HOPE AND OPTIMISM FOR 2022
Rural Americans speak of hope and optimism going into 2022 By Allan Stein
FIRST YE AR REVIEW President Joe Biden’s first year in office saw agenda items accomplished, along with multiple crises. p.26
g n iw o l F e ht Scecn i
‘Follow the science’ is a potent source of authority for politicians. p.18
DECEMBER 24–30, 2021 | $6.95
New Beginnings
Here are small resolutions that make a meaningful difference. p.50
S A W IH NOTG
DESAITN S E V RSUS
Florida’s governor gained the spotlight for his pushback against policies from Washington. p.36 ISSUE 11
Editor’s Note
Hope and Optimism 2021 approached, reporter Allan Stein and photographer John Fredricks embarked on a 1,600-mile road trip across Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Colorado. They spoke with rural Americans in small towns about 2021, the good and the bad, as well as their hopes for 2022. There is no denying that 2021 has been a difficult year. But despite that, there is a sense of hope and optimism. This positivity, those interviewed say, can be found in faith, fellow Americans’ big hearts, and the rejection of fear. “Don’t ever lose hope. There’s always hope. If you have life, there’s hope,” Wayne Thompson of Springfield, Colorado—population 1,451— said. But there are challenges as well. Those owning small businesses still face challenges from the ongoing pandemic and restrictions. One such example is supply chain issues. “There are things we can’t get out here” said Tonya, an assistant manager at the Farmhouse Restaurant in Boise City, Oklahoma— population 1,266. “One time, we couldn’t get bacon. Milk is a thing we’ve had challenges with at times.” We hope you enjoy this year-end edition of INSIGHT magazine. as the end of
2 I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021
JASPER FAKKERT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF CHANNALY PHILIPP LIFE & TRADITION, TRAVEL EDITOR CHRISY TRUDEAU MIND & BODY EDITOR CRYSTAL SHI HOME, FOOD EDITOR
ON THE COVER On this week’s cover, Wayne Thompson of Springfield, Colo., offers the following hope for 2022: “Don’t ever lose hope. There’s always hope.” JOHN FREDRICKS THE EPOCH TIMES
SHARON KILARSKI ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR BILL LINDSEY LUXURY EDITOR FEI MENG, BIBA KAJEVICH & JUNHAO SU ILLUSTRATORS SHANSHAN HU PRODUCTION CONTACT US THE EPOCH TIMES ASSOCIATION INC. 229 W. 28TH ST., FL. 7 NEW YORK, NY 10001 ADVERTISING ADVERTISENOW@EPOCHTIMES.COM SUBSCRIPTIONS, GENERAL INQUIRIES, LETTERS TO THE EDITOR HELP.THEEPOCHTIMES.COM (USPS21-800)IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY THE EPOCH MEDIA GROUP, 9550 FLAIR DR. SUITE 411, EL MONTE CA 91731-2922. PERIODICAL POSTAGE PAID AT EL MONTE, CA, AND ADDITIONAL MAILING OFFICES. POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO THE EPOCH TIMES, 229 W. 28TH STREET, FLOOR 5, NEW YORK, NY 10001.
RIGHT PAGE FROM LEFT: JOHN FREDRICKS/THE EPOCH TIMES, ANNA MONEYMAKER-POOL/GETTY IMAGES, SAUL LOEB/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES, DREW ANGERER/GETTY IMAGES, PHIL NOBLE/POOL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Jasper Fakkert Editor-in-chief
STEPHEN GREGORY PUBLISHER
ISSUE 11 | DECEMBER 24–30, 2021
Features 26 |
8 |
First Year Review
President Joe Biden’s first year in office has been marked by rising inflation, the border crisis, and criticisms of the Afghanistan withdrawal. 36 |
DeSantis Versus Washington
Florida’s governor entered the spotlight for his pushback against policies from Washington.
New Year, New Hope
Though 2021 has been challenging, Americans in rural areas of the country are keeping hope alive. 14 | Congress Cancels Democrats end Republican committee assignments, and the payback may be coming.
42 |
Supreme Court Experts say the Supreme Court hasn’t been providing enough guidance on evaluating mask and vaccine mandates.
46 |
Climate Concerns
Politicians use concerns about climate to justify all sorts of actions.
18 | Following the Science ‘Follow the science’ is a potent source of authority for politicians.
50 | New Beginnings
56 | Set to Entertain
60 | Pop the Cork!
64 | Buckle Up!
52 | Artificial
58 | Emilia-Romagna
61 | Raise Your Glasses High!
67 | Home-Grown Muscle
Here are small resolutions that make a meaningful difference.
Intelligence Why falling behind in the AI race is dangerous for the United States.
A Roaring ‘20s Bel-Air mansion is on the market for $43 million.
A journey through Italy’s heartland is a moving feast.
We’ve gathered a selection of effervescent delights ideal for holiday gatherings.
Giving a memorable toast will be easy and fun when you follow our guide.
Driving a performance car safely is a serious matter. Make sure your skills are up to the task by heading back to class.
Staying fit on your schedule is easy with a home gym; we’ll help you choose the right equipment.
I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021 3
YEAR IN PHOTO BORDER CRISIS ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS TAKE SUPPLIES BACK and forth between Acuña, Mexico, and the United States (far side) across the Rio Grande, the international boundary, in Acuña, Mexico, on Sept. 20. PHOTO BY CHARLOTTE CUTHBERTSON/THE EPOCH TIMES
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World in Photos
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FROM TOP: BEN SHREAD/MOD CROWN COPYRIGHT VIA GETTY IMAGES, YAMIL LAGE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES, ANDREY LUZ/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES, KSANA MANCHUK/BELTA/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
1. A flight carrying 265 people is evacuated out of Kabul by the UK Armed Forces in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 21, after the Taliban's takeover of the country. 2. Overturned police cars lie in the street during a demonstration against Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel, in Havana on July 11. 3. A massive dust storm engulfs the neighborhood of Nossa Senhora do Carmo in Frutal, Brazil, on Sept. 26. 4. Migrants gather in front of Belarusian servicemen in a camp in the Grodno region near the Belarus–Poland border on Nov. 14.
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A M E R ICA
RURAL AMERICANS SPEAK OF HOPE AND OPTIMISM GOING INTO 2022
Residents in rural America pray that in 2022 there will be a true resolution of the bitter political feelings that have been dividing America.
While 2021 has been a challenging year, Americans have found strength in faith, big hearts, and opposing fear • ✒ text by allan stein
photos by john fredricks
The Lead The New Year
An abandoned home with the message “LOVE IS ALIVE” sits outside of Walsh, Colo., on Dec. 6.
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next to a barren dogwood tree, an old abandoned farmhouse in southeastern Colorado appears to buckle under the weight of countless years gone by. ta n d i n g i n a fa l l ow co r n f i e l d
THE TIN ROOF IS FALLING AWAY in strips and
unruly sections, revealing the rot and corrosion eating away at the wooden base. The windows have all been shattered, and are now gaping black holes. Time and the elements have taken a heavy toll on this agricultural dwelling, even though the words, painted on the side of its aging white frame, proclaim otherwise. “Love is alive.” So is faith, it seems, and hope. Together, they meander along and criss-cross the pitted asphalt highways and dirt backroads of middle America in early December. Like destination points on a roadmap, they abide in the souls of average people, some of whom are still feeling the sting of COVID-19 in 2021—but carry on they must. “I don’t mean to sound preachy, but it says [in the
10 I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021
Hotel owner Sharon LaRue greets customers in Elkhart, Kan., on Dec. 6. She and her husband persevered through the pandemic. Bible] not to fear,” Kansas resident Sharon LaRou said. “I try not to be afraid.”
The Lead The New Year
LaRou and her husband, Gary, are co-owners of the El Rancho Motel in rural Elkhart (population 1,888). The couple purchased the motel in 2005, applying their own personal flair for down-home hospitality throughout its renovation. In early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic hit so many businesses across the state and nation, said LaRou, a petite woman with kind eyes and a gentle smile. “In the beginning, I was scared to death because of all the media,” she said. “People gave me cash. I was soaking it in Lysol so you could use it. I was using gloves with every customer. I was washing door handles, windows, using air freshener and hand sanitizer—everything.” Although the couple lost customers during the pandemic, they persevered nonetheless. Now they’re recovering—even thriving—in 2021, while going into 2022 with a renewed sense of hope and optimism. “It feels so good to feel good again. Hard times humble you,” LaRou said. “As far as the [COVID-19] shot goes, I’m very negative about it, because I’ve heard of so much that’s in it. I’m against it totally. “I’m extremely upset with the government. I have no confidence in the government. I think they’re lying, lying, lying. I think they will go down as the worst government in history.” Her personal life is another matter. “I’ll take it as it comes and stay close to my Creator. I’ll just take it one day at a time, though it’s easier said than done,” she said. In the little town of Springfield, Colorado (population 1,451), Wayne Thompson and his wife, Joyce, are out enjoying a brisk Monday morning walk in the cold air on their way to a convenience store. Wayne’s claim to fame: “I’m the only Wayne in town. That’s how small the town is,” he said. His other claim to notoriety is that he writes copy for Page 3 of the Plainsman Herald, a community newspaper with a big mission and heart. He’s proud of that fact—being able to contribute to its pages at the age of 75—and to build upon that community journalism spirit as a native Pennsylvanian. “It’s a close community. I think people are closer here,” said Thompson, who feels he is fortunate not to have lost any close friends to COVID-19. “One problem I see—and you can take it for what it’s worth—is with the television. It’s the communications and the programming. The commercials—they’re garbage now. ‘Gunsmoke’—if it’s on [television], it’s worth watching it again.” Thompson’s advice for 2022: Don’t ever lose hope. “There’s always hope. If you have life, there’s hope,” he said. Across the frozen plains and open rangelands of Oklahoma, the telephone poles form an endless procession as our car heads into Boise City (popu-
Wayne Thompson stands outside his home in Springfield, Colo., on Dec. 6. Thompson’s advice for 2022: Don’t ever lose hope.
“There’s always hope. If you have life, there’s hope.” Wayne Thompson, Springfield, Colorado
lation 1,266), nestled within the state’s panhandle. It’s nearly dusk, and the silvery downtown streetlights seem to outnumber the local shops and businesses five to one. The Farmhouse Restaurant is open and ready to serve. “How’s life? There’s been some COVID, some deaths from it. You’ve got to understand, they weren’t youngsters. They had underlying health issues,” said Tonya, the restaurant’s assistant manager. Because it’s a small, close-knit town, “everybody knows everybody.” In March 2020, the restaurant went to carry-out service during the pandemic. It even closed for a while, then reopened in September 2021. “You’ll find out here that we just kind of keep going,” said Tonya, who’s a mother of twin 13-yearold boys, as she pours a guest a cup of hot coffee. “There are things we can’t get out here” due to supply chain issues, she said. “One time, we couldn’t get bacon. Milk is a thing we’ve had challenges with at times.” The thing about fear, she said, is that it doesn’t help when facing down the coronavirus. “I’m not going to quit living because of something called COVID. God’s bigger than a virus,” she said. About 260 miles south of Boise City lies Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico, a colorful tapestry of adobe-style buildings and Spanish mission and modern architectural influences. In the central plaza, a crowd of visitors listens and claps to the gentle strains of trumpets and guitars played by a live mariachi band. The holiday lights that are strung among the trees then begin flickering on in a dazzling display of red, blue, and white, like turning a kaleidoscope. Across from the plaza, flanked by tall pines, is the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, whose doors are open to anyone who wishes to enter and pray within its sacred confines of soaring columns and radiant stained glass windows. I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021 11
The Lead The New Year
The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in Santa Fe, N.M., on Dec. 5. Faith is a powerful, enduring thing, observed Thomas van Kampen, a parishioner for 18 years, from Santa Fe. “But you can’t just have faith things are going to resolve themselves,” he said. “You just can’t say, ‘Oh, dear God, solve this,’ and not do anything yourself. Faith is manifested in what you do.” In 2021, van Kampen’s greatest challenge was the inability to visit his three children because of the coronavirus restrictions in place. For 2022, he prays there will be a true resolution of the bitter political feelings that have been dividing America. “I wish I had the answer to that,” he said. “Wouldn’t it be nice if we had resolution? I think resolution is coming together. If there is going to be resolution, we UTAH
“It feels so good to feel good again. Hard times humble you.” Sharon LaRue, Elkhart, Kansas
COLORADO
Springfield
Winslow
Elkhart Amarillo
NEW MEXICO Total Miles Driven: 1,583
12 I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021
TEXAS
The Epoch Times reporter Allan Stein and photographer John Fredricks traveled across 6 states and over 1,500 miles.
MAP: THE EPOCH TIMES
ARIZONA
Boise City Santa Fe
have to create dialog with one another—together.” For Shawn Surls, 34, life for him and his girlfriend in 2021 has been hard, living on the road in their 1994 Chevy G20 van. Now it’s a matter of holding on, holding their own, and keeping the gas tank full and the money flowing in—in any way they can. “She likes [traveling]—for now. We’re trying to find someplace we like,” Surls said while standing at the main entrance of a Walmart outside Amarillo, Texas. Surls managed a broad smile as he held up a sign that read “Trying 2 Get Home Please Help,” his back stiff against the setting sun and cold wind blowing in from the west. “When COVID hit, we lost our jobs,” Surls, a native Alaskan, said. “We sold our house and started traveling. I do this when we’re broke. It doesn’t take us too long to get money.” In West Virginia, the couple suffered even greater misfortune when their van was broken into and all their money was stolen. They decided to live in North Carolina for a while before continuing their journey west. Colorado seems like a nice place to settle down and start again—just maybe, Surls said. “Living on the road is not what you would think,” he said. “Most of the people we’ve met have been great. A few bad apples. It’s been an adventure. No final destination—not yet.”
The Lead The New Year
Resident Richard Frei holds an American flag in Winslow, Ariz., on Dec. 4. Frei said the Biden administration’s policies have hurt his business.
Storeowner Daniel Mazon in Winslow, Ariz., on Dec. 4. Mazon said that the handling of COVID-19 by the local government landed him in handcuffs for keeping his store open during lockdown. For now, it’s just a matter of “knuckling down for a while.” “You just hang in there. It will get better,” Surls said confidently. Nearly 550 miles west, in Winslow, Arizona, Kelly Rada is setting up the lunch menu sign outside the Olde Town Grill situated along historic Route 66. The city became well-known from the Eagles’ song “Take It Easy.” And standing at the corner of Kinsley and East 2nd Street in Winslow is a bronze statue of late Eagles singer-songwriter Glenn Frey. On Oct. 7, 2021, Rada and her husband, Paul, opened up the former post office building situated near that very corner, and they opened the Olde Town Grill, in a soft COVID economy. “Things are going good. We’ve got customers. Everything is coming together,” Rada said. “We built all the walls out. There was a drop ceiling in here. We replaced that” with an ornate copper ceiling.
