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CHINA
In the News GOP Senators
NEWS

The number of document-

ed so-called breakthrough
COVID-19 cases has climbed
above 9,000, according to
the Centers for Disease Con-
trol and Prevention. ... A8
The company that’s over-
seeing the 2020 election
audit in Maricopa County has
claimed that a court released
its security plan to the public.
... A8
The Utah Republican Party
has voted against censur-
ing Sen. Mitt Romney for
his votes to convict former
President Donald Trump on
impeachment charges. ... A4
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds
has signed a bill that prohib-
its the state’s localities from
requiring landlords to accept
federal rental assistance
vouchers. ... A3
California is giving 76,000
inmates, including violent and
repeat felons, the opportunity
to leave prison earlier. ... A2
A group of Senate Repub-
licans has introduced a bill
that would allow individuals
with concealed carry privi-
leges in their home state to
exercise those rights in any
other state with concealed
carry laws. ... A5
FBI agents have mistak-
enly raided a home in Alaska
trying to find a laptop stolen
from House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi’s office during the Jan.
6 breach of the Capitol, the
owners allege. ... A2
Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech
have submitted a request to
the European drug regula-
tor for the approval of their
coronavirus vaccine to be
extended to include children
aged 12 to 15. ... A11
WALL STREET
Chinese Companies Hold Record
IPOs in US, Despite Tensions
Chinese companies
continue to raise
billions in US-based
IPOs, posing risks
for US investors
By FAN YU
News Analysis
Despite ongoing political tensions
between the United States and
China, the world’s two biggest
economies are becoming increas-
ingly intertwined financially,
especially on the IPO front.
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange as the Chinese
music-streaming service Tencent Music launches its IPO on Dec. 12, 2018.
Even as the U.S. Congress begins
to tighten the reins on Chinese
companies listed on U.S. stock ex-
changes, Chinese companies con-
tinue to seek American capital.
Firms based in China have raised
record amounts of equity capital
through initial public offerings
(IPOs) on U.S. exchanges this year.
There are certainly reasons for
Chinese companies to be hesitant
to list here. Some Chinese compa-
nies were recently delisted from
U.S. stock exchanges, such as the
three major Chinese state-owned
telecom providers and energy
firm China National Offshore Oil
SAMUEL CORUM/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
A U.S. flag fies in front of the U.S. Capi-
tol in Washington on April 29, 2021.
Corp. In March, the Securities
and Exchange Commission (SEC)
announced it would begin to
implement the Holding Foreign
Continued on A9
Seek to Stop
World Bank
From Funding
Beijing
China continued to receive
more than a billion dollars
in financing annually in
the past few years
By EMEL AKAN
WASHINGTON—China, the world’s
second-largest economy, has been
exploiting the World Bank by receiv-
ing low-cost loans meant for poor
nations, and it’s time to stop this
practice, a group of prominent China
critics in the U.S. Congress say.
Every dollar loaned to
China is a dollar spent on
strengthening the CCP’s
grip over the Chinese people.
Sen. Tom Cotton
The Chinese economy has grown
rapidly over the past four decades, yet
the World Bank still considers China
a developing nation and despite U.S.
objections sends it development aid.
To cut Beijing’s access to low-
rate debt financing, Sens. Chuck
Grassley (R-Iowa), Marco Rubio
(R-Fla.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Ted
Cruz (R-Texas), and Rick Scott (R-
Fla.) reintroduced on April 30 the
World Bank Integrity Preservation
Act of 2021.
“China has been lending develop-
ment money outside its borders to
extend its influence for years while
taking in U.S. taxpayer dollars via
World Bank loans,” Grassley said
in a statement.
Continued on A3

A group of House Republi-

cans is questioning whether JASON REDMOND/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
political interference contrib- MEDIA SUPREME COURT

uted to what they describe
as questionable results from
the recently completed 2020
Census. ... A7
President Joe Biden’s son
Hunter Biden continues to
own a stake in a Chinese in-
vestment company. ... A6
CHINA
Chinese firms have raised
record amounts of equity
capital through initial public
offerings on U.S. exchanges
this year, amid ongoing politi-
cal tensions between the two
countries. ... A1
Thousands of Falun Gong
practitioners in Taiwan gath-
ered in Liberty Square in Tai-
pei to commemorate almost
three decades since the spiri-
tual practice Falun Gong was
made public. ... A9
OPINION
James E. Fanell: A Friend in
Need Is a Friend Indeed...A13
Andrew Davies: As the EU
Showed Britain, You Can Have
Socialism or Democracy, but
You Can’t Have Both...A14
Austin Bay: Reviving Obama’s
Iran Nuclear Deal Means War,
Not Peace...A16
FEATURES
We’ve abandoned the dis-
tinction between adult and
child—and our kids are pay-
ing for it. ...B1
Many people have a mistak-
en prejudice against produce
from the freezer. ...B7
DON’T DELAY.
SUBSCRIBE TODAY.
READEPOCH.COM
Published in New York,
Washington, Houston, Chicago,
Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
NYT, Washington
Post, NBC
Retract Incorrect
Reporting on
Giuliani’s Contact
With FBI
By JANITA KAN
The New York Times, The Wash-
ington Post, and NBC News have
retracted earlier reporting that in-
correctly stated former New York
Mayor Rudy Giuliani was directly
warned by the FBI that he was tar-
geted by a Russian intelligence in-
fluence operation.
The stories came out after feder-
al investigators executed a search
warrant at the home and office of
the former New York mayor. The
searches were allegedly linked to
Giuliani’s dealings in Ukraine,
while Giuliani said he believes
the search warrant was issued be-
cause he allegedly failed to file with
the Department of Justice (DOJ) for
representing a Ukrainian national
or office. He has since denied any
wrongdoing.
Continued on A6
ECONOMY
Soaring Lumber Prices Add Nearly $36,000 to the Price
of a New Home: NAHB
By TOM OZIMEK
Skyrocketing lumber pric-
es that have tripled over
the past 12 months have
added $35,872 to the cost of
an average new single-family
home, according to new analysis by
the National Association of Home
Builders (NAHB), with the price
spike threatening to hobble the mo-
mentum of the U.S. housing market,
Supreme Court
Asked to Rein
In EPA
By MATTHEW VADUM
West Virginia and 18 other states
are asking the Supreme Court to
review the scope of the Environ-
mental Protection Agency’s regu-
latory authority over greenhouse
An election worker opens envelopes containing vote-by-mail ballots for the Aug. 4 gases after an appeals court struck
Washington state primary at King County Elections in Renton, Wash., on Aug. 3, 2020. down a Trump-era rule months ago
on carbon dioxide emissions from
ELECTIONS
coal-fired power plants.
Over Two-Thirds of Voters Cast 2020 “The case, if granted, would be the
biggest climate question to reach the
Ballots Early or by Mail: Census Bureau Supreme Court in more than a de-
cade,” according to Bloomberg Law.
By JANITA KAN nontraditional methods, accord- In Massachusetts v. EPA (2007), the
ing to figures released last week. Supreme Court gave the agency the
The Census Bureau says that more The survey, a supplement of the power to regulate greenhouse gases.
than two-thirds of voters cast their Current Population Survey, found The Jan. 19 decision by the U.S.
ballots by mail or before Election that the increase in nontraditional Court of Appeals for the D.C. Cir-
Day for the 2020 presidential election. voting was driven by mail-in voting cuit was a victory for left-wing envi-
The bureau, in a new report, found more than doubling to 43 percent. ronmentalists that helped clear the
that 69 percent of voters nationwide Some states, such as New Jersey, way for the then-incoming Biden
took advantage of the expansion mailed ballots to all eligible voters administration to impose new re-
of mail and early-voting options during the 2020 election. Such elec- strictions on the energy sector.
in numerous states—a significant tion regulation changes were reflect- The Clean Air Act “lacks the strait-
jump over the previous election. ed in the survey results where the jacket” that former President Donald
In 2016, about 40 percent of voters percentage of voters opting for early Trump’s EPA claimed narrowed the
cast their ballots through these Continued on A4 Continued on A3
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
MANCHIN OPPOSES
one of the bright stars of the garding the cost and availability of DC STATEHOOD BILL
recovery from the pandem- lumber, appliances, and other build- “[Congress] should
ic recession. ing materials,” NAHB Chairman propose a
While homebuilder sen- Chuck Fowke said in a statement. constitutional
timent remains optimistic, At the onset of the health crisis, “the amendment
as indicated by the NAHB mills stopped producing,” said Dustin and let the
Housing Market index, head- Jalbert, senior economist and lumber people of
winds due to rising building costs industry specialist at Fastmarkets in America
have pulled the index down from Burlington, Massachusetts. “As soon vote,” Sen. Joe
recent highs. as they saw 20 million unemployed, Manchin said.
“The supply chain for residential they shut down production.” Read more on A6
construction is tight, particularly re- Continued on A7

Accuracy The Epoch Times was founded in 2000 as an independent newspaper with the goal to restore accuracy and
integrity in media. We have received numerous awards for our reporting, including from the Society of Professional
& Integrity Journalists, the Society for News Design, and the New York Press Association.
A2 | NATION
76,000 California
Violent, Repeat Felons
Get Earlier Releases
SACRAMENTO—California is
giving 76,000 inmates—including
violent and repeat felons—the op-
portunity to leave prison earlier
as the state aims to further trim
the population of what was once
the nation’s largest state correc-
tional system.
More than 63,000 inmates con-
victed of violent crimes will be
eligible for good behavior credits
that shorten their sentences by
one-third, instead of the one-fifth
sentence reduction that had been
in place since 2017. That includes
nearly 20,000 inmates who are
serving life sentences with the pos-
sibility of parole.
The changes were
approved last week
by the state Office of
Administrative Law.
The new rules took effect on May
1, but it will be months or years
before any inmates go free earlier.
Corrections officials said the goal
is to reward inmates who better
themselves, while critics said the
move will endanger the public.
Under the change, more than
10,000 prisoners convicted of a
second serious, but nonviolent
offense under the state’s “three
strikes” law will be eligible for re-
lease after serving half their sen-
tences. That’s an increase from
the current time-served credit of
one-third of their sentence.
The same increased release time
will apply to nearly 2,900 nonvio-
lent third strikers, the corrections
department projected.
Also as of May 1, all minimum-se-
curity inmates in work camps, in-
cluding those in firefighting camps,
will be eligible for the same earlier
release, with every month they
Oregon Lawmaker Who Let Protesters Into
State Capitol Charged in Breach
TOM OZIMEK
Oregon state Rep. Mike Nearman, a
Republican, faces criminal charges
for allegedly allowing demonstra-
tors to breach the state Capitol in
December.
Nearman has been charged with
official misconduct and criminal
trespass, both misdemeanors, fol-
lowing an investigation of his al-
leged role in a protest that turned
violent at the Oregon State Capitol
in Salem on Dec. 21, according to a
court filing with the Marion County
District Attorney that was obtained
by Oregon Public Broadcasting.
An aide at Nearman’s office didn’t
immediately respond to a request
by The Epoch Times for comment.
The charges stem from an inci-
dent in which groups demanding
an end to ongoing COVID-19 re-
strictions in Oregon gained access
to the state Capitol as lawmakers
were deliberating on COVID-19
relief measures.
Surveillance footage released by
the Capitol in the aftermath of the
incident showed what appears to be
Nearman walking out a side door of
the building, with a protester rush-
ing through the open door to catch
a secondary door Nearman had just
walked through. While a second
protester held the outside door, the
two individuals started waving for
other demonstrators to join them,
the footage shows.
Police arrived on the scene and
pushed the protesters back outside,
but the door was being held open
from the outside and the officers
were unable to close it. A stand-
off between police and protesters
ensued,  with officers struggling
to fend off surges in the doorway
and both sides using pepper spray
spend in the camp—regardless of
the severity of their crime—count-
ing toward a month reduction from
their prison time.
The changes were approved last
week by the state Office of Ad-
ministrative Law.
“The goal is to increase incentives
for the incarcerated population to
practice good behavior and follow
the rules while serving their time,
and participate in rehabilitative
and educational programs, which
will lead to safer prisons,” depart-
ment spokeswoman Dana Simas
said in a statement. “Additionally,
these changes would help to reduce
the prison population by allowing
incarcerated persons to earn their
way home sooner.”
Simas provided the emergency
regulations and estimates of how
many inmates the new policy will
affect at the request of The Associ-
ated Press.
Simas said the department was
granted the authority to make the
changes through the rulemak-
ing process, as well as provisions
allowed under the current bud-
get. By making them emergency
regulations, the agency could im-
pose the new rules without public
comment.
The department must submit
permanent regulations next year.
They will be considered a public
hearing and an opportunity for
public comment.
Kent Scheidegger, legal direc-
tor of the Criminal Justice Legal
Foundation that represents crime
victims, said the notion that the
credits are for good behavior is a
misnomer.
“You don’t have to be good to get
good time credits. People who lose
good time credits for misconduct
get them back: They don’t stay
gone,” he said. “They could be a
useful device for managing the
population if they had more teeth
in them. But they don’t. They’re in
The Oregon Capitol.
The misconduct
charge Rep. Mike
Nearman faces is
punishable by a
maximum of 364
days in prison and a
$6,250 fine.
on one other. As chemical irritants
filled the air, police retreated, and
around 50 people forced their way
into the Capitol’s vestibule.
Following the incident, some
lawmakers and groups called for
Nearman’s resignation, though the
legislature declined to act on the
calls until a criminal investigation
concluded. State House Speaker
Tina Kotek, a Democrat, stripped
Nearman of his committee assign-
ments in January and invoiced him
for $2,000 to cover the costs of fixing
the damage to the building, accord-
ing to the Statesman Journal.
Nearman, in a letter read on the
San Quentin State Prison in San Quentin, Calif., on June 29, 2020.
State Sen. Jim Nielsen (R-Tehama) during a news conference in Sacramento,
Calif., on April 28, 2020.
reality just a giveaway.”
Republican state Sen. Jim
Nielsen, who once headed the
state parole board, criticized Gov.
Gavin Newsom’s administration
for unilaterally deciding to make
the changes.
“He’s doing it on his own author-
ity, instead of the will of the people
through their elected represen-
tatives or directly through their
own votes,” Nielsen said. “This is
what I call Newsom’s time off for
bad behavior. He’s putting us all
M.O. STEVENS/PUBLIC DOMAIN
House floor, agreed to several safety
measures, including giving the leg-
islature 24 hours notice before plan-
ning to enter the Capitol building,
and vowed not to let any unauthor-
ized people inside in the future.
On April 30, following the an-
nouncement of criminal charges
filed again Nearman, Oregon
House Majority Leader Barbara
Smith Warner renewed calls for
Nearman’s resignation.
“Given today’s charges, it’s clear
that he’s got to go. I urge every one
of my colleagues, in every caucus,
to call this out for what it is and join
me in demanding that Nearman
resign immediately,” Smith War-
ner said in a statement, according
to Oregon Live.
The misconduct charge Nearman
faces is punishable by a maximum
of 364 days in prison and a $6,250
fine, while the trespass charge car-
ries a maximum penalty of 30 days
in jail and a $1,250 fine.
Nearman is scheduled to appear
before a judge for an arraignment
on May 11.
RICH PEDRONCELLI/FILE PHOTO VIA AP
at greater risk and there seems to
be no end to the degree to which
he wants to do that.”
California has been under court
orders to reduce a prison popula-
tion that peaked at 160,000 in 2006
and saw inmates being housed in
gymnasiums and activity rooms.
In 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court
backed federal judges’ require-
ment that the state reduce over-
crowding.
The population has been de-
clining since the high court’s
FBI Raided Wrong Home Looking for
Pelosi’s Stolen Laptop, Couple Says
ZACHARY STIEBER
FBI agents raided a home in Alas-
ka trying to find a laptop stolen
from House Speaker Nancy Pe-
losi’s (D-Calif.) office during the
Jan. 6 breach of the Capitol but
misidentified the home’s owner,
she and her husband allege.
Paul and Marilyn Hueper, who
own the Homer Inn & Spa, were
shocked when agents barged into
their home on April 28 with guns
drawn.  The agents separated
the couple and began looking
through the house.  They dis-
closed that they thought Mari-
lyn Hueper was inside the U.S.
Capitol on Jan. 6, when Pelosi’s
laptop was stolen.
“I think almost right off the bat,
they said, ‘Well, you probably
know why we’re here,’ or some-
thing like that. It’s like, yeah, no,
not really. And they said, ‘Well,
we’re here for Nancy Pelosi’s lap-
top.’ And I said, ‘Oh,’” Marilyn
Hueper told KSRM radio.
Agents showed the couple a
photograph of a woman they
thought was Marilyn Hueper.
But almost immediately, the cou-
ple spotted key differences, such
as the woman inside the Capitol
having detached earlobes while
Marilyn Hueper’s are attached.
“I’m like, ‘Wait a minute. Is that
her? That’s clearly not me. Why
did you not show me this to start
with?’” Marilyn Hueper said.
The FBI has acknowledged the
raid but said it couldn’t immedi-
ately confirm anything else.
“While individuals are free
to speak about their interac-
tions with the FBI, we do not, as
a matter of practice, discuss or
describe any contact we have or
allegedly have with individuals,”
MONDAY, MAY 3, 2021
JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES
decision, starting when the state
began keeping lower-level felons
in county jails instead of state
prisons. In 2014, voters reduced
penalties for property and drug
crimes. Two years later, voters ap-
proved allowing earlier parole for
most inmates.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic
hit, the population had dropped
to 117,00 inmates. In the last year,
21,000 more have left state pris-
ons—with about half being held
temporarily in county jails.
Officials announced in mid-
April that they will close a second
prison as a result of the dwindling
population, fulfilling a promise
made by Newsom. California
Correctional Center in Susanville
will close by July 2022. Officials
announced last fall that Deuel
Vocational Institution in Tracy,
east of San Francisco, will close
by this October.
Many Democratic lawmakers
and advocacy groups have been
calling for further releases or
shorter sentences. In early April,
for instance, Californians United
for a Responsible Budget said the
state should shutter at least 10 more
of its 35 prisons.
From The Associated Press
a spokeswoman told The Asso-
ciated Press. “At this time, and
until it reaches the public realm,
we can’t discuss the details.”
The Huepers were in Washing-
ton on Jan. 6, but say they were
no closer than 100 yards from the
entrance.
“We were at most within a
hundred yards of the front of the
building. I mean we were in a sea
of a million people, so we’re far
enough back. Then I started to
kind of understand what the pro-
cess of what they were looking
for, you know again the case of
mistaken identity,” Paul Hueper
said on KSRM.
A spokesman for Pelosi con-
firmed in January that a com-
puter was stolen from her office.
He said that it “was only used for
presentations.”
Pelosi later brushed aside con-
cerns for the computer, which
she said “happened to be one
that we used for Zooms and stuff
like that, I think. But she also
said that trying to sell the com-
puter to a hostile foreign power
could ‘jeopardize all kinds of
information.’”
FBI agents previously focused
on another suspect, Pennsylva-
nia woman Riley June Williams,
in their attempt to recover the
device. An agent claimed that
Williams meant to send the
computer to a friend in Russia
who would then sell it to Russian
intelligence officials.
But Williams’ lawyer, and a
friend of hers, said that the story
had been fabricated by the ac-
cused’s abusive ex-boyfriend.
FBI agents searched Williams’s
home and apartment and came
up empty, her lawyer later told
the court.
 MONDAY, MAY 3, 2021
GOP Senators Propose Curbs on
Low-Rate World Bank Loans to Beijing
CONTINUED FROM A1
The proposal would “provide
a short-term and longer-term
means to take away the status
that allows China to receive loans
and halt loans to any country like
China that exceeds the World
Bank graduation thresholds or
poses a risk to religious freedom,”
Grassley added.
According to World Bank poli-
cy, countries are eligible to bor-
row from the International Bank
for Reconstruction and Develop-
ment (IBRD), an institution of the
bank, until they reach a certain
income threshold, which is called
a Graduation Discussion Income
threshold.
The Chinese econ-
omy has grown rap-
idly over the past
four decades, yet
the World Bank still
considers China a
developing nation
and despite U.S.
objections sends it
development aid.
China reached that threshold in
2016 and was expected to reduce
its borrowing from the bank since
then. The World Bank sharehold-
ers agreed in 2018 that the loans
to China would fall below a billion
dollars a year. China, however,
continued to receive more than
$1 billion of financing annually
for the fiscal years of 2019 and
2020, according to the IBRD data.
19 States Ask Supreme Court to Rein
in EPA Powers Over Coal Plants
CONTINUED FROM A1
breadth of the agency’s authority
when creating the 2019 regula-
tion, the appeals court found. The
2019 rule would have forced states
to make coal-fired units more ef-
ficient over time, but lacked bind-
ing CO2 reduction goals.
The Appeals Court ruling vio-
lates the U.S. Constitution’s sep-
aration of powers doctrine and
will wreak havoc on the economy
and the rule of law if the Supreme
Court fails to act, West Virginia At-
torney General Patrick Morrisey
said in a statement on April 29.
“This wildly expansive power to
regulate factories, hospitals, and
even homes has tremendous costs
and consequences for all Ameri-
cans, in particular West Virginia’s
coal miners, pipeliners, natural
gas producers and utility work-
ers as well as the countless others
who rely upon their success,” said
Morrisey, a Republican.
“If EPA lacks such expansive au-
thority, as we argue, the Supreme
Court should make that clear now.
Any further delay will impose
costs the energy sector can never
recoup and force states to sink
even more years and resources
Iowa Governor Signs Law Letting Landlords Refuse Section 8 Vouchers
IVAN PENTCHOUKOV
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has signed
into a law a bill that prohibits the
state’s localities from requiring
landlords to accept federal rental
assistance vouchers.
Both chambers of the state’s leg-
islature approved the bill in March.
The law states that counties can’t
enact laws that prohibit landlords
from refusing to rent “to a person
because of the person’s use of a fed-
eral housing choice voucher issued
by the United States Department of
Housing and Urban Development.”
And since the beginning of this
year, China was already approved
for a  $600 million loan  from
the World Bank.
As of March 31, the bank’s cumu-
lative lending to China was nearly
$66 billion.
“For too long, Beijing has been
allowed to exploit the World
Bank’s limited resources even
though they should not qualify
for assistance,” Rubio said in the
statement. “This bill also reaffirms
America’s continued commitment
to religious freedom worldwide.”
Similar legislation was intro-
duced in December 2019 to block
the World Bank from issuing more
funding to the Chinese Commu-
nist Party (CCP).
The United States led other coun-
tries in the establishment of the
IBRD in 1944, and today, it’s the
largest shareholder of the World
Bank Group.
“Under no circumstances
should American taxpayers be
on the hook for World Bank loans
to countries actively repressing
religious minorities, especially
to Communist China, which is
committing genocide against
Uyghur Muslims,” Scott said in
the statement.
China is also the world’s largest
creditor, accounting for almost 65
percent of official bilateral debt.
In recent years, China has lured
many poor countries into a debt
trap through its Belt and Road Ini-
tiative (BRI), which is one of the
world’s most ambitious and con-
troversial development programs.
Since its launch in 2013, the BRI
has poured billions of dollars into
emerging countries to help build
massive infrastructure projects.
“The Chinese Communist Party
into an enterprise that is—at
best—legally uncertain.
“The appeals court ruling seeks
to transform EPA from serving
as an environmental regulator
into a central energy planning
authority—yet it was never de-
signed to have so much power
over states and the livelihood of
American families.”
The petitioners are West Vir-
ginia, Alabama, Alaska, Arkan-
sas, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas,
Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri,
Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Okla-
homa, South Carolina, South Da-
kota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.
The respondents are the EPA and
its administrator, Michael Regan.
The Supreme Court petition
filed by the state-based coalition
claims the lower court inappro-
priately interpreted Section 111
of the Clean Air Act as authoriz-
ing EPA “to sidestep Congress to
exercise broad regulatory power
that would radically transform
the nation’s energy grid and force
states to fundamentally shift
their energy portfolios away from
coal-fired generation,” according
to a summary provided by Mor-
risey’s office.
The petition also asserts that the
The Des Moines Register report-
ed that the governor signed the
bill. The state legislature’s web-
site didn’t say whether the bill was
signed, and the governor’s web-
site didn’t feature an update on
the matter. The governor’s office
didn’t immediately respond to a
request for an update.
More than 39,500 people in
Iowa used federal housing choice
vouchers in 2020, according to
the Department of Housing and
Urban Development (HUD). The
average voucher was worth $439,
with an average household in-
is engaged in an ongoing genocide
against the Uyghurs. They exploit
international finance for their hu-
man rights atrocities,” Cruz said,
according to the statement.
“The World Bank has also con-
tributed to the Belt and Road ini-
tiative, in which the Chinese Com-
munist Party utilizes coercive debt
traps to advance their interests.”
Most BRI projects are financed
mainly through a wide range of
Chinese local government and
state-controlled institutions. And
some are co-financed by the World
Bank and other multilateral devel-
opment banks.
The World Bank has also funded
projects in Xinjiang, such as the
Technical and Vocational Educa-
tion and Training Project.
“The United States must urge
appeals court ignored a February
2016 stay on the rule instituted by
the Supreme Court, which the co-
alition says “should have hinted
that the high court viewed exist-
ing law as limiting EPA’s author-
ity—not expanding it.”
The legal issue, according to the
petition, is whether in approving
“42 U.S.C. § 7411(d), an ancillary
provision of the Clean Air Act, did
Congress constitutionally autho-
rize the Environmental Protection
Agency to issue significant rules—
including those capable of reshap-
ing the nation’s electricity grids
and unilaterally decarbonizing
virtually any sector of the econo-
my—without any limits on what
the agency can require so long as
it considers cost, nonair impacts,
and energy requirements?”
The appeals court is “wrong,”
the petition states. Its ruling al-
lows “EPA to dictate huge shifts in
most sectors of the economy even
though nothing in the statute
approaches the clear language
Congress must use to assign such
vast policymaking authority—as-
suming, of course, it can delegate
enormous powers like these in
the first place.”
EPA now can “set standards on
come for the beneficiaries being
$12,577 annually.
Landlord groups advocated for
the law’s passage.
“We try to train our members on
the advantages of accepting Sec-
tion 8, or housing choice vouch-
ers, but our preference is that it
would remain a voluntary pro-
gram,” Iowa Landlords Associa-
tion Executive Director Andrew
Lietzow told the Register.
The landlords argued that ac-
cepting the vouchers led to more
inspections and trouble recovering
the money spent on fixing dam-
Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Feb. 24, 2020.
the World Bank to end these
loans, which are contrary to
its own guidelines and the de-
mands of justice,” Cotton said
in the statement. “Every dollar
loaned to China is a dollar spent
on strengthening the CCP’s grip
over the Chinese people.”
The Chinese Communist regime
has come under fire for using debt
as a tool to gain political and eco-
nomic leverage over other na-
tions and silence them about the
regime’s human rights violations.
In addition, a new study led by
AidData, a U.S. research lab at
the College of William and Mary,
showed that China’s loan contracts
with emerging countries have un-
common secrecy provisions, col-
lateral arrangements, and debt
renegotiation restrictions.
American Electric Power’s Mountaineer coal power plant, including cooling
tower and stacks, in New Haven, W.Va.
a regional or even national level,
forcing dramatic changes in how
and where electricity is produced,
as well as transforming any other
sector of the economy where sta-
tionary sources emit greenhouse
gases. Power to regulate factories,
hospitals, hotels, and even homes
would have tremendous costs and
consequences for all Americans;
EPA’s steps on remand and every
regulation under the statute to
follow will be shaped by this new
and wildly expansive authority.”
An environmentalist group said
there’s no reason for the high
court to get involved.
“There is no basis for Supreme
aged properties. Opponents of the
law claim that it’s racist.
“When you reduce the number of
landlords that are willing to accept
the voucher, that just creates one
more hurdle for ... our most vul-
nerable population,” Des Moines
Community Development Director
Chris Johansen told the Register.
HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge
claimed in an interview in March
that “fair housing is the law of the
land” and suggested that the Iowa
bill is “a violation of the law.” Fudge
said she may get the Department
of Justice involved to challenge the
NATION | A3
A Chinese laborer works at a
construction site on reclaimed land,
part of a Chinese-funded project in
ISHARA S. KODIKARA/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
The solution to dis-
agreement is ... not
compelled ideologi-
cal uniformity
by government bu-
reaucrats.
Lawsuit filed by Alliance
Defending Freedom
Chinese lenders, for example,
were given the freedom to cancel
loans or accelerate repayment if
they disagree with a borrower na-
tion’s policies.
Through its so-called “debt-trap
diplomacy,” the Chinese regime
has also grown its influence on
religious freedom and human
rights overseas.
The U.S. Commission on Inter-
national Religious Freedom in its
annual report released on April
21 stated that Beijing’s economic
and geopolitical influence over-
seas had negatively affected rights
and freedoms in other countries.
“Tactics include harassment,
intimidation, and detainment of
human rights activists, ethnic and
religious minorities, and other crit-
ics and dissidents,” the report said.
SAUL LOEB/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Court review. There are no stan-
dards in effect right now, and the
Biden administration has been
clear that any future standards
will start from a clean slate,”
Vickie Patton, general counsel for
the Environmental Defense Fund,
told reporters.
“These state Attorneys General
seem to be wasting taxpayer mon-
ey just to attack our nation’s clean
air laws,” she said.
The Epoch Times reached out to
EPA Press Secretary Nick Conger
for his reaction to the legal filing.
“We have no comment as this
is pending litigation,” he replied
by email.
Iowa measure in court.
“It is a discussion that I would
need to have with the Department
of Justice, but I would clearly be-
lieve that we are within our rights
to demand that these communities
cooperate with what we are doing,”
Fudge told MSNBC on March 17. “If
they want to get into a fight about it,
we’re ready to fight them about it.”
According to the Register, three
cities in Iowa currently have lo-
cal ordinances compelling land-
lords to accept federal housing
vouchers: Des Moines, Iowa City,
and Marion.
A4 | NATION MONDAY, MAY 3, 2021

