Epoch Insight 12 (2023)

AidedHowtheWest Beijing

How the West Carried Water for Beijing

for more than 18 months after the pandemic began, anyone who suggested that the virus may have leaked from China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology, rather than a nearby wet market, was swiftly labeled a conspiracy theorist.

The lab leak theory was dismissed without question, and terms such as “debunked,” “dangerous,” and “unhelpful” hit the airwaves.

The Chinese Communist Party pushed the wet market theory and the West lined up behind it, adopting and echoing Beijing’s narrative.

Top scientists were censored or banned from social media platforms, scientific journals refused to publish studies on the lab leak theory, and corporate media amplified the message.

Three years on, the world is still in the dark about the pandemic’s origin. But mainstream discussion has gone through an about-face on the lab leak theory.

“When you have a group of people that decides there can only be one point of view, that’s problematic,” Dr. Robert Redfield, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said recently.

“That’s antithetical to science and, unfortunately, that’s what they did.”

Read this week’s cover story by Eva Fu to learn more about how the West aided the regime in Beijing.

How officials in the West launched a campaign to censor discussion about a Wuhan lab’s probable role in spawning the COVID19 pandemic.

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CCP INFLUENCE

HOW THE BEI

Beijing’s censorship of the COVID-19 lab leak theory was adopted in the West

BY EVA FU

An employee wears protective clothing while disinfecting a theater in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, on July 20, 2020.

PHOTO BY GETTY IMAGES

WEST AIDED JING

THESE WERE SOME OF THE TERMS heaped on the theory that COVID-19 might have spilled from a lab in China, accidentally or not. Suggesting that the virus may be linked to a Chinese lab would swiftly earn one the label of “conspiracy theorist.”

That was the case for at least 18 months after the pandemic erupted from China, where the ruling communist regime has repeatedly thwarted efforts by citizen journalists and the outside world to probe the virus’s origins, and covered up the true death toll.

Three years on, the world is still in the dark about the pandemic’s origins. But mainstream discussion has gone through an about-face on the lab leak theory. The once-maligned hypothesis has gained significant traction—so much so that the U.S. Energy Department recently sided with the FBI in assessing that COVID-19 was “likely” the result of a lab leak.

But for many who have long sounded the alarm on the Wuhan lab, the U.S. government was too late to the game.

“My initial thoughts are ‘where have they been for the last 2 1/2 years?’” Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), who sits on the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, told The Epoch Times’ sister media outlet NTD. “The entire world should have risen up and made China financially responsible for what had happened.”

Censorship

Concerns about the Wuhan lab arose early in the pandemic.

At the time when Beijing was still blaming a wet market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan as the virus’s source, The Epoch Times released a documentary titled “Tracking Down the Origin of Wuhan Coronavirus,” drawing attention to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), which houses a biosafety level 4 (P4) facility that had been working on coronavirus research, and—as it was later revealed—highly risky experiments that could make a virus more lethal.

Across different platforms, that video generated tens of millions of views shortly after its debut.

But rather than allowing further examination of these concerns, an allout campaign was begun in the United States to censor discussion of the Wuhan lab’s possible role in spawning the pandemic.

Facebook went on to mark the documentary as “false,” although a key source for the fact checkers’ claim wasn’t independent; the claim was based on the opinion of a Singapore-based scientist who worked with the Wuhan Institute of Virology and praised the facility’s researchers as “incredibly competent, hardworking, and are excellent scientists with superb track records.”

These statements would later be

called into question, as evidence of the lab’s risky experiments and lax biosafety standards came to light. But in 2020, they were enough to trigger a near-blanket shutdown of media coverage. Idaho state Rep. Heather Scott, a Republican and a biologist, was ridiculed by local media for sharing the video and getting a fact check label.

In a widely cited article, The Washington Post accused Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who called for questions to be asked about the lab, of “repeating a coronavirus conspiracy theory that was already debunked.” It issued a correction in 2021 to remove the word “conspiracy theory,” which it acknowledged was an inaccurate characterization because there was no consensus about where the virus originated.

‘Something Was Very Fishy’

As open discussion of COVID-19’s origins was being muzzled in the West, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was waging a full-fledged campaign to silence critics on its handling of the pandemic.

The regime’s law enforcement reprimanded doctors who sounded an early alarm about the virus, warning them not to “fear monger.” Citizen journalists were imprisoned. Chinese officials and state media, while hailing the communist leadership as exemplary in its global pandemic response, exploited the

“DEBUNKED.”

“DANGEROUS.”

“UNHELPFUL.”

Laboratory technicians wearing personal protective equipment work on samples to be tested for SARS-CoV-2 at the Fire Eye laboratory, a COVID-19 testing facility, in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, on Aug. 5, 2021.