Shawn Surls panhandles for gas money outside of a Walmart in Dumas, Texas, on Dec. 5.
“Paul said, ‘How do you want to design this?’ What I told him is that I wanted this place to be calming. We wanted a sense of relief. I don’t care who you are or what your life is like. You are respected as a human being. Hopefully, that’s what we portray here.” Most of all, “we liked a challenge,” Rada said. “One of my sayings in life is, ‘Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.’ Win, lose, or draw, I try to keep a happy medium.” Though 2021 has been challenging in other ways, she said. “My cousin passed away from COVID,” Rada said. “There have been different people who were sick, who recovered.” One then notices the mask wrapped around Rada’s wrist. “I carry this around for safety, just for customers. We keep very well spaced,” she said. On the other side of town, Richard Frei and Daniel Mazon, owner of the Authentic Indian Arts Store on Hipkoe Drive in Winslow, were busy talking about politics and the economy inside the store. “Sucks. Thank Joe Biden,” Frei said. “I’m struggling. It hurts. Everything has gone up [in price], and it hasn’t let up. “We’ve got to get rid of this administration. We’ve got to get back on track. If we don’t get rid of this administration, we’re going to be more communist than communist China.” Mazon, who opened the store in 1972, reflected on the handling of COVID-19 by the local government, which resulted in him being placed in handcuffs, then slapped with a citation for keeping the store open during lockdown. He said many of the items he was selling in the store were just as “essential” as those for sale at the Walmart across the street. “I am an essential business, and they were taking that away,” said Mazon, whose grant-great grandfather was Chief Manuelito, one of the principal leaders of the Dine people during the tragic Long Walk period in American history. “Most of the government is very corrupt,” he said. “The devil is involved. We as a nation have to turn back to God.” Through his faith and practice as a Christian minister, Mazon said, he finds both purpose and direction—and a way to salvation through these modern times. Holding out his hands, he invited everyone inside the store to join him in prayer. “Don’t ever give up on yourself,” he told the guests. “Try to do the best you can. Even if you fall short, you get back up. “Amen,” a visitor then said. In Springfield, Colorado, Thompson’s advice for America going into 2022 came from a higher source. “Don’t ever lose hope. There’s always hope. If you have life, there’s hope,” he said. I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021 13
Democrats were seen as politicizing the House of Representatives through a series of events that happened in 2021. PHOTO BY SARAH SILBIGER/GETTY IMAGES
CONGRESS
DEMOCR AT S ACCUSED OF POLITICIZING HOUSE DISCIPLINE Removing committee assignments from members of opposite party described as ‘unprecedented’ By Mark Tapscot 14 I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021
DREW ANGERER/GETTY IMAGES
House of Representatives
merica has never before seen a year like 2021 in the House of Representatives, and not only because of the Jan. 6 incident. Early in February, Republicans warned Democrats that dire consequences would follow their unprecedented decision to remove newly elected Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) from two committee assignments as punishment for statements she made in years past. “I think you are, frankly, overlooking the unprecedented nature of the acts that you’ve decided upon, and where that may lead us when the majority changes,” said Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), senior GOP member of the House Rules Committee, of the 230–199 vote in which a handful of Republicans joined all Democrats in condemning Greene. Democrats claimed Greene had encouraged political violence and spread groundless conspiracy theories about school shootings and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. The Georgia Republican had previously disavowed some of the statements and did so of others during the February controversy. The Democrats’ action was unprecedented because disciplining members of the House for misconduct traditionally was typically done either by party leaders or, more recently, through an ethics committee with equal representation for both parties. No House member had ever been removed from a committee for something he or she said on the House floor, on the campaign trail, or as a private citizen. The Greene vote followed close on the heels of a statement by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) regarding the Jan. 6 incident that “the enemy is within,” which many House Republicans took to be an implicit accusation against them. Tempers might have cooled even after the Pelosi statement and the Greene vote, but the atmosphere of tension and mistrust worsened in the following weeks and months as numerous Republicans were fined thousands of dollars for not going through metal detectors before entering the House floor. No Democrats were similarly fined despite Republican claims that many, including Pelosi, had also ignored the metal detectors. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) and Rep. Andrew Clyde (RGa.) subsequently filed a suit in federal court challenging Pelosi’s claim of authority to levy such fines against House members. The suit is pending. Things really came to a head in November, however, when Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) was kicked off two committees and censured by Democrats for
“What’s most important is showing the Democratic base and every American that there are standards in the halls of Congress.” Christy Setzer, former national campaign spokesperson for Vice President Al Gore
posting an anime video showing him attacking Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). Gosar denied meaning harm to any person and claimed Democrats “mischaracterized” the video. “Rules for thee but not for me. This is part of a larger pattern,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) charged during floor debate on the Gosar punishment. More recently, McCarthy said Greene and Gosar will get their committee assignments back if Republicans regain control of the House next year. With Republicans now appearing to be headed to a potentially historic victory in the 2022 midterm election that could restore their majorities in the House and Senate, the dire consequences Cole warned Democrats about are a real possibility in 2023. “As I’ve said many times on a number of issues ... if they are going to cross this bridge, then what is fair for one side is fair for the other,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) told INSIGHT. “All of that is on the table and is something that we should look to do, just based on the ridiculous things they have done to our Republicans. “The decision will be made by the House Republican Conference, of course, based on what the then-Speaker McCarthy will want to do, but I think he has been clear as well. He said the same things I have—if they’re going to do this stuff, then it’s fair game for the other side as well.” Jordan is the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee and is sometimes men-
The Democrats’ action to remove Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) from two committee assignments as punishment for statements she made in years past was unprecedented. I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021 15
House of Representatives
16 I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021
Republicans were fined thousands of dollars for not going through metal detectors before entering the House floor. No Democrats were similarly fined.
“It is very dangerous when the party in power starts a process of punishing only members of the minority party.” Brian Darling, former counsel to Sen. Rand Paul
“What’s most important is showing the Democratic base and every American that there are standards in the halls of Congress, that there are consequences to likening your fellow member to a terrorist or killing them in an anime,” said Christy Setzer, a former national campaign spokesperson for then-Vice President Al Gore. “The bigger risk than Republican retaliation is in looking weak and ineffectual.” Setzer is the founder and president of the Washington-based New Heights Communications firm. Robin Biro, a former regional campaign director for President Barack Obama and a U.S. military veteran, said, “The important thing to remember with situations like these is that turnabout is always fair play.” Biro said he supported Gosar’s censure for a “crass tweet,” but noted that he recently lost his own race for mayor of Tucker, an Atlanta suburb, “in part [due] to a crass long-since-deleted military humor meme that I posted 11 years ago.” “The lesson here is that the internet is forever. In my case, I apologized for posting a crass meme 11 years ago ... while GOP members like Gosar so often get a pass for online behavior far more egregious,” he said. Veteran conservative political strategists interviewed by INSIGHT described how they believe Republicans should proceed in 2023 on the issue. “Rep. Eric Swalwell has been accused in the
ALL PHOTOS BY CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES
tioned as a potential rival to McCarthy for the speaker’s gavel in 2023. Former Virginia Attorney General and former Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli also views GOP action in 2023 as vital. “Unfortunately, the Democrats are actively using the power of the House to single out and persecute Republicans based on standards they are not applying to themselves,” he said. “The most glaring example of this is leaving Rep. Eric Swalwell on—of all things—the Intelligence Committee, even after he has literally slept with a Chinese spy! The only way this sort of behavior will stop is after a Republican majority aggressively uses the same powers to punish people like Swalwell.” Cuccinelli also pointed to House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), who encouraged Democratic activists to harass and intimidate members of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), who attacked the judicial system in the wake of the Kyle Rittenhouse acquittal. Cuccinelli is the national chairman of the Election Transparency Initiative. A veteran Democratic strategist told INSIGHT, however, that Pelosi and other House Democratic leaders had no choice but to impose penalties on Greene and Gosar.
House of Representatives
past of having an inappropriate communication and possible relationship with a communist Chinese spy,” said Brian Darling, former counsel to Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). Darling is the founder of the Washington-based Liberty Government Affairs. “Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) has been accused of repeated anti-Semitic remarks. During a House hearing in June, Rep. Donald Norcross (D-N.J.) was accused of calling Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) a racist. “If Democrats are held to the same standard they are applying to Republicans, expect a number of House members to lose committee assignments and a possible expulsion or two. It is very dangerous when the party in power starts a process of punishing only members of the minority party.” Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist, a former adviser to then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), told INSIGHT that Republicans must ensure Democrats “pay a price” for their actions. “I think it is extremely important that you need to make it clear that there is not just a tit-for-tat, but something beyond, ‘If you censure two, we censure two,’” Norquist said. “I don’t know what the proper response is, but we need to think it out, and we need to not have [Greene] giving us advice on who we go after.” Norquist suggested that the choice Republican leaders should give Democrats is either to change the rules “to prevent this stuff in such a way they can only be changed by a supermajority, or we can go back to the old days with the ethics committee.” Other GOP House members and strategists offered somewhat different responses when asked whether Republicans should retaliate in kind in 2023. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.), a member of the House Appropriations Committee, told
INSIGHT that it’s vital that Republicans manage the lower chamber of Congress in a way that maintains legislative decorum. “I think one of the things that has always made me proud to be a Republican is the fact that when we govern, whether its the U.S. House of Representatives, its rules and traditions, or something as fundamental as its calendar, we are the party of the rule of law, we are the party of doing things right,” Fleischmann said. “We are the party of being fundamentally straightforward, and I think that’s where the American people will look to us and return us to the majority.” Fleischmann condemned what he called Democrats’ “one-way partisan enforcement in the way they are governing the House.” “Sadly, it seems like there is one standard for Democratic members who say and do things versus for Republicans,” he said. Former Rep. David McIntosh (R-Ind.), who is now president of the conservative Club for Growth, said he believes “the key for Republicans is to lay out an agenda about how they are going to build the economy back, create opportunity for parents and their kids in the schools, restore law enforcement and public safety, and not spend their time on petty things the way the Democrats do.” Similarly, Family Research Council (FRC) President Tony Perkins said: “The key characteristic of the left is that it cannot entertain debate. They have to silence opposition. And that’s what we’re seeing from the left all the way from Congress into the media. “I would never advocate that Republicans, when they take control, operate in the same way. In fact, I think it would be helpful when it comes to the legislative process that we have the ability to have debate. ... A republic thrives on vigorous but civil debate.”
“The bigger risk than Republican retaliation is in looking weak and ineffectual.” Christy Setzer, former national campaign spokesperson for Vice President Al Gore
House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the Jan. 6 incident means that “the enemy is within”. I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021 17
T H E SCIE NCE
‘Follow the Sci
A Potent Source of Authority for Poli By Nathan Worcester
18 I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021
ience’
iticians
People line up outside of a COVID-19 vaccination site in Washington on Dec. 3. PHOTO BY SAMUEL CORUM/GETTY IMAGES
I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021 19
Year-End COVID-19
With masks, following the science has led to dramatic reversals of policy News Analysis
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20 I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021
“If you go back and look at everything that was published before 2020 ... you realize how politicized this really has become.” Steven Templeton, professor, Indiana University
the former moves in a rigorous, self-correcting way toward results that may or may not align with a specific hypothesis, the latter constructs a model and then only accepts the data that will confirm that model. At its most extreme, “following the science” is inflexibly dogmatic. When less inflexible, “following the science” can lead to sudden, sharp changes in public policy, often in the face of other evidence and goals separate from the COVID-19 response—for example, avoiding other health problems or economic disruption traceable to such policies.
People stroll down Bordeaux’s main shopping street Sainte-Catherine, in France on Aug. 15, 2020. “All of the 212 confirmed cases [of Omicron] identified in 18 European Union countries for which there was information available on severity were asymptomatic or mild,” according to the WHO’s Dec. 7 weekly epidemiological update.
Masking In the case of masking, “following the science” has led to a series of dramatic reversals. In February 2020, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams wrote on Twitter that Americans should “STOP BUYING MASKS!” as they were “not effective.” In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) maintained that healthy individuals didn’t need to wear masks. Yet as mask production ramped up in the United States, U.S. public health authorities changed their tune. In early April, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that Americans consider wearing cloth masks.
34,000
DEATHS New York City has had more than 34,000 deaths attributed to COVID-19.
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: MEHDI FEDOUACH/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES, NATHAN HOWARD/GETTY IMAGES, DREW ANGERER/GETTY IMAGES
o h e a r t h e way s o m e politicians talk, when it comes to COVID-19, they’re all “following the science,” not to mention “the data.” “Look at the data. Follow the science. Listen to the experts. Be smart,” now-former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo wrote on Twitter in May 2020, after “Two Weeks to Flatten the Curve” had fully transitioned to “The New Normal.” “We’ve been operating on facts and data and science from the very beginning,” said Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker in a campaign ad titled simply “Follow The Science.” President Joe Biden has frequently appealed to “the science.” In an executive order announcing a vaccine mandate for federal workers, for instance, he said his administration used “the best available data and science-based public health measures.” In an article criticizing Biden’s move to push vaccine boosters in September, StatNews’s Lev Facher described “Follow the Science” as “a mantra” for the administration. “The science” emerged long before 2020 as a potent source of authority for politicians. Yet while the scientific method is a powerful tool for advancing human potential, the belief that it alone can guide us is an example of “scientism.” Scientism is, in the words of public intellectual Scott Masson, “the belief that moral or evaluative judgments are merely subjective and that only the ‘hard’ sciences—think physics, chemistry, or biology—furnish legitimate objective knowledge.” While few American politicians would openly endorse this position, the actions many have taken during the COVID-19 pandemic reflect scientism in deed, if not in word. Scientism lets politicians off the hook for their decisions. They didn’t really make a decision— they merely “followed the science.” As a scientistic credo, “Follow the science” doesn’t just abrogate leaders’ accountability as decision-makers. It also does violence to the nature of science, which seldom offers the clearcut, politically useful conclusions that politicians want. A popular meme contrasts the “scientific method” with the “science worshiper’s method.” While
Year-End COVID-19
One 2021 preprint found no correlation between mask mandates and COVID-19 case rates among students and faculty across schools in Florida, New York, and Massachusetts. By June 2020, WHO recommended that healthy members of the general public wear masks in situations where physical distancing wasn’t possible, citing new scientific evidence on transmission. In 2021, the CDC repeatedly shifted on masking. In July 2021, it reversed a May recommendation that vaccinated people need not wear masks, drawing rebukes from Republican governors. Some experts believe that such shifts mark a significant departure from our understanding of masking before the pandemic. “When it comes to the point of certain interventions that are sort of weakly supported, and if you go back and look at everything that was published before 2020, and come to this completely different conclusion if you read the things that published later on in 2020, about masks or the ability of lockdowns to stop and end spread indefinitely—long-term lockdowns that have devastating collateral damage—and that type of thing. And then you realize how politicized this really has become,” immunologist Steven Templeton, a professor at Indiana University, formerly with the CDC, said in an interview with The Epoch Times’ EpochTV. One of the most politicized issues is the masking of young children. While advocates have argued that children could be major transmitters of COVID-19, opponents have argued that children
“STOP BUYING MASKS!” Jerome Adams, U.S. surgeon general, in a tweet in February 2020
are neither major vectors of the disease nor vulnerable to serious illness or death. They have also pointed out the understudied developmental and physiological risks of masking young children. One 2021 preprint found no correlation between mask mandates and COVID-19 case rates among students and faculty across schools in Florida, New York, and Massachusetts, though the authors included caveats about how well their findings could be generalized. Still, for many schools, “following the science” has led to universal mask mandates. Portland Public Schools, for example, requires the masking of children at all times and places, indoor or outdoor, and irrespective of vaccination status, “except when eating, drinking or playing a I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021 21
Year-End COVID-19
musical wind instrument.” In one instance, guerilla footage showed kindergartners “eating” while sitting outside on buckets in 40-degree weather while socially distanced from playmates. In cases such as these, “following the science” has the look and feel of political theater.