TASOS KATOPODIS/GETTY IMAGES

that the most likely cause was directed

microwave energy.
“Overall, directed pulsed RF (radio fre-
quency) energy, especially in those with
the distinct early manifestations, appears
to be the most plausible mechanism in ex-
plaining these cases among those that the
committee considered,” the report found.
The report didn’t suggest that micro-
wave energy was part of a deliberate
scheme targeting U.S. personnel, but not-
ed that “the mere consideration of such
a scenario raises grave concerns about a
world with disinhibited malevolent actors
and new tools for causing harm to others,
as if the U.S. government does not have
its hands full already with naturally oc-
curring threats.”

The Senate Intelligence

Committee intends to get
to the bottom of this.
Sens. Mark Warner and Marco Rubio

Rubio and Warner said in their statement

that the Senate Intelligence Committee
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) speaks alongside a bipartisan group of members of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington on Dec. 1, 2020.
has “already held fact-finding hearings on
these debilitating attacks, many of which
result in medically confirmed cases of
Senators Vow to Probe Apparent Traumatic Brain Injury, and will do more.”
Director of National Intelligence Avril
Haines didn’t deny the reports of the at-
Rise in ‘Havana Syndrome’ Directed- tacks when questioned last week, and told
the Senate Armed Services Committee
she couldn’t discuss the issue openly be-

Energy Attacks Against Americans cause it involved classified information,

TOM OZIMEK
The leaders of the Senate Intelligence
Committee vowed to “get to the bottom”
of mysterious directed-energy attacks
dubbed “Havana syndrome,” which are re-
portedly on the rise and have been linked
to brain-damaging injuries.
Committee Chairman Sen. Mark Warner
(D-Va.) and Vice Chairman Sen. Marco
Rubio (R-Fla.) confirmed in a joint state-
ment on April 30 that there’s an apparent
rise in the incidence of directed-energy
attacks on U.S. personnel.
“For nearly five years, we have been
aware of reports of mysterious attacks on
United States Government personnel in
Havana, Cuba, and around the world,”
Rubio and Warner wrote. “This pattern of
attacking our fellow citizens serving our
government appears to be increasing. The
Senate Intelligence Committee intends to
get to the bottom of this.”
Their statement comes after media re-
ports saying incidents bearing the hall-
marks of “Havana syndrome” attacks
had taken place in Washington, includ-
ing just outside the White House and in
Miami. One of the alleged energy attacks
took place on the south side of the White
House in November, and is believed to
have sickened a White House aide, CBS
reports.
U.S. authorities have struggled to under-
stand the mysterious attacks since they
were first noted in 2016, when diplomatic
and intelligence personnel in Cuba first
began reporting disturbing symptoms in-
cluding head pressure or vibration, and
dizziness, sometimes followed by visual
problems and cognitive difficulties.
“For some of these patients, their case
began with the sudden onset of a loud
noise, perceived to have directional fea-
tures, and accompanied by pain in one or
both ears or across a broad region of the
GRAEME JENNINGS-POOL/GETTY IMAGES
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) speaks during a
hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on April
21, 2021.
head,” reads a State Department-spon-
sored study into the phenomenon by the
National Academy of Sciences.
A 19-person committee of medical and
scientific experts involved in the study
considered chemical exposures, infectious
diseases, and psychological issues as be-
ing behind the symptoms, but concluded
CNN reports. Haines called the issue of
the mysterious attacks “critically impor-
tant,” adding that “across the intelligence
community, frankly, leaders are focused
on this issue.”
CIA Director William Burns, during his
confirmation hearing before the Senate In-
telligence Committee in late February, com-
mitted to investigating the phenomenon.
“I will make it an extraordinarily high
priority to get to the bottom of who’s re-
sponsible for the attacks and to ensure
that colleagues and their families get the
care they deserve,” including treatment at
Walter Reed National Medical Center and
the National Institutes of Health, Burns
said at the time.
Warner and Rubio said in their statement
that they welcomed renewed investigation
by the CIA into the incidents, noting that
it was important “to better understand the
technology behind the weapon respon-
sible for these attacks.”
“Ultimately, we will identify those re-
sponsible for these attacks on American
personnel and will hold them account-
able,” they said.

JASON REDMOND/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Over Two-Thirds of Voters Cast 2020 Ballots

Early or by Mail: Census Bureau
CONTINUED FROM A1
or by-mail options increased ex-
ponentially to 92.3 percent in 2020
from 7.9 percent in 2016. States
such as California and Vermont,
which also mailed ballots to all
voters, saw a 35 percent or greater
shift to mail-in and early voting.
The data also found that the
rate of nontraditional voting in
Arizona, Texas, Montana, Ne-
vada, Utah, Colorado, Oregon,
Washington, Hawaii, Maryland,
and the District of Columbia was
82.9 percent or greater. But Colo-
rado, Oregon, and Washington
didn’t see a significant shift in the
rate, as those states had already
allowed for all-mail elections in
the past.
The change in voting behav-
ior was partly driven by policies
The bureau found
that 69 percent of
voters nationwide
took advantage
of the expansion
of mail and early-
voting options in
numerous states.
adopted to prevent crowding at
polling booths amid the CCP
virus pandemic. These policies,
some of which were implemented
at the last minute or without ap-
proval from state legislatures,
became the subject of multiple
lawsuits filed by President Don-
ald Trump, his campaign, and
a number of Republicans, who
alleged that the changes were
made in violation of the U.S. Con-
stitution and resulted in numer-
ous irregularities.
Several Republican states have
since enacted or are considering
legislative measures in an attempt
to protect the integrity of the ballot
box in response to the concerns
raised during the 2020 election.
Georgia implemented a number An election worker sort vote-by-mail ballots for the presidential primary at
of changes to the way its residents the King County elections facility in Renton, Wash., on March 10, 2020.
vote, including requiring photo
or state-approved identification voting, drop boxes, and prevent- remembered for having taken
to vote absentee by mail. The law ing election officials from entering place during a pandemic,” the
also mandates that secure drop- consent agreements. Census Bureau said in its release.
boxes be placed inside early vot- The survey also found states that “As the above findings indicate,
ing locations with constant sur- recorded an increase in nontradi- the methods of voting used by
veillance and it expands early tional voting methods in 2020 also those casting a ballot were signifi-
voting across the state. saw a larger change in turnout be- cantly different from prior elec-
Similarly, Florida’s legislature tween the 2016 and 2020 elections tions, though the magnitude and
last week passed a similar law set- compared to the remaining states. nature of the changes varied from
ting out guidelines for methods of “The 2020 election will long be state to state.”

Utah GOP Votes Against Censure of Romney Over Impeachment Votes

IVAN PENTCHOUKOV
The Utah Republican Party vot-
ed narrowly on May 1 against
censuring Sen. Mitt Romney
(R-Utah) for his votes to convict
former President Donald Trump
on impeachment charges in 2020
and 2021.
According to a final tally shared
by KUTV reporter Michael Lock-
lear,  711  delegates to the Utah
GOP’s organizing convention
voted to censure Romney, while
798 voted against.
The U.S. Senate acquitted
Trump at the conclusion of both
trials. Romney was the only Re-
publican to vote for impeachment
during the first trial, and was one
of seven Republicans to do so in
the second impeachment trial.
Earlier in the day, Romney was
booed when he appeared on
stage during the convention. In
a video shared by The Salt Lake
City Tribune, Romney was met
by a raucous crowd of mixed
cheers and boos upon walking
up to the podium.
“So, what do you think about
President Biden’s first 100 days?”
Romney said, before pausing and
thanking the crowd repeatedly
as the competing cheers and
jeers continued.
The booing ramped up after
Romney said he wasn’t a fan
of Trump’s “character issues,”
prompting Romney to ask “aren’t
you embarrassed?” Utah GOP
Chairman Derek Brown eventu-
ally walked up to the mic to ask
the crowd to be respectful.
“I understand that I have a few
folks who don’t like me terribly
much. I’m sorry about that, but
I express my mind as I believe is
right. I follow my conscience as
I believe is right,” Romney said
before proceeding to criticize
President Joe Biden.
The resolution was titled “Reso-
lution Thanking Senator Mike Lee
According to a final
tally, 711 delegates
voted to censure
Romney, while 798
voted against.
and Representatives Chris Stew-
art, John Curtis, Burgess Owens,
and Blake Moore and Censuring
Senator Mitt Romney.”
“Mitt Romney voted to pro-
ceed with the unconstitutional
impeachment and convict Pres-
ident Trump despite the lack of
evidence and due process,” the
resolution states. “The Utah Re-
publican Party censures Mitt
Romney for his votes to convict
President Trump in two U.S. Sen-
ate impeachment trials which de-
nied the President due process,
allowed falsified evidence, did
not provide adequate time for
an investigation, and did not fol-
low the U.S. Constitution which
states a President may only be
impeached for high crimes and
misdemeanors.”
Trump has vowed to mount pri-
mary challenges against the Re-
publicans who voted to impeach
and convict him. Romney isn’t up
for reelection in 2022.
 MONDAY, MAY 3, 2021 NATION | A5

May Day Rioters Carry Out Violent Acts in Portland, Seattle

NATHAN HOWARD/GETTY IMAGES
ZACHARY STIEBER

A riot in Portland, Oregon, took

place on May 1, a day that holds
significance for communists and
other far-left ideologues.
A group of more than 100 indi-
viduals, many carrying shields,
gathered in Shemanski Park be-
tween 9 and 10 p.m. and marched
to City Hall, where they began
smashing windows and using
spray paint to scrawl various mes-
sages on the building.
Police officers declared a riot
and ordered the crowd to dis-
perse, but the mob instead began
marching in the streets, block-
ing traffic, and damaging private
businesses. Some members of the
crowd used umbrellas to obscure
the crimes being committed.
Most of the group wore all-
black with coverings obscuring
their faces, a tactic commonly
employed by far-left anarcho-
communist group Antifa. Known
Antifa accounts were promoting
the “direct action” event on social
media prior to it happening. Ad-
ditionally, people who have been
arrested at previous riots in Port-
land and people who have been
linked to Antifa were at the riot
on May 1. Portland Police respond to a riot declaration following the police shooting of a homeless man in Portland, Ore., on April 16, 2021.
Meanwhile, a group near the PORTLAND POLICE BUREAU

federal Immigration and Cus- records show; it’s currently sched-

toms Enforcement facility in
south Portland swelled to over
60 people just before midnight.
As officers tried to make an arrest,
a man in the crowd pulled out a
knife. The officers used muni-
tions, prompting him to flee. He
was soon caught and arrested.
At least five people were arrested
on charges including riot, crimi-
nal mischief, and disorderly con-
duct. One of the men was found to
be carrying a hammer and a hand
sling along with instructions for
making a sling.
Kristopher Donnelly, who has
been arrested at least four times at
riots, was among those taken into
custody. He was charged by feder-
al prosecutors with civil disorder.
The man’s federal trial has been
delayed twice by a judge, court
uled to start on May 18. Conditions A combination
Police officers of his release stipulated that he not of photos
declared a riot and commit any other crimes. shows
“We appreciate those who en- damaged and
ordered the crowd gaged in their First Amendment vandalized
to disperse, but the rights this afternoon in a peaceful buildings, and
a hammer
mob instead began manner. Once again, under the
and slingshot
cover of darkness, several dozen
marching in the people decided to damage and
found on
a rioter, in
streets, blocking destroy multiple businesses in Portland,
traffic, and dam- our downtown area resulting in a Ore., on May
riot,” Portland Police Chief Chuck 1, 2021.
aging private Lovell said in a statement.
businesses. “The situation became extreme- mize further damage and arrest paint-filled eggs, and other ob-
ly dangerous when a man bran- some of the criminals involved.” jects at officers, and threw lit flares
dished a knife at officers when In Seattle on May 1, police offi- into the road, the Seattle Police
officers were simply doing their cers arrested 14 people for crimes Department said in an incident
job. The officers appear to have ex- ranging from property destruc- summary.
ercised restraint and professional- tion to assault and reckless driv- The department didn’t identify
ism and safely apprehended this ing committed during violent anyone who was arrested, only
suspect. I am proud of all of our demonstrations. giving their ages and the charges
employees who worked to mini- Rioters threw bottles, rocks, they face.

Sen. Cornyn, Senate GOP Introduce Concealed Carry Reciprocity Bill

TOM OZIMEK
A group of Senate Republicans,
led by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas),
have introduced a bill that would
allow individuals with concealed
carry privileges in their home
state to exercise those rights in
any other state with concealed
carry laws.
“This bill focuses on two of our
country’s most fundamental
constitutional protections—the
Second Amendment’s right of
citizens to keep and bear arms
and the Tenth Amendment’s right
of states to make laws best-suited
for their residents,” Cornyn said
in a statement. “I look forward to
working with my colleagues to
advance this important legisla-
tion for law-abiding gun owners
nationwide.”
Joining Cornyn in launching
the Constitutional Concealed
Carry Reciprocity Act were Sens.
Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Chuck
Grassley (R-Iowa), and Jim Inhofe
(R-Okla.).
The measure would allow in-
dividuals with concealed carry
privileges in their home state to
conceal carry in any other states
that also allow it, while respecting
specific state restrictions around
the types of firearms and loca-
tions they can be carried in.
“Law-abiding Tennesseans
who are permitted to carry a
firearm should be able to exer-
cise that constitutional right in
other states, consistent with those
state’s laws, without having to ob-
tain a separate permit,” Hagerty
said. “The constitutional right of
self-defense should not disappear
while traveling or temporarily liv-
ing away from home.”
The idea behind the legisla-
tion is to treat state-issued con-
cealed carry permits like drivers’
licenses, where people can use
their home-state license to drive
in another state but must follow
the other state’s speed limit or
road laws.
“This bill reduces confusion and
legal inconsistencies for respon-
sible gun owners when they travel
outside of their home state, while
also respecting states’ rights to set
their own laws. I’m happy to again
support this bill,” Grassley said.
At the same time, the bill re-
spects states’ authority to set
their own concealed carry laws,
as it does not establish national
standards for concealed carry
nor does it provide for a national
concealed carry permit.
“The Constitutional Con-
cealed Carry Reciprocity Act is
common-sense legislation that
protects law-abiding citizens’
right to self-defense and to keep
and bear arms when traveling
between states that allow con-
cealed carry,” Inhofe said. “I am
glad to join Sen. Cornyn in intro-
ducing this bill and I look forward
to working with my colleagues to
advance this proposal through
the Senate.”
The bill is co-sponsored by 27
other Senate Republicans, includ-
ing Senate Minority Leader Mitch
McConnell (R-Ky.).
While many states honor con-
cealed carry permits from other
states, some—including Califor-
nia, New York, and Maryland—
do not, which effectively bans the
carry of handguns by nonresi-
dents visiting their state.
The protection of Second
Amendment rights has drawn
renewed scrutiny since President
Joe Biden, who has repeatedly
called for tougher gun restric-
tions, took office.

THINK
THE EPOCH TIMES
BUT FOR TV
News without spin, for you to
form your own opinion.

