing us to sleep bet-
ter and increasing our energy levels.
When we sincerely offer such apprecia-
tion, we strengthen the bonds of our fami-
lies, our enterprises, our communities, and
even our country.
Even more importantly, it’s the right thing
to do.
Jeff Minick has four children and a
growing platoon of grandchildren. For
20 years, he taught history, literature,
and Latin to seminars of homeschooling
students in Asheville, N.C. He is the author
of two novels, “Amanda Bell” and “Dust
On Their Wings,” and two works of non-
fiction, “Learning As I Go” and “Movies
Make The Man.” Today, he lives and writes
in Front Royal, Va. See JeffMinick.com to
follow his blog.

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 TAKAKOPHOTO/SHUTTERSTOCK JOE HENDRICKSON/SHUTTERSTOCK
A GREENER VIEW HERE’S HOW

Easter Lilies and Remodel a Bathroom With

Early Tomatoes a New Vanity and Cabinets
If you didn’t buy an Easter lily before Easter, There are simple design tips that can make a relatively
you should go buy one now. inexpensive bathroom vanity cabinet look like a more
expensive one.
See D3 See D7

HOME IMPROVEMENT|FOOD|MONEY WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021 D1

HOME
TATIANA MAKS
MAKSIMOVA/SHUTTERSTOCK

Mediterranean Inspiration
for Picnic Season

Don’t squander a beautiful afternoon or evening by eating indoors. Grab a blanket and some companions, and take your meal outside.

AMY RIOLO often couldn’t leave their animals, fields, your basket with delicious dishes from

A
s the days become warmer and
longer, I can’t wait to dust off
my picnic basket.
Picnicking is the perfect way
to relax and socialize with
your loved ones, while enjoying good food
in the great outdoors. Picnics have soared
in popularity since the pandemic hit. With
restaurant closings and dining inside be-
ing deemed “unsafe,” even people who
weren’t fans of eating outdoors all of a sud-
den had to do so. In the countries around
the Mediterranean basin, however, pic-
nics have always been enjoyed, both as a
pleasure and a necessity.
What we think of as a picnic, a meal
packed up to be enjoyed in the open air,
has long been practiced by shepherds,
farmers, and fishermen who needed to
pack food with them to work, since they
or the sea to come home at mealtime.
In fact, when I look for inspiration for
modern picnics, I always think about what
a Greek shepherd, an Italian farmer, or
a Spanish fisherman might pack up to
take on their daily journey. Chunks of
aged cheese, olives, bread, cured meats
and fish, and bean-based sandwiches and
other dishes are longstanding portable
favorites.
Mediterranean Favorites
Here, I’ve put together some of my favorite
picnic-friendly recipes from the Mediter-
ranean, which stand the test of time—and
can also stand up to the heat. I love this
menu because it’s tasty and substantial
enough to stand alone, but also makes a
great accompaniment to other traditional
warm-weather fares, such as grilled or
cured meats and fish. And when you fill
the Mediterranean, you’re in for not only
When I look a great-tasting meal, but a healthy one
for inspiration as well.
The Sicilian cracked olive salad is a cher-
for modern ished childhood recipe that seemed to
picnics, show up on every special occasion table.
I like to take it outside in the spring and
I always summer. I love Castelvetrano olives—or
think about any other large, bright, green variety—as
they create a nice contrast to the freshness
what a Greek and crunch of the other vegetables, a mix
shepherd, an of carrots, celery, and red onion.
The olives and olive oil are rich with
Italian farmer, omega-3s, and the vegetables provide even
or a Spanish more antioxidants and vitamins. Eating a
handful of olives prior to a meal helps you
fisherman to absorb more nutrients from the meal,
might pack up digest your food better, and eat less, mak-
ing this dish the perfect picnic appetizer.
to take on their
daily journey. Continued on D2

WORLD_OF_TEXTILES/SHUTTERSTOCK

5 Steps to Allergy-Proof Your Home

Buy allergen-proof
zippered, sealed covers
for pillows, mattresses,
and box springs.
DOUG DONALDSON
Plagued at home by sneezing,
an incessant runny nose, and
watery eyes? You may be 1 of 40
million people who suffer from
indoor allergies, according to the
American Academy of Allergy,
Asthma, and Immunology.
Luckily, there are ways to get
relief. With a bit of planning and
a little extra work, your house
can be a haven for those in
your family with indoor aller-
gies. Follow these steps to start
breathing easier.
Clean Up Dark, Damp Spaces
In basements, bathrooms, or
other places where moisture
collects, mold can form and re-
lease spores that cause allergies
to flare up. You may smell the
telltale musty odor before no-
ticing visible mold on windows,
tubs, or in basements.
To fix, dry up the moisture
and seal any cracks, leaks, or
drips. Keep the humidity in
your home below 50 percent.
A dehumidifier (and moni-
tor) can help keep moisture
in check.
To clean mold from surfaces,
use a mixture of 5 parts bleach
to 95 parts water. If the mold
covers less than 10 square
feet, you can deal with clean-
up yourself. Anything beyond
that will require a professional
to remove the contamination.
Examine Your Bedding
Microscopic dust mites feed on
shed human skin. Their favorite
lunch spot? Your bed. In drier
parts of the country, dust mites
aren’t a problem because they
have no moisture to promote
their growth. For the rest of us,
though, our beds may be ex-
posed to this potential allergen.
To remedy the situation (and
feel better), buy allergen-proof
zippered, sealed covers for
pillows, mattresses, and box
springs. Washing bedclothes in
hot water also stops these pests.
The water needs to be at least
130 degrees to work, so check
your water heater to make sure
it’s set that high while you’re
doing laundry.
Continued on D2
D2 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021

Mediterranean Inspiration for Picnic Season

PHOTO FROM “THE MEDITERRANEAN DIABETES COOKBOOK, 2ND EDITION”

Continued from D1

You’ll want to make large portions to keep Serve this trio on its own
on hand for topping panini as well as grilled for a lighter spread or to
fish, meat, and vegetables all season long. accompany grilled meats
If you love classic hummus but are look- and fish, cheese and cold
ing for something new, my white bean, cuts, and other warm
lemon, and herbed feta dip is a satisfying weather favorites.
and equally nutritious alternative. I was
inspired to recreate the creamy, piquant
dip after a trip to Santorini, Greece, where
it’s common. It became a fan favorite at my
book signings and events, and nowadays,
it’s a beloved dish that I turn to when I want
to please a lot of people fast.
Whole wheat pita is a natural partner, and
this recipe is easy to prepare, with soft and
pillowy results. I usually make the pita bread
ahead of time, as they freeze well, or can be
stored in the refrigerator overnight and re-
heated under the broiler (or even on the grill)
the next day. If you’re short on time but want
to enjoy the same idea, you could make the
dip and the olive salad and serve them with
purchased bread. For those who prefer not to
eat bread, swap it for a crudité platter.