The CEO of Pfizer has speculated that Omicron could push up the debut of its latest booster.
Omicron and Beyond
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The Omicron variant of COVID-19 hasn’t yet caused a surge in serious COVID-19 cases. Yet as soon as the new strain made international headlines, governments across the world were ready to “follow the science,” or at least take some sort of action in its name. The United States, the UK, and other countries have banned travel from many countries in southern Africa, where Omicron was first detected. Japan, meanwhile, barred entry of all foreign nationals. WHO and other scientists and physicians argued that these bans weren’t warranted, in part because they would do little to slow the variant’s spread. The CEO of Pfizer, too, has speculated that the variant could push up the debut of its latest booster, telling CNBC, “I think we will need a fourth dose.” For now, however, the new variant appears to be mild. To date, Omicron doesn’t seem to have
caused a single verifiable death. When asked by INSIGHT if Omicron had led to a single confirmed fatality, a WHO spokesperson sent its weekly epidemiological update for Dec. 7. According to that guide: “All of the 212 confirmed cases identified in 18 European Union countries for which there was information available on severity were asymptomatic or mild. While South Africa saw an 82 percent increase in hospital admissions due to COVID-19 (from 502 to 912) during the week 28 November–4 December 2021, it is not yet known the proportion of these with the Omicron variant.” In addition, the WHO spokesperson said, “For Omicron, we have not had any deaths reported, but it is still early in the clinical course of disease and this may change.” The CDC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from INSIGHT on whether there were any confirmed Omicron deaths. Other examples abound. For instance, while data show vaccinated individuals are significantly less likely to die of COVID-19 than the unvaccinated, “following the science” to preapproved conclusions may prematurely foreclose or minimize serious concerns about vaccine safety, particularly in relation to heart inflammation or other cardiovascular disease.
Year-End COVID-19
‘Following the science’ to preapproved conclusions may prematurely foreclose or minimize serious concerns about vaccine safety. In September testimony before the FDA in its evaluation of the Pfizer booster, entrepreneur Steve Kirsch said that Pfizer’s vaccines kill more people than they save, citing Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) data, among other information. Just days ago, physicians and scientists in the UK reportedly warned that post-pandemic stress disorder is driving a rise in heart attacks and other cardiovascular issues, including among younger patients. Some commentators speculated that the rise could be related to vaccines. Candace Owens wrote on Twitter in response to the story: “I’ve just learned that the sudden increase in heart-related illnesses is likely due to **checks Big Pharma notes** Post-Pandemic Stress Disorder. Nothing to see here!”
Following Science, Not ‘Following the Science’ While New York and New York City have pursued hardline policies, including the city’s vaccine pass system applicable to children as young as 5, the state of Florida has blocked mandates and prioritized individual choice. Today, case rates in Florida are lower than in New York, likely in part because of the disease’s seasonality. Moreover, while Floridians are on average older than New York residents, suggesting that they should be more vulnerable to COVID-19, the death rate per 100,000 is still lower in that state than in New York, according to NBC News. New York City itself has had more than 34,000 deaths, due partly to major early clusters in nursing homes in the city. The Senate’s Dec. 8 vote to block Biden’s OSHA vaccine mandate for large employers, which came soon after the 6th Circuit Court overruled the same mandate, could signal the resilience of checks and balances against compulsion in the name of “the science.” Elsewhere in the world, “following the science,” often in spite of other scientific evidence, is lead-
ing to more draconian policies. New Brunswick, Canada, has permitted grocery stores to exclude the unvaccinated, violating the basic human right to food articulated in Article 25 of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. Numerous studies have raised questions about whether vaccination stems transmission, with some suggesting that vaccinated people with suppressed symptoms of the disease may even be major drivers of new infection. Regardless, “the science” demands greater sacrifices by the day. Good science can and should inform our judgments as well as those of politicians. But unthinking gestures toward “the science” don’t shield any of us from responsibility—though as Jeffrey A. Tucker of The Brownstone Institute points out, the bureaucrats whose banalities enforce our new scientistic consensuses shirk any blame for its self-evident failures.
President Joe Biden has frequently invoked “the science” when issuing orders. In March 2020, the World Health Organization maintained that healthy individuals didn’t need to wear masks. But in June 2020, the agency recommended that the general public to wear masks, citing new scientific evidence on transmission.
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YEAR IN PHOTO AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL U.S. SOLDIERS STAND GUARD BEHIND barbed wire as Afghans sit on a roadside near the military area of the airport in Kabul, hoping to flee from the country after the Taliban’s military takeover, on Aug. 20. PHOTO BY WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
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Joe Bide
Biden’s term marked by rollout o and much-criticized manner of w
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President Joe Biden leaves after delivering remarks at the White House on June 23. Biden’s first year in office has been a difficult one, with his ratings sinking amid a number of challenges over the past year. PHOTO BY KEVIN DIETSCH/GETTY IMAGES
en’s First Year
of progressive agenda, economic woes, withdrawal from Afghanistan
By Petr Svab I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021 27
First Year Review
P
entered the White House amid one of the most challenging and tumultuous circumstances in recent history. As 2021 draws to a close, an assessment of the president’s tenure to date reveals a year with a number of agenda items accomplished along with multiple crises. r esident joe biden
WITH ROUGHLY A MONTH left until the first
anniversary of his first term in the White House, the president's approval rating has sunk amid a pandemic that has killed more Americans during his term than during that of his predecessor, an unprecedented surge in illegal immigration, rising inflation, and what has been widely perceived as a botched withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Fenced Off Inauguration The economy under President Joe Biden is currently suffering from the steepest inflation in over 30 years.
Biden was inaugurated as president of the United States on Jan. 20 while being guarded by thousands of troops. The rationale was that the thousands of Americans that had disrupted the election certification at the Capitol on Jan. 6 could return. Biden is the first president to have been guarded by the military from his own people during an inauguration.
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First Year Review
Enshrining ‘Equity’ Biden has made “equity” into a “whole of government” issue, inserting the notion “throughout our federal policies and institutions.” Commonly used in progressive political parlance, equity refers to equality of outcome, rather than equal treatment, and is tied to the Marxist “critical theory,” which divides society into identity groups based on race, gender, sexual proclivities, and other factors, then dividing those groups into the categories of oppressed and oppressors. The underlying ideology assumes that if an “oppressed” group, on average, gets a worse life outcome, it’s primarily because of “systemic” discrimination by an “oppressor” group. The focus on “equity” has manifested in a variety of the policies of the Biden administration, such as earmarking funding or promising preferential treatment to select identity groups, regardless of individual merit.
“In order to beat COVID, we have to shut it down worldwide. ” President Joe Biden
President Joe Biden was the first president protected from his own people by thousands of troops during his inauguration.
Everything Climate Biden has made climate change the organizing principle of his administration. He has directed various agencies to include climate impact assessments into their processes, prioritize projects deemed climate friendly, and shun those that are deemed to be climate unfriendly. Some experts say that climate science is too complex and uncertain to effectively guide such decisions. They argue that whatever climate rules the government ends up promulgating will likely end up disconnected from any actual effect on climate, spawning waste and corruption. Climate change has also dominated Biden’s foreign policy, where he’s trying to build an international commitment for reducing carbon emissions, which many scientists say are warming the planet and creating possibly more extreme weather in the future. Those efforts have been rendered mostly ineffective due to the unwillingness of some major carbon emitters to throttle their economies to further the climate agenda. In particular, some experts say that China, which emits more carbon dioxide than much of the developed world combined, is unlikely to follow through on whatever climate promises it makes.
Relaxing Border Measures
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Biden scrapped several key initiatives of President Donald Trump that were aimed to stem illegal immigration. Most notably, Biden nixed the “remain in Mexico” policy that made asylum seekers from Central America stay in Mexico while waiting for their cases to be resolved. The policy has been credited by experts for curbing illegal border crossings and related human trafficking operations. A federal court has reinstated the policy with some caveats, but the administration is still fighting in court to have it reversed. Biden also stopped the construction of border barriers. The Trump administration had built hundreds of miles of new fencing that made it more difficult for trespassers to cross into the United States, giving Border Patrol more time to apprehend them, according to border security officials. The situation at the border has escalated to historic proportions, with about 2 million people having crossed illegally into the country in the fiscal year 2021—a 20-year high. As illegal border crossings are often controlled by drug cartels, there are indications that the border surge has been accompanied by an increase in human and drug trafficking. Fentanyl flowing into the United States from China through Mexico has been involved in more than 64,000 overdose deaths in the 12 months ending in April, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
First Year Review
“One of the things that is going to bear fruit, I believe, is ... where we provide for funding to change the circumstances on the ground in the countries in Central America.”
Biden has yet to visit the border. His administration issued a rule in August to allow immigration officers, rather than immigration judges, to decide the asylum cases of illegal immigrants. This process is already in place for asylum seekers who enter the country legally. Biden also wants to send more money to the countries where the largest amount of illegal border crossers originate. “One of the things that is going to bear fruit, I believe, is ... where we provide for funding to change the circumstances on the ground in the countries in Central America,” he said in October. The countries in question—Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador—have received more than $1.7 billion in U.S. aid between 2014 and 2020.
Reregulation
Vaccine Rollout
30
YEARS
Americans were hit with the worst inflation in more than 30 years in October.
Upon assuming office, Biden complained that the previous administration had left him with no plan for vaccine distribution, which Trump and his Cabinet members have denied. In either case, the Biden administration has generally ensured a smooth rollout of the vaccine, including donating more than 110 million doses to other countries. The pace of vaccination has slowed in recent weeks. Less than 60 percent of the population has been “fully vaccinated,” according to CDC.
American Rescue Plan One of the first major pieces of legislation Biden managed to have approved by Congress was the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus relief package known as the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). It served to fulfill Biden’s campaign promise of direct-
30 I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021
ly sending Americans another round of checks or direct deposits in COVID-19 relief money. Yet some Biden voters criticized it for only sending $1,400 per individual, while Biden had promised $2,000. Biden said he actually meant $1,400 because $600 had already been included in the previous package, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which was approved by Congress in December 2020. Biden’s package was criticized for overspending on special interest groups, such as public school teachers, with the argument being that previous measures had already earmarked tens of billions of dollars for such purposes, much of which hadn’t yet been spent at the time of ARPA’s approval. Some experts have argued that ARPA, as well as the previous relief legislation, is at least partly responsible for the current high rate of inflation in the United States.
Afghanistan Withdrawal In August, Biden carried out a plan initiated by his predecessor to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan—where the United States had spent two decades—just in time for the 20-year anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. However, the way in which the Biden administration conducted the withdrawal was panned as a disaster by both Democrats and Republicans. In a move that was baffling to experts, the withdrawal started in June, with the U.S. military abandoning the strategic Bagram Airfield in the middle of the night without informing Afghan authorities. The base was then ransacked and looted before the Afghan forces managed to arrive. U.S. troops and officials were then evacuated from Afghanistan, even though tens of billions of dollars worth of military equipment and armaments, as well as tens of thousands of civilians who wanted to leave the country, including Americans, were still on the ground. The military then returned to mount a heroic evacuation mission, airlifting more than 100,000
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Shortly after taking office, Biden discarded several of Trump’s executive orders aimed to reduce federal President Joe Biden regulation. Deregulation was one of Trump’s top achievements, cutting the final rule page count in the Federal Register to less than 21,000 in 2019 from the more than 38,000 left behind by the Obama administration, according to a 2020 report by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI). The incoming administration called Trump’s efforts “needless obstacles to regulating in the public’s interest.” The first year of an administration is usually slower on regulation, but Biden’s is on pace to beat both the first year of Trump as well as that of President Barack Obama, according to data collected by CEI’s Clyde Wayne Crews. The number of “significant” regulations, such as those with economic effects of at least $100 million, jumped from 79 in Trump’s final year to 345 by Nov. 2, 2021, with still two more months to account for.
The Biden administration has generally ensured a smooth rollout of the vaccine, including donating more than 110 million doses to other countries.
First Year Review
people in just two weeks. But the damage had been done. People desperately clinging to planes taking off will likely remain as one of the defining images of the Biden administration. Despite the administration’s reassurances to the contrary, the Taliban took over Afghanistan in a matter of days, showing the weakness of the Afghan government and its 300,000-strong security force that the United States spent years helping to train. There are indications that the ISIS-K terrorist group has been expanding its presence in Afghanistan as well. On Aug. 26, bombings at the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, killed more than 170 people, including 13 U.S. soldiers who were conducting the evacuation. ISIS-K later claimed responsibility for the attack. In November, the Taliban held a military parade showcasing captured U.S. technology, rubbing in the humiliation of U.S. military leadership. Critics have lambasted the withdrawal as one of the worst military debacles in U.S. history.
Vaccine Mandates Despite the administration initially promising that there would be no CCP virus vaccine mandates, Biden announced in August that all companies with more than 100 employees must have their staff vaccinated or tested weekly for COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP virus. Some experts have pointed to the shaky legal standing of the measure, which was subsequently put on hold by a federal
judge while the numerous legal challenges to it are being addressed in the courts. Biden has also required that all federal workers and contractors get vaccinated against COVID-19, including members of the military. However, the order doesn’t cover the U.S. Postal Service.