PHOTO BY STR/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

rise of anti-Asian attacks in the United States by framing Western criticism of the regime’s handling of the outbreak as racist.

The result was that the world at large echoed narratives from China with little questioning.

But Hans Mahncke, who has been documenting the U.S. suppression of the lab leak hypothesis for EpochTV’s “Truth Over News” over the past two years, said his suspicions were aroused as soon as Chinese authorities took the unprecedented step on Jan. 23, 2020, of locking down the virus’s ground zero: Wuhan, a city of over 11 million.

“I knew something was very fishy,” he said in an interview, noting that Beijing hadn’t done so when severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) emerged from China in 2002, which by official accounts infected thousands worldwide.

“If you’re going to lock down the city, you’re not going to do it for a SARS virus,” Mahncke said, noting SARS’s

relatively low transmissibility. This convinced him that Chinese leader Xi Jinping “must have had some extra information, some data point that made him do something very out of the ordinary.”

More evidence soon emerged indicating that something was off: the existence of a lab doing coronavirus research in the COVID-19 hotspot; a short Feb. 6, 2020, paper by two Wuhan university researchers—taken offline shortly after—that pointed to WIV as a possible place where the “killer coronavirus” could have originated; and a spotlight on the Wuhan facility’s senior virologist, Shi Zhengli, who for years had been studying SARS-like coronaviruses, on which she wrote papers as early as 2015.

“I had to sort of bite my tongue a bit because I knew that if you said it publicly, or if you said it too stringently, you would get deleted off of social media,” he said, noting that he had seen

friends censored from Twitter for lab leak comments.

“We could not just go into the public and say these things, because immediately, you’d either have your Twitter account canceled, you would be shunned. ... You’d be called a ‘conspiracy theorist,’ you would have trolls and other people harass you.”

Something clicked for Mahncke as he followed the World Health Organization-backed probe in Wuhan in early 2021. The mission, conducted with heavy involvement from the Chinese side, dismissed the lab incident hypothesis as “extremely unlikely.”

But after reading further into the investigators’ backgrounds, Mahncke realized that Peter Daszak, the U.S. expert on the WHO task force, had not only worked closely with researchers at the Wuhan lab, but was instrumental in stymying discussion of the lab leak hypothesis during the pandemic’s early days.

Members of the World Health Organization team arrive to investigate the origins of COVID-19 at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, on Feb. 3, 2021.

Over the next months, internal documents released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) would show that Daszak had a more than passing friendship with the WIV staff. His New York-based nonprofit, EcoHealth Alliance, funneled hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to the Wuhan lab for virus research, including “gain of function” studies on making existing pathogens more dangerous.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, who recently stepped down as head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases—which funded EcoHealth’s projects—initiated a call in early February 2020 after a team of scientists flagged concerns that the virus may have been engineered. Four participants of the teleconference, Daszak included, went on to draft “The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2,” a paper that was widely circulated through the media and used by many to assert the primacy of the natural origins theory.

Hitting a Brick Wall

When reports about a viral outbreak in China were first emerging in early January 2020, immunologist Nikolai Petrovsky was staying at his holiday house in Colorado to escape the blistering heat back home in Australia.

About a week before Wuhan went into full lockdown, the WHO was still repeat-

ing the CCP’s claim that the virus was unlikely to be transmissible between humans. However, locals were posting images on Petrovsky’s social media feeds of dead bodies on stretchers and Chinese police welding apartment doors shut.

The official Chinese message, and the WHO’s amplification of it, was “outrageous,” Petrovsky, a Flinders University professor specializing in vaccine development, told The Epoch Times.

sequence, hoping to find out which animal the virus came from. By March, the analysis yielded a piece of information no one on his team had been looking for: The virus seemed better adapted to a human cell than any of the potential animal hosts identified.

“So then we said, well, how could that happen? Either the virus was spreading in humans for years with no one knowing it, which seems highly unlikely,” he said, “or SARS-CoV-2 could have met a

“I immediately recognized this was a serious virus that wasn’t being treated seriously. And when you don’t treat a serious virus seriously, you end up with a disaster,” he said.

Shelving his vacation plans, Petrovsky began to run supercomputer modeling studies on the COVID-19 viral

human cell in a laboratory dish.

“It was like a light bulb moment. To us, it was just an obvious explanation for a finding that we had confirmed.”

As Petrovsky was pondering the lab hypothesis, Daszak was organizing a group of health experts to obstruct any speculation that the virus wasn’t from nature. He was behind a statement co-signed by more than two dozen scientists, including four EcoHealth associates, that praised their Chinese counterparts for their “remarkable” efforts to fight the outbreak and sharing results “transparently” with the global health community, and derided alternative theories about the virus origins as “rumors” and “conspiracy.” The statement was published by The Lancet in February 2020.