A Healthy Habit
Eating together is part of the Mediterranean
culture, and promotes a sense of commu-
nity and well-being for everyone involved.
It’s even believed to contribute to the re-
markable longevity in the region. In addi-
tion to enjoying everyday meals together,
picnicking with your friends and family is
a fun and memorable way to practice this
healthy lifestyle habit.
Don’t squander a beautiful afternoon or
evening by eating indoors. Grab a blan-
ket and some companions, and take your
meal of healthy, healing foods to the local
park, lakefront, or even your own backyard.
Breathe in the fresh air, savor every bite,
and make a lasting memory for you and
your loved ones.

Amy Riolo is an award-winning, best-selling

author, chef, TV host, and educator. As a
Mediterranean lifestyle ambassador, she
is known for sharing history, culture, and
nutrition through global cuisine, and sim-
plifying recipes for the home cook. Find her
at AmyRiolo.com

WHITE BEAN, LEMON,

AND HERBED FETA DIP
Did you know that the average Greek consumes
approximately 22 pounds of feta cheese a year? If
you are a Mediterranean food fan, this creamy dip will
make a great addition to hummus in your repertoire.
Note that if storing this dip in the refrigerator, it will
have a tendency to firm up. Simply stir in water, a
tablespoon at a time, until it becomes the desired
consistency before serving.
SERVES 4
1 1/2 cups (15 ounces) cooked cannellini beans,
rinsed and drained
1 cup Greek feta, cut into small pieces or
crumbled
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup Amy Riolo Selections, or other, extra-
virgin olive oil
1/4 cup fresh mint, plus extra for garnish
1/4 cup fresh oregano leaves, plus more for
garnish
Sea salt
Freshly ground pepper
Combine cannellini beans, feta, lemon juice and zest,
olive oil, mint, and oregano in a food processor. Puree,
pulsing on and off, until smooth. Taste and season
with salt and pepper.
SICILIAN OLIVE SALAD
This cracked olive medley is a family favorite that is popular both in
Calabria and Sicily. Sicilian Castelvetrano olives are becoming readily
available in major supermarkets now, and if you have access to those,
they are a great choice for this salad. Many Italian American delis sell
“Sicilian Colossal” olives, which also work well.
You can toss a few tablespoons of this mixture into hot pasta in the
winter, or chilled rice or quinoa in warmer weather. It’s also a great
way to dress up ordinary vegetables, seafood, and meat.
MAKES 16 SERVINGS
8 ounces large green olives, such as Castelvetrano olives,
rinsed well, drained, and rubbed dry
5 celery stalks, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 small red onion, diced
3 garlic cloves
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup Amy Riolo Selections, or other extra-virgin olive oil
Place olives on a cutting board. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and
smash them lightly with a meat hammer or the back of a skillet. (The
objective is to slightly crush the olives.)
Place olives in a bowl and stir together with remaining ingredients.
Marinate salad for an hour at room temperature, or cover and chill in
the refrigerator for at least 1 day and up to 3 days.
Bring salad to room temperature before serving.
Recipe from “The Mediterranean Diabetes Cookbook, 2nd Edition” by
Amy Riolo
WHOLE WHEAT PITA BREAD
From Greece to Lebanon and throughout
North Africa, puffy, warm pita bread is the
perfect accompaniment to dips, sauces, and
purees. This recipe is surprisingly easy to make
and gives you tender, pillowy pitas that are a
pleasure to eat.
I use different combinations of flour depending
upon my mood and what I am going to serve
the pita with. If I just need plain bread to go
with a variety of foods, I will probably make
these with regular all-purpose flour. If I want
to make sure I’m making a healthier bread,
I will use whole wheat—which pairs really
well with the white bean, lemon, and feta dip,
because its heartier texture is a nice contrast
to the creaminess of the dip. Other times, I will
use half and half, so that I get the best of both
worlds in terms of flavor and nutrition.
MAKES 13 PITAS
2 1/4 cups warm water
2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1 tablespoon salt
7 cups unbleached all-purpose or whole
wheat flour, or 3 1/2 cups of each
2 tablespoons Amy Riolo Selections or
other EVOO
Pour water into a large bowl. Add yeast and
stir until dissolved. Add salt, and gradually
incorporate the flour to form a dough. Turn out
onto a lightly floured work surface and knead
for 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic, or
place in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted
with a hook attachment and knead on medium
speed for 2 minutes. Pour oil into a bowl and
place dough inside the bowl, turning to coat.
Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise until
doubled in bulk (1 1/2 to 2 hours).
When dough has risen, punch down gently.
Divide dough into 13 equal portions and shape
into balls. Place on a lightly floured surface and
cover with a dry kitchen towel. Let rest for 15
minutes.
Preheat oven to 475 degrees F. Place a baking
stone or sheet on the lowest oven rack.
Roll out each ball of dough to form a 6-inch
circle. Place 3 circles on each preheated baking
sheet and bake for approximately 12 minutes,
until they are puffed up and begin to turn light
brown in color. Refrain from opening the oven
during the first 4 minutes of cooking. Remove
with a metal spatula or pizza peel and place in
a bread basket or serving platter. Repeat with
remaining dough circles until all are cooked.
Place extra pita breads in plastic bags, seal
tightly, and freeze until needed. Thaw at room
temperature and reheat under the broiler.
Recipe from “The Mediterranean Diabetes
Cookbook, 2nd Edition” by Amy Riolo

5 Steps to Continued from D1

Avoid Pet Triggers

air system can circulate allergens such as
pollen and animal dander. It can also be a
source of mold itself, if an attached humidi-
Know When to Close Windows
Open windows can expose you to outdoor
allergen triggers, such as pollen. However,

Allergy- You might be surprised to know that saliva

and dander—not fur—cause most pet aller-
gies. Proteins in the saliva stick to the fur,
fier pumps too much moisture through
the system.
having a house that’s too sealed up can
keep potential irritants in, and increase
their concentration.