Inflation The U.S. economy under Biden is currently suffering from its steepest case of inflation in more than 30 years—more than 6 percent for the 12 months that ended in October. On Nov. 30, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told Congress that he expects inflation to remain elevated well into 2022. On paper, the economy looks rather strong. Unemployment dropped to 4.2 percent in November and household income has exceeded its pre-pandemic maximum, as Biden recently noted. “Even after accounting for rising prices, the typical American family has more money in their pockets than they did last year,” he said on Dec. 3. But that calculation only works when looking at overall inflation. Prices have, in fact, increased unevenly, soaring in particular for the necessities of American life, such as gasoline and other fuels, meat, eggs, cooking oil, cars and trucks, furniture, and major appliances, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Some experts had predicted that inflation would be the result of the enormous government COVID-19
A helicopter flies a Taliban flag to celebrate the United States’ withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan, in Kandahar on Sept. 1. Critics lambasted President Joe Biden’s manner of withdrawal as one of the worst military debacles in American history. I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021 31
Nearly 400,000 Americans have died this year with some involvement of a COVID-19 infection, compared to some 385,000 deaths last year. So far, President Joe Biden’s campaign promise to defeat the virus has gone unfulfilled.
Other parts of the problem include shortages of licensed truckers to pick up freight at ports and warehouse workers willing to take night shifts, as well as the shortage of truck chassis capable of carrying a shipping container. Labor shortages had been at least partially caused by boosted unemployment benefits, pandemic restrictions, and fear of the CCP virus in general. The number of Americans working or actively looking for a job (known as the labor force) has dropped by more than 2 million people from pre-pandemic levels. Some of Biden’s policies, such as his push for vaccine mandates, have likely exacerbated the issue. Aside from the
Shortages In recent months, Americans have been increasingly complaining about shortages of various items. The most obvious cause of these shortages is the gridlock at U.S. ports that are handling import shipments from overseas. Biden helped negotiate for the severely backlogged Port of Los Angeles to become a 24/7 operation, but that only helps with one piece of the supply chain. 32 I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021
President Joe Biden’s signature legislation proposal, the Build Back Better Act, was designed as the most expensive spending package ever, at $3.5 trillion.
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stimulus measures, as well as the extremely accommodative monetary policy of the Federal Reserve. On one side, Biden can’t be blamed for excessive money printing, as Congress would have likely approved the relief packages regardless of who was in the White House. On the other hand, Biden is taking steps that are likely exacerbating the problem. Biden’s decision to nix the Keystone Pipeline and begin the process of “decarbonizing” the economy has stunted enthusiasm for investment in the domestic oil sector, making U.S. oilers less flexible to respond to rising demand after it rebounded from the pandemic recession in 2020. Also, Biden’s plan is to pile on yet more government regulations and taxes, the cost of which would likely at least partially be passed on to consumers. Biden ordered the release of 50 million barrels of oil from the country’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, but that’s likely to only put a short-term dent in gas prices, which have been at their highest point since 2014.
First Year Review
vaccine mandate for federal workers, the Biden administration has encouraged private employers to impose the mandate on their workers, even as a significant number of them don’t trust the COVID-19 vaccines and would rather lose their jobs than be vaccinated against the virus.
Build Back Better Act Biden’s signature legislation proposal, the Build Back Better Act, would have been the most expensive spending package in U.S. history, bearing a price tag of $3.5 trillion. The legislation included everything from infrastructure investments to welfare expansion, carveouts for select identity groups, and subsidies for projects to reduce carbon emissions. It would have raised taxes on the rich as well as, indirectly, on the middle class. The plan capsized in Congress, as key Democrats who saw it as too expensive joined with Republicans who were united against it. Some experts say the plan would have led to gigantic misspending, corruption, inflation, and ultimately lower living standard for Americans. Biden has so far been able to push through a smaller $550 billion package focused on infrastructure. Aside from investment in roads, bridges, airports, waterways, and the electrical grid, it also included billions of dollars for public transportation, broadband internet, electric vehicle charging stations, and electric buses. Biden is now working with Congress to get a slimmed-down version of the Build Back Better Act approved. On paper, the new version would cost $2.4 trillion, offset by $2.2 trillion in new taxes, largely on U.S. companies. The measure would use a budget gimmick whereby some of its most expensive programs would sunset after anywhere from one to six years, while the extra taxes to pay for them would be spread out over 10 years. If the programs were to be extended to 10 years, the legislation would cost nearly $5 trillion, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a bipartisan fiscal thinktank. The measure would extend the American Rescue Plan’s expanded child tax credit for one year. It would also expand the earned income tax credit for one year and provide pre-K and child care subsidies for six years. Medicaid benefits extended under American Rescue Plan to those eligible under the Affordable Care Act in states that haven’t taken advantage of the expanded benefits would be available until 2025. The legislation would also allow larger state tax deductions, benefiting the residents of high-tax states. These deductions were previously curbed by Trump’s tax cuts package.
The situation at the border has escalated to historic proportions, with some 2 million people expected to cross illegally this year—a 20-year-high. COVID-19 Nearly 400,000 Americans have died with some involvement of a COVID-19 infection in 2021, compared to roughly 385,000 deaths in 2020, according to CDC data. Deaths have declined in recent weeks, but it remains to be seen how the virus will behave during the winter season. Thus far, Biden’s campaign promise to defeat the virus has gone unfulfilled. In recent remarks, he indicated that it’s not possible to move past the pandemic unless it ends globally. “In order to beat COVID, we have to shut it down worldwide,” he said. “In the United States of America, we’re doing everything that needs to be done to take care of the American people within our borders. But look what’s happened. You know, we were starting to make some real progress, and then you find out there’s another strain.”
Some experts have warned that whatever climate rules the government ends up promulgating will likely end up disconnected from any actual climate impact, spawning waste and corruption. I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021 33
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YEAR IN PHOTO FLOWER FIELD A WOMAN TAKES A SELFIE AT A LUPINE field in full bloom near Sollested on Lolland island, Denmark, on June 8. PHOTO BY MADS CLAUS RASMUSSEN/RITZAU SCANPIX/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
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Known for his strong The Lead Education pushback against policies from the Biden administration, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis became one of America’s most recognizable governors in 2021.
FLORIDA
DESANTIS versus
WASHINGTON The governor took on the Biden administration in 2021.
By Nanette Holt While much of the country bundles up around the holidays, Floridians revel in bragging about their “T-shirt weather.” It’s not unusual for December temperatures to hit the 80s in the Sunshine State. But what stands out as strange is the number of natives sporting short-sleeve shirts emblazoned with images of their governor, Ron DeSantis. DeSantis, a Republican, has taken on both rockstar and villain status in his state, depending on who is asked, largely because of the way he has pushed back against policies from Washington and the Biden administration. Comments during DeSantis’s live broadcasts and on his social media pages show that interest in what he’s doing stretches far beyond Florida’s borders. Posts from users in other states, and even
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329,717
NEW RESIDENTS moved to Florida between April 2020 and April 2021, according to Florida’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research.
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ALL AH ASSEE , FLOR IDA—
other countries, often refer to him as “America’s Governor” and beg him to run for president. Others deride him as “moRon,” “Death-Santis” or “DeSatan.” As never before, Floridians proudly wear their feelings for their top executive on their sleeves. When DeSantis shows up in little towns and big cities around the state for his almost-daily public appearances, those in attendance often wear T-shirts blaring a bold—yet unofficial— DeSantis 2024 logo. That’s despite the fact that the 43-year-old governor has said over and over that he’s not running for president. He filed in November to run for reelection for governor in 2022. Other fans wear T-shirts in a wide range of designs, many bearing a likeness of him grinning, wearing superhero garb, holding a Constitution in his hands, or appearing in a droopy red hat as “DeSantis Claus.” Pro-DeSantis styles often feature the slogan “Make America Florida.”
Nation Politics
“If you’re trying to ruin their jobs and their livelihoods and their small businesses, if you are trying to lock people down, I am standing in your way, and I’m standing for the people of Florida.” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
Gov. Ron DeSantis signs bills countering vaccine and mask mandates, in Brandon, Fla., on Nov. 18. He vowed that Florida’s children will never be subject to a COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
Opponents turn their chests into billboards, too, insisting he’s “Killing Floridians with his Stupidity.” Love him or hate him, DeSantis became one of America’s most recognizable governors in 2021, going toe-to-toe with President Joe Biden over what DeSantis calls “government overreach.” The White House didn’t respond to requests for comment. Under DeSantis’s leadership, Florida has taken on a new moniker: The Freedom State. When Biden was pushing for a return to lockdowns, DeSantis vowed to keep Florida’s businesses, beaches, houses of worship, and schools fully open, as they had been since he lifted remaining restrictions in September 2020. Residents from other states flocked to Florida—some just to be able to have a dinner out. Others drove moving vans loaded with belongings and hopes for a less-restricted future. The state grew by an estimated 329,717 new residents between April 2020 and April 2021, according to Florida’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research. And Move.org reported that Florida was the No. 1 destination for relocating Americans in 2020. Housing prices skyrocketed and demand outpaced the supply of homes. Conservatives in Florida had openly worried about whether an influx of new residents fleeing Democrat-led states might bring their left-leaning voting habits with them and turn the swing state solid blue. Not a chance, soothed Christian Ziegler, vice-chairman of the Republican Party of Florida at an October fundraiser at the swanky World Equestrian Center in Ocala. He promised that Republican voter registration would surpass Democrats for the first time by Thanksgiving. And it did. People used to move to Florida because of the weather and the beaches, Ziegler told the crowd,
but “now it’s because of the freedom, and who your governor is.” Jeff Wiita, who moved with his wife, Sandy, from Minnesota to a Florida retirement community in May, felt those words described him perfectly. The Wiitas were frustrated that, to have an evening out at a restaurant, they had to drive 45 minutes to neighboring Wisconsin. They were saddened to be able to see smoke from riots in Minneapolis rising from the nearby city. They were angry when a Trump sign on their property was torn down. They considered moving to Texas, but felt Gov. Greg Abbott wasn’t taking a strong enough stand for freedom. DeSantis’s policies drew them to Florida.
Florida Policies Turn Heads Nationally Across the country, business owners are eyeing Florida, too, as they fret about supply-chain snarls caused by heavy-laden barges sitting idly, waiting to dock, at ports on the West Coast. DeSantis has urged shippers to set sail to Florida to unload. Florida ports bustle 24/7, he said, and can do the job others can’t. And many shippers have. Biden and many in the media called DeSantis reckless for resisting renewed lockdowns this summer, when COVID-19 infections surged in the state. DeSantis insisted that lockdowns hadn’t worked before and were a mistake that hurt people financially, mentally, and emotionally. Lockdowns meant the old and the sick died alone in nursing homes and hospitals, he said. Lockdowns blocked people from being together during life’s most precious moments, like weddings and births. They shut down high school athletes’ dreams. They kept children out of schools, delaying learning and development. They crippled businesses and caused job losses, blamed for a cascading effect of depression, child abuse, addiction, and suicide. So when Biden scolded DeSantis and Abbot for not cooperating with his COVID-19-response efforts, DeSantis bristled. He said Biden was ignoring science and was responsible for letting COVID-19-infected immigrants pour across the Southern border. He warned Biden not to try to burden Floridians with lockdowns ever again. “If you’re trying to ruin their jobs and their livelihoods and their small businesses, if you are trying to lock people down, I am standing in your way, and I’m standing for the people of Florida,” he said during a press conference. “So why don’t you do your job? Why don’t you get this border secure? And until you do that, I don’t want to hear a blip about COVID from you.” DeSantis responded to the surge of the illness I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021 37
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by launching sites around his state where Floridians could get monoclonal antibody treatments for free without a doctor’s prescription. When the Biden administration tapered supplies of the treatment, DeSantis found a way to get more.
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“Every time he pushed back, people would raise an eyebrow and be concerned, but I always told them, ‘Just wait and see what happens.’ ” Carol Dover, CEO, Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association
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By September, a year after Florida reopened, the nation posted an increase of 194,000 jobs, and Florida accounted for 84,500 of those. Tourism, the state’s most important industry, rebounded to pre-pandemic levels by October. And in November, Florida held steady as the state with the lowest COVID-19 case rate nationwide. “He has been right at every single turn,” said Carol Dover, who represents the state’s largest industry and biggest employer, hospitality. “Every time he pushed back, people would raise an eyebrow and be concerned, but I always told them, ‘Just wait and see what happens.’” As president and CEO of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, Dover represents more than 10,000 restaurants, hotels, theme parks, and other businesses. Prolonged lockdowns threatened to splinter the state’s $111.7 billion hospitality industry—what she calls the economic engine of the state—permanently. The lockdowns caused job losses for many of the 1.5 million people employed in hospitality. But DeSantis resisted Washington policies and ended the lockdowns that threatened to make the recovery of the industry impossible. Many businesses, she said, were saved by his actions just in time. “My clients literally think he has done a stellar job,” she says. And even though she represents people on all points on the political spectrum, “they were never divided in that.” Some business owners were concerned after DeSantis signed a new state law saying employees couldn’t be fired or penalized for not getting vaccinated for COVID-19, the illness caused by
Clearwater Beach, after Gov. Ron DeSantis reopened beaches, in Clearwater, Fla., on May 4, 2020. When President Joe Biden was pushing for a return to lockdowns, DeSantis vowed to keep Florida’s businesses, beaches, houses of worship, and schools fully open.
the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) virus. That’s because federal rules still required businesses with more than 100 employees to require the vaccines. But then courts ruled against the federal mandate. “At every turn, he was helping us stay free, and he never put us in jeopardy,” she said of DeSantis. “We’ll forever be grateful for that.” Now her members’ biggest challenge is a shortage of people willing to work. “We knew from the beginning it was because of all the government handouts,” Dover said. “People got used to the luxury of being home, and not having to go to work. And I think that culture change will be with us for a long time.” But people willing to work are reaping rewards. Dover knows restaurant workers who, by picking up extra shifts, now make more than $100,000 per year. DeSantis has continued to challenge Biden at every turn to the benefit of Floridians. “We started with 15 days to slow the spread and now it’s get jabbed or lose your job. Give me a break!” DeSantis said at a news conference, pushing back against Biden’s vaccine mandates. DeSantis then countered federal vaccine mandates in Florida by calling state lawmakers to Tallahassee the week before Thanksgiving for a special legislative session. Four days later, they delivered bills for him to sign that, among other provisions, required businesses that impose vaccine mandates to provide exemptions on medical and religious grounds as well as for pregnant women. The bills also gave parents the right to opt their children out of wearing masks at school and limited the emergency powers of the state’s top health officer. The governor also vowed that Florida’s children would never be subject to a COVID-19 vaccine mandate. In a jab at the president, DeSantis coyly signed the bills at a ceremony in the mid-state city of Brandon. It was meant to send a message, his spokeswoman said. “Let’s Go, Brandon!” has become a viral anti-Biden euphemism chanted by crowds around the country. Those bills “saved our jobs,” said paramedic Michael Junge, a lieutenant and 18-year member of the Orange County Fire Rescue. He and many of his first-responder colleagues had refused to get the vaccine for varying reasons. For one: he’d already recovered from the disease and believed he had natural immunity. But also, as a paramedic, he had seen terrifying and unexpected emergencies in otherwise healthy young people—seizures, heart problems, strokes—and “the common denominator always was that they’d had the vaccine recently,” he said.
