NEW YOR K | DC EDITION
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In the News
NEWS
Gas stations in multiple
U.S. states ran out of gas af-
ter hackers attacked a pipeline
that runs from Texas to New
Jersey. ... A5
The Biden administration’s
latest Justice Department
hire deleted tens of thousands
of tweets, including some that
alleged former President Don-
ald Trump and his campaign
colluded with Russia in the
2016 U.S. presidential elec-
tion. ... A5
A bipartisan coalition of
attorneys general is urging
Facebook to abandon its plans
to create a platform for chil-
dren under the age of 13. ... A4
The Walt Disney Corp. is
pushing critical race theory
in its training of employees,
leaked documents show. ... A7
Chinese Communist Party
newspaper The Global Times
has called for Beijing to plan
missile strikes targeting Aus-
tralia should it join the Unit-
ed States in aiding Taiwan
against an attack. ... A10
Amidst the COVID-19 surge
in India, a startup is using
fuel-efficient cow dung logs
as an alternative to wood to
cremate the bodies of the poor
and unidentified. ... A9
The Chinese communist re-
gime views the global climate
change agenda as an oppor-
tunity to expand its influence
worldwide, expert says. ...A10
Canada’s Senate has ap-
proved a bill intended to help
combat international organ
trafficking. ... A1
The United States is in the
midst of a communist revolu-
tion that seeks to centralize the
power of the U.S. government
under the control of the execu-
tive branch, expert says. ...A1
A group of Arizona citizens
have filed a lawsuit against a
number of Arizona state offi-
cials, alleging that state elec-
tions from 2018 through 2020
were not in compliance with
election laws. ... A1
OPINION
Mark Hendrickson: The Big
Green Lie...A15
Roger Kimball: With ‘Birth-
ing People,’ We Approach a
‘Brave New World’...A17
Roger L. Simon: How ‘Woke’
May Be Leading Us to Civil
War...A18
FEATURES
There are fewer lessons to
be taken more seriously than
the lesson of play. ...B1
A 12-year-old prodigy is
graduating from high school
with a perfect 4.0 GPA. Not
only that, he’s also finishing
up community college. ...B6
Our toxic diet is feeding
diseases that can’t be cured
with drugs that don’t address
the underlying problem. ...C1
It’s never too late to work
on becoming the person you
want to be. ...C8
DON’T DELAY.
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| W E D N E S D A Y, M A Y 12 , 2 0 21
PANDEMIC
2.4 Million College Students
Face Vaccine Mandate
Review of notices from 130 universities shows schools don’t
accept acquired immunity as exemption from mandate
By IVAN PENTCHOUKOV
M
ore than 180 college
and university cam-
puses across the Unit-
ed States are requiring
more than 2.4 million students
to produce proof of vaccination
against the CCP (Chinese Com-
munist Party) virus to attend in-
person classes this fall, regardless
of whether the students have ac-
quired immunity to the virus.
The number of schools with a
mandate is likely to grow by then,
especially if the Food and Drug
Administration grants full ap-
proval for one or more vaccines in
the coming months. None of the
schools currently accept acquired
immunity as an exemption from
the vaccination mandate, even
amid  evidence that prior infec-
PRESS FREEDOM
Epoch Times
Reporter
Attacked by Man
With Softball Bat
in Hong Kong
By FRANK FANG
A reporter for the Hong Kong edition
of The Epoch Times was assaulted
by an unidentified man wielding an
aluminum softball bat on May 11,
in an attack believed to be orches-
trated by the Chinese regime in its
latest attempt to silence reporting
by the publication.
Sarah Liang was outside her resi-
dential building when the midday
attack took place. The assailant hit
her with the bat more than 10 times
before fleeing in a car, leaving Liang
with bruises on both of her legs.
SOCIALISM
Socialist Revolution Is $41,100 Tax Debt Per Chicago Resident
Underway in America: By MARK TAPSCOTT
Trevor Loudon Windy City taxpayers face the highest taxpayer bur-
B y ELLA KIETLINSKA & JOSHUA PHILIPP
The United States is now in the midst
of a communist revolution that
seeks to centralize power through
bringing every element of the U.S.
government, from the lowest levels
to the top, under the control of the
executive branch, author and film-
maker Trevor Loudon says.
Continued on A8
Accuracy The Epoch Times was founded in 2000 as an independent newspaper with the goal to restore accuracy and
integrity in media. We have received numerous awards for our reporting, including from the Society of Professional
& Integrity Journalists, the Society for News Design, and the New York Press Association.
Truth & Tradition
Columbia University in New York on May 10, 2021.
SAMIRA BOUAOU/THE EPOCH TIMES
Courtney Treglia, a postgraduate
student at the Columbia University
Teachers College, in New York on May
10, 2021.
tion results in broad and lasting
protection from the virus, accord-
ing to an Epoch Times review of
more than 130 university vaccine
mandate notices and immuniza-
tion requirement pages.
Only a handful of the four dozen
schools contacted for this article Continued on A6
Sarah Liang, a reporter for the Hong Kong edition of The Epoch Times, speaks to
local media outside Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Hong Kong on May 11, 2021.
The incident is the latest in a string
of attacks on Epoch Times facilities
and reporters in Hong Kong—all sus-
pected of having been organized by
the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
DEBT
a much higher unfunded
tax burden than those liv-
ing in any of the nation’s
other most populous cities,
including New York, accord-
ing to new calculations by
Truth in Accounting (TIA).
“The City of Chicago is in
significantly worse financial
shape than it might first ap-
pear, and its taxpayers face
VOL . X V I I I | NO. 2,959 $3.
SAMIRA BOUAOU/THE EPOCH TIMES
ORGAN HARVESTING
Canada’s Senate
Approves Bill
to Combat
International
Organ Trafficking
By OMID GHOREISHI
Canada’s Senate unanimously
approved a bill intended to help
combat international organ traf-
ficking on May 6. Bill S-204 will be
sent to the House of Commons for
deliberation by MPs before it can
become law.
“[Organ trafficking] is a violation
of the principles of equity, justice,
and respect for human dignity. Let
us be global leaders in the battle
Continued on A9
POSTMASTER: PLEASE DELIVER PROMPTLY. TIME SENSITIVE NEWS PERIODICAL
offered direct responses for why
infection-conferred immunity isn’t
being considered as an exemption.
The vast majority responded by ref-
erencing their immunization ex-
emption rules, which don’t address
THE EPOCH TIMES
U.S. POSTAGE
NEWARK, N.J.
PERIODICALS
acquired immunity. When pressed
PAID
for an answer, several schools said
they couldn’t offer more informa-
tion, while others said they are still
finalizing their policies.
The few that responded pointed
to guidance by the Centers for Dis- ARIZONA
ease Control and Prevention (CDC),
which advises people to still be vac-
cinated because “experts do not yet
Arizona
know how long you are protected Lawsuit Alleges
from getting sick again after recov-
ering from COVID-19.” Contractor Labs
COVID-19 is the disease caused
by the CCP virus, commonly
Used in Elections
known as the novel coronavirus. Were ‘Out of
Compliance’
SONG PI-LUNG/THE EPOCH TIMES
Lawsuit filed by citizens
seek writ of quo warran-
to against state officials
By MIMI NGUYEN LY
A group of 20 Arizona citizens filed
a lawsuit to the state Supreme Court
on May 6 seeking a writ of quo war-
ranto against a number of state of-
ficials, alleging that state elections
from 2018 through 2020 weren’t in
compliance with Arizona law.
The court is being asked to order
the state officials named in the com-
plaint to be removed from the al-
legedly unlawfully held seats, and
order a pro-tempore (“for the time
being”) seat to the citizens who filed
the suit, “until such time as free, fair,
and secure elections can be held.”
“As average citizens of Arizona,
as part of its campaign to thwart the from all walks of life, we have dis-
outlet’s reporting in the city. The pub- covered that our past elections in
lication, one of the few independent 2018 thru 2020 are out of compliance
outlets in Hong Kong, is known for per the U.S. Election Assistance
Continued on A11 Continued on A3
BORDER SECURITY
JUDD: CAN’T PROTECT
US WITH OPEN BORDER
den in the country,” the “We don’t know w who
Chicago-based nonprofit they are, wheree
stated in a report titled they’re from,
or what their
“Taxpayers on the Hook,” intentions
which was made public on are,” National
May 11. Border
The new TIA report up- Patrol Council
The Willis dates one released earlier President
Tower above this year that found that Brandon Judd said.
Chicago’s Chicago ranked second to Read more on A6
skyline. Continued on A4
A2 | WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021

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

Dear reader, GOV. DESANTIS SIGNS

LAW THAT BANS

P
art of the reason
The Epoch Times
was founded was to
expose propaganda,
subversion, and infiltration
by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
GUN REGULATION
BY LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
The Chinese edition of The Epoch Times, which was
Amidst local governments’ legal battle with the State Washington Governor Signs
founded in the year 2000, has become the largest inde-
of Florida over a gun law, Republican Gov. Ron DeSan-
pendent Chinese-language media outlet in the world. tis signed a bill that would expand the prohibition on Bill Mandating Critical Race
It provides uncensored news to millions of Chinese local firearm regulations. Training in Public Schools
around the world. The Epoch Times also delivers truth- Senate Bill 1884 was signed on May 7 and will take
ful reporting about the CCP in 21 other languages. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has signed into law a bill
effect on July 1.
As a result, the CCP has done everything in its power that incorporates the doctrine of “equity, cultural
It will fortify a law from 2011 that has the
competency, and dismantling institutional racism”
to shut us down. Soon after The Epoch Times was potential to make local governments
into the training for all K-12 educators across the
founded, our staff members and contributors in China pay up to $100,000 in damages
state.
were arrested and sentenced to long prison sentences; for enforcing firearm regula-
Under Senate Bill 5044, school districts in the
in many cases, they faced torture. tions. Additionally, local of-
state must use one of the three professional learn-
Hong Kong has been relatively free over the past few ficials could face $5,000
ing days to specifically train all staff in the topics of
in fines and possible
decades, but since the passing of Beijing’s national “cultural competency, diversity, equity, or inclusion.”
removal if they pass
security law, those freedoms have been rapidly dis- Some key concepts in the bill, such as “equity,”
gun regulations.
appearing. “systemic racism,” and “antiracism,” are popular
On Tuesday, one of our reporters in Hong Kong was among advocates of critical race theory, a Marxist
attacked by a man armed with an aluminum softball outgrowth that views society through the lens of a
bat. After hitting her about 10 times, leaving her legs race-based power struggle.
bruised, the assailant fled in a car.
This attack comes just several weeks after four men,
two armed with sledgehammers, smashed printing
equipment at our print shop in Hong Kong.
The U.S. State Department condemned the assault
on our reporter saying, “attacks against journalists
are unacceptable and cannot be tolerated.” It also
called for Hong Kong authorities to conduct a full in-
vestigation of the beating, along with the attack on

359
our printing press.
In the face of these brazen attacks, which we be-
lieve were directly orchestrated by the CCP, The Epoch
Times will not bow to pressure and will continue its [Social media giants] are

SHOOTINGS
independent reporting. crushing competition, and
Jasper Fakkert
in cases like Facebook,
Editor-in-chief they’re acting like they’re
Police officers in Portland, Oregon, have responded bigger than government.
to at least 359 shootings so far in 2021.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), on concerns
Biden Reverses HHS about Facebook and its decision to uphold
Gender Identity Policy Georgia Governor Signs Bill its ban on former President Donald Trump,
Preventing ‘Defund the Police’ during an interview with Cheddar News.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has signed a bill into

The Biden administration has an-
nounced that it’s overturning a
Trump-era Department of Health
and Human Services rule that ex-
cluded gender identity from sex
discrimination protections in the
Obamacare statute.
The rule dealt with Section
Sen. Mitt Romney
Censured by Utah County
Republican Party
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) has been
censured by the Republican Party of
Weber County, Utah, for voting to con-
vict former President Donald Trump
law forbidding large budget cuts for local police.
Kemp said the “defund the police” movement
would endanger Georgian communities.
House Bill 286 prohibits county governing
authorities from reducing the police budget by
more than 5 percent a year or “during a rolling
five-year period.” The Republican-led
General Assembly passed the bill
and sent it to Kemp in early April.

1557 of the Affordable Care Act,
which made it unlawful to dis-
criminate on the basis of “race,
color, national origin, sex, age, or
disability in certain health pro-
grams and activities.”
Health and Human Services
Secretary Xavier Becerra said
on May 10 that the decision was
made in light of a landmark Su-
preme Court ruling on an unre-
lated topic.
in the Senate’s second impeachment
trial earlier this year.
The resolution to censure Romney,
a former presidential candidate, was
approved 116–97 by members of the
Weber County GOP, County Party
Secretary Jill Koford told the Salt
Lake Tribune.
Detroit Police
Chief Announces
Retirement
Detroit’s police chief
says he is retiring and will
consider challenging Gov.
Gretchen Whitmer in 2022.
Police Chief James Craig, a
Republican, said he will voluntarily
step down on June 1.
12 YEARS
The use of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine has been
expanded to include children as young as 12.
NASA Criticizes China as Rocket
Debris Burns Up, Splashes Into Indian
Ocean
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson has criticized China for creating
unnecessary risks as an uncontrolled core segment of its biggest
rocket reentered Earth’s atmosphere and mostly burned up
over the Maldives before landing in the Indian Ocean on May 9.
“It is clear that China is failing to meet responsible standards
regarding their space debris,” the former senator said in a state-
ment.
The return to Earth of the out-of-control space junk had raised
fears that the debris could fall on populated areas and cause
deaths and severe damage.
Facebook Oversight Board
Member Criticizes Indefinite
Trump Suspension
A member of Facebook’s Oversight Board has criti-
cized the social media platform’s indefinite suspen-
sion of former President Donald Trump’s account,
saying the company’s rules are problematic.
The quasi-independent Oversight Board last week
upheld a ban on the former commander-in-chief’s
account due to his comments on Jan. 6.
“We gave them a certain amount of time to get
their house in order,” board member Michael Mc-
Connell, a former federal judge, told Fox News.
“They needed some time because their rules are a
shambles. They are not transparent. They are un-
clear. They are internally inconsistent. So we made
a series of recommendations about how to make
their rules clearer and more consistent.”

Sanders Opposes Push by Top

Biden Rolls Back
Trump Proposal to
Limit Work Permits for
Immigrants Ordered to
Be Deported
The Biden administration is roll-
ing back an immigration policy
sought by former President
Donald Trump that would have
limited work permits for immi-
grants with final deportation
orders.
Trump on Nov. 19, 2020, pro-
posed that the Department of
Homeland Security revise its
regulations regarding employ-
ment authorization for immi-
grants who have a final order of
removal from the country by a
federal judge, and are released
from DHS custody on an order
of supervision.
DHS Secretary Alejandro
Mayorkas announced that
President Joe Biden’s admin-
istration will withdraw the
proposal after reviewing 302
public comments the depart-
ment received during a 30-day
period.
Capitol Breach Defense
Lawyers Receiving Tours
of US Capitol
Attorneys defending suspects who
have been charged with offenses re-
lated to the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol breach
are receiving crime scene tours of the
building in May and June.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Emory Cole
made the disclosure in a court filing
in late April in a case for one of the
defendants. The letter states that
the U.S. Capitol Police have arranged
five crime scene tours of the Capitol
beginning on May 3, with the last tour
scheduled for June 4.
Among the sites included in the
tour are House Speaker Nancy Pe-
losi’s (D-Calif.) office; the Speaker’s
Lobby, outside of which Ashli Bab-
bitt was shot and killed by a Capitol
Police officer; the House and Senate
chambers; and the Rotunda. The U.S.
Capitol is still currently closed to visi-
tors because of COVID-19 measures.
Democrats to Remove Cap on SALT
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) says he opposes an effort
by top Democrats to reinstate the tax deduction
on state and local taxes (SALT), which has been
called “a tax break for rich people in blue states.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sen-
ate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) are
among the Democrats who want to fully reimple-
ment the SALT deduction. The Republicans’ tax
reform bill in 2017, signed by then-President Donald
Trump, put a limit on the amount that can be deducted on
federal tax returns.
“It sends a terrible, terrible message when you have Repub-
licans telling us that this is a tax break for the rich,” Sanders, a
nominal independent who ran for the Democratic presidential
nomination in 2016 and 2020, said on “Axios on HBO.”
Broadway to Light Up
Again in September
Live Broadway shows will return to the stage starting
Sept. 14 after an 18-month hiatus, New York Gov.
Andrew Cuomo announced.
Theaters will be allowed to fill to 100 percent
of capacity, Cuomo said. Broadway theaters are
among New York's biggest tourist attractions.
What China is doing can
bring down our system.
Gordon Chang, China expert, telling The
Epoch Times’ “American Thought Leaders”
program that the Biden administration
needs to move faster to counter threats
posed by the Chinese Communist Party.
 WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021
Stephen Gregory, Publisher
Jasper Fakkert, Editor-in-Chief
Channaly Philipp, Life & Tradition,
Travel Editor
Chrisy Trudeau, Mind & Body Editor
Crystal Shi, Home, Food Editor
Sharon Kilarski, Arts & Culture Editor
ABOUT US
The Epoch Times is a media
organization dedicated to seek-
ing the truth through insightful
and independent journalism.
Standing outside of politi-
cal interests and the pursuit of
profit, our starting point and our
goal is to create a media for the
public benefit, to be truly respon-
sible to society.
We endeavor to educate read-
ers about today’s most impor-
tant topics, seeking to broaden
and uplift minds. We believe that
rational, balanced debate is key
for fostering a healthy democ-
racy and a compassionate
society.
As an independent media out-
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.
We report respectfully, compas-
sionately, and rigorously.
We stand against the destruc-
tion wrought by communism,
including the harm done to cul-
tures around the world.
We are inspired in this by our
own experience. The Epoch
Times was founded in 2000 to
bring honest and uncensored
news to people oppressed
by the lies and violence in
communist China.
We still believe journalism is a
noble vocation, but only when it
genuinely seeks to serve its com-
munities and help them to flour-
ish. In all that we do, we will hold
ourselves to the highest stand-
ards of integrity. This is our
promise to you.
CONTACT US
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NATION
CAITLIN O’HARA/GETTY IMAGES
Ballots are counted at the Maricopa County Election Department after the presidential election, in Phoenix on Nov. 5, 2020.
ARIZONA
Arizona Citizens Sue State
Officials, Allege Noncompliance
in Past Elections
20 citizens allege to Arizona
Supreme Court that elections
have been in violation of state
law since 2018
CONTINUED FROM A1
Commission [EAC],” the group of
citizens said in a statement obtained
by The Epoch Times.
The group asserts that the con-
tractor labs that conduct checks to
certify voting machine equipment
in elections weren’t accredited to
do so by the EAC in elections 2018
through 2020. Such accreditation is
mandated by federal and state law.
In its statement, the citizens group
said that the state of Arizona “went
out of compliance in February of
2017 (or possibly sooner) and was
only recently purported to be re-
certified in January 2021.” As such,
any  machine certification con-
ducted by the allegedly nonaccred-
ited contractor labs in elections 2018
through 2020 would be invalidated,
according to the group.
The EAC is an independent and
bipartisan U.S. government agency
that was created by the Help America
Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA), a federal law
that made reforms to the country’s
voting process. The EAC acts to de-
velop guidance to meet the require-
ments of the law. The agency also
adopts voting systems guidelines
and provides information on elec-
tion administration. Other EAC roles
include accrediting testing laborato-
ries and certifying voting systems.
The EAC refers to contractor labs as
“Voting System Test Laboratories,”
and sets forth its standards and rules
to be abided by in its manual for con-
tractor labs, which reads in part, “A
grant of accreditation is valid for a
period not to exceed two years.”
Arizona Gov. Doug “Go get a job and get
Ducey has signed back to work. That’s how
into law a bill that you build an economy.”
designates gun
stores as essential South Carolina
businesses. Gov. Henry McMaster
The group
asserts that
the contractor
labs that
conduct
checks to
certify voting
machine
equipment in
elections were
not accredited
to do so by
the EAC in
elections 2018 The Arizona Supreme Court in Phoenix, in this file photo.
through 2020.
According to Arizona law, ma-
chines or devices used at any election
may only be certified for use if they
comply with HAVA and if those ma-
chines or devices have been “tested
and approved by a laboratory that is
accredited pursuant to the [HAVA].”
The writ of quo warranto complaint
alleged that “valid, ratified, contrac-
tual relationship between contractor
labs and the EAC have not existed
since 2016 and possibly earlier.” It
says, “If the contractor labs did not
renew their contracts, then how can
they be allowed access to our most
critical infrastructure? How can they
certify anything when they have not
agreed to abide by law, and have not
entered into valid contract to do so?”
Two contractor labs,  Pro V&V
and SLI Compliance, are currently
listed on the EAC website as having
Contractors working for
had their accreditations renewed in
Cyber Ninjas, which was
hired by the Arizona State
early February this year. Jerome Lo-
Senate, examine and vato, the voting system testing and
recount ballots from the certification director at the EAC, is-
2020 general election in sued on Jan. 27 memos for each of
Phoenix on May 1, 2021. the contractor labs notices that their
companies “remain in good stand-
COURTNEY PEDROZA/GETTY IMAGES
ing” to be granted renewal of their
accreditation.
“Due to the outstanding circum-
stances posed by COVID-19, the re-
newal process for EAC laboratories
has been delayed for an extended
period,” he wrote in the memos.
Jan. 27 was the same day that the
Maricopa County Board of Supervi-
sors voted unanimously to authorize
a forensic audit of ballot tabulation
equipment used in the 2020 elections
in the county. The board chose Pro
V&V and SLI Compliance to conduct
the audit. A separate Senate-ordered
audit of the 2020 election in Mari-
copa County is currently underway.
A3
20
have called
on President
Joe Biden to
deal with the
REPUBLICAN U.S.–Mexico
GOVERNORS border crisis.
OLIVIER TOURON/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
DAVIDPINTER/CC BY 3.0
The citizens group in the com-
plaint redacted their individual
names “due to a reasonable concern
for their safety.”
They’re asking the state Supreme
Court for a full review of the matter
within five days, and are demand-
ing a response from the respondents
named in the suit “within 3 days of
completion of review and upon be-
ing notified by the court.”
In a courtesy notice on May 7,
the citizens group informed Attor-
ney General Mark Brnovich of the
filing of the writ of quo warranto,
saying that their complaint “asserts
widespread usurpation” across the
state that includes elections since
2018 that, by implication, would
include Brnovich on the list of “in-
advertent usurpers,” although he is
not a named respondent in the fil-
ing. They said they chose to avoid
putting Brnovich’s office “in any
situation that may be a conflict of
interest.”
Respondents in the suit in-
clude Gov. Doug Ducey, Secretary
of State Katie Hobbs, State Treasurer
Kimberly Yee, Maricopa Sheriff Paul
Penzone, Pima Sheriff Chris Nanos,
Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, Tucson
Mayor Regina Romero, Maricopa
Recorder Stephen Richer, Superin-
tendent of Public Instruction Kathy
Hoffman. There are also three cor-
porations commissioners, two state
senators, and four state representa-
tives named in the complaint.
The offices of Gov. Doug Ducey and
Secretary of State Katie Hobbs didn’t
immediately respond to requests by
The Epoch Times for comment.
Zachary Stieber contributed
to this report.
A4 | NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021

KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

People walk in Millennium Park in Chicago on March 13, 2020.

Chicagoans Face Heavier Tax Burden Than

Those in Other Populous US Cities: Report
SCOTT OLSON/GETTY IMAGES

Illinois’s elected officials increase in murders for the most

have made repeated
financial decisions that left
the state with a debt burden
of $226 billion
CONTINUED FROM A1
New York City among the nation’s
10 most populated cities for the un-
funded tax burden it imposes on lo-
cal taxpayers. The new report offers
a more comprehensive calculation
of what the unfunded obligations
actually are for each taxpayer in
each of those cities by including
data for official subsidiaries.
“These underlying governments
are essentially subsidiaries of the
city and the majority of their debt
falls on all city taxpayers. This re-
port analyzes these entities to give
taxpayers a better understanding
of their municipalities’ financial
health and their Taxpayer Burden,”
the report states.
The data presents a comprehen-
sive picture of each of the cities’
financial situations immediately
prior to the onset of the CCP virus
pandemic in March 2020.
“Our ‘Financial State of the Cit-
ies’ report released earlier this year
found that Chicago ranked No. 74
out of the 75 most populous U.S.
cities with a taxpayer burden of
$41,100, which is each taxpayer’s
share of municipal debt. Only New
Chicago has
been especially
hard hit in
recent years
by a spiraling
crime rate
and repeated
strikes by
public school
teachers’
unions.
A greeter for a Liberty Tax franchise outside an office in Chicago on April 18, 2016.
York City fared worse with a tax-
payer burden of $68,200,” TIA said
in its latest analysis.
“However, when you combine the
debt of these underlying govern-
ment entities, the county, the city,
and the state, Chicago’s taxpayer
burden skyrockets to $126,600,
while New York City’s taxpayer
burden rises to $85,400,” the TIA
report said.
The breakdown of a Chicago tax-
payer’s burden includes: $52,000
for the State of Illinois, $41,100 for
the City of Chicago, $19,500 for the
Chicago Public Schools, $8,500 for
Cook County, $4,000 for the Chi-
cago Transit Authority, $1,700 for
the Chicago Park District, $900 for
the Chicago Housing Authority,
$600 for the Metro Water Recla-
mation District of Greater Chicago,
and $100 for the Chicago Commu-
nity College District.
These figures cover all that would
be needed to pay off state, city,
county, and underlying govern-
ments’ unfunded debt for taxpay-
ers residing within the boundaries
of the City of Chicago.
Chicago has been especially hard
hit in recent years by a spiraling
crime rate and repeated strikes by
public school teachers’ unions.
Chicago Police Department
CompStat data shows a 56 percent
recently available week of April
26–May 2, compared to the same
period in 2020, as well as a 44 per-
cent increase in criminal sexual as-
saults, a 37 percent increase in rob-
beries, and an 82 percent increase
in thefts. The overall increase for
the period is 29 percent.
An agreement between the city
and Chicago Teachers Union
(CTU) officials in February ended
months of intense negotiations
that at multiple points appeared
to be ending in stalemate as stu-
dents remained at home in virtual
classes due to the pandemic.
The agreement came after city
officials agreed to spend an addi-
tional $100 million on pandemic-
related safety measures, including
thousands of classroom air filters.
The city’s public schools have more
than 340,000 students enrolled.
The eight cities of the top 10 most
populous with lower taxpayer bur-
dens than Chicago and New York
include:
Phoenix, $10,400; San Antonio,
$19,200; Houston, $24,400; Dal-
las, $26,000; San Diego, $34,100;
San Jose, $41,800; Philadelphia,
$45,300; and Los Angeles, $47,600.
The $52,000 debt line for Illinois
facing Chicago taxpayers reflects
the fact that the state’s financial
condition ranks as the 49th worst in
the nation, trailing only New Jersey
in the 50th place and just ahead of
Connecticut in 48th place.

ALAIN JOCARD/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

State AGs Urge JANITA KAN contrary to that interest,” they

Facebook to
A
bipartisan coalition of
state attorneys general
Abandon Plan is urging Facebook to
abandon its plans to cre-
for Children’s ate a platform for children under
the age of 13.
Instagram The group sent a letter to Face-
book CEO Mark Zuckerberg argu-
ing that the use of social media can
Bipartisan coalition be detrimental to children and that
of attorneys general the company had previously failed
to protect the welfare of children on
urge Facebook to its platforms.
“The attorneys general have an
abandon plan to interest in protecting our young-
create platform for est citizens, and Facebook’s plans
to create a platform where kids
children under the age of 13 are encour-
aged to share content online is
wrote in their letter.
A Buzzfeed report that cited an
internal company post revealed the
plans. The post stated that execu-
tives at Instagram were consider-
ing building a version of the photo-
sharing app for children under the
age of 13. Under the current Insta-
gram policy, users must be 13 or
older to use the application.
The top law enforcement officials
from 44 states and territories ex-
pressed concerns over the plan,
citing research that links the use
of social media by young people
could lead to an “increase in men-
tal distress, self-injurious behav-
ior, and suicidality among youth.”
Other research cited in the letter
found that selfie viewing has led
to “decreased self-esteem” and “de-
creased life satisfaction.”
The officials also argued that
young children also aren’t
equipped to handle challenges
associated with having an Insta-
gram account including having
an understanding of privacy, the
appropriateness of what content
can be shared, the permanency of
the content, and who has access
to content shared online. They
warned that cyberbullying could
be exacerbated by such a platform.
They also cited Facebook’s his-
Facebook CEO Mark torical failure to protect children in
Zuckerberg in Paris on the past on similar projects such as
May 23, 2018. the Facebook Messenger Kids app.
That messenger app, the attorneys
general argue, contained a glitch
that allowed children to circum-
 WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021
US Gas Stations Run Out of Fuel
After Pipeline Cyberattack
ZACHARY STIEBER
Gasoline stations in multiple U.S.
states ran dry on May 10 after hack-
ers attacked a fuel pipeline that runs
from Texas to New Jersey.
Stations in Florida, Georgia, South
Carolina, North Carolina, and Vir-
ginia were out of fuel after customers
rushed to fill vehicles following the
cyberattack on Colonial Pipeline Co.,
which operates the 5,500-mile con-
duit. The pipeline delivers nearly half
of all refined fuel to the East Coast.
The Colonial Pipeline
delivers nearly half of
all refined fuel to the
East Coast.
Approximately 7 percent of stations
in Virginia had run out of gas late on
May 10, Patrick De Haan, an analyst
with GasBuddy, which lists prices and
availability at U.S., Canadian, and
Australian stations, said on Twitter.
At the same time, more than 2 per-
cent of stations in North Carolina,
about 1.5 percent of stations in Geor-
gia and Florida, and about 0.5 percent
of stations in South Carolina had no
gas, he added. A small portion of sta-
tions in Alabama also ran out of fuel.
Bags covered pumps at stations
across Pensacola in northwest Flor-
ida, while stations that still had gas
saw long lines of drivers waiting to
fill their gas tanks.
“It’s kind of scary when it’s raining
because I don’t want to be stuck on
the side of the road with my daugh-
ter with no gas,” Pensacola resident
Tieisha Brown told WEAR-TV. “So
this is my second attempt and I’m
slowly but surely running low on gas
trying to find a gas station.”
Nikki Fried, Florida’s agriculture
and consumer services commission-
er, urged people in a video statement
not to panic buy or hoard gas.
Along with the cyberattack on Co-
lonial, a shortage of truck drivers for
fuel trucks has contributed to short-
ages, she said.
DOJ’s Hire Deleted Trump–Russia
Collusion Allegations Tweets
ISABEL VAN BRUGEN
The Biden administration’s latest
hire to the Department of Justice’s
(DOJ) National Security Division,
Susan Hennessey, deleted tens of
thousands of tweets, including some
that alleged that former President
Donald Trump and his campaign
colluded with Russia in the 2016 U.S.
presidential election.
Hennessey, a CNN legal analyst
and notable critic of the Trump ad-
ministration, announced the news
of her employment in a Twitter state-
ment on May 10.
“I’m very honored to be joining the
extraordinary team at the Depart-
ment of Justice in the National Se-
curity Division,” Hennessey wrote.
“Thank you for all the kind words.”
vent restrictions and join group
chats with strangers that weren’t
previously approved by the chil-
dren’s parents.
They also took issue with a recent
“mistake” of Instagram’s algorithm
that promoted diet content to users
with eating disorders.
“It appears that Facebook is not
responding to a need, but instead
creating one, as this platform ap-
peals primarily to children who
otherwise do not or would not have
an Instagram account. In short,
an Instagram platform for young
children is harmful for myriad rea-
sons,” they wrote.
Facebook, which owns Insta-
gram, didn’t immediately respond
to a request by The Epoch Times
for comment.
Attendants direct cars as they line up to fill their gas tanks at a Costco in Charlotte, N.C., on May 11, 2021.
Some customers were panic buying, fearing a gasoline shortage.
AP PHOTO/MARK LENNIHAN, FILE
In North Carolina, people re-
Traffic on Interstate 95
ported struggling to find gas in the
passes oil storage tanks
Asheville area, as some stations ran
owned by the Colonial
Pipeline Co. in Linden,
out of fuel. A clerk at a Shell station
N.J., in this file photo. in Robbinsville told a local report-
er her manager told her it could be
five days until a fresh supply comes
in. Ingles CFO Ron Freeman told
the Citizen Times that some of the
company’s stations were seeing oc-
casional outages.
“We are working non-stop to pre-
campaign colluded with the Krem-
lin from June 29, 2017, said: “This
is actually a very big deal. It’s the
first concrete allegation of Trump
team collusion.”
The Crossfire Hurricane investi-
A graduate of Harvard Law School gation was taken over in May 2017
and the University of California–Los by then-special counsel and for-
Angeles, Hennessey previously held mer FBI Director Robert Mueller.
a position as a senior fellow in Na- By April 2019, he concluded that
tional Security Law at the Brookings there was no collusion between
Institution, and worked as an attor- the Trump campaign and Russia
ney in the Office of General Counsel during the 2016 campaign, and
of the National Security Agency, ac- found no evidence of a criminal
cording to Lawfare. conspiracy.
She’s expected to serve as senior So far, one FBI official, Kevin Cline-
counsel for the DOJ’s national se- smith, has been indicted in a probe
curity wing, according to Politico. by U.S. Attorney John Durham into
Since mid-November 2020, after the counterintelligence investiga-
the U.S. presidential election, Hen- tion. Clinesmith, a former lawyer
nessey has deleted tens of thou- for the law enforcement agency, was
sands of tweets from her personal charged with altering an email that
Twitter account, including a total of was used in the surveillance of for-
1,867 removed in the past 30 days, mer Trump aide Carter Page. He was
according to Social Blade. sentenced in February to one year of
One such deleted tweet pushing probation, a $100 fine, and 400 hours
allegations that the 2016 Trump of community service.
An Instagram
platform
for young
children
is harmful
for myriad
reasons.
Coalition of
attorneys general
A girl browses Facebook in London, in this file photo.
LOGAN CYRUS/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
cure fuel for all our stores that have
a Gas Express and hope the pipeline
is fully operational as soon as pos-
sible,” he said.
Gov. Roy Cooper issued a state of
emergency, temporarily suspending
all fuel regulations to try to ensure
adequate supply throughout North
Carolina.
RaceTrac, which operates some
stations, confirmed to WSB-TV that
some Georgia stations were unable
to provide people with gas.
Atlanta drivers posted pictures on
social media of stations they’d gone
to where gas wasn’t available.
People across multiple counties in
South Carolina told WPDE that some
stations had run dry.
“What we’re understanding from
our tankers is the terminals where
they get gas, aren’t getting the gas
which is then not able to give to
our tankers, who can’t give it to us
because they don’t have it,” Angel
Lodice, a representative of a Circle
K gas station in Myrtle Beach, told
the broadcaster.
Since mid-
November
2020,
Hennessey has
deleted tens
of thousands
of tweets from
her personal
Twitter
account,
including a
total of 1,867
removed in
the past 30
days.
CHRIS JACKSON/GETTY IMAGES
NATION | A5
Fatal Drug
Overdoses
Surged in 2020
Fatal drug overdoses spiked to
record highs in 2020 across the
United States, with pandemic-
driven isolation and loss of rou-
tine the likely factor behind the
surge in deaths.
State-level fatal drug overdose
data covering the 12-month pe-
riod ending in September 2020
show drug deaths surged at
least 26.8 percent in the nation,
according to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention.
According to data from the
Washington Department of
Health, there were 1,649 over-
dose deaths in 2020, nearly 31
percent more than in the year
prior and a figure twice as large
as any in the past decade.
41
COUNTIES
California Gov. Gavin
Newsom has extended
a drought emergency
declaration to 41 of the
state’s 58 counties.
Alabama to End
Federal Pandemic
Unemployment
Benefits
Alabama has joined a growing
list of GOP-led states that are
ending participation in federal
pandemic-related unemployment
programs amid concerns that the
benefits are leading to a shortage
of people looking for work.
Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican
flagged the unemployment ben-
efits boost, which was approved
last March under the CARES Act
before it was extended, as con-
tributing to the labor shortage.
COLONIAL PIPELINE/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS
North Carolina
Declares State of
Emergency Over
Fuel Supplies
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper
has declared a state of emer-
gency to help ensure adequate
fuel supplies following the Co-
lonial Pipeline cyberattack and
subsequent shutdown.
Cooper issued an executive
order that temporarily suspends
some motor vehicle regulations
for truck drivers who are hauling
in support of emergency relief
efforts related to the shortages
of refined petroleum products.
PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
California
Gov. Newsom
Announces New
Stimulus Checks
California Gov. Gavin Newsom,
in the face of a recall effort
against him, has announced
that the state is projected to
have a $75.7 billion surplus and
wants to use it to provide stim-
ulus checks to about two-thirds
of its residents.
His budget proposal, if
passed by the California leg-
islature, would send $600 tax
rebate checks to households
making up to $75,000 as well
as an additional $500 to fami-
lies with children, according to
a news release. The plan would
also give $500 to illegal immi-
grant families.
A6 | NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021

VACCINE MANDATE | Growing number of college and university campuses require proof of vaccina

2.4 Million US College Students Fac

Review of notices from 130 universities
across the country show schools
don’t accept acquired immunity as
exemption from mandate
CONTINUED FROM A1