Petrovsky was shocked.

“Politics should have no role in scientific investigation, and as far as I could see, this article was purely about politics, containing no actual factual data,” he said. “Science should be neutral and just about finding the truth. It’s not about whether that truth is politically convenient or not.”

But this political ploy had real-world effects on Petrovsky’s work: getting

“When you have a group of people that decides there can only be one point of view, that’s problematic. That’s antithetical to science.”

Robert Redfield, former director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Dr. Francis Collins (C), then-director of the National Institutes of Health, speaks alongside Dr. Anthony Fauci (L) during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 26, 2021.

his team’s findings published in scientific publications became next to impossible.

“We just hit brick walls,” he said. “Several of the big publishers sent it back to us in 48 hours without even reviewing.”

It took about a year of appeals and dealing with “very antagonistic reviewers” before the prominent science journal Nature agreed to accept their paper. By then, the landscape had changed; more scientists were coming forward urging a deeper look into the lab leak possibility, and President Joe Biden, acknowledging the scenario to be plausible, ordered his intelligence agencies to produce a report on the origins of the virus within 90 days.

But the damage from the delay was hard to undo.

By that time, the paper had much less impact, because everyone had been convinced by the highly promoted Nature commentary that the virus must have had an animal source and that anyone suggesting otherwise was a “conspiracy theorist,” Petrovsky said.

“It appeared by then they were satisfied that their global disinformation campaign had been so successful at creating a smokescreen that it was now safe to let other data come out, figuring everyone would ignore it or just attribute it to a conspiracy theory,” he said.

“And that is exactly how it played out.”

‘Antithetical to Science’

Inside the U.S. government, the atmosphere was no less intense. David Asher, who spearheaded a State Department task force probing COVID-19’s origins in 2020, was troubled by the military takeover of the WIV days after the Wuhan lockdown. So he reached out to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for an expert opinion beginning in late spring that year.

The NIH’s entanglement with the Wuhan lab wasn’t known at the time. To Asher’s surprise, the institute provided “no investigative file” and pointed him to the “Proximal Origin” article.

the Chinese,” Asher, now a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, told The Epoch Times.

“My answer was, ‘If that’s your basis for your analysis, then you have no basis for your analysis.’

“They were basically operating in a way that was totally inconsistent with transparency, the truth, and any sort of accountability.”

66%

The NIH head at the time, Dr. Francis Collins, “told us through their staff, not directly, that we should just trust

There was also apprehension from the State Department’s Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance and the undersecretary for arms control and international security, whose staff worried that the lab origin probe could “open a can of worms.”

“We never figured out what they were worried about exactly,” Asher said.

By late January 2020, Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during the Trump administration, had made repeated fruitless attempts to engage with China and offer assistance in the pandemic’s initial weeks.

Redfield had made clear to Fauci and other health officials that the lab origin theory was worth serious consideration. But he was excluded from discussions that preceded the “Proximal Origin” article—something Redfield only found out retroactively from released FOIA documents.

“I had a different point of view and I was told they made a decision that they would keep this confidential until they came up with a single narrative,”

OF AMERICANS NOW think there was a lab leak, according to a poll.

Commuters wear protective masks in Beijing on April 13, 2020. By March 2020, Flinders University professor Nikolai Petrovsky found that the SARS-CoV-2 virus seemed better adapted to a human cell than any of the potential animal hosts identified.

Redfield told the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic in early March.

“When you have a group of people that decides there can only be one point of view, that’s problematic.

“That’s antithetical to science and, unfortunately, that’s what they did.”

‘Friends’ in China

To date, the Chinese regime has resisted a comprehensive independent inquiry into how the pandemic started and has consistently sought to pin the blame on other countries.

While the culpability for covering up COVID-19’s origins rests squarely on the regime, the scientific community in the West has abetted that.

Prominent researchers at the Galveston National Laboratory at the University of Texas Medical Branch, a P4 lab that had for years partnered with WIV, actively tried to help their

Chinese colleagues counter concerns that the virus might have originated from the Wuhan facility. One internal email string showed the Galveston scientists discussing The Epoch Times’s documentary, calling it “disconcerting” and noting the film contained “a section on our two friends” from the WIV, Shi and Yuan Zhiming, who directs the P4 lab at the institute.

But such Western scientists with “friends” in China have overlooked a critical factor, according to Jamie Metzl, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council who has long called for a thorough investigation into COVID-19’s origins.

poll suggests that two-thirds of Americans now think there was a lab leak, and Biden on March 20 signed into law a bill that was unanimously approved by Congress mandating declassification of COVID-19 origins intelligence.

Petrovsky sees Wray’s remarks as an inflection point.