Nation Politics
“Now the county can’t terminate us.” DeSantis has helped first responders—workers he routinely calls heroes for their actions throughout the pandemic—by doling out $1,000 bonuses to them, and promising $5,000 signing bonuses for law enforcement officers moving in from other states “where they weren’t appreciated,” and taking jobs. He passed out $1,000 bonuses to teachers, too, and offered them $3,000 bonuses for earning certification showing they’re ready to teach civics with excellence. Civics, he says, is an antidote to critical race theory (CRT) teachings, which he banned in Florida schools. CRT, he said, teaches children “to hate our country.” CRT evolved from Marxist teachings of critical theory and paints most of what goes on in society as a power struggle between the race of the oppressor and that of the oppressed. It’s the theory that propels Black Lives Matter and demonizes the country’s Founding Fathers. That has no place in Florida, DeSantis has said. Again, that has put him at odds with Biden, who restored the ability for federal agencies to have CRT training sessions, which were virtually banned by President Donald Trump. Over and over in 2021, DeSantis took on the Biden administration over issues of national, and sometimes international, interest: He signed a law banning vaccine passports in
Patients wait to recieve monoclonal antibody treatments in Pembroke Pines, Fla., on Aug. 19. Gov. Ron DeSantis launched sites around the state to offer free monoclonal antibody treatments.
84,500 OF THE 194,000 JOBS GAINED NATIONWIDE in September 2021 were in Florida, a year after the state fully reopened from a partial pandemic lockdown.
his state, with $5,000 fines per violation. He called on Biden to deport illegal immigrants who had committed crimes. Then he traveled to Texas to witness the border crisis for himself, after sending law enforcement officers to help. When leaks from federal workers alerted him to secret, middle-of-the-night flights of immigrants into Florida for resettlement, DeSantis accused the Biden administration of “running its own massive human smuggling operation” and demanded information about the illegals flooding into his state. He promised to resettle immigrants again by delivering them to Biden’s home state of Delaware. That wasn’t hyperbole, and a plan would be announced soon, spokeswoman Christina Pushaw said in early December.
Calling Out Communism and Censorship In moves that looked more like those of a national leader than a state executive, DeSantis, a self-described anti-communist, took aim at the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) this year. He said it should be held accountable for damage caused by the pandemic, because its leaders allowed the virus to leak from a lab in Wuhan, delayed warning the world, and then tried to cover it up. He signed laws making it more difficult for the CCP to exercise influence on college campuses and made stealing and selling trade secrets I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021 39
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40 I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021
Though DeSantis says he’s not eyeing the White House, his continual punching at Biden and his travels to other states make it look as though he’s positioning himself to run, pundits say. Historically, political parties look to their group of governors as a kind of “breeding ground” for future presidential elections, said political analyst Susan MacManus. And the “out” party—the one not in control of the White House—is always “looking for someone to be their standard-bearer the next time around.” MacManus has studied—and been sought out for opinions on—Florida politics for about 40 years. She’s a historian, author, and professor emerita of political science at the University of South Florida. DeSantis, she says, has been an unusually active governor “with an element of surprise” that gives him broader-than-normal appeal. For instance, he recently nixed the annual testing of proficiency in Florida’s standards. The widely unpopular test contributed to A–F letter grades assigned to schools, and was blamed for a teaching-for-the-test push in classrooms. It was a move many teachers liked, and teachers often lean left, politically, because of their unions, MacManus noted. DeSantis further
Gov. Ron Desantis, a self-described anticommunist, took aim at the Chinese Communist Party this year. He blames the CCP for the damaged caused by the pandemic, which he says resulted from a lab leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. He also has signed laws limiting the CCP’s influence on college campuses.
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third-degree felonies punishable by up to five years in prison. And when the communist regime controlling Cuba shut down internet access during anti-government protests in July, DeSantis pressed Biden to take a stand and use U.S. assets to restore online communication. DeSantis also urged the Cuban military to join with demonstrators and overthrow communist leaders. The island nation is just 90 miles from Florida’s southern tip. DeSantis took Big Tech to task, too, accusing Facebook and others of manipulating elections in his state by limiting access to some candidates while boosting the reach of others. He signed a bill—the first of its kind in the country—allowing Floridians to sue social media platforms for censorship. But enforcement is on hold, as the bill faces challenges in court. He also charged Florida lawmakers with the job of passing new laws to guarantee election integrity in the state. Legislators are set to take up his proposals in January when they return for their regular session. Standing up for the people of Florida and for people across the country—that’s what real leadership looks like, says Heather Quarles, a wife, mom, and church employee in the North Central Florida university town of Gainesville. She, like many in the state, is torn about whether she hopes DeSantis will make a run for president. “I don’t want to lose him here. That does concern me. But having him in the White House could be a win long term.” What she likes most about the former Naval officer is that “he has served our country—he has made the sacrifice, so he understands.” Any candidate who hasn’t served in the military probably isn’t qualified to serve as commander in chief, she says. It’s important for women to like DeSantis if he wants to retain his job as Florida’s governor, and it’s critical if he wants to be president. One well-known political analyst, speaking on condition of anonymity, said DeSantis’s sometimes crass or arrogant-sounding comments could backfire on him, as they did for Trump. “His wife needs to rein him in,” the analyst said. Casey DeSantis, 41, was diagnosed with breast cancer in October and is the mother of their three children under 6. She’s a former anchorwoman who takes an active role promoting her own initiatives and his across the state. Many suburban, Republican women—voters Trump needed—turned against him because of his steady stream of mean tweets and expletive-laced tirades, the analyst said. Sounding like Trump could work against DeSantis, if he doesn’t take a more humble, mature, and professional tone.
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Though DeSantis says he’s not eyeing the White House, his continual punching at President Biden and his travels to other states make it look as if he’s positioning himself to run, pundits predict.
also indicated he’ll wait to see the results of the 2022 midterm elections before deciding. In interviews, he’s said he would consider DeSantis as a running mate in a 2024 attempt to reclaim the White House. Trump’s endorsement gave DeSantis a much-needed boost in his election the first time around against the popular Democrat mayor of Tallahassee, MacManus said. DeSantis won by about half a percent. And despite rumors that there’s friction between Trump and DeSantis now, MacManus is skeptical. Should he decide to run for president, “he’s doing the smart thing by building up networks across the country,” by making appearances in other states, she said. An important swing state in national elections, Florida is the third-largest and the most evenly divided by the two major parties, she noted. So far, 11 Democrats are challenging DeSantis in his bid to keep his job. Also registered for the race are one Republican, one independent, and three candidates listing no party affiliation, according to Florida’s Division of Elections. MacManus says his biggest threats come from two current Democrat politicians: the state’s Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried, who says she’s a “longtime advocate for criminal justice reform and marijuana legalization,” and Charlie Crist, currently a congressman who previously served as Florida governor as a Republican, before switching parties. Crist had been known in the state as “Chain Gang Charlie” for his tough stance on convicted criminals, but now joins Fried in campaigning largely on legalizing weed. Neither Crist nor Fried responded to requests for comment. MacManus said people that follow such races closely, and project odds for betting, believe DeSantis has his reelection “in the bag.” “Every handicapper is projecting him to win.”
Patrons at Irish 31 on the first day of full capacity seating, in Tampa, Fla., on Sept. 25, 2020. Florida's hospitality representative says that the governor’s stance against Washington lockdown policies saved many businesses.
broadens his appeal by actively advancing environmental issues, such as his recent investment in the Everglades. “It’s common for governors to want to run for president,” MacManus said. And that, she added, is probably why former New Jersey Gov. Chris Cristie has just written “Republican Rescue” and is making appearances to promote the book, in an effort to offer himself as an alternative presidential candidate. Trump has said he can’t reveal whether he plans to run again, due to campaign finance laws. He’s I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021 41
C OV I D J U R I S P R U D E N C E
A MIXED RECORD ON PROTECTING
Civil Rights
By Matthew Vadum
42 I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021
Photos of parishioners, attached to pews, at a virtual Sunday mass at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church in South Orange, N.J., on April 12, 2020. PHOTO BY ELSA/GETTY IMAGES
Year–End Supreme Court
Experts say Supreme Court may toughen its stance on unconstitutional COVID-19 measures By Matthew Vadum
T
News Analysis he supreme court has had a mixed track record over the past year in terms of protecting Americans’ civil rights during the ongoing pandemic, according to legal experts consulted by INSIGHT. The nation’s highest court generally did a good job at safeguarding religious freedoms, as it struck down limits on church capacity. A year ago, the court blocked then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo from enforcing pandemic-related restrictions on attendance at places of worship in a 5–4 ruling in Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo, which was a departure from the high court’s previous hands-off rulings that gave states free rein to limit constitutional rights while combating COVID-19. The shift in the court’s stance coincided with its decreasing reliance on a 1905 precedent known as Jacobson v. Massachusetts, a compulsory vaccination case that held that individual liberty was subject to the police power of the states. It also came weeks after the swearing-in of conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, which nominally gave conservatives a 6–3 majority on the high court. But experts say the Supreme Court typically fell short on mask and vaccination mandates. Steven J. Allen is a distinguished senior fellow at Capital Research Center, a conservative watchdog group. Among Allen’s academic credentials are a law degree and a doctoral degree in biodefense. “I’ve experienced some disappointment that the Supreme Court didn’t move more quickly to strike down some of the efforts by the Biden administration and by state and local authorities to deprive I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021 43
World South America
Although the Supreme Court has generally done well at backing religious freedom over the past year, experts say that it fell short when it came to mask and vaccine mandates. people of their rights using the Wuhan coronavirus as a pretext,” Allen told INSIGHT. The Supreme Court “has been encouraging lawlessness by acting slowly or by failing to act.” The high court “should always move quickly to slap down unconstitutional power grabs,” Allen said. These things move through the courts, which take so long to work, and by then “the damage is done.”
In the early legal battles, the average American was willing to give the government a lot of deference because there was a crisis. “The Supreme Court has failed to protect Americans by not doing what needed to be done,” he said. Allen was particularly incensed by the Biden administration’s eviction moratorium announced in August, which President Joe Biden admitted was probably unconstitutional, but he went ahead with it anyway, and by the employer vaccination mandate which the administration implemented through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), a regulatory agency within the Department of Labor. “Running that through OSHA is obviously preposterous,” Allen said. By not taking action against the mandate, the Supreme Court “is not stepping up.” Curt Levey is president of the Committee for 44 I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021
Justice, a nonprofit organization that, in its own words, “advocates constitutionalist positions on legal and policy issues in Congress and the courts, while educating the public and policymakers about the rule of law and constitutionally limited government.” Asked what letter grade he might assign to the court during the pandemic era, Levey assigned it a “B.” But the B grade comes with the proviso that it’s still early in the process, he said. “I think of World War I as an example,” Levey said. “There were a lot of civil rights challenges to things the government did, certainly, that were by today’s standards well-founded challenges and primarily First Amendment stuff. “But while the war was going on, the Supreme Court upheld virtually all of the restrictions on freedom, but then by 1919 and 1920, when this was still being litigated, the Supreme Court started declaring them unconstitutional. “I think you’re going to see the same thing here.” In the early legal battles, the average American was willing to give the government a lot of deference because there was a crisis, he said. But how the Supreme Court ruled in the middle of the crisis “doesn’t tell us that much about how they’re going to rule a year from now.” Levey suggested that some critics have been too hard on the court. After vaccines against COVID-19 became available to the public in late 2020, they were followed by various vaccination mandates, which are only now “being tested” in the courts. “The challengers are doing a good job in the lower courts,” Levey said, noting that several judges have
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THE SUPREM COUR T t h e A n - rd w Cuom5s r e s t ic o n c hr u a t e n d c .
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blocked the implementation of vaccination mandates. In August, in Klaassen v. Trustees of Indiana University, Justice Barrett refused to block a student-sought vaccination mandate at Indiana University, a move that didn’t sit well with some conservatives who supported her nomination in 2020 by President Donald Trump.
“[The Supreme Court] has been encouraging lawlessness by acting slowly or by failing to act.”
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Steven J. Allen, distinguished senior fellow, Capital Research Center
“I wouldn’t draw a lot of conclusions from that,” Levey said. “The decision not to intervene could just be based on a feeling that this should be worked out at least for a while in the lower courts. Vaccine mandates, at least on the federal level, have not been holding up well.” Paul Jonna is a partner at LiMandri and Jonna LLP and special counsel for the Thomas More Society, a national public interest law firm focusing on religious freedoms. Jonna told INSIGHT that the Supreme Court got it wrong in May 2020, when it refused to intervene when the San Diego-based South Bay United Pentecostal Church challenged California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s emergency public health orders that prohibited churches from holding indoor worship services, imposed limits on how many people could attend services, and prohibited singing during services. At that time, Chief Justice John Roberts had “unfortunately sided with the liberal wing” and “that decision was used to justify restrictions on not only churches, but in other contexts for a period of many, many months,” he said. It wasn’t until Barrett replaced the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2020 that the court revisited the worship restrictions in the Cuomo case and ruled in favor of religious freedoms, Jonna said. Then his firm took the San Diego church case back to the Supreme Court in February of this year, and this time, Roberts sided with the other conservative justices, and the restrictions on worship in California were struck down. The Supreme Court has so far not been providing much guidance or clarity as to the proper standard for evaluating religious objections to vaccine mandates, Jonna said. This week, he’s taking an emergency appeal of an unfavorable ruling to the Supreme Court. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit upheld the San
An expert says that the Supreme Court hasn’t been providing much guidance on the proper standard for evaluating religious objections to vaccine mandates.
The release of COVID-19 vaccines to the public early in 2021 was soon followed by various vaccination mandates, which are only now “being tested” in the courts. Diego Unified School District’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate for students, local media reported on Dec. 6. The appeals court held that the district mandate, which allows for medical exemptions but not religious or personal belief exemptions, was doing what was best for students. Jonna disagreed. “They’re going to have to allow a personal belief exemption,” he said. “If you’re a religious objector, you’ve got to stay home. You can’t play sports. You’ve got to do home study. This is very unconstitutional.” Governments across the country “have been providing all these secular exemptions to mandates, but not recognizing religious exemptions.” It’s like when various governments decided that “Walmart was safe enough to stay open, but churches weren’t,” he said. “The Supreme Court has the opportunity now to get this right.” I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021 45
Sand art created on New Brighton Beach to highlight global warming and the 2021 COP26 global climate conference, in Wirral, England, on May 31.