GET NTD ON TV WATCH US ONLINE PAUL GREANEY TIFFANY MEIER STEFANIA COX KEVIN HOGAN
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and Deep Dive Evening News News Today
A6 | NATION
Hunter Biden Still
Owns Stake in
Chinese Firm
ZACHARY STIEBER
President Joe Biden’s son Hunter
Biden continues to own a stake in a
Chinese investment company, which
undermines the promise the presi-
dent made on the campaign trail that
his family would be free of foreign
business dealings.
The younger Biden in-
vested $420,000 in BHR
in 2017, his lawyer said
in a previous statement.
He also sat on the firm’s
board of directors.
The younger Biden, who was involved
in a number of business deals while
his father was vice president, includ-
ing in China, retains a 10 percent stake
in a Chinese private equity firm called
Bohai Harvest RST Equity Investment
Fund Management Co. (BHR), accord-
ing to business records available online.
BHR is co-owned by the state-controlled
Bank of China.
The Daily Caller News Foundation first
reported on Hunter Biden’s holding.
President Biden, while a candidate
for office, promised Americans that
no member of his family “will have
an office in the White House, will sit
in on meetings as if they are a Cabinet
member, will, in fact, have any business
relationship with anyone that relates
to a foreign corporation or a foreign
country.”
The president was inaugurated in
January.
The younger Biden invested $420,000
in BHR in 2017, his lawyer,  George
Mesires, said in a previous statement.
Hunter Biden also sat on the firm’s
board of directors. He hadn’t received
a return on his investment as of 2019,
Mesires said at the time.
“Hunter makes the following commit-
ment: Under a Biden Administration,
Hunter will readily comply with any and
all guidelines or standards a President
Biden may issue to address purported
conflicts of interest, or the appearance
of such conflicts, including any restric-
tions related to overseas business in-
terests. In any event, Hunter will agree
not to serve on boards of, or work on
behalf of, foreign-owned companies,”
Mesires wrote.
The White House and Mesires didn’t
immediately return requests by The Ep-
och Times for comment.
White House press secretary Jen Psa-
ki told reporters on Feb. 5 that Hunter
Biden “has been working to unwind his
investment, but I would certainly point
you—he’s a private citizen—I would
point you to him or his lawyers on the
outside on any update.”
HANDOUT/DNCC VIA GETTY IMAGES
Hunter Biden addresses the virtual Demo-
cratic National Convention, in this screen-
shot taken on Aug. 20, 2020.
NYT, Washington Post, NBC
Retract Reports That Giuliani Got
FBI Russia Briefing
CONTINUED FROM A1
The Post was the first to report the incor-
rect information. It also incorrectly stated
that One America News had also received
a similar warning from the FBI.
“This version has been corrected to re-
move assertions that OAN and Giuliani
received the warnings,” the correction
appended on the article states.
The NY Times made its correction on a
story about Giuliani’s alleged role in the 2019
recall of ambassador Marie L. Yovanovitch.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) (R) talks to Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) as they walk the Senate floor to the House chamber on the U.S. Capitol in Wash-
ington on April 28, 2021.
Manchin Opposes DC Statehood Bill,
Says ‘Let the People of America Vote’
TOM OZIMEK
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said on April
30 that he doesn’t support legislation that
would make Washington, D.C., the na-
tion’s 51st state, dealing a blow to the ini-
tiative, which Republicans have panned
as an unconstitutional power grab.
“If Congress wants to make D.C. a state,
it should propose a constitutional amend-
ment. It should propose a constitutional
amendment and let the people of Amer-
ica vote,” Manchin told West Virginia’s
MetroNews in an April 30 radio interview.
Last month, the House passed H.R. 51—
the Washington, D.C. Admission Act—in
a vote of 216–208, backing congressional
Democrats’ view of “no taxation without
representation.” But Republicans see the
legislation as an unconstitutional ploy to
add two more Democratic senators.
Manchin said prior
analyses of the matter
found that Washington
statehood would require
a constitutional amend-
ment. He views the 23rd
Amendment as the
main obstacle.
The measure, which is backed by Presi-
dent Joe Biden, faces daunting odds in
the evenly split Senate, as the legislative
filibuster would require buy-in from at
least 10 Republican senators, assuming
all Democrats vote for it. Manchin’s dec-
laration of opposition to the measure casts
a further shadow of doubt on its fate.
Manchin said in the interview that he and
his staff had taken a “deep dive” into the bill
and its background, including a review of
conclusions reached by the Department of
Justice (DOJ) under previous administra-
tions. He said prior analyses of the matter
“An earlier version of this article misstat-
ed whether Rudolph W. Giuliani received a
formal warning from the F.B.I. about Rus-
sian disinformation. Mr. Giuliani did not
receive such a so-called defensive brief-
ing,” the correction states.
Meanwhile, NBC News elaborated on
why it corrected the story, saying that a
second source disputed the assertions of
the first source as the briefing was only
prepared for Giuliani and not delivered
to him. Both sources were anonymously
cited in the article.
SAMUEL CORUM/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
A U.S. flag fies in front of the U.S. Capitol in
Washington on April 29, 2021.
found that Washington statehood would
require a constitutional amendment, add-
ing that he views the 23rd Amendment of
the U.S. Constitution as the main obstacle.
“Every legal scholar has told us that,
so why not do it the right way and let the
people vote to see if they want to change?”
Manchin said, referring to a constitutional
amendment.
While Manchin didn’t explicitly men-
tion a repeal of the 23rd Amendment in
the interview, H.R. 51 provides for expe-
dited consideration of a joint resolution
that would repeal the 23rd Amendment,
which gave D.C. three Electoral College
votes in presidential elections.
Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-
D.C.), a former tenured professor of con-
stitutional law who has long championed
Washington statehood, issued a statement
on April 30 insisting that making Washing-
ton into the 51st state wouldn’t require a
repeal of the 23rd Amendment.
“Even though the 23rd Amendment does
not need to be repealed before Washing-
ton statehood, some scholars have argued
that the 23rd Amendment would be nulli-
fied under the Washington statehood bill,
JOHANNES EISELE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
The New York Times Building in New York on
June 30, 2020.
“The report was based on a source famil-
iar with the matter, but a second source
now says the briefing was only prepared
for Giuliani and not delivered to him, in
part over concerns it might complicate
the criminal investigation of Giuliani,” the
MONDAY, MAY 3, 2021
DREW ANGERER/GETTY IMAGES
either because the bill would repeal the
enabling statute for the amendment, or
because the bill would lead to the unrea-
sonable result of allowing the reduced fed-
eral district to participate in the Electoral
College,” she said.
Norton said she expects Congress would
quickly move to repeal the 23rd Amend-
ment to prevent the reduced federal district
from participating in the Electoral College.
The effort for Washington statehood,
which would endow its citizens full rep-
resentation in Congress and control over
issues that affect the district, was started in
2013 by Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and has
been championed by Norton in the House.
Carper and fellow Democrats say it’s con-
sistent with what the Founding Fathers envi-
sioned for America and fair representation.
“This isn’t a Republican or Democratic
issue; it’s an American issue because the
lack of fair representation for Washington
residents is clearly inconsistent with the
values on which this country was found-
ed,” Carper said in a statement in January.
In mid-March, prior to a hearing on
H.R. 51, ranking member of the House
Oversight and Reform Committee Rep.
James Comer (R-Ky.) echoed Republican
sentiment about the bill when he called it
unconstitutional and a bid to tip the scales
in Democrats’ favor.
“D.C. statehood is all about Speaker Pe-
losi and liberal democrats consolidating
their power to enact radical policies na-
tionwide like the Green New Deal, packing
the Supreme Court, and eliminating the
filibuster,” Comer said in a statement.
“The Democrats’ bill is unconstitutional
and no amount of testimony can change
that basic fact. The bill does not address
the financial burden that would fall on the
District if statehood was granted or other
practical implications. H.R. 51 doesn’t rest
in sound policy and is a dangerous po-
litical power grab that will ensure more
government intrusion into Americans’
daily lives.”
Masooma Haq contributed to this report.
NBC News correction reads.
The press offices of The NY Times, the Post,
and NBC News didn’t respond by press time
to The Epoch Times’ questions about the
corrections. Giuliani’s office didn’t respond
to a request for comment by press time.
In two statements on Twitter, Giuliani
called for the Post and NY Times to reveal
their sources for the incorrect information.
“On a Saturday, the Washington Post
added this correction to their defamatory
story about me,” Giuliani wrote on Twitter.
“The Washington Post and the NYT must
reveal their sources who lied and targeted
an American Citizen. #msnbc, #cnn forgot
to mention the corrections today. #fak-
enews #badpeople.”
In a separate statement, he wrote:
“Where did the original false information
come from? @MSNBC @CNN @nytimes I
couldn’t quite hear your apology?”
 MONDAY, MAY 3, 2021
The U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 2, 2020.
GOP House Members Question Possible
‘Political Interference’ in Census
ZACHARY STIEBER
A group of House Republicans is question-
ing whether political interference contrib-
uted to what they describe as questionable
results from the recently completed 2020
Census.
The lawmakers on April 30 pointed to the
discrepancy between projections of census
numbers last year and the final figures, and
also that the Census Bureau referred them
to the White House when questioned about
the apportionment count.
“While Democrats falsely accused the
Trump Administration of using the Census
process for political gain, President [Joe]
Biden has done just that,” the group wrote
to Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo.
While Democrats falsely
accused the Trump Ad-
ministration of using the
Census process for politi-
cal gain, President [Joe]
Biden has done just that.
Group of House Republicans led
by Rep. James Comer
“Even as President [Donald] Trump
sought to ensure the accuracy of the 2020
Census apportionment results by exclud-
ing illegal aliens from the apportionment
count, President Biden reversed course,
deciding to dilute American citizens’ rep-
resentational interests by rescinding this
commonsense measure. Several liberal
states with sanctuary policies may have
lost more congressional seats if illegal im-
migrants had not been included in the ap-
portionment base.”
Population numbers for each state gar-
nered through the census, a once-per-de-
cade query of Americans, is used to tally
how many seats in the House of Represen-
tatives each state receives.
The newly released figures show Texas
Voters Advance 2 Republicans, No
Democrats in Texas Special Election
Runoff Race
JACK PHILLIPS
Two Republicans will advance to a runoff
as the top two vote-getters in the race for
Texas’s 6th Congressional District, after
no one in the 23-candidate field won an
outright majority of votes on May 1.
Republicans Susan Wright, wife of the
late Rep. Ron Wright, finished with 19 per-
cent of the vote, while Jake Ellzey garnered
14 percent. Democrat Jana Lynne Sanchez
finished third with 13 percent and con-
ceded on May 2.
The development will ensure that a Re-
publican will win the seat to represent
the northern Texas district following Ron
Wright’s death earlier this year. The date
Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) at a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on July 24, 2020.
gained two seats and five others gained one
seat, while New York, California, Illinois,
Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West
Virginia each will lose one seat.
But final population numbers for multiple
states diverged widely from estimates the
bureau released late last year.
New York, for instance, was estimated to
have 19.3 million residents. The state’s final
tally was 20.2 million. Texas, on the other
hand, was estimated to have over 29.3 mil-
lion residents, but its final tally was under
29.2 million.
“Remarkably, the differences benefit tra-
ditionally blue states—which gained popu-
lation compared to the estimates—over red
states which tended to lose population com-
pared to the estimates,” House Republicans
said in their letter.
“This trend calls into question whether
there was any political interference with
the apportionment results released by the
Census Bureau,” they said.
The group, led by House Oversight Rank-
ing Member James Comer (R-Ky.), asked
Raimondo for documents and communica-
tions on a range of issues by May 14.
The Census Bureau didn’t immediately
of the runoff hasn’t yet been announced.
The district covers some southeastern
parts of Fort Worth along with some rural
areas. The race was seen as the first com-
petitive federal election since President Joe
Biden took office.
“Democrats have come a long way to-
ward competing in Texas but we still have
a way to go,” Sanchez said in a statement.
“Unfortunately, tonight we came up short,
and two Republicans will be competing
to represent this Congressional district.”
On May 1, Wright issued a statement after
her victory: “Let’s go win this!” She also
used a hashtag for “Make America Great
Again,” Trump’s campaign slogan.
On Feb. 7, then-Rep. Ron Wright died of
SAMIRA BOUAOU/THE EPOCH TIMES
MICHAEL A. MCCOY/GETTY IMAGES
respond to a request by The Epoch Times
for comment.
Some Democrats have also questioned
the final numbers, including officials in
Washington.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the
Trump administration may have had “a
chilling effect” on illegal immigrants an-
swering the census. He says he doesn’t think
the count was accurate and asked New York
State Attorney General Letitia James, an-
other Democrat, to explore legal options
to challenge the count.
The bureau, in response to Cuomo’s com-
ments, directed The Epoch Times to a re-
cent statement.
The release included a statement from
Ron Jarmin, acting director of the bureau,
saying that “the completeness and accu-
racy of these first 2020 Census results are
comparable with recent censuses.”
“We had numerous quality checks built
into collecting the data, and we have con-
ducted one of the most comprehensive re-
views in recent census history during data
processing. We are confident that today’s
2020 Census results meet our high data
quality standards.”
COURTESY OF ELLZEYFORTEXAS.COM
Texas state Rep. Jake Ellzey.
COVID-19 complications, although he had
battled cancer for years.
“It’s been challenging at times, but the
work goes on and he would want me to
do what he did, which is engage with vot-
ers, hear what they have to say, and talk to
them, so that is what we are doing,” Susan
Wright said, according to local media, re-
ferring to her late husband.
Trump had endorsed Wright, telling sup-
porters she “will be strong on the Border,
NATION | A7
Soaring Lumber
Prices Add Nearly
$36,000 to Cost of
New Home: NAHB
CONTINUED FROM A1
But the pandemic drove demand for
housing in low population density ar-
eas and for home office space, while the
Fed kept interest rates near zero, driving
mortgage rates down to historic lows.
This confluence of factors turned out
to be a boon for housing, with surging
demand pushing housing inventories
to record lows.
Lumber producers have struggled to
catch up with the bustling homebuild-
ing activity, with lumber prices jumping
more than 300 percent year-on-year to
record highs.
“The logging operation, the shipping of
the logs to the mill, the shipping of the
finished product, getting workers back
on the job, it’s not like flipping a switch
to bring those back online,” Jalbert said.
This lumber price increase has also
added nearly $13,000 to the market value
of an average new multifamily home,
NAHB said in a post. This translates into
households paying $119 a month more
to rent a new apartment, the associa-
tion said, adding that its representatives
on April 29 held a “productive” virtual
meeting with White House staff from
the Domestic Policy Council, National
Economic Council, and the Office of the
Vice President.
“The discussion covered mill capacity
issues, mill worker shortages, and how
soaring lumber prices are exacerbat-
ing the housing affordability crisis and
putting the American dream of home-
ownership out of reach of millions of
households,” NAHB said in a statement.
The association called on the White
House to hold a summit on lumber and
building material supply chain issues
and to temporarily remove the 9 percent
tariffs on Canadian lumber to help re-
duce price volatility.
“The administration was noncommit-
tal on both requests but the door remains
open for future talks,” NAHB said.
In the short term, mills are moving to-
ward meeting the demand boom.
“The lumber industry is going to hit
production capacity this summer, but
things will calm down in 2022,” Jalbert
said.
While lumber prices should come back
to earth, headwinds remain. Resources
remain constrained and Washington
has to conduct trade negotiations with
Canada, which provides the United
States with about 30 percent of its lum-
ber, according to Jalbert.
“There’s going to need to be more in-
vestment in the industry to meet this
demand,” he said.
But while lumber prices have
surged,  the cost of concrete has re-
mained stable, with more homebuild-
ers considering this alternative to keep
costs down.
Insulating concrete forms (ICFs),
which are polystyrene forms that are
stacked in place and then filled with
concrete to form a solid wall, have be-
come “a highly popular alternative to
wood framing,” NAHB said.
“Home builders are not likely to leave
behind traditional ‘stick-built’ homes
without good reason,” NAHB said in a
post. “But with lum ber prices now add-
ing nearly $36,000 to the price of an aver-
age single-family home and with recent
advancements in building technology in
other areas, certain framing methods at
least deserve a look.”
Reuters contributed to this report.
Crime, Pro-Life, our brave Military and
Vets, and will ALWAYS protect your Second
Amendment.”
Democrats had hoped to flip the seat af-
ter former President Donald Trump drew a
smaller number of votes in the district than
he did in 2016. Trump won the district by 3
points in 2020, down from 12 points in 2016.
“Although a Democrat is not advancing
to the runoff, yesterday’s incredibly close
margins showed that voters are invested
in electing Democrats, and are fighting
for the representation their communities
deserve,” Texas Democratic Party Chair-
man Gilberto Hinojosa said in a statement
on May 2.
“The new Democratic South is rising, and
we will continue to rally our movement to
take back our state—including as we look
toward the 2022 governor’s race,” Hinojosa
added. “We’re ready to build Democratic
power, ready to defeat Texas Republicans,
and ready to elect leaders who defend our
rights and put Texans first.”
A8 | NATION
Firm Overseeing Arizona Election Audit Says Court
Released Security Plan to Public
ZACHARY STIEBER
The Florida-based firm that’s over-
seeing the 2020 election audit in
Arizona’s largest county on April
30 claimed that a court released
its security plan to the public, de-
spite knowing it was meant to be
shielded from public view.
The Arizona
Democratic Party
agreed that one
exhibit, which
gave an overview
of the security for
the audit, should
be withheld from
the public.
Cyber Ninjas submitted a slew of
documents to the Maricopa Coun-
ty Superior Court in response to
a recent ruling by Judge Daniel
Martin, who rejected an attempt
to file the documents under seal
because of their sensitive nature
and ordered them filed by noon
local time on April 29.
But even the plaintiffs in the
case, the Arizona Democratic Par-
ty, agreed that one exhibit, which
gave an overview of the security
for the audit, should be withheld
from the public.
The seven-page plan appeared
on the website of the court on April
29; it was available for anyone to
view and download. The Epoch
Times obtained the plan while it
was publicly accessible.
According to a request for an
emergency hearing, the court
was aware the filing was meant
to be shielded but still published
A man receives a dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in Detroit on April 6, 2021.
At Least 9,245 Americans
Tested Positive for COVID-19
After Vaccination; 132 Dead
ZACHARY STIEBER
The number of documented so-
called breakthrough COVID-19
cases has climbed above 9,000, ac-
cording to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC).
As of April 16, 9,245 people had
tested positive for COVID-19 at
least two weeks after getting their
final COVID-19 vaccine, the health
agency reported. About 9 percent,
or 835, required hospitalization,
and 132 died.
Of the hospitalized patients, 241
were said to be asymptomatic or
having an illness not related to CO-
VID-19, and 20 of the deaths were
reported as asymptomatic or not
related to the disease, caused by
the CCP virus.
The numbers are from 46 U.S.
states and territories. It’s not clear
which four states aren’t submit-
ting breakthrough case figures to
the CDC.
The numbers are likely an un-
dercount because the CDC’s
surveillance system is passive
and relies on voluntary reporting
from state health departments.
Workers review ballots during an audit of the 2020 election in Phoenix on April 29, 2021.
it online for anyone to see.
At 11:02 a.m., about an hour
before the deadline, lawyers for
Cyber Ninjas informed Martin’s
judicial assistant that the exhibit
shouldn’t be publicly released.
They offered to send over a stipu-
lated motion saying as much.
The court, approximately 30
minutes later, asked for the mo-
tion. Lawyers drafted the motion
and sent it to all parties involved.
The court at 12:58 p.m. asked
about the motion, and lawyers
promptly informed the assistant
that all parties had been provided
MATTHEW HATCHER/GETTY IMAGES
Additionally, not all breakthrough
cases will be identified, because
of a lack of testing.
“These surveillance data are a
snapshot and help identify pat-
terns and look for signals among
vaccine breakthrough cases. As
CDC and state health departments
shift to focus only on investigating
vaccine breakthrough cases that
result in hospitalization or death,
those data will be regularly updat-
ed and posted every Friday,” the
agency said in a statement.
A breakthrough case means a
person gets COVID-19 despite
being vaccinated and having two
or more weeks elapse since his or
her final dose. Two of the three
vaccines authorized for use in the
United States require two doses.
The CDC says the vaccines are
still effective, noting that the
breakthrough cases represent a
small percentage of those who
have been vaccinated.
Clinical trials reviewed by drug
regulators showed Pfizer’s vac-
cine to be 95 percent effective in
preventing infection by the CCP
virus, Moderna’s to be 94 percent
with the proposed motion and
they were waiting for approval.
At 3:32 p.m., Cyber Ninjas filed the
stipulation. Three minutes later,
the judicial assistant responded,
“Thank you.”
Additionally, the court’s clerk
said in an entry from 3:20 p.m. that
it received the stipulation and that
the exhibit would be sealed.
But the security plans, known
as Exhibit D9, were still released
to the public.
“Although the Court had knowl-
edge since 11:02 am that the Par-
ties agreed that Exhibit D9 should
effective, and Johnson & Johnson’s
to be 66.9 percent effective.
The Johnson & Johnson shot was
tested after variants began circu-
lating, unlike the others.
As of April 30, over 100 million
Americans have been fully vac-
cinated against the CCP virus.
Fully vaccinated means getting
two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna
vaccine or the single-shot Johnson
& Johnson vaccine.
Also on April 30, the number of
adverse events reported to the pas-
sive Vaccine Adverse Event Report-
ing System (VAERS) was updated,
reaching over 133,000.
The system, which federal au-
thorities encourage people to sub-
mit reports to, now has reports of
3,607 post-vaccination deaths.
There were also 2,527 recorded
life-threatening cases, over 1,600
cases of permanent disability, and
nearly 8,500 cases where patients
required hospitalization.
The CDC says on its website that
“VAERS has not detected patterns
in cause of death that would in-
dicate a safety problem with CO-
VID-19 vaccines.”
Agency physicians, along with
regulators from the Food and Drug
Administration, review each case
report of death.
“A review of available clinical
information including death cer-
tificates, autopsy, and medical re-
cords revealed no evidence that
vaccination contributed to patient
deaths,” the CDC said in an April
27 statement.
WAGNER MEIER/GETTY IMAGES
A laboratory technician prepares
vials of the AstraZeneca/Oxford
COVID-19 vaccine at the Institute
of Technology in Immunobiology in
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on February
12, 2021.
be sealed and not made available
to the public, the Court released
Exhibit D9 to the public via Mari-
copa County’s Clerk of the Supe-
rior Court website,” Cyber Ninjas
lawyers wrote in the request for
a hearing.
The exhibit began to appear on
the internet after 6 p.m. and later
that evening, a local media outlet
published an article describing
details of the exhibit.
The request was for an emer-
gency status conference regarding
what happened.
The court and Cyber Ninjas
America
First Legal
Pursuing Lawsuit
Against Critical
Race Theory:
Stephen Miller
ALLEN ZHONG
America First Legal (AFL) is seek-
ing to pursue a lawsuit to stop
critical race theory (CRT) train-
ing, according to Stephen Miller,
a former adviser to then-President
Donald Trump.
“We’re also looking for plain-
tiffs—if we can find them—who are
willing to stand up and file suit on
critical race theory,” he said during
an interview with Fox News.
Miller encouraged federal work-
ers who have been compelled to
participate in CRT training to join
the effort.
“Go to our website and tell us
what happened to you,” he said.
The White House and the Justice
Department didn’t immediately
respond to requests by The Epoch
Times for comment.
Critical race theory—which es-
pouses the idea that race is not
natural, but socially constructed
to oppress and exploit people of
color—is an offshoot of the Karl
Marx-influenced critical theory so-
cial philosophy that was promoted
by the Frankfurt School of thought.
Trump signed an executive order
banning CRT training in federal
agencies in September 2020 with
the White House describing it as
“anti-American propaganda.”
However, this socialist ideology
has been embraced by President
Joe Biden and his administration.
He reversed Trump’s September
2020 executive order right after he
came into the White House and
pushed CRT training on all fronts.
The Biden administration’s efforts
triggered widespread pushback
from federal and state Republican
lawmakers, conservatives and re-
lated organizations, and parents.
MONDAY, MAY 3, 2021
ROB SCHUMACHER/THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC VIA AP/POOL
didn’t immediately respond to
requests by The Epoch Times for
comment.
Martin was appointed by a Dem-
ocratic governor. He took over the
case, an attempt to block the audit
by Arizona Democrats, after an-
other judge had recused himself.
On April 28, Martin rebuffed a bid
to immediately halt the audit.
The audit started on April 23 and
is scheduled to continue until May
14. Workers are reviewing ballots
cast and machines used in Mari-
copa County in the 2020 presiden-
tial election.
In an April 27 letter, Reps. Doug
Lamborn (R-Colo.) and Jeff Duncan
(R-S.C.) warned Education Secre-
tary Miguel Cardona about push-
ing CRT in the education system.
“Simply put, the teachings of Crit-
ical Race Theory want to reject the
principles established in our Con-
stitution and our individual God-
given rights, and instead divide
individuals into competing racial
identity groups while doing little to
help minority students advance,”
they wrote in the letter.
AFL is a legal group founded by
Trump-era officials to promote the
America First agenda and push
back against leftist radical move-
ments in the United States.
Several high-profile officials
from the Trump administration
including former White House
Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, for-
mer acting U.S. Attorney General
Matthew Whitaker, and former
Director of the Office of Manage-
ment and Budget Russ Vought
joined the AFL board of directors
along with Miller.
AFL filed a lawsuit against the
Biden administration and joined
two other lawsuits within one
month of its establishment.
For decades, left-leaning lawyer
organizations such as the Ameri-
can Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
have been pushing liberal agen-
das through legal fights in vari-
ous courts. The ACLU reportedly
raised just under $120 million in
online donations and its members
increased  to 1.84 million from
400,000 within a year and a half
after Trump won the 2016 presi-
dential election.
However, legal efforts from the
conservative side to push back the
left-leaning agenda are relatively
small and not at the same level.
Miller urged Republicans and
conservatives to fight back instead
of just focusing on “raising their
families, living their lives, pursu-
ing their dreams.”
“We have to save our country
and fight back, just like they [the
hardcore leftists] do. Instead of
fighting to destroy, we will fight
to rescue,” he said.
 MONDAY, MAY 3, 2021
Chinese Companies
Hold Record IPOs in
US, Despite Tensions
CONTINUED FROM A1
Companies Accountable Act to
enforce more stringent disclo-
sure rules on foreign compa-
nies whose stocks trade in the
United States. Such efforts to
gain more transparency and
greater oversight of Chinese
companies have bipartisan po-
litical support in Washington.
However, these actions have
had little effect on the parade
of Chinese companies lining
up to hold their IPOs on U.S.
exchanges.
The U.S. stock
market is an ocean
compared to
China’s pond.
Since drugmaker Qilian In-
ternational Holding Group Ltd.
became the first Chinese com-
pany to take its shares to Nasdaq
this year, Chinese companies
have raised around $4.4 billion
through March 31 in 20 separate
IPO transactions, according to
data from Deloitte & Touche. The
largest IPO was the $1.6 billion
share issuance by RLX Technol-
ogy Inc., a maker of e-cigarettes.
This is an extraordinary pace
considering that last year during
the same quarter, there were only
six U.S. IPOs raising $370 million
from Chinese companies.
And there are several high-pro-
file Chinese IPOs on the horizon.
One such potential IPO is
ByteDance’s Douyin, the short-
form video social app that is the
Chinese version of TikTok. Re-
uters reported that ByteDance
internally discussed listing
Douyin on the New York Stock
Exchange and has been devis-
ing a legal structure that would
meet the requirements of both
U.S. and Chinese regulators. But
Thousands Gather in Taipei to Celebrate World Falun Dafa Day
FRANK FANG
TAIPEI, Taiwan—About 5,200 Fa-
lun Gong practitioners in Taiwan
adorned in colorful outfits gath-
ered to sit in the iconic Liberty
Square in Taipei on May 1, creat-
ing an immense image to com-
memorate almost three decades
since the spiritual practice Falun
Gong was made public.
The participants were arranged
to form a short phrase in tradi-
tional Chinese characters. The
message wished the founder of
the practice, Li Hongzhi, a happy
birthday and highlighted the 29th
anniversary of the day that Falun
Gong was introduced to the pub-
lic in China.
Li introduced the spiritual dis-
cipline in northeastern China 29
years ago on May 13, which is also
his birthday. Since 2000, the date
has been celebrated by Falun Gong
adherents and supporters as World
Falun Dafa Day.
The discipline, also known as
Falun Dafa, consists of five medi-
tative exercises and moral teach-
ings centered on the principles of
truthfulness, compassion, and
forbearance.
Other adherents, who wore pink
capes and hoods, formed two lo-
tus seed buns. These buns, also
known as “longevity peaches”
in Chinese, are a common item
served at birthdays for seniors to
celebrate their accomplishments
in having reached a ripe old age.
Above the Chinese characters
were two heavenly beauties—im-
ages of angels often associated
with traditional Chinese culture.
The formation was the result of
three days of intensive prepara-
the company had since denied
such speculation. ByteDance
previously wanted to list the
entire company either in the
United States or in Hong Kong
before the Trump administra-
tion raised security concerns
last year regarding TikTok.
Didi Chuxing, China’s No. 1
ride-hailing app, is a sure bet
for an IPO in the United States
later this year. Didi has a long
list of famous backers including
Tencent, Alibaba, Japan’s Soft-
Bank, Toyota, and Uber, is one
of China’s biggest tech unicorns,
and has already confidentially
filed a form S-1 in anticipation
of a New York Stock Exchange
listing. Uber’s stake in Didi was a
result of it selling its own China
subsidiary to Didi in 2016.
Hello TransTech, a bicycle-
sharing platform, is another
Chinese company preparing
for a U.S. offering, according to
a South China Morning Post
report. Hello is backed by Ant
Group and has an estimated
valuation of $5 billion, according
to its latest round of financing.
So why do so many Chinese
companies continue to list their
stock on U.S. exchanges, despite
clear regulatory risks? In short,
market access and the associated
liquidity.
The U.S. stock market is an
ocean compared to China’s
pond. The total market value of
all Chinese-domiciled compa-
nies traded on U.S. exchanges
amounted to $1.9 trillion as of
April 30, according to an analy-
sis by The Epoch Times using
Bloomberg data.
The value of China’s entire
stock market is about $11.7 tril-
lion in total. That’s the sum of
the market capitalization of the
Shanghai Stock Exchange of $6.5
trillion, plus the market value of
the Shenzhen Stock Exchange of
$5.2 trillion. That means the val-
ue of Chinese companies listed
tion that began on April 28. Orga-
nizers set out color-coordinated
mats to create the outline of the
image, although their task became
more difficult because of rain dur-
ing the two days before the event.
The weather cleared by April 30,
and on May 1, the sun emerged
from behind the clouds at noon
while participants were sitting
on their assigned mats waiting
for aerial photos to be taken.
Shortly after, a ring of light,
known as a 22-degree halo, ap-
peared around the sun, dazzling
the participants below.
Tradition
Even after staging the annual event
for more than 20 years, Taiwanese
adherents are still seeking to make
improvements, Huang Chun-mei,
the event organizer and deputy
chairwoman of the Taiwan Dafa
Association, told The Epoch Times.
This year marked the first time
that the image involved so many
Chinese characters—14—which
made coordination of the partici-
pants more challenging, according
to Huang. In addition, the image of
lotus seed buns was used for the
first time.
The decades-old tradition didn’t
originate on the island. It started
in China in the 1990s, when Falun
Gong adherents could still openly
practice and hold public activi-
ties. But after the Chinese regime
launched a nationwide persecu-
tion campaign involving mass
arrests and hateful propaganda
in July 1999, this activity has been
kept alive by overseas adherents.
Aside from celebrating Li’s
birthday and commemorating
World Falun Dafa Day, Huang
The New York Stock Exchange on March 9, 2021.
on U.S. exchanges is close to 30
percent of the Shanghai market,
37 percent of the Shenzhen mar-
ket, or 16 percent of China’s two
biggest markets combined.
By comparison, the total mar-
ket cap of the U.S. stock market
was $49 trillion as of March 31,
according to Siblis Research.
So what does this mean? For
one, moving these U.S.-listed
Chinese companies back to
China would be problematic—
their scale would crowd out
available capital from other Chi-
nese companies. It’s clear that
obtaining capital from abroad is
a key financial strategy for many
Chinese companies, and by
extension, the Chinese Com-
munist Party (CCP). The size of
Chinese onshore markets would
need to expand significantly to
accommodate these companies.
By comparison, the size of capital
pools and diversity of investors in
the United States is unmatched.
The Federal Reserve issued a
white paper called “Why Do U.S.
Cross-Listings Matter” in 2008.
While the paper is dated, its
conclusions remain relevant. The
Fed found that “U.S. investors
sharply increase their holdings
in foreign stocks that cross-list on
a U.S. exchange, a phenomenon
we term the ‘cross-listing effect.’”
Having a U.S. capital base is
important for companies, espe-
said the event serves as a rebuttal
to the communist regime’s arro-
gance. At the start of the persecu-
tion, former Chinese leader Jiang
Zemin confidently claimed that
Falun Gong would be “eradicated”
in three months. But more than
two decades later, the discipline
is still attracting new adherents,
Huang said.
She added that it was in 1994,
two years after Li introduced the
discipline, that the first group
of Taiwanese began practicing
Falun Gong.
Wu Ching-hsiang, a retired ar-
chitect who created the blueprint
for the image, told The Epoch
Times that the purpose of depict-
ing two heavenly beauties was to
convey a sense of universal jubila-
tion associated with the day.
Holding such an event that in-
volves thousands of people dur-
ing the pandemic wouldn’t have
been possible without the success
of the Taiwanese government in
preventing the spread of the CCP
(Chinese Communist Party) virus,
which causes the disease COV-
ID-19, Wu added.
After the character forma-
tion ended, adherents stood
in long lines to perform  Falun
Gong’s meditative exercises.
Falun Gong
One participant, Debbie Tung, 28,
a designer in graphic design and
visual arts, said she has taken part
in the annual event at least four
times after she started practicing
Falun Gong.
“I was blown away the first time I
took part in it,” Tung said. “I found
it very peaceful. As I was sitting
there and listening to the music
cially large companies striving
for global relevance. The Chi-
nese onshore market is largely
retail, with individual investors
holding the greatest number
of shares. The U.S. market is
dominated by institutions, such
as mutual funds and ETFs, pen-
sions, insurance companies,
hedge funds, and banks. There
is a positive reputational impact
to having majority institutional
holders, in addition to other
tangible impacts such as a less
volatile stock price (institutions
turn over their holdings less fre-
quently than retail investors).
So the threat of increased
regulatory oversight is real, and
some firms may be delisted. But
Chinese companies to date still
view the benefits of listing in the
United States as outweighing the
risks. From China’s perspective,
it behooves the CCP to reach
an agreement with the SEC on
cross-country accounting and
auditing inspection quickly, if
only to keep the cash flowing.
One way some companies
have hedged their bets is by
having a dual listing. Several of
China’s biggest technology gi-
ants, including JD.com, Alibaba,
and Baidu, are listed both in the
United States and in Hong Kong.
This way, if U.S. regulators do bar
these companies from American
exchanges, foreign investors can
About 5,200 people gather to take part in a character formation at Liberty
Square in Taipei, Taiwan, on May 1, 2021.
being played [by the organizer], I
found a moment of serenity.”
Tung says said her mental and
physical health have improved
dramatically since taking up the
practice, compared to other people
in her age group. On top of this, her
skill as a designer has improved,
she said, adding that she often gets
inspiration that seems to come
from nowhere.
Jackie Lin, 48, a production plan-
ning manager at a semiconductor
company, said he has taken part
in the annual character formation
many times since 2014. He said he
has found a new purpose in life be-
cause of the practice.
Many locals stood nearby to
watch as the event was unfolding.
Mrs. Wu, a housewife, said it was
her second time seeing the char-
acter formation at Liberty Square.
She described the scene as a “spec-
tacular and grandeur” display.
Another local, Mr. Liu, a sales-
person in the auto industry, said
CHINA | A9
SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES
still access a large, liquid stock
exchange in Hong Kong.
While Chinese companies
may be incentivized to list in
the United States, U.S. investors
should remain wary.
Information transparency and
disclosure integrity are not on
par with U.S. peers, especially for
smaller less well-known Chinese
companies. Even after China
allows U.S. regulators to examine
audit workpapers, there are no
guarantees those workpapers are
original or factual.
Take Luckin Coffee, the infa-
mous U.S.-listed coffee chain
that collapsed last year due to
financial fraud, as an example.
The Luckin fraud wasn’t uncov-
ered by its auditors. In fact, its
auditor, Ernst & Young, argued
that it held no responsibility
since the statements and records
it received from the company
were falsified. So even granting
the SEC with workpapers and
other company documents to ex-
amine wouldn’t have uncovered
Luckin’s fraud.
Institutional Investor magazine
summed up the collective inves-
tor sentiment in this rhetorical
question last year: “They’re eager
to reap the benefits from invest-
ing in China’s enormous market,
but can they trust the numbers,
the disclosures, and the honesty
of China’s companies?”
CHEN PO-CHOU/THE EPOCH TIMES
he was impressed by how orderly
adherents were when they filed
to their spots in the formation.
It was the first time that Liu had
seen the event in person, though
he had seen pictures of the past
events online.
Liu expressed concern for the on-
going persecution of the practice in
China, describing it as “extremely
inhumane.”
Taipei City counselor Lin Ying-
meng called on Taiwanese peo-
ple and neighboring countries to
condemn the Chinese Commu-
nist Party (CCP) over its human
rights violations, including those
perpetrated against Falun Gong
practitioners and Christians.
“I hope that Taiwan can be a safe
harbor for all the different ethnic
groups and people oppressed [by
Beijing],” Lin said in an interview
with the Taiwanese edition of The
Epoch Times. “I hope that we can
continue to provide assistance to
people persecuted by the CCP.”
A10 | WORLD MONDAY, MAY 3, 2021