Anyone who posited the laboratory-origin theory, no matter how good their data, was “ostracized from mainstream science and treated as if they were conspiracy theorists and not serious scientists,” he said.

“Now, the debate has been opened up. It is time to bring the many dissenting

“A scientist in China is very different from a scientist in the United States,” he told The Epoch Times’s sister outlet NTD in early March.

“[They] may be a great person, may be fully ethical. But a scientist in China, when a critically important issue is at stake, cannot speak openly or honestly, and that’s a very big difference.”

Nonetheless, efforts by Western scientists, officials and the media to discredit the lab leak theory left a large imprint.

“A false consensus was essentially pushed on the general public in the early days, and that stuck,” Metzl said.

“It took a whole lot of work of a small handful of people, certainly over the course of that first year, but really for three years to begin to shift perceptions.”

Turning Point

Indeed, perceptions have changed, up to the very top levels of government.

On television in late February, FBI Director Christopher Wray confirmed that his agency has “for quite some time” believed the root of the pandemic is “most likely a potential lab incident.” A recent

scientists in from the cold. ... All perspectives should be welcome given it still isn’t known how and where this pandemic started.

“We also need more answers into how a small group of scientists with major conflicts of interest were able to so successfully create a single narrative that only a natural animal source of this virus was possible, while, at the same time, demonizing any scientist with a contrary view.”

For Jackson, the Texas Republican, change is already afoot.

“I think that people are seeing the writing on the wall right now,” he said. “They realize that whistleblowers are coming forward and that the truth is coming out. People are scrambling to make sure that they get on the right side of this issue before they get drawn into it.”

In January and February, he co-sponsored two measures to defund the WIV and make Beijing pay pandemic damages. There’s “a lot of digging to do,” he said, adding he’s “excited to get to the bottom of this once and for all.”

“It’s important, because we can never let this happen again.”

“A scientist in China, when a critically important issue is at stake, cannot speak openly or honestly.”

Jamie Metzl, senior fellow, Atlantic Council

Young Pilot Fights PostVaccine Heart Issues

A competitive athlete and recreational pilot since age 17 can no longer pilot solo

BY JANICE HISLE

Sierra Lund, a recreational pilot and co-founder of US Freedom Flyers, poses for a photo with a small airplane in 2022.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SIERRA LUND

Sierra Lund , a 23-year-o L d recreational pilot, shudders to think what could have happened if she had been in the cockpit when she started experiencing heart attack-like symptoms.

Just 18 hours after being injected with a COVID-19 vaccine, Lund felt intense pain in her chest. She was having trouble breathing.

“Walking was a struggle,” she said. None of that made sense.

Lund was a well-conditioned competitive athlete, and neither she nor her relatives had any history of heart issues. So she tried to shrug off her symptoms.

They didn’t abate, so she sought emergency medical care.

Now, a year and a half later, her symptoms persist.

Lund was diagnosed with two heart conditions: myocarditis (cardiac muscle inflammation) and pericarditis (inflammation of the sac encasing the heart). Studies have linked both conditions to COVID-19 vaccinations, and Lund says she’s sure the vaccine is to blame for her new health issues.

As a result, Lund—for whom flying has been a passion since she got her pilot’s license at age 17—can no longer pilot a plane solo.

Lund and Josh Yoder, co-founder of aviation advocacy group US Freedom Flyers, say many other pilots—including commercial captains—have also suffered health issues that they strongly suspect could have been caused by taking a COVID-19 vaccine. Yoder’s group has encouraged pilots to get screened specifically for myocarditis, which can remain undetected during routine medical exams.

“A lot of people are afraid to talk about it, afraid to lose their job,” Lund told The Epoch Times. “And since I’m not in that situation, I have a responsibility to speak out.”

Lund is sharing her story, she said, toward increasing public awareness about the health issue. She’s also urging the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other government officials to look into vaccine-related health risks that could affect pilots more seriously.

Failure to do so is “extremely dangerous for the pilots and for the general public,” she said.

‘Zero Doubt’ Vaccine Caused Problems

A large percentage of commercial pilots received the COVID-19 vaccine after being threatened with losing their jobs if they failed to comply with federal mandates.

Yoder, a commercial pilot, said he has heard from dozens of vaccinated pilots who worry that the vaccine hurt their health, threatening their

livelihoods and affecting their ability to fly safely.

“Unfortunately, many of them have been suffering with these issues for quite some time. ... They were hoping the symptoms would go away,” Yoder told The Epoch Times of conversations he’s had with people in the industry.

He said word has spread that his organization is connecting pilots with medical professionals who can help diagnose and treat their health conditions; US Freedom Flyers connected Lund with doctors who are trying alternative therapies, after conventional treatment methods yielded little improvement in her heart conditions.