“BSU will not be offering exemp- campus news editor for Wesleyan
tion based on prior infection,” Dr. University, told The Epoch Times
Christoper Frazer, executive direc- in an email.
tor of the Wellness Center at Bridge- According to a study funded by
water State University in Massachu- the National Institutes of Health,
setts, told The Epoch Times. 95 percent of the people with prior
“For students who have already COVID-19 infections had durable
had COVID-19, we are still requir- immunity to the CCP virus lasting
ing that they be vaccinated and up to eight months.
recommend they talk to a doc- Preliminary data on vaccines sug-
tor about when it is best to do so,” gest they offer a similar level of pro-
Daniel Telles, assistant director of tection and durability. Pfizer and
media relations at the University of Moderna are already developing
San Diego, told The Epoch Times booster shots because the efficacy of
in an email. “Even if members of their vaccines drops over time. Pfizer
our university community have says efficacy diminishes to 91 percent
already recovered from COVID-19, from 95 percent in six months. The ef-
it is possible—although rare—that ficacy of the Moderna vaccine drops
they could again be MICHAEL CIAGLO/GETTY IMAGES
to 90 percent after
infected with the vi- six months, accord-
rus that causes CO- ing to the company.
VID-19.” Both vaccine makers
“As the CDC sug- foresee that an annu-
gests, data from al revaccination may
clinical trials indi- be necessary.
cate that COVID-19 Two Columbia
vaccines can be giv- University students
en safely to people who spoke to The
with evidence of a Epoch Times on
prior SARS-CoV-2 campus in New York

infection. There- took no issue with
fore, Wesleyan Uni- Used vials of the Johnson the school not pro-
versity will require & Johnson COVID-19 viding an exemp- A woman on the cam- sense that that’s not enough for
all students, even vaccine in Thornton, Colo., tion for immune pus of Columbia Uni- them,” said Courtney Treglia, a post-
those who have on March 6, 2021. students. Both used versity in New York on graduate student who plans to teach
tested positive for similar reasoning to May 10, 2021. an in-person course in the fall.
COVID-19, or who have had posi- the CDC, saying that too much is still “I think that’s a good thing to Co-
tive COVID-19 antibodies, to be unknown about the virus. lumbia because we just don’t know
vaccinated in order to enroll in fall “I think because there is so much all of the science behind it and at
semester classes,” Olivia Drake, the that we don’t know there, it makes some point, the antibodies do go
away, so it’s a good thing, general-
FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
ly,” said a male student, who asked
to remain anonymous.
Some schools, including Califor-
nia State University, University of
Northern Colorado, and the South-
western Community College Dis-
trict, are still finalizing their vacci-
nation policies and say they haven’t
yet made a decision on how to treat
students who request an exemption
based on acquired immunity. De-
spite the discussions, the vaccine
mandates on their websites don’t
advise students that such exemp-
tions are being considered and
could become available.
Fort Lewis College, one of the few
schools that spoke on the record
Drivers in vehicles pull up toward white tents for COVID-19 vaccinations on the about their approach to students
campus at California State University of Los Angeles on Feb. 16, 2021. with infection-conferred immu-
600 K
STUDENTS
say they want to “wait and see”
before taking the COVID-19
vaccine and could be forced to make
a decision before this fall against
their current preference.
nity, referenced guidance by the
CDC, which states that reinfec-
tion is rare in the 90 days after
the initial CCP virus infection but
cautions that “the risk of severe ill-
ness and death from COVID-19 far
outweighs any benefits of natural
immunity.”
The statement notably conflates
the risk from COVID-19 facing non-
immune people with the protec-
tion from acquired immunity. The
apparent intent of the statement is
to warn people who may be consid-
ering becoming infected and ac-

number of people that are able to

Border Patrol Union: Impossible to
Protect Americans With Open Border
CHARLOTTE CUTHBERTSON
As the number of
illegal immigrants McALLEN, Texas—The most con-
cerning aspect of the border crisis
who evade capture is the increasing number of illegal
increases, so do the aliens who are getting away, says
National Border Patrol Council
stash houses, high- President Brandon Judd.
“We don’t know who they are,
speed car chases, where they’re from, or what their
property damage, intentions are,” Judd told The Ep-
och Times. “When you look at bor-
and theft der security, when you look at the
border, we have to be able to iden-
tify who’s coming into the United
States. And if we can’t do that, it’s
impossible to protect the American
public.”
In February, Border Patrol esti-
mated that around 30,000 illegal
aliens crossed the U.S.–Mexico
border and evaded capture; in
March, it was around 37,000; and
the preliminary numbers for April
show around 42,600 escaped. That’s
about 1,400 per day.
On May 5, the Webb County Sher-
iff’s Office discovered 76 illegal im-
migrants locked inside a residence
in Laredo, Texas.
On top of that, Judd said, “it’s
very fair to say that there’s a large
WEBB COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
Seventy-six illegal
immigrants are discov-
ered in a stash house in
Laredo, Texas, on May
5, 2021.
get away that we don’t even detect.”
Some of those illegal aliens who
manage to bypass Border Patrol
then end up getting picked up dur-
ing a high-speed vehicle chase, or
locked in a tractor-trailer unit, or
packed by the dozens in a stash
house. Others die on ranchland
trying to get around a Border Patrol
checkpoint, or they’re abandoned
by a smuggler because they get sick.
“Everything that we’re seeing—
this boat that capsized—everything
is related,” Judd said, referring to a
human smuggling operation gone
bad off the coast of San Diego on
May 2. A total of 33 people were
pulled from the water after a 40-
foot trawling-style boat smashed
into rocks and broke apart. Three
people died.
“As long as we continue to, in es-
sence, encourage people to cross
our borders illegally, we’re going
to continue to see the stash houses,
we’re going to continue to see the
boats, we’re going to continue to
see the semis filled with people,”
Judd said.
“It’s the most inhumane thing I’ve
ever seen in my life as it pertains to
 WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021
ation
ce Vaccine Mandate
SAMIRA BOUAOU/THE EPOCH TIMES
quiring immunity as an alternative
to getting a vaccine.
The CDC didn’t immediately re-
spond to a request by The Epoch
Times for clarification.
“Just like scientists don’t know
how severe the COVID-19 illness
will be for each person, scientists
Naturally acquired
immunity is superior
to anything this
vaccine could deliver.
So, any students
who have been
through infection
and COVID-19 should
be exempt from
vaccination.
H.C. Tenenbaum, professor,
University of Toronto
don’t know how long natural im-
munity lasts for each person. We are
following CDC guidelines which
state that regardless of whether in-
dividuals have been sick with and
recovered from COVID-19, vacci-
nation is recommended,” Lauren
Savage, a media relations strate-
gist at Fort Lewis, told The Epoch
Times.
“For FLC students, the benefits of
the vaccine include protection from
severe illness and death, as well as
the opportunity to get back to a nor-
ETHAN MILLER/GETTY IMAGES
mal college experience.”
In addition to lasting protection,
acquired immunity to the CCP virus
is effective against its variants, ac-
cording to an NIH-funded study led
by Dr. Anthony Fauci and published
in late March. The immune system
cells in people with acquired immu-
nity “could recognize virtually all
mutations in the variants studied”
and “should offer protection against
emerging variants.”
Another NIH-funded study, which
hasn’t yet been peer-reviewed,
found that COVID-19 patients had
“broad-based immune memory re-
BRUCE BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES sponse” eight months after being
A student receives a infected.
vaccine in Las Vegas on “Naturally acquired immunity is
Jan. 12, 2021. superior to anything this vaccine
could deliver. So, any students who
have been through infection and
COVID-19 should be exempt from
vaccination,” H.C. Tenenbaum, pro-
Signage greets people fessor of laboratory medicine and
who arrive to line up for pathobiology at the University of
COVID-19 vaccinations Toronto, told The Epoch Times.
at Nassau Community “There’s a vast array of evidence in
College in Garden City, the scientific literature that shows
N.Y., on Jan. 10, 2021. definitively that if you’ve had CO-
the border, but it’s being encour- Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin
aged. Because we have basically told The Epoch Times that on May 6,
an open borders policy right now.” a vehicle traveling through town at
In early May, Houston police dis- 140 miles per hour crashed through
covered 97 illegal immigrants in a two buildings while trying to evade
suburban house in an alleged hu- law enforcement.
man smuggling case, according to Sheriff Pinky Gonzales of Refugio
the Justice Department. The illegal County, Texas, said he’s calculated
aliens were from Mexico, El Salva- When we do more than 3,000 deputy man-hours
dor, and Honduras, and were aged since January to deal with cross-
between 21 and 31. Five people have
not remove border crime.
been charged with human smug- people who “We have just been overwhelmed,
gling. crossed overwhelmed with these cases. I
Border Patrol agents in the Lar- have 13 deputies working around
edo sector have been involved in the border the clock, and sometimes I have to
dismantling about 140 stash houses illegally, that call those that are off to come help
since Oct. 1, 2020—a 230 percent is, in fact, an us,” Gonzales said.
increase over the total found dur- Further north, in Lavaca Coun-
ing the entire previous fiscal year. open border. ty, Sheriff Micah Harmon said his
“The rescued were found in very Brandon Judd, deputies have dealt with numerous
poor conditions,” the sheriff’s office president, National vehicle pursuits and bailouts.
wrote in a Facebook post. Border Patrol Council In one recent pursuit, a pickup
“We have seen other cases where, truck carrying 18 to 20 illegal aliens
due to the heat and cramped areas, crashed into a tree and caught fire.
situations like this one have led to On the state level, Gov. Greg Ab-
death,” said Webb County Sheriff bott launched Operation Lone Star
Martin Cuellar. on March 6 in response to the bur-
Sheriffs and landowners from geoning number of illegal border
all over Texas are saying they’re crossings, as well as human and
stretched for resources to deal with drug smuggling throughout the
the new influx of illegal activity state.
flowing up from the border. During the first four weeks of the
VID and recovered, the vast, vast
majority of people have a durable
immunity that it’s very unlikely that
you’ll be reinfected and you’ll be
protected from reinfection,” Jay Bat-
tacharya, a professor of medicine at
Stanford University, said during a
roundtable discussion with Florida
Gov. Ron DeSantis in March.
“Even if you do get reinfected at
some later time, it’s very likely to be
less severe than the first time. So,
yeah, it’s just like the other corona-
viruses; if you get infected, you get
immunity and it lasts a while. Not
forever, but it lasts a while.”
During the same roundtable, Su-
netra Gupta, an infectious disease
epidemiologist and a professor of
theoretical epidemiology at the
Department of Zoology at the Uni-
versity of Oxford, noted the curious
way in which some public health
experts cling to the notion that it’s
unknown whether there would be
durable acquired immunity after an
infection from the CCP virus.
“What do the scientists do under
those circumstances? They look
around to other viruses, and we had
four others circulating, we still do,
coronaviruses, to which we knew
from the studies that had already
been done, that you do get immuni-
ty in a very similar manner,” Gupta
said. “You make antibodies ... and
that those do protect you, particu-
larly from severe disease and death,
forever. They don’t protect against
reinfection, but they protect you
against severe disease and death.”
Regardless of how long acquired
immunity is shown to last, the NIH-
funded studies suggest that students
with acquired immunity who pre-
fer to wait and see when it comes to
getting vaccinated have the level of
immune protection needed to do so.
One in four young adults ages 18
to 29 wants to “wait and see” be-
fore taking the COVID-19 vaccine,
according to a survey by the Kai-
ser Family Foundation. The data
suggests that as many as 600,000
students could be forced to make a
vaccination choice before this fall
against their current preference
and, if they have immunity, with
no proven benefit to themselves or
those around them.
To date, the risk of adverse nega-
tive effects from vaccines remains
extremely low. The CDC’s Vaccine
Adverse Event Reporting System
(VAERS) has logged 4,178 deaths
following a COVID-19 vaccination,
although a review of the cases hasn’t
established a causal relationship
with vaccines. There have been 15
cases of severe blood clots which
are believed to have been caused by
the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.
operation, Texas Department of
Public Safety officers referred more
than 16,000 illegal immigrants to
Customs and Border Protection and
arrested 598 criminals, Abbott said
on April 1. In addition, state troop-
ers seized 14 pounds of cocaine, 23
firearms, and almost $1 million in
currency and arrested nine gang
members involved in smuggling
contraband, he said.
Judd said he doesn’t see anything
on the horizon from the Biden ad-
ministration that will reduce the
trajectory of illegal activity at the
border.
“When we do not remove people
who crossed the border illegally,
that is, in fact, an open border,” he
said. “And I think that as the Ameri-
can public starts to recognize and
realize this, I think that there’s
going to be a huge outcry. I think
there’s going to be a huge pushback.
Unfortunately, the damage has al-
ready been done.”
President Joe Biden and Vice Pres-
ident Kamala Harris have said they
are concentrating on sending more
aid to address the “root causes”
of illegal immigration in Central
American countries and Mexico.
NATION | A7
PAUL HIFFMEYER/DISNEYLAND RESORT VIA GETTY IMAGES
The Disneyland theme park in
Anaheim, Calif., in this file photo.
Disney
Embraces Race
Politics, Critical
Race Theory
in Employee
Training
JANITA KAN
The Walt Disney Corp. is push-
ing the quasi-Marxist critical
race theory in its training of
employees, teaching them that
America has “a long history of
systemic racism” while urging
them to reflect on their “white
privilege,” according to leaked
internal documents.
The documents, which were
leaked to City Journal journal-
ist Christopher Rufo by multiple
anonymous Disney employees,
revealed that the training was
part of the company’s “diversity
and inclusion” program called
“Reimagine Tomorrow.” One
of the modules in the training
program relies on critical race
theory, a controversial ideology
that claims that the United States
is a fundamentally racist country
and that one race is inherently
superior to another.
The module in question, called
“Allyship for Race Conscious-
ness,” includes training on top-
ics such as “systemic racism,”
“white privilege,” and “microag-
gressions.” It also tells white em-
ployees to “examine and work
through feelings of guilt, shame,
and defensiveness to understand
what is beneath them and what
needs to be healed” and recom-
mends that employees challenge
“colorblind ideologies and rheto-
ric” such as “All Lives Matter” or
“I don’t see color” because they
are “harmful and hurtful.”
Employees are encouraged to
not “question or debate Black
colleagues’ lived experience” or
“rely on your black colleagues
to educate you,” which is “emo-
tionally taxing,” the document
states.
The document also tells em-
ployees to reject “equality” and
equal treatment, but instead
embrace “equality of outcome.”
“Equality is a noble goal. Equal
treatment and access to oppor-
tunities help each of us perform
our best within a shared set of
parameters. But we really need
to be striving for equity, where
we focus on the equality of the
outcome, not the equality of the
experience by taking individual
needs and skills into account,”
according to the leaked docu-
ment.
Disney also purportedly rec-
ommends that its employees
engage in other resources such
as the “21-Day Racial Equity and
Social Justice Challenge,” which
is sponsored by Walt Disney
Imagineering. Part of that chal-
lenge encourages participants to
fill out a self-assessment to deter-
mine how privileged the individ-
ual is, which includes items such
as “I have never been raped,” “I
have never had an eating disor-
der,” “I have never considered
suicide,”  and “I have never been
shamed for my religious beliefs.”
The training also recommends
that employees read “103 Things
White People Can Do for Racial
Justice.” The reading material,
which has since been updated,
encourages individuals to sup-
port “Black Lives Matter,” call for
the end of qualified immunity,
promote the “defund the police”
movement, push for criminal
justice reform, and “decolonize
your bookshelf,” without ex-
panding on the recommenda-
tion.
A8 | NATION
Socialist Revolution Is Underway
in US: Author, Filmmaker Loudon
Author says a top-down
centralization agenda to control
every level of US government
leads back to the Chinese
Communist Party
CONTINUED FROM A1
“Therefore, the indepen-
dence of the legislature, the
independence of the Supreme
Court, the independence of
the sheriffs and the police
must all be destroyed, and
the loyalty of the Army to the
Author and Constitution must be trans-
filmmaker ferred to loyalty to the presi-
Trevor dent,” Loudon said in an inter-
Loudon. view with The Epoch Times’
“Crossroads” program.
“And this is guided by socialists. I believe
it’s guided by the Communist Party of Chi-
na.” The revolution uses race “rather than
class to overturn the existing structures of
society and start something new,” said Loud-
on, who is also an Epoch Times contributor.
Karl Marx’s theory of exploitation divides
people into two opposing classes: the bour-
geoisie, with capital that oppresses the pro-
letariat, and the working class.
Because there’s mobility between classes,
as workers can buy equity in a company or
start their own businesses, this theory hasn’t
gained much support, but race can be used
to divide American society because that
can’t be changed, Loudon said.
The Occupy Wall Street movement of 2011
sought to address social and economic
inequality, drawing attention to the con-
centration of wealth and political power of
people in the top 1 percent income brack-
et. Although the movement gained some
momentum, it eventually failed, he said.
However, “you have multimillionaire black
football players complaining about white
oppression,” he said.
President Joe Biden “is using race as a
way of breaking down the existing power
structures in the military, and in society in
general,” Loudon said.
Breaking Down Military and Police
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered in
February a one-day “stand down” in the mil-
itary to assess extremism and racism within
the ranks of the armed forces and directed
military commanders to spend time talking
to their troops about extremism.
According to a Pentagon report published
in March, domestic extremists pose a serious
threat to the U.S. military by seeking to add
service members to their ranks and joining
the armed forces to boost their combat skills.
“In addition to potential violence, white
supremacy and white nationalism pose a
threat to the good order and discipline with-
in the military,” the report states.
The goal of these policies is to create a mili-
tary that is loyal to the new regime and to the
new socialist America, Loudon said.
The majority of the lower ranks of the U.S.
military “is primarily recruited from the
white community and largely Southern. They
tend to be pretty Christian, they tend to be
pretty politically and socially conservative.”
Therefore, the military needs to purge or
minimize its lower base and bring in many
more people of color, leftists, and people
who will be loyal to the new regime, Loudon
said. The leadership of the U.S. military had
already been changed during the Obama
administration, when loyal generals were
replaced with political hacks, globalists, and
leftists, he said.
Calls from radical left-wing groups such as
Antifa and Black Lives Matter to “defund the
police” serve the same purpose, according
to Loudon.
The intent behind the “Defund Police”
movement is to eliminate patriotic, conser-
vative elements in the police forces, which
are largely run by patriotic people, and make
the police loyal to a socialist government,
making it more like the communist police
in Venezuela or Cuba, which can be used to
quell revolts, Loudon said.
Major stumbling blocks on the road to
socialism are the conservative governors
and sheriffs, Loudon says. The county sher-
iff is one of the most important positions
in America and those who are loyal to the
Constitution can protect their counties from
unconstitutional regulations imposed by the
federal government, he said.
While Biden disagrees with calls to end
the police, he urged the Senate to pass a po-
lice reform bill that would ban controversial
police tactics such as chokeholds and no-
knock warrants and eliminate qualified im-
munity for law enforcement officers, mak-
WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021
EZE AMOS/GETTY IMAGES
ing it easier for citizens to pursue claims
of police misconduct.
During his presidential campaign, Biden
promised to create a national police over-
sight commission, although he recently
suspended that plan and instead has
pushed for congressional approval of the
police reform measure.
Illegal Immigration, Massive Spending
Destroying America
Encouraging illegal immigration on the
southern border is also a communist
strategy aimed to create “a massive voting
bloc” for the Democratic Party that seeks to
transform America into a one-party state,
Loudon says.
“The whole plan is to swamp the conser-
vative voting base.”
“Most of the elections are won or lost
by 5 million votes or less,” Loudon said,
A protester carries a sign that reads “Defund the Police” during a “Black Women Matter” march adding that 18 million to 20 million new
in Richmond, Va., on July 3, 2020. Democratic voters can turn conservative
states such as Texas or Arizona “perma-
SAMUEL CORUM/GETTY IMAGES
nently blue.”
Estimates of the number of illegal im-
migrants residing in the United States
vary depending on the methodology used.
While it has been usually estimated at ap-
proximately 11 million, a study conducted
at Yale in 2018, with an intention to do a
“sanity check” on the existing estimate,
showed that the actual number of illegal
immigrants may be more than 22 million.
Massive infrastructure spending will sink
the U.S. dollar, causing an increase in in-
terest rates and destroying U.S. business,
Loudon said.
“The new infrastructure will be there to
absorb the workers who are displaced, so
everybody will be put on a subsistence level
wage, like a universal basic income ... [it is]
building an army of young people totally
dependent on the state.
“It is a program that Stalin would have
A protester waves a D.C. flag with Black Lives Matter spray painted on it next to a D.C. National
been proud of. It will end the energy in-
Guard Humvee as during a demonstration following the death of George Floyd, in Washington on dustry as we know it in this country, it will
June 2, 2020. destroy the economy, destroy the U.S. mili-
tary budget,” Loudon said.
Biden proposed a $2.3 trillion infrastruc-
MANUEL BALCE CENETA-POOL/GETTY IMAGES
ture package, also known as American
Jobs Plan, which aims not only at fixing
roads and bridges, but also facilitating
the shift to cleaner energy and expanded
social welfare.
The infrastructure package, together with
a $1.8 trillion family and education pack-
age and the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief
package, amount to a total of $6 trillion in
new spending, which is about four times
the total federal budget, according to Sen.
Mitt Romney (R-Utah).
The goal of these policies is the complete
destruction of the U.S. constitutional re-
public, Loudon said, adding that the ulti-
mate goal is world communism.
Loudon predicts that the United States is
heading toward a socialist model that will
be a cross between the Chinese system and
Brazil’s under former communist President
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, known as Lula.
“Brazil has a sort of racial makeup sim-
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin (L) visits National Guard troops deployed at the U.S. Capitol
in Washington on Jan. 29, 2021. ilar to the United States ... Lula played
those ethnic minorities off against each
HERIKA MARTINEZ/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES other, and he elevated some at the ex-
pense of others to bring about his revo-
lution. ... But the ultimate model is the
Chinese model,” said said.
The U.S. elites and globalists like the Chi-
nese model because it brings an authori-
tarian state that can keep workers under
control while still allowing rich people
to make lots of money, Loudon said. He
thinks, however, that they eventually “will
be lined up against the wall and shot like
everyone else who bucks the system.”
But Loudon believes that people in the
United States can still stop the revolution
and reverse socialist trends, and outlined
his strategy to do this in an article written
for The Epoch Times.
One step is that states with Republican-
led legislatures or good governors such
as Ron DeSantis in Florida and Greg Ab-
bott in Texas should form a coalition of
states to counter unconstitutional actions
Haitian migrants illegally cross the Rio Bravo in an attempt to get from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, of the federal government, but not secede,
to El Paso, Texas, on March 30, 2021. Loudon said.
Loudon also advocates boycotting unpa-
triotic companies and supporting patriotic
companies, as well as boycotting “every-
thing that comes from the Chinese Com-
[The battle against socialism] has to be fought munist Party of China, right now, every
product, every investment.”
politically, intellectually, and spiritually; we’ve The battle against socialism “has to be
got to understand that we’re in a battle here fought politically, intellectually, and spiri-
tually; we’ve got to understand that we’re
between good and evil. You’ve got to choose in a battle, here, between good and evil.
which side you are on. You’ve got to choose which side you are on.”
Trevor Loudon, author and filmmaker Tom Ozimek and Isabel van Brugen
contributed to this report.
 WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021
WORLD
MONEY SHARMA/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Indian Startup Wants to Save Trees,
Use Cow Dung Logs for Cremating Poor
Wood in short supply in
New Delhi due to increasing
cremations during pandemic
VENUS UPADHAYAYA
NEW DELHI—Amidst the deadly
COVID-19 surge in India, a startup
is using fuel-efficient cow dung
logs as an alternative to wood to
cremate the bodies of the poor and
unidentified.
In India, 8.2 million wood-based
cremations are done every year, for
which 16.4 million trees are cut,
according to Project Arth, a social
initiative that wants to reduce de-
forestation and use sustainable
cow dung-based logs.
With the pandemic surging in
India since April and the number
of wood-based cremations only in-
creasing, Indian media last week
were filled with reports about the
acute wood shortage in the nation-
al capital of New Delhi.
The civic authorities of Delhi have
sought assistance from its forest
department and from neighboring
states but continue to face prob-
lems because neighboring states
are also facing a surge.
Ayush Sultania, team leader of
Project Arth, told The Epoch Times
that each cremation requires 660 to
880 pounds of wood or two to three
trees depending on the weight of
the corpse. Amid the deadly sec-
ond surge, this is causing more
deforestation and air pollution.
“Everyone talks about life be-
fore death and we are trying to
save people, but no one is talking
about those 3,000 to 4,000 people
dying daily [across India due to
COVID-19],” Sultania said. Amidst
the surge, people shrink from con-
fronting the reality of the number
of deaths, because more news
about death spreads panic, he said.
In the past week, Indian media
have reported about unclaimed
COVID-19 bodies being found in
the Yamuna River in certain re-
gions, as well as more than 100
bodies found in the Ganges River.
There are also reports about
charities, policemen, and good
Samaritans performing the last
rites of the unidentified COVID-19
dead. Sultania said this is where
Project Arth has also tried to do
its bit.
A dignified cremation is consid-
ered extremely important in India,
he said, “so we started giving them
good cremation.”
“We collaborated with someone
who’s getting the unclaimed bod-
ies from the police, and we are giv-
ing them cremations [using cow
dung logs],” he said.
Project Arth has cremated more
than 200 unclaimed or poor peo-
ple’s COVID-19 bodies since the
campaign started last month in the
three Indian cities of Delhi, Rajkot,
and Gwalior. “In the coming days,
we will be doing more in Noida and
Meerut,” he said.
Canada’s Senate Approves Bill to Combat Organ Trafficking
CONTINUED FROM A1
against organ trafficking,”  Sen.
Salma Ataullahjan, the sponsor
of the bill, told the Senate on May 6.
“This piece of legislation has
been the culmination of over 12
years of parliamentary work on
the pressing issue of organ traf-
ficking,” Ataullahjan said, refer-
ring to previous proposals on the
issue that failed to become law
when those parliamentary ses-
sions ended ahead of elections.
Addressing the Senate to support
the measure, Sen. David Richards
said “the time has come to pass
this bill.”
A9
100
Indian
Prime Minister
“We remain on track to Protesters
Islamic Terrorists
[removing all COVID-19 rallied across
Narendra Modi
will not attend the contact restrictions].” Burma, 100
days after the
Kill Malawian
G-7 summit in June
due to the CCP virus UK Prime Minister military coup, on Peacekeeper in
situation in India. Boris Johnson DAYS May 11.
East Congo: UN
A female peacekeeper from
Malawi was killed in an attack
by Islamic terrorists in eastern
Congo’s North Kivu Province on
May 10, the U.N. and the Ma-
lawian government said.
A local civil rights group said
separately that fighters with
COURTESY OF PROJECT ARTH the Allied Democratic Forces,
an Islamic terrorist group with
Ugandan origins, attacked the
village of Kilia, around 11 miles
southeast of Beni, killing at
least five people. It was not
clear if that figure included
the peacekeeper.
63
%
Iran has enriched uranium
to up to 63 percent purity
at its Natanz enrichment
plant, the U.N. nuclear
watchdog says.
UK Plans to
Require Voter ID
A cow dung log cremation organized by Project Arth for a COVID-19 victim in a New Delhi crematorium on
to Ensure Election
April 13, 2021. Integrity
tar Pradesh and in [certain] vil- The UK government plans to
lages in South India, people bring introduce requirements for
voters to show photo ID when
two cow dung plates or cow dung
casting ballots, in order to en-
cakes [cow dung dried in the sun sure the integrity of elections.
Project Arth and used as biofuel]. Let’s say 100
offers free The Electoral Integrity Bill,
people are going to attend a funeral which requires voters to show
cow dung
or cremation. Everyone brings two identification before being is-
logs outside
Old Seema- cow dung plates for the cremation,” sued with a paper ballot at a
puri cremato- he said, adding that this is from polling station, is part of the
COURTESY OF PROJECT ARTH
rium in New where Project Arth got the idea of Conservative government’s
In response to the acute short- Delhi on May using cow dung-based biomass legislative agenda set out in the
age of wood, a few civic bodies in 5, 2021. fuel for cremations. Queen’s Speech on May 11.
Delhi have begun to link crema- “So why can’t we manufacture a “We think showing identifica-
tion grounds with dairies for cow cow dung log? Why can’t we have tion to vote is a reasonable ap-
dung logs, and an official order cow dung in the shape of a log?” proach to combat the inexcus-
able potential for voter fraud,”
has been issued by Every day in India, 520 million ki-
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s
Delhi Municipal lograms of cow dung is wasted—35 official spokesman said.
Corporation’s Public percent is disposed of, unhygieni-
Health Department, Project Arth’s cally clogging drains and polluting
reported the Times research found that groundwater, while 65 percent is
of India. logs made from dumped into heaps and allowed to EU Confident of
decompose, anaerobically produc-
Science Behind cow dung-based ing greenhouse gases, according to
COVID-19 Travel
Cow Dung Logs biomass fuel had Project Arth. Certificate for
Project Arth consists high calorific value “Methane gas has an impact on
of students from the human bodies. It may reduce the
Summer
Indian Institute of and produced lower oxygen levels in the environment. “The European Commission
Technology–New particulate pollution It can cause regular headaches [to expects to finish work soon on a
Delhi, a premier in- and less carbon those in the vicinity of a cow dung COVID-19 certificate that would
stitute that attracts open disposal site],” Sultania said. allow vaccinated citizens to
the best talent from oxides and nitrogen He said his team wanted to solve travel more easily this summer
around the coun- emissions compared this cow dung problem and also in the 27-nation bloc, the EU
executive said on May 11.
try. This team’s re- to the conventional wanted to generate profit out of
The pass would allow those
search found that waste while innovating techno- vaccinated, recovered from
logs made from cow wood logs. logically. COVID-19, or with negative test
dung-based biomass Project Arth has created a ma- results to cross borders, after
fuel had high calorific value, and chine to create logs out of cow more than a year of restrictions
produced lower particulate pol- dungs and is constantly research- that have weighed heavily on
lution and less carbon oxides and ing how to create new products and the travel and tourism industry.
nitrogen emissions compared to wealth out of cow dung. Sultania Commission Vice President
the conventional wood logs. hopes the product will continue to Maros Sefcovic said expected a
Sultania said cow dung is ac- find greater acceptability. full roll-out of the certificates by
cepted in Indian culture. Even in Sultania said the project is fight- the summer.
traditional cremations, the pyre is ing for Indian culture and applaud-
built over dirt coated with a thin ed Delhi’s civic bodies’ decision to
layer of cow dung because it’s con- use cow dung logs for COVID-19 School Shooting
sidered auspicious. This gives cul- cremations.
tural acceptability to the cow dung Project Arth is asking for dona- in Russia Kills 9
products, he said, just like elephant tions to support the cremations People; Suspect
dung products in Sri Lanka and of unclaimed COVID-19 victims
Thailand have commercial value. or for the poor: donatekart.com/ Arrested
“In the villages of India, in Ut- Enactus/Project-Arth.
“A gunman attacked a school
early on May 11 in the Russian
city of Kazan, sending students
running out of the building as
smoke poured from its win-
dows. At least nine people were
killed—seven 8th-grade stu-
dents, a teacher, and another
LIMIN ZHOU/THE EPOCH TIMES
“We have often been asked in this to help curb the organ trafficking school worker—and 21 others
world to fight against the darkness happening in many places in the were hospitalized, Russian of-
that threatens us, to fight the good world, including in Eastern Eu- ficials said.
fight. In this chamber over the last rope, Asia, Latin America, and Footage released by Russian
four years, I have seen this happen. North Africa. media outlets showed students
I believe that Bill S-204 and Senator Testifying before the committee, dressed in black and white run-
ning out of the building. Another
Ataullahjan are standard-bearers former MP and secretary of state
video showed shattered win-
in such a battle, and I ask for your for Asia-Pacific David Kilgour not- dows and billowing smoke, with
support,” Richards said. ed that there is only one country sounds resembling gunshots in
Bill S-204 makes it illegal  for where it’s the government that is the background.
Canadians to get organs abroad involved in forcibly taking organs Officials said the attacker
Canadian Sen. Salma
Ataullahjan (R) and MP
without the consent of the donor, from prisoners of consciences, and has been arrested and police
Garnett Genuis speak and bars people involved in forced that is China. opened a criminal investigation
at a press conference organ harvesting from entering “China is the only country in into the shooting. Authorities
in Ottawa, Canada, on Canada. the world ... where it’s run by the immediately put additional
Dec. 12, 2017. During a Senate commit- government and not in some back security measures into place in
tee meeting on April 19, Ataullah- alley by unscrupulous people,” he all schools in Kazan, a city 430
jan said such legislation is needed said. miles east of Moscow.
A10 WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021

CHINA 1.41
NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Chinese military “China poses challenges unlike any other in our

SAUL LOEB/
AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
China’s once-a-decade
scientists in 2015 plotted census showed the
to unleash a bioengineered nation’s history.” population increased
SARS coronavirus to at its lowest rate since
advance the communist Statement by Gen. John W. Raymond Raymond, the 1950s, growing
regime’s global political Acting Air Force Secretary John Roth, and Air Force Chief only 5.38 percent to
ambitions, experts say. of Staff Gen. Charles Brown BILLION 1.41 billion in 2020.

Climate Change Presents Opportunity for Beijing

to Expand Global Power: Chinese Professor
KEVIN FRAYER/GETTY IMAGES

The global emissions

reduction agenda could help
Beijing ‘regulate and control
the social, political, and
economic environment’

NICOLE HAO & CATHY HE

The Chinese communist regime

views climate change as an op-
portunity to expand its influence
worldwide, according to a promi-
nent Chinese academic.
The global emissions reduction
agenda can boost the regime eco-
nomically and also holds “political
significance” for Beijing, Di Dong-
sheng, associate dean of the School
of International Studies at Renmin
University in Beijing, wrote in his
blog on April 27.
“It can help [us] to regulate and
control the social, political, and
economic environment,” Di said.
The regime should take a key role
in addressing global climate change,
he said, given the growing rifts be-
tween Beijing and Western powers
over a range of issues.
“The climate issue is basically the
only positive topic that China, the
United States, and Europe can come
together and discuss amicably,” Di
wrote.
The professor gained notoriety last
year when he called out Wall Street’s
long-standing role in influencing
U.S. politics on behalf of Beijing.
According to his online biography,
Di has worked with various bodies
of the Chinese regime, including
the foreign ministry and the state’s
planning agency, the National De-
velopment and Reform Commis-
sion.
Climate is one of the few issues
that the United States and the re-
gime have said they could work to-
gether to resolve, even as their wider
relationship has fractured in recent
years.
During the Trump administra-
tion, the United States progressive-
ly toughened its stance against the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on
a number of fronts, from Beijing’s
severe human rights abuses to its
rampant theft of foreign intellectual
property. The Biden administration
has pledged to continue this hard-
line approach, but has consistently
said it’s also willing to cooperate
with the regime on shared interests
such as climate change.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping, in his
first appearance with President Joe
Biden during last month’s global
climate summit, said the country
would “strictly limit” increasing coal
consumption in the next five years,
and reduce it in the following five
years.
China is by far the world’s largest
coal user. In 2020, it brought more
than 38.4 gigawatts of new coal-fired
power capacity into operation, more
than three times the amount built
elsewhere. An additional 247 giga-
watts of coal power is planned—
nearly six times Germany’s entire
Smoke billows from stacks as Chinese men pull a tricycle in a neighborhood next to a coal fired power plant in Shanxi Province, China, on Nov. 26, 2015.
ogy worldwide, while earning po- suring these companies to transfer
litical capital by being the country it [to China] when they don’t want to
that sets the “green benchmark on do it, and massively subsidizing less
global development issues,” he said. innovative clean technology com-
The professor noted that the United panies in China,” Robert Atkinson,
Kingdom led the world’s first energy president of ITIF, said during a vir-
revolution through the use of coal, tual discussion on April 19.
while the United States pioneered Di also suggested that the regime
the second energy revolution on the set incentive policies to encourage
backs of oil and gas. Now, according Chinese companies to convert to
to Di, China could be the leader in clean energy, since most enterprises
the third energy revolution based on in the country are serial polluters
clean energy, and “guide humanity’s and energy wasters. This would lead
development in a new direction.” to a significant drop in emissions,
“Within 10 short years, Chinese enhancing the Chinese regime’s
coal-fired capacity. A Chinese worker enterprises have beaten their Euro- prestige on the international stage.
The country is also the world’s larg- walks between the pean counterparts in wind and solar
est emitter of greenhouse gases, ac- solar modules in energies. In these two fields, China’s Left Behind
counting for more than 27 percent of Dunhuang, Gansu production capacity accounts for China’s quest to increase reliance on
total global emissions. In 2019, Chi- Province, China, in over 60 percent of the world’s total,” clean energy will come at a cost to
na’s emissions exceeded those of the this file photo. he said. the country’s poor, Di said.
United States and other developed FENG LI/
GETTY IMAGES
China is the world’s largest man- A large segment of the Chinese
countries combined, a recent report ufacturer of wind turbines and so- population lacks heating in winter
found. In 2020, about 61 percent of lar panels. But its rise to the top in because the entire southern part of
China’s total energy consumption clean energy industries has been China isn’t equipped with central
came from coal, according to official fueled by an abundance of unfair systems. Hundreds of millions of
figures. trade practices that have allowed Chinese who can’t afford private
At the summit, Xi also repeated a Chinese firms to dominate foreign heating solutions are forced to en-
pledge from last year to reach peak
Within competitors on the international dure cold winters.
emissions by 2030 and achieve net- 10 short years, market, experts say. If the regime tries to cut emissions,
zero emissions by 2060. Lawmak- Chinese In solar power, for instance, gov- Di fears that the people’s “dream” of
ers and experts, however, doubt that ernment subsidies were critical in having heating in winter won’t be
Beijing will make good on any prom- enterprises helping Chinese companies domi- realized for a long time.
ises, citing a long history of reneging have beaten nate the global market in the 2010s, Di recalled in his hometown of Qi-
on its commitments. their according to a 2020 report by the dong city in eastern China’s Jiangsu
Washington-based Information Province, all people could do was
Reaping Rewards European Technology & Information Founda- shiver through winter seasons when
While Di has expressed skepticism counterparts tion (ITIF). Chinese firms dumped average temperatures dipped to the
about the existence of man-made in wind and cheap solar panels worldwide, gut- freezing point. Qidong lies at the
global warming, calling it a “false ting the solar panel industry in the mouth of the Yangtze River, which
theory,” he nonetheless believes that solar energies. United States and other countries. crosses the south-central part of the
Beijing should seize the opportunity By the time the United States im- country.
Di Dongsheng,
presented by the climate agenda associate dean,
posed anti-dumping duties on Chi- While most people who live in the
to become a world leader in green Renmin University nese government-subsidized solar Yangtze River region can’t afford
technologies. panels in 2012, it was too late to save their own heating systems, the Chi-
In doing so, the regime would much of the domestic industry. nese economy isn’t strong enough to
stand to gain economically by China is a “leader ... in stealing support the installation of central
boosting exports of clean technol- foreign clean technologies, pres- heating to all these homes, he said.

Beijing’s Mouthpiece Calls for Missile Strikes on Australia

DANIEL Y. TENG
Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
propaganda newspaper The Global
Times has called for Beijing to plan
missile strikes targeting Australia if it
were to join the United States in aid-
ing Taiwan against an attack.
The message—which appeared in
an op-ed published by The Global
Times’ Chief Editor Hu Xijin—comes
after the CCP “indefinitely suspend-
ed” high-level economic talks with
Australia on May 6.
“Given that Australian hawks keep
hyping or hinting that Australia will
assist the U.S. military and participate
CHINA PHOTOS/GETTY IMAGES
A Chinese submarine
launches a missile dur-
ing a Sino–Russian joint
military exercise, in this
file photo.
in war once a military conflict breaks
out in the Taiwan Strait, and the Aus-
tralian media outlets have been ac-
tively promoting the sentiment,” Hu
wrote. “I suggest China make a plan
to impose retaliatory punishment
against Australia once it militarily
interferes in the cross-Strait situation.
“The plan should include long-
range strikes on the military facilities
and relevant key facilities on Austra-
lian soil if it really sends its troops to
China’s offshore areas and combats
against the People’s Liberation Army.
“China has a strong production
capability, including producing ad-
ditional long-range missiles with
conventional warheads that target
military objectives in Australia when
the situation becomes highly tense.”
Hu is a vocal and often controversial
commentator on a range of issues af-
fecting the CCP.
His comments come after the Na-
tional Development and Reform
Commission suspended the China-
Australia Strategic Economic Dia-
logue, which followed after Foreign
Minister Marise Payne terminated
the Belt and Road Initiative agree-
ment signed between the commis-
sion and Victorian Premier Daniel
Andrews, saying they were “incon-
sistent with Australia’s foreign policy.”
Experts, however, argue that the
cancellation of the Strategic Eco-
nomic Dialogue will have little effect
on Australia, especially since talks
between ministers and their Chinese
counterparts have been frozen since
April 2020. In addition, Australian
exporters are already busy pivoting
away from the China market to avoid
further exposure to economic coer-
cion from Beijing.
Meanwhile, last month, Australian
Home Affairs Secretary Mike Pez-
zullo issued a stern warning for the
country to be strong and prepared,
saying the “drums of war” were beat-
ing in the region.
 WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021 CHINA | A11

HONG KONG

Epoch Times Reporter in Hong Kong REACTIONS

TO ATTACK ON
Attacked by Bat-Wielding Man EPOCH TIMES
REPORTER
SONG PI-LUNG/THE EPOCH TIMES

Latest attack on Epoch

Times in Hong Kong
condemned by US State
Department and lawmakers

CONTINUED FROM A1 The United States

condemns the re-
cent attack commit-
reporting on corruption, political in- ted against an Epoch
fighting, and human rights abuses Times journalist.
committed by the communist regime. Attacks against
Liang was transported by ambu- journalists are unac-
lance to Queen Elizabeth Hospital ceptable and cannot
for treatment, and around 3 p.m. be tolerated. We
local time, police arrived to get her urge the authorities
account of the attack. As of 6:30 to complete a full
p.m., she was still in the hospital. investigation of this
A witness with the surname Li incident as well as
said he was coming out of a nearby the recent attack on
the Epoch Times'
restaurant when he heard a woman
Hong Kong printing
screaming, “Help me, I am being facilities.
beaten.”
Li said he then saw a large man —State Department
in his 40s carrying a bat jump into spokesperson
a car and flee. According to Li, the
assailant left in a black Mercedes-
Benz with the license plate number
“TV3851.”
He suggested that whoever was
behind the attack wanted to send Hong Kong police
a warning to The Epoch Times and cannot allow the
prevent the outlet from carrying She was also targeted in two sepa- concern. Guo added that there Sarah brazen and lawless
out its reporting. He denounced rate incidents over the past month. have been unidentified vehicles Liang, a attack on Epoch
the attack as brutal and inhumane,
The incident On April 26, she was stalked by an and people spotted near the facil- reporter Times journalist
adding that he would be willing to is the latest unidentified man outside a local ity recently. for the Sarah Liang to go
Hong Kong unresolved. ... Au-
testify against the attacker. in a string of metro station. Two days earlier, a Officials at the Chinese edition
edition of thorities must waste
Speaking to local media outside man who claimed to be making of The Epoch Times urged Hong
the hospital at around 2 p.m. local
attacks on a delivery entered her residential Kong Police to carry out their duty The Epoch no time bringing
Epoch Times Times, the perpetrators to
time, Liang said she believed the building and knocked on her door. to investigate all unresolved cases speaks to justice, and must
attack was premeditated because facilities and Liang declined to open her door involving the Hong Kong bureau. local media ensure safety for all
another man suddenly charged after the man failed to identify “We call on the general public in outside
toward her on May 8 at the same reporters in himself. Hong Kong to continue to support the Queen
journalists working
in Hong Kong.
location where she was assaulted on Hong Kong— The Hong Kong edition’s printing The Epoch Times,” a statement from Elizabeth —Steven Butler,
May 11. In the earlier incident, the all suspected plant was also attacked by ham- the outlet read. “The Epoch Times Hospital in Asia program coordi-
man eventually walked away after mer-wielding intruders on April will not back down and it will con- Hong Kong nator, Committee to
realizing that the bat he had hidden of having been 12, forcing the facility to suspend tinue to provide truthful coverage on May 11, Protect Journalists
beneath his clothes had fallen to the organized by operations for a few days. Less than and safeguard Hong Kong.” 2021.
ground while he was running. the Chinese two years earlier, the same printing They also called on the interna-
She urged Hong Kong leader Car- press was set on fire by four masked tional community to help “pre-
rie Lam to take note of her case as Communist individuals. The attackers haven’t vent the CCP’s escalating violence
public safety in the city seems to be Party. been found by police. It’s widely against Hong Kong media.”
deteriorating. The reporter said she believed that the CCP is behind The former British colony, once
believes the attacker is connected to both attacks. celebrated for its civil liberties, has There is no more
dangerous tactic
the Chinese Communist Party, and June Guo, director of the Hong seen a drastic deterioration of press
of silencing the
that the Chinese regime was trying Kong edition of The Epoch Times, and other freedoms as the Chinese free press than of
to intimidate her. said there’s no doubt that the CCP regime has tightened its grip over physically assaulting
was behind the assault on Liang. the city. In particular, Beijing’s im- a journalist. We
Guo urged the international com- position of a draconian national condemn this
Sarah Liang, munity to help ensure the safety of security law and other measures apparent assault
a reporter for the
Hong Kong edition
all reporters working in Hong Kong. in the past year have led observ- on reporter Sarah
of The Epoch Times, The CCP’s goal with this attack, as ers to say that Hong Kong will soon Liang, and call for
well as the others, was to force The be just another mainland Chinese a full, transparent,
shows her bruised
Epoch Times to abandon its busi- city—an outcome in direct violation and impartial
legs outside of the
ness in Hong Kong, Guo said. of Beijing’s pledge under an inter- investigation.
Queen Elizabeth
Hospital in Hong Kong The safety of staff at the outlet’s national treaty to preserve the city’s —PEN America
on May 11, 2021. printing plant has been another freedoms and autonomy until 2047.
SONG PI-LUNG/THE EPOCH TIMES

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A12 WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021