CAROLYN KASTER/POOL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

“We haven’t heard anything,” he said.

“Of course, we probably wouldn’t, but my
instinct is to be skeptical at present.”
Earlier on May 2, UK Foreign Secretary
Dominic Raab told the BBC that he be-
lieved Zaghari-Ratcliffe was being held
“unlawfully” by Iran.
“I think she’s been treated in the most
abusive, tortuous way,” Raab said. “I think
it amounts to torture the way she’s been
treated and there is a very clear, unequivo-
cal obligation on the Iranians to release her
and all of those who are being held as lever-
age immediately and without condition.”

Reports that a prisoner

swap deal has been
reached are not true.
Ned Price, spokesman,
U.S. State Department

The announcement by state TV comes

amid a wider power struggle between
hardliners and the relatively moderate
government of Iranian President Hassan
Rouhani. That conflict only has grown
sharper as Iran approaches its June 18
presidential election.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Ja-
Spokesman Ned Price takes questions from reporters during a press briefing at the State Department in Washington on March 31, 2021. vad Zarif, who pushed for the 2015 nuclear
deal under Rouhani, has seen himself em-

US Denies Iran’s Claims of Prisoner,

broiled in a scandal over frank comments
he made in a leaked recording. Zarif’s name
had been floated as a possible candidate in
the election, something that now seems

Cash Swap; UK Downplays unlikely as even Iran’s supreme leader has

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates—The Unit-
ed States on May 2 immediately denied a
report by Iranian state-run television that
deals had been reached for the Islamic
Republic to release U.S. and British pris-
oners in exchange for Tehran receiving
billions of dollars.
Even after an initial American denial,
an anchorwoman on Iranian state TV still
repeated the announcement.
“Some sources say four Iranian prisoners
are to be released and $7 billion are to be
received by Iran in exchange for releasing
four American spies,” the anchorwoman
said. She described the claimed deal as
coming due to congressional pressure on
President Joe Biden and “his urgent need
to show progress made in the Iran case.”
State TV didn’t identify the Iranians that
Tehran sought to be freed.
State Department spokesman Ned Price
immediately denied the Iranian state TV
report.
“Reports that a prisoner swap deal has
been reached are not true,” Price said. “As
we have said, we always raise the cases of
Americans detained or missing in Iran. We
will not stop until we are able to reunite
them with their families.”
Biden’s chief of staff Ron Klain told CBS’
“Face the Nation” that “unfortunately, that
report is untrue. There is no agreement to
release these four Americans.”
“We’re working very hard to get them
released,” Klain said. “We raise this with
Iran and our interlocutors all the time, but
so far there’s no agreement.”
Tehran holds four known Americans
now in prison: Baquer and Siamak
Namazi, environmentalist Morad Tah-
baz and Iranian-American businessman
Emad Shargi. Iran long has been accused
of holding those with Western ties as pris-
oners to be later used as bargaining chips
in negotiations.
Despite the American denials, there have
been signs that a deal on prisoners may
be in the works based on Iranian officials’
remarks in recent weeks.
Although no formal proposal for a swap
has yet been presented to officials in Wash-
ington, let alone been signed off on by the
White House, the specificity of the reports
from Iran suggested that working-level
consideration of a deal is at least underway.
State TV also quoted sources as saying a
deal had been reached for the United King-
dom to pay 400 million pounds ($552 mil-
lion) to see the release of British-Iranian
woman Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
British officials downplayed the report.
The Foreign Office said the country con-
tinues “to explore options to resolve this
40-year-old case and we will not comment
further as legal discussions are ongoing.’’
Last week, Zaghari-Ratcliffe was sen-
tenced to an additional year in prison,
her lawyer said, on charges of spreading
“propaganda against the system” for par-
ticipating in a protest in front of the Iranian
CARLOS BARRIA/REUTERS
A staff member removes the Iranian flag from
the stage, after a group picture with foreign
ministers and representatives in Vienna on
July 14, 2015.
Embassy in London in 2009.
That came after she completed a five-year
prison sentence in the Islamic Republic
after being convicted of plotting the over-
throw of Iran’s government, a charge that
she, her supporters, and rights groups deny.
While employed at the Thomson Reuters
Foundation, the charitable arm of the
news agency, she was taken into custody
at the Tehran airport in April 2016 as she
was returning home to Britain after visit-
ing family.
Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of Za-
ghari-Ratcliffe, told The Associated Press
he was not aware of any swap in the works.
apparently criticized him.
Tehran is now negotiating with world
powers over both it and the United States
returning to the nuclear deal, which saw it
limit its uranium enrichment in exchange
for the lifting of economic sanctions. Iran
has not held direct negotiations with the
United States during the talks, however.
Iran says $20 billion of its oil revenue
has been frozen in countries like South
Korea, Iraq, and China under U.S. sanc-
tions since 2018.
U.S. National security adviser Jake Sul-
livan said on May 2 that no deal had been
reached with Iran in Vienna.
“There is still a fair distance to travel to
close the remaining gaps,” he said on ABC’s
“This Week” program. “And those gaps are
over what sanctions the United States and
other countries will roll back. They are over
what nuclear restrictions Iran will accept
on its program to ensure that they can
never get a nuclear weapon.”
As the negotiations continue, Iranian
diplomats there have offered encouraging
comments, while state TV quoted anony-
mous sources striking maximalist posi-
tions contradicting them. That even saw
Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian deputy foreign
minister leading the talks, offer a rebuke on
Twitter last week to Iranian state television’s
English-language arm, Press TV.
“I don’t know who the ‘informed source’
of Press TV in Vienna is, but s/he is cer-
tainly not ‘informed,’” Araghchi wrote.
By Jon Gambrell & Isabel Debre
Reuters contributed to this report.
From The Associated Press

BORIS ROESSLER/DPA VIA AP

GERMANY
Over 90 German
Police Injured in
May Day Riots
At least 93 police officers
were injured and 354 pro-
testers were detained after
traditional May Day rallies
in Berlin turned violent,
the city’s top security of-
ficial said.
More than 20 differ-
ent rallies took place in
the German capital and
the vast majority of them
were peaceful. However,
a leftist march of 8,000
people through the city’s
Neukoelln and Kreuzberg
neighborhood, which
has seen clashes in past
decades, turned violent.
Protesters threw bottles
and rocks at officers and
burned garbage cans and
wooden pallets in the
streets.
Berlin state interior
minister Andreas Geisel
condemned the throwing
of bottles and rocks, the
burning barricades on the
streets, and especially the
Police and protestors clash during the “Revolutionary May Day
Demonstration” in Frankfurt on May 1, 2021.
violence toward police. restrictions, authorities
— The Associated Press said.
About 15 people, includ-
BELGIUM ing protesters and police,
were injured in clashes,
Belgian Police police spokeswoman Ilse
Detain 132 in Van de Keere said.
Virus Restrictions About 2,000 revelers and
protesters had massed in
Protest the park for the second
time in a month, and
Police have detained 132 police used water cannons
people who took part in an and tear gas to disperse
illegal party in a Brussels them.
park to protest COVID-19 — The Associated Press
INDIA
Prime Minister
Modi’s Ruling
Party Loses
Crucial Indian
State Election
The incumbent chief
minister’s party in India’s
West Bengal state has
defeated Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s party
in a state election held as
COVID-19 cases surged to
crisis levels.
Modi has been criticized
for focusing on the elec-
tions instead of making
the pandemic his top
priority.
Some experts blame the
federal election commis-
sion for allowing rallies
and voting in which large
crowds flouted rules on
social distancing and
mask-wearing.
Mamata Banerjee, 66,
is set to be the chief of
West Bengal for the third
time after her Trinamool
Congress party won a two-
thirds majority, taking
more than 200 seats in the
294-seat state assembly,
election commission of-
ficials said. Final counting
for some seats was still
underway.
— From Reuters
COLOMBIA
Colombia’s
President
Withdraws Tax
Reform After
Protests
Colombian President Ivan
Duque said that he would
withdraw a proposed tax
reform after sometimes
violent protests and
widespread lawmakers’
opposition.
Duque said that the
law would be revised to
remove some of its most
controversial points—in-
cluding the leveling of
sales tax on utilities and
some food—but the gov-
ernment had previously
insisted it could not be
withdrawn.
Protests against the
reform have led to multiple
deaths around the country.
— From Reuters
EL SALVADOR
New Salvadoran
Congress Ousts
Attorney General
in Latest Purge
The party of El Salvador’s
President Nayib Bukele has
voted to remove the coun-
try’s top prosecutor, part
of an intensifying political
purge that has rocked the
Central American country
and drawn international
criticism.
The vote shortly after
midnight to dismiss Attor-
ney General Raul Melara
followed a new legislative
majority’s votes to kick out
all of the judges on the con-
stitutional chamber of the
nation’s supreme court.
Ruling party lawmakers
accused Melara, whose of-
fice wields significant pow-
er to conduct investigations,
of lacking independence.
— From Reuters
 MONDAY, MAY 3, 2021 WORLD | A11
SAM PANTHAKY/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

India Hospital
Fire Kills 18
COVID-19 Patients
NEW DELHI—A fire in a CO-
VID-19 hospital ward in western
India killed 18 patients early on
May 1, as the country is grappling
with the worst outbreak yet.
The same day, India set yet an-
other daily global record with
401,993 new cases, taking its tally
to more than 19.1 million. Another
3,523 people died in the past 24
hours, raising the overall fatali-
ties to 211,853, according to the
Health Ministry. Experts believe
both figures are an undercount.
Thirty-one other
patients were
rescued from the
main closed until May 9, except
for those that provide essential
services such as grocery stores.
People are not supposed to leave
their homes, except for a hand-
ful of reasons like seeking medi-
cal care or going to the airport
or railroad stations. Daily wage
earners and small businesses are
expected to suffer a further blow
to their livelihoods.
Separately, 12 COVID-19 pa-
tients, including a doctor, on
high-flow oxygen died May 1 at a
hospital in New Delhi after it ran
out of the supply for 80 minutes,
said S.C.L. Gupta, director of Batra
Hospital. Gupta said the hospital
Gujarat police personnel stand guard at the entrance of the Patel Welfare COVID Hospital after a fire broke out over-
has been facing irregular oxygen
night, in Bharuch near Ahmedabad, India, on May 1, 2021.
supply from manufacturers for
more than a week, but it exhaust- SAM PANTHAKY/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

blaze by hospital
workers and
firefighters.
The fire broke out in a COVID-19
ward on the ground floor of the
Welfare Hospital in Bharuch, a
town in Gujarat state, and was
extinguished within an hour,
police said. The cause is being
investigated.
Thirty-one other patients were
rescued from the blaze by hospi-
tal workers and firefighters and
their condition was stable, police
officer B.M. Parmar said. Late last
month, a fire in an intensive care
unit killed 13 COVID-19 patients
in the Virar area, on the outskirts
of Mumbai.
India’s capital extended its
week-old lockdown by another
week to curb the explosive surge
in virus cases, Arvind Kejriwal, a
top elected official said on Twitter.
All shops and factories will re-
ed it completely for the first time.
He said the hospital tank was re-
filled with enough oxygen for 12
hours and it will again be looking
for replenishment.
The New Delhi television news
channel also said an attorney for
the Batra hospital complained to
a New Delhi court that is hearing
petitions by several hospitals on
the issue.
Hospitals in the Indian capital
have been complaining of emer-
gencies caused by irregular oxy-
gen supplies from manufacturers
due to the sudden rise in demand
caused by the massive spike in
infections.
Faced with an unprecedented
COVID-19 surge that has filled
hospitals and crematoriums,
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s
government described the pan-
demic as a “once-in-a-century cri-
sis.” Modi held a Cabinet meeting
on April 30 that discussed steps
to save the country’s crumbling
health system by adding hospital
beds, resolving issues in produc-
tion, storage and transport of oxy-
gen, and tackling the shortage of
essential medicines.
In a now-familiar scene, tele-
vision images showed a woman
gasping for breath in her car
while her family looked for a hos-
pital bed on the outskirts of New
Delhi. The 33-year-old woman
couldn’t find room at three hos-
A policeman and oxygen to India last week,
(L) escorts a along with some materials need-
relative (C) to ed for India to boost its domestic
identify the production of COVID-19 vaccines.
mobile phone Additionally, a CDC team of
of his sister, a public health experts was ex-
health worker pected to be on the ground soon
who died in a to help Indian health officials try
fire at the Patel to slow the spread of the virus.
Welfare COVID Other nations have also sent as-
Hospital, in sistance, and the Indian air force
Bharuch near
airlifted oxygen containers from
Ahmedabad,
India, on May
Singapore, Dubai, and Bangkok.
1, 2021. A German military aircraft with
120 ventilators departed for India
pitals and died in the car on April on May 1, and plans were being
30, The Times of India newspaper made for other flights with more
reported. supplies. Also on board was a
The United States has joined a team of 13 that will help prepare
growing list of countries restrict- to set up a mobile oxygen produc-
ing travel from India, the White tion unit that will be flown to In-
House said, citing the devastating dia next week, the German news
rise in COVID-19 cases and the agency dpa said.
emergence of potentially danger-
ous variants. The Epoch Times staff
The U.S. also began delivering contributed to this report.
therapeutics, rapid virus tests, From The Associated Press