News Analysis
Climate Concerns Influence Everything These Days ‘Lessons learned’ from COVID-19 may empower politicians to impose lockdowns to fight climate change By Nathan Worcester
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H R I S T M A S T I M E I S H E R E , but
talk of global warming hasn’t slowed down with the cooling weather. In fact, it seems like concern about the climate influences everything these days. In Washington, the solidly Democratic House has given a divided but Democrat-controlled Senate an expensive new piece of legislation. The $2 trillion “Build Back Better Act” was approved by the House on Nov. 19 with opposition from just one Democrat, Jared Golden (D-Maine). Unsurprisingly, the word “climate” appears in it 131 times, while the words “greenhouse gas” or “greenhouse gases” appear 72 times. This isn’t a new trend. The $1 trillion infrastruc-
46 I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson (L) and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (R) greet U.S. President Joe Biden at the COP26, in Glasgow, Scotland, on Nov. 1.
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Year–End Climate Policy
ture measure, now the law of the land, uses the word “climate” 22 times and the word “carbon” a staggering 203 times. After four years of President Donald Trump, 2021 marked a return to Obama-era form on many issues, climate policy being among them. The Biden administration has stepped up the focus on all things climate, even beyond the precedent set under President Barack Obama—all while debate about the existence, causes, and trajectory of climate change has faced unprecedented suppression. Within days of taking office, President Joe Biden signed a major executive order on climate change that tied climate to everything from national security to environmental justice. An executive order in May tasked various parts of the federal government with developing new measures for estimating climate-related risk. In a recent Twitter thread, journalist Michael Shellenberger discussed a new report from the Fed that suggests that climate-related policy could pose more of a threat to banking than the climate itself. He said the Biden administration’s ambition to “radically alter how America’s banks lend money, the energy sector, and the economy as a whole,” said to be a response to climate change, could be driven by wealthy shareholder activists who stand to become richer in the process. World leaders ranging from the UK’s Boris Johnson and India’s Narendra Modi to China’s
World leaders at the COP26 U.N. Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, on Nov. 1. Leaders have often spoken about what they called the imminent dangers of climate change, but the timeline for these dangers has been extended further and further into the future.
THE WORD “CARBON”
appears 203 times in the $1 trillion infrastructure bill.
Xi Jinping and Canada’s Justin Trudeau have often spoken on the imminent dangers of climate change—dangers that, in retrospect, often recede across the horizon to some future date in the near (but not too near) future (the Competitive Enterprise Institute has summarized some of this memorable doomsaying, as first gathered by Tony Heller). Unsurprisingly, politicians and other government officials have used concerns about a warming planet as a mandate to expand their powers, not just in one area, but in virtually all spheres of life. Everything has something to do with climate change, it seems. In China, a series of power cuts this autumn may have been prompted in part by the U.N.’s COP26 Climate Conference, according to University of South Carolina Aiken professor Frank Tian Xie. Writing in INSIGHT, Xie said China’s Xi wanted to “look good in front of other world leaders if he made a promise that China would slash carbon emissions, power consumption, and pollution levels within a month, at all costs.” In August, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services launched the new Office of Climate Change and Health Equity. Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services Rachel Levine said the new office would “use the lessons learned from COVID-19 to address these disparities, prioritizing and protecting the nation’s health.” Many other government officials have specI N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021 47
Year–End Climate Policy
ulated about applying such “lessons learned” from COVID-19 to climate change, including through climate lockdowns. In his remarks to the 2020 G-7 Speakers Meeting, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the speaker of the UK House of Commons, appeared to advocate for COVID-19-style “limitations on personal choice and lifestyle” to address climate change. Mariana Mazzucato, an economist at University College London who has served on panels for multiple governments and the World Health Organization, wrote in a September 2020 article for Project Syndicate that “in the near future, the world may need to resort to lockdowns again—this time to tackle a climate emergency.” The high-intensity climate rhetoric of 2021 culminated at COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, where signatories to the final agreement reached at the event pledged to “phase down unabated coal,” softening language in an earlier draft (from “phase out”) at the request of India. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the final document was “not enough.” “We must accelerate climate action to keep alive the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees,” Guterres said, urging the world to enter into “emergency mode.” The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) latest report, released in August, is less extreme in tone, even stating that high emissions scenarios that have been modeled are “considered low in light of recent developments in the energy sector.” Even as climate science has been used to expand the power of governments and multilateral agencies, differing perspectives have persisted. Researcher Valentina Zharkova told INSIGHT that her predictions of a Grand Solar Minimum have been vindicated, meaning global cooling could begin in the near future. Notably, while
Chilean and U.S. scientists view a solar eclipse from the Union Glacier in Antarctica on Dec. 4.
U.S. special envoy for climate John Kerry at the COP26 at SECC on Nov. 13, the day when delegations signed the final text of the agreement. 48 I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021
Washington’s focus on climate change can be seen in the Build Back Better Act, in which the word “climate” appears 131 times and the term "greenhouse gas" appears 72 times.
Year–End Climate Policy
The cold season at the South Pole was the coldest on record in 2021.
some months reportedly approached or surpassed record global highs in 2021, the 2021 cold season at the South Pole was the coldest on record. Another study concluded that climate change is primarily driven by the sun and not by carbon dioxide.
“We must accelerate climate action to keep alive the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees.” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres
I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021 49
FROM TOP: FELIPE TRUEBA/IMAGEN CHILE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES, JEFF J MITCHELL/GETTY IMAGES, ROBERT LANDAU/GETTY IMAGES, XAVIER GALIANA/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
An open coal mine near Mahagama, Jharkhand state, India, on April 5, 2019. At COP26, signatories to the final agreement softened the language used in an earlier draft, at the request of India.
“In their insistence on forcing a so-called scientific consensus, the IPCC seems to have decided to consider only those data sets and studies that support their chosen narrative,” Ronan Connolly, the lead author of the study, told Insight. In other new research, economist Ross McKitrick has challenged a key statistical methodology used to attribute climate change to greenhouse gas emissions, spurring a debate with one of its developers, as detailed in INSIGHT. Steven Koonin, a theoretical physicist who served in the Obama administration’s Department of Energy, told NTD Television that rapid, politically driven changes to energy were dangerous. “If we make changes too fast, it will cause more damage than any conceivable damage from climate change,” Koonin said. Chris Wright, chief executive of the natural gas firm Liberty Oilfield Services, told Insight that climate change is real but that there’s “no chance” of the world reaching net-zero by 2050. At a time when some climate science conclusions are prompting massive global action, debate would seem vital— even indispensable. But Big Tech companies such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter have moved to stifle those conversations by defining some content as climate misinformation and either demonetizing it or otherwise suppressing it. This anti-free speech trend will likely continue in 2022. Yet, the new year may also bring new concessions to the need for cheap, reliable energy, particularly if Republicans take both the House and Senate. In the medium- to long run, advances in fusion and other energy technologies may help solve the world’s energy needs. Still, it’s hard to imagine the rhetoric on climate will cool down any time soon. In the meantime, even Santa may be bought out of coal.
JEFF MINICK lives and writes in Front Royal, Va. He is the author of two novels, “Amanda Bell” and “Dust on Their Wings,” and two works of nonfiction, “Learning as I Go” and “Movies Make the Man.”
Jeff Minick
New Year, New Start Making the most of 2022
H
ere it comes again, another farewell to the old and a ringing in of the new, that day when we break out the calendar and fix our eyes on January 1, we dream our dreams, and possibilities seem within our grasp. This is the season when we make our resolutions: to lose 20 pounds or work out at the gym four times a week. Some of us aspire to higher mountain peaks: to change our career, to move our families from the streets of San Francisco to a small town in Idaho, to serve on our county’s school board once we’ve stocked up on the requisite supply of aspirin. For these vows to see the light of day, we have to dig into ourselves and draw on the necessary resolve to give them birth. A few of us might find it easy to fulfill these resolutions, but most will struggle in this war between aspiration and reality, battling that worst of enemies—ourselves. And many of us will finally throw up our hands in surrender and return to our old habits. Interesting, isn’t it, that if we look at most of our resolutions, most of them have to do with self-improvement. We’re dissatisfied with some aspect of our lives, and we want to change. This is a perfectly normal desire, and laudable. But what if we devised other resolutions that might bring us pleasure by turning us away from the mirror of the self? And what if those same resolutions might make the world, even our small corner of it, a better place? Call me Mr. Pollyanna, but here are some suggestions regarding our New Year’s promises that require little
50 I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021
Here are some suggestions that require little effort but promise great rewards. effort but promise great rewards. Resolve to smile. The other day, I was driving down a street here in town when I saw a young woman walking on the sidewalk. I nodded and smiled. She nodded and smiled back. That brief link between us turned my day brighter, and I hope it did the same for her. Resolve to acknowledge others. This one also takes just a few moments of your time. When you’re paying for that latte in your coffee shop, say hello to the kid who’s taking your money. Ask him how he’s doing. However transitory, these trivialities make for human connections. Resolve to slow down. Instead of hustling past a co-worker in the hallway, why not stop and ask after her family? Instead of dashing out an email without a salutation, a wish for the recipient’s well-being, or a short farewell, why not take the extra few seconds to include these amenities? We may be running a rat race, but we don’t have to behave like rats.
Again, these few acts of politeness can make the other person feel appreciated and leave us in a better state of mind as well. Resolve to say thank you. Recently in my public library, I was standing near the front desk waiting to check out some books. Ahead of me was a tall young man with dreadlocks talking to a petite, middle-aged librarian. They were discussing a book he wished to place on hold. When the conversation ended, he said, “Thank you, Miss Mary,” and left the desk. I wanted to pin a medal on that guy’s chest. The kindness in his voice and that “Thank you” marked him as a gentleman. Writer Henry James once remarked: “Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind.” Wherever and whenever possible in this New Year, let’s resolve to be kind and so, in turn, make the world itself a kinder place. And if we do adopt such random acts of kindness as a New Year’s resolution, I’m confident we’ll find that we, too, will find ourselves transformed, happier in our own hearts and minds.
YEAR IN PHOTO A MAN TAKES A PHOTO OF THE PLUME of smoke from a fire in Topanga State Park, northwest of Los Angeles, on May 15. A brush fire near the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in May triggered a mandatory evacuation of residents. PHOTO BY PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021 51
Nation Profile
THOUGHT LEADERS
US Has Fallen Behind in the Artificial Intelligence Race Why AI could make or break us in the years to come, according to Nicholas Chaillan
W
e need to stop being complacent,” Nicholas Chaillan said. “We need to wake up before it’s too late for our kids.”
JAN JEKIELEK: It’s been
reported that you believe the United States has already lost the AI war.
Nicolas Chaillan, former Air Force chief software officer, in Washington on Oct. 13. 52 I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021
NICHOLAS CHAILLAN: I don’t believe
we’ve lost. But if we don’t act now and not in 5 to 10 years like some Pentagon reports are saying, we have no chance in succeeding.
JARED CUMMINGS/CONSERVATIVE PARTNERSHIP INSTITUTE
On a recent episode of "American Thought Leaders," host Jan Jekielek discussed the dangers of falling behind communist China in our artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities with Nicholas Chaillan, former chief software officer for the U.S. Air Force.
Nation Profile
China is leading right now. They’re already leading in many of those fields, because of their adoption of technology from their companies. MR . JEKIELEK: What is AI
and why is it important? MR . CHAILLAN: Artificial
intelligence is going to make or break us in the years to come, because, effectively, AI can make decisions for you, accelerating access to information, coming to conclusions that the human brain can’t comprehend. Here’s an example. Using DARPA [Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency], which is the defense research lab, we set two jets fighting each other, one flown by artificial intelligence and the other by the best Air Force pilot. Every single time, the human lost. It’s going to change the way we think, the way we build weapons. MR . JEKIELEK: Why are
you so sure that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is ahead of the United States in terms of AI development? MR . CHAILLAN: I can tell
you we could change this by ensuring that U.S. companies partner more with the Department of Defense [DOD]. But by not being able to do that, what we guarantee is that these companies have no choice but to work with the CCP. The U.S. government has no Agile training to this day mandated for our acquisition workforce.
MR . JEKIELEK: Explain to
us what Agile means, for the layperson. MR . CHAILLAN: Agile is
what allows you to become more efficient. By adopting Agile, you continuously deliver value, small incremental pieces of value, so you can validate that what you’re building makes sense for your customers, or the warfighter, in my case. You can be more efficient. You end up never waiting five years to learn that a billion dollars of taxpayer money was wasted. There is no Agile training. We built it during my tenure, but it wasn’t mandated. The mandated training is still the legacy training. MR . JEKIELEK: Basically,
you’re saying that if you could explain to some of the leadership of these Big Tech companies the true nature of the threat, they would come on board voluntarily, but they don’t have access to that information.
“We have a tremendous risk on the supply chain side, where all the chips, everything we buy, is made in China.” to the best breed of technologies, we’re not going to keep up. We’re already behind. In 10 years, it will be too late to fix it. This is what’s criminal. MR . JEKIELEK: What is
the cyberthreat from China and other bad actors? MR . CHAILLAN: The
threat is tremendous, not just at the DOD, but also across critical infrastructure, like power and water. If I’m China and I’m going to attack Taiwan, it would make sense to disable some of our power, so our military would be so busy trying to fix the situation in the United States that we couldn’t even think about Taiwan.
MR . CHAILLAN: Most of
these companies aren’t cleared. The most innovative AI companies or smaller companies don’t have security clearances. That’s mostly because they don’t understand that by making those weapons more efficient and better, we can prevent mistakes and save lives. But you can’t just live in your Silicon Valley bubble. You have to look at what’s going on around the world and take action sometimes. So, if we don’t have access
concerned that these capabilities already exist and haven’t been identified? MR . CHAILLAN: One hun-
dred percent. We’re doing very poorly when it comes to supply chain management. People aren’t taking seriously the supply chain risk as a whole. We see cars sitting in lots because they’re awaiting chips coming from China. How is that acceptable? MR . JEKIELEK: So, are
you suggesting that some of these supply chains should be repatriated? MR . CHAILLAN: Without
a doubt. We should never have let them leave.
MR . JEKIELEK: Fascinat-
MR . JEKIELEK: WHAT ARE the highest priorities
ing—and really scary.
in your mind?