While proving a link between vaccines and medical conditions can prove elusive, Lund says cases such as hers, which document near-immediate effects after vaccination, are hard to dispute reasonably.

After consulting with four cardiologists and learning about many reports similar to hers, Lund says she has “zero doubt” that the COVID-19 vaccine caused her heart problems.

Josh Yoder, a commercial pilot and co-founder of US Freedom Flyers.

After receiving a COVID-19 vaccine in September 2021, Lund felt terrible chest pain and shortness of breath as she headed for a flight as a passenger on a commercial aircraft. She called her father, who had just dropped her off. He headed back to pick her up and took her to an urgent care clinic, where an X-ray showed inflammation in her chest.

Her chest has hurt ever since.

Lund took the shot voluntarily, mostly because she wanted to take a trip to a foreign destination where vaccination was required. She also felt societal pressure to get the vaccine.

She now regrets the decision, which has changed her life dramatically.

As a daughter of a commercial airline pilot who also flies recreationally, aviation has been a constant in Lund’s life. Since her diagnosis, she still pilots small planes to keep her skills sharp. But she must always have a second pilot accompanying her; she’s no longer medically cleared to fly alone.

Lund’s past schedule of daily gym workouts

Airline pilots walk through the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Va., on Dec. 27, 2021. Josh Yoder says that he has heard from dozens of vaccinated pilots who worry that the shots hurt their health.

is also in her rear-view mirror—at least for now.

She tries not to think about all that she’s missing.

“If I did, I’d probably be depressed,” Lund said. “I’m trying to figure out how to get better and figuring out how to come up with some sort of normal life in the meantime.”

She now runs her own business as an aircraft broker, keeping her in touch with the aviation community that she loves so much.

In between, Lund heads to medical appointments, including some that require travel from her home state, Georgia. She has spent about $15,000 out-of-pocket trying to get well so far.

FAA Decision Puzzling

U.S. government agencies insist that cases such as Lund’s are rare and that the COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective for the general public. The FAA has stood by its decision to OK them for pilots’ use.

Lund and others, however, fault the FAA for approving the vaccines for pilots.

“Allowing pilots to put any substance in their body that has not had the appropriate clinical trials and abundant data to back its safety goes directly against what the FAA has always stood for,” Lund wrote in a Jan. 25 email to Federal Air Surgeon Susan Northrup.

While the FAA forbids pilots from using numerous substances, including over-the-counter medications, within a certain number of hours before flying, the agency’s willingness to approve the emergency use COVID-19 vaccines for pilots is mystifying, Lund said.

“Instead of advocating for pilots, you allowed mandates to roll out,” Lund told Northrup.

Now, many pilots are vaccinated with the

“I’m trying to figure out how to get better and figuring out how to come up with some sort of normal life in the meantime.”

Sierra Lund, pilot

FROM TOP: ANNA MONEYMAKER/GETTY IMAGES, COURTESY JOSH YODER

same shot that Lund blames for her predicament.

As of March 13, Lund said she had yet to receive a reply from Northrup.

When the Epoch Times sought comment from Northrup, an FAA spokesman responded on her behalf, saying, “The FAA has seen no credible evidence of aircraft accidents or incapacitations caused by pilots suffering medical complications associated with COVID-19 vaccines.”

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) has been investigating COVID-19 vaccine concerns in aviation.

In a Feb. 10 letter to Johnson, Northrup said the FAA knew of only four “potentially vaccine-related adverse events in active pilots.”

She also said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) “is the responsible agency for tracking and follow up of suspected vaccine adverse events”—not the FAA.

Johnson accused the agency of ignoring problems that the COVID-19 shots might be causing among pilots that pose serious risks specific to the airline industry.

Pilots Not ‘Your Average Person’

“I think one thing that the public needs to know is, if they hear of a pilot having a condition, or a heart attack in the cockpit, they aren’t just your

average person. ... I mean, these people go in for extensive medical screenings to keep their jobs,” Lund said. “So these should be the healthiest people out there.”

Yet, at least anecdotally, people seem to be hearing more reports of pilots suffering from heart ailments similar to Lund’s or worse, Yoder said. That suggests that effects from the COVID-19 vaccine or the illness itself could be the culprit.

“This is not something that we’ve seen happening on this scale before,” Yoder said. “You never heard about it; it was very rare. ... Now, it’s something we hear about now almost every week.”

Through aviation networks, Yoder has heard numerous reports of flight attendants collapsing at work. Periodically, he has also seen reports of pilots being incapacitated or dying suddenly. Few of the reports in the mainstream press raise the possibility that the COVID-19 vaccine may have been a factor.

Lund said people tend to shy away from talking about anything related to COVID-19 vaccines because it can cause controversy. But she said more open discussion and investigation are needed to protect people’s safety.