Proof Your which then floats into your nose or lungs

to cause an allergic reaction.
Your home ventilation
Keep windows closed during the peak al-
lergy seasons of spring and fall, and consider

Home
The simplest (if most difficult) solution is closing windows before you go to sleep. The
to remove the pet from your home. But if system can be a friend highest pollen counts are from 4 a.m. to 10
your family isn’t about to part with Fluffy, a.m., so having windows open then can
at least limit pets’ access to bedrooms so or a foe. mean you’ll wake up with a runny nose and
PHOTOALTO you’ll be able to sleep well at night. Groom- tearing—not how you want to start your day.
Know ing or bathing your pet every three or four To combat these problems, clean your de-
when to weeks can also help keep allergens to a humidifier once every two weeks. Change Doug Donaldson is a freelance writer. Bet-
close your minimum. your furnace filters according to the manu- ter Homes and Gardens is a magazine and
windows—
facturer’s (or filter maker’s) directions. Use website devoted to ideas and improvement
and when
to keep Clear the Air ceiling fans to circulate air and prevent wa- projects for your home and garden, plus
them Your home ventilation system can be a ter from condensing and mold from form- recipes and entertaining ideas. Online at
open. friend or a foe. Properly maintained, it ing. To avoid trapped water vapor, place BHG.com Copyright 2021 Meredith Cor-
can filter out allergens. However, if you fans in rooms of the house with a shower, poration. Distributed by Tribune Content
don’t check it and clean filters, a central sink, or toilet. Agency, LLC.
 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021 D3

A GREENER VIEW

Easter Lilies and Early Tomatoes

JEFF RUGG
Last year at this time, around Easter, most
areas had lockdowns. Most churches
weren’t able to have in-person services
and weren’t buying Easter lilies. I wrote
about how many independent garden
centers that sold Easter lilies, annual
flowers, and vegetable plants were hav-
ing a hard time financially. But as people
stayed home from work and school, they
decided to plant more flowers and veg-
etables. After a very tough start, garden
centers had a strong year.
Buy all of the ones they
have left, even if they are
no longer in bloom, and
plant them outdoors.
If you didn’t buy an Easter lily before
Easter, you should go buy one now. They
will be on sale, and you can call it a spring
lily. You can enjoy the flowers and fra-
grance for the next few weeks, and then
you can plant it outdoors.
Keep the lilies in bright, indirect light
until the outdoor nighttime temperatures
stay above the 40s. Plant them in a par-
tially sunny site with well-drained soil
about six inches deep, and add a few inch-
es of mulch. Next year, they will bloom in
midsummer. They make a nice display
when planted in masses. Buy all of the
ones they have left, even if they are no
longer in bloom, and plant them outdoors.
In U.S. Department of Agriculture Plant
Hardiness Zones 8 through 10, they can
be planted outside for the summer. In the
fall, dig them up and plant them in pot-
ting soil in a pot an inch wider than the
bulb. Refrigerate the whole pot for 8 to 12
weeks, keeping the soil damp. Take them
out, and either leave them in the pot or
replant them in the ground.
Q: We have a gardening friend who always
boasts about getting the first tomatoes in
his garden. I know it may be too late for
this year, but is there something we can
do to get our tomato plants to produce
early? We don’t have a greenhouse, and
that would be cheating, anyway.
A: There are several things we need to
think about. First, what kind of tomato is
he growing? There are short-, mid-, and
long-season tomatoes. Short-season va-
rieties are good for northern climates, so
they are sometimes listed as cold-climate
tomatoes. Long-season tomatoes may
not produce fruit for 80 or 90 days after
transplanting into the garden. Midsea-
son tomatoes produce in 60 to 80 days,
and short-season tomatoes produce in
under 60 days.
Look in the catalogs or online for short-
season tomatoes. Some varieties, such
as Sub Arctic Plenty, produce cherry to-
matoes in as few as 45 days. Early Girl is
one of the few early tomatoes that doesn’t
produce small tomatoes. It produces in
50 days.
When is your area’s last frost date? You
can start your tomato seeds indoors
about a month to six weeks before that
date and the plants will be ready to move
outside when conditions are right. Toma-
toes and other warm-season vegetables
need warm soil and warm air. If either
one is too cool, the plants will stop grow-
ing until conditions improve.
They need the soil temperature mea-
sured about three inches deep to be
above 55 degrees. Measure in midmorn-
ing and not on a sunny, warm afternoon.
They need air temperatures above 55 de-
grees at night. If it is cooler at night, the
flowers will not produce tomatoes.
There are several ways you can get a
head start on planting. To get an early
start on the warm soil, lay down a drip
irrigation line, and then cover the area in
black plastic. The greenhouse effect will
warm the soil. Cut a hole in the plastic,
and plant the tomato into the soil. The
plastic will help control weeds, but if it
gets too hot, cover it with mulch or re-
move it in the summer.
Protect and warm the plant by enclos-
ing it in a cloche such as a tomato tee-
pee filled with water or covering it with
a plastic milk jug with the bottom cut off.
You can also get a head start by using
row covers or a cold frame that is heated
by the decomposition of compost or ma-
nure. Both of these items are temporary, start on outdoor planting. If the weath- about Jeff Rugg and read features by
and I wouldn’t consider either of them to er turns bad, make sure you cover the other Creators Syndicate writers and
be a greenhouse. plants with a blanket. cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate
With the black plastic on the soil and website at Creators.com. Copyright
the use of a cloche or a hot cap, you Email questions to Jeff Rugg at info@ 2021 Jeff Rugg. Distributed by
should be able to get a two-week head greenerview.com. To find out more Creators Syndicate.

FIZKES/SHUTTERSTOCK

EVERYDAY CHEAPSKATE will never be enough until you learn how

to take care of what you already have.