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he Epoch Times brings you American Timeless Values
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OPINION
Are Americans Becoming
Sovietized?
Victor Davis Hanson
See A14
OPINION |BUSINESS | ECONOMY
Attacks on Christian Homeschooling
Are No Longer Subtle
CHARLOTTE ALLEN
E
arly in 2020, Elizabeth Bartho-
let, a professor at the Harvard
Law School, became notorious
for advocating a “presumptive
ban” on homeschooling.
The 3 to 4 percent of U.S. parents who
chose to educate their children at home
would have to prove to educational au-
thorities that “their case is justified,” and
if they couldn’t do so, would have their
children sent to public schools.
An article about Bartholet in Harvard’s
alumni magazine, reiterating a position
she had taken in a lengthy law-review ar-
ticle published shortly before, provoked a
furor among parents and young people,
some of them Harvard graduates who
had enjoyed successful homeschooling
experiences.
Then came the coronavirus lockdown.
With public schools shuttering their
brick-and-mortar classrooms and teach-
ers’ unions promising to keep them shut-
tered throughout the 2020–21 school year
and beyond, the percentage of home-
schooling households suddenly surged—
to 5.4 percent in late April 2020 and to 11.1
percent by the end of September 2020.
Many of the new homeschoolers were
otherwise politically liberal urbanites,
and the anti-homeschooling movement
quickly faded as a progressive cause.
But now the homeschooling opponents
are back, with a new, more specific focus:
Christian homeschooling. The impetus
was the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol
by disgruntled Trump supporters. It
quickly became identified in the media
with “white nationalism” and then with
“white Christian nationalism,” on the
premise that white evangelical Christians
were an important voting bloc for Donald
Trump in the 2020 election, and many
had attended a huge Trump rally on the
National Mall that day. From there, it was
a quick jump to evangelical homeschools.
On Jan. 15, the Huffington Post ran
OPINION
JACQUELYN MARTIN/POOL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Doug Pagitt, progressive pastor and executive
director of Vote Common Good, speaks at the Lin-
coln Memorial in Washington on Aug. 28, 2020.
a scathing critique of Abeka Publish-
ing and the Bob Jones University Press,
which publish textbooks and other mate-
rials used by many homeschooling evan-
gelical parents: “Language used in the
books overlaps with the rhetoric of Chris-
tian nationalism, often with overtones of
nativism, militarism, and racism.”
Days later, Chrissy Stroop, a writer for
the progressive website Religion Dis-
patches, chimed in: “It would be remiss of
us to approach the ‘where were they radi-
calized’ question without addressing how
the Christian schooling and homeschool-
ing movement, along with many white
churches and other evangelical, LDS, and
‘trad’ Catholic institutions, fostered the
subcultures” presumably responsible for
the Capitol break-in.
A March 2 article in Ms. Magazine fo-
cused on “extremist, white supremacist”
homeschooling curricula as “the product
of a decades-long crusade to deregulate
home- and private-school education, the
fruits of which are visible in such phe-
nomena as QAnon, COVID denialism,
the Capitol riots ...”
On April 22, numerous media outlets,
including The Washington Post, ran a
(now-deleted) article from the Religion
News Service by progressive pastor Doug
Pagitt, declaring that “homeschooling
in conservative evangelical communi-
ties is a key channel for ideas to feed into
Christian nationalism.”
“The conservative evangelical educa-
tion system has become a pipeline of
extremism,” Pagitt wrote.
On March 30, Philip Gorski, a sociology
professor at Yale who studies American
religious trends, wrote on Twitter: “Chris-
tian homeschooling was—and is—often—
if not always—a major vector of White
Christian Nationalism.” (Gorski has since
made his Twitter account private.)
None of this should come as a surprise.
Although opponents of homeschooling
have typically raised understandable
concerns—such as whether parents with
limited educations are equipped to teach
math and reading, or whether some
parents keep their children out of school
as a pretext to abuse them—their actual
animus as expressed in their writings is
almost always directed at parents who are
too religious for their tastes. That means
evangelical and other conservative Chris-
tians (who still account for the vast major-
ity of homeschoolers), along with Hasidic
Jews who educate their children in their
own yeshivas.
In her article for the Arizona Law Re-
view, for example, Bartholet referred to
what she called homeschooling parents’
ideological commitment to “isolating
their children from the majority culture
and indoctrinating them in views and
values that are in serious conflict with
that culture.”
Terms such as “indoctrinate,” “isolate,”
views “far outside the mainstream,” and
failure to “expose” children to “alternative
perspectives” or to teach them to “think
for themselves”—those are common-
places of the academic writings of home-
schooling opponents. Just to make it clear
whom they are talking about, these critics
typically throw in a sarcastic reference to
the Bible as “sacred, absolute truth.”
Until very recently, however, home-
schooling opponents kept their attacks
OPINION
The Big Green Lie
Mark Hendrickson
See A15
WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021 A13
OLI SCARFF/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
reasonably subtle. That is, they didn’t
come out and say directly that what they
didn’t like about Christian homeschool-
ing was the Christian part. Then, the
Jan. 6 breach gave them an excuse to do
exactly that, usually without being able
to back up their attacks with evidence.
Gorski, for example, admitted in a
subsequent tweet that he had no idea
how “big” the claimed “overlap between
Christian Nationalists and Christian
homeschoolers” actually might be.
It helps the critics’ cause, of course,
that they and the media have redefined
“nationalism” to mean mere patriotism or
pride in America’s history and civilization,
and “Christian nation” to mean a theoc-
racy, instead of a country where 65 percent
of the inhabitants of every ethnicity define
themselves as Christians and hold some
formulation of Christian ideals.
Hence the trepidation over home-
schooling textbooks from religious
publishers that teach civic virtue, assert
that God created the world as the Book of
Genesis says, and take a dim view of such
progressive shibboleths as feminism,
transgender activism, the “1619 Project,”
and climate alarmism.
The notion that parents, Christian or
otherwise, should be forbidden by the
government to educate their children
in the values that they themselves hold
dear—or be forced to “expose” them to
values that they might find abhorrent
but are definitely in the secular liberal
“mainstream” (advocating unrestricted
abortion or same-sex marriage, for ex-
ample)—is totalitarianism at its crudest.
And now that the gloves are off the
anti-homeschoolers and their real aims,
it’s also part of a very specific war against
a large number of Christians as well.
Charlotte Allen is the executive editor
of Catholic Arts Today and a frequent
contributor to Quillette. She has a doctor-
ate in medieval studies from the Catholic
University of America.
A14 | OPINION
Are Americans Becoming Sovietized?
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON
What ultimately ended the
nihilist Soviet system?
Was it not that Russians
finally tired of the Krem-
lin’s lies and hypocrisies
that permeated every facet
of their falsified lives?
Here are 10 symptoms of Sovietism.
Ask yourself whether we are headed
down this same road to perdition.
1. There was no escape from ideological
indoctrination—anywhere. A job in the
bureaucracy or a military assignment
hinged not so much on merit, expertise,
or past achievement, but rather on one’s
loud enthusiasm for the Soviet system.
Wokeness is becoming our new Soviet-
like state religion. Careerists assert that
America was always and still is a system-
ically racist country, without ever pro-
ducing proof or a sustained argument.
2. The Soviets fused their press with the
government. Pravda, or “Truth,” was the
official megaphone of state-sanctioned
lies. Journalists simply regurgitated the
talking points of their Communist Party
partners.
In 2017, a Harvard study found that
over 90 percent of the major TV news
networks’ coverage of the Trump admin-
istration’s first 100 days was negative.
3. The Soviet surveillance state enlisted
apparatchiks and lackeys to ferret out
Still No Evidence of Armed Insurrection on Jan. 6
JULIE KELLY
It almost seems like the
narrative was created in
advance.
As the nation’s capi-
tal descended into
chaos on the afternoon
of Jan. 6—including angry
protests both inside and outside the
Capitol building objecting to Congress’s
final certification of the 2020 election
results—Democratic lawmakers were
already spinning.
“This is a violent insurrection,” Rep.
Ted Deutsch (D-Fla.) wrote on Twitter at
3:40 p.m. as the mayhem escalated. “An
attempted coup by Trump supporters at
his encouragement.”
“This is how we make America great?”
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.),
former chair of the Democratic National
Committee, wrote at 3:09 p.m. ”Violence,
storming the Capitol, attempting to block
your duly elected successor by encourag-
ing armed insurrection?”
Lawmakers from both political parties
echoed those sentiments throughout
the day. Less than 24 hours later, House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) ce-
mented the emerging storyline about the
events of Jan. 6.
“Yesterday, the president of the United
States incited an armed insurrection
against America. The gleeful desecration
of the U.S. Capitol, which is the temple of
our American democracy, and the vio-
lence targeting Congress are horrors that
will forever stay in our nation’s history,
instigated by the president of the United
States,” Pelosi raged during a Jan. 7 press
conference. “Justice will be done to those
who carried out these acts, which were
acts of sedition and acts of cowardice.”
The “armed insurrection” mantra was
cited as key evidence in the Democrats’
second impeachment trial against for-
TASOS KATOPODIS/GETTY IMAGES
ideological dissidents.
Recently, we learned that the Depart-
ment of Defense is reviewing its rosters
to spot extremist sentiments. The U.S.
Postal Service recently admitted it uses
tracking programs to monitor the social
media postings of Americans.
CNN recently alleged that the Biden
administration’s Department of Home-
land Security is considering partnering
with private surveillance firms to get
around government prohibitions on
scrutinizing Americans’ online activity.
4. The Soviet educational system sought
not to enlighten, but to indoctrinate
young minds in proper government-
approved thought.
Currently, cash-strapped universities
nationwide are hiring thousands of di-
versity, equity, and inclusion staffers and
administrators. Their chief task is to scan
the admissions, hiring, curriculum, and
administration at universities. Like good
commissars, our diversity czars oversee
compliance with the official narrative that
a flawed America must confess, apologize
for, and renounce its evil foundations.
5. The Soviet Union was run by a pam-
pered elite, exempt from the ramifica-
tions of their own radical ideologies.
Now, woke Silicon Valley billionaires
talk socialistically, but live royally. Coke
and Delta Airlines CEOs who hector
Americans about their illiberality make
millions of dollars a year.
What unites current woke activists such
mer President Donald Trump.
But was it true? In February, I exam-
ined federal indictments filed against
nearly 200 people charged in the Justice
Department’s Capitol investigation,
which top officials promised would be
“unprecedented” in the agency’s history.
At the time, only 14 people faced weap-
ons violations. Items such as a helmet,
riot shield, and pepper spray were
described by government prosecutors as
“dangerous or deadly weapons.”
Only two protestors, however, were
found to be in possession of a firearm—
and neither was inside the building on
Jan. 6. They were detained later that night
and charged with violating Washington,
D.C.’s strict gun control laws.
So, four months later, is there any proof
to back up the pervasive claim that Jan.
6 was an “armed insurrection?” After
all, investigators now have a massive
trove of video and social media posts to
document what happened during the
day in question; by now, clips of Trump
insurrectionists carrying guns or bragga-
docious comments on Facebook should
prove beyond a doubt that an “armed
insurrection” indeed nearly toppled the
U.S. government that day.
It almost seems like the narrative
was created in advance.
But another review of the more than
400 people currently charged in the Jus-
tice Department’s nationwide manhunt
still fails to support the initial account
that hundreds of armed Trump sup-
porters seized the Capitol with intent to
maim, kill, or capture the building. A to-
tal of 44 defendants—roughly 10 percent
of those facing any sort of prosecution
related to Jan. 6—stand accused of either
as Oprah Winfrey, LeBron James, Mark
Zuckerberg, and the Obamas are their
huge estates and their multimillion-dollar
wealth. Just as the select few of the old
Soviet nomenklatura had their Black Sea
dachas, America’s loudest top-down revo-
lutionaries prefer living in Martha’s Vine-
yard, Beverly Hills, Montecito, and Malibu.
6. The Soviets mastered Trotskyization,
or the rewriting and airbrushing away of
history to fabricate present reality.
Are Americans any different when they
indulge in a frenzy of name-changing,
statue-toppling, monument-defacing,
book-banning, and cancel-culturing?
7. The Soviets created a climate of fear
and rewarded stool pigeons for rooting
out all potential enemies of the people.
Since when did Americans encour-
age co-workers to turn in others for an
ill-considered word in a private conver-
sation? Why do thousands now scour
the internet to find any past incorrect
expression of a rival? Why are there now
new thought criminals supposedly guilty
of climate racism, immigration racism,
or vaccination racism?
8. Soviet prosecutors and courts were
weaponized according to ideology.
In America, where and for what reason
you riot determines whether you face any
legal consequences. Politically correct
sanctuary cities defy the law with impu-
nity. Jury members are terrified of being
doxxed and hunted down for an incor-
possessing or using a dangerous weapon.
Here is the breakdown as of May 1:
G Nine people with pepper spray;
G Nine people with a pole or flagpole;
G Four people with a riot or police shield;
G Four people with a small baton;
G Three people with a stick;
G Three people with a baseball bat;
G Two people with a taser;
G Two people with a fire extinguisher;
G Two people with a crutch;
G One person with a stun gun/walking
stick;
G One person with a police helmet;
G One person with a knife;
G One person with a hockey stick;
G One person with an ice ax.
Some of the weapons, no doubt, can cause
serious harm, and those who used any
weapon against a police officer should,
and will, be punished accordingly.
But in many cases, the defendant sim-
ply is charged with carrying the weapon,
not using it against anyone—some pro-
testers testified they brought weapons
for self-defense in anticipation of violent
engagement with agitators of Antifa or
Black Lives Matter. Richard Barnett,
the man famously photographed inside
Pelosi’s office, faces two counts of posses-
sion of a “dangerous or deadly weapon,”
to wit, a walking stick that can be used as
a stun gun. In a court hearing last week,
Barnett’s lawyer argued the item didn’t
have batteries and wasn’t operational;
a federal judge finally released Barnett
from a D.C. jail after he had served nearly
four months awaiting his trial.
In the Justice Department’s wide-rang-
ing conspiracy case against the Proud
Boys, six members face charges of “enter-
ing and remaining in a restricted building
or grounds and carrying a deadly or dan-
gerous weapon.” But according to a grand
jury indictment, only one man, William
WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021 TOE EPOCH TIMES
AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
(Far left) Protesters
attempt to pull down the
statue of Andrew Jackson
in Lafayette Square near
the White House on June
22, 2020.
(Left) The front page of
the Sovietic newspaper
Pravda, on Oct. 6, 1957.
If they destroy
people in the name
of equity, their
nihilism is justified.
rect verdict. The CIA and FBI are becom-
ing as ideological as the old KGB.
9. The Soviets doled out prizes on the
basis of correct Soviet thought.
In modern America, the Pulitzer Prizes
and the Emmys, Grammys, Tonys, and
Oscars don’t necessarily reflect the year’s
best work, but often the most politically
correct work from the most woke.
10. The Soviets offered no apologies for
extinguishing freedom. Instead, they
boasted that they were advocates for
equity, champions of the underclass,
and enemies of privilege—and therefore
could terminate anyone or anything
they pleased.
Our wokists are similarly defending
their thought-control efforts, forced
re-education sessions, scripted confes-
sionals, mandatory apologies, and cancel
culture on the pretense that we need long-
overdue “fundamental transformation.”
So if they destroy people in the name of
equity, their nihilism is justified.
Victor Davis Hanson is a conservative
commentator, classicist, and military his-
torian. He is a professor of classics emeri-
tus at California State University, a senior
fellow in classics and military history at
Stanford University, a fellow of Hillsdale
College, and a distinguished fellow of the
Center for American Greatness. Hanson
has written 16 books, including “The
Western Way of War,” “Fields Without
Dreams,” and “The Case for Trump.”
Chrestman, had a weapon, a wooden ax
handle. He is not accused of using it.
Prosecutors are trying hard to salvage
another myth about Jan. 6—that Officer
Brian Sicknick was killed in the line of
duty by Trump supporters. The New York
Times eventually retracted its original
story claiming Sicknick was murdered
by “insurrectionists” using a fire extin-
guisher, but the media wasted no time
pivoting to a new spin: Sicknick, the
public was told, died as a result of a reac-
tion to bear repellent sprayed on him by
Trump supporters during the chaos.
But that isn’t true, either. The D.C. Med-
ical Examiner’s office last month finally
admitted Sicknick, 42, died of natural
causes; nonetheless, Joe Biden’s Justice
Department is desperate to keep the
storyline alive. In March, two men were
charged with using a chemical spray
against the deceased officer. Prosecutors
also had to admit in court last week that
the spray was not bear spray, but a small
can of pepper spray.
George Tanios and Julian Khater now
sit in jail while denied bond, each facing
three counts of using and possessing
a deadly weapon, even though there is
no proof the spray used by Khater hit
Sicknick or his colleagues—just more
prosecutorial blocking to support Pelosi’s
stagecraft.
Much of Jan. 6 is a manufactured illu-
sion, another exercise in political spin-
making for partisan gain. But no amount
of performative wishful thinking by the
media, Democrats, and several Repub-
licans about the existence of an “armed
insurrection” on Jan. 6 can turn their
imagination into reality.
Julie Kelly is a political commentator and
senior contributor to American Greatness.
She is the author of “Disloyal Opposition:
How the NeverTrump Right Triedɡand
Failedɡto Take Down the President.”
 WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021
The Big Green Lie
MARK HENDRICKSON
Public discourse about
climate change often de-
generates into personal
attacks. Those of us who
point out the many holes
in the alleged “scientific
basis” of global warming
alarmism are denounced as “deniers.”
As I wrote in my article “Who Are the
Ideologues?” the heart of alarmism is a
radical political agenda—namely, for a
socialistic, top-down plan that would
restructure our energy usage, and there-
fore our economy, in the name of saving
the planet from a climate catastrophe.
The climate change “emperor,” of
course, has no clothes. You can read some
of my rebuttal to the alarmists in my
article “Who Stole Greta’s Childhood?”
But the soundbite version is that, yes, the
world has gotten a degree or two warmer
than in “preindustrial times,” for which
we should be thankful, since before the
Industrial Revolution, Earth was sunk in
the Little Ice Age—the coldest period of
the last 10,000 years. Yes, carbon dioxide
traps heat, although it does so on a loga-
rithmic scale—not a linear one—which
means that future increases in carbon
dioxide will trap less heat. And it’s es-
sential to realize that carbon dioxide isn’t
the most important “greenhouse gas”—
that would be water vapor—and there
are multiple other factors that influence
the heat content of Earth’s atmosphere,
including everything from solar and
volcanic activity, ocean currents, tectonic
movements, cloud cover, and so on.
In fact, in late 2009, when President
Barack Obama and congressional pro-
gressives were trying to pass a cap-and-
trade bill designed to make Americans
pay extra for the privilege of burning fossil
fuels, some of the scientists in the global
warming alarmist camp were backing off
their claims of runaway warming.
Looking at the most recent data
available to them, they guessed—yes,
“guessed,” which is all that we even the
so-called “experts” can ever do regarding
the future—that the Earth was likely to
cool for the next few decades.
Think about that for a second: After
years of telling us that the more carbon
dioxide there was in the atmosphere, the
hotter Earth would get, they reversed
themselves, saying, “Carbon dioxide
will continue to increase, but the tem-
perature is likely to fall.” The alarmists
thereby demolished their own case by
conceding the main point made by so-
called skeptics: that many other factors
besides carbon dioxide drive changes in
global temperatures.
The big green lie—specifically, that
human activity is warming the globe to a
dangerous degree requiring a radical eco-
nomic, social, and political transforma-
tion—has many iterations. Although my
invocation of “the big lie” phraseology may
be harsh, it’s bluntly and plainly accurate.
Just as Hitler’s propaganda team—and
indeed, all left-wing totalitarian groups,
whether communist, fascist, or social-
ist—employed “the big lie” technique of
incessantly repeating a falsehood until all
but the most alert citizens are mesmerized
into believing it from the sheer volume of
repetition, so it is with today’s greens.
I’m by no means likening alarmists
to the murderous and maniacal Hitler. In-
deed, the average government employee
repeating the mantra of “anthropogenic
climate change” today is a bureaucrat or
government-funded scientist dutifully,
not maliciously, reciting the official party
line. By the way, if you want to understand
how politicians can exploit scientists and
twist scientific research into “official sci-
ence”—the best “science” that money can
buy—get a copy of Michael Hart’s book
“Hubris: The Troubling Science, Econom-
ics, and Politics of Climate Change.”
And—if I may digress for a moment—
the next time you hear someone cast sus-
picion on the integrity of a private-sector
scientist who dissents from climate
change alarmism, ask yourself why no-
body ever asks scientists on the alarmist
DON EMMERT/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Climate protesters gather
across the street from the
New York County Courthouse
in New York on Nov. 1, 2019.
OPINION | A15
BODO MARKS/DPA/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
side if they or their university have ever
received government grants for work on
climate change. The unspoken bias in
the media is that someone who works for
a government is an incorruptible, even
infallible, truth-teller, while anyone who
works in the private sector—especially
for an oil company—is ipso facto a venal
liar. What prejudicial rubbish!
There is, it should also be mentioned,
another similarity to Hitler’s regime, and
that is the nature of the political agenda
that the greens have. As I explained in my
article about the Green New Deal, what
the greens want is a government-imposed
reorganization of economic activity under
the direction of the government—similar
to Hitler’s Nazi, or national socialist, top-
down agenda for the German economy.
The most recent iteration I have seen
of the big lie appeared on April 26 in a daily
newsletter from The Wall Street Journal,
derived from a longer article: “$115 tril-
lion—The amount the world would need
to invest in clean technologies through
2050 to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees
Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, above
preindustrial levels, according to the Inter-
national Renewable Energy Agency.”
Before I point out the untruths in this
statement, let me commend it for being
honest and forthright in one important
respect: the candid admission that the
radical transition away from fossil fuels
will be immensely costly. $115 trillion—
wow! That’s larger than the entire planet’s
annual GDP. Beyond that, though, the
BODO MARKS/DPA/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES statement is arrogant, pretentious, and
dishonest in more ways than one.
The arrogance lies in the implied cer-
tainty that human efforts can devise a
policy mix that would act like a thermo-
stat regulating Earth’s temperature.
It’s socialism, not carbon
dioxide, where the real
existential danger lies.
The pretentiousness is the glib pre-
sumption that somebody even knows
what the “right” temperature is, much
less how to attain it.
The first dishonesty is the misleading
phrase “clean technology”—as if re-
newables were clean. They’re anything
(Top and above) Environ- but “clean” while being manufactured,
mentalists block the rails transported, and installed, and they’re
and stop a train loaded with disturbingly lethal to winged wildlife.
new Volkswagen cars in The second dishonesty is the disin-
Wolfsburg, northern Ger- genuous inclusion in the article of two
many, on Aug. 13, 2019. photographs of horribly polluted air
in Chinese cities. Those photos were
designed to create the false impression
that all fossil fuels cause severe air pollu-
tion. They deliberately conflated carbon
dioxide with pollution when, in fact,
carbon dioxide is invisible, meaning it
couldn’t be the source of the air pollution
in the photos. True, one particular fossil
fuel—coal—causes visible and toxic air
TOBIAS SCHWARZ/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
pollution, which is why so many utilities
have replaced coal with oil and natural
gas. U.S. cities such as Pittsburgh, once
known for sooty skies, have enjoyed
clear, clean air for decades after moving
away from coal—not to renewables, but
to cleaner forms of fossil fuels and some
nuclear power. More importantly, carbon
dioxide is the base of the human food
chain: Plants live on carbon dioxide, and
Green ballons bearing the
they, in turn, provide nourishment for
inscription “CO2” in an
exhibition hall during the animals and humans. To imply that car-
opening day of the Gruene bon dioxide is some sort of destructive
Woche (Green Week) inter- pestilence is a scientific travesty.
national agriculture fair in The greatest dishonesty of the big green
Berlin on Jan. 17, 2020. lie is the basic premise of the climate
change alarmists—that our prosperity
is somehow sinful, and, therefore, we
don’t deserve to live in a world with more
temperate, human-friendly temperatures
and in a more carbon dioxide-enriched,
greener world than humans had to en-
dure in the harsh, wretched Little Ice Age.
The big green lie is several decades old.
It has been taught for nearly 30 years in
our country’s schools—thanks to federal
legislation giving the Environmental
Protection Agency oversight over schools’
environmental curriculums—which
explains why young people like Alexan-
dria Ocasio-Cortez truly believe that the
world is approaching a climate-caused
cataclysm.
But facts are stubborn things, and I’m
still idealistic enough to believe that
truth will prevail in the end. So let’s push
back against the big green lie with all our
might and resist their suffocating, mis-
anthropic, utopian socialistic plans. It’s
socialism—not carbon dioxide—where
the real existential danger lies.
Mark Hendrickson, an economist,
recently retired from the faculty of Grove
City College, where he remains a fellow
for economic and social policy at the
Institute for Faith and Freedom.
A16 | OPINION WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021

ALEXANDER DRAGO/POOL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

tage they’re sitting on and are intent Avoiding War

on vacuous policy comments that are We have the upper hand and can avoid
hyper-analyzed by the CCP information this war, but the current administration
warfare machine. doesn’t seem to know it.
Furthermore, as Steven Mosher points It’s of the utmost importance that the
out in his book “Bully of Asia,” the CCP Biden administration realizes it’s facing
feels it’s their time to displace the United an immediate showdown with China.
States and become the world’s uncon- Not in 2034, but right now. America has
tested Hegemon. This means displacing the decisive control of food, energy, and
or destroying the United States—right the capital markets which the adminis-
now. Things are coming to a head now, tration must start using as tools against
not in 2034. the spiraling military preparations of the
CCP. The U.S. military enterprise and
Thucydides Trap? Maybe industrial base needs to be placed on an
The often used and hard to pronounce urgent footing to prevent war.
Thucydides Trap paradigm is often This includes forgotten World War
thrown around to describe the ap- II- and Cold War-era precepts of an in-
proaching catastrophe. Simply put, it’s dustrial base on scale. The Navy public-
the collision of a rising power with a private shipbuilding partnership needs
fading dominant power. China may be to go on a 24/7 schedule to reestablish
given the term “rising power,” but much itself and pull out of its dismal status. By
of the acceleration of the timetable for my count, there are essentially two large,
war is its dire need for what we have. So a carrier-size drydocks on the West Coast,
“desperate power” may be more apropos and these will be much needed to return
Secretary for the CCP. a battle-damaged carrier to service.
of State
Antony
Blinken at
the State
It’s No Longer In many ways, we’re back to a World
War II-era grand strategy on centers
of production, resource control, and
the ability to generate war material on
Furthermore, the “lanes” available
for large ship construction on the West
Coast are filled up by the leisurely pace
of current Navy shipbuilding and ship
Department
in Washing-
ton on April
5, 2021.
About Taiwan, scale. Taiwan is our center of production
for chips and must be defended as our
Silicon Valley West. Would we have let
Detroit fall to the Axis in World War II
repair. There is no surge capacity as it
stands now for repair or construction.
The Panama Canal is essentially under
Chinese control already, so leveraging

It’s About Us and just shrugged our shoulders?

I urge the Biden administration to
move to the “arsenal of democracy”
mode immediately to build capacity to
East and Gulf coast shipyards isn’t a cer-
tainty. A naval crisis this is. Halsey (and
Reagan) would be confounded at the
current naval state of affairs.
It’s 1941 all over again; like Japan, deter and prevent war, but that doesn’t
seem to be the top priority for the ad-
Massive funding is needed immedi-
ately for the shipyard industrial base
China is very vulnerable from being ministration.
Turning little boys into little girls,
and shipbuilding program. One key
rule to make this an efficient ramp-up:
cut off from what it needs to survive. turning coal miners into coders, or plac-
ing William Burns as head of the CIA,
This must be multi-year appropriations
and authorizations so that funding can
an appointee with stunningly question- be wisely spent over time, not subject to
able connections, may be the priorities the horribly inefficient one-year cycles
of the administration, which doesn’t that significantly drive up costs of
JOHN MILLS impress but only emboldens the CCP. We capital projects due to extreme budget
China needs three need to come together as a nation and uncertainty.
Retired Adm. James realize the immediate existential threat The Air Force needs similar immedi-
Stavridis has a book out, things that we we’re facing. ate attention to generate overwhelming
“2034,” in which a war dominate: food, Will China go against Taiwan as their air power. The Marine Corps, Army, and
breaks out with China. energy, and access first move? Maybe, but if I was a PLA/ Space Force need right sizing and trans-
It escalates to include PLAN (People’s Liberation Army Navy) formation also. Missile defenses need to
a nuclear exchange and to the capital planner, I’m not sure I would want to be greatly expanded for Pacific Islands,
the seizure of Taiwan. market. We control attempt the first opposed landing in CCP Alaska, and the mainland United States.
There have been a number of interest- it, they need it. We history against Taiwan. A dry run is in Once the CCP starts, nothing will be off
ing reviews as the admiral (there is a order, and northern Luzon, the largest the table.
co-author) accrues book sales based on take it for granted, island of the Philippines, looks much The Capital Hill Autonomous Zone may
his former status. Stavridis is well known they don’t. more appealing. look like a shambles now, but it will be
as a vocal senior retired officer and is The quick establishment of a “Co-Pros- un-shambled when the CCP unleashes
in what we call the retired generals and perity” trade enclave in the Philippines a nuclear strike on Seattle. Many more
admirals club, a very exclusive group. would be a much better way to exercise things need to be done, but it all starts
What the admiral misses is the gravity, the logistics and planning functions for with the resolve and clarity of the presi-
acceleration, and immediacy of Bei- complex military projections. There’s dent in power. The more we sweat now,
jing’s plans. The book should be called not much the Philippine military and the less we’ll bleed later. The more un-
“2021” because we are facing immediate government could do if a large Chinese clear we are, the more we’ll bleed later.
conflict with China. China needs three amphibious group showed up with no The window is rapidly closing on even
things that we dominate: food, energy, warning at a major beach or port (let’s the most optimistic of administration
and access to the capital market. We con- say the old U.S. Navy Base at Subic Bay). watchers and their hope of Blinken and a
trol it, they need it. We take it for granted, This action would secure the right few others maintaining successful deter-
they don’t. The Chinese Communist shoulder of PLAN access to the deep rence of a brazen China.
Party (CCP) war machine also needs ac- Pacific. The Philippine operation would If the current administration declines
cess to dual-use chips. Taiwan has them also prep the PLA/PLAN for the much to take this situation seriously, perhaps
and we desperately need them also. more difficult move on Taiwan. we need the previous administration
And then Secretary of State Antony Taiwan is no longer about unifica- back in place to protect the American
Blinken makes a comment that sows When the CCP tion—it’s about two things: securing the citizens and the nation. But the down-
confusion, saying “our purpose is not moves on the TSMC chip production industrial base river effects of the Maricopa County
to contain China.” Words matter and and securing the left shoulder of China’s election forensic recount are material
Blinken’s comment unshackles the Philippines and/or main access point to the second island for another story.
planners of the People’s Liberation Army Taiwan, they’re not chain, which includes the sovereign U.S.
(PLA) and perhaps assures conflict, just stopping. It’s about Territory of Guam and the Northern Col. (Ret.) John Mills is a national se-
like our actions with Japan in 1941. Marianna Islands. curity professional with service in five
Maybe “containing” isn’t the exact right knocking the When the CCP moves on the Philip- eras: Cold War, Peace Dividend, War on
word for the U.S. policy on China, but United States down pines or Taiwan, they’re not stopping. Terror, World in Chaos, and now—Great
an expression very close to it should be and replacing us. It’s about knocking the United States Power Competition. He is the former
used. China needs what we have, they down and replacing us. Everything will director of cybersecurity policy, strategy,
need it now, and our current administra- Everything will be be on the table including nuclear strikes and international affairs at the Depart-
tion doesn’t seem to realize the advan- on the table. against sovereign U.S. territory. ment of Defense.

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NUMBER 1334586, for Restaurant Wine has
been applied for by the undersigned to sell Wine,
Beer & Cider at retail in a Restaurant under the
Alcoholic Beverage Control Law at 2199 Broad-
way, New York, NY 10024. New York County,
for on premises consumption. 2199 Restau-
rant Corp.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A LICENSE,
NUMBER 1335317, for On Premises Liquor has
been applied for by the undersigned to sell Liquor,
Beer, Wine & Cider at retail in a Restaurant under
the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law at 99-12 Als-
tyne Ave., Corona, NY 11368. Queens County,
for on premises consumption. El Cuencanito Deli
& Cider at retail in a Restaurant under the Alco-
holic Beverage Control Law at 832 Clarkson
Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11203. Kings County, for on
premises consumption. Silver Chicken & Seafood
Restaurant LLC.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A LICENSE,
SERIAL # 1335588, for Wine & Beer has been
applied for by the undersigned to sell Wine & Beer
at retail under the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law
at 413 E. 12th St., New York, NY 10009. New York
County, for on premise consumption. Woman In
Wine LLC.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A LICENSE,
SERIAL # 1332199, for Liquor, Wine & Beer has
been applied for by the undersigned to sell Liquor,
Wine & Beer at retail under the Alcoholic Bever-
age Control Law at 153 155 Amsterdam Ave.,
New York, NY 10023. New York County, for on
premise consumption. 153 Amsterdam Rest LLC

LIES KILL,
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A LICENSE, Clinton County for on premises consumption. signed to sell Liquor, Wine, Beer & Cider at retail & Pizza Rest Inc.
SERIAL # 1335294, for Liquor, Wine & Beer NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A LICENSE, *DOCS ON THE WATER INC . DBA PENDING in a Tavern under the Alcoholic Beverage Con-
has been applied for by the undersigned to sell SERIAL # 1335363, for Wine & Beer has been trol Law at 43 Clinton St., New York, NY. New NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A LICENSE,

Liquor, Wine & Beer at retail under the Alco-
holic Beverage Control Law at 244 Mulberry
St., New York, NY 10012. New York County,
for on premise consumption. Moose Goose
Holding Inc.
  