MR . CHAILLAN: This is
MR . CHAILLAN: Anything
the life we live, and people need to realize what’s going on. You know, we have a tremendous risk on the supply chain side, where all the chips, everything we buy is made in China. What stops them from putting malicious code into these chips?
that has to do with the most advanced chips and software. Keep in mind, when you buy a piece of software, that software comes with dependencies from other companies. These projects can be impacted by malicious actors. We have a concept called a time bomb in software, where that software can
MR . JEKIELEK: Are you
I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021 53
Nation Profile
be triggered to explode the system or turn off all the software in the system. All these triggers could be dormant for years until the bad actor decides to push the button and say, “That’s it. It is time for us to activate this.” MR . JEKIELEK: To me,
TikTok is kind of this elephant in the room. How is it not a massive intelligence operation for the benefit of the CCP, creating profiles on millions of Americans? MR . CHAILLAN: I have
no doubt TikTok should be banned in the United States and in Europe. First of all, it gets tremendous access to your phone, so it sees your pictures, videos, and your geolocation and a lot of other things about you. This can be used also as a weapon of misinformation, where they can promote
content. People dismiss TikTok as a teenager app, which is absolutely not true. It’s used by countless companies for their marketing. MR . JEKIELEK: What
would you say were your most significant contributions that the DOD or that the Air Force can build on now? MR . CHAILLAN: Well, first
of all, we demonstrated that a small group of people can drastically impact change in the department. We took the F-16 and the U-2 jets, and we deployed advanced Agile capabilities and AI machine learning on the jet in 12 days, showing that AI could help the pilot make decisions without impacting the airworthiness of the aircraft and the safety of the people on board. We built this capability. We open-sourced it to the world. We see five nations
When you buy a piece of software, that software comes with dependencies from other companies. These projects can be impacted by malicious actors. using it. We see dozens of other federal agencies using it. It’s probably the biggest contribution back to open source from the U.S. government. MR. JEKIELEK: As we finish
up here, where would you like to see things go for DOD?
ers. We have tremendously bright people. We need to communicate better with industry. We need all U.S. companies to join us in the fight. We have to share this knowledge. We need to stop being complacent. We need to wake up before it’s too late for our kids.
MR . CHAILLAN: First of
all, I would like to make sure that we empower our fight-
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. Robot Chomp (L) clashes with Robot Skorpios during the BattleBots Challenge at the Amazon Re:MARS conference on robotics and artificial intelligence at the Las Vegas Speedway on June 6, 2019.
MARK RALSTON/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
54 I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021
T R AV E L • F O O D • L U X U R Y L I V I N G
Issue. 11
Unwind You can diet later, for now, “Mangia!” PHOTO BY MADRUGADA VERDE/SHUTTERSTOCK
Emilia-Romagna: Fast Cars, Slow Food
BEING ASKED TO give a toast is as big an honor as receivng one, so let’s make sure yours is worth the clink. 61
The region of Italy known for luxury cars also celebrates the magnificence of Italian culinary skills. 58
✒
WHEN YOU REALIZE your car is faster than your driving skills, it’s time to enroll in a performance driving school. 64 STAYING FIT IS GREAT for your health but hard on your schedule, so build your own 24/7 gym at home. 67
I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021 55
The mansion’s Tudor design seems to blend into the lush garden paradise created around it.
Lush Nature Envelops
THIS MANSION FROM THE ROARING ’20S
From its inception, this glittering Bel-Air property was meant to entertain on a grand scale
By Phil Butler
T
56 I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021
hidden meadows and cozy pocket gardens all around the main house. In the center of it all, an elegant in-ground pool surrounded by nature creates the effect of a world apart. 620 SIENA WAY BEVERLY HILLS,
ABOUT THE ORIGINAL OWNER Arthur S. Brent, who was a key Los Angeles contractor and developer in the early days of the city’s rapid expansion, was also an important figure in the city’s planning. The former head of the Chamber of Commerce, and the first president of the California chapter of the Association of American Contractors, he was considered a visionary. One of his most famous projects was his firm’s efforts in building the innovative Lake Hodges Dam. He was connected in one way or another, with most of the hydro projects in southern California.
CALIFORNIA $43,000,000 • 8 BEDROOMS • 8,799 SQUARE FEET • 1.01 ACRES KEY FEATURES: • SPECIAL NOSTALGIA • ULTRA-EXCLUSIVE LOCATION • PRIVATE GARDENS AND EXTERIORS • FAMOUS DESIGN AGENT: JADE MILLS ESTATES STEPHANIE ZEBIK,
Phil Butler is a publisher, editor, author, and analyst who is a widely cited expert on subjects ranging from digital and social media to travel technology.
MANAGING DIRECTOR 310-285-7508
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF JIM BARTSCH/JADE MILLS
he iconic Bel-Air property at 620 Siena Way was designed by the original owner, Los Angeles contractor Arthur S. Bent, and famous American architect Gordon Kaufmann. Built in 1926, the English Tudor estate, with over an acre of lush nature surrounding it, was one of the first properties in Bel Air. This trophy from the glittery past of Los Angeles is listed for $43 million. The home is unique in every respect, and like all of Kaufmann’s designs, it was meant as a place to entertain on a grand scale, both inside and outside. There are eight bedrooms, eight full baths, and four half baths in the 8,799-square-foot home. The formal living room is a good example of Kaufmann’s style, with its high beamed ceiling and grand stone fireplace. The mansion has a formal dining room, a gourmet kitchen, a library, and a three-car garage. The landscaping at Siena Way was done by A. E. Hanson, the same designer responsible for the gardens of the University of Southern California, and the exclusive Rolling Hills and Hidden Hills gated communities. The grounds of the Siena Way property are one of its most compelling features. Hanson planted spectacular trees and created
The dining room at Siena Way is yet another classic from the time, a warm and inviting space with just the right luxurious accents. This room exudes a quiet reminder of the Tudor Revivalist movement popular in this era.
The gourmet kitchen features colorful ceramic tiles from floor to ceiling, which was the fashion during the 1920s.
How could Arthur S. Bent have foreseen that Bel-Air would be a haven in one of the busiest places in the country? This trophy property from another era is a world apart, unique even in a neighborhood of the extraordinary.
Each of the bedrooms is uniquely themed, another nostalgic element that makes this property so distinctive.
The baths adjoining the bedroom/apartments continue the theme of warm, welcoming wood and contrasting materials and aesthetics. I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021 57
Travel Italy
Cured meats, cheeses, and piadina bread at Osteria Passatelli in Ravenna, Italy.
Feasting Like Royalty Along the Via Emilia Italy’s heartland region is where the good eating is By Channaly Philipp
I
58 I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021
41
PRODUCTS WITHPDO
comefrEai-l
andPGI
c e r t if a o ns and 2DOCand DOCGwnies‘ designato signf yods ordnkisuqe toaregi‘n Ro m a g n .
The thread of history runs through these foods, and savoring them locally anchors you firmly in the continuum of history. The mosaics of Ravenna, the one-time capital of the Western Roman Empire, glittering with gold, blues, and greens; the warm-hued porticoes of Bologna, which run over 25 miles; and the artistic legacy left here—where Verdi and Rossini composed, Dante finished “Paradiso” in his final days, and Fellini directed—are dizzying.
Foods that are known as iconically Italian all come from Emilia-Romagna. At the confluence of art and food, the traditional foodways were captured by the artisans of their time. Look closely: Etched into bas-reliefs of Romanesque masterpieces, or painted onto Renaissance frescoes, are depictions of the rhythm of humans’ passage on Earth, marked by the seasons and its milestones—the plowing of the fields, the
ALL PHOTOS BY CHANNALY PHILIPP/THE EPOCH TIMES
f g o od t h i ngs com e t o t ho se who wait, the good people of Emilia-Romagna, in northern Italy, must have the patience of saints—they certainly feast like royalty. Foods that are known as iconically Italian—Parmigiano-Reggiano, balsamic vinegar, prosciutto di Parma—all come from Emilia-Romagna. (So do Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Maserati. Slow food and fast cars sure beat fast food and slow cars.) To turn raw ingredients like milk, grape must, or leg of pork into these delicious, iconic foods, give them time. Parmigiano-Reggiano and prosciutto di Parma need at least one year to age. Traditional balsamic vinegar takes at least 12 years, although the really good stuff clocks in at a minimum of 25 years—a whole generation. The ancients knew about these foods: Etruscans and Romans cured salted pork legs in the same area where it’s done today; Benedictine monks made Parmigiano-Reggiano in medieval times; and barrels of traditional balsamic vinegar served as brides’ dowries.
Travel Italy harvest, and the curing of meats, for example. Emilia-Romagna offers amazing food in such a relatively small area. How is this possible? Explanations I was given varied: It’s the River Po! It’s the winter fog! It’s the wind from the sea! Clearly, all the elements conspire to make eating here great. Just follow the Via Emilia, constructed by Roman Consul Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (or in modern parlance, Route SS9). Like a bejeweled necklace of culinary gems, each area along the route offers its own specialties.
Clearly, all the elements conspire to make eating here great.
The Hills Are Alive With Prosciutto Heading south of Parma to Langhirano, hills are dotted with about 160 factories and aging warehouses, whose windows were thrown wide open. It’s intentionally done to capture the Versilia wind that comes in from the Ligurian Sea, then brushes against the Cisa mountains and picks up the fragrance of the chestnut forests. The location is no secret: Even back in 5 B.C., the Etruscans were known to trade salted cured pork legs with the rest of Italy and Greece. Not all producers are open to the public, so if you don’t speak Italian, going through a tour operator can be helpful for planning your visit. Moist, sweet, and savory, silky smooth, and translucent, the best of Parma hams are well balanced. They need no accompaniment like melon or bread—just a glass of a local fizzy white or red.
BOLOGNA
ITALY ROME
Emilia-Romagna’s main city, Bologna, is easily reached via train from Rome or Florence.
“extra vecchio,” or extra old). It only comes in a 100-milliliter bottle in a Unique specific rounded shape Places designed by Giugiaro, a to Stay car designer. Parma: Furnished To make traditional with lovely balsamic vinegar, you antiques, Palazzo might start with 30 Dalla Rosa Prati liters of grape must, is one of a kind, offering apartment which in several years’ stays next door to time will yield five lithe city's famed ters of thick balsamic Baptistry. The vinegar. property has been in the family for The end product is hundreds of years; nothing like standard owner Vittorio vinegar. There’s zero Dalla Rosa Prati is a acridity. It’s sweet and gracious host. sour, but also rounded, Polesine harmonious, and polParmense: ished. You only need Antica Corte a few drops of it—on Pallavicina Relais is chunks of Parmigiaa fortress from the 14th century that no-Reggiano, on meats, houses a restaurant on ice cream, on strawand farm, and berries, on risotto, or offers six elegant by itself as a digestive. guest rooms. Have a few drops on a Culatello di Zibello, often dubbed "the spoon, and you’ll feel a king of hams," is bolt of energy coursing aged in the cellars. through your body. Miracle cure? I don’t know about that, but it tastes amazing. Foods made from humble ingredients are transformed with patience and skill into culinary gems of such goodness they’ve reached far beyond this little heartland of Italy into kitchens and markets around the world. You could, in all likelihood, just head to your local market and get Parmigiano-Reggiano, or prosciutto di Parma, or balsamic vinegar. Will they be as good as the ones you can have in Emilia-Romagna, though? There’s only one way to find out.
A good place for aperitivo: La Baita in Bologna.
‘Black Gold’ For many who visit Emilia-Romagna, the biggest revelation is a dark, thick, molasses-like concoction, reputed to be a cure-all. Some call it “black gold.” Officially, it’s Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena DOP. This is a vinegar that earns the DOP appellation after a minimum of 12 years of aging (it’s then called “affinato,” or aged) or else a minimum of 25 years (then called
Aperitivo time! It's a wonderful tradition in which Italians scurry off to a bar after work to meet friends over wine, salumi, and cheese.
Chunks of Parmigiano-Reggiano with balsamic vinegar at Ristorante Da Danilo in Modena, Italy. I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021 59
Drinks
JUST DANCE— AND TOAST
Holiday Bubblies
Dom Pérignon Vintage 2010 Lady Gaga Limited Edition $239.99 The extraordinary pairing of Dom Pérignon and the multi-talented Lady Gaga has created a champagne that pleases the eye as well as the palate. The remarkable 2010 vintage resides in a bottle within a gift box, both featuring a striking iridescent design by Lady Gaga.
THE HOLIDAYS ARE about
spending time with friends and family. Toasts will be made, which calls for something bubbly. To make shopping easy, we’ve created a list of sparkling spirits to cover every occasion and every guest. By Bill Lindsey
ICE, ICE BABY! Moët & Chandon Ice Imperial Champagne $69.99
Dr. Loosen NV Sekt Extra Dry Sparkling $27.99 Germany is the leading consumer of sparkling wine, so of course they have their own: sekt. This example from the vineyards of Dr. Loosen pairs well with poultry and fish. Extradry and bursting with tiny bubbles, it exhibits a hint of apple and lime.
60 I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021
$19.99
Famed tenor Andrea Bocelli’s family has owned and operated a vineyard on their estate in Tuscany, Italy, for more than 130 years. Their prosecco, a collaboration with the Lovo family in the Veneto region, is light and refreshing with a hint of peach, making it the perfect choice for lunch, dinner, or “just because.”
‘TO THE TEETOTALERS!’ Thomson & Scott Noughty Non-Alcoholic Sparkling Chardonnay $19.99 Made using Spanish chardonnay from which the alcohol has been removed, Noughty allows everyone at the party to join in on toasts. With a sweet apple flavor and all of the effervescence of a “real” chardonnay, yet half of the sugar content of other nonalcoholic sparkling wines, Noughty is also perfect for those counting calories.
FROM TOP: DOM PERIGNON, MOET & CHANDON, DR. LOOSEN, BOCELLI PROSECCO, THOMSON & SCOTT
In addition to its refreshingly crisp flavor and tropical fruit aromas, this Moët & Chandon offering is noteworthy for being the only champagne intended to be served over ice. A blend of chardonnay, pinot noir, and pinot meunier, it goes well with fruits and desserts.
UNDER-THE-RADAR AN OPERETTA BUBBLES FROM IN A GLASS Bocelli Prosecco GERMANY
Give the Perfect Toast Raise your glass to learning how to give a memorable salutation
Being asked to present a toast is both a great honor and a very serious responsibility. Your words need to be meaningful, memorable, and heartfelt. To make your toast epic, it needs humor. To keep the audience happy, it needs to be brief. By Bill Lindsey
4 Don’t Add Alcohol
1 Keep It Brief We’ve all seen toasts given in movies and on television. They can be succinct, uplifting, and inspiring. Or they can seem to go on forever, with a litany of bad jokes and much more personal information than you care to know. Vanessa Van Edwards, author of “Captivate: The Science of Succeeding With People” said to keep it punchy. According to Van Edwards, an audience decides if they enjoy the toast or not within the first seven seconds.
ENDAI HUEDL/GETTY IMAGES
2
Drunk toasting is just as bad as drunk texting, but with a much wider audience. If it takes a few drinks to loosen your inhibitions so you can speak in front of an audience, you might want to politely decline. Humor is another potential pitfall. Not everyone can tell a joke well in normal conversations, so they shouldn’t try to do so in a toast. However, if you’re naturally funny, keep the material clean and inoffensive.
No Surprises, Please!
There certainly are people who can deliver a legendary toast on demand, but most of us need to prepare in advance. Consider the event and who will be in attendance. If you’re presenting a toast to newlyweds with several generations of their family in attendance, take care to not offend anyone with information that’s too personal. Grandma doesn’t need to know what her favorite grandson did in Cabo on spring break or that her sweet granddaughter has a secret tattoo.