Feeling Rich Dear Mary: My in-laws have been deep-

and Living It Up
MARY HUNT
Dear Mary: My husband and I have been
out of debt for approximately five years.
It’s great. The problem is we now seem
to spend a lot of money needlessly just
because we can. We have so much money
over and above our living expenses that
it is easy to be reckless.
We keep just enough in savings ($2,000
or so) for emergencies but never get be-
yond that goal. I feel guilty about this.
In a way, it seems like it’s always harvest
time for us, but we’re not gathering for
winter.
I just can’t seem to control my spend-
ing. Any advice? —Colleen
Dear Colleen: Getting out of debt was
a great accomplishment, but
quite frankly, that only got you
to the starting line. You’re You need
stuck. Your wheels are spin- at least six
ning, but you’re not going months of living
anywhere. expenses in
I suspect the two of you your emergency
have not decided on the fund.
guidelines that will determine
disposition of your impressive
income.
Whether you make $5 or $500,000, you
need a mutually agreed upon plan for
managing money that flows into your life
(and seems to be gushing out as quickly
as it comes).
I believe the 10-10-80 formula is the an-
swer. You give away 10 percent, save 10
percent, and live your life on 80 percent of
your net income. Once you establish the
criteria, you may determine that 10-20-70
is where you need to be. Or some other
plan. The point is you need a set plan.
I think you might have some errant be-
Whether you
make $5 or
$500,000,
you need
a mutually
agreed upon
plan for
managing
money that
flows into
your life.
lief that, because you are well-off, you
can spend with abandon. That’s not true
at all. Even the most wealthy cannot live
as though money is of no concern. If they
do, they’re not wealthy for very long.
The cold hard truth is that even in your
cushy condition, you are living paycheck
to paycheck.
If your income were suddenly snatched
away through unemployment, a health
disaster, or another calamity (you should
read my mail), you’d be in a world of hurt
with only $2,000 in savings.
You need at least six months of living
expenses in your emergency fund. That
is your first goal.
As for your spending problem, put
yourself on a strict allowance that you
and your husband agree upon. Pay it to
yourself, putting that amount of cash
into an envelope you carry in your hand-
bag. When your allowance is gone, no
more spending until next month.
You are in a most fortunate position,
and I hope you will take immediate steps
to get yourselves unstuck and into high
gear with managing your resources in
a better way. You have all the tools you
need to build a solid base and a bright
future.
Believe me when I say this: More money
ly in debt and in poor health for years.
When they pass on, will their children
be expected to absorb their debt? How
should we plan ahead for this? They have
refused all offers of counseling or help
with budgeting. —Kelly
Dear Kelly: Generally speaking, unless
your husband and his siblings are co-
signers on their parents’ mortgage, credit
card accounts, or other obligations, they
cannot be held legally liable for those
debts.
Upon the death of the first parent, the
joint debts and assets, if any, will pass
to the surviving parent. And when he or
she dies, the creditors will look to what-
ever assets remain in the estate to satisfy
Believe me all outstanding debts through a process
called probate.
when I say If there are not sufficient assets to sat-
this: More isfy their debts, the creditors lose. They
cannot go after relatives or children.
money will Of course, the creditors get paid before
never be children when it comes to handing out
inheritances. In your case, it sounds as
enough until if your husband is not counting on an
inheritance anyway.
you learn So, love them, and do what you can for
how to take them now—but don’t worry about getting
stuck with their debts.
care of what
Mary Hunt is the founder of Every-
you already dayCheapskate.com, a frugal living
have. blog and the author of the book “Debt-
Proof Living.” Mary invites you to visit
her at her website, where this column
is archived complete with links and
resources for all recommended products
and services. Mary invites questions
and comments at EverydayCheapskate.
com/contact, “Ask Mary.” Tips can be
submitted at Tips.EverydayCheapskate.
com. This column will answer questions
of general interest, but letters cannot be
answered individually. Copyright 2021
Creators.com  
D4 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021

CROSSWORD CONSTRUCTED BY TOM HOUSTON

EPOCH TIMES STAFF 6. One-spot CHESS CHALLENGE DAILY BRIDGE CLUB
7. Med. care provider Overberried
BY MICHAEL GIBBS
8. “Measure of a Man”, BY FRANK STEWART, TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY
The famous Lucena position, a must
Clay down concept in rook endgames; ©2021 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
9. Restrict many variants but same concept.
White to move & win. When I watched today’s deal in my club’s
10. Cut canines penny game, South was the notorious Joe
11. Mantra sounds Overberry, who thinks it’s nobler to go down
in pursuit of overtricks that to make his
12. A small loan bid. That costs him — and his unfortunate
13. The Gem State partners — thousands of points.
14. Letter-shaped Against Joe’s 3NT, West led a spade,
and East correctly played the queen to
opening preserve a link with his partner. Joe took
15. Narc’s find his king, led a diamond to dummy’s ace and
returned a diamond to his ten.
20. “A Tale of ___ Cities”
24. Feel LAST SPADE
West gratefully took his queen and led the
27. Stymied jack of spades. East put up his ace and
28. Besides returned his last spade, and West cashed
three spades. Down one.
29. “Mikado” costume WORK SPACE
“The man goes down trying for
30. Gets used (to) overtricks when the correct play produces
at least two of them,” North groaned.
31. Leave alone After Joe wins the first trick, he can
35. Informer cash four clubs, then take the K-A of
36. Airline to Stockholm diamonds. When West’s queen falls, Joe
is sure of 11 tricks. If instead East-West
38. 1994 Peace Nobelist played low diamonds, dummy would have
39. Boxcars that keep 4NUMBERS CONSTRUCTED BY C. CHANG
AT 4NUMS.COM
the lead, and Joe could try for his ninth
trick by leading a heart to his queen.
cargo cold Use the four numbers in the corners, and
41. Jurists the operands (+, - X, and ÷) to build an DAILY QUESTION
equation to get the solution in the middle. You hold: k K 7 5 j A Q 8
42. Beloved of Aphrodite There may be more than one “unique” so- iK 10 4 hK J 6 5. Your partner opens
43. Wicker material lution but, there may also be “equivalent” one diamond. The next player passes.
solutions. For example: 6 + (7 X 3) +1 = 28 What do you say?
45. U.S. Army medal and 1+ (7 X 3) + 6 = 28 ANSWER: Bid 3NT, showing balanced
46. Absolutely, in slang pattern (but not with a four-card major
Across 44. Certain condiment’s 71. ___ synthesizer 50. Hosp. area suit) and 15 to 17 high-card points.
Experts tend to avoid this response
1. Basic util. origin 72. Junk E-mail 53. Do-nothing because it consumes space and may
5. Horrified 47. “Das Rheingold” god- 73. Kitchen gadgets 55. Finish off hamper investigation for slam, but
because it is quite descriptive, it can’t
11. Strikes dess 77. Half of the Odd 56. Frees (of) be all bad. The alternative — a go-slow
16. Latvia’s capital 48. Sandwiches for des- Couple 60. Unseat response of two clubs — is not clearly
better.
17. Arab, e.g. sert 79. Kindly 62. Angles South dealer
18. Thick 49. Tear 81. Offshoot 64. Compress N-S vulnerable
50. Dostoyevsky novel, 82. Tars 65. Explorer ____ de NORTH
19. Special person
with “The” 83. Chichén ___ (Mayan Leon k10 3
21. La ___ opera house 66. Register
j10 3 2
51. “Fiddler” of Rome city) iA J 6 3 2
22. Foundation, often 67. Prank
Hard 1 - 1 Solution
hA Q 3
52. “3” in 3x 84. Eastern dye
23. “Lord of the Rings” 68. “Er...um...” WEST EAST
54. Stable worker 85. Writer Hemingway
tree beings 69. Actress Long kJ 9 6 4 2 kA Q 8
57. ___ Hsi (empress 86. “Dante’s ___” (1997) jJ 9 7 4 jK 6 5
25. Frat letters 70. Money substitute iQ 5 i9 8 7
dowager of China during h8 7 h10 9 4 2
26. Old Down 74. “Bachelor” add-on
the Boxer Rebellion) 1. European language 75. Iran’s ___ Shah
29. Little butter? SOUTH
58. Large rodent 2. Paint Pahlavi kK 7 5
32. Kind of mother 59. Settled jA Q 8
3. “Wow!” 76. Badlands Natl. Park iK 10 4
33. Fair-hiring org. 61. Mail letters 4. Christmas ___ locale hK J 6 5
34. Actually existing 63. Application datum: 5. Mechanical device 78. Viral plans South West North East
37. 30-day mo. Abbr. used in mountain 80. “Trust ___” 1 NT Pass 3 NT All Pass
40. Mason’s mixture 64. When no one wins climbing (1937 hit) Easy 1 - 1 Solution Opening lead —k4