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A LICENSE,
SERIAL # 1335306, for Liquor, Wine & Beer
has been applied for by the undersigned to
sell Liquor, Wine & Beer at retail under the
Alcoholic Beverage Control Law at 242 244
applied for by the undersigned to sell Wine &
Beer at retail under the Alcoholic Beverage
Control Law at 611 Bergen St., Brooklyn, NY
11238. Kings County, for on premise consump-
tion. House of Solomon LLC.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A LICENSE,
NUMBER “PENDING” for liquor, beer, wine and
Cider has been applied for by the undersigned* to
sell liquor, beer, wine and cider at retail in a Sea-
sonal Tavern under the Alcohol Beverage Con-
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A LICENSE,
NUMBER 1334271, for On Premise Liquor
has been applied for by the undersigned to sell
Liquor, Wine, Beer & Cider at retail in a Bar/Tav-
ern under the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law
at 88-06 Roosevelt Ave., Jackson Hgts., NY
11372 Queens County, for on premises con-
sumption. Roca Bar Corp.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A LICENSE,
NUMBER 1334813 for On Premise Liquor
York County, for on premises consumption. The
Crossett Group, LLC d/b/a Cafe Skye.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A LICENSE
SERIAL # PENDING, for On Premise Liquor
has been applied for by the undersigned to
sell Liquor, Wine, Beer & Cider at retail at a
Art Exhibition/Tavern under the Alcoholic
Beverage Control Law at 299 South St., Pier
36, New York NY 10002. New York County,
for on premises consumption. Lighthouse
TRUTH SAVES
NUMBER 1335436, for On Premises Liquor has
been applied for by the undersigned to sell Liquor,
Beer, Wine & Cider at retail in a Restaurant under
the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law at 11 Doy-
ers St., New York, NY 10013. New York County, We ask you to share
for on premises consumption. Blue Agave NY Inc.
d/b/a Pulqueria. RejectCCP.org
with at least 5 friends.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A LICENSE,
NUMBER 1335319, for Restaurant has been
applied for by the undersigned to sell Beer, Wine
 WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021
With ‘Birthing
People,’ We
Approach a ‘Brave
New World’
ROGER KIMBALL
I am writing on May 9,
Mother’s Day in the
United States.
I used to look askance at
the holiday, not because
I have anything against
mothers—on the contrary—but because
it always seemed like a Hallmark Holiday,
something manufactured by corporate in-
terests and glazed in a sugar of sentimen-
tality from which one could free oneself
only by a tithe of flowers or luncheon for
the mothers in one’s life.
Lately, however, I have become a
staunch partisan of the holiday.
This isn’t because I doubt the cynicism of
the interests encouraging us to splurge on
cards, flowers, chocolates, and luncheons,
but rather because the wardens of “woke-
ness” have finally got around to canceling
the very idea of motherhood.
Thus we have Congresswoman Ayanna
Pressley calling for an expansion of
Medicaid to include “coverage for birthing
people.”
“Birthing people.”
Pressley is a freak, granted. But she
isn’t alas an anomaly among our elected
representatives. Consider the words of her
colleague Congresswoman Cori Bush:
“Black birthing people and our babies
die because our doctors don’t believe our
pain.”
The rejection of the word ‘mother’
is part and parcel of a much larger
rejection—a rejection of human
reality as traditionally conceived.
All this was fodder for fun today as vari-
ous commentators—and The Babylon
Bee, of course—weighed in to ridicule the
ridiculous.
“Birthing people.”
Funny, isn’t it? Preposterous. But re-
member, this language is coming out of
the mouths of the people we have elected
to govern us.
What does that tell us about them? What
does it tell us about ourselves?
The rejection of the word “mother” is
part and parcel of a much larger rejec-
tion—a rejection of human reality as
traditionally conceived.
And remember that one of the first acts
of President Joe Biden’s administration
was to insist that all federal agencies query
people about their “preferred pronouns.”
(I have always suspected that Biden’s
preferred pronoun was “Xi,” but that is a
different topic.)
And Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi,
the third in line to the presidency, took
the spoon with chocolate ice cream out of
her mouth long enough to issue her own
linguistic carnage, including the rules that
would replace such terms as “mother,”
“father,” “daughter,” “son,” “sister” and
“brother” with “gender-neutral” terms
such as “parent,” “child,” and “sibling.”
There is a lot that could be said about the
attempt to force gender-specific terms into
early retirement.
In this column, I’d just like to point out
that it isn’t a new idea.
‘Mother’ as Blasphemous
Consider the picture of sexual relations in
Aldous Huxley’s dystopian novel “Brave
New World” (1932).
I don’t myself regard “Brave New World”
as a particularly accomplished work of
literature.
But considered as a work of social-moral
prognostication, it’s a work of genius.
Perhaps the aspect of Huxley’s dystopian
fable that is most frequently adduced is its
vision of a society that has perfected what
we have come to call genetic engineering.
Among other things, it’s a world in which
reproduction has been entirely handed
over to the experts.
The word “parents” no longer describes
a loving moral commitment but only an
attenuated biological datum.
OPINION | A17
HANNAH MCKAY/POOL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Babies aren’t born but designed accord-
ing to exacting specifications and “de-
canted” at sanitary depots like The Central
London Hatchery and Conditioning
Centre with which the book opens.
As with all efforts to picture future
technology, Huxley’s description of the
equipment and procedures employed at A nurse passes a preterm Most readers, I think, will hesitate
the hatchery seems almost charmingly baby to his mother, at about saying yes.
antiquated, like a space ship imagined by Burnley General Hospital in What does that hesitation tell us?
Jules Verne. Burnley, England, on May Some readers will have no hesitation
But Huxley’s portrait of the human toll of 15, 2020. about saying yes; what does that tell us?
human ingenuity is very up-to-date.
I used to say that we hadn’t—not quite, Culture as Dangerous
not yet—caught up with the situation he PICTORIAL PARADE/GETTY IMAGES
As Huxley saw, a world in which repro-
describes. duction was “rationalized” and eman-
We didn’t, until very recently, inhabit a cipated from love was also a world in
world in which “mother” and “monoga- which culture in any traditional sense
my” were blasphemous terms from which was not only otiose but dangerous, and
people have been conditioned to recoil in hence severely policed.
visceral revulsion. This suspicion of culture is also a
But isn’t that precisely what the rhetoric sub-theme of that other great dystopian
of radicals like Pressley and Bush encour- novel, George Orwell’s “1984,” which
age? ends with the work of “various writers,
such as Shakespeare, Milton, Swift,
Hatcheries A portrait of British novelist Byron, Dickens,” being vandalized by
Thinkers as different as Michel Foucault and essayist Aldous being translated into Newspeak.
and Francis Fukuyama have pondered the Leonard Huxley in the When that laborious propaganda
advent of a “posthuman” future, eagerly or 1950s. effort is finally complete, the “original
with dismay, as the case may be. writings, with all else that survived
Scientists busily manipulating DNA may of the literature of the past, would be
give substance to their speculations. destroyed.”
It’s often suggested that what’s most The point is that culture has roots. It
disturbing about “Brave New World” is its limns the future through its implica-
portrait of eugenics in action: its vision of tions with the past. Moving the reader
humanity deliberately divided into geneti- or spectator over the centuries, in Han-
cally ordered castes, a few super-smart nah Arendt’s phrase, the monuments of
Alpha-pluses down through a multitude
of drone-like Epsilons who do the heavy Continued on A18
lifting.
Such deliberately instituted inequality
offends our democratic sensibilities.
What is sometimes overlooked or down-
played is the possibility that the most
disturbing aspect of the future Huxley
pictured has less to do with eugenics than
genetics.
That is to say, perhaps what is centrally
repellent about Huxley’s hatcheries isn’t
that they codify inequality.
Nature already does that more effective-
ly than our politically correct sensibilities
like to acknowledge.
Rather, what is repellent is the idea that
the hatcheries should exist at all.
Are they not a textbook example of
Promethean hubris in action? It is worth
stepping back to ponder that possibility.
In the 17th century, René Descartes
predicted that his scientific method would
make man “the master and possessor of
nature.”
Are we not fast closing in on the technol-
ogy that proves him right?
Progress?
And this raises another question.
Is there a point at which scientific
development can no longer be described,
humanly, as progress?
We know the benisons of technology.
Consider only electricity, the automobile,
modern medicine. They have transformed
the world and underscored the old ob-
servation that art, that “techne,” is man’s
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For example, if, as in “Brave New World,”
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A18 | OPINION
How ‘Woke’ May
Be Leading Us
to Civil War
ROGER L. SIMON
The other day, I wrote
that “woke” was the new
conformism.
It is, of course, but I
undersold it. It’s much
more than that and more
dangerous.
As Tal Bachman notes at Steynonline,
it’s now our state religion, a state reli-
gion in a country that—constitutional-
ly and for good reason—isn’t supposed
to have one.
But “Wokism” is yet more than that,
too. It’s a mass psychosis similar to
many that have arisen throughout his-
tory when the masses followed leaders
who, in their zeal or self-interest, took
them to disastrous ends.
A good example was when the Do-
minican friar Girolamo Savonarola—in
a 1497 version of “cancel culture”—
swept up everything secular in Flor-
ence from some of the most extraor-
dinary paintings and sculpture of all
time to the works of Boccaccio and
burned them in the so-called Bonfire
of the Vanities.
Being Jewish, I am also reminded of
the bizarre tale of Sabbatai Zevi, the
17th-century Sephardic rabbi who pro-
claimed himself the long-awaited true
messiah of the Jews, garnered thou-
sands of followers, and then ended up
leaving them completely in the lurch
when he converted to Islam. (Interest-
ingly, Bachman writes that “wokism”
resembles Islam structurally.)
Closer to our time, the great Italian
director Federico Fellini, in his film
“La Dolce Vita” (1960), shows us what
seems like hundreds of people rushing
about, tears streaming, trampling each
other, believing reports that the Ma-
donna has been sighted. As the scene
progresses, the crowd grows, with
more and more people convinced of
the sighting.
Of course, what Fellini documents is
more or less harmless—not so “woke.”
This psychosis has a political dimen-
sion and the capability of changing a
society, which it has already done.
Face Excommunication
“Woke” gains adherents much in the
manner of “est”—the cult-like Erhard
Seminars Training—that I attended in
the 1970s at the behest of a movie pro-
ducer interested in making a film about
it. (It never happened.)
If you’re too in, you’re out.
For est, several hundred people sat
in a large conference room listening to
With ‘Birthing People,’ We
Approach a ‘Brave New World’
CONTINUED FROM A17
culture transcend the local impera-
tives of the present.
They escape the obsolescence that
fashion demands, the predictability
that planning requires. They speak of
love and hatred, honor and shame,
beauty and courage and cowardice—
permanent realities of the human
situation insofar as it remains hu-
man.
The denizens of Huxley’s brave new
world are designed and educated—
perhaps his word, “conditioned,” is
more accurate—to be rootless, with-
out culture.
Ditto the denizens of Orwell’s night-
mare totalitarian society.
In “Brave New World,” when a relic
of the old order of civilization—a sav-
age who had been born, not decant-
ed—is brought from a reservation into
the brave new world, he is surprised
to discover that the literary past is
forbidden to most of the population.
“But why is it prohibited?” asked
the Savage. In the excitement of
meeting a man who had read Shake-
speare, he had momentarily forgot-
the “training” for hours under instruc-
tions not to get up, even to go to the
bathroom, until they raised their hands
signaling they “got it” (i.e., effectively
joined the cult). Nature’s calling being
what it is, most eventually did.
Although operationally similar,
“woke” is exponentially more perilous
than the now-defunct est training. Our
position in society, our livelihoods, and
our children’s educations and futures
are being held over our heads, not our
mere use of a restroom.
An iron-fisted, ideologically extreme
minority has our country under its
thumb—play along or face ex-commu-
nication. This is stronger than anything
in our history and almost identical to
what we see and have seen in totalitar-
ian countries.
It’s a psychosis approaching mass
hallucination. In Franco’s Spain, they
shouted, “Viva la muerte!” (“Long live
death!”) Here we are asked to proclaim
just as loudly “Black Lives Matter,” to
display signs saying as much on our
lawns, although we never thought oth-
erwise and always thought (naively, we
are told) that all lives mattered.
All key aspects, most parts of them
anyway, of our society “get it” as they
did in est (i.e., now believe in ”woke”)
or, yet more ominously, cynically say
they do—the media, the corporations
(“Better woke than broke!”), the govern-
ment bureaucracy, the Democratic Par-
ty, the Department of Justice, the FBI,
the military (yikes!), entertainment,
the university system, the K–12 system,
the medical community, the scientific
community (incredibly), the religious
community (sadly), and on and on.
All, to one extent or another, believe
in “woke” except—the people.
Most of the people anyway.
Most of what used to be called the
common men (or women) in the street
roll their eyes at “woke”—including
even some silent, but browbeaten,
Democrats—and do their best to move
on, although many realize that “woke”
and its sister “social justice” are in
essence euphemisms for an ideology
far more totalitarian than any ever in
control of this country, communism.
Rebellion Brewing
How long can this gaping dichotomy
continue?
How long before they stop rolling
their eyes?
A rebellion against “woke” is brewing,
particularly in red states, some of which
are banning or have already banned
critical race theory in their schools,
Culture has roots. It limns
the future through its
implications with the
past. The monuments
of culture transcend the
local imperatives of the
present. They escape the
obsolescence that fashion
demands, the predictability
that planning requires.
ten everything else.
The Controller shrugged his shoul-
ders. “Because it’s old; that’s the chief
reason. We haven’t any use for old
things here.”
“Even when they’re beautiful?”
“Particularly when they’re beautiful.
Beauty’s attractive, and we don’t want
people to be attracted by old things.
We want them to like the new ones.”
Huxley’s brave new world is above all
a superficial world. People are encour-
aged to like what is new, to live in the
moment, because that makes them
less complicated and more pliable.
A statue of Dominican friar Girolamo
Savonarola in Ferrara, Italy, on Sept.
25, 2018. Savonarola enforced a
1497 version of “cancel culture”
on Florence, Italy.
If we extend unlimited
tolerance even to those
who are intolerant, if
we are not prepared
to defend a tolerant
society against the
onslaught of the
intolerant, then
the tolerant will
be destroyed, and
tolerance with them.
Karl Popper, philosopher
MICHAEL CIAGLO/GETTY IMAGES
Members of the Communist Party USA
and other groups burn an American flag
on the steps of the Colorado Capitol in
Denver, Colo., on Jan. 20, 2021.
Sensations and Emotions
Emotional commitments are even more
strictly rationed than Shakespeare. (The
same, again, is true in “1984.”)
In the place of emotional commit-
ments, sensations—thrilling, mind-
numbing sensations—are available on
demand through drugs and motion
pictures that neurologically stimulate
viewers to experience certain emotions
and feelings.
The fact that they are artificially pro-
duced isn’t considered a drawback but
their very point.
Which is to say that the brave new
world is a virtual world: Experience is
increasingly vivid but decreasingly real.
The question of meaning is deliberately
short-circuited.
“You’ve got to choose,” the Resident
World Controller for Western Europe pa-
tiently explains to the Savage, “between
happiness and what people used to call
high art. We’ve sacrificed the high art.
We have the feelies and the scent organ
instead.”
“But they don’t mean anything.”
“They mean themselves; they mean a
lot of agreeable sensations to the audi-
ence.”
If this seems like a prescription for
arrested development, that, too, is
part of the point: “It is their duty to be
infantile,” the Controller explains, “even
against their inclination.”
Promiscuity is encouraged because it is
WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021
GIANNI CAREDDU VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/CC BY-SA 4.0
among other pushbacks. (Kudos to Rep.
Mark Green, Republican of Tennessee
and Iraq War veteran, for introducing
legislation to block critical race theory
training at U.S. military academies.)
But will that be enough against a fed-
eral government that lives and breathes
this evil ideology and that is essentially
governed by a homegrown politburo—
the thought that Biden acts by himself
is ludicrous—determined to impose it?
As this imposition increases, the
“contradictions,” as the Marxists
would say, are heightened.
What the extremist ideology of
“woke” actually provokes is talk of—
and not just talk—secession and even
civil war.
Few of us have heard anything like
that in our lifetimes. But now it’s real.
We have been driven apart as never
before. We have been awakened in-
deed.
Anything can happen and some of
us, who would never have considered
anything like secession and civil war,
suddenly do—highly disturbing to us
as those thoughts may be.
So why do we even tolerate “woke”?
Bachman gives us a quotation from
Austrian philosopher Karl Popper that
is remarkably apposite for our times:
“Unlimited tolerance must lead to
the disappearance of tolerance. If we
extend unlimited tolerance even to
those who are intolerant, if we are not
prepared to defend a tolerant society
against the onslaught of the intolerant,
then the tolerant will be destroyed,
and tolerance with them.”
From Antifa to BLM (whose leader
apparently identifies with the mass
murderer Chairman Mao) to the will-
fully blind talking heads of left-wing
cable TV, no one is as intolerant as the
”woke” folks. They break all domestic
records in that regard.
Time to stop tolerating them.
Roger L. Simon is an award-winning
novelist, Oscar-nominated screenwriter,
co-founder of PJMedia, and now,
editor-at-large for The Epoch Times.
His most recent books are “The GOAT”
(fiction) and “I Know Best: How Moral
Narcissism Is Destroying Our Republic,
If It Hasn’t Already” (nonfiction).
a prophylactic against emotional depth.
The question of meaning is never pur-
sued beyond the instrumental question
of what produces the most pleasure.
Socrates told us that the unexamined
life is not worth living. Huxley (yet again
like Orwell) pictures a world in which
the unexamined life is the only one
available.
Huxley’s imagination failed him in
one area.
He understood that in a world in which
reproduction was emancipated from
the body, sexual congress for many
people would degenerate into a purely
recreational activity, an amusement not
inherently different from one’s soma ra-
tion or the tactile movies.
He pictured a world of casual, indeed
mandatory, promiscuity. But he thought
it would develop along completely con-
ventional lines.
He ought to have known that the quest
for “agreeable sensations” would issue in
a pansexual carnival.
In this area, anyway, we seem to have
proceeded a good deal further than
the characters who inhabit Huxley’s
dystopia.
Happy Mother’s Day.
Roger Kimball is the editor and publisher
of The New Criterion and publisher of
Encounter Books. His most recent book is
“Who Rules? Sovereignty, Nationalism, and
the Fate of Freedom in the 21st Century.”
 WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 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
d. Using the Masses for Espionage
(cont.)
On Dec. 12, 2018, the U.S. Senate Judicia-
ry Committee held a hearing about the
CCP’s non-traditional espionage activi-
ties. Bill Priestap, assistant director of the
FBI counterintelligence division, outlined
the CCP’s approach: The Party plays by the
rules when it’s advantageous, while at other
times bending or breaking them to achieve
its goals. When possible, the Party also tries
to rewrite the rules and reshape the world
according to its own requirements. [168]
John Demers, assistant attorney general
of the National Security Division of the U.S.
Department of Justice, testified that the
CCP’s Made in China 2025 plan is essen-
tially a handbook of what to steal. He dis-
closed that from 2011 to 2018, more than 90
percent of the cases of economic espionage
allegedly involving or benefiting a country,
and more than two-thirds of trade-secret
theft cases, were related to the PRC. [169]
Lawlessness is the
CCP’s modus operandi.
Any foreigner in China
may become a hostage
at any time and be used
as a bargaining chip for
political, economic, and
diplomatic purposes.
The CCP’s espionage is far from limited to
intellectual property. The CCP controls all
major private companies in China and uses
them for international intelligence gather-
ing. U.S. Senator Ted Cruz called Huawei a
“Communist Party spy agency thinly veiled
as a telecom company,” in a Twitter post in
2018. “Its surveillance networks span the
SPECIAL SERIES
globe and its clients are rogue regimes such
as Iran, Syria, North Korea, and Cuba. The
arrest of Huawei’s CFO Wanzhou Meng
in Canada is both an opportunity and a
challenge,” Cruz wrote. [170]
An investigation published in January
2018 by the French newspaper Le Monde
revealed that confidential information
from the African Union headquarters in
Ethiopia had been sent to Shanghai every
night for five years, starting in January 2012.
The CCP was accused of being behind the
hack. A report released by the Australian
Strategic Policy Institute six months later
revealed that Huawei was the key provider
of the information and communications
technology infrastructure at the headquar-
ters building. [171]
André Ken Jakobsson, a postdoctoral fel-
low at the Center for Military Studies in
Copenhagen, said: “What is worrying is
that the CCP can get very critical and sensi-
tive information. They can enter a system
that controls our entire society. Everything
will be connected to the 5G network in the
future. We are worried that the country
that provides such equipment—China—
controls the switch.” [172]
For at least two decades, the CCP has used
hackers on a large scale to obtain critical
information from other countries. As early
as 1999, CCP hackers disguised as a Falun
Gong overseas website attacked the U.S.
Department of Transportation. The depart-
ment contacted the website to investigate
the attack and traced it back to a hacker
from a Party-run intelligence agency. [173]
In June 2015, CCP hackers attacked the U.S.
Office of Personnel Management, steal-
ing the data and security information of
more than 21.5 million Americans. Those
affected included 19.7 million government
employees and 1.8 million of their family
members.
In November 2018, Marriott International
announced that private information in-
cluding the passport details of up to 500
million guests had been stolen by hackers,
dating back to 2014. U.S. Secretary of State
Michael Pompeo confirmed on Dec. 12 that
the hacking was carried out by the CCP.
Marriott is the largest hotel supplier to the
U.S. government and military.
e. The Many Forms
of Unrestricted Warfare
The CCP utilizes other methods of unre-
stricted warfare. A few major areas are
listed below.
Diplomatic Warfare
The CCP’s typical diplomatic method is to
divide and conquer. When the world criti-
cizes the CCP for its human rights abuses,
regime officials invite each country to dis-
cuss human rights separately and in pri-
vate; consequently, such criticism can have
no restraining effect. Moreover, the CCP
has virtually disintegrated the interna-
tional norms that safeguard human rights.
The CCP used this method to escape
condemnation and sanctions right before
being admitted to the World Trade Orga-
nization. Once admitted, the CCP imme-
diately began using economic means to
tempt various countries, and again used
divide-and-conquer to achieve large-scale
breakthroughs in various areas.
The CCP also uses rogue tactics of hostage
diplomacy to arrest and threaten both Chi-
nese and non-Chinese until its demands
are met. Before the PRC was granted per-
manent normal trade relations status by
the United States in 2002, regime authori-
ties arrested dissidents before almost every
negotiation session, then used the release
of the dissidents as a bargaining chip dur-
ing the negotiations. The Communist Party
disregards the lives of its own people, but
it knows that Western societies care about
basic human rights. Therefore, it uses the
Chinese people as hostages to threaten the
enemy—the United States.
With the rapid development of the Chi-
nese economy, the CCP has become bolder,
DON MACKINNON/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
OPINION | A19
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YOUR
COPY
HERE
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even taking foreign hostages. Six weeks af-
FBI Director ter the aforementioned Su Bin was arrested
Christopher in Canada for hacking into a U.S. military
Wray speaks database, Canadian couple Kevin and Julia
alongside then- Garratt were arrested in China and accused
Acting U.S. of espionage. [174]
Attorney General After the arrest of Huawei’s vice president
Matthew Whi-
and chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, in
taker (2nd R),
then-Secretary Vancouver on Dec. 1, 2018, the Chinese Min-
of Homeland istry of Foreign Affairs incited a series of pro-
Security Kirstjen tests, with the Chinese Embassy in Canada
Nielsen (R), and mobilizing a large number of pro-communist
then-Commerce overseas Chinese for the action. In addition,
Secretary Wilbur the PRC arrested two Canadian citizens in
Ross (2nd L) as retaliation for Meng’s arrest. [175] This was
they announce a both to put direct pressure on Canada and
13-count indict- to drive a wedge between Canada and the
ment of financial
United States.
fraud charges
Lawlessness is the CCP’s modus operandi.
against Chinese
Any foreigner in China may become a hos-
telecommunica-
tage at any time and be used as a bargain-
tions manufac-
turer Huawei, at ing chip for political, economic, and diplo-
the Department matic purposes. Additionally, when the CCP
of Justice in threatens overseas Chinese, especially dis-
Washington on sidents, it often uses their relatives in China
Jan. 28, 2019. as hostages.
Notes
168. U.S. Congress, Senate, Statement of
Bill Priestap Before the Committee on the
Judiciary, “China’s Non-Traditional Espionage
Against the United States: The Threat and
Potential Policy Responses,” 115th Cong., 1st
sess., Dec. 12, 2018.
169. U.S. Congress, Senate, Statement of
John C. Demers Before the Committee on the
Judiciary, “China’s Non-Traditional Espionage
Against the United States: The Threat and
Potential Policy Responses,” 115th Cong., 1st
sess., Dec. 12, 2018.
170. Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz), “Huawei is
a Communist Party spy agency thinly vieled
[sic] as a telecom company. Its surveillance
networks span the globe & its clients are rogue
regimes such as Iran, Syria, North Korea &
Cuba. The arrest of Huawei’s CFO Wanzhou
Meng in Canada is both an opportunity & a
challenge,” Twitter, Dec. 6, 2018.
171. Danielle Cave, “The African Union
Headquarters Hack and Australia’s 5G
Network,” Australian Strategic Policy Institute,
July 13, 2018.
172. Theis Lange Olsen and Cathrine Lakmann,
“Huawei Now on the Danish Mark: ‘The
Chinese Can Access Systems That Govern Our
Society,’” Danish Broadcasting Corporation,
Dec. 7, 2018.
173. Tang Ming 唐銘, “Zhonggong haike
weizhuang Falun Gong wangzhan, Mei yu Zhong
zunshou guoji guize” 中共駭客偽裝法輪功
網站 美籲中遵守國際規則 [“CCP Hackers
Feigned Falun Gong Websites; America Calls
on China to Observe International Rules”], The
Epoch Times, March 16, 2013.
Huawei Chief
Financial Officer 174. Dan Levin, “Couple Held in China Are Free,
Meng Wanzhou but ‘Even Now We Live Under a Cloud,’” The
leaves the New York Times, Jan. 1, 2017.
Supreme Court of 175. “Peter Navarro on China’s National
British Columbia Security Risks to US,” Fox Business, Dec. 13,
with her security 2018.
detail in Vancou-
ver, Canada, on
Jan. 23, 2020. See next edition for the next installment.
A20 | OPINION
The Readers’ Turn
There Are Alarming Trends Toward Socialism Developing
Under the Biden Administration
1. Pushing God to the
background
Removing the phrase “un-
der God” from the Pledge
of Allegiance in the U.S.
House of Representatives.
Did you notice the church
attendance was prohibited
during the COVID-19 lock-
down, but demonstrations
were OK? How did Chris-
tians and Jews fare under
communism?
2. Defunding the police
This insane trend can only
lead to increased crime
and violence, which is
the intended outcome.
That is why California and
other states are releasing
prisoners into the general
population. Without fund-
ing and local support, the
police will become inef-
fective. Then the govern-
ment can justify a national
police force. Sound like
the KGB?
3. Open borders
There are two deceitful
goals here. First, to increase
the population totally de-
pendent upon the govern-
ment for their everyday
existence. Second, to grow
voters who are beholden to
the government that spon-
sored them. This is a huge
allocation of resources to
illegals that should be used
to help Americans.
The All-Out Assault on Small Businesses
Thousands of small businesses
are attempting to come back
after a very difficult year be-
cause of COVID. Restaurants,
and businesses in fitness,
service, and entertainment
were particularly hurt the most.
Online businesses like Amazon
did great with record sales. Big
box stores like Wal-Mart did
very well. But small businesses
faced arduous restrictions by
governors and mayors that
have essentially put them out of
business for over a year. Most of
these businesses have tried just
to keep their heads above water.
On Friday, the April jobs report
came out with an alarming re-
sult of only 266,000 jobs created.
The expectation was 1 million.
The results are a warning sign
for all small businesses.
There are multiple factors
crushing small businesses
today. Although there are 7
million job openings across the
Letter to The Reader’s Turn
I never cease to be amazed at
the intelligence and ability of
many Americans, and with the
advent of The Epoch Times and
the letters from readers pages, I
am more impressed than ever.
Being an immigrant of over
54 years and having worked in
industry here, I have experi-
enced many changes in all fac-
ets of my life. My children have
largely grown up here, and we
now have grandchildren and
great grandchildren. Of course,
we are all true Americans since
our naturalization many years
ago. There is no other coun-
try with which I am familiar
that compares with America.
Having watched, as a boy in
England, the convoys of lorries
carrying young Americans
through our village to go to
fight and die against Nazism, I
am today very concerned about
4. Co-opting the education
system to brainwash
our youth
Introducing the 1619
ideology, undermining
America’s roots in democ-
racy, into school curricula
at all levels. Then canceling
the 1776 Program trying
to fight back. Promoting
critical race theory propa-
ganda. Such brainwashing
was common in the Soviet
Union and under the Chi-
nese Communist Party.
5. Lying and cheating to
hide the real purpose of
government programs
For example, infrastruc-
ture, COVID-19 stimulus.
Most of the spending in
these programs is for social
programs and not the stat-
ed purpose. More Ameri-
cans are dependent upon
the federal government.
6. Federal control of
the election process,
usurping state authority
H.R. 1, known as “For the
People Act,” is anything
but. It is to increase gov-
ernment control and rep-
resents the largest federal
grab for power in history.
7. Corporate and media
support of Black Lives
Matter
BLM is a Marxist orga-
nization committed to
country, businesses are having
a hard time finding people to fill
those jobs. Small businesses are
having a particular hard time
finding employees. With their
small margins, they have a hard
time competing for employees
with companies like Wal-Mart.
As you drive around town,
you will see help wanted signs
everywhere.
First, the biggest factor is peo-
ple are making more on unem-
ployment than what they would
make by working. The federal
government is paying $300 in
enhanced benefits. These en-
hanced benefits are scheduled
to continue until September.
On Friday, President Biden was
asked, “Do you believe en-
hanced unemployment benefits
had any effect on diminishing
return to work in some catego-
ries?” The president’s reply was
“no, nothing measurable.”
What American in their right
where we are headed.
Some of the recent Epoch
letters I have read have ce-
mented my thoughts regarding
the serious, rapid changes that
have come upon this country,
and my lifelong fear of both
imperialism and Godless com-
munism leads me to believe
that we all should speak out
against the efforts of those that
seem to prefer such negativities
to freedom.
Yet I wonder, where are all the
young, powerful minds that
should and must be concerned
about their own futures, and
the future of their children?
The imploring letters in the
Times are obviously writ-
ten by somewhat older, more
experienced citizens who have
lived through what I term “the
halcyon days of America.” Are
such days forever behind us?
If you would like to submit a letter to the editor, please contact us:
Email: lettertoeditor@epochtimes.com
Mail: The Epoch Times 229 W. 28th St., Fl. 7, New York, NY 10001
the overthrow of the U.S.
government. The opera-
tive strategy is to divide
America by race and other
identities and “cancel”
those that do not fit the so-
cialist script. Anyone who
does not agree to their
terms is “racist.”
8. Taxing corporations and
businesses until they fail
Then having the govern-
ment take over key indus-
tries. More central power
and control.
9. Taxing workers to
redistribute wealth to
those who do not work
Promoting the idea of
“equal outcomes for all”
instead of “equal oppor-
tunity” as the underlying
incentive for Americans.
10. Federal control of guns,
disabling the
2nd Amendment
Have you heard of the Ge-
stapo? History has shown
these trends toward more
central power and control
are characteristic of so-
cialism and then commu-
nism. We have a narrow
window of time to change
this within the next two
to five years. Do not stand
by and watch America’s
demise.
GERRY GIESLER
mind would not recognize that
giving people more money to
stay at home was the biggest
reason for people not returning
to work?
The next factor is inflation.
With the federal government’s
out-of-control money printing,
prices of goods and services will
soar. Small businesses will have
to weigh how much to increase
the price of goods and ser-
vices and still retain customers.
This will lower the number of
employees a business has while
still expecting the same work
performance. The last two are
Democrats wanting to raise the
minimum wage to $15 an hour
and also raise the taxes on their
business.
Will your favorite restaurant
still be in business in a year
or two?
MICHAEL HART
INDIANA
And what are the expectations
of today’s socialists et al.? Are
they happy in the thought of
their children’s children living
under the yoke of communism
or at worst a totalitarian dicta-
torship? Do people not realize
what path this country is now
on? Ah, too many awkward
questions from an old man.
But my worries are not for
me—they are for MY family, as
well as the families-to-come of
all Americans.
Thank you, not only to The
Epoch Times, but to all the
great citizens who write such
cogent, understandable letters
for us all to read and consider.
You give us hope for the future
of this most wonderful country!
God Bless America!
GEORGE VARDY
FLORIDA
WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021
Federal Government
Spending Craze
The Biden administration
along with Congress are on
a spending craze that will
continue annual deficits of
over $1 trillion.
The $1.9 trillion COVID-19
stimulus bill enacted in
March and the previous
COVID-19 stimulus bill
in 2020 were necessary to
combat the adverse impact
of the pandemic.
The $2.2 trillion in-
frastructure program
proposed by the admin-
istration is highly bloated
with non-infrastructure
elements. It should be re-
stricted to repairing roads,
replacing bridges, and
expanding broadband. This
could reduce the infrastruc-
ture package to well below
$1 trillion.
Biden’s “American Fami-
lies Plan “ of $1.8 trillion
This Audit Farce Must Stop If We
Want Our Vote to Count in Arizona
It is really getting old, being
forced to constantly justify
having doubts about the
election. The people who say
an audit will jeopardize our
vote and is fraudulent are
the same ones that forced
us to put up with a four-year
investigation of the 2016
election. Are we wrong to
have our doubts?
Obama received
69,000,000 votes, Trump re-
ceived 74,000,000 votes, and
Biden received 81,000,000
votes. Obama won 873
counties, Trump won 2,497
counties, and Biden won 477
counties. Both Obama and
Trump won 18 of 19 bell-
wether counties. Biden won
1 of 19 bellwether counties.
Both Obama and Trump
won Florida, Ohio, and Iowa.
Biden lost Florida, Ohio, and
Iowa.
Why States Have Begun to Wisely
Ban Critical Race Theory
While the Biden adminis-
tration is pushing critical
race theory (CRT) on federal
employees, the military,
and in our schools, states
are passing legislation to
ban it from being taught in
their public schools.
CRT rejects both color-
blindness and meritoc-
racy as illusions that allow
Whites to perpetuate their
cultural dominance. Those
who believe in colorblind-
ness and meritocracy are
branded as racist. Instead
of advancement through
individual merit, CRT
recommends an exclusive
focus on race in hiring and
educational opportunities.
It is affirmative action on
steroids.
CRT promotes the use of
race to create an Orwellian
hierarchy of equality in
which some racial groups
would be ranked as supe-
rior to others. To the propo-
nents of CRT, that means
Whites and Asians will
be the ones singled out to
be discriminated against.
When Hitler came to power,
one of the first things he
includes funds for child
care, family and medical
leave, universal pre-k, and
free community college. It
should be postponed and
looked at some time in the
future.
As an aside, the cur-
rent extra $300 per week
in federal unemployment
compensation should be
discontinued by the states.
It is keeping people from
entering the workforce and
significantly hurting com-
panies and businesses who
need employees.
The current administra-
tion’s spending spree has to
be curtailed, and they need
to effectively and efficiently
prioritize and target their
spending.
DONALD MOSKOWITZ
NEW HAMPSHIRE
We saw affidavits in the
hundreds and other evi-
dence of bad behavior in the
election. We saw several
states with Trump leads
mysteriously shut down
at the same time around
midnight and then open a
few hours later with Biden
miraculously ahead. We saw
judges ignore the results and
constitutional laws violated.
We saw rallies, boat pa-
rades, and one auto rally 95
miles long for Trump, and it
means nothing?
So tell us again how Biden
actually won 81,000,000
votes and lost so many algo-
rithms.
And tell us why we are so
evil and anti-American for
asking that?
CHARLES LOPRESTO
ARIZONA
did to Jews was to bar them
from most professions and
the universities. Many col-
leges in the USA currently
do this to a lesser degree
to Asian college applicants
by making their admis-
sions much harder. History
does repeat itself, and those
who are ignorant of it are
doomed to repeat it.
The worst part of CRT is
that Whites cannot re-
deem themselves as they
are born racist. It is appar-
ently part of their DNA. The
only way Whites can curry
some favor is to admit they
are racists. Following that
logic, the FINAL SOLU-
TION would be to eliminate
Whites from society by not
allowing them to breed or
putting them in special
camps where they cannot
contaminate the rest of
society.
The bottom line is CRT is
an evil racist philosophy
that is designed to destroy
the USA as we know it.
COMMANDER WAYNE L. JOHNSON,
JAGC, NAVY (RETIRED)
VIRGINIA
 WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021 | A21

COMICS

DILBERT GARFIELD

PEANUTS GINGER MEGGS

RED AND ROVER

BIG NATE

GRAND AVENUE DRABBLE

FRANK AND ERNEST

MUTT & JEFF
A22 | PUZZLES WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021

CROSSWORD CONSTRUCTED BY TOM HOUSTON

EPOCH TIMES STAFF
9. Some Hondas CHESS CHALLENGE DAILY BRIDGE CLUB
10. A type of loose con- Cy’s successful diet
BY MICHAEL GIBBS
nective tissue BY FRANK STEWART, TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY
Reshevsky -vs- Najdorf (1952), 
11. Brusque White to move, even Najdorf is not ©2021 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
12. Encourages immune to a trap!
“I heard you’re on another diet,” I said to Cy
13. Has all the power the Cynic. He constantly battles his weight.
14. Most overcome “The 14-day diet,” Cy nodded.
“So how’s it going?”
15. Hoary “Successfully,” the Cynic said. “I finished
20. “Alice” waitress it in five days.”
Cy plays the dummy the same way:
26. Compliant one always trying to finish in a hurry. Against
27. Celebrity his four spades, West led the ten of clubs,
and Cy put up the king. East won and
28. Indian royalty returned a club, and West won and shifted
29. Jet-setters’ jets, to a low heart: queen, king. When East
returned the ten, Cy took the ace but had
once to lose another trick.
30. “___ Freischütz” WORK SPACE FIRST CLUB
(Weber opera) Cy played thoughtlessly, as usual: He
31. The Buckeyes, briefly must play low from dummy on the first
club. If West leads another club to the
32. Indian Almond tree ace, and East returns a diamond, Cy wins,
37. Kennel sound leads a trump to dummy and throws a
heart on the queen of diamonds. He has
38. “Slow down!” 10 tricks.
If West shifts to a heart at Trick Two,
40. “We ___ to parley”: Cy takes the ace. He cashes his ace of
Churchill 4NUMBERS CONSTRUCTED BY C. CHANG
AT 4NUMS.COM
diamonds and reaches dummy with
trumps to ruff the Q-J of diamonds. Cy
43. Trig function then leads a club, and when East takes the
Use the four numbers in the corners, and
45. Court records the operands (+, - X, and ÷) to build an ace, he is end-played.
47. Didn’t go straight equation to get the solution in the middle.
There may be more than one “unique” so- DAILY QUESTION
49. “Agnes of God” extra lution but, there may also be “equivalent” You hold: kQ 10 9 8 5 j A Q 5 i Q
solutions. For example: 6 + (7 X 3) +1 = 28 J 6 h K 5. You open one spade, your
50. Suffix with Ecuador and 1+ (7 X 3) + 6 = 28 partner bids two clubs, you bid 2NT and
51. “... encourage the he rebids three clubs. What do you say?
Across 35. Salinger heroine 74. “Rugrats” dad ANSWER: Partner has shown long
___”: J.F.K. clubs but minimum values for a two-
1. Dragonflies’ class 36. Whitman’s “barbar- 75. Celebrants’ wear
52. Dove level response. (Even in a game-forcing
8. One ___ (ball game) ic” sound 76. “___ be my pleasure!” two-over-one style, many pairs treat
39. Sought a seat 55. Celtic Neptune
12. Opposite of endo- 79. About, on a memo this sequence as not forcing.) To pass is
41. D.D.E.’s predecessor 80. Bedtime request 56. French possessive possible, but most players would try 3NT.
16. Not so likely 59. Most puckery If partner has 4, 4 3 2, K 8 5, A Q J 8 3 2,
42. Keeler and Dee 83. Layer that contract will usually succeed.
17. Poop 61. Plant of the night- South dealer
44. Saturn satellite 84. Where Bhutan is
18. “The Motorcycle 46. Turns back, perhaps shade family N-S vulnerable
85. Like leftovers
Diaries” actor ___ Garcia 48. Additional military 64. Miscellany NORTH
86. Alibi ___ (excuse kQ 10 9 8 5
Bernal aid or augmentation makers) 66. Loss of willpower jA Q 5
19. Disease caused by 51. Quick glance 87. Number on a baseball 68. Disarranged Hard 1 - 2 Solutions
iQ J 6
hK 5
strep 53. “The Thin Man” card 70. “Cómo ___?”
canine WEST EAST
21. Elated 88. Help settle 71. “Winnie the Pooh” kNone k7
22. Neighbor of Mo. 54. ___ Ste. Marie author’s initials
jJ 9 7 3 jK 10 8
Down iK 10 4 3 2 i9 8 7 5
23. Blue dye 57. Bill of Rights subj. hQ 10 9 2 hA J 7 6 4
1. Ural River city 72. Intestinal division
24. Cyclades island 58. Little scurrier
2. Numerical prefix 76. Wee bit SOUTH
60. Trig. function kA K J 6 4 3 2
25. Camera type, briefly 3. Muscat’s land 77. Waste allowance j6 4 2
62. Deep ___ bend
26. Excessive bone 63. Claw 4. Easter’s beginning 78. Physics unit iA
h8 3
density 65. Battery size 5. None too soon 79. “Lord, is ___?”: Mat-
30. Reservations South West North East
67. Foreign dignitaries 6. Wee thew 1k Pass 2 NT Pass
33. ___ Today 69. Absentminded 7. Bandleader Shaw 81. “Ad hoc” lang. 4k All Pass
34. Starts a pot 73. Biblical verb suffix 8. Native: Suffix 82. “Qi” lead-in Easy 1 - 1 Solution Opening lead —h10

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.

ABULIA HENBANE RESETS

ANTES ILEUM RUBY’S
APERCU MEDIATE SAULT
AREOLAR MESSED SCARLET FEVER
ARTIE OBEYER SCATTERBRAINED
AT LAST ODONATA SECANT
CALLS THE TUNE OSTEOSCLEROSIS SNAKED
CIVICS OTHERS TALON
DOUBTS PEACENIK TARTEST WORK SPACE
EGGS ON RANEES TEARIEST
EMEERS REENFORCEMENT TEENTSY
ESTAS REMOTER TERSE

SOLUTIONS
CROSSWORD SUPER KAKURO 4NUMBERS

HARD 1

EASY 1

CHESS CHALLENGE
8.  Nd3   1-0
7.  Nb1  Bd7
6.  Nb4  Na4
5.  Rxb2  axb2
4. Rb1  Ndc5
3. Nc3  a3
2. Rxb2  Qxb2
1. Ne2  Bxb2
 WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021 PUZZLES | A23

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
16
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
MLEUP
EPOCH ESCAPE MAZE
FAXIF

VILRED

GLUTLE
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
“FULL-FILLED” WORK SPACE
buffet and were leaving —
at the all-you-can-eat
They each ate a large meal
Answers:

GULLET
DRIVEL
AFFIX
SUDOKU: HARD EPOCH DOKU
PLUME
Jumbles:

CRYPTIC QUOTE
the strong.
the weak by pulling down
Don’t expect to build up

Contact the Puzzle Master @: Feedback@EpochTimes.com

A24 | WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021

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TRUTH AND TRADITION

 TOMSICKOVA TATYANA/SHUTTERSTOCK
PARENTING WHAT GOOD IS POETRY?

10 Things to Consider Before ‘Nothing Gold Can Stay’

Summer Gets Underway by Robert Frost
Summertime offers a unique blend of joys and There is nothing like a paradox to entice the mind to
challenges for parents. The typical shakeup in daily discover a suggested secret.
rhythm and routines can leave parents scrambling.
See B10 See B9

TRADITION|VALUES|FAMILY WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021 B1

LIFE & TRADITION

VITOLDA KLEIN/UNSPLASH

Children are born with

a desire to play and to
engage their imagination
toward activity and
creativity. It is play for
play’s sake. 

Taking Play Seriously

A reflection on the nature and purpose of play
SEAN FITZPATRICK Play School be any such thing as dull education. In fact,

T
If anything is taught in the work of educa- the Greek etymology of the word “school”
here is an old story retold a hun- Old things tion, it should be play. True education draws means something like play or leisure. But
dred times from Anatole France are made the imagination toward activity and creativ- we have got a hold of the idea that school is
to Tomie dePaola about an old ity—toward engagement and enjoyment, to- a participation in work, not play.
juggler who performs his very last new again by ward play, by keeping things fresh, by mak- As a definition for “play,” the distinction
act before a statue of the Virgin ing things new, as things are seen Tom Sawyer offers should serve with strong
Mary and Christ Child in a dark church. the power of for the first time on authority: “Work consists of whatever a body
This playful spectacle of flying colored balls play, a power the one hand and is obliged to do ... play consists of whatever
was a gift of delight offered to heaven, and seen again for the a body is not obliged to do.” So be it. Play
one blessed by a delightful miracle for, as wielded by first time on the is not a participation in what is ordinarily
the story goes, when the clown falls to the other. considered to be work. Although one could
floor in death, the Child catches the last fall-
young ones Parents and say that a lot of play is very hard work, re-
ing ball. and those old teachers who quiring effort, it isn’t a burden or indolent.
The dying clown could offer nothing but play with their Play really is something one does for its
his playful frivolity. After all, the human race enough to children and own sake, as is any act closely connected
is a frivolous race; but play has a purity about be children students will to goodness, truth, and beauty. People just
it that is profound. Old things are made new teach and train. do it because play is a marvelous thing to do,
again by the power of play, a power wielded again. They will teach and all children—even young animals—are
by young ones and those old enough to be through delight simply born with that desire to play.
children again. There are fewer lessons to and toward de- But if play has anything obligatory about
be taken more seriously than the lesson of light. They will it, it is to be the playmate of wonder, for
play—of making things new, of playing well re-create as they hand-in-hand they go, encountering and
in all stages of life and learning, so that the recreate. There is no engaging the beauty of things with delight.
delights of the visible and invisible may play such thing as dull play,
a part in every soul’s journey. and neither should there Continued on B2

ALEXKATKOV/SHUTTERSTOCK

FREDERIC LEWIS/GETTY IMAGES

JEFF MINICK procedures in several decades. The ex-

Renaissance pansion of clinics and hospitals with
Presumed
self-portrait
of artist
Men, Some believe that our age of specializa-
tion has brought an end to the Renais-
specialized staff took over those duties.
So have people with wide-ranging Leonardo da
Vinci, from an
Renaissance sance man. In medicine, law, and other
professions, practitioners now aim to
knowledge and skills become extinct?
Can our modern age still produce Re- original red
chalk drawing,
Women, develop their talents in a specific field of
concentration, a shift that has occurred
naissance men and women?
Let’s take a look and find out.
circa 1500.

and Happy in my own lifetime.

My uncle, for example, was a family
Amateurs physician who practiced medicine in
rural Pennsylvania and then in North
Carolina for many years. In the first 15
years of his career, Uncle Russ delivered
hundreds of babies and performed many
minor surgeries. By the time he retired,
he hadn’t done either of these medical
Models of Renaissance Men, Women
When we hear the term Renaissance
man, our first thoughts might turn to
Italy in the 15th and 16th centuries, to
men such as Michelangelo or Leonardo
da Vinci.
Continued on B3
B2
Taking Play Seriously
A reflection on the nature and purpose of play
Continued from B1
Play exercises the imagination to recreate
the goodness of things in a smaller way in
order to participate one day in the good-
ness of things in a larger way.
Play is both the beginning and the end
of wisdom, as it delights in truth before it
is fully known and then again, once it is
known. The delight that introduces chil-
dren to the world, and to the work of the
world, regains its sway once that world and
its work has been undertaken and under-
stood as good, true, and beautiful. Play
prepares children for serious engagement,
but that labor in turn prepares people to
play again as old men.
Thus, wise men play for the same reasons
that children play: to bask in the delight
of truth, goodness, and beauty and, in so
doing, to catch a glimpse or some fleet-
ing flash of the eternal in the transient.
This is the great game of hide-and-seek
between man and truth, and this interplay
centers on the centripetal or (pardon the
wordplay) theotripetal force in human ex-
istence. Those who play, whether infants
or ancients, are happy by definition, and
it is to the happy whom all should look to
as a guide in the everyday effort of every
day. Happiness is akin to a type of holiness
and keeping many balls at play in the air
is a symbol for a life of beatitude.
The Problem of Play
Sadly, children are losing the ability to
play nowadays—which is part of the cur-
rent crisis in education. Given free time,
young ones often do not know what to do
with themselves, being so accustomed to
incessant, plugged-in entertainment and
distraction. Emotions, personalities, and
thoughts cannot emerge or develop out
of passivity.
Given experiences of the good, true, and
beautiful, juvenile cynics are not drawn to
delight, to play. They have been reared and
trained in the illusion that there is little
to nothing desirable outside oneself—a
ALL PHOTOS BY SHUTTERSTOCK UNLESS NOTED OTHERWISE
Play introduces children to the delight of the world. Nowadays, given free time,
many children don’t know what to do with themselves.
Mom of Boy
With Autism
Helps Raise
$35,000 for
Beloved School
Custodian
COURTESY OF ADRIAN WOOD
Raymond Brown with Amos.
Sadly,
children
are losing
the ability
to play
nowadays—
which is part
of the current
crisis in
education.
PUBLIC DOMAIN
“Work consists of
whatever a body is
obliged to do … play
consists of whatever
a body is not obliged to
do,” according to
Mark Twain’s character
Tom Sawyer.
LOUISE BEVAN
When a beloved school custodian missed
out on a $10,000 community prize, one
mom decided to one-up the accolade.
Touched by the custodian’s kindness
toward her son—who has autism—the
entire community helped raise an incred-
ible $35,000.
The check was presented to Raymond
Brown, custodian at White Oak Elemen-
tary in Edenton, North Carolina, on March
20, to his immense surprise.
Adrian Wood has sent all four of her chil-
dren to White Oak. Brown has especially
helped her 7-year-old son, Amos, fit in with
his peers, despite the obstacles he experi-
ences as a child with autism.
Amos was 3 when he started school.
Brown told WITN: “My heart went out for
him; he was in Pampers when I first met
him, and I kept showing my love towards
him. He got that, been attached to me, and
I got attached to him.”
Brown came up with the nickname “Fa-
mous Amos” to bolster the little boy’s con-
fidence, and it worked.
Fellow students noticed the bond be-
tween Amos and the popular custodian,
and Amos, who finds it hard to make
friends on his own, was soon surrounded
by love and support.
When Brown’s name was submitted to
the North Carolina School Heroes contest
principle
antithetical
to play, which is
never self-centered,
but always involving
another, whether real or
imagined, whether sen-
tient or insentient, whether
visible or invisible.
Besides these psychologi-
cal and cynical obstacles
to play, there is a utilitar-
ian pressure in our society
that makes unadulterated
play more and more unwel-
come. We are all used to toys
that are practical, that teach
numbers or colors or geography
or some such thing, but are they
educational in the right way? As
John Keats famously remarked,
we hate poetry that has a palpa-
ble design upon us, and the same
can be said of toys. Toys that have
teaching as an obvious pragmatic
end are not fun and play and educa-
tion ought to go hand in hand.
Children must learn to play again,
and this should be part of the pur-
pose of education and childhood in
general in the modern age of amus-
ing ourselves to death, to borrow Neil
Postman’s title.
We as a society need to restore the
natural progression of moving from
fresh delights toward familiar delights in
the procession of Shakespeare’s world
stage: from the infant all the way to
second childishness and mere obliv-
ion, “sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste,
sans everything.” Education begins
with teeth, with eyes, with taste, with
everything—with the play that is a pro-
pensity for proficiency, leading on to labor,
and through that labor, on again to play,
to delight in the mystery rather than the
mastery of things learned.
The backyard, the classroom, the church,
the sports field, the dining-room table, the
office: all should be playgrounds of delight
in the same great game of redemption. The
whole world is but a ball, a cherished toy,
a dear plaything.
The Secret of Serious Play
The Book of Wisdom in the Bible says
charmingly that Wisdom was with God
from the beginning, playing in his pres-
ence and in his creation—a lovely thought
and image. And one that fits well with Pla-
to’s maxim that wonder is the beginning
of wisdom. Man is called, beckoned, to
play before the cosmos just as the juggling
clown did.
but didn’t win, Amos’s mother was heart-
broken.
She took to Facebook to share Brown’s
story.
Brown was born and raised in Edenton.
A father of five, one of whom sadly died
in a motorcycle crash, he had once been
a high school wrestler and football player
with ambitions to become a state trooper,
Wood wrote.
Now, instead, he has been changing lives
within the walls of White Oak Elementary
for 15 years.
Touched by Wood’s post, followers be-
gan asking if they could donate to the
kind-hearted custodian. Wood dubbed the
growing fund the “Famous Amos” award,
and within just a week, had amassed
$35,000 from around the world.
Thinking he was going to attend a wa-
terside photoshoot for his 38th wedding
anniversary, Brown was summoned to the
picturesque location by Wood and school
staffers. The mayor of Edenton, the chief
of police, and Miss North Carolina were
in attendance, as well as Brown’s family
from out of town.
Wood live-streamed the presentation of
Brown’s “Famous Amos” award and prize
money on social media.
“I was caught off-guard. To see all those
people shouting and hollering, ‘Mr. Brown,
congratulations,’ it was beautiful,” Brown,
who wore a tuxedo for the event, told Today.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021
Too often in our
society today, play
has a utilitarian
function.
Play
and the
spirit of play
must not be dis-
missed as foolish-
ness, but as wisdom,
the highest goal of
education. Virtue is
characterized not by
force, but by facility.
Education should
aim for this virtu-
osity, this virtuo-
sic play, ready and
rearing to rejoice
in the good, true,
and beautiful things,
uniting work and play
in a single vision of
wisdom.
Of course, play is
something that tends
to fade to some extent
after a child reaches a
certain age, perhaps
marking the mysteri-
ous boundary of child-
hood, when play becomes
less important in one’s
life and utilitarian work
comes to dominate, but
play certainly never dis-
appears. It can reappear
in a flash, and adults are
often caught marveling at
the lesson of play given by
the tiny teachers at their
feet.
They watch and
learn even as chil-
dren play dead, imi-
tating the little juggler
who died even as he played, and see that
children play dead better than we die. We’re
not very good at dying—and we’re no better
at sleeping or singing or playing. But little
children can sleep, sing, and play in a pure
and beautiful way. Their silly little actions
have about them that quality of perfection
which is what even death itself would be in
a perfect world, for, as any game well played
bears the delight of perfection in comple-
tion, so too would a life well-lived bear a
similar delight in its conclusion. This is the
secret of profound play, of serious play.
Sean Fitzpatrick serves on the faculty
of Gregory the Great Academy, a boarding
school in Elmhurst, Pa., where he teaches
humanities. His writings on education,
literature, and culture have appeared in a
number of journals including Crisis Maga-
zine, Catholic Exchange, and the Imagina-
tive Conservative.
Principal Michelle Newsome said
Brown was truly deserving of the
accolade.
“He’s our rock-steady fella here at White
Oak. We are so lucky to have him here,”
she said. “There isn’t a child in this build-
ing that doesn’t know who Mr. Brown is
and that Mr. Brown cares for them and
loves them.”
Brown’s daughter, Dytisha Brown,
agreed, telling WITN that her father loves
his job and even arrives before the prin-
cipal. “He makes sure the school is nice
and safe for the kids.”
For Wood, Brown’s contribution to her
son Amos’s quality of life is priceless.
“I just hope that people will look around
and see ... It’s not hard to be kind, and it’s
not hard to recognize kindness,” she said.
As for his plans about how the money
is going to be used, Brown said his wife
has her heart set on some home improve-
ments and a much-longed-for vacation
to see family. Brown himself has modest
ambitions for his prize money: a second-
hand work truck.
He also wants to treat school staffers to
food and all the kids to ice cream.
Share your stories with us at emg.in-
spired@epochtimes.com, and continue
to get your daily dose of inspiration by
signing up for the Epoch Inspired News-
letter at TheEpochTimes.com/newsletter.
 WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021 B3
PHILIPP LUBLASSER ON UNSPLASH

Though we Yet most of us are not so one-dimensional

may not be as we may suppose. A neighbor of mine, for
Leonardo da instance, a wife and mother of two daugh-
Vinci, many ters under the age of 5, is an excellent cook,
of us possess a gardener who has learned much about
skills and
hobbies that
plants this spring from an older woman,
bring joy to us and the coach of a female college cross-
and others. country team. A young man I know in
Asheville, North Carolina, is a successful
attorney, an excellent businessman, and a
loving husband and father who also teach-
es Sunday school classes for teenagers and
helps his wife homeschool their children.
My point here is this: We may not be
Leonardo da Vinci, but if we honestly as-
sess ourselves and those around us, we
find friends, family, and neighbors who are
possessed of certain skills they themselves
may not recognize as anything special. To
describe them as Renaissance men and
women may be a stretch, but they are am-
bitious amateurs who take pleasure and
pride in their projects and hobbies.