Pfizer, BioNTech Seek EU’s OK to Use COVID-19 Vaccine on Kids

LONDON—Pfizer Inc. and BioN-
Tech have submitted a request to
the European drug regulator for
the approval of their coronavirus
vaccine to be extended to include
children 12 to 15 years old, in a
move that could offer younger and
less at-risk populations in Europe
access to the shot for the first time.
In a statement on April 30, the
two pharmaceutical compa-
nies said their submission to the
European Medicines Agency is
based on an advanced study of
more than 2,000 adolescents that
showed their vaccine to be safe
and effective. The children will
continue to be monitored for lon-
ger-term protection and safety for
another two years. BioNTech and
Pfizer have previously requested
their emergency use authoriza-
tion with the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration also be extended
to children 12 to 15 years old.
German Health Minister Jens
Spahn welcomed the news that
the vaccine might soon get the
green light for older children.
“This can make a further real dif-
ference to our vaccine campaign,
if approval is granted,” he said on
the sidelines of a visit to a vaccine
manufacturing plant in the Ger-
man town of Reinbek.
Most COVID-19 vaccines be-
ing rolled out worldwide are for
adults, who are at higher risk from
the coronavirus.
Children represent about 13 per-
cent of COVID-19 cases document-
ed in the United States. And while
children are far less likely than
adults to get seriously ill, at least 268
have died from COVID-19 in the
United States and more than 13,500
have been hospitalized, according
to a tally by the American Academy
of Pediatrics. That’s more than die
from the flu in an average year. A
small number have also developed
a serious inflammatory condition
linked to the coronavirus.
Immunizing children against
COVID-19 might also give authori-
ties more confidence in reopening
schools, since getting children to
comply with physical distancing
and mask-wearing has sometimes
been challenging.
Other COVID-19 vaccine manu-
facturers, including AstraZeneca,
Moderna, and Johnson & John-
son, are also studying whether
their shots can safely be used in
children.
The COVID-19 vaccine made by
Pfizer and BioNTech was the first
one to be granted a green light by
the EMA last December, when it
was licensed for anyone 16 and
over across the 27-nation EU bloc.
By Frank Jordans
From The Associated Press

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A medical worker observes COVID-19 patients inside a makeshift care facility in a sports stadium in New Delhi on May 2, 2021.
A Friend in Need Is a Friend Indeed
JAMES E. FANELL
I
n the 3rd century BC, the Roman
poet Quintus Ennius wrote “Amicus
certus in re incerta cernitur,” which
translated means “a sure friend is
known when in difficulty.” After
two millennia, this statement is now be-
ing discussed from Delhi to Washington
by those who are wondering whether the
current U.S. administration is really a
true friend to the people of India.
Recent events have Indians wonder-
ing if, rather than build on the previous
administration’s whole-of-government
approach to the Indo-Pacific—which
perforce showed the importance of the
United States and India drawing closer
together—the Biden administration may
instead be indulging in siloed, bureau-
cratic decision-making that risks under-
mining carefully built trust.
The first major event was earlier this
month when the USS John Paul Jones
conducted a Freedom of Navigation Op-
eration (FONOP) in the western Indian
Ocean near the Maldives. The United
States has conducted similar FONOPs
in the region. Unfortunately, given that
this occurred so soon after the Quad
Leaders Summit, the 7th Fleet’s standard
press release needlessly generated undue
negative attention.
While the United States FON program,
which has been in existence since 1975,
is designed as a legal challenge to U.S.
assessed excessive maritime claims and
isn’t directed toward any one nation,
Delhi still has been left wondering why
the current administration in Wash-
ington is treating India the same as the
People’s Republic of China, a stated
strategic competitor.
Two other actions from the current U.S.
administration also caused bewilder-
ment, and even growing resentment,
among the people of India. The first was
the recent announcement by the State
Department putting India on notice that
it will face potential sanctions for not al-
lowing “religious freedom”—something
that is especially galling for India, which
has a tradition of religious liberty and
has been a courageous host to the Dalai
Lama for over sixty years.
Second, the administration’s Treasury
Department added India to its currency
manipulation watch list. While India has
MONDAY, MAY 3, 2021 • A13
been on this list before, the timing of this
announcement, given all the other seem-
ingly adversarial decisions and actions,
is threatening to undo the trust that had
been built up these past four years.
However, by far the worst decision
involved the current deadly surge of
the COVID-19 virus across India. With
hundreds of thousands of new cases and
thousands of deaths each day, India’s
medical infrastructure has been pushed
to the limit, with reports of overflowing
hospitals and critical shortages of oxy-
gen, medical supplies, and ICU beds.
While the Modi administration will
face its own public for this situation, there
was a clear need for urgent international
support. Very quickly, the UK, France,
Germany, and even China and Pakistan
all offered help. Unsurprisingly, Russia
swiftly announced it was arranging for
shipments of oxygen and medicine.
Meanwhile, on the U.S. side, the Febru-
ary 2021 implementation of the Defense
Production Act (DPA) resulted in a ban
on the export of the raw materials (some
35 that come from America) used for the
making of antivirus vaccines. This ban
adversely affected India’s pharmaceuti-
cal industry and degraded, if not pre-
vented, it from producing vaccines for its
own people and saving lives.
Will this be considered a new
administration’s ‘beginner’s
mistake’ (even though this is
supposed to be a tried and tested
foreign policy team), or will it
be taken as a glimpse at the true
thinking of the leadership?
While the Biden administration has
justified the blanket export ban as being
part and parcel of the DPA, Delhi was left
wondering why the Biden administration
had not sought to exempt India from this
law, especially after many requests by
Indian diplomats.
When asked why the United States
blocked the already-agreed-upon
delivery of raw materials for making
vaccines to India, U.S. State Department
spokesman Ned Price said: “Number
one, we have a special responsibility
to the American people. Number two,
the American people, this country has
been hit harder than any other country
around the world—more than 550,000
deaths, tens of millions of infections in
this country alone.
“It is not only in the U.S. interest to see
Americans vaccinated, but it is in the
interests of the rest of the world to see
Americans vaccinated.”
One can understand why Indians
would be stunned. India has been a
team player in the fight against CO-
VID-19. During the surge of the virus in
the United States in 2020, at the request
of the United States, India exported 50
million capsules of hydroxychloroquine
to America and has exported tens of mil-
lions of free vaccine doses worldwide, in
part on the assumption that raw materi-
als would continue to flow.
It’s not surprising that one respected
and normally U.S.-friendly Indian news
panel show anchor said, “The Russians
are sending us oxygen; now convince us
we shouldn’t buy their missiles.”
Over the weekend, the Biden adminis-
tration suddenly woke up, and now there
are tweets of support and promises of
delivery of needed supplies. Apart from
the lives needlessly lost, it’s unclear how
much reputational damage has been
done. Will this be considered a new
administration’s “beginner’s mistake”
(even though this is supposed to be a
tried and tested foreign policy team), or
will it be taken as a glimpse at the true
thinking of the leadership?
GETTY IMAGES
SANJAY KANOJIA/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
People line up
while waiting
to receive a
dose of the
Covishield
vaccine, out-
side the Moti
Lal Nehru
Medical
College in
Allahabad,
India, on May
1, 2021.
To get through this, the Biden admin-
istration will have to realize that it can’t
treat India in a siloed fashion, with each
department making its own points for its
own reasons, possibly influenced by spe-
cific lobbies. In Delhi, swipes from the
Navy, or the departments of the Treasury
or State aren’t seen in isolation, they’re
seen as a pattern.
The short-term gain of treating India as
a true friend is clear ... saving lives. The
long-term gain is the furtherance of a
strategic partnership that saves the world
from the destructive ideology and ac-
tions of the Chinese Communist Party—
something we can only do together.
It’s time for America to demonstrate
that those words from over 2,000 years
ago remain true today: A friend in need
is a friend indeed. India was there when
the United States was in need, now it’s
America’s turn.
Jim Fanell, a retired U.S. Navy captain, is
currently a government fellow at the Ge-
neva Centre for Security Policy in Switzer-
land, and a former director of intelligence
and information operations for the U.S.
Pacific Fleet. His nearly 30-year career as
a naval intelligence officer spanned an
unprecedented series of afloat and ashore
assignments across the Indo-Pacific,
specializing in the People’s Republic of
China’s navy and its operations. A recog-
nized international public speaker and
accomplished writer, Fanell also is the
creator and manager of the Indo-Pacific
Security forum Red Star Rising/Risen.
A14 | OPINION
As the EU Showed Britain, You Can Have
Socialism or Democracy, but You Can’t Have Both
ANDREW DAVIES
On April 28, the EU
voted to ratify the post-
Brexit trade deal by a
margin of 660-5, with
32 abstentions. But this
overwhelming majority
approved the deal begrudg-
ingly, as a failure to meet the deadline
would have resulted in the UK leaving
the trade bloc on a “no-deal” basis and
becoming subject to World Trade Organi-
zation tariffs on trade.
EU Commission President Ursula von
der Leyen sought to explain to her col-
leagues why ratification of the post-Brexit
trade deal was so important: “It will give us
the tools we need to ensure full and faith-
ful compliance with the obligations [of the
deal], which both sides signed up to.”
While some Brexiters voiced concerns
that the deal conceded too much to Brus-
sels, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the
vote marked the “final step in a long jour-
ney, providing stability to our new relation-
ship with the EU as vital trading partners,
close allies, and sovereign equals.”
Surprisingly, Britain’s chief negotia-
tor, Lord Frost, also used the same term
“sovereign equals.” But the EU is a politi-
cal union rather than a sovereign entity,
and its member nations no longer enjoy
the level of sovereignty that Brexit is sup-
posed to have returned to Britain.
In the debate leading up to the vote, the
EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Bar-
nier, expressed a feeling shared by many
within the European Parliament: “This is
a divorce. It’s a warning.” Meanwhile the
former president of the European Coun-
cil, Donald Tusk, called Brexit “one of the
most spectacular mistakes in history.”
When the UK formally left the bloc on
Jan. 31, 2019, Swedish Minister of For-
DILBERT
PEANUTS
RED AND ROVER
GRAND AVENUE
MUTT & JEFF
The Palace of Westminster, seen from east, with Victoria Tower and the House of Lords on the left,
and Big Ben and the House of Commons on the right.
eign Affairs Margot Wallstrom said she
“cannot forgive them for this.” She was
referring to the British politicians who
had succumbed to pressure from the
renegade Nigel Farage and allowed their
people to exercise their democratic rights,
with 52 percent voting to leave the EU.
That democratic process, which Farage
once hailed as “an epic triumph for the
people against the political classes,” was
unforgivable to Wallstrom and was a his-
toric mistake according to an EU resolu-
tion that has just been passed.
The EU has many democratic-sounding
institutions—such as its parliament based
in Strasbourg—but its laws are solely made
by the EU Commission, which comprises
one political appointee from each of its re-
maining 27 member states. The people of
Europe only get to vote for members of the
European Parliament (MEPs), who have
very little power to change anything.
This is not an administrative oversight
awaiting reform. The EU began as a
socialist experiment in which a suprana-
tional state was to be created that would
dismantle and replace the nation-states
of Europe. This was confirmed by  Jean
Monnet, the first president and a found-
COMICS
GARFIELD
GINGER MEGGS
BIG NATE
DRABBLE
ALVESGASPAR VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/CC BY-SA 3.0
ing member of the EU.
In 1943, Monnet wrote: “There will be
no peace in Europe if the States rebuild
themselves on the basis of national
sovereignty ... The States of Europe must
therefore form a federation or a European
entity that would make them into a com-
mon economic unit.”
Europe would soon be saved from Nazi
Germany by the free nations of the United
States and the UK. However, Monnet’s
view remained the same: that countries—
rather than the evil ideologies that had
perverted the Axis States—are intrinsi-
cally unstable and thus dangerous.
A more recent view questioning the
viability of nation-states is the notion that
they aren’t big enough to deal with global
environmental threats and pandemics.
Because of this claim, governments are
pressured to make legally binding inter-
national commitments.
Yet bodies such as the World Health
Organization and the U.N.—which spon-
sored the Paris Agreement on climate
change—are not democratically elected.
The more power that is ceded to them,
the less power voters have to question
how their lives are being governed, and
FRANK AND ERNEST
MONDAY, MAY 3, 2021
a crucial level of checks and balances on
government is removed.
Donald Trump understood this, which
is why he pulled America out of many of
its global “obligations” and sought to give
power back to the U.S. Congress. He knew
that democratic accountability doesn’t yet
exist anywhere above the national level.
The left understands that the most effec-
tive way to gain public consent for eroding
the hard-fought-for democratic rights of
the people is through an overwhelming
global crisis—and COVID fever was strong
enough to convince the president as well.
At the end of 2019, Donald Trump’s
electoral lead looked unassailable. Yet
by March 2020, he had been convinced
to start putting America’s economy on
life-support, committing it to a process he
had never heard of until two months ear-
lier, when the Chinese Communist Party
took the lead in a strategy of “lockdowns,”
which was enthusiastically endorsed by
the World Health Organization.
Now that Trump momentum is gone—at
least for now—and Joe Biden has rushed
to sign the United States back into legally
binding international commitments,
which will necessarily make the U.S. gov-
ernment weaker and more dependent on
organizations outside of its control.
Yet American exceptionalism has saved
the rest of the world from itself on many
occasions. If that’s swapped for socialism,
which country will be there for the world
to turn to when another idea goes wrong?
Andrew Davies is a UK-based video
producer and writer. His award-winning
video on underage sex abuse helped
Barnardos children’s charity change UK
law, while his documentary “Batons,
Bows and Bruises: A History of the Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra” ran for six years
on the Sky Arts Channel.
 MONDAY, MAY 3, 2021
SPECIAL SERIES: How the Specter of Communism Is Ruling Our World
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.”
18
CHAPTER 3. Unrestricted Warfare
With Chinese Communist
Characteristics
a. The CCP’s Global
Propaganda Operations
The World’s Largest
Propaganda Machine (cont.)
The CCP’s foreign propaganda appara-
tus attempts to blend in by recruiting
mainly local reporters and presenters.
A video call between Xi Jinping and
the Washington, D.C., bureau of CCTV
America in February 2016 showed that
the majority of the journalists em-
ployed there were not Chinese. [119]
But the CCP’s propaganda department
drives the content they report. China’s
state-run media thus produces local
packaging in the target country, us-
ing local faces and voices to spout the
Communist Party’s thinking and con-
flate the regime with the Chinese peo-
ple. It uses locals abroad to spread the
CCP’s stories and the CCP’s voice—not
China’s true stories and not the voices
of the Chinese people.
The Party also provides scholarships
to young foreign journalists, includ-
ing in the areas of food and education,
so that they can study or be trained in
mainland China and, at the same time,
be instilled with the CCP’s views on
journalism.
In many situations, the CCP’s pro-
paganda appears unsuccessful due to
its crude narratives, which damage its
credibility. However, it uses a raft of tac-
tics, including using foreign media as
its mouthpiece, ruthlessly attacking any
media and individuals that criticize the
CCP, and forcing support for the CCP.
The CCP can send its own
undercover people into
Western media or train
foreigners into being
mouthpiece reporters
for the Party’s media.
Aligning the World’s
Media With the CCP
In 2015, the foreign ministers of 10 coun-
tries condemned the CCP for building
artificial islands in the contested wa-
ters of the South China Sea. At the same
time, a radio station in Washington,
D.C., claimed that external forces had
SPECIAL SERIES
attempted to fabricate the facts and ag-
gravate tensions in the South China Sea.
It failed to mention the CCP’s takeover
efforts. The station, WCRW, repeats a
great deal of content favoring the posi-
tion of the CCP—and curiously, it runs
no advertising. Its only customer is a
Los Angeles company, G&E Studio Inc.,
itself 60 percent controlled by China
Radio International (CRI) in Beijing.
G&E broadcasts its programs in Chi-
nese and English on at least 15 U.S. sta-
tions, covering Salt Lake City, Philadel-
phia, Houston, Honolulu, and Portland,
among others. [120] The biggest benefit
of this operation is to conceal the role of
A Chinese coastguard ship sails along the area of a joint search and rescue exercise
between Philippine and U.S. coastguards near Scarborough shoal in the South China Sea
on May 14, 2019.
Front pages of the China Daily (L), the Beijing News (C) and the Global Times (R) featur-
ing the Notre-Dame Cathedral disaster, in Beijing on April 17, 2019.
the CCP, and listeners are made to feel
that Americans themselves are express-
ing their support for the CCP.
Globally, CRI operated 33 such sta-
tions in at least fourteen countries in
2015. By 2018, it had 58 stations in 35
countries. [121] The control and opera-
tions are carried out via local Chinese
companies, making it legal, although
many people are unhappy about the
Party hiding its propaganda. Under the
banner of democracy, the CCP advo-
cates for communism and attempts to
manipulate its audience into adopting
its views by exploiting loopholes in the
laws of free societies. It uses democracy
to destroy democracy.
The China Daily‘s inserts are another
important part of the CCP’s external
propaganda campaign. China Daily
previously published pro-CCP news
inserts in The Washington Post using a
layout style that could give readers the
impression that it was The Washington
Post’s content, as the text indicating
that the insert was an advertisement
was placed in an inconspicuous loca-
tion. [122] The CCP struck similar deals
with more than thirty other newspa-
pers, including The New York Times,
The Wall Street Journal, The Daily Tele-
graph, and Le Figaro.
On Sept. 23, 2018, China Daily also
inserted a four-page supplement that
looked like ordinary news and com-
mentary in the local Iowa newspaper
Des Moines Register. The material at-
tacked the U.S. president and the pend-
ing trade deal, in what some called an
attempt to influence the upcoming
midterm elections. [123]
When it comes to information war-
fare, the CCP’s totalitarian regime has
several advantages over other coun-
tries. The Party blocks media from
all democratic countries, but is able
to insert its state-run media in demo-
cratic societies. The CCP prevents me-
dia inserts from free countries being
added to its own media, but the CCP
can insert its content into the media
from free societies. CCP media serve
the Party first and foremost, and West-
ern journalists will never hold execu-
tive roles in their Party mouthpieces.
The CCP can, however, send its own
undercover people into Western media
or train foreigners into being mouth-
piece reporters for the Party’s media.
TED ALJIBE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
OPINION | A15
Stephen Gregory, Publisher
GET
Jasper Fakkert, Editor-in-Chief
Channaly Philipp, Life & Tradition,
YOUR Travel Editor
Chrisy Trudeau, Mind & Body Editor
COPY
Crystal Shi, Home, Food Editor
HERE
Sharon Kilarski, Arts & Culture Editor
ABOUT US
EPOCHSHOP.COM
The Epoch Times is a media
organization dedicated to seek-
ing the truth through insightful
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and independent journalism.
Standing outside of politi-
cal interests and the pursuit of
profit, our starting point and our
goal is to create a media for the
public benefit, to be truly respon-
sible to society.
We endeavor to educate read-
ers about today’s most impor-
tant topics, seeking to broaden
and uplift minds. We believe that
rational, balanced debate is key
for fostering a healthy democ-
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society.
As an independent media out-
let, we use our freedom to inves-
tigate issues overlooked—or
avoided—by other media outlets.
We seek to highlight solutions
and what’s good in society rather
than what divides us.
As long as the West still regards the
CCP media as legitimate, the West We report respectfully, compas-
will continue to lose in the informa- sionately, and rigorously.
tion war. In 2018, the U.S. Department
of Justice ordered Xinhua and China We stand against the destruc-
Global Television Network to register tion wrought by communism,
as foreign agents in the United States. including the harm done to cul-
It was a step in the right direction but tures around the world.
far from sufficient, the problem being
We are inspired in this by our
the lack of reciprocity in the first place.
own experience. The Epoch
More recently, the U.S. government has
Times was founded in 2000 to
taken stronger action to counteract the
bring honest and uncensored
CCP’s propaganda narratives. Starting
news to people oppressed
in March 2020, the U.S. State Depart-
by the lies and violence in
ment began placing restrictions on
communist China.
PRC-controlled media outlets operat-
ing in the United States, such as nam- We still believe journalism is a
ing them foreign missions and limit- noble vocation, but only when it
ing the number of staff they can hire. genuinely seeks to serve its com-
Trump administration officials such as munities and help them to flour-
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have ish. In all that we do, we will hold
been especially vocal in their criticism ourselves to the highest stand-
of the Communist Party’s attempts to ards of integrity. This is our
win the propaganda war. promise to you.
The Communist Party also excels in
controlling overseas Chinese-language
media. Through coercion and entice- CONTACT US
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lettertoeditor@epochtimes.com
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An example of the impact of this me-
dia-control work can be found in the
reporting of The China Press (called
Qiao Bao in Mandarin), a California-
based Chinese-language media out-
let that carries CCP propaganda in
the United States. The China Press’s
lengthy reports during the CCP’s 19th
National Congress in 2017 were almost
identical to those published by official
Party media. [124]
Notes
119. “Chinese President Xi Jinping Visits With
CCTV America via Video Call,” CGTN, Feb. 19,
SUBSCRIBE
2016.
120. Koh Gui Qing and John Shiffman, “Beijing’s
Covert Radio Network Airs China-Friendly News
TODAY
Across Washington, and the World,” Reuters,
Nov. 2, 2015.
121. Lim and Bergin, “Inside China’s Audacious.”
122. James Fallows, “Official Chinese
Propaganda: Now Online From the WaPo!” The Get the
Atlantic, Feb. 3, 2011.
123. Donnelle Eller, “Chinese-Backed
independent news
Newspaper Insert Tries to Undermine Iowa Farm
Support for Trump, Trade War,” The Des Moines
you won’t find
Register, Sept. 24, 2018.
anywhere else.
124. Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, “Beijing Builds
Its Influence in the American Media,” Foreign
Policy, Dec. 21, 2017.
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A16 | OPINION MONDAY, MAY 3, 2021