Yoder concurs. He worries about undetected cases of cardiac inflammation. With the disclaim-

A large percentage of commercial pilots received the COVID19 vaccine after being threatened with losing their jobs if they failed to comply with federal mandates.

er, “I can’t speak as a doctor,” he said that cardiologists were telling him that “the longer you go with severe chronic inflammation, it’s not something that gets better over time. It gets worse.”

“So, left untreated, we’re going to continue to see these deaths and incapacitations increase, most likely,” he said.

Her Condition ‘Rare,’ Officials Say

In April 2021, the CDC acknowledged an uptick in cases of myocarditis and pericarditis, especially among adolescents and young males. But the public health agency insists that the incidents are “rare” and that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks.

“COVID-19 vaccines have undergone—and will continue to undergo—the most intensive safety monitoring in U.S. history,” the CDC website reads. “Evidence from the hundreds of millions of COVID-19 vaccines already administered in the United States, and the billions of vaccines administered globally, demonstrates that they are safe and effective.”

Data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) show 26,584 reports of myocarditis and pericarditis after COVID-19 vaccinations, according to an analysis on OpenVAERS.com.

Prior to the availability of the COVID-19 vaccines in the United States, those conditions barely registered on VAERS. But the number of myocarditis and pericarditis reports in VAERS soared to almost 16,000 in 2021—the first full year that the COVID-19 vaccines were in use.

Lund said her case was submitted to VAERS. It’s listed among 3,819 reports of myocarditis and pericarditis for COVID-inoculated people in her 12–25 age group, while COVID-19 vaccine recipients in the grouping above hers, ages 25–51, recorded the highest number of those heart conditions in VAERS: 5,456.

As of March 3, more than 1.5 million “adverse events” have been reported to VAERS. That’s a fraction of the 270 million people in the United States who have had at least one COVID-19 vaccine, the CDC argues.

However, “VAERS is widely acknowledged, even by the CDC, to be vastly underreported,” OpenVAERS, a group that questions vaccine safety, pointed out. If that’s true, the number of adverse effects of the COVID-19 vaccines could be many times higher than VAERS data show.

‘Real Solution’ Needed

Lund said she hopes that people on both sides of the political spectrum—and on both sides of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate debate—can be more open-minded about seeking answers.

She has heard the vitriol surrounding the issue and finds it to be unproductive.

“If you are extremely pro-vaccine, don’t blow people off when they say they have had an adverse side effect to the vaccine,” Lund said. “You need to be more understanding and listen to other people’s experience and listen to the studies that are coming out and maybe try to do some critical thinking as far as what you put into your body.”

It’s wrong for people to label vaccine skeptics “grandma killers” and “conspiracy theorists,” she said.

On the other hand, people who are anti-vaccine “need to be more understanding of the pressure that people are under and how scared they were of the pandemic” and about their willingness to trust the government-appointed experts, Lund said.

“People on both sides of the aisle really need to come together, especially on this front, and just look at it logically based on the facts that we have now,” she said.

“It’s a real big issue. ... But as far as the FAA, I think that they need to start investigating these cases of pilots and people in the aviation world that are getting adverse side effects and come up with a real solution.”

A United Airlines pilot receives a COVID-19 vaccine at United’s onsite clinic at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago on March 9, 2021.

Since Sierra Lund’s diagnosis, she must always have a second pilot accompanying her; she’s no longer medically cleared to fly alone.

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

OPPOSITION MOUNTS OVE R FORD’S CHI

Chinese company to provide EV battery technology, some equipment, and workers

BY TERRI WU

Po L iticians and L oca L residents are voicing opposition to Ford’s new electric vehicle (EV) battery plant in Michigan over the automaker’s partner, which has links to the regime in China.

In February, Ford announced it would build a battery park in Marshall, a small township 100 miles west of Detroit, under a licensing agreement with Chinese firm Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL), the world’s largest producer of EV batteries.

The facility will start operating in 2026 and be a wholly owned subsidiary of the U.S. company. CATL will provide

the battery technology, some equipment, and workers, Ford said.

The deal, which gives the plant access to tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), has drawn criticism from federal lawmakers who say U.S. taxpayers shouldn’t fund a China-linked project.

Meanwhile, local residents are protesting over concerns about the infiltration of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the loss of prime farmland.

Late last year, before Ford selected the site in Michigan, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin withdrew his state’s bid for site consideration over national security concerns.

Controversial Deal

The plant will produce lithium-iron-phosphate batteries, better known as LFP, a type of battery thats cheaper but less energy-dense than the nickel-cobalt-manganese battery that currently dominates the global market. CATL is known for its expertise in LFP battery technology.