Go for It
G.K. Chesterton offers some advice that
I have loved since I first read it years ago:

Renaissance Men, Renaissance “Anything worth doing is worth doing

badly.”
That retired dentist who once repaired

Women, and Happy Amateurs your teeth follows Chesterton’s advice

Continued from B1
Many of us who are vaguely familiar with
da Vinci, for example, think of him as a
painter, but he was also a scientist, an
inventor, and an engineer.
In the story of our own country
are figures who qualify as Renais-
sance men and women. In addition
to giving us the Virginia Declaration
of Rights and other writings pivotal
in our history, Thomas Jefferson was a
Austrian- president, an amateur architect, a musi-
born actor cian, an inventor, and an agronomist. His
Hedy Lamarr contemporary, Benjamin Franklin, was an
(1913–2000) inventor, a scientist, a diplomat, a writer,
in 1943.
HULTON ARCHIVE
and the creator of American volunteer fire
GETTY IMAGES departments and public libraries.
Throughout history, various women
have also won fame for their broad-
ranging interests and a multitude
of talents. Hildegard of Bingen
(1098–1179) was not only an ab-
bess, but a composer, playwright,
poet, and botanist. The Austrian-
born and later American actress Hedy
Portrait of
Lamarr (1914–2000) was famous for her
Thomas big-screen performances, but worked as
Jefferson well on aircraft design and radio guidance
by Charles systems for torpedoes for Allied forces in
Willson Peale, World War II. In 2014, years after her death,
1791. Lamarr was inducted into the National
PUBLIC DOMAIN Inventors Hall of Fame.
Unsung Talents
Not all of these multi-talented people be-
long to the past.
A college professor of mine, Henry Hood,
was a brilliant historian. In the several
classes I took with him, I never once saw
him use notes. In addition, he was an
amateur painter, a gardener, an aficio-
nado of fine wines, and played the piano,
bagpipes, and the harpsichord. Once, Dr.
Hood told me, “When I come home after a
day’s work, I practice on the harpsichord,
read old books, and step back into the 18th
century.”
In interviewing a woman recently for The
Epoch Times, I discovered in passing that
she wasn’t only a former banker and now
a therapist, but also spoke fluent German,
was a sure shot with a rifle, and loved op-
era, enjoyed kayaking, and had traveled
and lived all around the United States.
The Rest of Us
When we look at such people, particularly
the historical figures, we may feel intimidat-
ed by their accomplishments and their ex-
pertise in so many different areas. “I could
never be a da Vinci or a Thomas Jefferson,”
we tell ourselves, and in most cases, we’re
probably right. There are people on this
earth with such a magnitude of intelligence
and drive that they cast their shadows over
the accomplishments of the rest of us.
when he takes up carving wooden knights
and ladies for his grandchildren, statues
PUBLIC DOMAIN unworthy of a museum or art gallery, but
which bring joy to him and the kids. The
quiet young teller who handles your bank-
ing transactions goes home at night, picks
up her guitar, and belts out folk and blues
songs. She’ll never make a recording, but
her music brings fullness and delight to
her evenings.
Suppose you yourself have dreamed of
some great undertaking, such as getting
a pilot’s license, or something less costly,
like learning to crochet or taking French
classes at the local community college?
Well, what are you waiting for?
When we undertake such projects, from
Sketches of an love or long desire, we can add such at-
automobile by Leonardo tainments to our repertoire of skills while
da Vinci, circa 1480.
at the same time finding deep fulfillment
in their acquisition.
And by that pursuit, we can all become
Renaissance men and women, on however
Most of us are small a scale.
not so one-
Jeff Minick has four children and a grow-
dimensional ing platoon of grandchildren. For 20
years, he taught history, literature, and
as we may Latin to seminars of homeschooling stu-
suppose. dents in Asheville, N.C. He is the author
of two novels, “Amanda Bell” and “Dust
On Their Wings,” and two works of non-
fiction, “Learning As I Go” and “Movies
Make The Man.” Today, he lives and
writes in Front Royal, Va. See JeffMinick.
com to follow his blog.

TIMELESS WISDOM

The Ancient Chinese Art of Self-Improvement

JOSHUA CHARLES
For many years, I’ve exhorted everyone
I know to develop a love of reading. I’m
particularly passionate about encouraging
parents (to get their children into reading)
and young people (while they retain their
youth, so they may become wise adults).
What I often say is that reading is not a
matter of mere pleasure—in fact, this is
the lowest form of reading. Reading, in its
form, is about learning so that one
highest for
may
ma grow in virtue. I often recom-
mend the subject of history, be-
me
cause in history we are presented
cau
with countless examples of human
wit
conduct by which we may be in-
con
structed in every imaginable sub-
str
ject that matters most for the well-
jec
lived life—things like character,
liv
statesmanship, and wisdom.
sta
I was joyfully reminded of this
truth when I read the first chapter
tru
of an ancient Chinese text called
the “Xunzi,” entitled “An Exhor-
tation to Learning.” It defines the
tat
“Xunzi: The “gentleman” as one who constantly grows
“gentleman
Complete iin virtue
i t according to “the Way” (an idea
Text,” very similar to Western notions of “natural
edited and law” that everyone can perceive through
translated reason), and its essence is contained in
by Eric L.
the opening line: “The gentleman says:
Hutton.
Learning must never stop.” The “gentle-
man” is one “[who] learns broadly and
examines himself thrice daily, and then
his knowledge is clear, and his conduct is
without fault.”
Self-examination—what a concept! One
long espoused by the greatest minds in the
West as well, and the opposite of the trite,
self-serving, endlessly indulgent banalities
to which we are constantly subjected by
pop culture.
But more than that—the “Xunzi” insists
that the virtue required to be a gentle-
The ‘Xunzi’ man can only be obtained by a thorough
insists that knowledge of the past: “If you never hear
the words passed down from the former
the virtue kings, you will not know the magnificence
of learning.” Such a statement assumes
required to be that experience is an essential ingredient
a gentleman in the wisdom by which virtue is obtained
(hence the respect for the aged in tradi-
can only be tional Chinese culture). In other words,
the idea of endless progress is absurd, and
obtained by the belief that the new is always better is
a thorough shortsighted.
The “Xunzi” also affirms that the gentle-
knowledge man learns for the sake of his own growth
of the past. in virtue—not in order to engage in vir-
tue-signaling: “Students in ancient times
learned for their own sake, but the students
of today learn for the sake of impressing
others. Thus the learning of the gentleman
is used to improve his own person.”
Likewise, the gentleman accepts that it
takes hard work to grow in virtue: “The gen-
tleman is exceptional not by birth, but rath-
er by being good at making use of things.”
This could not be more different than mod-
ern, noxious ideologies and “movements”
that insist one’s virtue consists in things
one need not work on or refine.
Joshua Charles is a The “Xunzi” also emphasizes the impor-
former White House tance of one’s relationships to growth in
speechwriter for Vice virtue: “In learning, nothing is more expe-
President Mike Pence, dient than to draw near to the right person.”
No. 1 New York Times As the old saying goes, “bad company cor-
bestselling author, rupts good morals,” and that truth was no
historian, columnist, less known to the Chinese more than two
writer/ghostwriter, millennia ago than it is to those who retain
and public speaker. their common sense today.
Follow him on Twitter This growth of virtue, the “Xunzi” de-
@JoshuaTCharles clares, ultimately leads to a personal dis-
or see position the author calls “fixity,” which
JoshuaTCharles.com he describes this way: “For this reason,
power and profit cannot sway him, the
masses cannot shift him, and nothing in
the world can shake him. He lives by this,
and he dies by this. This is called the state in
which virtue has been grasped.” This state
of “fixity” is the ability to perceive things
as they are, and respond accordingly, no
matter the costs. “When one can achieve
fixity,” it says, “only then can one respond
to things. To be capable both of fixity and
of responding to things—this is called the
perfected person.”
This deeply realist but aspirational stance
reminded me of something Jordan Peter-
son said: “Pick up your [expletive] suffering
and bear it! And try to be a good person, so
you don’t make it worse! ... Stand up solidly
so people can rely on you!”
That is what it is to be a virtuous person—
to be a truly human person.
When one reads texts such as the “Xunzi,”
one encounters many examples of what I
jokingly call “2,200-year-old headlines” (or
however old a particular text is)—mean-
ing, I am reading something whose ne-
cessity and substance for all of us in 2021
is as relevant (oftentimes more so) than
today’s headlines. One discovers that hu-
man nature has not changed much over
thousands of years, and the ingredients for
true happiness—found only in virtue—re-
main fundamentally the same at all times,
for all people; and the modern formula of
following your whimsical and shortsighted
desires (for which others must constantly
affirm you) is definitively not it.
Such wisdom has perhaps never been
more necessary as in times as decadent
and indulgent as ours. May we recover this
great tradition, the wisdom of the sages of
all cultures and times! May we stop limiting
ourselves to ourselves, and learn that the
individual is foolish, but the species is wise.
B4
A Year Later: The
Mental Impact of
Pandemic Anxiety
BARBARA DANZA
L
ast year I spoke to mental health
expert Gregory Jantz, author of “The
Anxiety Reset: A Life-Changing Ap-
proach to Overcoming Fear, Stress, Worry,
Panic Attacks, OCD and More” about the
impact of lockdowns imposed to combat
a pandemic. At the time, he shared his
concerns about how people were han-
dling weeks of shutdowns.
After more than a year of continuing
measures, Jantz revisits Americans’ men-
tal health. Here’s what he said.
The Epoch Times: When we spoke last
year, Americans were some weeks into
living under various states of lockdown.
At that time, you raised the alarm on “the
ticking time bomb” you saw in terms of
the mental health impact of such mea-
sures. Almost a year later, a variety of
restrictive measures still exist in many
parts of the country. In your observation,
how are people coping overall?
Dr. Gregory Jantz: The ticking time
bomb is just now starting to go off. One
out of every five Americans are saying
that they’re experiencing significant anx-
iety, that they’re on the edge of despair.
Some emergency rooms are using a new
phrase—“COVID psychosis”—because
of what they’re seeing: people break-
ing from reality because of unrelenting
anxiety. I think we’re seeing the tip of the
iceberg ... sadly, we’re just at the begin-
ning of the crisis.
We have more addiction than we have
had in the past, with alcohol sales still
at record numbers. At our clinic, we see
some IT and technology professionals
who are now working from home. Over
time, their alcohol consumption has in-
creased, even starting at 2 or 3 p.m. in
the afternoon, while they’re still working.
And so we have a lot of secret addiction
going on—people are drinking during
work hours because they’re working from
home. Just one example of how people are
not faring very well.
The Epoch Times: While there has been a
great deal of focus to attempt to curb the
spread of a contagious virus, do you feel
that the mental and emotional impacts
of the measures put in place have been
weighed appropriately?
Dr. Jantz: I believe if we had sincerely
considered ahead of time what this was
going to do to mental health, and how it
would affect behavioral health, there are
many things that should have been done
differently.
I just did some work with a Canadian or-
ganization—as you know, Canada is back
to some pretty severe lockdowns right
now. The leaders were asking me: “What
do we do for our people when there are so
many unknowns? They keep changing the
rules, we don’t know what’s next.”
And that’s happened here, hasn’t it? The
rules keep changing, we’re getting con-
flicting information, and that makes two
things happen: Unknowns create more
DEAR NEXT GENERATION
‘Self-Confidence Comes From Accomplishment’
« Advice from our readers
to our young people
At the age of 97, I still remember how all cates, and work experience) to open the
through high school I believed I wasn’t door to accomplishing your goal.
smart enough to go to college. Before I had
time to seriously consider it, World War II
came along, and there I was, in the Army.
The sudden change was my first major of insecurity, shyness, and low self-esteem
“culture shock,” which dra-
FRIENDS STOCK/ SHUTTERSTOCK
matically impacted my nor-
mal, youthful low self-esteem.
Suddenly, I was surrounded
by men from 18 to their 30s
who ranged from smarter
than I to what I perceived as
“ dumb.”
These comments are not to
belittle the incompetent or
“unqualified” as much as to How we dress telegraphs to think of you; signs of self-re-
help you rid yourself of any how we want people to
possible negatives you might think of us.
anxiety and it creates distrust. So then
the question becomes “Does anyone re-
ally know what they’re doing?” Because if
they did, why are they destroying mental
health?
The Epoch Times: Though children don’t
seem to be very prone to the virus itself,
their lives have been greatly impacted by
society’s reaction to it. How do you think
our children are doing?
Dr. Jantz: Our children are learning—
and being conditioned with—fear.
They’ve been asked to wear a mask, and
there were long stretches of time when
they were not allowed in classrooms. Kids
are experiencing massive academic fail-
ure, and we’ve interrupted normal de-
velopmental stages. They’re not getting
the hugs, the touch, the in-person peer
interaction that they need to be “normal.”
So the social anxiety with kids is huge
because all the rules are different. For
instance: The CDC is saying that it’s OK
for them to keep a three-foot distance
from each other, but they have to stay
six feet away from their teachers.
So they’re continuing to be con-
ditioned with fear; kids think
they’re being told their friends
aren’t safe, and certainly, their
teacher isn’t.
The Epoch Times: What, if any,
long-term effects should parents be
aware of possibly manifesting in their
children? As the situation lingers, do
you have any practical advice for parents
who wish to best support their children’s
healthy growth and development despite
the circumstances?
Dr. Jantz: How kids act out their anxi-
ety and fear can vary depending on their
age, but like adults, they could be turn-
ing to food to cope and can experience
sleep disruption. I’ve recently worked
with someone whose 5-year-old is now
allowed to go back to school after nearly a
year, and the parent said that the child is
literally screaming in fear because she’s
afraid to go back to the classroom.
Additionally, we’re just now starting to
see research about the effects of mask
wearing, both physically and emotion-
ally. Expect to learn a lot more about how
much damage has truly been done, to all
of us, as we tried to control the pandemic.
The Epoch Times: Both adults and chil-
dren alike have faced worry, anxiety, fear,
social isolation, and more for over a year.
What do you expect the impact of this to
be in the long run?
Dr. Jantz: This will have a long-term ef-
fect on certain people, like those who
suffer from PTSD; there have been a lot
of trigger points to re-traumatize. I think
we’re increasing the duration and inten-
sity of the mental health issues that peo-
ple already had, for instance, with those
who struggle with obsessive-compulsive
disorder.
The virus was the “perfect storm” in a
way—you’re already coping with OCD,
have concerning yourself. You must charge
ahead in your dream or ambition, which
means collecting the essential keys, the
“magical” tools (training, degrees, certifi-
Here are some points to consider:
1. Do some self-analysis. Evaluate yourself
honestly, objectively; unpolluted by feelings
which are natural in everyone
who breathes.
2. Self-confidence does not
come from outside praises.
Self-confidence comes from
accomplishment, doing
something well, successfully,
and efficiently.
3. How one dresses tele-
graphs how you want people
spect relate to clothing, groom-
ing, language, and so on.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021
LUCKY BUSINESS/ SHUTTERSTOCK
and then the virus comes along; there Gregory
isn’t enough bleach to get everything Jantz,
clean enough! I have a patient who is still, advises as a
one year later, pulling into her garage first step, to
after a grocery store trip and washing, “move from
wiping every item she purchased, and ‘self’ focus
to ‘other’
then changing her clothes before she
focus.”
steps back into the house. Just another
example of how pandemic fear intensi-
fied any existing mental health issue that
people already had.
The Epoch Times: How can people be-
Dr. Gregory gin to let go of the mental and emotional
Jantz. trauma this past year may have brought
upon them?
Dr. Jantz: Anxiety affects your prefron-
tal lobe, where your executive function
is, so it paralyzes decision-making and
The rules lowers your willingness to take risks. So
keep it’s going to take some courage, but you
have to push through what your current
changing, inclination is. In the treatment of anxiety,
we’re getting there is what we call “exposure therapy.”
For instance, if you’re feeling agoraphobic
conflicting because you don’t want to leave the house,
you have got to take those 20-minute daily
information, walks. You have to push yourself to get out
and that in the fresh air, and keep going a little fur-
ther each time. We have to keep exposing
makes ourselves to whatever is causing our fear.
two things The Epoch Times: How can we best move
happen: forward?
Dr. Jantz: A great first step: Move from
Unknowns “self” focus to “other” focus. Decide
create more you’re going to be less self-absorbed, and
begin to reach out to others. You know,
anxiety and there’s this great thing my wife started
that I’m also doing: We programmed a
it creates notice that pops up daily on all our de-
distrust. vices, reminding us to reach out to one
person a day.
Gregory Jantz As I discuss this, in fact, I’m looking at
a notice on my computer that simply says
“one person a day.” The idea is to reach
beyond yourself: There’s one person to-
day that you can say a kind word to, one
person a day that needs encouragement,
one person that was put in your path for a
reason. It can be that simple—start with
just one person.
Manhood is not “window dressing” such er. Likewise, the most important thing a
as flaunting tattoos, body piercings, smok- mother can do for her children is to love
ing, or belligerent behavior. A man is as- their father.
sertive, not aggressive. He allows no one —Sincerely,
to “step” on him but does not initiate or John M. R. Kuhn, MD
invade another’s “domain.” Being a man
is being a “good, kind, nice” person, one
who does what’s right. What advice would you like to give to
We all tend to perceive things, events, the younger generations?
and people through a prism of natural self-
centeredness, narcissism. So, it is up to us We call on all of our readers to share the
to discern our own human weakness and timeless values that define right and
wrong, and pass the torch, if you will,
constantly battle it in order to think “out-
through your wisdom and hard-earned
wardly,” beyond our inner self-absorbed experience. We feel that the passing down
world. The Indians say, “Don’t judge until of this wisdom has diminished over time,
you’ve walked in his shoes.” and that only with a strong moral founda-
Character, not intelligence, makes hu- tion can future generations thrive.
mans honorable!
—Prof. Charles Callaci (ret.) Send your advice, along with your full
name, state, and contact information
to NextGeneration@epochtimes.com or
Dear Next Generation, mail it to: Next Generation, The Epoch
The most important thing a father can Times, 229 W. 28th St., Floor 7, New York,
do for his children is to love their moth- NY 10001.
 WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021 B5

HISTORY

2 Historic Business Flops by Legendary

Entrepreneurs Reveal a Poignant Truth About Failure
Even the most successful people confront the specter of failure. The question is can we learn from it?
HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES

LAWRENCE W. REED Inventor

and
In this essay, I want to tell readers about industrialist
two of the last century’s big and fascinating Henry Ford
business failures. But first, some related (1863–
insights. 1947)
In her 2008 commencement address at The difference sitting at
his desk in
Harvard University, “Harry Potter” au- between a bad his office
thor J. K. Rowling famously asserted, “It is in Highland
impossible to live without failing at some- entrepreneur and Park, Mich.
thing, unless you live so cautiously that
you might as well not have lived at all—in
a good one is not
which case, you fail by default.” failure, but rather,
So many well-known businesspeople
failed before they succeeded or failed at allowing failure
something after they succeeded. Learning to sink you or to
from failure is a cardinal rule of entrepre-
neurship. The difference between a bad teach you.
entrepreneur and a good one is not failure,
but rather, allowing failure to sink you or
to teach you. The motivational speaker
Dennis Waitley said: “Failure should be
our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is
delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour,
not a dead end. Failure is something we
can avoid only by saying nothing, doing
nothing, and being nothing.”
Risk is unavoidable in an ever-changing
and uncertain world. You cannot avoid fail-
ure by trying to avoid risk. You will simply
fail in the effort and reduce your chances
for success.
The entrepreneur assembles factors of
production in the present and hopes that SPOONER & WELLS/HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES
his decisions will be validated by the future Ford set his sights on building his own rub-
market conditions he anticipates. But not ber operation there. He negotiated with the
even the smartest human being knows ev- Brazilian government, and in 1927, he fi-
erything about the tomorrow that has not nalized an agreement by which he secured
happened yet. Risk of failure is inherent 2.5 million acres along the Tapajos River, a
in any investment in an uncertain future. hundred miles south of where it flowed into
Like his father before him, candy maker the Amazon at the city of Santarem. In ex-
Milton Hershey flopped multiple times change, he would have to give the govern-
before he prospered. So did cartoonist, ment a 9 percent share of the profits. The
filmmaker, and theme park pioneer Walt centerpiece of the project would be a new
Disney. Being good entrepreneurs, they town, which the auto magnate christened
didn’t give up. They learned and they per- “Fordlandia.”
severed. Talk about thinking big! The man from
Reasons for failure include poor planning Dearborn envisioned not only a massive
or poor implementation of a plan, under- rubber-producing operation 4,000 miles
capitalization, managing people badly, from home, but also a utopian village where
lousy marketing, innovating too slowly, his Midwest American values would trans-
underestimating the competition, being form a foreign society. It was a Herculean
overwhelmed by the unforeseen, or simply challenge in every way—logistically, envi-
failing to learn from previous failures. ronmentally, culturally, and economically.
You can fail because you didn’t think big It took a small fortune and only six years
enough. You can fail because you thought before Fordlandia collapsed. The Brazilian
too big. And you can fail for any number of workers disliked American food and cared
reasons and sizes in between. even less for Ford’s ban on alcohol (even in
This excerpt from Theodore their own homes). Bugs and Henry Ford posing in the driving seat of his first car, the Quadricycle, in New York in 1910.
Roosevelt’s April 1910 “Man diseases did not approve of
in the Arena” speech in Paris the rubber trees Ford’s man- ial I am that the thought of such a venture not succeed. If fear of failure were all it
provides me with the perfect agers planted. Fordlandia would never have occurred to me, at any took for humans to fail to act, wouldn’t we
segue to the rest of this essay: closed and Ford moved op- age. But I am grateful that there are people still be living in caves? When great men
“It is not the critic who erations upriver but within in the world who are obviously more cou- like Ford and Ludwig take big chances, it
counts; not the man who a decade, those shut down, rageous and more visionary than me. inspires others to take chances too, big
points out how the strong man too. The invention of synthet- Once the plant was assembled in 1979, and small.
stumbles, or where the doer of ic rubber in the 1940s made it began producing 750 tons of cellulose I do not sneer at failures like the two I
deeds could have done them natural rubber obsolete. every single day. Nonetheless, the proj- have written about here. I marvel at them
better. The credit belongs to Ford’s grandson Henry II ect as a whole yielded losses that forced and wish that I had half the courage to try
the man who is actually in the sold everything back to the Ludwig to sell it all to Brazilian investors such remarkable ventures. It is indicative
arena, whose face is marred Brazilian government in in 1981. He devoted the remaining decade of a spirit without which humanity’s exis-
by dust and sweat and blood; Entrepreneur Daniel K. 1945 for a loss, in today’s dol- of his life to financing cancer research, tence would be dull and stagnant.
who strives valiantly; who Ludwig (1897–1992). lars, of nearly $300 million. donating hundreds of millions of dollars It is no compliment to be among “those
errs, who comes short again Daniel K. Ludwig (1897– for that purpose. cold and timid souls who neither know
and again, because there is no effort with- 1992), also a Michiganian, never gained victory nor defeat.” 
out error and shortcoming; but who does the notoriety of Henry Ford but that was
actually strive to do the deeds; who knows fine with him. He deliberately shunned the For Additional Information, See:
great enthusiasms, the great devotions; limelight his entire life. His Brazil project Fordlandia closed and “Milton Hershey Showed that Persistence
who spends himself in a worthy cause; who in the 1960s and ‘70s, though, was just as is the Key to Success” by Lawrence W.
at the best knows in the end the triumph of spectacular as Ford’s. Ford moved operations Reed
high achievement, and who at the worst, if Ludwig’s first entrepreneurial venture upriver but within a “Failure Made Disney Great” by Law-
he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, took the form of transporting lumber and rence W. Reed
so that his place shall never be with those molasses on freighters plying the Great decade, those shut “Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Hen-
cold and timid souls who neither know vic- Lakes. He was just 19 when he started the ry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City” by Greg
tory nor defeat.” company. Over the next half century, he down, too. Grandin
The two business flops I want readers to built one of the world’s largest fortunes “Fordlandia: Henry Ford’s Forgotten
know about featured two North American by mastering the businesses of shipping What are we to make of gargantuan Rubber Empire Deep in the Heart of the
entrepreneurs operating decades apart but (he practically invented the supertanker), gambles like Fordlandia and Monte Dou- Amazon” by Morgan Dunn
in the same South American country—Bra- hotels, insurance, orange groves, oil refin- rado? The small-minded will be quick to “The Invisible Billionaire: Daniel Lud-
zil. The first was Henry Ford, the second ing, and cattle ranching. criticize, to be sure. They are probably the wig” by Jerry Shields
was Daniel K. Ludwig. To borrow again At the age of 70, long after he could have same people who dismiss the dreams of “Daniel Ludwig, Billionaire Business-
from Roosevelt, they dared greatly. retired to a life of luxury, Ludwig came up present-day entrepreneurs to explore the man, Dies at 95” by Eric Pace
Ford’s name was known everywhere a with his big Brazil idea. He bought 4 mil- deepest ocean floor or to colonize Mars.
century ago and likely still is today. When lion acres not far from the ruins of Ford- From me, however, you won’t hear any- Lawrence W. Reed is FEE’s president
the last Model T rolled off his assembly landia and planned to build a pulp paper thing but an encouraging word when emeritus, Humphreys Family senior
line in Michigan in 1927 (making way for mill. But first, he would create a model someone thinks big (especially if he does Fellow, and Ron Manners Global
its successor, the Model A), he had sold community called Monte Dourado and it with his own money). Ambassador for Liberty, having served
15 million of them for an average of a few develop local agriculture to feed the in- I am sure that neither Ford nor Ludwig for nearly 11 years as FEE’s president
hundred dollars apiece. By enriching so habitants he hoped would work in the mill. ever tried to fail. It is not a difficult task if (2008–2019). He is the author of the 2020
many people with the first mass-produced, A tall order grew much taller when Lud- you think about it. I am also sure that nei- book, “Was Jesus a Socialist?” as well as
affordable automobile, Ford became rich wig decided that rather than construct the ther man enjoyed it when it happened. But “Real Heroes: Incredible True Stories of
himself. But solving problems was always mill from scratch on site, it was more fea- I am also certain that they did not fear it. Courage, Character, and Conviction”
more interesting to him than making mon- sible to build it in Japan and ship it across Ford himself once said, “Failure is simply and “Excuse Me, Professor: Challenging
ey. Dealing with a British rubber monopoly the ocean to Brazil. That’s right. He built an the opportunity to begin again, this time the Myths of Progressivism.” His website
was the problem that gave him a big idea. entire paper mill in Japan and towed it in more intelligently.” is LawrenceWReed.com
Knowing that Brazil’s Amazon region was two giant pieces all the way to Brazil, and Do not be afraid of failure. Be prepared
packed with rubber trees that produced the then hundreds of miles up the Amazon. to learn from it. Do not fail to take a risk This article was originally published
latex he needed to make automobile tires, Perhaps it tells you how unentrepreneur- because you are afraid the dream might on FEE.org
B6 WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF MARK WIMMER

Hot Wheels toys, and now—with more home

time—playing simulator racing with his
friends. He also enjoys cruises and traveling.
On top of all that, the young scholar is an
entrepreneur.
He’s developed a system called Reflect
Social, which can integrate devices from 15
different manufacturers into one easy-to-
use app.
He even 3D printed his own microphones
and designed a technology that fits inside
the ears of students who are having trou-
Wimmer says he’s always been a fast learner.
ble hearing in the classroom. “I sold those
throughout worldwide,” he said.
More impressively, Wimmer has worked
on a language translating technology for
the U.S. military.
“I’ve actually done a lot, a big military con-
tract with the United States Special Opera-
tions Command. I was able to figure these
different things out ... that was definitely
an interesting experience to learn how do
In addition to completing high school, people learn languages.” Meanwhile, Mike’s
Mike Wimmer is also graduating with an parents, Melissa and Mark Wimmer, are in-
associate's degree from Rowan Cabarrus
Community College.
credibly proud of their preteen prodigy.
“He’s worked hard to reach his goals,” Me-
lissa told NBC. “When he had obstacles in
For the most part, Mike Wimmer taught (Top) Mike Wimmer's parents, Melissa his way, he figured out a way around them.”
himself programming and robotics through and Mark Wimmer. (Above) Mike Wimmer Mark is particularly pleased with his son’s
trial and error and online videos. is wrapping up his senior year. progress in developing life skills—in addi-
tion to his academic endeavors.
“That social and soft skill side of him I
think, is the part that’s really grown and re-

12-Year-Old Prodigy to ally impressed us even much more than just

the academics for sure,” he told the network.
Mark’s son grasps that communication
is key in becoming a successful business-

Graduate NC High School man. He’s recently focused on his writing,

speaking, and social adeptness.
“I can have the best technology, write the
best code, you’re the best thing,” he said.

With Perfect 4.0 GPA “But if I can’t display my idea, or display my

creation to someone else to make it relat-
able, then it has no use to the world.”
Despite all he’s got going on, Wimmer
has little trouble switching gears from kid
MICHAEL WING “And then I built this robot that could do it.” mode—having fun with friends—to high

L
ike any other 12-year-old, Mike
Wimmer is ardent about video
games, race cars, and playing
sports with his friends.
Unlike most students his age,
though, Wimmer will be graduating from
high school in about a week—years ahead
of your typical preteen.
Not only is he set to graduate from Con-
cord Academy in North Carolina on May 21,
he was also named valedictorian of his high
school and has a perfect GPA of 4.0, no less.
The young upstart from Salisbury has
always been a fast learner, he said, soak-
ing up information rapidly from his iPad
starting at the age of 18 months.
By age 7, Wimmer was building robots
that could solve complex puzzles.
“I think one of the most memorable
achievements that I have is I’ve actually
built a Rubik’s Cube solver with my Lego
Mindstorms,” he told The Epoch Times.
Through trial and error, Wimmer learned
how to get around different problems and
find solutions. He’s not afraid to fail. That’s
how he learns.
“I taught myself everything I know,” he
said, and that includes programming in 12
different computer languages.
But it didn’t come without help.
Wimmer’s parents exposed him to differ-
ent fields, yet allowed him to choose his own
path. Meanwhile, his teachers were excited to
see him excel in whatever they were teaching.
Wimmer said that, if you love what you’re
doing, work isn’t all that taxing—even for a
12-year-old. “I think what I’m doing is fun,”
he said. “I never worked a day in my life.”
But that doesn’t mean he’s incapable of
playing around like others his age. Wim-
mer enjoys being a kid and cutting loose
with his friends in addition to his academic
endeavors.
His pastimes include basketball, swim-
ming, IMSA sports car endurance racing,
school or college mode—interacting with
By age 7, his older peers.
Wimmer “We talked about the kid stuff, the racing,
the cars, that kind of thing,” he said. “And
was building then say, for my high school peers, I can dial
it up. And then for my colleagues, I can dial
robots up even more.”
that could As for the future, Wimmer has still plenty
of time to plan.
solve complex “I’m deciding between two colleges that
are local in North Carolina,” he said, adding
puzzles. that he has also applied to a Thiel fellowship
to grow his startup enterprises instead of
going to school.
“So there’s just tons of different options
that I have and that’s something to think
about for sure,” he said.
Share your stories with us at emg.inspired
@epochtimes.com, and get your daily
dose of inspiration by signing up for the
Epoch Inspired newsletter at TheEpoch-
Times.com/newsletter.

COURTESY OF AMERICAN HUMANE L: AKEEL AUSTIN/DVIDSHUB; R: SETH ROSENBERG/DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

(Far left) U.S.

Marine Corps
Sgt. Angela
Cardone looks
After a month of
forward to working with her
introducing
Bogi to Hawaii’s I realized that we
beaches and
hiking trails. had the exact same
(Left) Cardone personality: super
trained Bogi
in tasks such clumsy, goofy, and
as narcotics
detection,
we worked really,
safety sweeps, really well together.
and vehicle
searches. Angela Cardone

Military Dog Retired After Injury Gets Adopted by Former Marine Partner
LOUISE BEVAN
U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Angela Car-
done and her military dog Bogi be-
came inseparable after they trained
together for two years and em-
barked on a 15-month partnership.
But when Cardone was reassigned
from Japan to Hawaii, she didn’t
have the chance to say goodbye.
After two years of wondering, wait-
ing, and massive amounts of paper-
work, Cardone was reunited with
her former K-9 partner.
Bogi, now 5 years old, had been
retired from service, which allowed
the former handler to adopt the dog
to live out the rest of its days in bliss.
“It feels wonderful, like a huge
weight has been lifted off my chest,”
Cardone, 22, told People. She’d been
dreaming of a possible reunion
since the day they parted ways.
The pair was first introduced at the
Marine Corps Air Station in Iwakuni,
Japan, in 2017. Cardone trained the
dog to master narcotics detection,
safety sweeps, and vehicle searches
before the pairing was made official.
Initially, Cardone hadn’t been all
that enthused to work with Bogi.
“She didn’t really know that many
commands, she didn’t even know her
name,” Cardone told the Daily Mail.
“But after a month of working with
her I realized that we had the exact
same personality: super clumsy,
goofy, and we worked really, really
well together.”
Bogi was dependable and boost-
ed Cardone’s confidence as a dog
handler.
COURTESY OF AMERICAN HUMANE
After redeployment to Hawaii,
the sergeant worried she’d never
see Bogi again.
Months passed. Then in June
2020, Bogi had a severe neck inju-
ry, which made the dog eligible for
medical retirement. And Cardone
immediately reached out to offer
her K-9 ex-partner a forever home.
She contacted American Hu-
mane’s military program for help
transporting Bogi overseas. The
nonprofit came through, guiding
Cardone through the adoption
process, handling the paperwork,
funding Bogi’s trans-Pacific journey
from Japan to Hawaii, and providing
future veterinary care.
Representatives from the organi-
zation said they felt honored and
thrilled to reunite the sergeant with
At the beginning, her best friend, while giving Bogi a
Bogi didn’t know deserved, blissful retirement.
many commands,
“Sgt. Cardone and Bogi made so
or even its name.
many sacrifices in service to our
country,” American Humane Presi-
dent Robin Ganzert said in a state-
ment. “Bringing them back together
is the least we can do in return.”
On Feb. 16, a tail-wagging Bogi
and Cardone were reunited at the
Queen Kapi’olani Hotel in Hono-
lulu. After showering the retired pup
with hugs, toys, and flower garlands,
Cardone and her pooch posed for
pictures on the beach before head-
ing home to Kaneohe.
“The first few moments of seeing
Bogi ... it was indescribable,” Car-
done said. “I never thought that this
day would actually come, so it’s just a
really heartwarming type of feeling.”
Cardone is looking forward to in-
troducing Bogi to Hawaii’s beaches
and hiking trails, and also giving
plenty of treats, couch time, and
Starbucks puppuccinos.
“I’ve been looking forward to this,”
she told the Honolulu Star Adver-
tiser. “She’s the sweetest dog you’ll
ever meet.”
Share your stories with us at emg.
inspired@epochtimes.com, and
get your daily dose of inspiration
by signing up for the Epoch
Inspired newsletter at TheEpoch-
Times.com/newsletter.
 WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021 B7
1. FABIO BLACO/THE UFFIZI GALLERIES

LARGER THAN LIFE: ART THAT

INSPIRES US THROUGH THE AGES

Dante’s
Heavenly
Legacy
N
early 700 years ago, in Septem-
ber 1321, the Italian literary
great Dante Alighieri died.
Dante wrote poetry and im-
portant theoretical works on
a wide range of topics, including moral
philosophy and political thought. For his
works, he drew inspiration from the an-
cient classics by writers such as Virgil and
Cicero.
In Florence, Dante sat on the Council
of Priors, a position of high governance.
His opposition to the pope’s annexing of
Tuscan land led eventually to his being
sentenced to death if he were to set foot in
Florence again.
It is believed that Dante wrote most of 2. THE BASILICA OF THE HOLY CROSS, FLORENCE 3. MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, ANGERS

his best works, including “The Divine

Comedy,” his most famous, when he was
in exile. Rather fittingly, a commemora-
tive exhibition called “Dante: The Vision of
Art” recently opened at the San Domenico
Museums of Forlì, in northern Italy, the
very town that Dante fled to in 1302, from
Arezzo (80 miles southeast of Florence).
The exhibition is a joint collaboration of
The Uffizi Galleries in Florence and the
Cassa dei Risparmi of the Forlì Foundation.
The exhibition draws together around 300
artworks from world-class museum collec-
tions across the globe. The Uffizi Galleries
alone have contributed some 50 works, in-
cluding famous portraits of the poet and a
set of drawings by Michelangelo.
It’s an unprecedented exhibition, both in
scale and scope, demonstrating Dante’s in-
fluence on art from the 13th century right
through to the 20th century and how he 4. FABIO BLACO/ UFFIZI GALLERIES 5. ST. MARK’S MUSEUM, FLORENCE

inspired artists from the Middle Ages to

the Renaissance, Neoclassical, and Ro-
mantic eras.
“It’s the first time through the centu-
ries you’ll see the importance and visual
fortune of not only the ‘Divine Comedy,’
but really all the literary production of the
great poet. We’ll even zoom in on the most
famous and important Dante characters
through the centuries,” the director of
The Uffizi Galleries, Eike Schmidt, said in
a press video interview.
Included in the exhibition are first edi-
tions of “The Divine Comedy.” High-
lights also include many visual interpre-
tations of Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise,
the work’s three sections. The exhibition
ends with images of Heaven inspired by
1. Portraits of Italian literary greats Giovanni Boccaccio (L) and Dante, by Andrea del Castagno, and texts by Dante or inspired by him are among
Paradise Canto XXXIII. some of the approximately 300 works in the exhibition “Dante: The Vision of Art.” 2. Coronation of the Virgin between the Angels and Saints (the
Baroncelli Polyptych), after 1328, by Giotto and Taddeo Gaddi. Tempera and gold on wood; 72.4 inches by 126.4 inches by 11.4 inches. The
The exhibition “Dante: The Vision of Art,” Basilica of the Holy Cross, Florence. 3. “Paolo and Francesca Surprised by Gianciotto,” 1819, by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. Oil on canvas;
at the San Domenico Museums in Forlì, 19.8 inches by 16 inches. Museum of Fine Arts, Angers, France. 4. Portrait of Dante Alighieri, circa 1560, by Cristofano dell’Altissimo. Oi5l on
runs until July 11. To find out more, visit panel; 23.6 inches by 17.3 inches. The Gioviana Collection, The Uffizi Galleries, Florence. 5. “Final Judgement,” 1425–1430, by Fra Angelico.
MostraDante.it Tempera on panel; 41.3 inches by 82.7 inches. St. Mark’s Museum, Florence.
6. INTESA SANPAOLO COLLECTION