Fauci Was Worst

BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Choice to Helm
COVID Response
ROGER L. SIMON
In what’s supposed to be
a major scoop, the Daily
Mail just published,
“Worrying new clues
about the origins of Co-
vid: How scientists at Wu-
han lab helped Chinese army
in secret project to find animal viruses.”
It may not be quite that big—the Gate-
way Pundit revealed some of this infor-
mation a year ago—but there are signifi-
cant new facts, including that a People’s
Liberation Army colonel, Cao Wuchun,
who is on the board of the Wuhan Insti-
tute of Virology, studied epidemiology
at Cambridge, the very seat of advanced
experimental science in the United King-
dom. Think Stephen Hawking. (Have the
“Five Eyes” gone blind?)
Having finished his studies, Cao is now
a Chinese regime adviser on bioterror-
ism. The DM added, “He was second-in-
command of the military team sent into
the city under Major General Chen Wei, the
country’s top biodefence expert, to respond
to the new virus and develop a vaccine.”
Suspicious, no?
But wait, there’s more, as they say:
“Documents obtained by The Mail on
Sunday reveal that a nationwide scheme,
directed by a leading state body, was
launched nine years ago to discover new
viruses and detect the ‘dark matter’ of
biology involved in spreading diseases.”
The DM goes on to tell us a Chinese
scientist who published the first genetic
sequence on COVID-19 (now more ac-
curately than ever called the CCP virus
by The Epoch Times) apparently found
143 new diseases in the first three years
of the project.
All this while the best known Chinese
virologist (at this point), professor Shi
Zhengli—aka “Bat Woman” for her many
trips to find virus samples in bat caves—
denied U.S. allegations last month that the
Chinese military was involved with the lab.
Interestingly, Shi was one of the five
team leaders of the above-mentioned
project with ... Col. Cao.
Must be a mix-up somewhere, no? Or
the Big Lie.
So where’s Dr. Anthony Fauci in all
this—the most highly paid employee of
our federal government, who changes his
mind more often than a ditzy housewife
in a ‘50s sitcom?
The answer may lie in something called
“gain of function” research. If you’re un-
familiar with the term, it’s bio-speak—a
euphemism of sorts—for repurposing an
animal virus so it can be contracted by a
human.
You could call it the devil’s work—the
kind of thing Dr. Mengele might have
done if he were still with us.
Some of this research is for defensive
use, but other aspects inevitably are,
well ... which would you rather die from,
a nuclear bomb or a carefully designed
biological weapon that affected the
entire globe and never went away? I’d
go with the former. It would at least be
instantaneous.
“Gain of function” experimentation—
nightmarish as it is—has been going on
in more countries than we would want to
know, but, thankfully, the United States
outlawed it domestically in 2014.
This must not have sat well with Fauci.
The man the mainstream media idol-
izes and has appeared on almost as
many magazine covers as Jacqueline
Kennedy took our taxpayer dollars and
sent them to Wuhan to support the lab
and, whether intentionally or not, help
continue this research.
The exact details of this are unclear, but
Dr. Anthony Fauci,
director of the National
Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases,
speaks to reporters at
the White House on
April 13, 2021.
The man the
mainstream media
idolizes ... took our
taxpayer dollars
and sent them to
Wuhan to support
the lab and, whether
intentionally or
not, help continue
this research.
the results certainly are clear.
Also unclear is the extent that the
doctor knew the Chinese military was
involved with the Wuhan lab. It would
be interesting to find out, although, with
Cao on the board and so prominent in
the lab’s activities for so many years, it’s
hard to imagine Fauci, a frequent visitor,
wouldn’t have had some idea, whether or
not he chose to acknowledge it.
I hasten to point out I absolutely don’t
think COVID-19 was promulgated on
purpose. It’s most likely the accidental
product of ongoing “gain of function”
research at the Wuhan lab, which, as
Fauci undoubtedly also knew, was being
criticized for its lax security measures.
The Chinese Communist Party—for its
continued “gain of function” research
and its obfuscation of the ensuing CO-
VID disaster—is to blame for everything
that happened after that. So far, they
have escaped retribution.
Fauci, of course, kept his mouth shut on
the matter. Don’t bite the hand that feeds
you or, more precisely, that you fed.
Trump was saddled with Fauci as the
director of the U.S. National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Diseases, one of the
more unfortunate occurrences of our time.
That such a person should have be-
come, and still is, the public face of our
fight against COVID-19 would make a
good sequel to a film about yet another
doctor ... Strangelove.
Roger L. Simon is an award-winning
novelist, Oscar-nominated screenwriter,
co-founder of PJ Media, and now a col-
umnist of The Epoch Times.

The Book You’ve Been

Waiting for... Reviving Obama’s Iran
Nuclear Deal Means War,
Not Peace
NOW
BIGGER SIZE, ANDREW HARNIK/POOL/GETTY IMAGES

EASIER TO READ AUSTIN BAY

FORMAT April 27 was an explosive
Tuesday for the Middle
East, explosive diplo-
matically in Vienna
and Washington, but
literally explosive in one
incident: the drone boat
attack on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea oil
port of Yanbu.
“Extremely well “The Truth, as horrifying as it is, In Vienna, Austria, talks involving
Iran, Britain, France, Germany, China,
researched and true.” shall set us free. This should be and Russia resumed, with the United Former President Barack Obama, standing
on this country’s academia’s States participating “indirectly.” The with former Vice President Joe Biden, talks
stated goals are twofold: Convince the about the Iran nuclear deal on July 14, 2015.
list of required reading.”
HOW THE
Iranian dictatorship to end its nuclear
weapons-development violations of
the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action transiting the Persian Gulf’s Strait of

SPECTER OF COMMUNISM
(JCPOA), the official name of former Hormuz, a chokepoint Tehran routinely
President Obama’s 2015 “Iran nuclear threatens to close.
deal”; and convince the United States The attack may have done little dam-

IS RULING OUR WORLD

to revive the JCPOA, from which then-
President Donald Trump’s administra-
tion withdrew in 2018.
In Washington, high-ranking Israeli
and U.S. diplomats held what diplomats
The specter of communism did not call frank discussions. The Jerusalem
Post quoted Israel’s ambassador to the
United States, Gilad Erdan, as saying:
disappear with the disintegration of the “We made our clear opposition to the
return to the JCPOA. ... It is a flawed and
Communist Party in Eastern Europe bad agreement, and returning to the
same deal makes it less likely to reach
a better one in the future.”
age, but for Tehran, it served as military
and economic strategic “propaganda by
the deed.”
Who conducted the attack? Yemen’s
Houthi rebels have launched Red Sea
boat attacks. I’ll wager an Iranian Quds
Force officer controlled the operation.
The Houthis have a cause, but one Iran
callously exploits as Tehran attacks
Saudi Arabia through its “Yemeni rear.”
The Yemen war and the Yanbu attack
illustrate the Iranian regime’s intrinsic
violent nature. The regime is also utter-

ORDER NOW!
Meanwhile, back in Yanbu, an un-
manned, remotely piloted speed boat
loaded with explosives targeted the
port. The Saudis claim they destroyed
the robot kamikaze. However, one
source reported the blast damaged
ly corrupt. Iranians claim the mullahs
and Revolutionary Guards are more
corrupt than the shah they overthrew
in 1979.
The corrupt regime wages numerous
slow wars, first and foremost against

EpochShop.com
a ship.
The Saudi’s East-West pipeline, which
transports crude from eastern oil
fields, terminates in Yanbu. Tank-
ers loading in the Red Sea port avoid
Israel and the Gulf Arab states, but they
also target the Great Satan, the United
States.
Iranian agents conduct or finance
violent meddling operations in at least
 MONDAY, MAY 3, 2021
Protesters gather in New York's Times Square near a military recruitment center to protest a ban
on allowing transgender individuals to serve in the military on July 26, 2017.
Hans Christian
Andersen on the
Cancel Culture
JOHN M. ELLIS
When I read Hans Chris-
tian Andersen’s story
“The Emperor’s New
Clothes” many years
ago, I was at first not
impressed. How could
anyone not see that a naked
man had no clothes on?
But the story was often then interpreted
as being about appearance and reality,
and nobody needed to look beyond ap-
pearances to see that the Emperor was
naked.
What Andersen’s story is really about is
something quite different. Long before
the term was invented, he understood
the cancel culture. The crux of the story
is that two scoundrels manage to make
30 different countries. The regime uses
transnational criminal operations, such
as narcotics smuggling and human
trafficking, as a source of income.
So let’s return to the JCPOA and U.S.
economic sanctions imposed on Iran
after the Trump administration with-
drew from the inane and unverifiable
agreement.
Incorporating “comprehensive” in
the JCPOA’s name was reprehensibly
dishonest, for the Obama deal wasn’t
comprehensive. Follow the JCPOA’s
timeline and you discover the Obama
administration gave Tehran’s bad guys
billions in cash before they officially
agreed to the slimy deal.
If President Joe Biden
revives Obama’s lousy deal,
expect war, not peace.
The ayatollahs used Obama’s payoff
cash to wage war in Yemen and Syria.
In May 2018, I wrote that the JCPOA
failed to penalize the Iranian regime’s
violent troublemaking and its criminal
operations, a grievous flaw. I wrote that
column a week after Israel released an
Representatives of the European Union, Iran, and others attend the Iran nuclear talks at the Grand
Hotel in Vienna on April 15, 2021.
T SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES
everyone believe that if they can’t see the
Emperor’s clothes, they must be either
unfit for their job or unusually stupid.
The point is that if you can make people
sufficiently panicked about losing their
reputations and livelihoods, you can
make them say and believe anything, no
matter how idiotic.
They’ll say what they are told to say, for
fear of being canceled. Sound familiar?
The best example of how Emperor’s
New Clothes (ENC) tactics now work is
transgenderism.
If you’ve learned Andersen’s lesson,
you know that you must stick to what
you see and not let anyone frighten you
into saying that you see something that
you don’t.
Suppose, then, that we see someone
who appears in every respect a man. He
information trove documenting the
regime’s failure to comply with key
JCPOA nuclear weapons development
provisions.
The economic sanctions imposed
by the Trump administration frustra-
ted Iran’s ability to finance war and
terror. Trump’s withdrawal from the
JCPOA was the predicate action that
made the Abraham Accords possible—
Nobel Prize-worthy peace treaties
between Israel and the UAE and other
Arab states.
If President Joe Biden revives Obama’s
lousy deal, expect war, not peace. Re-
vival of the JCPOA would also confirm
that the Democratic Party’s hard-left,
anti-Israel media and academic wing
dictates Slow Joe’s foreign policy.
Iran’s ayatollahs call Israel a “one-
bomb state.”
The Israelis know an existential threat
when they hear one. If the Biden ad-
ministration caves, Israel won’t.
Austin Bay is a colonel (ret.) in the
U.S. Army Reserve, author, syndicated
columnist, and teacher of strategy and
strategic theory at the University of
Texas–Austin. His latest book is “Cock-
tails from Hell: Five Wars Shaping the
21st Century.”
EU DELEGATION IN VIENNA VIA GETTY IMAGES
OPINION | A17
has a distinctively male skeleton: The But that would have to include the tribe
male pelvis is clearly distinguishable itself. Must we now say that, contrary to
from that of a female, the angle of the all human experience, there can never
legs to the perpendicular is male and not be a gap between saying something is so
female, the upper body is broader and and it’s automatically being so?
stronger, the shape of the head is differ- Delusion, fraud, error, misjudgment—
ent. The voice, the musculature, the re- all now to be excluded from human life,
productive organs, body, and facial hair according to these modern ENC-style
are all different. And below the surface scoundrels.
are even more profound differences in Think about the consequences: If say-
body chemistry, brain, and so on, and, ing something is so makes it so, we’ll
in fact, every single cell in the body is no longer have any protection against
marked as male. We’re seeing a male. unscrupulous male sports mediocrities
But the bullies tell us that we must say who can’t resist the chance to cheat their
we’re seeing a female, or we’ll be labeled way to a world title competing against
a bigot, transphobic, and guilty of hate women, or men who just want to avoid
speech, we’ll be social outcasts, and our the draft, or male predators who want
jobs may be threatened—all classic ENC access to naked females in locker rooms,
scoundrel tactics. or incarcerated male felons who think
Resisting ENC-style bullying means life would offer more and be less danger-
refusing to lie about what we see. What ous in a women’s prison, or men who
we certainly do see is a man so unhappy just want to grab any other of a variety of
about being a man that he wishes he privileges reserved for females.
were a woman. We see someone who What we really need now is a realistic
feels that he’s in spirit a woman. We see and humane discussion of what society
a man who asks that we treat him as if can and should do to accommodate
he were a woman. But we don’t see a
woman. Well now, say the scoundrels,
we’ll tell you what you really see. How
dare you refuse to say what we tell you
people who have gender dysphoria,
consistent with not harming or unduly
burdening everyone else. Destroying
female athletics and abolishing privacy
to say? Their bizarre view is the only one
they will allow. We must see things their
way, or else!
for females are real harms and need to be
taken seriously as significant parts of the
discussion. But this much-needed delib-
eration is exactly what the bullies won’t
allow: They claim the right to veto it. How
did they get that right?
In what other area of human Andersen’s tale has only two scoun-
life do we accept that if drels, and they’re soon exposed. We’re
someone thinks or claims that not so lucky: We have a more powerful
and numerous set of canceling bullies,
something is so, it must be so? including the Big Tech billionaires. In
their arrogance, they claim that nobody
What could justify this belligerent at- may have any opinion but theirs.
tempt to control other people’s minds? But when you see a powerfully built
There’s only one possible support for it, male athlete at the top of the podium af-
and that lies in their claim that if a man ter a female athletic event, with two un-
thinks he’s a woman, that makes him happy females occupying the lower spots
one. That supposedly justifies the bullies either side of him, just remember those
forbidding any other opinion, under pain people in Andersen’s story, all bullied
of cancellation. into saying that they’re seeing clothes on
Could anything be more absurd? In the naked man in front of them.
what other area of human life do we
accept that if someone thinks or claims John M. Ellis is a distinguished profes-
that something is so, it must be so? If a sor emeritus at the University of Califor-
man thinks he’s a dog, is he? If he thinks nia–Santa Cruz and the author of several
he’s Napoleon, does that make him books, the most recent of which is “The
so? Then perhaps anyone who thought Breakdown of Higher Education: How
Elizabeth Warren lied when claiming It Happened, the Damage It Does, and
she was Cherokee should be canceled. What Can Be Done.”
Behind the
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TRUTH AND TRADITION
A18 | PUZZLES MONDAY, MAY 3, 2021

CROSSWORD CONSTRUCTED BY TOM HOUSTON

EPOCH TIMES STAFF
14. Back 4NUMBERS CONSTRUCTED BY C. CHANG
AT 4NUMS.COM DAILY BRIDGE CLUB
15. Former Serbian capital
Use the four numbers in the corners, and A walk in the park?
20. “ ___ on Down the the operands (+, - X, and ÷) to build an BY FRANK STEWART, TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY
Road” equation to get the solution in the middle.
©2021 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
There may be more than one “unique” so-
24. Stretch of land lution but, there may also be “equivalent”
26. Incenses solutions. For example: 6 + (7 X 3) +1 = 28 “My marriage has been idyllic,” a club player
27. Jacob’s first wife and 1+ (7 X 3) + 6 = 28 confided to me, “like a walk in a park. But
when my husband and I play bridge, it’s like
28. Goofed Jurassic Park. Something goes wrong, and
29. 2 on a touch-tone he turns into a beast.”
My friend was declarer at today’s 6NT in
30. Carrier to Oslo a duplicate event.
31. Gym equipment “I took the ace of clubs,” she told me,
32. “Amazing Grace” “and thought I might make an overtrick.
But when I led a diamond to dummy’s ace,
ending East discarded, and I couldn’t make six.
33. New York’s ___ Island My husband was irate. He growled that I
should have played the six of diamonds to
38. 1991 Wimbledon safeguard the slam. That never occurred to
champ me. At duplicate, I thought I had to try for
39. Drug addict 13 tricks.”
40. 1998 N.L. M.V.P. Hard 1 - 1 Solution UNCOMMON
42. Level, in London Safety plays are uncommon at duplicate.
43. “While” attachment At a “normal contract” — one most pairs
will reach — you play for the maximum
47. Morley of “60 Min- number of tricks. But here, North-South
utes” had reached 6NT with only 29 high-card
points. Most pairs would stop at game or
49. ___ line (major axis of maybe six diamonds.
an elliptical orbit) I agree with my friend’s husband. Since
50. Actress Thompson plus 1,440 will surely be a good result,
South should play safe.
et al
51. Sciences’ partner
DAILY QUESTION
53. Habitués You hold: kA 10 7 3 2 jA J 5 3 iA 6
54. “Red ___ in the Sun- h7 5. Your partner opens one club, you
Hard 2 - 1 Solution bid one spade, he rebids two clubs and
set”
Across 41. Time pieces? 84. Convention handout 56. Tick (off)
you try two hearts. Partner then rebids
three clubs. What do you say?
1. Altar in the sky 44. Confucian path 85. G.I. chow in Desert 57. Red Rose, once ANSWER: Partner has a minimum
4. Concerning 45. ___ record Storm 58. Food stat. opener, probably with seven clubs. If he
11. Kind of wrench 46. Towels off 86. Visionaries has Q, K 6, 7 5 3, A K 9 8 6 4 2, five clubs
59. Spartan would be a good contract, 3NT would be
16. Label 48. Casa chamber 87. More stylish 60. What’s left iffy, maybe needing a 2-2 club break. You
17. Luger, e.g. 52. A.A.R.P. members 88. “Pygmalion” opens 61. Skunk have no correct bid. You might pass the
buck by bidding three diamonds.
18. Actress Téa 55. Doodler’s aid with it 66. Spoiler South dealer
19. Really good one 58. Kind of element 67. Future atty.’s exam N-S vulnerable
21. Hails 62. Giant syllable Down 69. Birch relative NORTH
22. City on the Yamuna 63. Took a load off 1. Aleutian island kA 10 7 3 2
70. Half-and-half half jA J 5 3
River 64. Rightful 2. Buzzed 71. 44th President of the iA 6
Easy 1 - 1 Solution h7 5
23. Marker letters 65. Actress Scala 3. “Happy Days Are Here United States
24. Slow, in music 66. Fidgety Again” composer WEST EAST
75. Favor one side? kJ 4 kQ 8 6 5
25. Secret associates 68. Trim trails 4. Some batteries 76. Handed-down history j10 8 jQ 9 7 6 2
iQ J 4 2 iNone
31. The 51st Psalm 72. Plows 5. Cardinal letters 77. Bygone blade hJ 10 8 3 2 hQ 9 6 4
34. Requirements for 73. Baseball card stat. 6. Mortgage org. 78. Shaker ___, OH. SOUTH
some postgrad work, 74. “___ fair in love and 7. Like the Matterhorn 79. Candy striper’s co- kK 9
jK 4
briefly war” 8. Move, as a plant workers: Abbr. iK 10 9 8 7 5 3
35. Decryption org. 78. Gossipy Hopper 9. Consumed 80. “The Addams Family” hA K
36. Halifax clock setting: 79. Mary Shelly’s inspira- 10. To be, in Barcelona cousin South West North East
1i Pass 1k Pass
Abbr. tion 11. Utterly lost 81. Common female 3i Pass 3j Pass
37. Potato Head piece 83. “___ words were never 12. Have down cold middle name 3 NT Pass 6 NT(!) All Pass
38. Hits spoken” 13. Crescendos 82. Cabinet dept. Easy 2 - 1 Solution Opening lead —hJ

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.

ALDER DRIES OBAMA SEERS

ALL AT SEA ERRED RARE-EARTH SMARTER
ALLEN HEDDA REANIMATION STICH
ALPINE KNEE- REGULARS SUCCESSES
AS FAR AS SLAPPER REPOT TARDO
ASSAULT LAUDS RESIDUE TEAR SHEETS
COURSES LEARN RESTLESS TILLS
ATE UP LEONI RUINER TRACT
ATHLETE LOUDENS SAFER TRUER
AUSTERE MISERERE SAILS
CREAM NAME-TAG SCRAP PAPER

SOLUTIONS
CROSSWORD SUPER KAKURO 4NUMBERS

HARD 1

HARD 2

EASY 1

EASY 2
 MONDAY, MAY 3, 2021 PUZZLES | A19
SUDOKU CONSTRUCTED
BY KANNAN SANKARAN SUPERSUDOKU CONSTRUCTED
BY KANNAN SANKARAN

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

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
9

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
OPRUG
EPOCH ESCAPE MAZE
HNITN

TAUERM

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

“ - -
”

WORK SPACE

SOLUTIONS
SUPERSUDOKU SUDOKU: EASY JUMBLE EASY KAKURO
were — “A-DOOR-RING” IT WORK SPACE
their front entrance and
They got a new chime for
Answers:

ODDITY
MATURE
NINTH
GROUP
SUDOKU: HARD EPOCH DOKU
Jumbles:

CRYPTIC QUOTE
philosophy only ridiculous.
are dangerous; those in
the errors in religion
Generally speaking,

Contact the Puzzle Master @: Feedback@EpochTimes.com

A20 | MONDAY, MAY 3, 2021

Truth and Tradition

The Gift of Strength in a Challenging Time
You know that the truth doesn’t just make you more Through our journalism, you can prove to them that our
informed—it can also give you the strength to fight and to nation’s values still remain strong. You can show them that
hope. But what about your friends and family who are still there is a growing community that’s willing to stand up for
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LARRY ELDER
Best-selling author, attorney,
and talk show host
I congratulate you and I love reading The Epoch Times has been
The Epoch Times for the work The Epoch Times! a welcome and refreshing
you are doing, especially with I always feel encouraged antidote that re-instills
regard to keeping the menace and hopeful about sanity and rationality, as well
of the communist threat in our future. as sanctity for human life.
front of us. CHRISTINE CARTWRIGHT NEAL BOGOSIAN
DR. SEBASTIAN GORKA
Military and intelligence analyst and former
deputy assistant to the president

G i v e t h e G i ft o f Tr u t h a n d Tra d i t i o n , a t a n y t i m e

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 PRA CHID/SHUTTERSTOCK NEW AFRICA/SHUTTERSTOCK
PRODUCTIVITY GOOD NUTRITION

Want More Time for Your Is Frozen Food Healthy?

Meaningful Work? Many people have a mistaken prejudice against
The days flow by and our deeper mission is produce from the freezer.
often forgotten—but that can change.

See B3 See B7

MIND & BODY

WELL-BEING |DIET | FITNESS MONDAY, MAY 3, 2021 B1

ALTANAKA/SHUTTERSTOCK

Am I We’re
living in a time
when parents are
supposed to be our

Supposed children’s best

friends—and
parents.

to Be My
Kid’s Friend?
We’ve abandoned
the distinction
between adult and
child—and our kids
are paying for it

NANCY COLIER at or hated by my kid; it’s going to cause friends—and parents.