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.

ADONIS IDAHO OREOS SMART

AIKEN IDIOT OSTLER COOKIE
CAPER IN A SPOT PERES SMUSH
CAROL IN ESSE PONCE SPLIT
DEPOSE INDOLENT RATTAN DECISIONS
DESERT INURES REEFERS SPREE
ENDOWER KIMONO SCALA STASH
ERNEST LOGIN SCION STINT
FISHES MIDST SCRIP T SLOT WORK SPACE
GEORGE MORTAR SEAMEN TEETHE
HENNA NUTRIA SEMITE TRIERS
I MEAN OMITS SLICERS UNGER

SOLUTIONS
CROSSWORD SUPER KAKURO 4NUMBERS

HARD 1

EASY 1

CHESS CHALLENGE
10.  b8=Q
9.  Kb6  Re3
8.  Rb5  Rc3+
7.  Rd5  Kf7
6.  Rd6+  Ke7
5.  Kc6  Rb3
4.  Kb6  Rb1+
3.  Ka7  Ra1+
2.  Rd4  Rb1
1.  Rd3+  Ke6
 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021 D5

SUDOKU CONSTRUCTED
BY KANNAN SANKARAN SUPERSUDOKU CONSTRUCTED
BY KANNAN SANKARAN

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

Easy

CRYPTIC QUOTE
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
19
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,
in a run cannot repeat. When the grid is filled, the puzzle is complete. one letter to each square,
Get the free JUST JUMBLE app • Follow us on Twitter @PlayJumble

to form four ordinary words.

Easy
FTASF
EPOCH ESCAPE MAZE
RUYFR

OULFND

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

WORK SPACE

SOLUTIONS
SUPERSUDOKU SUDOKU: EASY JUMBLE EASY KAKURO
— BUFF BUFF WORK SPACE
was considered to be a
waxes and polishes and
He knew a lot about car
Answers:

FLABBY
UNFOLD
FURRY
SUDOKU: HARD EPOCH DOKU
STAFF
Jumbles:

CRYPTIC QUOTE
robbery.
necessary is legalized
than is absolutely
Collecting more taxes