7. FABIO BLACO/THE UFFIZI GALLERIES 8. FABIO BLACO/THE UFFIZI GALLERIES 9. FABIO BLACO/THE UFFIZI GALLERIES

6. A sketch of Paradise, 1588–1592, by Tintoretto. Oil on canvas; 59 inches by 177.2 inches. Intesa Sanpaolo Collection, on loan at the Querini Stampalia Foundation in Venice, Italy. 7. “Dante Reads
‘The Divine Comedy’ at the Court of Guido Novello,” 1850, by Andrea Pierini. Oil on canvas; 55.1 inches by 72 inches. Gallery of Modern Art, Pitti Palace, The Uffizi Galleries, Florence. 8. “Cain, ” 1902,
by Domenico Trentacoste. Bronze; 43.7 inches by 35 inches by 37.4 inches. The National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rome. 9. “Farinata of the Urberti,” 1901–1903, by Carlo Fontana.
Marble; 72.8 inches by 41.3 inches by 36.2 inches. The National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rome.
 B8
REACHING WITHIN: WHAT TRADITIONAL ART OFFERS THE HEART
The Weight of Addiction:
Titian’s ‘Sisyphus’
ERIC BESS
S
ometimes we find ourselves ad-
dicted to substances, emotions,
and ways of thinking that keep us
far from experiencing any sem-
blance of inner peace.
I came across a painting by Titian of Si-
syphus that made me reflect on the nature
of our addictions.
Sisyphus Twice Cheats Death
In Greek legend, Sisyphus was the sly
and deceitful king of Corinth. He helped
Corinth prosper commercially, but he of-
ten refused to show guests to his city the
decency and hospitality required by Zeus.
He would even kill his guests to prove that
he was a king to be feared.
Zeus was disappointed in Sisyphus’s cru-
elty. Interestingly enough, Zeus was further
angered when Sisyphus told the river god
Asopus where Zeus had taken the river
god’s kidnapped daughter.
Revealing the god’s secrets went a step too
far, and Zeus decided it was time to pun-
ish Sisyphus. In one version of the story,
Zeus asked Thanatos, the personification
of death, to chain Sisyphus in the under-
world.
Thanatos captured Sisyphus and pre-
pared to chain him up when Sisyphus
asked Thanatos to demonstrate how the
chains worked. Thanatos agreed to show
him, and Sisyphus quickly chained Thana-
tos instead. Sisyphus successfully escaped
death.
With Thanatos chained up, mortals no
longer died. It took Ares, the god of war, to
restore the balance between life and death.
Ares also trapped Sisyphus and returned
him to Thanatos to receive his punishment
for the second time. But before he was re-
turned, Sisyphus was already planning his
second escape from death.
Upon his death, Sisyphus asked his wife
not to provide him with the usual sacri-
PUBLIC DOMAIN
fices and offerings required for a husband’s
death. Then, in the underworld, he pleaded
with the kindhearted Persephone, the wife
of Hades, to let him go back to his wife and
instruct her on the proper burial proce-
dure. Sisyphus’s plan worked, and he was
again among the living with no intention
of returning to the underworld.
Intervening himself, Zeus made sure that
Sisyphus would not escape the next time
he entered the underworld. Sisyphus was
made to suffer for eternity by forever push-
ing a boulder uphill, only to have it fall back
down to the bottom of the hill after reach-
ing the summit.
Titian’s ‘Sisyphus’
In the mid-16th century, the Italian Renais-
sance painter Titian painted his rendition
of Sisyphus’s punishment for Mary of Hun-
gary, then queen of Hungary and Bohemia.
The Prado Museum website reveals that
Mary of Hungary had many images from
Greek legends on the walls of the Great
Room in the Palace of Binche, indicating
“the coherence of an iconographic program
whose main idea was to emphasize the
misery and endless punishment of those
who rise up against the gods.”
In his painting “Sisyphus,” Titian depict-
ed Sisyphus walking up a jagged incline.
He is covered with a meager cloth, and he
does not push the boulder to the top of the
hill but carries it on his shoulders and head,
causing his shoulders and head to lean for-
ward under its weight.
The frame of the composition also im-
poses itself on Sisyphus’s body. The top of
the boulder and his feet come right to the
edge of the composition’s top and bottom,
further giving a sense of Sisyphus’s suf-
focating fate.
The environment is hellish. Weird
creatures occupy the bottom left of the
composition, and fire and smoke fill the
background. A snake appears to threaten
Sisyphus’s feet as if the threat forces him
PUBLIC DOMAIN
A self-portrait, circa
1562, by Titian. Titian
is considered the most
important artist of the
16th-century Venetian
school.
“Sisyphus,” 1548–1549,
by Titian. Oil on canvas,
93.3 inches by 85 inches.
Prado Museum, Madrid,
Spain.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021
to hurry to the top of the hill.
The Weight of Our Addictions
Three things immediately stand out to me
in this painting: the fact that Sisyphus is
carrying the boulder instead of pushing it,
the snake that threatens him from below,
and the imposing nature of the composi-
tion’s edges. Let’s look at each element to
see what moral insight they might provide.
When I see Sisyphus carrying the boul-
der instead of pushing it, I immediately
think of our addictions. Our addictions of-
ten start as small interests or desires, and
with time, they become something outside
of our control.
For instance, what may start as drinking
for fun may turn into the burden of alco-
holism, or occasional bets on sports may
somehow evolve into a home’s foreclosure.
Our addictions can also be subtle: A pride-
ful thought or furtive glance that induces
satisfying feelings can, over time, become
feelings that we crave, as though we are
actually addicted.
Like Sisyphus having to ascend the hill
repeatedly, we try to overcome our addic-
tions repeatedly. We push ourselves to the
limit in an attempt to let go and be free of
them, but we relapse, or we find that the ad-
diction is deeper than we initially thought.
We then find ourselves carrying a boulder
uphill again.
The boulder not only causes Sisyphus’s
head and shoulders to contort under its
weight, but it also prevents light from
reaching his head and chest, representa-
tive of his heart and mind. The weight we
carry from our addictions can consume
our hearts and minds, obscuring light and
preventing it from entering our lives.
What might the snake at Sisyphus’s heel
represent? Along with everything else, the
snake is only there as part of Sisyphus’s
punishment. Threatening his heel, the
snake prevents him from ever resting, from
ever finding peace.
Finally, what might Sisyphus’s position
in relation to the edges of the composi-
tion represent? The edges almost serve as
a prison that amplifies Sisyphus’s lack of
freedom.
Not only does the weight of the boulder
press on his head and shoulders, but the
top edge of the composition seems to add
its own weight, a weight so heavy that Si-
syphus doesn’t seem like he could stand
up straight if he wanted to.
Italian Renaissance
painter Titian painted his
rendition of Sisyphus’s
punishment for Mary of
Hungary, then queen of
Hungary and Bohemia.
The four edges of the composition encap-
sulate everything depicted. To me, they
represent the environment’s effect on Sisy-
phus. It’s not just the boulder’s weight that
Sisyphus must continuously carry, but he
must also constantly confront the restric-
tions placed on him by the environment,
and these restrictions seem to further pre-
vent him from experiencing true freedom.
Sisyphus was condemned to suffer for
eternity, but what about us? How might we
identify the true sources of our addictions?
Is there a way out of the addictions that may
frame our lives? How might we find peace
from the heavy burdens we may carry?
The traditional arts often contain spiritual
representations and symbols the mean-
ings of which can be lost to our modern
minds. In our series “Reaching Within:
What Traditional Art Offers the Heart,”
we interpret visual arts in ways that may
be morally insightful for us today. We do
not assume to provide absolute answers to
questions generations have wrestled with,
but hope that our questions will inspire
a reflective journey toward our becom-
ing more authentic, compassionate, and
courageous human beings.
Eric Bess is a practicing representational
artist and is a doctoral candidate at the
Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual
Arts (IDSVA).
 WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021
MUSic
No Place Like Home:
Edvard Grieg and Musical Nationalism
MichaEl kurEk
There are certain classical composers
so closely identified with their country
that it feels impossible not to talk about
the two in the same breath. It might not
matter so much with other composers.
Frédéric Chopin was born and raised
in Poland but worked as a composer in
France. Handel was German but wrote
some of his masterworks in England.
However, Aaron Copland is strongly as-
sociated with the United States, espe-
cially in works like “Appalachian Spring”
and “Rodeo.” His “American sound”
became definitive for composers like
Leonard Bernstein and film composers
like John Williams (for example, in his
score for “Saving Private Ryan”).
At least musically, Grieg
helped put Norway
on the map, and his
countrymen honor him
for it to this day.
Composer Edvard Grieg (1843–1907)
was distinctly Norwegian and even
helped define and promote a Norwegian
identity, both for Norwegians and in the
eyes of the rest of the world. In orchestral
works like his “Four Norwegian Dances”
and “Peer Gynt,” he used actual Norwe-
gian folksong melodies and also original
melodies written in Norwegian folk style,
baptizing them with classical music sta-
tus worldwide. This made him a kind of
favorite son and a point of great pride for
that nation, with a population about the
same as Colorado’s and a geographic size
about that of New Mexico. You might say
that, at least musically, Grieg helped put
Norway on the map, and his countrymen
honor him for it to this day.
This all seemed natural and a matter of
course when I was a music major in col-
lege. I was happy for them! Every country
deserves heroes they can take pride in,
after all. But nowadays, so-called musical
nationalism is taught in a very different
way in university music departments, with
a definite negative connotation. Cancel
culture has not come after Grieg personally,
to my knowledge. He neither owned slaves
What gOOD iS POetRY?
A Paradox and a Secret: ‘Nothing Gold Can Stay’ by Robert Frost
sEan Fitzpatrick
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
There is nothing like a paradox to entice the
mind to discover a suggested secret. Such
paradoxes and such secrets lie at the heart
of many good poems, and “Nothing Gold
Can Stay” by Robert Frost stands among
them, with paradoxes that are alluring and
a secret that is sobering.
Paradox 1
The color green isn’t gold (or is the reference
to the treasurable quality of both the bright
green of springtime and the bright precious
metal?). Like the prized commodity and its
connotations, this first golden green of Na-
ture is certainly hard to hold or difficult to
keep, with a fleeting, flashing verdure that
is here one day and gone the next.
Paradox 2
A leaf isn’t a flower (or is it a comparison to
the delicate, radiant, flower-like beauty of
the first unfolding leaves?). Provocative as
it is, what is clear is that there is something
exquisite being denoted—some beauty that
flashes forth even as it vanishes, lasting no
longer than even an hour for all intents and
purposes.
cinErAMA rElEASinG cOrPOrATiOn
nor oppressed any ethnic group. Or did he?
Healthy Pride
Was bringing the folk music of the com-
mon people to the concert halls of high
art a kind of cultural appropriation or
exploitation of one class by another? The
Norwegians certainly did not feel that
way at the time, in part because people
simply did not think of folk and classical
music styles in such an adversarial way
then. And in Europe generally, classical
music belongs to all people in a way that
it does not seem to in the United States.
Grieg was their homegrown boy made
good, from the village of Bergen. He did
them proud, just as Abraham Lincoln
with his log-cabin roots made the people
of the Midwest frontiers proud. Grieg
made his whole nation proud.
But that again is a problem, nowadays.
With every field of academe preaching the
gospels of globalism and decolonization,
musicology has been no exception. Such
Paradox 3
A leaf doesn’t transform into a leaf (isn’t
there, however, a qualitative difference be-
tween a leaf when it is new and when it is
old?). But it is in that brief hour of a season
that leaves subside to simply leaves; that
is, the lustrous, unfurling, lush, verdant
green of spring collapses into the hardy,
sunbaked, and customary green of sum-
mer. So it goes every year, even as the old
legend goes that Adam and Eve were in
the Garden of Eden only an hour before
they fell.
Paradox 4
Dawn doesn’t go down to day (or does it?).
If one judges by the apparent passage of the
sun, it climbs every day from dawn’s east-
ern horizon up to the zenith. But though
the sun rises and ascends in the daytime
sky, the precious light of dawn loses some-
thing as it gains the blinding brilliance
of high noon. There is subsidence here as
well—a going down, a loss, a falling away
from the bright blush of a beginning to the
broad fact of the way things are.
Paradox 5
Gold does stay, in fact. It’s one of the
more enduring elements (but isn’t there
a “golden” character that is passing, like
the “golden ages” of the past?). Despite the
endurance of gold itself, nothing “gold”
can stay, from luminous leaves, to rosy-
fingered dawn, to our own fresh and sweet
innocence. All is seasonal and subsides.
All is destined to fall. All that lives must
die. Everything loses its luster. And though
Public DOMAin
Self-portrait, circa
1562, by Titian. Titian
is considered the most
important artist of the
16th-century Venetian
school.
The 1970 film “Song of
norway” was based on
composer Edvard Grieg’s
life and filmed in nor-
way, where he lived. The
soundtrack is Grieg’s
music with added lyrics.
scholarship seems utterly unable to make
a commonsense distinction between
healthy pride and wicked pridefulness,
between satisfaction in one’s identity and
cynical accusations of xenophobia, chau-
vinism, bigotry, or racism. If I wear the col-
ors of my school and root for my school’s
football team, does that mean I think the
students in my school are a master race,
compared to students in other schools, or
that I wish to terminate the existence of
other schools? Of course not.
Coming Home
However, asserting that a wrong idea is
wrong, as I have just done, does not make
a complete argument. Why is it right to
have national pride or school pride, or
for Norwegians to feel pride in the music
of Grieg? The “theology of place” or of
home provides an answer to that ques-
tion. According to Leonard Hjalmarson’s
theology of place, this is because spiritu-
ally we do feel that we have an ultimate
springtime is a period bursting and glis-
tening with associations of hope and joy,
it also bears a cast of sadness: the sober
reminder that the glory and unpolluted
purity of leaves, grass, blossoms, birds, and
young souls will all be eventually sullied
and sunken. Early stages are golden, but
that precious quality is all too brief. Which,
as a final paradox, is what makes it so ab-
solutely wonderful.
Robert Frost’s brilliant poem is beautiful
specifically because it is short, participat-
ing through its brevity in the mystery it both
marvels at and mourns over. And its message
or meditation is one that belongs in every
heart as life is lived and the seasons pass,
rejoicing over the newness of things and re-
flecting on the dulling matters of course that
wear on everything under the sun.
Time is both precious and short, and but
for the wisdom of such nuggets of golden
poetry, many might fail in the challenge
to recall and realize how much we have
lost, how much we have, and how much
we stand to miss.
The series “What Good Is Poetry?” looks
at poems that, once memorized, bestow a
gift: an antidote to the cynicism of our age.
Sean Fitzpatrick serves on the faculty
of Gregory the Great Academy, a boarding
school in Elmhurst, Pa., where he teaches
humanities. His writings on education,
literature, and culture have appeared in a
number of journals including Crisis Mag-
azine, Catholic Exchange, and the Imagi-
native Conservative.
  B9
home—heaven—and deep inside we
long to get there. It is like the magnetic
north that our interior compass needle
points us to.
We can observe our own feelings of not
feeling that we belong anywhere in par-
ticular at certain seasons of our life, when
we either have been alienated from our
home or have been transient as young
adults and have not yet, for whatever rea-
son, been able to “put down roots.”
Modern man is particularly susceptible
to this sense of rootlessness and can feel
mentally disoriented without a physical
sense of security. I feel a bit adrift every
time I take the highway across several
states, and every exit has the same fast
food chains, restaurant chains, and gaso-
line brands, and the landscape looks as if
it could be anywhere.
Global communications can also tend
to erase distinct cultural differences,
distinctive spoken dialects, and a sense
of belonging to a home base.
To take satisfaction in our hometown,
our national music, our regional cuisine,
or our home sports team is a healthy and
positive way of symbolizing that we do
have a heavenly home, and we are on a
journey to arrive there. In no way does
our need for such symbols imply that
we do not want others to have their own
such symbols, or a desire to deny them
entry into heaven, or a desire for any
harm whatsoever to befall them.
The irony of Grieg’s specific musical
identity is that it is this very identity that
imparts to his work a kind of coherence
of language that is unique but at the
same time universally appealing, like
various ethnic cuisines. We do not need
to erase our own identities or put a sushi
roll on a slice of pizza to prove that we
are people of goodwill. We can (and we
used to take it for granted that we could)
rejoice in and celebrate everyone’s sym-
bols of heaven. Long live Norway!
American composer Michael Kurek is the
composer of the Billboard No. 1 classical
album “The Sea Knows.” The winner of
numerous composition awards, including
the prestigious Academy Award in Music
from the American Academy of Arts and
Letters, he has served on the nominations
committee of the Recording Academy for
the classical Grammy Awards. He is a pro-
fessor emeritus of composition at Vander-
bilt University. For more information and
music, visit MichaelKurek.com
Public DOMAin
robert Frost in 1941.
There is nothing like
a paradox to entice
the mind to discover
a suggested secret.
For more
arts and culture
articles, visit
TheEpochTimes.
com
B10 WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021

ALL IMAGES BY SHUTTERSTOCK

FAMILY

Summertime
Parenting
10 things to consider before
summer gets underway
BARBARA DANZA

Summertime offers a unique blend of joys While

and challenges for parents. The typical
shakeup in daily rhythm and routines can
leave parents scrambling. They may begin
to feel like their children’s personal cruise
directors as they attempt to find entertain-
ment and activities to keep them occupied
on a day-to-day basis.
However, with just a little forethought
and planning, the joys of summer—qual-
ity family time, hours of free play and ex-
ploration, sunshine and immersion in
nature, and the adventure of a getaway
or two—can far outweigh the challenges.
Here are 10 things to consider before
summer gets underway.
Set Up Signposts
What adventures will your family embark
on together this year? Whether it’s a sim-
ple camping trip or a luxurious vacation,
stepping away from the day-to-day grind
and heading out onto the open road is an
invaluable experience for a family. Such
adventures strengthen family bonds, pro-
vide unparalleled education (for kids and
adults alike), and allow for every member
of the family to be present with one an-
other and focus on the same experience
in a way that can be hard to come by in
everyday life.
These adventures will act as the sign-
posts of your summer—those you’ll look
forward to as they draw nearer on the cal-
endar, and those you’ll look back at as the
memories that defined the season.
Schedule Activities
Once your big signposts are in place,
schedule any activities you or your chil-
dren will participate in this summer.
Camps, lessons, or regular gatherings with
friends or family should be finalized and
noted on your calendar.
Embrace Variety
In addition to scheduled activities, jot
down some ideas for outings you’ll enjoy
throughout the summer. For example, vis-
its to the park, pool, beach, or library are
simple ways to take advantage of summer
days. Additionally, perhaps there’s a local
museum, amusement park, or historic site
you’ve wanted to take the kids to. This may
just be the summer to do it.
keeping
things
relaxed and
easy is the
glorious way
of summer, Establish a Rhythm
Moving from a macro perspective to a more
there are micro perspective, take time to consider
the rhythm of your days in the summer-
benefits to time. While keeping things relaxed and
maintaining easy is the glorious way of summer, there
are benefits to maintaining a predictable
a predictable and regular rhythm to the day. Children
(and adults) thrive within the comfort of
and regular predictability and regularity. It’s good for
rhythm to sleep cycles and overall health.
Rather than setting up a rigid and ambi-
the day. tious daily routine, aim for a gentle and
simple rhythm to your days. Consider, for
example, the key sections of the day: wak-
ing time, morning, lunchtime, afternoon,
dinner time, evening, and bedtime. Any
good habits and routines that can be incor-
porated into those sections of the day will
make for a steady and predictable rhythm
that carries everyone through.
Increase Responsibility
It’s a new summer and your children are
one year older than they were last sum-
mer. What new responsibilities can they
take on? What new skills can they sharpen?
What can they do for themselves this year
that they may not have been able to do last
year? Summertime is a great opportunity
to encourage your children’s ongoing de-
Turn down the tech as velopment into self-reliant and responsible
much as possible. adults.
Tackle a Project
A family or household project is another
element that can add color and enjoyment
to your summer. Is there a project you’ve
struggled to find time to tackle? Is there a
home improvement idea that the whole
family can get behind? Commit to complet-
ing a project this summer.
Cheer On Boredom
Of course, not all of your children’s time in
summer needs to be scheduled. You’ll no
doubt get to that inevitable point in every A family
parent’s summer life when your children adventure,
declare, “We’re bored!” There is really only whether it’s a
camping trip
one response to give them: “That’s awe-
some!” or a luxury
getaway,
Let your children know that you think
strengthens
boredom is the best thing since sliced family bonds.
bread, as creativity and ingenuity tend
to emerge out of a state of boredom. Resist
the temptation to suggest or provide an
activity for them. Ignore complaints and
whining and wait for the magic to begin
once they begin to figure out how to oc-
cupy themselves.
Turn Down the Tech
Of course, the beauty of boredom will be
lost on the child who has constant access
to digital devices and video games. Give
your children the benefits of as low-tech
a summer as you can manage. Lay down
rules when it comes to these and remem-
ber, you’re in charge.
Prep Healthy Snacks
I don’t know what it is about summer, but
it seems to make kids hungry all the time.
Have you ever noticed that? Ensure your
kids have access to healthy drinks and
snacks—think fruits and veggies, cheeses,
nuts, and other unprocessed and low-sug-
ar options. Ideally, set up a system where
they can grab them snacks themselves.
For beverages, stick with water.
Cherish These Days
Finally, do some math. While summer-
time parenting can be both joyous and
challenging, it’s always fleeting. How
many more summers will you have your
children at home and the need to think
these things through? Bask in gratitude for
this summer that lies ahead and the gift
you’ve been given to make summertime
memories together as a family. It’s truly
a blessing.

Magic Up Your Sleeve

concentrate. Consider peaceful, classical
pieces or research playlists created with fo-
cus in mind. Some people, of course, work
better in silence, so use your own judgment
8 ways to support your children at the end of the school year and keep the individual needs of your chil-
dren in mind.

ZHUKOVVVLAD/SHUTTERSTOCK Solid Sleep and Activity Habits

BARBARA DANZA
The march toward summer is on, and tradi-
tional schoolers and homeschooling fami-
lies alike are supporting and guiding their
children toward as successful a completion
of the school year as possible. It’s usually
at this time of year when big projects must
be turned in, significant assessments are
undertaken, and many boxes need to be
checked.
It can be an overwhelming time for parents
and children alike. To lend the most support
to your students as you approach the finish
line, check your sleeves—there’s magic up
there just waiting for you to conjure.
Nutritious and Fun Snacks
More required energy calls for better fuel.
Prep in advance healthy and diverse snacks
that are easy to grab and will keep every-
one going when deadlines approach. Math
is infinitely more fun when paired with
popcorn; papers almost write themselves
when a plate of fruit and cheese is at hand;
protein and nutrient-rich snacks fresh from
the oven make the diorama, the slide pre-
sentation, and the poster board come to-
gether with greater ease and delight.
Dance Breaks
The probability of being overwhelmed in-
creases significantly this time of year. When
you see the pressure mounting too much, call
for a dance break.
Pump your family’s favorite tunes and
start dancing. Get those bodies moving, es-
pecially the reluctant ones, and shake out
the druthers. The impact of a mental break
and physical movement may make the next
round of focus all the more productive.
Nature Walks
Similarly, pay attention to the length of time
your students are working in stretches. At
some point, the mind and body find it diffi-
cult to focus and perform at levels that make
trying worthwhile. By breaking up periods of
work with those of rest, relaxation, and time
in nature, you and your kids may find your
time better spent—even if you’re spending
less time on the actual work at hand. Step
away from the work and step into nature.
Environment Refresh
As the end of the year approaches, the study
environment may not be what it was when
the school year started. Now is a great time to
treat your students to new pencils and pens,
a newly organized space, or some fun, new
stickers or papers that will entice them across
the finish line.
Music for Concentration
Depending on your student, some instru-
mental, background music may help them
Nature walks offer a good
reprieve.
Of course, getting sufficient sleep at night and
levels of activity during the day are essential
elements to optimize performance in one’s
studies. If you find your children struggling to
get through the demands of this time of year,
check their sleep and activity habits first, and
adjust your lifestyle accordingly.
Mental Health Days
Sometimes, kids can really benefit from step-
ping away from school for longer periods of
time. This year especially, don’t be afraid to
call an audible and allow your child to skip
school in favor of rest, fun, or whatever type
of break your parenting instincts are telling
you he or she needs. Naturally, you should
consider carefully, specifically for older chil-
dren, which day you choose to allow this; a
day when a big project is due or a test is being
given would not be ideal, obviously.
Something to
Look Forward to
Finally, plan rewards beyond the finish line.
Everyone’s working hard to do their very best.
So, pencil in some small and great things
to look forward to when the mission is ac-
complished.
A celebration on the last day of school, a
small gift they’d enjoy, and fun summer
adventures that the whole family can look
forward to are some of the ways to make the
effort all the more worthwhile.
 FOR KIDS ONLY
WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021

This
Week in
History
WHEN DOES
Medusa
from “The Mythological Zoo”
by Oliver Herford
A JOKE
BECOME A FALUN GONG
“DAD IS TAUGHT TO THE PUBLIC

O
How did Medusa do her hair?
The question fills me with despair.
It must have caused her sore distress
That head of curling snakes to dress.
JOKE?” n May 13, 1992, in a schoolhouse in northeastern
China, Mr. Li Hongzhi began teaching Falun
Gong, a spiritual discipline based on the principles
Whenever after endless toil of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.
She coaxed it finally to coil, APPARENT. By early 1999, there were 100 million people
The music of a Passing Band PUNCHLINE IS practicing Falun Gong in China alone, and
Would cause each separate hair to stand WHEN THE many could be seen practicing the slow-moving
On end and sway and writhe and spit,— meditative exercises at dawn in parks across the
She couldn’t “do a thing with it.” ALL PHOTOS BY SHUTTERSTOCK country. Today, Falun Gong is also practiced by
And, being woman and aware millions of people around the globe, in more than
Of such disaster to her hair, 80 countries and in 40 languages.
What could she do but petrify Each year, on May 13, Falun Gong practitioners
All whom she met, with freezing eye? and their supporters around the world celebrate
World Falun Dafa Day, commemorating the
practice’s introduction to the public.
Laughter is the
sun that drives
winter from
the human

EN.MINGHUI.ORG
face.
VICTOR HUGO
(1802–1885),
FRENCH WRITER In most of the 1990s, Falun Gong adherents in China
practiced their exercises in parks all over the country.
ALL PHOTOS BY SHUTTERSTOCK STOCKSNAPPER/SHUTTERSTOCK

By Aidan Danza, age 14

EASY-TO-FIND NESTING BIRDS

T
HOUSE WREN
House wrens build their nests in
almost any birdhouse. A male wren will
build many different nests and then
show them to its mate, who will make
his time the final decision, so the chosen nest
of year, birds of
builder should consider itself lucky
all types, are busy if the female wren is impressed and
building their nests and decides to lay eggs in one of its nests!
The mother will lay 3 to 10 eggs
raising their young. Here and incubate them for 9 to 16 days.
are some birds you might After this period, the babies are born
be lucky to find nesting in altricial, which means they are naked
and helpless, with their eyes closed.
your own backyard.
AMERICAN
ROBIN
American robins are some of the
most ubiquitous birds in the United
States. Everyone knows a robin, with
its red-orange chest and diet of almost
exclusively earthworms.
Since they are so common, their
nests are also easily seen. Robins build
their nests just about anywhere, and
they prefer trees or large shrubs. They
lay light-blue eggs, which hatch in 12
to 14 days. The babies are altricial and
will fledge in 13 days.
HOUSE SPARROW
House sparrows are also extremely
common. They like to nest in manmade
cavities or nest boxes. They will often
stuff twigs and other vegetation until
it’s almost filled. Then they will switch
to finer material (feathers, string,
paper, or grass) for the lining. When it’s
finally finished, the female will lay 1 to
8 white to light-blue or green eggs in
the nest and incubate them for 10 to
14 days.
CANADA GOOSE
Canada geese nest near water. If
you have a lake in the area, it’s very
likely you will see Canada geese with
babies in tow. The female will lay 2 to 8
creamy-white eggs, and incubate them
for 25 to 28 days. The babies are born
precocial. This means that they are
almost independent of their parents.
The goslings are covered with yellow
down and they leave the nest when
they are 1 to 2 days old.
ALL PHOTOS BY SHUTTERSTOCK

2 3 4
Down
1 Joker (3)

AMAZING
5 6 2 Funny, but with a serious message (6)
7 3 What’s expected and what isn’t (5)
8 4 A really good time! (5,9)

ESCAPES!
START
9 6 Waggish (6)

10 11 12 7 “Knock knock” e.g. (4)

10 Not serious (7)
12 Boisterous partying (7)
13
16 Scrooge’s look (5)
14

15 16

USE THE FOUR NUMBERS IN THE CORNERS, AND THE OPERANDS

(+, - AND X) to build an equation to get the solution in the middle. There may be
more than one “unique” solution but, there may also be “equivalent” solutions. 17
For example: 6 + (7 X 3) +1 = 28 and 1+ (7 X 3) + 6 = 28

Easy puzzle 1 Medium puzzle 1 Hard puzzle 1 18

3 9 12 19 9 27
33 24 97 T
N
I T Y H I L A R
E Across
1 17
R C H I C K E N Y R U B B E

3 9 2 14 T
M
I
R
L
A
L
N
J E S
1 Sarcastic (3) 11 Coy smile (6)
B A N T E R E U
4 Sheepish look (4) 13 Witch’s laugh (6)
+ − × ÷ + − × ÷ + − × ÷
E R V C A C K L

5 Belly laugh (6) 14 “I know you are but what am I?” (6)
E E E O
S I M P E R J E
Y O T K J E E R
R O N I C A O I 8 On a tombstone: 15 “Surely you ___!” (4)
Solution For Easy 1 Solution for Medium 1 Solution for Hard 1
(19 + 17 − 12) × 1
O O E J T “Nothing Is Written In Stone” (6) 17 Joke prop (13)
W R J R G U F F A
9×3+9−3 (19 − 17) × 12 × 1 14 × 9 − 27 − 2 I G R I N A
W R Y
S
9 Laugh in a mean way (4) 18 Boisterous fun (8)
B12 WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021

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 WAYHOME STUDIO/SHUTTERSTOCK LDUTKO/SHUTTERSTOCK
RADIATION SELF-IMPROVEMENT

Can Cell Phones Do You Like the Person

Damage Your DNA? You Are Becoming?
Researchers question trends It’s never too late to work
in studies about low-intensity on becoming the person we
radiofrequency radiation. want to be.
See C3 See C8

WELL-BEING|DIET|FITNESS WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021 C1

KAROLINA GRABOWSKA/PEXELS NEW AFRICA/ SHUTTERSTOCK

Regular conflict can often be healthy,

but not when it becomes “high conflict.”

How to
Eating
Turn a Toxic
whole
foods is
one of the
Conflict Into
key ways
to avoid
today’s
a Good One
most
prolific A new book
killers. explains why we get
stuck in intractable
conflicts and how to
get out of them
JASON MARSH

We’ve all been there: Locked in a

heated argument, blood pressure ris-
ing, fixated on our next point rather
Real food is than actually listening to what the
the real cure other person has to say. Even after it
for the rise ends, it doesn’t really end—we keep
of chronic ruminating on it for hours, days,
disease. weeks.
TRUE NUTRITION

Food as
‘High Conflict’
speaks to the intense
social polarization
gripping our nation.
This is what journalist Amanda Ri-

Medicine
pley refers to as “high conflict”—and
these days, we can slip into it when
we’re simply scanning our social
media feed or glancing at the news.
It often feels like our entire country
is stuck there.
That’s why Ripley wrote her new
book, “High Conflict: Why We Get

THE ANSWER TO MOUNTING HEALTH CRISES

Trapped and How We Get Out.”
“High Conflict” speaks to the in-
tense social and political polariza-
Our toxic diet is feeding diseases that can’t be cured tion that is gripping our nation, yet it
also offers timeless lessons for navi-
with drugs that never resolve the underlying problem gating conflict, whether it’s interper-
sonal, professional, or political.
I spoke with Ripley at an event last
week that the Greater Good Science
Center co-hosted with Berkeley Arts
JOSEPH
JOSE
JO S PH MERCOLA
MER
ERCO
COLA
LA & Letters. Here is an edited version
of our conversation.
r. Robert Lu
Lustig,
ustig
s i , a pediatric
peedidiat
atri
ricc endo-
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D crinologist
crin
cr inol
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ogis
istt and
an
at the University
Francisco, has written
nd
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pr ofees
eesso
sso
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emmeritus
rsityy of California–San
en a num
Callif
number
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berr of eexcel-
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Health
Heal
Healthth insurance
companies
comp
co mpan
vvested
ve
ins
nsur
uran
anie

ffixing
fixin
ance
an ce
iess have
have
ave a
stted iinterest
n eerres
nt
ing the
estt in
thee ffood
ood
oo
Jason Marsh: What led you to write
a book that’s a warning about certain
kinds of conflict?
lent books about health. h His
alth. His latest,
lat
ates t, “Meta-
est, “Meta
Meta-- problem.
p ob
pr ble
lem.
m. Amanda Ripley: I started out on this
bolical: The Lure and d the
he LLies
iess of
ie of PProcessed
roccesseed
ro CREATIVA
C REATIIVA IMAGES
S
quest to find examples of people who
/SHUTTERSTOCK
//S
SHU TT
TERSTOCK
Food, Nutrition, and d Modern
Mododerern n Medicine,”
Medi
Me diccinee,” had been stuck in really ugly con-
goes deep into the detailsetailss of
of how
how changes
ho chaangess
ch flict and gotten out, just to find some
in our food supply havee damaged da amma
maged
aged
ged d our
ourr hope. What were the patterns? I real-
metabolic health. ized pretty quickly that I was asking
The title of his book, “Metabolical,”boliccal,” is ac- the wrong question, because it’s not
tually a portmanteau of the word words ds “meta- what the
what the argument
argrgum
umen
entt for
for fixing the
th entire
e about getting out of conflict, because
bolic” and “diabolical,” which hich capcaptures
ptu
tures food system is, and how everyone
everyo
yon
ne can ben- conflict can be good and healthy. It’s
nicely the essence of his message. ssage. Subsidies efitt from
efi from it,
it, eeven
ven
ven th
thee fo
food
od industry.”
industry.” getting out of high conflict.
“I wrote it because nothing h else
l h has High conflict can start small, but it
worked,” Lustig said. “Part of the problem
for corn The 2 Primary Keys becomes an us-versus-them kind of
is, this is such a complicated issue.” and sugar In summary, it boils down to two primary feud. It becomes all-consuming and
Lustig says with so many stakeholders, issues or key problems. The first is that the takes on a life of its own. Everything
it is critical they all have the same set of provide a medical establishment doesn’t want you to you do to get out of high conflict of-
facts so they can start working together perverse know that drugs were never intended or ten makes it worse. A sure sign of
to solve the problem. Those stakeholders designed to treat the foundational cause high conflict is that it doesn’t operate
include patients, doctors, food companies, incentive to of chronic disease. according to the normal rules of en-
the insurance industry, Wall Street, and “Modern medicine has two factions, two gagement, and it doesn’t go anywhere.
Congress.
make toxic paradigms,” Lustig said. “One is treat- There is a feeling of being stuck in high
“My job was to put all of this in one vol- products. ment of acute disease, and for the most conflict, being frozen, and you just
ume so that everyone had access to the part, they’ve gotten it reasonably right. have the same fights over and over.
same information, and then we can go
from there,” he said. “I lay out in the book Continued on C4 Continued on C7
C2 WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021

Garlic has been right-

fully cherished for cen-
turies for its therapeutic
benefits.
NIKCOA/SHUTTERSTOCK

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How Garlic Can Help
STEP 2 Click on your name in the top right-hand corner of the page
Clogged Arteries
This powerful food does so much more
STEP 3 Click on the sidebar option for “Email Newsletters” than add flavor to your meal
You’ll then see a list of the Epoch Times emails you’re Garlic is one of the most powerful foods
currently subscribed to—and can change your preferences around, and for good reason. Apart from
its known antibacterial, antifungal, and
to what best fits your inbox. antimicrobial properties, garlic has
been documented in studies to prevent
and treat cardiovascular diseases, high
blood pressure, and diabetes, to name a
You can also unsubscribe from a newsletter by clicking few. It’s also famed for helping to unclog
arteries.
Manage your email preference here at the bottom of our emails. Atherosclerosis is a complex disease
in which plaque, which is made up of
fat, cholesterol, calcium, and other sub-
stances, builds up inside the arteries.
Copyright © 2021 The Epoch Times, All rights reserved. In the long run, plaque hardens and
The Epoch Times, 229 W 28th St, Fl.5, New York, NY 10001
narrows the arteries, limiting the flow
of oxygen-rich blood to the organs and
With social media censorship sidelining many important
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the rest of the body.
you get the latest developments that our reporters have The condition can lead to serious con-
curated from around the world. It’s our way of keeping you
truly informed so that you can make the decisions that
ditions such as heart attack and stroke.
align with your values. We hope you enjoy our coverage. Here are five ways that garlic assists in
Manage your email preferences here treating or preventing clogged arteries.
In a 2004 study,
garlic successfully
inhibited lipopro-
tein associated arte-
riosclerotic nano-
plaque formation.
participants taking the combination
had significant improvements in their
coronary artery calcium as well as C-
reactive protein levels. The results sug-
gested improved heart health.
3. Inhibits Nanoplaque Formation
In a 2004 study published in Wiener
Medizinische Wochenschrift (1946),
garlic successfully inhibited lipoprotein
associated arteriosclerotic nanoplaque
formation. The experiments showed
that garlic extract strongly inhibited
calcium ions binding to proteohepa-
ran sulfate, resulting in the blunting
of the formation of what is responsible
for “nanoplaque” composition and ul-
timately for the arteriosclerotic plaque
generation.
4. Protects Against Aortic Stiffness
A cross-sectional observational study
published in Circulation evaluated
healthy adults taking standardized gar-
lic powder for at least two years and a
control group, then measured the elas-
tic properties of their aorta.
Blood pressure levels, heart rate, and
plasma lipid levels were similar in the
groups. However, chronic garlic pow-
der consumption slowed age-related
increases in aortic stiffness, supporting
the protective effects of garlic intake.