P
arents often ask me for advice
in managing their children’s
use of technology, usually the
amount of time the child uses
it, or the kind of tech the child
is using.
I suggest they set limits and guidelines
for incorporating those limits. The parent
then says something like, “But if I do what
you’re suggesting, I’m going to be yelled
a huge problem.”
It is precisely I usually smile and say “yes.”
This seems to confuse the parent, as
because we love our if they want a solution that doesn’t cre-
children that we ate disagreement—a policy that’s easy to
implement. I then deliver the following,
need to be able to sometimes surprising news alert: “As a
parent, you’re not supposed to be your
tolerate their not child’s friend.”
liking us all the time. We’re living in a time when parents
are supposed to be our children’s best
Moms and dads hang out with their kids
as if they’re hanging out with peers. When
there’s a disagreement, parents believe
we’re supposed to negotiate with our kids
as if we’re negotiating with equals. Par-
ents of 7-year-olds report to me (with a
straight face) all the reasons their child
doesn’t agree with their decisions regard-
ing the child’s behavior.
Continued on B2

Liver Damage Is Off the Charts Drinking alcohol

can lead to a num-
Alcohol and fructose fuel surge in liver disease amid pandemic lockdown ber of health risks
in the short- and
long-term.
JOSEPH MERCOLA or five to six drinks daily from March linger said the pandemic “super-
2020 to March 2021, an amount that charged” already rising rates of liver
DMYTRO ZINKEVYCH/SHUTTERSTOCK

Rates of alcoholic liver disease have
soared 30 percent in the last year at
the University of Michigan’s health
system, a rise doctors blame on
higher amounts of alcohol intake
during the pandemic. Anecdotal re-
ports suggest that some patients in-
creased drinking to a bottle of wine
raises the risk of severe liver disease.
Speaking with NPR, University of
Michigan liver specialist Dr. Jessica
Mellinger said, “In my conversa-
tions with my colleagues at other
institutions, everybody is saying the
same thing: ‘Yep, it’s astronomical.
It’s just gone off the charts.’” Mel-
disease, which are now also show-
ing up in younger populations.
“We’re seeing kids in their late 20s
and early 30s with a disease that we
previously thought was kind of ex-
clusive to middle age,” she said.
Continued on B6
B2
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former deputy assistant to the president
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PAUL GOSAR
U.S. representative for Arizona
When there’s a disagreement, parents believe we’re supposed to negotiate with our kids
as if we’re negotiating with equals.
Am I Supposed to Be
My Kid’s Friend?
We’ve abandoned the distinction
between adult and child—and our kids
are paying for it
Continued from B1
I see parents whose children under
the age of five get an equal vote in set-
ting up the rules of the house, which
includes the rules that will apply to the
children. I hear the delight of parents
who are friended by their kids on so-
cial media. We’re spoon-fed the message
that we’re supposed to be buddies with
our kids and that they should like us, all
the time. And that we’re bad parents if
they’re upset by our decisions.
We’ve thrown away the distinction be-
tween adult and child. This has under-
mined our ability to share the wisdom of
our adult experience. We’re choosing to
be our children’s playmates rather than
do what’s best for them.
As parents, we’re taking the easy
path, the path of least resistance, tell-
ing ourselves that if our kids like us,
then we must be doing this parent-
ing thing right. In the process of trying
to be friends with our kids, however,
we’re giving away our authority, de-
priving them of the experience of be-
ing taken care of, and denying them
the serenity, trust, and confidence that
arises from knowing we can stand our
ground and protect them even when
it incites their anger. It is precisely be-
cause we love our children that we
need to be able to tolerate their not
liking us all the time.
Allowing children
to make their
own rules around
technology is
like handing
an opioid addict a
bottle of oxycontin
and asking him
to write his own
prescription, need
or not.
When we’re driven by the desire or
responsibility to be liked, we’re giving
ourselves an impossible task. We sim-
ply cannot prioritize being liked and
simultaneously raise healthy, sane hu-
man beings who can tolerate frustra-
tion and disappointment. We are setting
ourselves up for suffering and failure.
We strive to be liked for giving them
what they want while denying our-
selves the dignity of providing our
kids with what they really need. We’re
opting for the easiest, most pleasur-
able option over the deeper, more
thoughtful and satisfying choice.
We are also, in this friending-over-
parenting process, failing our kids.
Our kids need boundaries and guide-
lines. A woman I work with—who
was raised by a parent who, above all,
wanted to be her friend—put it this
way: “I never felt like there was some-
MONDAY, MAY 3, 2021
IAKOV FILIMONOV/SHUTTERSTOCK
one to stop me if I got to the end of the
earth and was going to dive off.”
Our kids may scream and throw
things, but they also want us to know
things they don’t know. They want us
to stick with our wisdom despite their
railing, to be willing to tolerate their
rants in service to their best inter-
ests—to take care of them in ways
they can’t yet take care of themselves.
Our kids want us to demonstrate
fierce grace.
We, too, feel our best when we walk
the walk of fierce grace.
Often children don’t know what’s
best for them, and almost never do
they know what’s best for them when
it comes to technology use. It’s hard
enough for us grownups to realize
what’s best for ourselves, and children
have front brains that are not any-
where near fully developed.
Allowing children to make their
own rules around technology is like
handing an opioid addict a bottle of
oxycontin and asking him to write his
own prescription, need or not. Young
children and teenagers should not get
an equal vote in matters that relate
to their technology use, nor in many
other matters.
As parents, we usually possess at
least two or more decades of experi-
ence than our children. Put simply,
we know things they don’t. We can
tell them this truth. This is why our
kids are not equal in matters that re-
quire discipline or hard choices. These
are often situations that overwhelm
their brains’ pleasure centers, hor-
mones, and inexperienced thinking.
Remember this: It’s okay for your
child to be upset with you; it’s okay
if they don’t like the decisions you
make; it’s okay if your child is mad at
you for setting limits and sticking to
those limits.
You’re allowed to say “no.”
It takes great courage to say “no.”
You’re not a bad parent if your child
goes through periods when he or she
doesn’t like you—and maybe even
says she hates you for a while. It prob-
ably means you’re doing your job.
Your role as the authority in your
child’s life is critical. The more you as-
sume that role, the more you’ll feel the
wisdom of your own authority.
Being the authority doesn’t mean
turning a deaf ear to your child’s
anger, disappointment, or feelings.
We can listen to our kids’ emotions
and thoughts while simultaneously
holding our ground on what we know
is best for them. Being the authority in
your kid’s life doesn’t mean being cal-
lous or insensitive, but it does mean
being brave enough to stay strong in
the face of their fury or resentment.
Your role is to be the grown-up in
the parent-child relationship, to be
loving in your willingness to do what’s
best for your kids. Your role is not to be
your child’s friend.
Nancy Colier is a psychotherapist, in-
terfaith minister, author, public speak-
er, and workshop leader. For more
information, visit NancyColier.com
 MONDAY, MAY 3, 2021
WISE HABITS
Want More
Time for Your
Meaningful Work?
The days flow by and
our deeper mission
is often forgotten—
but that can change
LEO BABAUTA
A
member of my Fearless Training
Program has a full-time busi-
ness that she loves, but it isn’t
the meaningful work she’d
like to do in the world. She
struggles with finding enough time for
that meaningful work.
Can you relate to this? The rest of our
life fills up all the space—how can we
find enough time to focus on what’s re-
ally important?
This is a common problem for anyone
who wants to launch a new venture,
volunteer, create art, write a book, or
build an audience or a brand. How do we
create the time when we’re already busy
and overloaded?
It can feel overwhelming
when it’s a huge pile of
stuff and seemingly not
enough time.
I’m going to share some ideas in this
article:
1. Create structure for all the stuff in your
life
2. Create even more space
3. Really pour yourself into it
4. Bring some zen to disruptions and
frustrations
5. Replenish yourself
6. Bring freedom, joy, and energy to any
activity
These are all meant to address various
problems we face when we’re making
time for our meaningful work. You can
decide which ones apply to your life.
Let’s take a look!
Create Structure in Your Life
Our lives can feel overwhelming, with
too many things to do. We have chores,
small tasks, messages to answer, bills to
pay, dishes to wash, people to contact,
and much more. So how do we handle all
of this?
First, it can feel overwhelming when
it’s a huge pile of stuff and seemingly not
enough time.
Second, the small stuff will overwhelm
all the available space, because it always
feels urgent when we’re feeling behind
and overwhelmed.
A Simple, Natural Approach to a Better Memory
MAT LECOMPTE
Brain games, crosswords, hobbies, and
conversation can all help your memory,
but you should prioritize getting a better
night’s sleep.
A good sleep might be one of the best
things you can do to build a strong memory
and improve your ability to think and recall
information.
Sleep influences memory function in sev-
eral ways. The first and most obvious is that it
makes it a lot easier to pay attention. Fighting
to stay awake can make learning nearly im-
possible, and caffeine can only help so much.
Being well-rested is the best way to stay
alert and focused.
Your brain is better prepared to learn af-
ter a good night’s sleep, as well. The infor-
mation you learn each day is temporarily
stored in the hippocampus, where it can
take up a lot of limited space. Sleep helps
shrink and store these memories, so more
space is available for the next day.
So one good answer is to create struc-
ture. Create spaces to deal with all the
things in your life:
r
Bill Pay Mondays
r
Inbox Zero Tuesdays
r
Admin Fridays
r
House Chore Party Saturdays
r
Email and Messages Happy Hour—
daily at 4 p.m.
r
Morning Planning and Intentions
r
Monthly Taxes Day
r
Meaningful Work Play Time at 10 a.m.
daily
r
And so on
You don’t need these specific spaces;
your structure will be different than
these. But if you have a space for all the
stuff, you can relax and know that it will
be taken care of at its assigned time.
With structure, you can then create
intentional space for your meaningful
work.
Create Even More Space
Let’s say you’re so busy that you can only
find 30 minutes a week for your mean-
ingful work. That’s a great start!
Maybe you can create more time by
bundling your emails and messages into
a certain hour each day. Maybe you can
free up some time by hiring a babysitter,
a house cleaner, or someone on Craigslist
to haul away your junk for you. Someone
to answer your customer service emails,
or an administrative assistant to take
care of routine tasks.
Or maybe you can eliminate or simplify
some things to create more space. Get
out of commitments. Tell people no. Ask
for postponements.
Sometimes we can cut out distractions,
such as social media or video watching
or news/website reading. If we’re honest,
there’s a lot of wasted time in our days
that can be streamlined for the sake of
what’s truly important.
Get creative. Sometimes it takes a little
time investment to simplify, but then it
pays off in space in a week or two.
Really Pour Yourself Into It
Once you have the space, it can be hard
to focus. All the other stuff is calling to
you. Maybe you spend the first 20 min-
utes of the 40 minutes you’ve carved
out just getting ready. Maybe the whole
focus block gets pushed back until later
because you feel something else is more
urgent.
Create the structure to make the mean-
ingful work happen. Sometimes it means
doing it on a video call with someone
else and each of you does your meaning-
ful work on mute for an hour.
But when you’re in the focus block of
time, pour yourself into it. Give it your
full being. Be all in.
Bring Some Zen to Disruptions
Sometimes, despite our best efforts, we
It also helps you filter out all the unimport-
ant stuff you may have picked up that day.
Memory consolidation also happens dur-
ing sleep, which basically means memories
can be stored and grouped together. This
process usually occurs during stage two
sleep, a lighter sleep stage that occurs a
couple of hours before waking up.
But think about this: If you’re waking up
early or not moving through the stages of
sleep because of going to bed too late, you
could be missing out on, or at least com-
promising, this important process.
Getting 7 to 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep
each night can do wonders for your memory.
It may involve some changes to your routine,
like setting a bedtime and wake time. Your
body will adjust in a relatively short period.
When it does, you may realize a notice-
ably improved memory.
Mat Lecompte is a health and wellness
journalist. This article was first published
on Bel Marra Health.
get disrupted. Our kid interrupts want-
ing a snack. Our spouse interrupts with
their latest frustration. A message comes
in that sidetracks us.
And then we can get frustrated or an-
gry. That’s normal. Give yourself a breath
or two, and some compassion.
Then let it go. Relax, breathe, and ac-
cept the interruption as just a natural
part of the chaos of life. It doesn’t have to
derail you completely. See the gift in the
interruption. Find the gratitude for hav-
ing this person in your life.
Then simply return to the meaningful
task, with your whole self.
If we’re honest, there’s
a lot of wasted time in
our days that can be
streamlined for the sake
of what’s truly important.
Replenish Yourself
It can be hard to find focus when we’re
drained, anxious, exhausted, or feeling
resigned and resentful. We just don’t
have the focus or capacity to face any-
thing.
So it can be a great act of leadership to
recognize this and take care of it. This is
an act of generosity to yourself and your
meaningful work.
Recharge your batteries, give yourself
nurturing and nourishment, and replen-
ish yourself so that you can return with
full life force.
Some ideas:
FIZKES/SHUTTERSTOCK
Sleep plays a crucial role in restoring focus and con-
solidating memory.
B3
Distractions
are inevitable, but
taking them lightly
will let you get back to
your important task
with the shortest
interruption.
SERGEY TINYAKOV/SHUTTERSTOCK
r
Get more sleep. Shut down earlier
and let yourself relax into deep,
nourishing sleep.
r
Get outdoors daily. Go for a walk or
run, enjoy the quiet beauty of nature.
r
Take a hot bath. Drink some tea
while doing nothing else. Take some
space.
r
Any kind of self-care is helpful: a nap,
yoga, a workout, therapy, talk with a
friend, get a massage, meditate.
More space, more relaxing, more nour-
ishing.
Bring Freedom, Joy,
and Energy to Every Activity
We can feel trapped because we’re
craving freedom, but our day job isn’t
allowing for it. We can feel drained and
discouraged because our day job feels
draining, stressful, dull.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. We
can bring joy and freedom to any activ-
ity, including our routine work.
What would it be like to do the activ-
ity you normally experience as suffo-
cating with a sense of freedom and joy?
What if you could do the dull routine
activities with vitality? What if you
could be lit up in any moment you
liked?
This is a possibility few people allow
themselves. I encourage you to explore it.
What could your life be like, bringing
freedom and joy to anything you liked?
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 programs
to help you master your habits. Visit
ZenHabits.net
Memory
consolidation also
happens during
sleep, which
basically means
memories can be
stored and grouped
together.
B4
Declutter Your
Collectibles With the
‘Longaberger Principle’
Those things we once pursued with passion can
often feel difficult to let go despite our new interests
JENNIFER TRITT
A
s my love and I prepare to
downsize and move, we’re
sorting through our belong-
ings once again. We’ve com-
pleted much decluttering over
the years as we’ve grown to embrace a min-
imalist lifestyle. We examined our belong-
ings with discerning eyes and parted with
what we no longer used or cherished.
Our living space is functional, open, and
peaceful. In my experience, decluttering
stuff helps to declutter the mind and open
the heart. Having less to do allows us to be.
In this fresh space, we can explore new in-
terests and find new meaning in our lives.
We’ve donated clothing, kitchen items,
furniture, art, and books. We’ve invited our
college-aged kids to take what they want.
We’ve eliminated dumpsters full of un-
necessary paperwork and sorted through
mementos and keepsakes, holding onto
the most precious.
Now we’re looking at furniture and col-
lectibles. We’re giving furniture that won’t
fit into our new home to family members
who’ve expressed interest. We’re planning
a garage sale and attempting to sell some
items on eBay.
I’m doing my best not to push, and I’m
MADE TO MOVE
Want to Be More Creative? Go for a Walk.
Get creative juices flowing through moving your arms and legs
CONAN MILNER
Walking is as healthy as it is simple. This
easy, natural movement has proven neu-
rological and physiological benefits, but it
can also help you to think more creatively.
For author Nita Sweeney, walking helps
spark ideas in her writing. She says the
rhythmic movement and the physical dis-
tance away from her work provide clarity
to concepts that previously seemed too dif-
ficult to articulate.
“Once I let go of the thing I’m worried
about or trying to figure out, often a solu-
tion will arise. It will often just pop up into
my consciousness,” she said.
Sweeney is not alone. Lots of writers
use walking to stimulate new ideas or to
refine the ones they’re struggling with.
Tim Tamashiro says he began walking
when he was the host of “Tonic,” a music
show on Canadian radio. Tamashiro said
short walks would help him find the words
he needed to fill the program.
“My daily routine would have me writing
12 to 16 short stories that I would prepare
for the radio show. As you could imagine,
collections we spent a lot of
money creating, even though
thrilled he’s ready to part with some sports
memorabilia and work-related mementos,
even though he’s holding onto the comic
books and Hot Wheels for now. He may lat-
er decide that he’s ready to part with them.
This is a personal process, and there’s no
need to rush decisions.
The Longaberger Principle
Last night I coined the phrase “the Longa-
berger lesson” when we discovered, with
shock, that some items he thought would
be in great demand failed to garner any
bids on eBay. I had a similar experience,
early in my decluttering, when I decided
to let go of my once-treasured Longaberger
baskets.
I found an auction house that was about
to host a Longaberger auction and antici-
pated making big bucks. The amount of
money that I made on my collection would
have paid for one basket during the heyday
of my collecting.
This experience and resulting deflated
feeling got me thinking. Why do we col-
lect? How do we arrive at the decision to
part with our collections? What is the true
value of a collection?
I collected baskets because I thought
they were beautiful, many of them were
useful, I enjoyed comparing collections
I was often stuck with writer’s’ block. I
learned that if I stood up and took a 10-min-
Lots of writers ute walk outside, I would return refreshed
use walking and ready with a fresh approach to the story
to stimulate
new ideas
or to refine
the ones
they’re strug-
gling with.
Few things can get
creative ideas flowing
as pleasantly as going
outside for a walk.
ALL PHOTOS BY SHUTTERSTOCK
It can be hard to part with
the value has dropped—
along with our interest.
Longaberger baskets
became quite the col-
lectable, though the
trend has passed, along
with the value. It’s a
pattern that can teach
an important principle
about our relationship
to material things.
DG STOCK/SHUTTERSTOCK
MONDAY, MAY 3, 2021
and hosting parties with girlfriends, and I
loved seeking the sense of completion that
finalizing a collection could bring. I spent a
significant amount of money and managed
to rationalize each purchase.
I believed my collection would increase
in value and never considered that it might
decrease. I parted with the baskets because
they reminded me of a different time in
my life and I no longer found them useful.
I’ve eliminated other collections that were
simply taking up space: collectible plates,
jewelry, dishes, and books—and it’s been
freeing.
How to Part With Collectibles
Here are a few thoughts on how to ap-
proach parting with a collection:
1. Keep a piece.
When I sold my baskets, I kept a few that
I use. If you have a collection in storage—
for example, Hot Wheels, you could create
a small display of your favorites that you
actually enjoy seeing as you pass by, and
part with the rest.
2. Seek collectors.
Find your kindred spirits. There are many
ways to sell your collection: online, at a
garage sale, or through an auction house
or flea market. See any money you make
as a bonus as you part with your collec-
tion. Even if the collection has decreased in
monetary value, the sentimental value may
be equally important to the new owner.
3. Embrace change and release guilt.
Our interests and preferences change over
time. We grow. We expand our interests,
our values shift, and our tastes change.
Remember the joy you felt while collect-
ing, and release the guilt you may attach to
the dollars you spent and will not be able
to recover.
My collection was packed and stored for
a while, and whenever I saw the boxes, I
felt bad. I was happy to free the space and
release the energy. I also released the guilt
for the money I had invested.
4. Define value more broadly.
Value extends beyond the price you can
fetch for an item or a collection. What you
once loved, but wish to release, someone
else may love and treasure. Focus on the
fun you had amassing your collection, and
move on to pursuing your new interests.
Live in the present.
5. Find joy in giving.
Seek friends or other folks who would ap-
preciate your collection. Enjoy watching
the joy
j on their faces when they receive.
Consider donating or selling if you can’t
Con
find a friend or acquaintance who’s in-
terested.
tere
Id
do believe that minimalists can be col-
lectors.
lect Although I’ve shifted my priority
from things to experiences, I continue to
collect refrigerator magnets from my trav-
col
els. Looking at them makes me smile
as I think about the associated visit.
Jennifer Tritt is an academic
counselor at a community college,
has recently adopted a minimalist
lifestyle, and is passionate about
sharing her experiences. This article
was originally published on
BecomingMinimalist.com
I was working on,” Tamashiro said.
Tamashiro says he still goes for walks ev-
ery chance gets, and it continues to inspire
his creativity. He says walking proved to be
a reliable tool when he wrote his first book.
“A brisk walk always helped me clarify
ideas and come up with new approaches,”
he said.
Walking can also help with other creative
endeavors. Jeff Wilson, host of “Real Rail
Adventures” on PBS, said that when he was
a music major in college studying classical
piano, he used to practice hard for a couple
of hours and then take a break with a long
walk, no matter the weather.
“I always came back to the instrument
fresh and ready to play, with some of the
problems I’d been experiencing in my play-
ing ironed out from having just thought a
bit about them,” Wilson said.
Wilson found that, when it came to walk-
ing and music, he was in good company.
Ludwig Van Beethoven, Gustav Mahler,
and Benjamin Britten all took long walks
to spark their compositional ideas.
“Creativity is encouraged by walking,”
Wilson said.
 MONDAY, MAY 3, 2021
Exposure to
Household Chemicals
Affects Gut Microbiome
Research finds children at greater risk for chemical
exposures and resulting consequences
A study out of Washington State University,
in collaboration with Duke University, has
found the first evidence linking exposure
to household chemicals with impacts on
the gut microbiomes of children.
Published in the journal Environmental
Science and Technology Letters, the pio-
neering study could lead to better aware-
ness of the hazards of repeated exposures
to common chemicals generally regarded
as safe for use in the home.
Chemicals at Home: A Veiled Threat
The study, based in North Carolina and
funded by the U.S. Environmental Protec-
tion Agency and the National Institute of
Environmental Health Sciences, sought
to gauge the average toddler’s exposure to
semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs)
in the indoor environment.
Researchers measured levels of SVOCs in
urine, blood, and fecal samples obtained
from 69 children between the ages of 3 and
6 years. Mothers and children were en-
rolled as a cohort from participants in the
larger Newborn Epigenetics Study (NEST).
Medical data for each child was obtained
from NEST records.
Among the chemicals detected in the
children’s biological samples were phthal-
ates, found in consumer plastics and per-
sonal care products like soap and lotion,
and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances
(PFASs), found in the coatings on cook-
ware, carpets, and furnishings, as well as
in paint, cleaning products, and more.
Toddlers More Susceptible
to Chemical Exposures
Extensive data was collected from mothers
regarding their child’s home environment,
diet, health, and behavior, with dietary
questions limited to potential exposures
to PFAS and phthalates. Common sources
of dietary exposure to these chemicals in-
clude foods in single-use plastic or micro-
wavable packaging, and frequent restau-
rant meals, as many restaurants serve food
that has been stored in plastic containers.
Blood and urine samples were analyzed for
44 SVOC biomarkers, including organophos-
phate esters, parabens, phenols, antimicro-
bials, phthalate compounds, and PFASs. Fe-
cal samples were tested for the presence of
bacterial and fungal colonies that indicate
the health of the human gut microbiome.
After analyzing the samples, researchers
found that children with higher levels of
certain chemicals in their bloodstream had
lower amounts of specific bacterial colonies
and less bacterial diversity in their gastro-
intestinal tract. Specifically, higher levels of
PFASs in the blood correlated to a reduction
in types and numbers of certain bacterial
strains, and increased phthalates were as-
sociated with reduced fungal populations.
The Microbiome Works
to Maintain Balance
Researchers were surprised to discover the
presence of several types of dehalogenating
bacteria in the guts of children with high
levels of chemical exposures. Dehalogenat-
ing bacteria are a class of bacteria often
used to remediate persistent chemical con-
taminants in the soil and groundwater. De-
halogenating bacteria are not commonly
found in the human gut.
According to the study, this appears to
be an attempt by the microbiome to self-
regulate an environment under attack from
chemicals. According to Courtney Gard-
ner, lead author of the study, “Finding the
increased levels of these type of bacteria
... means that, potentially, the gut micro-
biome is trying to correct itself.”
According to Gardner, the correlation be-
tween chemical exposure and less abundant
bacterial organisms in the gut was the most
pronounced takeaway from the study, and
potentially the most concerning. With our
scientific understanding of the mi-
crobiome still limited, what we don’t
know could hurt us.
“These microbes are perhaps not
the main drivers [of health] and may
have more subtle roles in our biology, but
it might be the case that one of these mi-
crobes does have a unique function, and
decreasing its levels may have significant
health impacts,” Gardner said.
ALL PHOTOS BY SHUTTERSTOCK
More Chemical Exposures:
A study has linked Fewer Healthy Microbes
exposure to household Children, especially toddlers, are more
chemicals with impacts vulnerable to ingesting environmental
on the gut microbiomes toxins for many reasons, including closer
of children, which may proximity to carpets, dirt, and dust, and a
increase their risk of tendency to put toys and household items
some diseases. into their mouths.
Kids are also at greater risk from toxic
exposure due to their smaller size, dietary
habits, and inability to modify their envi-
ronment. It’s up to adults to protect them,
which begins with awareness of the causes
and effects of chemical exposures.
Gardner hopes the study will prompt
more research into diagnostic tools for
detecting chemical exposures, as well as
probiotic interventions to improve health
outcomes. “Gaining a more holistic un-
derstanding of the interactions between
human-made chemicals, the gut microbi-
Gaining a ome, and human health is a critical step in
advancing public health,” she said.
more holistic
understanding Are Microbes the Key to Human Health?
The human microbiome refers to the collec-
of the tion of microbes, including bacteria, fungi,
interactions viruses, parasites, and protozoa living in
and on the human body. It’s estimated that
between there are 200 times more microbial genes
in the human body than human genes. Not
human-made acknowledged by science until the 1990s,
chemicals, much of the functioning of the microbiome
remains to be discovered.
the gut Put simply, the microbiome is responsible
for supporting human life. So far, science
microbiome, has credited the bacteria in our bodies with
and human helping digest food, metabolizing vitamins
and minerals, regulating the immune sys-
health is a tem, and protecting the body from diseases
critical step caused by unhealthy microbes.
Many autoimmune diseases, such as
in advancing rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclero-
sis, are associated with dysfunction in the
public health. microbiome. You may even be the recipi-
Courtney Gardner,
ent of ancestral bacteria in the form of a
lead author
microbiome inheritance that functions not
of the study
unlike the passing of DNA from generation
to generation.
Dietary support for the microbiome is one
of the most powerful ways to please your
microbes. Fruits, vegetables, and seeds
like flax and chia, high in soluble fiber,
are excellent prebiotics that not only boost
the immune system but also balance the
microbiome. For more information about
the microbiome, consult GreenMedInfo.
com, the world’s most widely referenced,
evidence-based natural medical resource.
The GMI Research Group is dedicated to
investigating the most important health
and environmental issues of the day.
Special emphasis will be placed on envi-
ronmental health. Our focused and deep
research will explore the many ways in
which the present condition of the human
body directly reflects the true state of the
ambient environment. This work is repro-
duced and distributed with the permis-
sion of GreenMedInfo LLC. Sign up for the
newsletter at www.GreenmedInfo.health
For links to the studies referenced in this story,
please find it online at TheEpochTimes.com/
author-greenmedinfo or GreenMedInfo.com
B5
EDGAR CASTREJON/UNSPLASH
Avocado, olive oil, legumes, whole grains, nuts,
seeds, fruits, and veggies are anti-inflamma-
tory foods with healthy cholesterol.
Using Cholesterol
to Reduce
Inflammation
Foods that offer a dose of
the ‘good’ cholesterol can
help counteract the ‘bad’
MAT LECOMPTE
Here’s a crazy concept: You may be able to
reduce inflammation by increasing cho-
lesterol.
Now, why would you want to increase
cholesterol? Doesn’t high cholesterol con-
tribute to atherosclerosis, high blood pres-
sure, and inflammation?
It most certainly can.
But remember, not all cholesterol is cre-
ated equal.
First, you’ve got low-density lipoprotein—
LDL—cholesterol. This is the bad stuff. It’s
the stuff that can accumulate along arte-
rial walls and blood vessels to boost blood
pressure, increase the risk for heart disease,
and contribute to inflammation.
On the other hand, there is high-density
lipoprotein, or HDL cholesterol. It’s the
“good” cholesterol you hear about, and it
picks up excess cholesterol and transports
it to your liver, where it is eventually ex-
creted as waste.
New research has revealed that more
HDL may lead to less inflammation.
People were 23 percent less
likely to have a cardiovas-
cular event over a 10-year
period for every 22 percent
increase in the anti-
inflammatory capabilities
of HDL in their blood.
A recent study published in Circulation,
the American Heart Association journal,
has shown that HDL cholesterol can fight
inflammation in blood vessels and help
doctors identify patients at higher risk for
cardiovascular events.
The research uncovered that HDL could
contribute to anti-atherosclerotic function
in a number of ways that are not reflected
by simple cholesterol measurements. They
include:
E HDL’s anti-inflammatory abilities were
32 percent higher in those who had a
“healthy” level in their blood.
E People were 23 percent less likely to have
a cardiovascular event over a 10-year pe-
riod for every 22 percent increase in the
anti-inflammatory capabilities of HDL
in their blood.
How do you get more HDL cholesterol to
reduce LDL cholesterol and help reduce
the risks of a heart attack or stroke? It’s
relatively simple: Eat more foods that can
boost HDL and limit those that contribute
to LDL deposits.
Anti-inflammatory foods like avocado,
olive oil, legumes, whole grains, nuts,
seeds, fruits, and veggies are good for HDL
levels. On the other hand, cutting sugary
snacks can help reduce LDL and the in-
flammation it creates.
Mat Lecompte is a health and wellness
journalist. This article was first published
on Bel Marra Health.
B6
Liver Damage
Is Off the Charts
Alcohol and fructose fuel surge in liver
disease amid pandemic lockdown
Continued from B1
Alcoholic liver disease was also up 30 per-
cent from 2019 to 2020 at Keck Hospital of
the University of Southern California, with
other hospitals, including Northwestern
University and Harvard University, report-
ing 50 percent increases in admissions for
alcoholic liver disease since March 2020.
Overall, 4.5 million U.S. adults are di-
agnosed with liver disease each year,
and 44,358 die as a result. It’s likely that
increased alcohol consumption is worsen-
ing the already growing epidemic of liver
damage being triggered by poor diet, in-
cluding high consumption of fructose and
seed oils high in omega-6 polyunsaturated
fatty acids (PUFAs).
Lockdowns Increased
Hazardous Alcohol Use
Doctors’ anecdotal reports of patients’ in-
creased alcohol usage during the pandem-
ic were confirmed by multiple studies. In
a study published in Psychiatry Research
earlier this year, University of Arizona Col-
lege of Medicine researchers found that
over the six-month period from April to
September 2020, “hazardous alcohol use
and likely dependence increased month
by month for those under lockdowns com-
pared to those not under restrictions.”
“This increase in harmful alcohol use and
related behaviors is likely to have prolonged
adverse psychosocial, interpersonal, occu-
pational, and health impacts as the world
attempts to recover from the pandemic
crisis,” they wrote.
We're seeing kids in
their late 20s and early
30s with a disease that
we previously thought
was kind of exclusive to
middle age.
Dr. Jessica Mellinger, liver specialist,
University of Michigan
An editorial published in The Lancet
Gastroenterology & Hepatology likewise
noted that sales in United Kingdom alcohol
stores increased by 31.4 percent compared
to the previous month, in March 2020—the
month the UK went into lockdown. It cited
a survey conducted by Alcohol Change UK,
which found that 1 in 5 of those who drank
VECTORIUM/SHUTTERSTOCK
alcohol daily said they had increased the
amount they were drinking during the
lockdown. The liver is at risk from heavy
alcohol consumption in part because it’s
where ethanol is metabolized. Steatosis, or
fatty liver disease, which is diagnosed when
at least 5 percent of the liver weight is fat, is
often the liver’s first sign of heavy drinking.
This can progress to steatohepatitis,
which is characterized by inflammation
and progression to advanced scarring (cir-
rhosis) and liver failure. About 35 percent
of problem drinkers will develop advanced
liver disease. As noted in an article pub-
lished in Alcohol Research:
“This stage of liver disease can lead to the
development of fibrosis, during which there
is excessive deposition of extracellular ma-
trix proteins. The fibrotic response begins
with active pericellular fibrosis, which may
progress to cirrhosis, characterized by ex-
Overall, 4.5 cessive liver scarring, vascular alterations,
and eventual liver failure.”
million U.S.
While, historically, alcohol-related liver
adults are cirrhosis has been regarded as a condition
diagnosed with that develops after two or three decades of
heavy drinking, it’s increasingly showing
liver disease up in 20- and 30-year-olds. In the 25 to 34
age group, death from cirrhosis more than
each year, and tripled between 1999 and 2016, according
44,358 die as a to research published in the British Medical
Journal. The rise in alcohol-related deaths
result. overlapped with a rise in binge drinking in
the United States that correlates with the
2008 financial crisis.
At the time, researchers suggested that
the loss of opportunity and psychologi-
cal burden may have driven some people
to abusive drinking—likely foreshadow-
ing what was to come with the COVID-19
pandemic.
Additional Risks of
Excessive Alcohol Intake
If you’ve increased alcohol intake over
stress, fear, or anxiety related to current
events, it’s possible your health could be
affected. About 90 percent of people who
drink excessively don’t have an alcohol
use disorder, according to the CDC. This
doesn’t mean that their health isn’t being
damaged by excessive drinking, however.
Drinking alcohol can lead to a number
of health risks in the short and long term.
Alcohol depresses your central nervous
system, which slows down the commu-
nication between your brain cells. Your
limbic system, which controls emotions, is
also affected. This is why alcohol consump-
tion lowers your inhibitions.
Your prefrontal cortex, a brain region
Alcohol is a physiological associated with reasoning and judgment,
depressant. It depresses also slows in response to alcohol, leading
your central nervous to more impulsive behavior and poor judg-
system, which slows
down the communication
ment. In the long-term, alcohol consump-
between your brain cells. tion promotes not only fatty liver disease but
also weight gain and disruption of your gut
microbes, according to research published
by the American Physiological Society.
It’s well known that altering the balance
of bacteria in your digestive tract can
weaken your immune system, making you
more prone to inflammation and disease.
Chronic alcohol abuse, in particular, is also
known to cause neuronal dysfunction and
brain damage, and each additional gram of
alcohol consumption per day is associated
with aging your brain an additional 0.02
MONDAY, MAY 3, 2021
DRAGANA GORDIC/SHUTTERSTOCK
years, according to research published in
Scientific Reports.
In addition, excessive alcohol use in-
creases your risk of chronic disease and
other health problems, such as the follow-
ing noted by the CDC:
r
High blood pressure
r
Poor school or work performance
r
Stroke
r
Liver disease
r
Digestive problems
r
Cancer (breast, mouth, throat, esopha-
gus, liver, and colon)
r
Learning and memory problems, includ-
ing dementia
r
Heart disease
r
Mental health problems, including de-
pression and anxiety
r
Social problems, including lost produc-
tivity, family problems, and unemploy-
ment
r
Alcohol dependence, or alcoholism
Nonalcoholic Liver Damage
Also on the Rise
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)
is the most common chronic liver disease
in developed countries. It’s character-
ized by a buildup of excess fat in your liver
that’s not related to heavy alcohol use.
Lifestyle factors such as diet, exercise,
weight, and smoking all play important
roles in exacerbating (as well as reducing)
your chances of developing some form of
liver disease.
While alcohol consumption certainly
doesn’t help liver health, the rise in NAFLD
is likely related even more to increased in-
take of toxic industrially processed seed
oils, often referred to as “vegetable oils.”
Examples of seed oils high in omega-6
PUFAs include soybean, cottonseed, sun-
flower, rapeseed (canola), corn, and saf-
flower. Omega-6 is considered to be proin-
flammatory because of the most common
variety, linoleic acid, which will radically
increase oxidative free radicals and cause
mitochondrial dysfunction if not eaten in
the proper proportion with omega-3 fatty
acids, according to an editorial published
in the BMJ journal, Open Heart. Eating
more omega-3 appeared to counteract
the pro-inflammatory nature of omega-6.
As researchers noted in the journal Nutri-
ents, “In addition, a few studies suggested
that omega-6 PUFA is related to chronic
inflammatory diseases such as obesity,
nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and car-
diovascular disease.” As mentioned, at the
root of the harmful biochemical reactions
triggered by seed oils is linoleic acid, which
is an 18-carbon omega-6 fat.
It’s the primary fatty acid found in PU-
FAs and accounts for about 80 percent of
the fatty acid composition of vegetable
oils. Omega-6 fats must be balanced with
omega-3 fats in order not to be harmful,
but this doesn’t happen in most Ameri-
cans’ diets. The Open Heart research
mentioned above suggested that a 1:1 ratio
with omega-3s may be the healthiest way
 MONDAY, MAY 3, 2021
to consume omega-6 fats, but processed
seed oils are ubiquitous in processed foods
while more expensive omega-3s are much
harder to come by. To make matters even
worse, most of the omega-6 that people eat
has been damaged and oxidized through
processing.
Fructose Also Driving Liver Damage
When fatty liver occurs in the absence of
significant alcohol consumption, it is often
driven instead by excess sugar, which is
why this condition is now found even in
young children.
This is one reason why eliminating pro-
cessed fructose and other added sugars
from your diet is so important. Fructose af-
fects your liver in ways that are very similar
to alcohol. Unlike glucose, which can be
used by virtually every cell in your body,
fructose can only be metabolized by your
liver, as your liver is the only organ that has
the transporter for it.
Since all fructose gets shuttled to your
liver, if you consume high amounts of it,
fructose ends up taxing and damaging
your liver in the same way alcohol and
other toxins do. The way your liver metabo-
lizes fructose is also very similar to that
of alcohol, as both serve as substrates for
converting carbohydrates into fat, which
promotes insulin resistance, dyslipidemia
(abnormal fat levels in the bloodstream),
and fatty liver, notes an article published
in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition
and Dietetics.
Fructose also undergoes the Maillard
reaction with proteins, leading to the for-
mation of superoxide free radicals that can
result in liver inflammation similar to ac-
etaldehyde, an intermediary metabolite of
ethanol. Reducing your intake of fructose
and seed oils while increasing your intake
of healthy fats is a powerful way to support
your liver health.
It’s also important to avoid nearly all pro-
cessed foods and fast foods, as virtually
all of them contain these toxic oils and/
or fructose. The easiest way to do this is to
prepare the majority of your food at home
so you know what you’re eating.
How to Support Your Liver Health
The best way to avoid alcohol-induced
damage to your liver is to abstain from
drinking it, especially heavily. Alcohol-
induced cirrhosis and NAFLD can be
reversed in their early stages by quitting
drinking and cutting out processed fruc-
tose and seed oils. Nicotinamide adenine
dinucleotide (NAD)—the dietary precur-
sor of which is niacin, vitamin B3—is also
important if you have alcoholism.
People with chronic alcoholism are at
risk for niacin deficiency, both due to a
reduction in dietary intake of niacin and
interfering with the conversion of tryp-
tophan to NAD. Small doses of NAD (not
time-released) can be incredibly helpful
when provided while weaning off alcohol.
The treatment helps to curb cravings for
alcohol, detox the body, flush alcohol (or
other drugs) out of the system, and relieve
withdrawal symptoms. As a potent anti-
oxidant, NAD also helps to create energy
in cells’ mitochondria.
Choline, an essential nutrient, also sup-
ports normal liver function and liver health,
helping it to maintain membrane integ-
rity and manage cholesterol metabolism,
including low-density lipoproteins (LDL)
and very-low-density lipoproteins (VLDL),
helping to move fat out of your liver.
By enhancing secretion of VLDL in your
liver, required to safely transport fat out,
choline may protect your liver health, ac-
cording to research looking at preventing
fatty liver disease among cattle. Unfortu-
nately, an estimated 90 percent of the U.S.
population is deficient in choline, accord-
ing to an article published in Nutrition
Reviews. You can increase your intake by
consuming more choline-rich foods, such
as organic pastured egg yolks, grass-fed
beef liver, wild-caught Alaskan salmon,
and krill oil. Arugula is also an excellent
source.
Further, avoid exposure to glyphosate,
the active ingredient in Roundup herbicide,
as much as possible, as it’s been linked to
fatty liver disease as well. Magnesium, vita-
min C, and milk thistle are also important
for ongoing liver health.
Milk thistle contains silymarin and sily-
bin, antioxidants that are known to help
protect your liver from toxins and even help
regenerate liver cells. If you believe you
have an alcohol use disorder or are drink-
ing excessively due to pandemic-related
stress and anxiety, seek professional help.
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
Is Frozen Food Healthy?
Many people have a mistaken prejudice against produce from the freezer
LYNN JAFFEE
If you’re like me, you may think of the food
in your freezer as second rate, a fallback
choice when you can’t think of what to
make or didn’t get to the grocery store. I’ve
always thought that frozen food was just
not as good as fresh, so I did a little re-
search, and what I found was surprising.
In some cases, frozen food is actually
healthier than fresh. Wait, what? It’s true;
while just-picked fruits and vegetables
are the best, frozen produce can be just
as nutritious, and sometimes more so
than fresh. That’s because unless you
have your own garden or buy from the
farmer’s market, the produce you buy
has been harvested before it’s fully ripe.
It’s then packaged, transported, and
stocked at your grocery store.
The reality is that produce typically los-
es most of its nutrients, such as vitamins
and minerals, in the first three days after
it’s been picked. By contrast, frozen pro-
duce is picked when it’s ripe and flash-
frozen within hours of being harvested.
A 2013 study looking at the nutritional
value of fresh and frozen produce
found that both were nutrition-
ally similar on the day they were
purchased. However, after five
days, the frozen food actually
had higher levels of vitamin A,
vitamin C, and folate than the
produce kept in the refrigerator.
Here are a few other things you
may not know about frozen food:
You can refreeze frozen food
that’s been thawed. This is true, but
only if the food was thawed properly
in the refrigerator—not sitting out on
the counter. Food that’s been thawed by
sitting out rapidly produces bacteria that
can make you sick, so this is actually
never a good idea. But it’s good to know
that if you’ve properly thawed a frozen
item and then changed your mind, it can
go back into the freezer. Refreezing may
change the flavor or texture, but it’s safe
to eat.
While we’re talking about bacteria, you
should know that freezing doesn’t kill it.
While ideal conditions for bacteria are
between 40 and 140 degrees F, freezing
bacteria just makes it inactive. If there
was bacteria present in your food when
you put it into the freezer, it’ll still be
there when you thaw it out.
Frozen food doesn’t expire. That’s
right, you may find a package of frozen
peas or corn buried deep in your freezer
from a decade ago, and if it’s been stored
properly, it would be okay to eat. Would I
eat it? Probably not, but it wouldn’t make
me sick. Chances are that the quality and
B7
SERPHOTO/SHUTTERSTOCK
Frozen fruits and
vegetables are
picked and frozen
when they’re in sea-
son, which can cost
less than buying out-
of-season produce.
flavor have taken a hit, but the point is
that foods that are frozen properly can
be eaten months and even a year or more
after they were put into the freezer.
How do you freeze properly? Some
simple guidelines include making sure
your freezer is at least 0 degrees F or
colder, allowing cooked foods to cool
before freezing them, and wrapping
foods to be as airtight as possible to avoid
freezer burn.
Foods that are
frozen properly can
be eaten months and
even a year or more
after they were put
ST
O CK
MEDI
A S E L L E R /S H U T T E R
STO
CK
into the freezer.
Frozen foods can save you money.
Frozen fruits and vegetables are
picked and frozen when they’re
in season, which can cost less
than buying out-of-season pro-
duce. In addition, freezing food
can help reduce food waste. In-
stead of tossing those leftovers
that you won’t eat for a couple
of days, you can toss them into
the freezer. You can also freeze in
small or single portions.
One word of caution. While frozen
produce tends to hold onto its nutritional
value longer than fresh, some pack-
Fresh, in-season produce aged frozen vegetables and many frozen
is often flash-frozen meals can be high in sodium. The good
within hours of being news is that today food manufacturers
harvested. are listening to the demands of consum-
ers who want low-sodium, low-calorie,
whole-grain, and plant-based frozen
meals. The bottom line is that fresh or
frozen, you need to read the label.
Don’t get me wrong; during the sum-
mer I eat most of my produce from a
shared community garden. However,
when there’s more than we can eat, I
won’t hesitate to put batches of pesto
or loaves of zucchini bread made with
ingredients from the garden into the
freezer to enjoy at a later date. I now
know that if frozen correctly, these foods
are as nutritious in January as the day I
froze them back in August.
Lynn Jaffee is a licensed acupunctur-
ist and the author of “Simple Steps: The
Chinese Way to Better Health.” This article
was originally published on Acupuncture-
TwinCities.com
B8 MONDAY, MAY 3, 2021