Contact the Puzzle Master @: Feedback@EpochTimes.com

D6
Variations of sorrel soup appear in
culinary traditions across the world.
OLGABOMBOLOGNA/SHUTTERSTOCK
THE FAMILY TABLE
Readers share their treasured recipes
The Family Table: Sorrel Soup, Slick and Sour,
Pieced Together From Scraps of Memory
Submitted by
EMMA BULS,
DULUTH, MINNESOTA
I never knew I had a sour tooth until I ate
sorrel soup. It was at a lunch at my Aunt
Lidia’s house, in a breezy beach commu-
nity hugging Port Phillip Bay, south of Mel-
bourne. I was around 8 years old, and at
this point in our lives my younger brother
and I were used to eating whatever was
served, no kids’ menus, no special meals
or bland substitutions to accommodate
children’s simpler palates.
We must have eaten other
things at the meal that
day, given my father’s
side of the family’s
predilection for feasts,
but I remember
nothing but that soup.
On this occasion, my brother and I sat
outside at a low square table under a cov-
ered porch in the walled backyard, fes-
tooned with gum trees filtering the sun’s
rays. The adults’ table next to ours was long
and littered with bottles of German riesling
and cube glass ashtrays already filled with
crushed butts.
Lidia was not the chef on this day, but
rather her younger sister, Ausma, who
ladled her creation, a steaming greenish
soup, into stout bowls and served one to
each of us. A thin, brittle woman sporting
a hairstyle too old for her, Ausma smoked
cigarettes constantly and rarely smiled, but
sunniness sprang forth through her cook-
ing. Before we picked up our giant soup
spoons to dive in, she rubbed her twiggy
fingers together and sprinkled chopped
boiled egg on top, and I watched the piec-
es sink slightly and nestle between small
chunks of onion, potatoes, and carrot.
But it was the long streaks of almost olive
green that got my attention. Without ask-
ing what they were (because one didn’t)
and to soothe a loud stomach, I bit into the
melted slick leaves and let my mouth wash
in lemony sour. The flavor was extraordi-
nary, an exhilarating, nourishing surprise,
and I greedily gobbled up the rest of the
hot tangy broth and asked for more. We
must have eaten other things at the meal
that day, given my father’s side of the fam-
ily’s predilection for feasts, but I remember
nothing but that soup.
Sorrel soup, skabenu zupa in Latvian,
became my special thing, something that
set me and family apart from most other
Australians, most of whom descended from
the British Isles hodgepodge. From my
mother’s side, I am part of this hodgepodge,
(Clockwise from top L) The author’s father, Aunt Ausma, Auntt Lidia,
grandfather Dzeda, grandmother Buba, younger brother Matthew,
mother, and the author herself. (Courtesy of Emmaa Buls)
but I relished being Baltic from my father’s
side, he and his parents and sisters having
immigrated to Australia as displaced per-
sons after World War II. I liked this exotic
foil to my mother’s English/Irish side of
Sunday roasts and ginger snaps (not that
I don’t love these things as well, but they
don’t have the same allure as the slender
sour herb swimming in a delicious soup).
So what is sorrel? Leaf or garden sor-
rel (not to be confused with sheep sorrel,
which is for animals) is a perennial ed-
ible plant whose leaves are used as herbs.
Depending on the variety, the leaves look
a bit like elongated spinach leaves in a
shiny emerald hue when raw (another
name for sorrel is spinach dock) and sea-
weed when wet.
It is used not only in soup but also in
salads and sauces and as garnishes (par-
ticularly when young and tender), and is
claimed to have medicinal properties in
fighting such ailments as inflammation
and high blood pressure. It can be culti-
vated or foraged for in the wild in Northern
Europe and North America. Cooking sor-
rel tempers the sour taste, but allows it to
retain much of the desired tang to enhance
a dish that would otherwise be boring. If
you let a sorrel plant go in warm weather,
it will bolt to unfurl lovely red-purple flow-
ers, but I can’t imagine waiting that long.
During the COVID-19 lockdown, I
searched for not only at-home exercise
equipment (I have a sturdy deck of hand
weights now) but comfort foods to make
while my husband and I were holed up
at our home in northern Minnesota, and
rediscovered sorrel soup. Soup in all of its
forms is my ultimate comfort food, and it
rather surprised me when I realized it had
been years (decades!) since I had eaten it.
Compounding the surprise was the frus-
tration that I never thought to ask for the
recipe (Aunt Ausma passed away a num-
ber of years ago, as have my father and his
parents).
I consulted my mother to see if she re-
membered her sister-in-law’s soup. “It was
brothy, not thick, but it was homemade
stock. No meat, but it tasted meaty. And
the egg! The egg was important, not just as
a garnish. And the whole thing was deli-
cious.” In the back and forth, we cobbled
together scraps from our taste memory to
create a piecemeal recipe. In the process,
I pushed away the feelings of regret in not
having asked my aunt or someone on that
side of the family for the recipe. It could
have been a way to reconnect with them
rather than let the years and an ocean iso-
late us. Food heals, not just internally.
Then I did a little internet digging. I was
surprised to discover that my proprietary
approach to sorrel soup was all wrong, and
that it and all its variations appear in a va-
riety of culinary traditions that transcend
the Latvian diaspora.
Estonia, Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine, Po-
land, and Armenia all have a version of sor-
rel soup. Ashkenazi Jews use sorrel to make
tthew,
their version of sorrel soup, called schav,
and often serve it cold. Sorrel forms part of
the herb suite seen in Vietnamese cooking
to balance other flavors. In Scotland, sorrel
grows throughout the country and makes
its way into a soup there. And I should have
known that French cuisine would employ
this tangy herb in various ways.
In some recipes, the soup is as my moth-
er and I remember: clear, without meat,
the sorrel staying in its original form. Oth-
ers call for the sorrel to be blended into
the broth. I discovered several recipes
that use pork, beef, or even fish as key
ingredients (sorrel sauce over salmon or
halibut is a phenomenal pairing, as the
French have shown us). If you prefer a
thicker base, whisk in a raw egg or add
rice or barley and dollops of sour cream,
to yield a milky liquid. It’s like the soup
form of paella, in that the ingredients vary
from place to place, depending on what
AUSMA’S SORREL SOUP (SKABENU ZUPA)
This is my aunt’s sorrel soup recipe that
my mother and I pieced together from our
collective memory. The soup is clear and
meatless, save for the beef stock, but a good
chicken or vegetable stock would also work
well. If you are using store-bought broth and
prefer a thicker liquid, starchy potatoes will
break down and thicken the broth, as will rice
or barley. For a creamier soup, add a little half-
and-half or sour cream at the end.
Our version here works well as a first course
to a hearty main course, or as a simple lunch
paired with a slice of rye or crusty bread and
a salad.
SERVES 4
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 small onion, diced
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
1 large potato, peeled and diced (all-
purpose or waxy, so potato retains shape
in hot liquid)
1 bay leaf
4 cups beef stock (or broth, preferably
homemade; stock will yield a heartier
flavor)
2 cups fresh sorrel (or substitute fresh
spinach plus juice from half a lemon, or full
8 ounces of jarred sorrel)
1 small handful parsley leaves, chopped
(optional)
1 small handful dill, chopped (optional)
1 to 2 hard-boiled egg(s), chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
In a heavy-bottomed pot, melt the butter over
medium heat until it starts to bubble, then
add the onion and carrot and a pinch of salt
and a twist or two of pepper and sweat until
tender, around 7 minutes.
Add the potatoes, bay leaf, and stock and
bring to a boil, then simmer for 15 to 20
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021
The author with
her parents.
COUR TESY OF
EMMA BULS
is available or in season.
It is heartening to know that a simple,
tasty soup that sustained many people and
cultures made its way across the seas, from
lands that were almost bereft of hope to
ones that were teeming with it.
Finding Sorrel
Despite the range in which sorrel is used,
it is not the easiest thing to find. You can
buy it in the spring at farmers markets or
higher-end supermarkets, although not all
places stock it consistently. Some specialty
markets in larger cities carry jarred sorrel,
and a few online retailers sell it. It is easy to
grow from seed, which appears to be the
preferred way of obtaining the herb, and
the leaves can be used through the fall.
Spinach, watercress, nettle, dandelion
greens, or kale without the stems are de-
cent substitutes, but none mimic the lem-
ony tang of sorrel.
until potatoes are tender.
Add the sorrel (or spinach and lemon
juice) and continue to simmer until wilted,
around 5 minutes. If using the parsley and
dill, add it now, and remove the pot from
the heat. Taste and add salt and pepper as
needed. Remove the bay leaf.
Ladle into warmed soup bowls and sprinkle
chopped hard-boiled egg on top. Serve alone
or with bread.
Dear Readers,
Do you have a treasured family
recipe that holds a special
place in your family history,
heritage, or traditions? We
would be honored if you would
share it with us.
Along with the recipe, tell
us its story—who gave it to
you, its journey through the
generations, and the personal
meanings and memories it
carries. Is it a special-occasion
dish, or an everyday family
favorite? Does it connect you
to your cultural heritage, or to
a certain loved one?
How have you kept the recipe
alive, and why is it important
to you to do so?
Send your recipe and
comments, along with your
full name, state, and contact
information, to food@
epochtimes.com, or mail it to:
Food, The Epoch Times
229 W. 28th St., Floor 7 
New York, NY 10001
 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021 D7