LIES KILL, TRUTH SAVES 1. Inhibits Vascular Calcification

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5. Reduces Atherosclerotic
Progression
Aged garlic extract has been shown to Aged garlic extract was combined with
reduce multiple cardiovascular risk fac- supplements to check the effects on in-
tors such as high blood pressure. A 2004 flammatory and oxidation biomarkers,
study published in Preventive Medicine vascular function, and the progression
evaluated its ability to inhibit vascular of atherosclerosis in a study published
calcification, which serves as a marker in Preventive Medicine.
of plaque formation in coronary arteries. In the trial, 65 subjects with intermedi-
In the double-blind, small pilot study ate risk for the disease were treated with
conducted for a year, aged garlic extract either a placebo or a capsule contain-
demonstrated the ability to inhibit the ing aged garlic extract plus vitamin B12,
rate of coronary calcification in patients folic acid, vitamin B6, and l-arginine,
on statin therapy compared to placebo. given daily for a year. The garlic and
Finding a three-fold reduced progres- supplement mix were associated with
sion in coronary calcification in those improved oxidative biomarkers and vas-
taking an aged garlic supplement SPRIN G/SH U T T ERS T cular health, and a reduced pro-
T OC
versus a placebo, research- LIGH K gression of atherosclerosis.
ers wrote that should their A related study published
findings be confirmed in in International Journal of
larger studies, garlic may Cardiology found aged
prove beneficial for pa- garlic extract therapy
tients who are high-risk plus supplementation
for future cardiovascu- with vitamin B12, folic
lar events. acid, vitamin B6, and L-
2. Increases Vascular
arginine were associated
with a lack of progression
Elasticity and Endothelial in coronary artery calcium,
Function along with increased ratio of
A stressful lifestyle is a known Aged garlic extract brown adipose to white adi-
risk factor for the presence has been shown pose tissue.
and worsening of athero- to reduce vascular These are only some ways
sclerosis. A study published calcification. that garlic displays therapeu-
in Nutrition (Burbank, Los tic properties against calcifi-
Angeles County, California) probed the cation problems of the cardiovascular
effect of aged garlic extract in tandem system. Find nearly 800 abstracts with
with coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) on vascular clogged arteries research on the Green-
elasticity (how much our blood vessels MedInfo.com database.
can expand and contract) in a group of
firefighters. The GMI Research Group is dedicated
The combination was linked to sig- to investigating the most important
nificant benefits to vascular elasticity as health and environmental issues of
well as endothelial function among the the day. Special emphasis will be
firefighters, who experience high stress placed on environmental health. Our
at work. The combination emerged as a focused and deep research will explore
potential way to prevent atherosclerosis the many ways in which the present
in such individuals. condition of the human body directly
Separate research published in Jour- reflects the true state of the ambient
nal of Cardiovascular Disease Research environment. This work is reproduced
evaluated the effects of garlic and CoQ10 and distributed with the permission
on coronary atherosclerosis and inflam- of GreenMedInfo LLC. Sign up for the
matory biomarkers, concluding that newsletter at GreenmedInfo.health
 WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021
Can Cell Phone Radiation
Damage Your DNA?
When it comes to the effects of low-intensity radiofrequency
radiation, the answer may depend on the research funder
MICHAEL GREGER
D
o mobile phones cause brain
tumors? Whenever a trillion-
dollar industry is involved—
whether it’s Big Food, Big
Tobacco, Big Pharma, or Big
Telecom—there’s so much money that
sometimes the science can get manipu-
lated.
When it comes to the potential human
health effects of cell phone use, cer-
tainly, you might end up with a crick in
your neck if you text excessively, or even
break your neck or the neck of someone
you may hit if you text while driving.
On the other hand, think of the count-
less lives that have been saved on the
road, because people are now able to so
quickly phone in emergencies.
But what about cancer? Since the turn
of the century, there have been stud-
ies suggesting there is up to double the
risk of brain tumors with long-term cell
phone use on the side of your head you
use to talk. That’s important, because the
radiation only really penetrates up to a
couple of inches into your brain. Views
from the back of the head and the top
of the head show why you might de-
velop cancer on one side of the head over
the other.
Since it’s such a local effect, you can
see why there are recommendations
for using the speakerphone function or
a hands-free headset, which can re-
duce brain exposure by a factor of 100 or
more—and this includes the option of
using Bluetooth headsets. This may be
particularly important in children, who
have thinner skulls.
Cell phone radiation isn’t like nuclear
radiation, though. It doesn’t damage
DNA directly, like gamma rays
from an atomic bomb. How-
ever, it does appear to be able
to damage DNA indirectly by
generating free radicals. In a
review study published in 2015
in Electromagnetic Biology
and Medicine, out of 100
studies that looked at this,
93 confirmed there were
oxidative effects from
the kind of low-inten-
sity radiofrequency
radiation that
comes out of cell
phones. Another
review pub-
lished in Patho-
physiology in
2009 looked at
101 studies, of
which 49 found
that this oxidative stress translated
into DNA damage, detecting signs of
genotoxicity, which is damage to our
genes, DNA, or chromosomes. A
smaller number of studies, 42, did
not find a genotoxic effect.
But a lot of those studies were
done in petri dishes or in lab
animals. I’m less interested
in whether Mickey or Minnie
Lifestyle Tips to Help Boost Testosterone at Any Age
MAT LECOMPTE
You may not have thought much about tes-
tosterone in your younger years, particular-
ly if you’re a woman. But as age advances,
it can move closer to the top of your mind,
particularly if you’re a man.
Often regarded as the male sex hormone,
testosterone is also essential to female health.
Women have a lot less testosterone than men,
but it helps all genders with disease risk, body
composition, sexual function, and more.
Testosterone is vital for aging and elderly
individuals, mainly because it naturally
decreases. Here are some lifestyle tech-
niques to help optimize testosterone.
Get Exercise
Exercise is one of the best ways to reduce
the chances of disease and potentially boost
testosterone. Studies have shown that peo-
ple who exercise regularly, at any age, have
higher testosterone. A mix of resistance
is at risk than I am concerned about
brain tumors in people. When it comes
to people, some population studies
found increased cancer risk, but other
studies did not.
A Question of Funding
Could the source of funding for those
studies have anything to do with the dif-
ferent findings? Some of the studies were
funded by cell phone companies. Re-
searchers with the Department of Social
and Preventive Medicine, at the Uni-
KAISSA/SHUTTERSTOCK
versity of Bern in Switzerland “hypoth-
esized that studies would be less likely to
show an effect of the exposure if funded
by the telecommunications industry,
which has a vested interest in portray-
ing the use of mobile phones as safe.” So,
they ran the numbers and—surprise,
Most of the inde- surprise—“found that the studies funded
pendently funded
exclusively by industry were indeed sub-
studies showed an
stantially less likely to report statistically
effect while most of
significant effects…” published in Envi-
the industry-funded
studies did not. ronmental Health Perspectives in 2009.
Indeed, most of the independently
funded studies showed an effect while
most of the industry-funded studies did
not. In fact, industry-funded studies had
about 10 times fewer odds of finding an
adverse effect from cell phone use. That’s
even worse than a similar phenomena
observed in the drug industry. Studies
sponsored by Big Pharma about their
own products only had about four times
the odds of favoring the drug compared
to independent researchers according to
a review published in the British Medical
Journal in 2003. Big Tobacco still reigns
supreme when it comes to Big Bias,
though.
Why do research articles on
the health effects of sec-
ond-hand smoke reach
different conclusions?
Well, it turns out that
studies funded by
the tobacco in-
dustry itself had
a whopping 88
times the odds of
concluding it was
not harmful, ac-
cording to a meta-
analysis published
in JAMA (Journal of
the American Medi-
cal Association). So at
about 10 times more for
telecom puts it more to-
wards the drug industry
end of the bias spectrum.
There are conflicts of
interest on both sides of
the debate, though. If it’s
not financial conflict, then
Using the speaker-
phone function or a it may be intellectual, as
headset can reduce how it can be human nature
much radiation our head to show bias towards
is exposed to. evidence that supports
your personal position.
As such, you’ll see flimsy
science published, like
a study published in the
Journal of Neuro-Oncol-
PROSTOCK-STUDIO/SHUTTERSTOCK
training and aerobic exercise is best. Get Enough Vitamin D
Getting more sunlight or supplementing
Eat a Balanced Diet with vitamin D can also help build testos-
Getting adequate levels of macronutrient terone levels. One 12-month study found
like protein, carbohydrates, and fat can that supplementing with 3,000 IU of vita-
significantly impact hormone levels. Both min D per day could
food choices and total calories can influ- increase testosterone
ence testosterone. by 25 percent.
Regularly dieting or overeating can dis- Optimal testoster-
rupt testosterone levels, so a consistent, one levels can help
long-term approach to eating is the best you maintain muscle,
way to optimize levels. manage weight, and
Eating a diverse array of lean proteins, reduce the risk of
healthy carbohydrates like fruits and whole falls. Do your best to
grains, and healthy fats can help optimize live a life that helps
testosterone levels. keep testosterone
levels up.
Limit Stress
Finding ways to cut down on stress and get
better sleep can also help with testosterone.
Long-term stress that elevates cortisol levels
can reduce testosterone and lead to behavior
like overeating, weight gain, and fat storage.
C3
ogy in 2011 that appears to find a “dis-
turbing” and “very linear relationship”
between the states with the most brain
tumors and the states with the most cell
phone subscriptions. Okay, but one could
think of lots of reasons why states like
New York and Texas might have more
brain tumors and more cell phones than
the Dakotas, and those reasons have
nothing to do with cell phone radiation.
Sometimes, you might even see out-
right fraud with allegations that the
academic researchers who authored two
of those genotoxicity papers and the very
review I mentioned earlier were involved
in scientific misconduct—allegations
they deny, pointing out that their lead ac-
cuser turned out to be a lawyer working
for the telecom industry.
Since it’s such a
local effect, you can
see why there are
recommendations for
using the speakerphone
function or a hands-
free headset, which can
reduce brain exposure
by a factor of 100 or
more.
Whenever there’s a trillion-dollar
industry involved, whether it’s the food
industry, tobacco industry, drug indus-
try, or telecom industry, there’s so much
money involved that the science can get
manipulated. Take the nuclear energy
industry for example. An article in the
International Journal of Health Services
notes there was for decades “a high-
level, institutional … coverup” about
the health consequences of Chernobyl.
The official estimates of resulting health
problems were 100 or even 1,000 times
lower than estimates from independent
researchers.
Did only 4,000 people eventually die
from it or nearly a million? It depends
on who you ask and who happens to be
funding whomever you’re asking.
Michael Greger, MD, FACLM, is a physi-
cian, New York Times bestselling author,
and internationally recognized profes-
sional speaker on a number of important
public health issues. He has lectured at the
Conference on World Affairs, the National
Institutes of Health, and the International
Bird Flu Summit, testified before Congress,
appeared on “The Dr. Oz Show” and “The
Colbert Report,” and was invited as an
expert witness in defense of Oprah Win-
frey at the infamous “meat defamation”
trial. This article was originally published
on NutritionFacts.org
Mat Lecompte is a health and wellness
journalist. This article was first published
on Bel Marra Health.
Exercising regularly,
at any age, can help
raise testosterone.
IGOR PALAMARCHUK/SHUTTERSTOCK
C4
TRUE NUTRITION
Food as Medicine:
The Answer to
Mounting
Health Crises
Our toxic diet is feeding diseases that
can’t be cured with drugs that never
resolve the underlying problem
Continued from C1
I was part of that system for 40 years and
was comfortable within it.
“But for chronic disease, Type 2 diabetes,
hypertension, lipid problems, cardiovascu-
lar disease, cancer, dementia, nonalcoholic
fatty liver disease, polycystic ovarian dis-
ease—all of which are chronic metabolic
diseases, all of which are mitochondrial
diseases—we don’t have anything. We have
symptomatic relief only.”
He gives LDL lowering agents as an ex-
ample. LDL (low-density lipoproteins) is
sometimes referred to as the “bad choles-
terol.” But drugs that help lower LDL levels
don’t treat the metabolic dysfunction that
caused them to rise in the first place. He
says the same is true with hyperglycemia,
gy , eliminated certain aspects of medicine
hypertension, osteoporosis, and auto-
immune disease.
“All of these, we have symptom--
atic treatments. We don’t cure or
reverse the disease; we just treat
the symptoms. And so the dis-
ease gets worse,” he said.
“It’s like giving an aspirin to
a patient with a brain tumor
because they have a headache.”
The result is treatments that
never cure the illness butt
do cost the patient a lot
of money.
The other problem iis that
h ffocus to pharmaceuticals.
the food industry doesn’t
want you to know that vir-
tually all foods are intrin-
sically good for you until
they’re processed—and
processed foods make up a
majority of the foods people eat.
“Just because they call it processed food,
doesn’t make it food,” Lustig said.
“Calling it a processed food suggests that
it is a subset of food. Michael Pollan [calls it]
palatable food-like substances. The fact of
the matter is, processed food is poison. Food
is medicine, but processed food is poison,
and there’s no medicine that can undo the
damage of processed food.”
It is a fairly straightforward problem once
you understand that the human body is a
biochemical entity that relies on an amaz-
ing variety of chain reactions to turn the
food we eat, the air we breath, and the sun-
shine that lands on our skin into different
molecules, enzymes, proteins and so on.
And that’s why people don’t get well without
feeding their biochemistry.
The History of Medicine
In his book, Lustig does an excellent job
of presenting the history of our food and
medical systems, and the various pressures
Many med-
ical treat-
ments
attempt to
treat dis-
eases
caused by
poor diet
with drugs
that can only
reduce the
symptoms.
that led us down the path to where we are
today. For example, a significant part of why
medical doctors are so clueless about health
today is because Big Pharma was placed in
charge of their education. The drug industry,
in turn, was a distinct profit-making scheme
from its inception.
In 1910, Abraham Flexner, an educator,
wrote the Flexner Report, which turned out
to be a turning point in terms of creating
evidence-based modern medicine, while
simultaneously ignoring and eliminating
many health-related factors, including
nutrition and preventive medicine. His
brother, Simon Flexner, a pathologist and
pharmacist, was the first president of Rock-
efeller University.
One of the reasons the Flexner Report
was be
because John D. Rockefeller, presi-
dent of Standard Oil, was also in the
den
pharmaceutical business. He was
ph
ttrying to sell coal tar, a byprod-
uct of oil refining, as a treat-
ment for a range of ailments.
So, Rockefeller was seeking
new profit avenues. “He basi-
cally said we have to get drugs
and especially coal tar into the
hands of physicians who can
h food supply on its head in order to create
prescribe it,” Lustig said. The only
pr
way to do that was by overhauling
the medical
m system and shifting the
h the U.S. agriculture secretary, Earl Butts,
Real ingre- “So that was the start of Big Pharma. That’s
dients make not the story they want to tell, but that is in
real food. fact the case.
Packaged “Same thing with dentistry. Weston Price,
foods use perhaps the most famous of all dentists,
unhealthy knew this back in the 1920s and ’30s and
ingredients
actually said that sugar was the primary
to extend
shelf-life and driver of chronic oral disease, whether it be
add cheap periodontitis or dental caries.
flavor. “Everything was going in that direction
until 1945 with the advent of fluoride, and
then promptly everything Weston Price had
developed up to that point got deep-sixed. In
fact, the dentists even said that if we got rid
of dental caries, how are we going to make
money? So his work was basically forgotten.”
Why You Shouldn’t Focus
on Food Labels
By now, you’ve probably trained yourself
diligently to read food labels. The problem
is that the label won’t tell you what’s been
done to the food.
“This is one of the reasons why nobody’s
getting better because there’s nothing to
learn from the label that will actually help
you,” Lustig said.
According to Lustig, a food is healthy if
it satisfies two criteria: (1) It protects your
liver; and (2) it feeds your gut. A food that
WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021
does neither is poison, and any food that
does only one or the other, but not both, is
somewhere in the middle. Real food, be-
cause it has fiber, protects your liver and
nourishes your gut. Processed food is often
fiberless because fiber decreases shelf life.
By removing the fiber from the food, it pre-
vents it from going rancid, but it also makes
it inherently unhealthy.
“In an attempt to try to increase availabil-
ity, decrease wastage, we turned our entire
commodities rather than make food avail-
able,” Lustig said.
Then, in the 1970s, Richard Nixon told
to come up with a plan to decrease food pric-
es, as fluctuating food prices were causing
political unrest. The result was the start of
monoculture and chemical-driven farming.
“Now, we have nitrogen runoff destroy-
ing our environment and antibiotics in the
feed in order to keep the animals alive, but
basically killing off their own bacteria and
ours, and also creating chronic disease and
destroying the environment as well,” Lustig
said.
“It’s basically built into our Western food
system. And we’re not going to solve health
care, we’re not going to solve chronic dis-
ease, we’re not going to solve the economics
[or] the environmental problems until we
recognize what the problem is.”
Refinement Ruins Food
While Lustig argues that the refinement
of carbohydrates is the primary culprit
that makes processed food so bad for your
health, I believe processed fats may be an
even bigger contributor.
Omega-6 linoleic acid (LA), in particular,
is a pernicious metabolic poison. If eaten in
equal measure with omega-3 fatty acids, it
is OK, but that is not what is happening. In
1850, the LA in the average diet was about 2
percent of total calories. Today, it’s between
20 percent and 30 percent. While we do need
some omega-6, since the body doesn’t make
it, we need nowhere near the amount we’re
now getting, and that has chain reactions
throughout your body.
Lustig warns that omega-6s are proin-
flammatory and have enough unsaturated
double bonds that if you heat them high
enough, you turn them into trans fats.
“That’s the problem of all of these poly-
unsaturated fats. They’re not meant to be
heated beyond their smoking point, and
we do,” he said.
Polyunsaturated fats are also highly sus-
ceptible to oxidation, and as the fat oxidizes,
it breaks down into harmful sub-compo-
nents such as advanced lipid oxidation end
products (ALEs) and oxidized LA metabo-
lites (OXLAMs). These ALEs and OXLAMs
present their own threats to your health.
One type of advanced lipid oxidation end
product (ALE) is 4HNE, a mutagen known
to cause DNA damage. Studies have shown
there’s a definite correlation between el-
evated levels of 4HNE and heart failure. LA
 WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021
breaks down into 4HNE even faster when
the oil is heated, which is why cardiologists
recommend avoiding fried foods. LA intake
and the subsequent ALEs and OXLAMs pro-
duced also play a significant role in cancer.
HNE and other ALEs are extraordinarily
harmful even in exceedingly small quanti-
ties. While excess sugar is certainly bad for
your health and should typically be limited
to 25 grams per day or less, I believe LA is
far more damaging overall.
These substances increase oxidative stress
and our levels of reactive oxygen species.
Lustig explained the risk.
“We have a metabolic burden of reactive
oxygen species (ROS) that are doing dam-
age if you can’t quench them. That’s why we
have antioxidants in our body—glutathione,
vitamin E—[they’re] basically the sink for
those reactive oxygen species,” he said.
You can almost think of ROS as fire that
your body can use for various important
functions, including immune response. But
that fire poses a problem when you can’t
put it out.
“[ROS] is a normal byproduct of metabo-
lism. The point is we’re supposed to be able
to quench them. You can only quench them
ALL PHOTOS BY SHUTTERSTOCK
The best way to if you get the antioxidants into you,” he said.
ensure you are get- “The problem is as soon as you’ve taken the
ting proper nutrition germ out of the grain kernel, you’ve basically
is to cook at home reduced your antioxidant consumption by
using unprocessed tenfold. So, we are antioxidant deficient
ingredients. because of food processing, which then
leaves us vulnerable to the ravages of ROS
from multiple sources including our own
mitochondria.”
Real Food Is the Answer
The key, then, is to eat whole food, which
is naturally rich in fiber and low in sugar.
On a side note, free radicals are not all bad.
They’re also biological signaling molecules,
and if you indiscriminately suppress them,
which is the danger you run into when using
very high amounts of antioxidant supple-
ments, it can backfire.
The best way is to get your antioxidants
from your food, and real food not only pro-
vides antioxidants, but also doesn’t create
excessive ROS, so you get help from both
Corn and sugar ends. As for the type of diet you choose, any
are at the top of a diet can work, provided it’s right for your
deadly food pyramid metabolism. The only diet that does not
of disease-causing work for anyone is a processed food diet.
ingredients.
Solutions, Solutions
Now that you know the root problems, what
solutions does Lustig suggest? For starters,
education alone is not enough, he says. We
need education plus implementation. And
that requires a different societal response.
“The way I describe it is that there’s per-
sonal intervention, which for the lack of a
better word we can call rehab, and societal
intervention, which for lack of a better word
we can call laws. Rehab and laws for every-
thing that is a hedonic substance—you need
both,” he said.
The first step of personal intervention is
figuring out if you’re sick. “And don’t ask
your doctor because they don’t know how
to figure it out,” Lustig said. In Chapter 9
of his book, he lists clues that can help you
C5
self-diagnose.
In terms of addressing your health prob-
lems, your primary “treatment” will be
to make possibly significant changes to
how you shop and eat. As a general, easy-
to-follow rule, if it has a label, don’t buy it.
Real food does not have ingredient labels.
Lustig’s book also includes guidance on how
to read food labels in cases where you might
not have an option.
“We also need societal intervention. The
problem is the food industry doesn’t want
any societal intervention because this is
their gravy train. So, the question is, how
do you do this?” he said.
Normally we would do it through legisla-
tion, but the food industry has completely
co-opted the entire legislative branch; 338
out of 535 congressmen take money from
the American Legislative Exchange Council
(ALEC), and agriculture is their fourth [larg-
est] contributor after petroleum, tobacco,
and pharma.
Barring legislative success, we’re left with
litigation. Already, there are a number of
lawsuits in the works, several of which
Lustig is a part of. Ultimately, we must re-
structure the entire food system so that all
stakeholders benefit.
“And we have to demonstrate to them how
they can benefit,” Lustig said.
Subsidies Are the Biggest Hindrance to
Change
Can the food industry make money selling
real food? Lustig believes the answer is yes,
and in his book, he details how real food
makes both financial and ecological sense.
The key is to remove subsidies, which cur-
rently grease the wheels of the processed
food industry.
“The subsidies are the single biggest block-
ade,” Lustig said. “They’re the single biggest
obstacle to being able to fix the food sup-
ply because that’s what’s making processed
food cheap. The Giannini Foundation at UC
Berkeley did a back of envelope calculation
several years ago.
“What would the price of food look like
if we got rid of all food subsidies? It turns
out that the price of food would not change.
People say it would go up. No, it wouldn’t. It
would not change except for two items. Two
items would go up: Sugar and corn [used
for high-fructose corn syrup]. So, basically,
that would reduce consumption of the pri-
mary toxin in our diet that’s causing the
most trouble.
“The food industry ... can make more
money doing the right thing provided we
get rid of the subsidies or make the subsidies
for real food so that they can make money
selling the right thing. This requires the gov-
ernment. There’s no way around it. That’s
why this book is complete. It’s laid out for all
the stakeholders, including government, as
to what has to happen and why.
“I wrote this book for everyone to under-
stand the same principles all at once, so that
we can actually have an argument and a de-
bate and hopefully come to the table about
the facts, because until we do that, there
will be no solving this problem. If everyone
comes to the table, honestly, and admits to
what the issue is, what the problem is, we
can, in fact, solve it.”
To learn more, be sure to pick up a copy
of Lustig’s book, “Metabolical: The Lure
and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition,
and Modern Medicine.” You can also find
a wealth of information on his website,
RobertLustig.com, including media ap-
pearances, audio recordings, video lectures,
books, articles, and upcoming events where
you can hear him speak.
Dr. Joseph Mercola is the founder of
Mercola.com. An osteopathic physician,
Subsidized
best-selling author, and recipient of mul-
corn and
tiple awards in the field of natural health, sugar are
his primary vision is to change the modern essential to
health paradigm by providing people with the profitabil-
a valuable resource to help them take con- ity of the pro-
trol of their health. This article was origi- cessed food
nally published on Mercola.com industry.
C6
Around 23 percent of male teens have tried—and failed—to break a pornography habit.
Innocence Lost: Our
Children and Pornography
We must protect our children from pornographers and
safeguard romance and respect
JEFF MINICK
T
hough I’ve practiced several
vices in my time, pornography
was not one of them. I grew up
in a town and a time when I
didn’t even know the mean-
ing of that word. At the private school I
attended in seventh and eighth grade,
200 miles from home, one kid used to
smuggle Playboy magazines into the dor-
mitory, and boys would look with giddy
wonderment at the women in those pages.
Maybe I never developed this desire or
addiction because of the innocence of
my childhood.
Unless we take some
sort of action, we will
be paying for this grim
circumstance for decades,
if not generations.
Things are different now.
Deacon Robert Silva writes about teens
and even younger boys and girls and their
predilection for pornography in “Pan-
demic feeds an epidemic” which ap-
peared in the Arlington Catholic Herald.
As he points out, many of the parents he
meets when he speaks on this topic deny
their children watch online pornography.
But Silva then offers statistics such as
these:
A 93 percent of young men under the age
of 18 have seen porn, along with 62 per-
cent of young women of the same age.
A 89 percent of youth admit to receiving
sexual solicitation in chat rooms.
A 20 percent of teens have sent or posted
nude or seminude photographs or vid-
eos of themselves.
A The prime consumers of pornography
in the United States are those aged 12
to 17.
Although I find that last figure difficult to
believe, an organization aimed to make
the internet safer for children and fami-
lies, “Enough Is Enough,” backs up Silva’s
other data. In “Statistics: Youth & Porn,”
we learn that 51 percent of 11- to 13-year-
olds have at some point seen porn, that
only 12 percent of parents of teens know
their children are watching pornography,
and that 23 percent of male teens have
tried to break this habit but find them-
selves unable to stop.
A large majority of 18-year-olds believe
porn is too readily available and easy to
access.
Not surprisingly, as Silva notes, the pan-
demic has brought a sharp increase in
the consumption of online pornography,
which already accounts for 35 percent of
internet downloads.
I already knew that pornography costs
business billions of dollars annually be-
cause of employees who waste work time
by watching it, but reading through these
WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021
POLYA_OLYA/SHUTTERSTOCK LETIZIA BORDONI/UNSPLASH
Choosing a new path can be painful, but it’s
worth it.
Escaping the
Insufferable
Status Quo
We are far more likely to regret the things
we didn’t do than the things we did
JAY HARRINGTON
In the past decade, my wife, Heather, and
I have made some significant changes in
our lives.
Nine years ago, I stopped practicing law.
Eight years ago, we ditched our bricks-
and-mortar office and shifted to a virtual
business model.
Six years ago, we moved our family from
a suburb of a large city to a small town in
statistics about our young people was a northern Michigan.
sad awakening. How, I wondered, will this Each decision was excruciatingly hard
exposure to pornography affect the future to make. I conjured up all types of reasons
93%
of marriage, relationships, and dating? not to make them. Fear is a powerful form
Will those most severely affected by of resistance.
pornography, those who are addicted to What if I can’t support my family? What if
taking their own pleasures from a screen we don’t make any friends? What if we come
and watching others having sex, be able to regret our decision. What if?
of young men to participate in a stable marriage? It’s But looking back, I can see that those fears
under the age quite possible they won’t, especially as were totally unfounded and each change we
of 18 have the 17-year-old kid watching that screen made was almost universally positive. The
seen porn may come to think of sex as some sort of events of the past 12 months have served
mechanical act, without the presence of as a reinforcing exclamation point. When
along with love or romance. COVID-19 hit, we were already set up to
62%
In fact, romance itself may simply fade work remotely from a location, Traverse City,
away, as may the excitement of meeting Michigan, that has been a hot spot for pan-
someone who knocks you off your feet. demic relocation because of its low density
Furthermore, will the idea of wooing and and beautiful natural surroundings.
courting a woman, or being courted by a There’s no way we could have known how
of young women man, die in a miasmatic swamp of unreal things would play out when we made our
of the same age sexuality? Will we cease to look at others decisions. But we now know with certainty
as fully human and instead view them as that our worst fears didn’t materialize. Just
machines to be used? the opposite, in fact.
As I looked at some of the sites noted With the benefit of hindsight, it’s also
above, I found that, to paraphrase Silva, clear what caused me such trepidation in
kids don’t find porn as often as the porn my decision-making. I was influenced by
finds them. In some way, then, pornogra- the tendency, shared by most of us, to prefer
phers seek out—through advertisements that things stay the way they are despite the
or by some other means—an audience possibility of a brighter future.
of children. This is known as “status quo bias,” and it’s
51%
I’m too technologically ignorant and in- a big impediment to positive change. It’s
ept to make recommendations regarding tempting to avoid the discomfort of change
control of the pornography industry, but even if we’re not satisfied with the status quo.
it doesn’t take a genius to see the disasters Status quo bias is pervasive. It’s what stops
coming down the pike. Unless we take us from pursuing new job opportunities
of 11- to 13- some sort of action, we will be paying and keeps us in unfulfilling relationships,
year-olds have for this grim circumstance for decades, among other things. We perceive the fear
at some point if not generations. of the unknown, no matter how unlikely
seen porn As parents and guardians of the young, the worst-case scenario might be, as less
however, we can all take action right now. tolerable than the insufferable status quo.
but only We can add programs and limitations to According to Seneca the Younger, “We suffer
12%
our children’s phones and laptops to pre- more often in imagination than in reality.”
vent them from seeing this smut. Even Fear causes discomfort, so we avoid it.
more importantly, we can sit them down And our brains, which seek to protect us
and explain the personal costs of pornog- from fear, amplify the potential negative
raphy in terms of self-respect and deg- ramifications of taking action and mini-
of parents of radation. We can tell them how this “in- mize its benefits.
teens know dustry” makes billions of dollars a year,
how it demeans both women and men,  To overcome the fear and start taking
their children
and how it has the power to destroy love. action, grab a pen and a pad and write
are watching And while we’re at it, we can remind down:
pornography. ourselves of the same things.
1. What you’re worried about
This article was originally published 2. The potential benefits of taking action
on Intellectual Takeout. 3. The consequences of inaction
SAKKMESTERKE/SHUTTERSTOCK
It’s only by getting what we fear out of our
heads and down on paper, and analyzing
them rationally, that we can do a proper
cost-benefit analysis of the actions we in-
tend and the changes we seek.
The alternative is to look back with regret.
After all, it’s well documented that, at the
end of their lives, few people feel remorse-
ful about the actions they took, even if they
didn’t turn out as intended. In most cases,
they rue having never taken action in the
first place.
Jay Harrington is an author and
lawyer-turned-entrepreneur who runs
a northern Michigan-inspired lifestyle
brand called Life and Whim. He lives
with his wife and three young girls in a
Parents can add restrictions to their children’s computers to protect them from small town and writes about living a
pornography. purposeful, outdoor-oriented life.
 WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021
How to
Turn a Toxic
Conflict Into
a Good One
A new book explains
why we get stuck in
intractable conflicts and
how to get out of them
Continued from C1
Any time you divide humans into two oppo-
sitional camps, it really brings out our worst
conflict instincts. But maybe the most chill-
ing pattern I’ve seen in every high conflict
is eventually everybody involved starts to
mimic the behavior of their enemies. They
start doing the thing they got into the fight
to stop, almost always without realizing it
at first. There’s something really diabolical
about that paradox.
There are a few conditions that seem to
reliably create high conflict. One of them
is the presence of what I call “conflict en-
trepreneurs.” That’s basically a person or
a company that exploits conflict for their
own ends. It’s someone who just delights
in every twist and
turn, who finds
meaning and ca-
maraderie and Any time you divide
connection in the
conflict. humans into two
With good con- oppositional camps,
flict, you can still
get really angry it really brings out
and frustrated—
it can be intense our worst conflict
and heated—but instincts.
there’s a feel-
ing that it’s go- Amanda Ripley, author,
ing somewhere. I journalist
know this sounds
a little squishy, but I have no trouble telling
the difference now. In good conflict, there
are flashes of curiosity, more questions get
asked, and people tend to leave the con-
flict more satisfied, even if they don’t agree
(that’s not actually the only goal of conflict).
I think we need much more good conflict
in the United States and around the world,
and much less high conflict.
Mr. Marsh: What questions can we ask
ourselves to understand whether we are
trapped in high conflict or good conflict?
Ms. Ripley: Some of the questions to ask
yourself are: Am I losing sleep over this con-
flict? Do I feel happy when the other person
or the other side suffers in some way, even if
it doesn’t benefit me? Do I find that when I
discuss this conflict [even] with people who
agree with me, I leave that conversation
more frustrated, like nobody’s illuminating
or enlightening each other at this point?
Mr. Marsh: In a book about conflict, I never
thought I’d read so much about crockpots.
Tell me about the crockpot metaphor in
the book.
Ms. Ripley: As a storyteller, for me, one of
the most fascinating things to realize is
that most conflicts aren’t about what they
seem to be about. They’re about that, but
they’re also about something else, which I
call the “understory”: the thing underneath
the conflict that nobody’s talking about.
For example, I talk about a couple who
was going to war about who was going to
get the crockpot as they divvied up their
possessions in their divorce. Eventually,
if you ask the right questions, you find out
that when the wife was a kid, her parents
would have a pot roast going every Sunday
in the crockpot. To her, that felt like a good
home, and the couple had gotten it off their
wedding registry, and they’d never used
it. For her, it meant something she hadn’t
yet achieved but wanted to. The husband,
meanwhile, wanted it because she wanted
it so badly. He didn’t even want the divorce,
but she did, so this was one thing he could
go to the mat on.
A lot of this isn’t even conscious, it’s
important to note. Sometimes you get so
wrapped up trying to win the fight that you
don’t ask yourself—and no one asks you—
these questions.
Now, if I’m in an argument with my hus-
band, we literally talk about the crockpot—
we can skip some steps and be like, what are
we actually arguing about? That’s helpful
because you don’t spend all this time going
back and forth about the crockpot and you
can hopefully get to [the real issue] faster.
Mr. Marsh: What has been the biggest
takeaway from your reporting that you’ve
applied to your personal life?
Ms. Ripley: The thing that has changed
what I do every single day is a technique
called “looping for understanding,” which
is a form of active listening that [media-
tor] Gary Friedman taught me through
an organization he cofounded in the San
Francisco Bay Area called The Center for
Understanding in Conflict. I went into this
training thinking I know how to listen—
I’ve professionally interviewed people for
many years. But it turned out acting like
you’re listening and nodding and smiling
and going, “Mmm, I hear you,” is not lis-
tening, and people can tell the difference.
Looping means to really listen to the
person, and you try to distill what they’re
saying into the most elegant language you
can muster. You don’t literally need to re-
peat it verbatim, but you’re trying to get
the crux of what’s important to them, not
to you. And then—this is important, I used
to forget this in the beginning—you have
to check if you got it right. You have to say,
“So it sounds like you feel like this crockpot
is really important to your idea of what a
happy home looks like, is that right?” Ask
with curiosity.
Curiosity is the key to the kingdom, but it
has to be genuine. As soon as you do this,
even if you get it wrong, people will cor-
rect you and you keep getting deeper and
deeper. Their whole expression and pos-
ture change, even if it’s not that emotional
of an interview. They’re just so grateful to
feel like you’re trying to get them, and it’s
poignant because it reveals how rarely it
actually happens.
There’s a ton of cool research on this: As
soon as people feel heard, they open up,
they say more nuanced, complicated things,
less exaggerated and extreme things, and
they’re more likely to take in information
they don’t want to hear.
I do it with my kid all the time. It’s great
for parenting because it gets you out of
that trap of thinking you have to fix every-
thing or win the argument. Mostly what
people want is to be heard, so you can give
them that and move on.
C7
TATIANA CHEKRYZHOVA/SHUTTERSTOCK
Mr. Marsh: You write about how acknowl- While healthy
edging the complexity of issues can help
mitigate conflict, too. Could you share
some of those findings?
Ms. Ripley: Peter Coleman and his col-
conflict can
include a
range of
emotions,
leagues run something called the Dif-
ficult Conversations Lab at Columbia
where they pair up people who disagree
strongly on really controversial subjects,
high conflict
is defined by
two emotions
only—anger
and fear.
whether it’s abortion or gun control. They
have a 20-minute recorded conversation
in which they try to come up with a state-
ment they could both publicly put their
names to.
Sometimes this goes badly, and they
have to end the conversation before the
20 minutes are up, but other times it goes
well. People do experience anger and frus-
tration, but they also experience flashes
of curiosity, of humor, of understanding;
they ask more questions. In the data analy-
sis of these recordings, you can literally see
good conflict and high conflict. In high
conflict, it’s the same two emotions over
and over and over: anger, frustration, an-
ger, frustration. In good conflict, it’s like a
galaxy of emotions.
What they found is they could actually
induce good-conflict conversations by
having people (before they went in) read
a short news story that was about some
other big controversy but acknowledged
complexity explicitly. It said there are more
than two sides to this debate; if you ask the
polling questions a different way, you get a
different answer, sometimes people have
internal ambivalence about this subject.
And it just acknowledged the truth, which
is you can’t divide millions of people into
two buckets; humans don’t work that way.
Acknowledging that seemed to be conta-
gious, and then that complexity was car-
ried into the conversation.
Mr. Marsh: How can we have good conflict
with someone who has more authority and
power than we do, who isn’t responding
to looping or promoting productive dis-
agreement?
Ms. Ripley: There are people who, at any
given point in their life, do not want to
have good conflict. There are people who
want to have high conflict. They’re getting
a lot out of it—maybe a sense of power,
maybe profit, maybe camaraderie, maybe
meaning (often it’s meaning, attention).
Especially when there’s a power difference,
that’s a problem you can’t fix sometimes.
In any conflict, you can change what you
do—you can set boundaries, you can try
to distance yourself from high-conflict
people and conflict entrepreneurs—but
you can’t shift to good conflict with some-
one who doesn’t want something different.
That’s a painful thing.
The good news, what I’ve found, is that
people change. People can be really in
high conflict or totally bewitched by con-
spiracy theories or even extremist ide-
ology, and then they change. So part of
the challenge is: How long can I stay in
this person’s life, if I care about them, in
the hopes that one day there will be an
opening?
I went into [writing this book] pretty
skeptical—I was not someone who’s super
into dialogue and peace—and I came out
the other side totally bought into the idea
that there is a way to do good conflict. I’ve
not only seen it, I’ve been part of it, and
it is almost a transcendent feeling, to be
challenged and to challenge other people
without losing your dignity and your sense
of humanity.
Jason Marsh is the editor-in-chief
of Greater Good, which first
published this article.
C8
Do You Like the
Person You Are
Becoming?
It is never too late to work on
becoming the person we want to be
JOSHUA BECKER
Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher, is cred-
ited as first saying, “Change is the only
constant in life.”
And I think he’s right. Change happens
all around us, all the time. The weather
changes, leadership changes, culture
changes, our jobs change, our families
change—and we change.
Sometimes quickly, but often slowly,
we change.
Our worldview changes, our attitudes
change, our goals change, our habits
change, our hobbies change, our fears
change, our relationships change, even
our bodies change.
With that in mind, I have a question
for you today:
Do you like the person you are becom-
ing?
If we’re moving further
and further away from
the person we want to be,
it is wise to notice that as
soon as possible.
We ask a lot of questions of ourselves
and each other, but one of the most self-
reflective and most helpful questions we
could ever ask ourselves focuses less on
what we are doing, and more on who we
are becoming.
Because if something is changing,
there are only three possibilities:
It is getting better. It is getting worse.
Or the change is neutral.
The same is true of you and true of me.
We are changing. And we are either be-
come more like the people we want to
be, or less.
Sometimes it is helpful to stop and
evaluate and see which direction we
are heading.
I once had a friend who was very excit-
ed about the changes taking place in her
life. They weren’t changes of employment
or external circumstances necessarily,
they were deeper, heart changes about
the way she saw the world and the way
she began interacting with people. She
was excited to share with me the things
she had been learning and who she was
becoming.
Amidst our conversation, she asked
me about some accomplishments she
had seen in my life (the blog, books, the
YouTube channel, etc.). And she inquired
how I felt about them. She was anxious
to hear how my view on life had changed
over the past 3 to 4 years.
I responded to her question: “I’m ex-
cited about the work I’m doing. But I
don’t think I always like the person I
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am becoming. In fact, if I’m being hon-
est, I think I’m a little less patient than I
was 10 years ago. I think I’m a little more
prideful—maybe even less kind. I also
sometimes wonder if I was a little more
fun to be around a decade ago.”
I don’t think she was expecting that
answer. But her question gave me the
opportunity to articulate some rum-
blings in my heart that I’d been feeling for
awhile. Not all change is good, and I can
see some changes in my life moving me
away from the person I most want to be.
Either we are becoming more like the
person we want to be, we are becoming
less like the person we want to be, or the
changes in our life are neutral in this re-
gard.
But if we’re moving further and further
away from the person we want to be, it is
wise to notice that as soon as possible so
the course correction can be easier, more
efficient, and more effective.
Of course, this isn’t always an easy ques-
tion to answer. In most cases, it’s not a
simple yes or no. We may look at our
trajectory and be proud of some of the
changes, but regret others.
We may be excelling at work but becom-
ing more demanding along thee way.
We may be getting ahead finan- nan-
cially but spending less time at
home than we used to.
We may be losing weight but be- e-
coming more prideful or focused ed
on outward appearances because use
of it.
We may be excited about specificcific ac-
complishments but worried about the
ways we are coping with the stress tress of
them.
We may be making great strides des
in some habits but faltering in oth-th-
ers.
In each scenario, we should ask
ourselves: “Do I have to be givingving
up positive progress in one areaa of my
life just to succeed in another? When I get
down to the heart of the matter, do I like
the person I am becoming?”
If you are not happy with the person you
are becoming, here are some thoughts to
help you change course:
1. You can always change.
Nobody can take away your right to
change. No employer, no spouse, no toxic
relationship. Positive change is always
possible. You are the only person who
gets to decide who you are going to be-
come.
2. Don’t change your goals, change
your habits.
Often the goals we pursue, when they
are new, bring about these unexpected
changes that move us away from who we
want to be. If that is the case, and you can
pinpoint the pursuit drawing you away,
you have two options: 1. remove it, or 2.
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There is perhaps alter how you chase it.
nothing as essential Maybe you are striving to start a new
to our contentment business but are beginning to notice that
as knowing we are
becoming the person
it’s taking more time away from your fam-
ily than you imagined—and you can see
we aspire to be.
that is not who you want to become. May-
be the answer is to stop pursuing the new
business venture. Or maybe there is a dif-
ferent approach that you need to adopt in
chasing it.
3. We love to see people trying
to change for the better.
Our world loves to cheer people making
positive changes. Oh, some get jealous
and envious, and they might even try to
keep you down. But for the most part, we
are a society that cheers for the underdog.
Take comfort in that and know that many
will see your changes and cheer for you to
succeed.
4. It’s never too late to change.
The best time to change for the positive
may have been yesterday or 10 years ago,
but the second-best time is right now. If
It can feel like you’re still living (which I assume you are),
too much time you’ve got time to change. And while you
has passed, can’t change the past, you can redeem it.
but as long And no matter how much time you have
as a minute left, you can set an example for others.
remains,
we can still
improve
5. People are remembered most
ourselves. for who they were, not what they
LALLANAN/
accomplished.
SHUTTERSTOCK
If the accomplishments you are pursuing
are resulting in negative changes in your
life (which is often the case), remind your-
self that who you are is more important.
The people who know you best will always
remember your character and values more
than your personal accomplishments.
May we all be changing for the better.
Joshua Becker is an author, public
speaker and the founder and editor of
Becoming Minimalist where he inspires
others to live more by owning less. Visit
BecomingMinimalist.com
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 PINTIRA18/SHUTTERSTOCK
HOME COOKING PERSONAL FINANCE

Transforming Ricotta: Richard Thaler’s Advice for

Just Whip It a Stronger Financial Future
Whipping ricotta transforms it into an ethereal A prominent behavioral economist and Nobel laureate
spreadable cheese, ready for endless sweet or savory shares key lessons from the past year.
applications.
See D5 See D7

HOME IMPROVEMENT|FOOD|MONEY WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021 D1

HOME
ALL PHOTOS BY SHUTTERSTOCK; PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY THE EPOCH TIMES

A GREENER VIEW

The Art of
Kokedama
This traditional
Japanese gardening
style is a beautiful way
to display small plants
JEFF RUGG

“Koke” is Japanese for “moss.” And

“dama” is possibly the translation
for “ball,” or it could be “tama”
and maybe mean “marble.” Even
though there may be something
lost in translation, “kokedama” is
now considered to mean “moss
ball.” In Japan, it has been a
popular gardening style, similar
to bonsai, and it is becoming more
popular in the rest of the world.
The original style of Japanese
moss ball uses heavy clay soil that
will retain its ball shape on its own.
Moss is then wrapped around the
mud ball, where it grows naturally.
It does not need to be tied to hold
it together. Small, slow-growing
plants such as ferns can be added
to make the moss ball a flower pot.
It is a very simple planting method
for small plants. You are simply
replacing the standard plastic or clay
pot with a wrapping of moss. If the
plant would be grown in a loose pot-
ting soil, you make a ball out of the
soil and wrap it in moss, but it will
probably need to be tied to retain
the round shape. If the plant would
Once you decide to be planted into an orchid mix, such
ditch your stuff, what as the kind used for Phalaenopsis
orchids or other epiphytes, you will
do you do with it? need to tie it in place.
The moss ball pot can be admired
in a tray or hung. Many plants that
would grow in hanging baskets can
be planted in kokedama. Epiphytic
plants, including many orchids,
tillandsias, bromeliads, and vines,
grow well in hanging kokedama.
The moss used as the pot can be
alive or dead. Moss comes in many
forms, but the type known as sheet
moss is what is used. There are

How to many species of moss that grow in

sheets. If you have some in your

of
landscape, you can dig them up,

Get Rid
but do not dig up moss in any for-
est preserve or location that you
do not have permission. You can

Almost buy sheet moss at MossAcres.com

or MossManInc.com. It might be
called sheet moss, feather moss, or

Anything
shag moss. You can also use long-
strand sphagnum moss, which
takes a little more time to wrap
around the ball due to the many
smaller pieces.
If you are using a mud ball,
the first step is to get the soil wet
enough that it will hold together
and shape it into a ball about the

T
DIANA REESE
he key to finding happiness
in your decluttering efforts
is answering this question:
Once you decide to ditch
your stuff, what do you do
with it?
Unless your soon-to-be-
former possessions truly qualify as trash,
you won’t want to set them out at the curb
on pickup day to clog up your local landfill.
Instead, the key is to decide whether to give
overseas or to prisoners. If your town has a size of a baseball.
Little Free Library program, you can leave
books in a location near you. ontinued on D2
Continued
If you’d prefer to sell these items, consider
selling them at your next yard sale. You
can also sell books and music to a used
book store or record store or through online
marketplaces.
Clothing and Shoes
Clothing in good shape can often be sold or
donated, and formal wear and profession-
al clothing may be especially in demand.
WAHYU GAYATRI SOENARDJO/SHUTTERSTOCK

your stuff away, sell it, swap it, or recycle it. Give your fancy dresses a second life by
Here’s how to deal with a variety of items. donating them to groups that provide prom
dresses to high school girls who otherwise
Books, Music, Games, Movies won’t have a gown.
Donate books to your local library or to
programs that will ship books to soldiers Continued on D2
Japanesee moss
mos
osss balls
balls are
becoming more popular in
the rest of the world.
D2 WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021

ALICE PASQUAL/UNSPLASH

Donating gently used items is both an easy and rewarding way to clear clutter. 

CHUNG I HO/THE EPOCH TIMES

How to
of
Get Rid Almost

Anything
Continued from D1
Donate gently used professional clothing
to organizations that provide professional
attire to job seekers to wear to interviews.
For regular day-to-day clothing, includ-
ing warm coats and accessories, your local
homeless or women’s shelter may be grate-
ful for clothing. Many churches also orga-
nize clothing donations to organizations in
need, and charity thrift shops use cloth-
ing donations to raise funds for programs.
Some charities will even accept clothing
that’s too worn or stained to sell—they turn
it over to clothing recyclers.
If you have kids’ clothing and shoes,
consider hosting regular clothing swaps
with families in your neighborhood who
have kids of varying ages. You’ll get rid of
clothes your kids have outgrown and get
some larger sizes in return.
Building Supplies and Appliances
Donate your reusable and surplus build-
ing materials and appliances to Habitat for
Humanity’s ReStore outlets. Proceeds help
fund Habitat homes.
Toys, Stuffed Animals, Baby Gear
Donate gently used stuffed animals, toys,
children’s books, and blankets to a local
church or temple. Some partner with shel-
ters and food pantries to provide clothes,
toys, and household goods to families in
need. You can also look for an organization
that distributes toys and books to emer-
gency organizations, children’s services,
hospitals, and homeless shelters.
Be aware: Toys, especially stuffed ani-
mals, and some baby equipment such as
car seats and cribs may not be accepted by
many charities because of recalls.
Household Goods
Miscellaneous household goods, small ap-
pliances, and linens do surprisingly well at
yard sales, says Chris Heiska, owner of the
website YardSaleQueen.com. Her advice:
Have an extension cord and working outlet
nearby so prospective buyers can try any-
thing electronic.
Shelters for homeless people and abused
women are always looking for items that
residents can use to set up a new home
when they leave. And animal shelters
and humane societies will use your old
towels, linens, and sometimes rugs to
provide warmth and comfort to animals.
Call your local ASPCA, Humane Society,
or small-animal rescue groups to find out
what they need.
Unwanted or Duplicate Gifts
Save that brand-new stuff that just isn’t
your style or that can’t be returned and
donate it to the next charity auction you’re
involved with. Somebody will want what
you don’t—and you’ll get a tax deduction
for your largesse.
Good Furniture
You can sell furniture at a yard sale, but you
may not get a great price. Instead, consider
listing it online through a local classifieds
website or through your local neighbor-
hood forum.
Specialty or Collectible Items
If you’re interested in making some money
while you get rid of specialty items or col-
lectibles, a yard sale might not cut it. In-
stead, try eBay, where items that go for $50
or more will make the investment of time
and effort worthwhile, says Washington,
D.C.-based certified organizer Scott Roew-
If your town has a Little
Free Library program,
you can leave books in a
location near you.
Miscellaneous
household
goods, small
appliances,
and linens do
surprisingly
well at yard
sales.
Diana Reese is a free-
lance journalist and
writer. Better Homes
and Gardens is a
magazine and website
devoted to ideas and
improvement projects
for your home and
garden, plus recipes
and entertaining
ideas. Online at BHG.
com. Copyright 2021
Meredith Corporation.
Distributed by Tribune
Content Agency, LLC.
er. Consider this for vintage items, table-
ware, or even spare car or motorcycle parts.
Cellphones
Ready to upgrade your phone? First, check
with your wireless provider to see if you
can trade in your old phone for any value.
Some companies refurbish old phones and
resell or donate them. If your current phone
is in good shape, consider selling it online
through a phone-resale website. If it’s no
longer functional or an older model, look
for an organization locally or online that
collects donated phones to raise funds—
the donated phones are sold to a recycling
company, with proceeds benefitting the
organization.
Eyeglasses
Many organizations collect donated glasses
to send to people with refractive errors in
low- and middle-income countries. Look
online to find a drop-off location near you,
or check in with your eyeglass provider to
see if they collect old frames.
Computers and Electronic Waste
If your electronic equipment is broken
or too old to resell, try to recycle it. Many
municipalities have free e-waste recycling
events that accept computers, monitors,
printers, and more. Watch local news for
announcements of used-electronics col-
lection days, or find links to local recyclers
and refurbishers online.
Plastic Kitchen Containers
Got lids with no bottoms, or bottoms with
no lids? Cracked or stained containers?
Check for the recycling number on plas-
tics and then look online for the nearest
recycling center that will accept them.