Ford’s introduction of LFP in its entry-level models takes the Chinese-monopolized technology one step closer to global dominance in the EV battery market, according to a December report by Adamas Intelligence, a critical minerals market research firm.

The deal will give a significant additional boost to CATL, which rose to

PHOTO BY JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

NESE DEAL

prominence with the help of $155 million in Chinese subsidies between 2015 and 2017, a time during which foreign providers had no access to the Chinese EV battery market.

On the same day as the Ford announcement, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) wrote a letter to the Treasury, Energy, and Transportation secretaries, asking for a Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) review of the Ford–CATL licensing agreement. CFIUS is a federal interagency panel tasked with assessing foreign investments for national security risks.

Rubio said he wanted to ensure no taxpayer dollars would “go to enrich [China’s] national champion CATL, or any other Beijing-supported company, directly or indirectly.”

Proximity to Military Sites

In addition to the concern that CATL plays a strategic role in achieving Beijing’s national industrial plan, known as “Made in China 2025,” the EV plant is located near sensitive military units.

The Battle Creek Air National Guard Base is about 15 miles from the intended battery park site, which is heavily mar-

keted as a “megasite” by the Michigan state economic development agency. The base hosts a ground control station that supports U.S. missions of the MQ-9—an armed, remotely piloted drone aircraft—providing intelligence to federal and state entities.

The Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center, a defense logistics center, is within 10 miles of the megasite. Ford will initially use 950 acres of the 1,600-acre site and has an option to expand.

“I feel that the placement of this site is no accident; it is an effort by the CCP to gain access to our base,” Rick Sadler,

Ford Motor Co. battery-powered F-150 Lightning trucks are under production at the company’s Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Mich., on Sept. 20, 2022.

a Marshall resident who lives a half-mile from the site, previously told The Epoch Times. “Our national security is at risk. But, apparently, it’s OK with Ford, the local government, and the state government.”

The public affairs office of Battle Creek Air National Guard Base told The Epoch Times that the base couldn’t comment on the business practices of private companies. It didn’t disclose whether it was informed of the deal before the public announcement.

The base reports to Michigan’s governor. The U.S. Department of Defense and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office didn’t respond by press time to a request for comment.

Manufacturing Tax Credits

Ford previously confirmed that it expects the new EV plant to qualify for the $45 per kilowatt-hour advanced manufacturing tax credit under the IRA.

Given the factory’s annual capacity of 35 gigawatt-hours, or 35 million kilowatt-hours, Nick Iacovella, a spokesperson for the Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA), estimated that the total tax benefit for the plant could reach $1 billion, depending on the exact terms

of the licensing agreement. CPA is an advocacy organization that represents exclusively domestic producers, according to its website. Ford isn’t a member of the CPA.

On March 9, Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, introduced a bill to block U.S. subsidies to Chinese battery companies.

If enacted, Ford’s new EV battery plant that licenses a Chinese battery maker’s technology wouldn’t qualify for EV tax credits under the IRA.

In response, Ford reiterated that its wholly owned subsidiary would “build, own, and operate” the new battery plant.

“No other entity, including CATL, will receive any U.S. tax dollars for this project. Any suggestion otherwise is incorrect,” a company spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

“By producing these batteries in the U.S.—rather than relying exclusively on foreign imports, like other auto companies do—we’ll create thousands of good-paying American jobs, contribute significantly to the development of the country’s industrial capability in the transition to electric vehicles, and make EVs more affordable to more customers.”

Consumer Tax Credit

Along with the manufacturing tax credit, buyers of Ford’s EVs made with batteries produced at the Michigan plant will be eligible for the consumer EV tax credit under the IRA. Customers of EV vehicles can receive up to $7,500 in “clean vehicle credit,” with the amount dependent on whether the vehicle, batteries, and battery components are made in and sourced from the United States.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, said on March 10 that he is “totally opposed” to allowing CATL access to U.S. tax benefits. During the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston, he stressed that a 12 percent royalty included in the Ford-CATL deal would send $900 of the $7,500 consumer tax credit to CATL.

“I’ll be damned if I’m going to give them $900 out of $7,500, to let it go to China for basically a product we started,” he said.

A day earlier, White House clean energy czar John Podesta said at a policy forum held by the American Council on Renewable Energy, a Washington-based trade group, that Chinese companies would be “big players” generally and would have involvement in the U.S. production of EVs, such as in the Ford–CATL deal.

Manchin was quick to rebuke that.

Bill Ford, executive chairman of Ford Motor Co., announces the deal at a news conference in Romulus, Mich., on Feb.13.

“I will do everything in my power to prevent this Administration from welcoming China to take federal dollars with open arms.”