EVERYDAY CHEAPSKATE

Must-Follow Steps When You’re Out of a Job

MARY HUNT
These days, it’s practically inevitable that
you or someone close to you will face a
period of unemployment. Consider these
practical tips while dealing with the fi-
nancial and emotional toll of leaving one
job and searching for another.
Hoard the Cash
You may be tempted to pay off debt with
your severance check or savings. Don’t do
it. While you’re unemployed, pay only the
minimum payments required. If you’ve
been prepaying your mortgage principal,
pull back to only what’s required. This
might be a good time to pare down and
sell stuff to raise cash.

Slam the Brakes on Spending

Don’t be too quick to If it’s not essential, forget it. Tell your fam-
ily how and why things will be changing
pack your things and for a while, and outline ways everyone
can participate in this time of transition.
leave. Ask for help with Make do. Look for every possible way you
finding a new job. can avoid spending money.

Figure Out Health Insurance

Don’t Take It Personally
Losing a job can cause shame, humilia-
tion, and embarrassment. You may feel
depressed and lose your confidence. Yes,
it’s a very stressful time, but don’t take it
personally. Thousands and thousands
of people have lost their jobs in this
pandemic. Don’t hibernate; be good to
yourself. If you need it, seek emotional
counseling. Let your friends and family
be there for you.
Remember time heals. This, too, will pass.
Collect Your Benefits
You may have unemployment benefits,
Once you leave your job for any reason,
you basically have five choices:
D Continue on your current group plan,
and pay the premiums yourself.
D Enroll in your spouse’s plan. yourself more available to your employer. Don’t
D Buy individual insurance. hibernate;
D Use a state-sponsored plan. You may be No. 2: Project Positivity be good to
D Go without (the worst of all worlds). People who bring negativity to work and yourself. Get
tempted to then use it to stir the rumor mill are more the support
you need,
Many people take advantage of their em- pay off debt likely to wind up on the to-go list. Start
then take
ployer’s COBRA, or Consolidated Omni- thinking like your employer, and then
bus Budget Reconciliation Act, plan, in with your become the employee they dream about.
your next
steps with
which you have 60 days from termina- severance confidence.
tion to decide whether or not to accept No. 3: Be a Team Player PRESSMASTER/

a lump-sum payout from your ex-em- the benefit. If you accept it within those check or Commit yourself to be cooperative, flex- SHUTTERSTOCK

ployer, a severance package, and options
regarding health insurance. Find out ex-
actly what you qualify for and the limita-
tions and rules regarding each benefit.
The U.S. Department of Labor website
has a handy list of all unemployment
offices in each state. Some states now
allow you to apply online or over the
phone. Generally, it takes two to three
weeks from the time you file your claim
to receive your first benefit check.
Negotiate
Don’t be too quick to pack your things
and leave. Ask for help with finding a
new job. Can you set up shop in a spare
office for the next few weeks while you
job-hunt? This gives you the use of
phones, computers, and other equip-
ment. Be sure to ask for a letter of rec-
ommendation, too.
60 days, you cannot be denied health in-
surance.
If the COBRA plan is too expensive, at
least consider catastrophic-only cover-
age, which you can research on the inter-
net. This will only cover the big, expen-
sive stuff, but the premium is fairly low.
Every state also has a low-cost health
insurance plan for children. If you have
kids under 18, find out if you’re eligible.
Insure Kids Now has a toll-free national
number, 877-KIDS-NOW, which connects
you with the program in your state.
3 Tips to Make You Indispensable at
Your Job
No. 1: Improve Your Value
Even if you believe it’s not particularly
noticed or appreciated, find ways to do
more than what’s expected and make
ible, and willing to go the extra mile. If
savings. you are a joy to be around because you
Don’t do it. encourage others and make them feel
good about who they are, your job secu-
rity goes up.
Mary Hunt is the founder of Everyday-
Cheapskate.com, a frugal living blog
and the author of the book “Debt-Proof
Living.” Mary invites you to visit her at
her website, where this column is ar-
chived complete with links and resources
for all recommended products and
services. Mary invites questions and
comments at EverydayCheapskate.com/
contact, “Ask Mary.” Tips can be submit-
ted at Tips.EverydayCheapskate.com.
This column will answer questions of
general interest, but letters cannot be
answered individually. Copyright
2021 Creators.com

HERE’S HOW the cabinet fronts.