A GREENER VIEW Continued from D1
Second, make a hole in the ball, and
The Art of insert the plant roots. Reshape the
soil to hold the plant in place. Since
potting soil and orchid mix soil don’t
Kokedama hold their shape well, you can use
cheesecloth or loose, porous fabric to
hold the soil while you wrap it
in moss.
Third, wrap the ball in moss, and
RADIM GLAJC/SHUTTERSTOCK
can hang the plant so the plant hangs
to the side or straight down, and
the ball doesn’t have to be perfectly
round.
If you are using live moss and you
want to keep it alive, you will need
to plant a shade-loving plant, since
the moss will need to remain in the
shade. If you are using a dead moss
or sphagnum moss, you can grow a
sun-loving plant. You will need to be
crystals in the soil to help retain
moisture, since the moss ball planter
will dry out faster than a plant in a
pot due to the soil being completely
exposed to the air. The balls can be
misted daily, but even then, they may
need to be dipped in water for a few
minutes each week.
I have posted a video on how to
make kokedama balls on the video
page of GreenerView.com, with bo-

use string or fish line to hold it in
place.
Fourth, if the ball is going to be
hung, you can stick a wire through
the ball and bend a hook in it to hold
it. If you are using string, tie the
string to the string wrapping the ball,
Your moss and adjust them until the plant hangs
ball pot can be upright. Tie the hanger strings high
admired in a tray on the ball, not in the middle, so the
or hung. ball doesn’t tip over. Although, you
more careful with the water, as the
kokedama ball will dry out quickly in
the sun and wind.
You can tell when the kokedama
needs watering, as it will become
very light when it is dry. The live moss
will lose its bright green color, and
the sphagnum moss will turn a much
lighter brown than a wet sphagnum
moss. You can use peat moss and
sphagnum moss or water-retaining
nus information on making your own
kokedama ball.
Email questions to Jeff Rugg at info@
greenerview.com. To find out more
about Jeff Rugg and read features by
other Creators Syndicate writers and
cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndi-
cate website at Creators.com. Copy-
right 2021 Jeff Rugg. Distributed by
Creators Syndicate.
 WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021
GROWING GARDENERS
Get to Know
Your Soil
Loam soil, the ideal soil for growing plants, looks like chocolate cake when you dig up a shovelful.
MATT FOWLER
I
f you have been following along
in our Growing Gardeners series,
your seedlings should be healthy,
with strong stems and multiple
leaves. But before we can transplant
them outside, we have to prepare their
new home.
You know how important it is to have
strong, healthy seedlings reaching for the
sun. Too often, though, gardeners don’t
recognize the link between the health of
their plants and the health of their soil—
and their own health, too. To produce
nutrient-dense fruits and vegetables, your
soil must be full of micronutrients that the
plants can easily absorb in large amounts.
Talking about soil vitality isn’t the most
exciting part of gardening, but it is really
the most important part. You will need
to create an environment in which your
ASK THE VET
Is It Safe to Keep a Cat
During Pregnancy?
LEE PICKETT
Q: I am planning to become pregnant,
and a friend says I should give away my
cat, Myrtle, because she can transmit a
disease that could harm my unborn child.
Is this true?
A: Rest assured that you may keep Myrtle.
It sounds like your friend is referring to
toxoplasmosis, nicknamed “toxo,” a dis-
ease caused by a one-celled protozoal
parasite called Toxoplasma.
If you are among the approximately 30
percent of the population who’s already
been exposed to Toxoplasma, you have
antibodies that will protect your unborn
child from the disease. Your health care
provider can check your antibody levels
and advise you.
If you do not have antibodies to Toxoplas-
ma, you should take steps to prevent infec-
tion during pregnancy, since it can increase
the risk of miscarriage, eye problems, and
brain damage in your unborn child.
Fortunately, it’s easy to prevent infection
once you know a little about Toxoplasma.
A cat gets infected by ingesting the or-
ganism encysted in the muscles of a ro-
dent, bird, or other animal. To prevent this,
confine Myrtle indoors to keep her from
eating wildlife, and feed her commercially
processed cat food, not raw food.
Cats with toxo rarely show signs of in-
ALL PHOTOS BY SHUTTERSTOCK
Talking about
soil vitality
isn’t the most
exciting part
of gardening,
but it is really
the most
important part.
fection. However, they do excrete nonin-
fectious Toxoplasma eggs, called oocysts
(OH’-oh-sists), in their feces during the first
few weeks after they’re infected.
More than one day is required for the
oocysts to become infective, so you should
scoop Myrtle’s litter boxes at least once
daily. Wear a mask and disposable gloves,
and wash your hands afterward. Or, bet-
ter yet, have another adult scoop the litter
boxes.
Oocysts excreted into sand and soil are a
risk, so cover sandboxes when not in use,
and wash hands after outdoor play.
Wear gloves while gardening; wash
hands afterward; and wash all fruits, veg-
etables, and herbs before eating them.
Undercooked animal muscle, unpas-
teurized milk, and cheese made from raw
milk are important sources of Toxoplasma
exposure. Use a food thermometer to en-
sure that meat, poultry, fish, and shellfish
are cooked thoroughly, and don’t taste
food until it’s fully cooked. Wash cutting
boards and utensils in hot, soapy water,
and always wash your hands before eating.
If you take these simple precautions, you
can safely live with Myrtle while you’re
pregnant. Best wishes to you and your
new baby!
Q: Is it safe to give our dogs grapes as
treats? One of our friends gives them to her
plants will thrive. To do this, you will need
to manage your soil and what lives in it.
Soil Textures and Types
The building blocks of soil are sand,
silt, and clay. You and your bud-
ding gardener can spend a little
time feeling the soil in your gar-
den and identifying the soil type.
Sandy soils have large particles
that feel gritty to the touch. Water
moves quickly through sandy
soils, and along with the water,
important nutrients quickly flow
through and are lost.
Silts have finer particles than
sandy soils. They pack together
tightly, and can be really slick
when wet and almost like powder
when dry. You have seen silts being
kicked into the air by kids as they
shuffle their feet in the dirt.
Clay soil feels hard and rough
when dry and slick or sticky
when wet. Clay soils hold large
reserves of moisture and drain
slowly. When you are walking and
see soil that has deep cracks in it
during dry times, you are looking
at clay soil.
Loam is the ideal soil for
growing plants. It has an equal
balance of the other three soil
types, but is also rich in decom-
posed organic matter, humus.
Loam soil looks like chocolate
cake when you dig up a shovelful.
It’s dark and rich in color, with plenty of
air pockets and structure to hold water
but also drains well enough to keep your
plants from drowning.
Amending Your Soil
If you will be planting a container garden
or a small raised bed, you can buy gar-
den soil or raised bed soil at your home
improvement store. Miracle-Gro makes a
good product.
If you are planting an in-ground garden,
note that your native soil will already have
some mix of sand, silt, and clay. If it doesn’t keep the soil moist and cool. With mini-
have a lot of humus, you can improve it
with soil amendments, such as compost or bugs or earthworms under the leaf litter or
aged manure, from your home and garden in the soil.
store. Amending your soil should be done
each year, to best provide your plants
and the soil with the nutrients they need.
Remember that we want loamy soil that
looks like chocolate cake.
You don’t have to worry about trying to
amend all the soil in your garden at once.
It can also be done slowly over time, by
amending only the areas you plan to plant, that with soil that’s alive and is its own
and then moving the placement of your
plants each year.
Start by marking where you will be
planting your seedlings, remembering
that they will need adequate spacing. We
love to use little kid measuring devices in
the garden, like the length of a hand, foot,
or arm. It’s not uncommon to see one of
my children crouched down with face
near the soil, measuring a distance from
elbow to fingertip between holes. Refer to
ALENA OZEROVA/SHUTTERSTOCK
If you take some simple
precautions, you can
safely live with your cat
while you’re pregnant.
Fortunately,
it’s easy to
prevent
infection once
you know a
little about
Toxoplasma.
D3
your seed packets for spacing recommen-
dations, determine a good corresponding
“measuring device,” and have fun with it.
In each spot, dig a hole about 8 inches
in diameter and 8 inches deep. Fill
that hole about half full of compost
and half full of the soil that came
out of the hole. Use your shovel
to mix the compost and original
soil together, breaking up any
hard clumps of clay soil as you
Sandy soil. mix. When you transplant your
seedlings into the garden, you will
want to put them in the middle of
these amended areas.
After we move our seedlings,
we will talk about using a mulch
layer to further increase the
organic matter that you want to
Silty soil. decay in your soil. This thick layer
of leaves, grass clippings, wood
chips, or even old newspapers will
serve to protect the ecosystem
that is your garden. It will help
hold in moisture and insulate it
from the sun’s heat. Additionally,
mulch helps to deter weeds from
Clay soil. growing in your garden—and who
likes to pull weeds, anyway?
Keeping It Natural
If you do an adequate job
of amending your soil with
compost or aged manure, you
shouldn’t have to add synthetic
Loam soil. fertilizer. While liquid fertilizers or
time-release granules might give
your plants an initial boost, they can make
your soil worse over the long run by killing
beneficial organisms that live there. Those
bugs, earthworms, fungi, and microor-
ganisms all like the same growing condi-
tions as your plants: soil that is moist (not
wet or dry), well-aerated, and protected
from the heat of the sun.
You and your budding gardener need
only take a walk through a wooded area
to see how Mother Nature amends and
protects the soil herself. The forest floor is
covered in decaying leaves and sticks that
mal digging, you can probably find small
Taking the time to help your budding
gardener learn about and process the
types of soils, and mentally moving from
the concept of dirt to soil, can have a
lasting impact. For little ones, it might
be useful for them to start by thinking
about how they wash non-living dirt off
their hands. Taking a minute to contrast
self-sustaining ecosystem can open up a
world of discussion.
Matt Fowler, MBA, Ph.D., enjoys writing
about his experiences at The Abundant
Farm, an intentional farming operation
in southeastern Illinois on the Crawfish
Creek. The farm challenges the family in the
building of a homestead by producing food,
products, and character while teaching
health and bounty to others.
dogs, but another friend says they’re toxic.
A: Dogs that eat grapes, raisins, or tama-
rind fruit can develop kidney damage se-
vere enough to cause kidney failure and
death.
Grapes at “doses” of 0.32 to 2.4 ounces
per pound of the dog’s body weight and
raisins at 0.045 to 0.59 ounces per pound
are toxic to dogs.
Initial signs of poisoning include vomit-
ing, diarrhea, abdominal pain, excessive
drooling, lethargy, dehydration, and loss
of appetite. Immediate veterinary care is
necessary to preserve kidney function and
save the dog’s life.
Veterinary toxicologists theorize that the
tartaric acid and potassium bitartrate in
grapes, raisins, and tamarinds are respon-
sible for the fruits’ toxicity in dogs.
The concentrations of these chemicals
vary with the type of grape, growing condi-
tions, and degree of ripening. That’s prob-
ably the reason why grapes and raisins
sometimes cause no problems but other
times are deadly.
Cream of tartar, used in cooking and
baking, is another term for potassium bi-
tartrate. Not surprisingly, cream of tartar
ingestion also causes vomiting and kidney
damage in dogs.
While grapes, raisins, tamarinds, and
cream of tartar are safe for humans, they
are toxic to dogs, so keep them away from
your canine family members.
Lee Pickett, VMD, practices companion
animal medicine in North Carolina.
Contact her at AskTheVet.pet. Copyright
2021 Lee Pickett, VMD. Distributed by
Creators.com
D4 WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021

JACOB LUND/SHUTTERSTOCK

EVERYDAY CHEAPSKATE

A Gracious Guide
to Being a Good
House Guest
MARY HUNT Specific Dates
Nail down the dates of your visit, and
It was shocking, if not surreal. The email then stick to them. When your host does
message was from a woman I’d never met not offer specific dates, that does not
and whose name I recognized only be- mean to say as long as you like. Listen for
cause, a few months earlier, she mailed subtle clues (“We’ll be super busy toward Make sure you have a clear invitation, and have given your hosts the details of your visit, before
me a book she’d written. the end of July”). you arrive.
The message announced that she
and her family were planning a road Do Not Be Vague Mind the Children sure you leave behind a fragrance—not
trip to Disneyland and would just love If the two of you plan to arrive with four Talk to your kids—before you travel—about an odor. Clean up after yourselves with-
to stay with us since (at the time) we children, two dogs, and the new kitten— manners, respect, and tidiness. Let them out being obnoxious. Don’t assume you
lived nearby and oh, wouldn’t that be spell it out. Do not assume your host will know you expect them to pick up their need to do all the laundry and clean the
so much fun. She gave a tentative date just know this intuitively. clothing and offer to help with chores. house before you leave. Just use common
they would be arriving. sense. A lovely parting gesture is to leave
Everything I know about what not to Respect Your Space Transportation a handwritten thank you and appropriate
do as a house guest, I learned from that Arriving with 16 suitcases and enough toys Make sure you have rented a car or figured gift to let your hosts know how much you
experience, from the moment they to keep the children entertained for out public transportation before your ar- enjoyed your stay.
drove up (cue music for Cousin weeks on end gives the impression rival. Should your hosts offer the use of a I have another book in my library—one
Eddie and family from “Na- When that you’ll be taking over the en- vehicle, return it clean and washed with I cherish and read often. Years ago, its au-
tional Lampoon’s Christmas you’re not in tire house. Bring only what you the gas tank full. thor, Darlene Dennis, sent it to me. You
Vacation”) to the time they your room, it need and will fit into a guest need to read “Host or Hostage: A Guide
finally departed. should look like room, and then make sure it Pitch In for Surviving House Guests.” You’ll laugh;
Full disclosure, because it did when you all stays there. You’re not stay- Do not expect your hosts to do all the work. you’ll learn; and in the process, you’ll be-
I have friends and rela- arrived. ing in a hotel, so don’t treat your See what needs to be done and offer to help. come a gracious host.
tives who read this column, friend’s home like one. When And if the hosts prefer for you to sit back and
be it known that all our other you’re not in your room, it should relax, respect their wishes. Mary Hunt is the founder of Everyday-
houseguests have been wonder- look like it did when you arrived. Cheapskate.com, a frugal living blog and the
ful. Exemplary. Do not worry. This is Tour Guides author of the book “Debt-Proof Living.” Mary
not about you. House Rules You can graciously invite your hosts to join invites you to visit her at her website, where
All homes have some rules. If your you at Sea World, but don’t expect that to this column is archived complete with links
Invitation hosts remove their shoes at the front happen. And don’t assume they will have and resources for all recommended products
It need not be engraved on parchment, door, follow suit. Don’t eat in the living discount tickets for you. Or that they will and services. Mary invites questions and
but you do need some indication that room or allow the children to jump on watch the children while you go out for a comments at EverydayCheapskate.com/
you are invited. Do not send a cryptic the furniture. Don’t go through every few hours. They are neither your babysitters contact, “Ask Mary.” Tips can be submitted at
message (“Looks like we will be in your cupboard and drawer in the house (yes, nor your tour guides. Tips.EverydayCheapskate.com. This column
area in a couple of weeks!”), hoping that they did, and to the delight of their will answer questions of general interest,
will result in an invitation. And for good- mother, who remarked that the chil- Leave a Fragrance but letters cannot be answered individually.
ness’ sake, don’t just show up. dren are just so curious). Upon your departure, you want to make Copyright 2021 Creators.com

HERE’S HOW it actually is. Include some small, higher

How to Design
a Small House
That Feels Big
JAMES DULLEY
Dear James: We are on a strict budget
for our new home. It will have to be fairly
small overall. What are some design tips
for making the living space seem bigger
than it actually is? —Kellie D.
Dear Kellie: The modern trend in home-
building is smaller houses. Building mate-
rial costs are very high right now because
of the pandemic.
Efficiency is another reason for building
a smaller house. Heat is lost through the
walls and ceiling, so a smaller house has
less outdoor surface area from which to
lose heat.
If you are familiar with some of Frank
Lloyd Wright’s houses, you know there
are many house-design features to make
a house seem more spacious.
By starting with a smaller house plan, you
may free up your budget enough to splurge
on interior features.
Unless you have an unusually shaped
lot, plan on building a square house. For
a given amount of interior floor area, a
square house has the least amount of wall
area. Less wall area means less building
material and labor costs and lower monthly
utility bills.
One of the first design steps to consider
is how the house can be organized into
specific zones, not just rooms. Attempt to
design the house with active community
zones and private zones that are quiet. This
can be done by having some medium-sized
rooms complemented by some snug, cozy
spaces. These spaces may actually be in-
cluded in one corner of another room.
Design the floor plan layout of the house
so there are windows on at least two walls
of each room. Size the windows appropri-
ately for the room. Very large windows in a
wall can make a room seem smaller than
windows above some standard windows
to vary the focus distance. This provides
a view of both nearby objects through the
standard windows and distant objects
through the higher windows.
Instead of having typical straight walls or
hallways, consider building an area with
slightly tapered or stepped walls or ceil-
ings. This can create the illusion that the
room or hallway is longer than it actually
is. A curved hallway can create the same
illusion because part of the area is hidden
from view from one end.
Area-to-area transitions can make it feel
like there is more to a house than there
actually is. For example, thick thresholds
and deep door/window trim add character
and a sense of massiveness to a house. Try
extending the window trim past the wall
surface into the room. This creates a lighted
area inside the window opening along the
trim, which contrasts with the shadows
around the extended trim.
Don’t scrimp on some of the open areas
such as the foyer or entrance to a stairway,
even though these two areas are not par-
ticularly usable floor space. Nothing makes
a house seem smaller than a tiny foyer
that more than two people must squeeze
through around the opened front door.
Don’t forget to use the outdoors as living
space. It is much less expensive to build
outdoor living space per square foot than
indoor living space, and it does not require
heating or cooling. To give it the sense of a
room instead of just a patio, include a low
stone or brick wall around its edge, and
have a large roof overhang.
Send your questions to Here’s How, 6906
Royalgreen Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45244, or
visit Dulley.com. To find out more about
James Dulley and read features by other
Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists,
visit the Creators Syndicate website at Cre-
ators.com. Copyright 2021 Creators.com

CALLING Dear Readers,

Did you build, fix, design, or craft something that you’re especially proud of?
Whether it’s a small decoration or an ambitious renovation, we’d love to hear about it!

ALL
We’re looking to spotlight inspiring home projects from our readers that showcase
valuable do-it-yourself skills and spirit. Tell us about yours—the product, process,
challenges, and rewards.
Send your story, a photo of yourself, and at least one photo of your project, along with

DIYERS your full name, state, and contact information, to home@epochtimes.com, or mail it to:
Home, The Epoch Times, 229 W. 28th St., Floor 7, New York, NY 10001.
 WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021
Transforming Ricotta: Just Whip It
LYNDA BALSLEV
I
am a little late to the ricotta
party. For a long while, this
Italian whey cheese has been
relegated solely to lasagnas
and other filled pasta dishes.
Aside from that, ricotta has not
played a role in much of my cook-
ing. This is likely due to unfortu-
nate first impressions, the ho-hum
results of part-skim varieties that
tend to be watery, grainy, and
lacking in character.
More recently, however, I began
dabbling in using fresh ricotta,
and it’s been revelatory. The dif-
ference between a skimmed and
watered-down version versus a
high-quality whole-milk ricotta
or a hand-dipped artisan ricotta
(besides a few extra dollars) is a
worlds-apart creamy, sweet, and
milky cheese, urging consump-
tion. To which I obliged, and
started experimenting with differ-
ent recipes. And then I whipped it.
Apparently, whipped ricotta has
been a thing, but, as I mentioned, I
am late to the party. Thank good-
ness I arrived. Whipping ricotta
transforms this creamy, slightly
grainy cheese into an ethereal
spreadable cheese that’s sweet
and mild and very receptive to ad-
ditional ingredients, such as olive
oil, honey, fresh herbs, salt, and
pepper. It’s a protein-rich alter-
native to whipped cream, creme
fraiche, yogurt, sour cream, and
even a dollop of ice cream on top
of dessert.
To whip ricotta, use a dense,
creamy whole-milk ricotta that
smells dairy-fresh and tastes
milky and mildly sweet. Avoid wa-
tery, grainy, part-skim ricotta and
any that has a funky aroma.
Lynda Balslev is a cookbook au-
thor, food and travel writer, and
recipe developer based in the San
Francisco Bay Area, where she lives
with her Danish husband, two
children, a cat, and a dog. Lynda
studied cooking at Le Cordon
Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris and
worked as a personal chef, culinary
instructor, and food writer in Swit-
zerland and Denmark. Copyright
2021 Lynda Balslev. Distributed by
Andrew McMeel Syndication.
EVERYDAY CHEAPSKATE
A Quick and Easy Way to Slash the High Cost of Groceries
MELANIE LIM/UNSPLASH
Plan your meals around what’s on sale.
It’s important to acquire
a good sense of the regular
prices of the food items
you buy.
Dollop
savory SWEET WHIPPED RICOTTA
whipped
ricotta on
this roasted MAKES 1 CUP
beet and
spring 1 cup whole-milk ricotta
greens salad. 1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon fresh lemon
juice
Pinch of lemon zest
(optional)
SAVORY WHIPPED RICOTTA
MAKES 1 CUP
1 cup whole-milk ricotta
2 tablespoons extra-virgin
olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
A grind or two black pepper
Pinch of lemon zest
(optional)
Combine all ingredients in a
food processor. Process until
light and smooth and taste for
seasoning. If you like, add a
MARY HUNT
Have you noticed? The cost of everything
is climbing, and not just a little bit. Lumber
prices are up 250 percent in just the past
three months. The cost of gasoline is soar-
ing, with the U.S. average hitting $2.87 per
gallon—nearing $6 a gallon in California.
The cost of food is soaring in ways that are
downright shocking.
Inflation
What we’re experiencing is inflation—
the cost of goods and services rising far
ahead and faster than wages. The cost of
the things you need to live is going up while
your paycheck stays the same.
Supermarket Sticker Shock
If you haven’t been to a supermarket in the
past few weeks, get ready for sticker shock.
Nothing ruins an appetite quite like rising
food prices.
It’s a Game
As consumers, we are stepping onto a play-
ing field where retailers are our opponents.
They have their playbooks, and they use
every opportunity to get us to do their bid-
ding. What we need is to take a peek into
those playbooks.
One Thing: Eat the Sales
There are myriad ways to reduce the cost of
groceries, from clipping coupons to using
apps that compare prices—some even giv-
ing cash back. I encourage you to participate
in all of those opportunities, if that’s your
thing. For some, that process is too tedious
to be sustainable. But not to worry: There is
one way to make your food dollars stretch so
far you kick the snot out of inflation.
ROASTED BEET AND SPRING GREEN SALAD
WITH WHIPPED RICOTTA
Combine all ingredients in a The beets will release their juices while
food processor and process roasting, which will mix with the olive oil
until light and smooth. Taste for that creates the base for vinaigrette.
seasoning and add more honey
if desired. PREP & COOKING TIME
Active Time: 20 minutes
Serve as a substitute for
whipped cream, creme fraiche, Total Time: 1 hour and 20 minutes,
or ice cream with fresh fruit and plus cooling time
baked desserts.
SERVES 4
3 bunches small or baby beets, 10
to 12, ends and stems trimmed,
scrubbed clean
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
generous pinch of finely grated
fresh lemon zest. Salt
Spread the ricotta in a bowl Freshly ground black pepper
and use as a dip for crudites
2 tablespoons white balsamic
and bread. Stir it into cooked
vinegar
pasta dishes as a creamy sauce.
Smear it on bruschetta or garlic 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
toasts and top with sliced figs
or stone fruit, a drizzle of honey
4 ounces mixed spring greens, such
and lemon zest, or your other as arugula, mache, baby spinach,
favorite toppings. Spoon a miners lettuce, frisée
dollop on cooked pizzas, roasted 1 cup Savory Whipped Ricotta
vegetables, and salads, such as
the following beet salad. Lemon zest, for garnish
Determine only to buy food items that are
on sale. And when you find a super sale,
buy enough at the sale price to last until
the next time it will be on sale.
Know Your Prices
It’s important to acquire a good sense of the
regular prices of the food items you buy. Or
wish you could buy. For example, do you
have a handle on what 80/20 ground beef
is per pound in your area? Without that
knowledge, how will you know if $3.99 a
pound is a sale price or the current price?
That sign screaming “SPECIAL!!!” could
be a trick.
The Weekly Ad
Every grocery store out there produces a
weekly ad. Look in your mailbox, at the
store’s entrance, or online at The Weekly
Ad, where you will find the weekly ad (and
coming week’s ads) for every store imag-
inable. That weekly ad allows you to sit in
the privacy of your home without all of the
marketing triggers that go on inside a retail
store.
Loss Leaders
Some of the sales will be loss leaders, which
means an item with a sale price below the
store’s cost for that item. Why would they
do that? Why would King Soopers price hot
dogs at 90 percent off the regular price? To
get us into the store! To make us so happy
that we’re willing to pay full, inflated prices
for the hot dog buns, potatoes salad, and
ice cream to go with them.
Set Your Budget
You know how much you can afford for
groceries for a week. Write it down. Commit
to not going over. Bring cash.
D5
LYNDA BALSLEV FOR TASTEFOOD
Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Place the beets in a large Dutch oven.
Pour in the oil, stir to coat, and lightly
season with salt. Cover the pot, transfer
to the oven, and roast the beets until
tender when pierced with a knife, about
1 hour. Remove and cool, uncovered, in
the pot.
When cool enough to handle, peel
the beets and cut into large bite-size
chunks. Don’t discard the oil from the
pot. Place the beets in a bowl with 1
tablespoon of the cooking oil, and lightly
season with salt and pepper. Cool to
room temperature or refrigerate until
chilled (the beets may be prepared up to
one day in advance).
Pour the remaining cooking oil into a
bowl (through a strainer if desired).
Whisk in the vinegar, lemon juice, and a
pinch of salt to taste.
To assemble the salad, arrange a layer
of mixed spring greens on serving
plates. Lightly drizzle with some of
the vinaigrette. Mound the beets on
the greens and top with a dollop of the
whipped ricotta. Garnish with lemon
zest and black pepper. Serve with the
remaining vinaigrette for drizzling.
Shop Multiple Stores
If you have the time, make the rounds to
several stores. Get the loss leaders from a
number of stores. Just don’t get drawn into
spending more than you planned. Grab the
loss leaders, and run (well, make sure you
pay for them first).
How to Get Started
I know what you’re thinking: How do I wait
for sales for the things we need this week,
items that are not on sale? You won’t be
able to be 100 percent compliant right out
of the gate. Determine to do the very best
possible. That might mean waiting to buy
beef and substituting chicken (that is on
sale) this week. Remember: Eat the sales!
Plan your meals around what’s on sale.
If you have to pay full price for a few items
this week, get the best price you can. If you
can fulfill 75 percent of your food needs for
the week with items that are on sale, that’s
fantastic. Go for 80 percent next week, and
continue until you’re in a routine that al-
lows you to eat the sales and eat well at the
same time.
Mary Hunt is the founder of
EverydayCheapskate.com, a frugal living
blog and the author of the book “Debt-
Proof Living.” Mary invites you to visit
her at her website, where this column
is archived complete with links and
resources for all recommended products
and services. Mary invites questions
and comments at EverydayCheapskate.
com/contact, “Ask Mary.” Tips can be
submitted at Tips.EverydayCheapskate.
com. This column will answer questions
of general interest, but letters cannot be
answered individually. Copyright 2021
Creators.com
D6
Norwegian
pancakes served
with raspberry jam,
Nutella, butter, and
sugar, to be folded
into triangles to eat
with your hands.
THE FAMILY TABLE
Readers share their treasured recipes
Norwegian Pancakes,
a Treat for National Day and Beyond
Submitted by
CHARLOTTE CHRISTIANSEN MCDONALD
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
As the fourth child of first-generation, Ameri-
can-born Norwegians, my siblings and I do a
lot of celebrating with traditional Norwegian
foods from both southern and northern Nor-
way, especially during Christmas: lutefisk
and boiled potatoes, salmon, rice cream,
and a variety of cookies.
The most beloved food, often made by all
four generations—my grandparents, my par-
ents, myself, and my children (and now even
my grandchildren are learning)—is served
at breakfast, though it has been known to
also be eaten at dinner, at snack time, or as
a dessert. What is this delicious treat? Nor-
wegian pancakes!
When I was young, it
was always a contest
with siblings, cousins,
or friends to see who
could consume the most
pancakes in one sitting.
Oh, yes, the Swedes like to take credit for
the original recipe and call them Swedish
pancakes, because they ruled Norway from
1814 to 1905. Norwegians know that the
Swedish claim is simply a folk tale, but then
again, I have a few Swedish immigrants in
my own Norwegian ancestry from that time.
In 1814, Norway was ceded to Sweden by
default from Denmark, which ruled Norway
up until that time. On May 17, 1814, Norwe-
gians declared themselves independent
and signed the Constitution of Norway, but
continued to be ruled by Sweden until 1905.
They were hindered in their celebrations by
Sweden, and thus, they were only truly able
to free themselves to wholly have an inde-
pendent constitution in 1905.
National Day or Constitution Day in
Norway is celebrated all day long on May
17, referred to by Norwegians as “Syttende
Mai.” School children dress in traditional
costumes, carrying flags while parading
and singing through the town centers, while
proud parents and citizens watch, waving
thousands of their own Norwegian flags.
After visiting relatives in Norway on our
own Independence Day Bicentennial, July
4, 1976, I became aware of how much the
Norwegians, too, love their flag, many flying
it from their own flag poles. After returning
home, I was determined to have my own
flag pole and proudly fly Old Glory in front
of my home, which I was finally able to do
in 1995. I fly a small Norwegian flag under
the U.S. flag on May 17.
The Norwegian National Day begins with a
breakfast shared with family and neighbors,
which fits right into our family style. We eat
Norwegian pancakes not only on May 17 but
throughout the year, especially on Saturday
mornings when time is more leisurely for
cooking, or whenever extended family or
visitors gather.
A large bowl of batter is prepared, and a
special 8- or 10-inch cast-iron or metal fry-
ing pan, long-used and seasoned, is heated
up. Each pancake is slightly cooked on both
sides, one at a time. A stack might be made
and kept warm in the oven before setting
them on the table, but soon the batch will
be consumed and each person must wait
patiently for a turn to be served again, mak-
ing the mouth water in anticipation.
When I was young, it was always a contest
with siblings, cousins, or friends to see who
could consume the most pancakes in one
sitting. As a hearty teenager, I believe 10 was
my limit, although I’m certain others have
long broken that record.
When I was a child, we buttered them and
sprinkled them with sugar, then we folded
them in half three times into a triangle or
wedge shape and ate them with our hands,
napkin ready. As we aged, homemade rasp-
berry or strawberry jam replaced sugar for
fancier and messier fare, eaten with a fork.
Fresh berries are now always available and
are rolled inside the pancake, topped with
real whipping cream, usually from a can for
ease and fun for youngsters and grandpas
alike. Much to my shock, my grandchil-
dren have begun frying their own and then
spreading Nutella on top, making it very un-
Norwegian, I think. Not me, I still prefer but-
ter and sugar!
So this 17th of May, as we all gather to cel-
ebrate the Norwegian National Day, and the
Sons of Norway hold a ceremony and parade
at the International Peace Gardens, you can
be certain that Norwegian pancakes will
find their way onto our families’ tables and
into our tummies, while Norway remains
forever in our hearts.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021
(FRAMES) AVS IMAGES/SHUTTERSTOCK
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF CHARLOTTE MCDONALD UNLESS NOTED OTHERWISE;
The author’s m
Willamsen, other, Helen Mar
n age 3
3, celebr ie
or traditional N b attiing iin her bunad,
orwegian costum
e.
V. BELOV/
SHUT TE
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Constitutio
n Day festi
vities in No
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ay 17, 201
7.
NORWEGIAN THIN PANCAKES
The number of people this recipe
serves depends on the number of
eggs, and how many each person
wishes to eat. Use one more egg
than the number of people. If you
have a crowd of 10 or more, double
the recipe. Leftover batter can be
saved for a day or two, covered with
plastic in the refrigerator; hence, it
can be used for snack time, a quick
breakfast, or dessert. Experiment
with the recipe, being careful to not
make them too thick.
MAKES ABOUT 40 (10-INCH)
PANCAKES, ENOUGH TO
SERVE 6 PEOPLE (6 TO 7
PANCAKES EACH)
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) butter or A stack of Norwegian pancakes—
margarine not to be confused with French
7 eggs crepes—ready for eating.
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 to 3 1/2 cups milk (any percent fat)
3 cups flour (more or less) Dear Readers,
Melt butter, let cool.
Do you have a treasured family
recipe that holds a special
Beat eggs in a large mixer bowl until light and place in your family history,
foamy. Add sugar and salt, mix well. Alternate heritage, or traditions? We
between adding milk and flour, each 1 cup at a would be honored if you would
time, to keep batter from being lumpy. (Adding share it with us.
all the milk before the flour will cause a lumpy
batter.) Add butter and mix thoroughly. Along with the recipe, tell
This batter should be thin. Add more milk if us its story—who gave it to
necessary to thin. you, its journey through the
Heat a lightly buttered cast iron or heavy generations, and the personal
metal, 8- or 10-inch frying pan. A non-stick meanings and memories it
carries. Is it a special-occasion
pan will not produce a nice glossy or slightly
browned pancake, but will work. Older frying dish, or an everyday family
favorite? Does it connect you
pans that are seasoned make cooking easier;
to your cultural heritage, or to
everyone has a favorite pan. I have inherited
a certain loved one?
my mother’s round small electric frying pan,
which works beautifully. How have you kept the recipe
For each pancake, pour about 1/4 to 1/3 cup alive, and why is it important
batter into the bottom of the medium-hot pan to you to do so?
and roll the batter over the surface until the
batter covers the pan completely to the edges. Send your recipe and
As the edges begin to dry and the surface comments, along with your
begins to set, slip a metal spatula under the full name, state, and contact
entire pancake carefully and quickly flip it over information, to home@
and fry on the opposite side just until set, being epochtimes.com, or mail it to:
careful not to overcook or burn. Regulate your
Home, The Epoch Times,
temperature to the pan you’re using and the
229 W. 28th St., Floor 7,
type of stove you’re cooking on. The pancake
New York, NY 10001.
should have slight browning on each side.
Spise opp—eat up!
 WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021
ASK CARRIE
Richard Thaler’s
Advice for a
Stronger
Financial
Future
Key lessons to take away from 2020
CARRIE SCHWAB-POMERANTZ
D
ear Readers: I’ve been promot-
ing the tried-and-true prin-
ciples of smart money man-
agement for so many years it
can be hard to come up with
fresh ways to share their important mes-
sage: Spend less. Save more. Diversify your
portfolio as you invest for your long-term
goals. As old-fashioned as this advice may
sound, it remains the foundation for your
future financial success.
But if you still need convincing, I invite
you to listen to the wisdom of prominent
behavioral economist and Nobel laureate
Richard Thaler. One of my colleagues had
the opportunity to sit down with professor
Thaler early this year and asked him the
following question: “As individuals, what
lessons can we take from 2020 as we strive
to build a strong future?”
We All Need an Emergency Fund
Thaler’s advice was twofold. First, if you were
lucky enough to reduce your spending over
the course of the past several months and
you now have extra cash, this is a unique op-
portunity to build a financial cushion. Take
enough of that money to cover a minimum
of three to six months’ worth of your essen-
tial expenses and stash it in a safe and liquid
account. It won’t earn much, but you can be
confident it will be there if/when you need it.
Don’t Be Blinded by the
Stock Market Stars
If you’re one of the millions of people who
jumped into the stock market for the first
time last year, Thaler has a word of caution:
Beware of false confidence. For months on
end in 2020, the market—in particular, sev-
eral leading tech companies—was burning
bright. But these shooting stars may soon
flame out. Making money in Zoom, Ama-
zon, or Tesla in 2020 made investing seem
deceptively easy and seductive.
To quote Thaler: “If you were a new in-
vestor who started in May, you may think
you’re a genius. It is very hard to distinguish
between luck and skill.”
This is a crucial distinction. As I’ve pointed
out in a recent column, investing is serious
business that requires time, knowledge,
and discipline. Slick trading platforms can
PERSONAL FINANCE
Don’t Most People Already Know?
DAVE RAMSEY
Dear Dave,
You talk a lot about budgeting, and how
important it is in getting control of your
money. But don’t most people already have a
good idea of what they’re spending, and how
much they have in the bank, without going
through all the time and trouble of develop-
ing an actual budget?
—Carter
Dear Carter,
Well, if that were true, why are people paying
billions in overdraft fees every year? Why
are so many people deep in debt and living
paycheck to paycheck, even without tak-
ing the effects of a pandemic into account?
It’s because most people don’t really know
where their money’s going each month.
Let’s start with a simple definition of bud-
resemble video games, eliciting the same
rapid-fire moves. But as Thaler points out,
“If you want to entertain yourself, don’t play
with stocks, go find a poker game.” That
get-rich-quick mentality is the complete
opposite of the mindset you need to be a
successful long-term investor.
Spread Out Your Risk With Funds
At the core of this advice are the crucial prin-
ciples of asset allocation and diversification.
By spreading out your money between not
only different companies but also different
types of companies and categories of invest-
ments, you decrease your risk and increase
your odds for long-term success.
What does this mean for individual inves-
tors? According to Thaler, the message is
clear: Stick with mutual funds and exchange-
traded funds. He notes that last year saw an
alarming increase in the number of amateur
investors buying shares of individual com-
panies. Yes, the high-flying companies are
alluring, but the reality is that they can fade
as quickly and easily as they can soar. At some
point, many may come back to Earth.
Backing up just a little, it’s important to set
realistic goals and have a plan whenever you
invest. Only after you’ve built a solid founda-
tion of broad-based funds should you even
think about adding a few individual securi-
ties—and only if you have the skill and time
it takes to research a company’s financials,
management team, and strategies.
It’s not impossible to do well by buying and
selling individual securities—and it can be
fun. But it’s far more likely that rapid trad-
ing—especially so-called meme stocks—
will wind up being hazardous to your long-
term wealth. It’s a rather bold assertion to
think you know something that millions
of other investors, including institutional
and professional money managers, haven’t
already priced in.
Make What’s Good for You Easy and
What’s Bad for You Hard
Part of the brilliance of Thaler’s work in be-
havioral economics is the understanding
that you can’t fight human nature. We don’t
always, or even mostly, behave in a rational
way. So, given that, it makes more sense to
work with our nature than against it.
I think of this in terms of making the things
that are good for you easy and the things
geting. A budget is just a plan. It’s not a
restriction on spending, it’s a strategy for
what you’ll do with all your money. It’s track-
ing what’s coming in and what’s going out.
When you budget every month, you’re giving
your money purpose. You’re controlling your
money and telling it where to go, instead of
scratching your head and wondering where
it all went.
The word budget gets a bum rap because
some people think it’ll be like putting a
straitjacket on their spending and their
lives. But that really isn’t true at all. Bud-
geting actually gives you the power to
spend wisely and with purpose. Budgeting
even causes feelings of fear, intimidation,
and anger in some folks. Sure, it takes a little
time and effort at first to create a budget
that really works. But once you get the hang
of it, and it doesn’t take long, the hard part
is over.
D7
G-STOCK STUDIO/SHUTTERSTOCK
that aren’t good for you hard. It’s not unlike
Slick trading platforms how you might approach a diet. You purge
can resemble video your kitchen of candy and other sweets, and
games, eliciting the same you stock the fridge with veggies and fruit.
rapid-fire moves. But the When it comes to investing, you can think
get-rich-quick mentality
of funds as your fruit: healthy and easy to
is the complete opposite
of the mindset you need access. You can then apply the same prin-
to be a successful long- ciple by setting up automatic deposits from
term investor. your paycheck to your 401(k). This not only
takes the day-to-day decision-making out
of your hands, but it’s also your ticket to a
strategy known as dollar-cost averaging that
will help you navigate the stock market year
in and year out, through market surges like
the one we experienced recently as well as
market declines.
This is because, as risky as it can be to pour
If you’re one a huge amount of money into the stock mar-
of the millions ket at any particular moment, it’s equally
dangerous to pull it out and find yourself on
of people the sidelines for the next upswing. Multiple
who jumped studies have shown that market timing—
the attempt to get in and out of the market
into the stock at exactly the right time—is extremely dif-
ficult to achieve. And if professional money
market for the managers can’t do it with any consistency,
first time last you won’t be able to either. Successful inves-
tors often continue to invest through good
year, Thaler times and bad, and automatic deposits can
help you do just that.
has a word
of caution: A Path to a Brighter Future
When you think about how complicated the
Beware financial world has become, it’s easy to feel
of false overwhelmed. Every time you turn around,
you have to make another choice—between
confidence. banks, brokerage houses, insurance compa-
nies, and investments. So my strong advice
CARSTEN REHDER/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
is to simplify.
As Thaler recommends, stick to the funda-
mentals. Use that money you didn’t spend in
2020 to build up your emergency reserves.
Use mutual funds and exchange-traded
funds to diversify your investments. Keep
yourself on the right path by putting your
contributions on autopilot. The road to a
brighter future doesn’t have to be compli-
U.S. economist cated. It just requires having the confidence
Richard Thaler, to set yourself up to succeed.
recipient of the 2017
Nobel Prize Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz, a certified
for Economics. financial planner, is president of the
Charles Schwab Foundation and author
of “The Charles Schwab Guide to Finances
After Fifty.”
ROBYN MACKENZIE/SHUTTERSTOCK
Still, to make your cash flow plan work,
you have to do it consistently. That means
sitting down every month and making a
budget for the upcoming month. Don’t let
the fear of what you might find stop you,
and don’t over-complicate things. It’s easy as
writing down your income and everything
that requires money for the month, then do-
ing a little basic math. And once you have a
plan in place, stick to it! Too many people get
lazy or “forget” to do a monthly budget.
Give it a shot, Carter. You’ll experience
a sense of freedom, security, and accom-
plishment like you’ve never felt before once
you’ve taken that first step toward gaining To make your cash
control of your money! flow plan work,
you have to do it
consistently. That
Dave Ramsey is CEO of Ramsey Solutions, means sitting down
host of “The Dave Ramsey Show,” and a best- every month and
selling author, including “The Total Money making a budget for
Makeover.” Follow Dave at DaveRamsey.com the upcoming month.
D8
EVERYDAY CHEAPSKATE
An Easy Way to Stop Money Dribbling
MARY HUNT
M
ost of us think of spend-
ing money in the least
painful terms. I sup-
pose that’s only natu-
ral. If we could see clearly how a
simple purchase fits into the big
financial picture, perhaps spend-
ing money on little stuff wouldn’t
be quite so easy.
In his book “Pour Your Heart Into
It,” Starbucks coffee founder How-
ard Schultz says the average Star-
bucks customer spends $3.50 per
visit and makes 18 visits per month.
I’m fairly certain that most of
these customers think of that as
a series of $3.50 expenditures be-
cause it’s less painful than seeing
it as a $756 annual expense, spent
$3.50 at a time.
Now, I am not suggesting the
Starbucks is a habit that must be
banished from your life. Not at all.
What I’m saying is that if you’re go-
ing to spend it, stop trivializing it
as an expense so small it doesn’t
really matter.
“It’s only pennies,” might be the
way you think about it. But it’s not
pennies. It’s dollars—756 of them
out of the money you have left
once you pay all of your bills and
expenses.
If you can get into the habit of
quickly calculating the annualized
cost of things, you’ll have achieved
an effective way to get mindless
spending under control. Using this
quick way to estimate the true cost
of an expense as it impacts your an-
nual income is a great tool to take
control of your mind and your bank
account.
Oh, but you think you’re terrible
with math? Numbers give you a
rash? Join the club, and then un-
derstand that is no excuse. You can
train your brain to take control of
your spending. Let me show you.
Here’s the rule: Take a monthly
figure, and then add a zero plus a
little. Say you spend $5 a week at
the vending machine at work. That
$5 weekly expense is about $20 a
month ($5 x 4 = $20).
Now add a zero to $20 ($200), plus
a little (oh, let’s say $50), which is
about $250 a year. Let’s check the
numbers: $5 x 52 = $260. Very close!
Do you get it? Adding a zero to a
monthly expense gives you a rough
10-month equivalent, and adding
a little accounts for the other two
months in a year.
If we could see
clearly how a simple
purchase fits into
the big financial
picture, perhaps
spending money on
little stuff wouldn’t
be quite so easy.
Here’s another example. Jenny
gets her nails done every two weeks
at a cost of $25 per visit. That’s about
$50 a month. Times 10, that’s $500,
plus a little ($75) is $575. Again,
let’s check the numbers: $25 x 26 =
$650. Not far off, and quite shock-
ing when all along Jenny has been
trivializing this as just a little some-
thing she does for herself. Now,
don’t get me wrong. I’m not against
nail appointments. I just want you
and Jenny to know the true cost of
what you believe are insignificant
expenditures.
Most people think of their income
in loose, inflated terms because
that’s the least painful approach.
Take Tom and Susan. They live
in the false security of a $70,000
annual income, as in, “We make
WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021
CALEB GEORGE/UNSPLASH
$70,000 a year, so we should be able
to buy what we want without feel-
ing guilty.”
The truth is Tom makes $68,703 a
year, which is close, but not exactly
$70,000.
Allowing for taxes and other pay-
roll deductions, his net take-home
pay is something closer to $55,000.
Of that amount, their actual dis-
cretionary income (what they have
to spend after allowing for the es-
sentials of food, shelter, insurance,
transportation, etc.) is more like
$6,000 annually—hardly the fic-
tional $70,000 on which they base
their lifestyle.
With just a little practice, Tom and
Sue can get real about their income
by thinking in more realistic terms.
While they might make close to
$70,000 a year, they have just $500
cash to spend each month. That
makes blowing $100 here or $3.50
there more significant.
Start annualizing your spend-
ing and thinking of your income
in more realistic terms. It’s pain-
ful at first, but once you get past
the shock, it will keep you awake
with your financial feet planted in
reality.
Even better, money will stop drib-
bling out of your life.
Mary Hunt is the founder of Ev-
erydayCheapskate.com, a frugal
living blog and the author of the
book “Debt-Proof Living.” Mary
invites you to visit her at her web-
site, where this column is archived
complete with links and resources
for all recommended products
and services. Mary invites ques-
tions and comments at Everyday-
Cheapskate.com/contact, “Ask Small but regular purchases, such as daily cups of coffee, add up to a big
Mary.” Tips can be submitted at annual expense.
Tips.EverydayCheapskate.com.
This column will answer ques-
tions of general interest, but letters
cannot be answered individually.
Copyright 2021 Creators.com
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