MADE TO MOVE

Avoid This Common Retirement Health Risk

A
s sedentary lifestyles become more
prevalent in the Western world,
many are quick to proclaim that
sitting is the new smoking.
Research published last year  yond) sedentary phases at each time point.
in the journal Occupational & Environmental
Medicine shows that the transition to retire-
ment is marked by a sharp rise in sedentary
time, which is likely to be sustained for at least
two years and bring about a range of health
risks and disorders.
The study from November 2020 warns
that the sharp rise of more than 20 minutes
a day in the average sedentary time among
new retirees appears to be maintained two
or more years later. The risk is more gradual
for men but the long-term pattern for both
sexes is similar, earning them the same
harmful impact.
Sitting on the Ill Effects
of Sedentary Lifestyle
Previous studies have highlighted the ad-
verse effects of sedentary behaviors, such
as increasing the risk for cardiometabolic
diseases and metabolic syndrome, while
light physical activity reduced it.Excessive
daily sitting time has also been linked to
all-cause mortality.
Unfortunately, physical activity isn’t al-
ways a popular choice among retirees, with
45 percent of American retirees reporting
no physical activity, according to research
published in the American Journal of Pre-
ventive Medicine in 2019.
In the November 2020 study, research-
ment. They then measured daily average
totals of sedentary time and amount of
time spent in prolonged (30 or more min-
utes) and highly prolonged (an hour or be-
Greater Risks With Prolonged
Sedentary Time Than Bouts
The findings showed that the transition to
retirement came with an abrupt rise in pro-
longed sedentary time in women, whereas
men had a more gradual increase.
Women upped their daily total sedentary
time by 22 minutes, prolonged sedentary time
by 34 minutes, and highly prolonged sed-
entary time by 15 minutes in the transition,
while the numbers stayed at the higher level
of sedentary time in post-retirement years.
The steepest rise in sedentary time was seen
in women retiring from manual jobs.
Men, on the other hand, had more to-
tal and prolonged sedentary time versus
women, and while there was no change
observed during the transition, there was
a gradual climb of 33 minutes in prolonged
sedentary time from pre- to post-retire-
ment periods.
The changes persisted two or more years
after the subjects retired, according to
the observational study. The researchers
warned that prolonged sedentary time is
“more harmful for health compared with
sedentary bouts.” In a related study, the daily
amount of sitting during free time increased
from 4 1/2 hours to six hours on average dur-
ing retirement transition. The time spent
fering the dangers of occupation-induced
sitting, active workstations, which showed
Older adults a positive effect on energy expenditure and
who are less physical activity in overweight or obese indi-
viduals, are one option that can help.
sedentary
The GMI Research Group is dedicated to in-
have superior vestigating the most important health and
executive environmental issues of the day. Special
emphasis will be placed on environmental
functions health. Our focused and deep research will
explore the many ways in which the pres-
and memory ent condition of the human body directly
compared reflects the true state of the ambient en-
vironment. This work is reproduced and
with their distributed with the permission of Green-
counterparts MedInfo LLC. Sign up for the newsletter at
GreenmedInfo.health.
who are fond of
For links to the studies referenced
sitting. in this story, please find it online
at TheEpochTimes.com/author-
greenmedinfo or GreenMedInfo.com
F

AN
Excessive

TO
ers set out to determine if the increased watching television increased specifically.

M
daily sitting

_R
D/
total sedentary time experienced by many While having a sedentary routine may

SH
time has

UT
retirees includes extended sitting time and lead to significant health risks and condi- been linked

TE
RS
if the patterns are sustained over time. tions, as shown by GreenMedInfo.com’s to all-cause

TO
CK
The team studied 689 out of the 908 eligi- study abstracts on “sitting sickness,” physi- mortality.
ble participants in the Finnish Retirement cal activity comes with
and Aging Study, an ongoing study of retir- great rewards, includ-
ing Finnish municipal workers. Eighty-five ing for the elderly. Older
percent of the subjects were women and adults who are less seden-
had administrative or professional roles, tary have superior executive
with 63 years as the average retirement age. functions and memory com-
The team had the subjects wear an activ- pared with their counterparts
ity tracker for at least 10 hours while awake who are fond of sitting.
for seven consecutive days and nights, For those who haven’t
twice—once before and once after retire- yet retired and are suf-

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