5 Don’t Read It
3 Make It About Them, Not You
A toast is a performance, so make sure the audience enjoys it. Tell an engaging story about the person or people being honored. Here’s an example: “Griselda is much more than my big sister—she’s my personal hero and makes everything an adventure. When she taught me how to drive, she borrowed Mom’s car without telling her—sorry, Mom—and taught me how to parallel park and do donuts. Let’s lift a glass to her on this happy day!”
Even the most gifted public speaker’s voice takes on a monotonous tone when reading aloud, negating any charisma you may normally exude as your stories or jokes fall flat. Any toast that’s too long to be memorized and that must be written down is a toast that’s too long. An index card with one- or twoword bullet points can keep you on track. Find friendly eyes in the audience and speak to them from your heart.
I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021 61
Epoch Booklist
RECOMMENDED READING NONFICTION
‘Propaganda’
AVERY, 2018, 320 PAGES
The Art of Deception
FOOD
This book shaped early ideas about how to conduct propaganda and had a huge influence on marketing, advertising, and later, politics. It’s very relevant for understanding the mechanisms behind what we see on the surface and beyond the deception and manipulation all around us. IG PUBLISHING, 2004, 175 PAGES
This week, we revisit a classic Arthurian tale, savor the Middle Eastern pantry, and explore an influential work about how to conduct propaganda.
a plane begins facing a few degrees off of its aim, it’ll arrive—after a long journey—at an entirely different location than planned. A valuable book with principles that can be applied to any aspect of life that’s dependent on your behavior, from finance to fitness.
By Edward Bernays
‘Flavors of the Sun: The Sahadi’s Guide to Understanding, Buying, and Using Middle Eastern Ingredients’
By Christine Sahadi Whelan
A Middle Eastern Pantry Primer
‘Atomic Habits’
By James Clear
Small Changes, Big Results “Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement,” author James Clear wrote, emphasizing the importance of small changes and long-term thinking. He likens the effect of a 1 percent change in one’s habits to a very slight adjustment to the nose of a plane. If
Christine Sahadi Whelan is the culinary director and fourth-generation co-owner of Sahadi’s, New York’s James Beard Award-winning destination grocery store for Middle Eastern specialties. So who better than Whelan to guide home cooks through buying and using ingredients such as sumac, Aleppo pepper, and date molasses? There are recipes for every course, along with plenty of ideas for incorporating these ingredients into existing favorites CHRONICLE BOOKS, 2021, 352 PAGES
62 I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021
Are there books you’d recommend? We’d love to hear from you. Let us know at features@epochtimes.com
EDUCATION
‘Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling’
By John Taylor Gatto
ply struggling to survive, working while sick, stealing an extra ration of food, and always being on the lookout for something to eat. The story is based on Solzhenitsyn’s personal experience, having spent eight years confined to such a camp. This book is a warning to all of us about totalitarian governments.
FOR KIDS
BERKLEY, 2009, 208 PAGES
Spending a Day with a Big Friend
CLASSICS
A Treatise on Public Education Gatto’s 30-year teaching career in Manhattan earned him the New York City Teacher of the Year award not once, but three times. Named New York State Teacher of the Year in 1991, he issued his resignation that same year. His book is an eye-opening indictment of the state of our public education system that every parent needs to digest. NEW SOCIETY PUBLISHERS, 2017, 144 PAGES
FICTION
‘One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich’
By Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Life in the Gulag Through the eyes of Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, we witness the cruelty of a Soviet labor camp. Falsely accused of spying, Shukov spends his days sim-
‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’
Author Unknown
A Strange Arthurian Story Set in the time of King Arthur, this story features a Green Knight, a wager, a beheading—in which the victim survives—temptations, and honor lost and regained. Having beheaded the Green Knight, Sir Gawain must promise to meet him in a year’s time so that the knight may return the blow. Chivalry, romance, and emblems of Christianity all play a part in filling out Sir Gawain’s quest and adventure. J.R.R. Tolkien, whose rendition is used here, was only one of several scholars who translated this late 14th-century poem into modern English. MARINER BOOKS, 2021, 256 PAGES
‘Danny and the Dinosaur’
By Syd Hoff
While visiting a museum, Danny wishes he could play with a dinosaur, and one of them obliges him. They watch a baseball game, visit the zoo, and play hide-and-seek with Danny’s friends. A sweet story of friendship, this book is a childhood classic. HARPERCOLLINS, 2017, 72 PAGES
‘Curious George’
By H.A. Rey
A Monkey, a Man, and an Endearing Childhood Tale In this first story of his adventures, Curious George swims in the ocean, slips out of jail, and goes flying on balloons. The Man in the Yellow Hat then adopts the monkey, leading to more adventures. This story is a delightful childhood tale. HMH BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS, 1973, 64 PAGES
Ian Kane is a U.S. Army veteran, filmmaker, and author. He enjoys the great outdoors and volunteering.
MOVIE REVIEWS
Epoch Watchlist
Here are some suggestions to lighten up your week, from a modern Christmas classic to an underrated romance.
NEW RELEASE
FEEL-GOOD COMEDY
Groundhog Day (1993)
West Side Story (2021 ) Steven Spielberg’s modern take on the 1957 original, this film tells a story of forbidden love, racial tension, and violence in New York City. The narrative focuses on the leader (Ansel Elgort) of a street gang, the all-white Jets, as he falls in love with the sister (Rachel Zegler) of the leader of a rival gang, the Puerto Rican Sharks. It features the usual touchstones of woke political correctness, including divisive racial tension and the shoving of identity politics down everyone’s throats. It also seems designed purely as an Oscar-winning vehicle.
CRIME | DR AMA | MUSICAL
Release Date: Dec. 10, 2021 Director: Steven Spielberg Starring: Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler, Ariana DeBose Runtime: 2 hours, 36 minutes MPAA Rating: PG-13 Where to Watch: Theaters
what could have been a rather pedestrian holiday yarn, making this a highly underrated film. COMEDY | DRAMA | ROMANCE
WWar widow Connie (Janet Leigh) meets salesman Steve (Robert Mitchum) over the Christmas holidays. Although
attracted to Steve, she doesn’t necessarily want to give up the security that lawyer Carl (Wendell Corey) can provide for her and her son. Stirring romance and laughs uplift
This plot device stays fresh because of the film’s unexpected twists, funny dialogue, and ultimately uplifting message. COMEDY | FANTASY | ROMANCE
Release Date: Feb. 12, 1993 Director: Harold Ramis Starring: Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliot Runtime: 1 hour, 41 minutes MPAA Rating: PG
CHRISTMAS COMEDY
Elf (2003)
HIGHLY UNDERRATED CHRISTMAS CLASSIC
A Holiday Affair (1949)
Pittsburgh meteorologist Phil Connors (Bill Murray) is sent to Punxsutawney, where he covers Groundhog Day each year. Although the day is special to town locals, Phil can’t stand the job or the locale, although he likes Rita (Andie MacDowell), the event’s producer. Phil’s disdain for the town reaches critical levels when he wakes up each consecutive morning and finds himself reliving the same day over and over.
Release Date: Dec. 24, 1949 Director: Don Hartman Starring: Robert Mitchum, Janet Leigh, Wendell Corey Running Time: 1 hour, 27 minutes Rating: Approved Where to Watch: HBO Max, Vudu, Apple TV
Buddy (Will Ferrell) is a human who was mistakenly raised as an elf by Santa Claus at the North Pole. Restless about who his biological father is, he travels to New York City and discovers that his dad, Walter Hobbs (James Caan), is not only a mean-spirited person, but also on Santa’s naughty list for Christmas. A good-natured and modern take on Christmas that should cheer us up in these interesting times, "Elf" explores the themes of gener-
osity and selfishness, and innocence and cynicism. ADVENTURE | COMEDY | FAMILY
Release Date: Nov. 7, 2003 Director: Jon Favreau Starring: Will Ferrell, James Caan, Bob Newhart Running Time: 1 hour, 37 minutes MPAA Rating: PG Where to Watch: Redbox, Starz, HBO Max
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By Bill Lindsey 64 I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021
Lifestyle Performance Driving Schools
Since the highway can often seem like a racetrack, what better place to learn advanced driving skills than on an actual racetrack?
Today’s performance sedans and EVs are capable of much higher speeds than any earlier models, making it a great idea for their drivers to learn how to drive them safely
T
he current crop of
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF PORSCHE CARS NORTH AMERICA AND BMW CARS NORTH AMERICA
cars is faster than ever. Yet the majority of drivers rely on dusty skills learned in a high school driver’s education class in cars that are rarely permitted to go faster than 35 miles per hour on mostly empty local streets. Many EVs and four-door performance sedans go from zero to 60 in less than five seconds, with top speeds of 160 miles per hour or more. Even when a driver is obeying speed limits, a casual afternoon drive can suddenly become a life-or-death scenario if a car swerves into your lane, a semitruck tire blows out, or a deer leaps into your path. Modern cars are equipped with a plethora of computer-driven safety systems, but the driver’s abilities remain the most important factor when it comes to safe driving. Manufacturers such as Chevrolet, BMW, Porsche, Audi, and Cadillac recognize the need for drivers to have driving skills that match the impressive abili-
ties of their vehicles. Accordingly, they host performance driving classes for their customers and the general public. Conducted in the safe and controlled environment of a racetrack road course (as opposed to the oval tracks used by NASCAR), drivers receive instruction from experienced instructors who are seated next to them. Just like in grade school, driving school students ride a bus to class from a nearby hotel. And while the students also spend time in a classroom, the similarities end there. Students at the Porsche Track Experience, held at the Barber Motorsports Park near Birmingham, Alabama, spend the majority of their time on
the track in one- or two-day classes, honing their vision skills, learning car handling techniques on the track and on skid pads, learning how to correct understeer and oversteer, and learning how to drive smoothly around even the tightest corners. The question of why anyone would attend a driving school is a good one, and learning to be a racecar driver isn’t the answer. The students span all ages with various driving skill levels. Most simply enjoy driving their cars in the way that they were designed to be used or going fast on a road course. But they all share a common desire to be safer on the road. Some schools also offer courses for new drivers. These classes are a great way to instill teenagers or anyone else new to driving with proper skills in a day or two, compared to the traditional method, which requires many years of trial and error. With a curriculum focused on correct techniques, new drivers can achieve a quantum leap in skill levels in a day or two. The skills taught sound simple—and they are—but mastering them requires expert instruction and time behind the wheel. Motorcyclists learn early on that their bikes will go exactly where they look, requiring intense focus on twisty corners. This is also true when driving a car. “The way to avoid trouble on the road is to learn how to really see everything in front of you, looking where you want the car to go,” said Michael Gay, event marketing manager for the Porsche Track Experience.
I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021 65
Lifestyle Performance Driving Schools
LIFESTYLE
FAST TIMES
Racing techniques work on the street, too
1 Look Ahead Skidpads are used to teach drivers how to react to a loss of control at high speeds, in both wet and dry conditions. “When you are driving fast or on a challenging mountain road, don’t get distracted by the scenery, the sound system, or your passengers. You also need to be aware of traffic beside you and use the mirrors to see what is behind you. The goal is to not be surprised.”
The way to avoid trouble on the road is to learn how to really see everything in front of you. Michael Gay, event marketing manager, Porsche Track Experience
Out on the track, instructors coach students to look where they want to go and a bit ahead. The car will smoothly follow that path, and as they hear throughout the class, smooth is fast. Learning how to drive the proper line is another objective. Instructors talk students through corners, explaining how to visualize a course around corners and along straight stretches of road. Their brain uses the visual input from their eyes to send signals to their hands and feet to direct the car. In racing, brakes are used hard at the last possible moment to maintain maximum controlled speed through the turn, accelerating out of it as quickly 66 I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021
as possible. On the street, this behavior might result in intense conversations with local law enforcement officers, but the basics are useful. Students are taught how to master their brakes to either slow for a corner or to come to a complete and sudden stop, experiencing how the car’s handling changes when applying the brakes. These skills may be invaluable on the highway. Time on the skidpad teaches the difference between understeer and oversteer and how to correct them. So why would someone attend a performance driving school? To graduate as a better driver, while having an excellent adventure.
One of the first lessons taught in performance driving seems too simple to work, but it does: Look where you want to go. By focusing on the road ahead, your brain tells your hands and feet what to do.
2 Smooth Is Fast The fastest drivers flow smoothly through and around traffic, maintaining a safe distance from other vehicles. The goal is to make adjustments to steering or speed in an unruffled manner.
3 Be Open to Change
Students spend hours on the track, improving skills and learning new techniques.
Driving fast safely relies on quickly reacting to dangerous drivers or road conditions. Learning to be aware of other vehicles and allowing time to react makes you a better driver.
Luxury Living Fitness
GET FIT: ESSENTIAL EQUIPMENT TO BUILD YOUR OWN HOME GYM A gym membership is great at first, but the trips often become less frequent because it’s raining or you’re too tired to go out. A home gym allows you to exercise at your convenience so you can ditch the stretchy pants while improving your health. By Bill Lindsey
RIDE WITH THE PACK
TA K E A WA L K
Peloton Plus Exercise Bicycle
NordicTrack Commercial 2950 Treadmill
FROM $2,295 PLUS MONTHLY $39 APP SUBSCRIPTION FEE
$2,499
Walks or running are great cardio workouts, but what if it’s snowing, raining, or too hot to go outside? A treadmill is the solution, especially one with a 22-inch screen to access live WiFi workouts with iFIT trainers.
Riding alongside others in a lively guided studio class is ideal, but not always schedule-friendly, so the Peloton app allows 24/7 access to immersive live and on-demand classes via a 23inch screen, featuring enthusiastic trainers and inspiring music tracks. The app also provides access to a huge library of guided strength and cardio routines.
PUMPIN’ IRON
Wilder Fitness Elite Home Rack FROM TOP LEFT: COURTESY OF PELOTON, NORDICTRACK, WILDER FITNESS, TEMPO STUDIO, AND LIFE FITNESS.
$8,500
Old-school weights are a must for any well-equipped home gym. This rack system utilizes free weights plus an integral weight stack to allow exercises including pulldowns, squats, bench press, curls, and many more. 24/7 PERSONAL TRAINING
Tempo Studio $1,995
Using 3D Tempo Vision, an integral trainer giving real-time feedback, this pro-grade system offers cardio, low and high impact, and strength programs. Heart monitor and weight equipment are included.
R O W Y O U R B O AT
Life Fitness Row GX Water Rower
$1,999
Unlike most other rowing machines, the GX uses fluid resistance for maximum effect. Providing a full-body workout, it’s ideal for even tiny apartments, tucking out of the way when not in use. I N S I G H T December 24 – 30, 2021 67
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