Remodel a
Bathroom
With a New
Vanity and
Cabinets
JAMES DULLEY
Dear James: I am planning a partial re-
model of my bathroom with just a new
vanity and cabinets. What are reasonably
priced options, and can I easily install
them myself? —Oliver J.
Dear Oliver: Just replacing the cabinets
and vanity is the typical do-it-yourself
bathroom remodeling project. A full re-
model would include replacing the tile
flooring and bathtub or shower area.
Adding those often makes the project
more complicated than most people can
handle themselves.
Even when doing just a partial remod-
eling project, the cost can be significant.
There is a huge selection and range of
vanities and cabinets with varying prices.
It would be wise to stay with the basic
sizes you now have. This minimizes any
plumbing, electrical, and other modifica-
tions that are needed.
There are simple design tips that can
make a relatively inexpensive bathroom
vanity cabinet look like a more expensive
one. Vanity cabinets are actually three
narrow cabinets combined. The center
one holds the sink and each of the side
ones either have drawers or a large-
hinged door.
Size the depth of the cabinets so the
center cabinet, which holds the sink, is
offset and extends out several inches fur-
ther than each of the side cabinets. The
cost of the slightly deeper cabinet is not
much greater than the others. This gives
It would be the vanity cabinet an expensive custom-
wise to stay made look at a low cost.
The least expensive way to finish this
with the offset cabinet layout is with a standard
rectangular countertop that extends out
basic sizes over each of the side cabinets more than
you now the center one. If your budget allows, in-
stall a custom-made countertop with a
have. smooth curved front edge that extends
out over the center cabinet. This creates a
more uniform countertop overhang over
Installing the vanity cabinet is not a dif-
ficult do-it-yourself job. Almost all cabi-
nets are designed to be screwed together
from inside the cabinet so the screws are
not visible. The most difficult part of the
job is getting inside the cabinets to drive
the screws.
Always remove the cabinet doors and
any drawers before trying to assemble
the vanity. This makes it easier to reach
the screws and reduces the possibility
of scratching the finish on the fronts or
overextending and bending the hinges.
When selecting your cabinets, consider
getting ones with quick-release levers to
remove the doors from the hinges with-
out having to remove all the hinge screws.
With the doors and drawers out, the cabi-
nets will be lighter and easier to handle.
For a professional-looking bathroom
vanity, it is imperative the cabinet tops
and fronts line up perfectly, unless you
chose an offset design. The easiest way to
accomplish this is to place a long straight
edge along the top and sides. Once they
are aligned properly, lock them together
with rubber tipped clamps, and drive in
the screws to secure them.
You may have seen some optional at-
tractive face trim available for the cabi-
net fronts, doors, and drawers. These are
usually installed from behind, so be very
careful not to drill too deep or use a screw
that is too long. If you do, you may pierce
the front surface. If this happens, you will
have to hire an expert repairperson to
touch up the surface.
The final step is to make sure the van-
ity cabinet assembly is level from side to
side and front to back. In most homes,
the floors and walls are not true, so some
small wood shims may be required. Al-
ways use screws, not nails, to attach the
vanity cabinet to the bathroom wall.
Send your questions to Here’s How, 6906
Royalgreen Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45244,
or visit Dulley.com. To find out more
about James Dulley and read features
by other Creators Syndicate writers and
cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate
website at Creators.com. Copyright 2021
Creators.com
D8 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021

Put a Little Primavera in Your Step

LYNDA BALSLEV FOR TASTEFOOD
LYNDA BALSLEV

S
pring is here, and it’s time to
celebrate by adding a little fresh-
ness and lightness to your favorite
year-round dishes, such as risottos
and pasta.
Primavera means springtime in Ital-
ian, but pasta primavera, while Italian
in name, has American roots. It was
created in the 1970s in the famous New
York restaurant Le Cirque, and it em-
braces the season with fresh vegetables
and herbs enveloped in a lemony cream
sauce. This risotto takes inspiration from
pasta primavera, with fresh asparagus
and peas studding the rice, along with
sweet briny shrimp and juicy Meyer
lemon.
When making risotto, remember these
simple but important rules for best
results. Always purchase arborio rice,
which is known for its high starch con-
tent. The starch will be “agitated” while
stirring the rice, which yields a delicious
creamy risotto. The rice grains should be
lightly toasted in the pan before adding
any liquid. This step protects the grains
from bursting while cooking. And be
sure to stir the risotto constantly—or SHRIMP RISOTTO PRIMAVERA This risotto
nearly constantly—while cooking to takes
prevent it from sticking and to help the inspiration
PREP & COOKING TIME 1 tablespoon chopped parsley leaves pinch of salt and sauté until the onion is soft and from pasta
rice release its starch.
Active Time: about 45 minutes translucent without coloring, about 3 minutes. primavera,
This recipe specifies fresh shelled Total Time: about 45 minutes
1 tablespoon dill sprigs
Stir in the rice and cook until it is well coated with fresh
peas, but defrosted frozen peas may be 1 teaspoon finely grated Meyer lemon zest, and lightly toasted, stirring constantly, about 1 asparagus
SERVES 4
substituted. If using defrosted frozen plus extra for garnish minute. Pour in the wine and stir until the wine is and peas
peas, do not include them when cooking 6 cups chicken stock absorbed, about 1 minute more. studding
the asparagus. Instead, add them to the 3/4 pound asparagus, ends trimmed, cut Bring the stock to a simmer in a medium the rice,
Add 1 cup stock and stir until the liquid is
risotto at the end of cooking along with into bite-size pieces saucepan. Reduce the heat to low and keep warm. absorbed. Continue adding the stock, 1/2 cup at along with
the cooked asparagus and shrimp. 1/2 cup fresh shelled peas a time, stirring until the liquid is absorbed before sweet briny
Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a
adding the next 1/2 cup, until the rice is al dente shrimp and
Extra-virgin olive oil rolling boil. Add the asparagus and peas; cook juicy Meyer
Lynda Balslev is a cookbook author, food and the risotto is creamy. (Depending on the age
until the vegetables brighten in color and are lemon.
and travel writer, and recipe developer 1 pound large shrimp, shelled and deveined of the rice, you may not use all of the stock. Older
crisp-tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain and rinse
based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Salt rice requires more liquid to cook.)
under cold water to stop the cooking process
where she lives with her Danish husband, During the last minute or two of cooking, stir
Freshly ground black pepper (they will cook further in the risotto). Set aside.
two children, a cat, and a dog. Lynda in the asparagus, peas, and shrimp to warm
studied cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole 1/2 small yellow onion, finely chopped Add 1 tablespoon oil to a large skillet. Add the
through.
de Cuisine in Paris and worked as a 1 1/2 cups arborio rice shrimp and lightly season with salt and black
Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the
personal chef, culinary instructor, and pepper. Cook until just cooked through, about 4
1/2 cup dry white wine cheese, lemon juice, parsley, dill, and lemon
food writer in Switzerland and Denmark. minutes, turning once. Transfer to another plate. zest. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.
Copyright 2021 Lynda Balslev. Distrib- 1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a separate deep skillet Serve immediately, garnished with lemon zest
uted by Andrew McMeel Syndication. 1 tablespoon fresh Meyer lemon juice or pot over medium heat. Add the onion and a and additional dill or parsley, if desired.

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