Sen. Joe Manchin

“It is beyond irresponsible for someone speaking on behalf of the White House to not only condone but also advocate for sending American tax dollars to Chinese companies,” he said in a statement.

“These words are especially concerning as rumors circulate about the Administration thoughtlessly considering opening up the EV credit’s eligibility beyond our free trade agreement partners and allowing the laundering of Chinese minerals and materials through Trojan horse agreements.

“I will do everything in my power to prevent this Administration from welcoming China to take federal dollars with open arms.”

Manchin introduced a bill earlier this year to ensure that EV tax credits be implemented with sourcing requirements of battery components and materials as of Jan. 1. He said the IRA was designed to grow domestic EV battery manufacturing and reduce reliance on China.

Manchin’s proposal for quick passage didn’t gain unanimous consent; the bill is still with the Senate Finance Committee. The Department of Treasury has said it would issue guidance

on EV battery sourcing for consumer tax credits this month.

Loss of Farmland

Marshall, a township of about 3,000 people, prides itself on its prime farmland. The township’s website states that it includes approximately 9,000 acres of cropland—“some of the best farmland in Calhoun County”—with corn, soybeans, and wheat its primary crops.

The acres designated for the future EV battery park are also farmland. Ford has said it would place 245 acres at the site’s southern edge in a conservation easement, limiting the land use to protect its conservation values.

“Before we rush to embrace what some refer to as progress, first pause to consider what will be lost when land that has produced literally tons of corn and beans to feed a hungry nation is covered in concrete. It cannot be reclaimed,” a speaker at the township board meeting on Feb. 20 said. “With the entrance of the Ford company, more farmland will inevitably be lost to housing and strip malls.”

The Marshall Area Economic Development Alliance’s response is that the

acres used for the EV battery park are a small fraction of the 10 million acres of farmland in the state.

“We have seen firsthand that communities can increase economic opportunities while preserving and respecting our deep agricultural roots,” the organization stated.

“When you see our farmland being bought up by China, when you see that we’re relying so heavily on a technology from China that has control of lithium deposits around the world, it just doesn’t seem wise to be doing this,” Rebecca Glotfelty, cofounder of local advocacy group Seedkeepers, previously told The Epoch Times.

Seedkeepers was founded as a response to the Ford–CATL plant. The organization is advocating for a state park as an alternative plan for the site. Although she doesn’t currently live in Marshall, Glotfelty grew up on a farm that her parents had sold to the local economic development agency for the Ford plant.

“It’s not like we’re buying a toy from China; we are putting EV batteries in all of our transportation, which is critical to our security.”

Protesters in front of Riverside Farm, a 120-year-old farmstead on the lot slated for the new Ford EV battery park in Marshall, Mich., in February.

ATF Tracks Finances of Gun Buyers,

Documents Show

Agency has sent names, salary information to FBI, which then conducts warrantless monitoring

BY EMILY MILLER

The federaL government has been using data on Americans’ finances and past gun purchases to conduct warrantless tracking and to deny citizens’ Second Amendment rights. Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) told the FBI that income estimates are a reason to monitor people’s firearms purchases.

Erich Pratt, senior vice president of Gun Owners of America (GOA), told The Epoch Times that the ATF’s “monitoring innocent people” is a serious problem.

“Congress needs to rein in this rogue agency by either exercising oversight over it or abolishing the unconstitutional agency altogether,” he said.

These revelations come from new documents obtained by The Epoch Times through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit. The latest production from the FOIA has hundreds of pages—many redacted—that show ATF agents requesting warrantless surveillance by the FBI for reasons such as low salaries, past firearm purchases, and sending “bizarre” messages.

The Epoch Times exclusively reported in January about the FBI’s secret monitoring of people through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) for gun purchases for mere “potential violations of law.”

Too Poor to Buy Guns

According to the documents, a man in Arizona was subjected to NICS daily monitoring because he has a “reported income” of only $2,839.

“In my experience, someone with this amount of income would not be able to afford 20 firearms,” the ATF agent wrote.

An Asian man in Texas was added to the background check system because the ATF said he has “no work history,” which “could possibly indicate” that he is “straw purchasing.”

A special agent in Kansas emailed ATF’s liaison at the NICS to flag two purchasers for “potential trafficking.” The agent wrote, “My targets are purchasing an abundance of firearms without a license or known financial means to obtain the product.”

The FBI’s NICS expert instructed

PHOTO BY ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/ AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

A gun collector looks at guns in EJB’s Gun Shop in Capitol Heights, Md., on March 14.

the agent in Kansas about what to include to ensure approval for tracking the suspects.

“I would suggest covering the lack of income versus expenditures and also if there is substantial make/model duplication,” the expert wrote. The ATF agent emailed back each man’s income, acquired by the Kansas Department of Labor.

All the cases in the documents are related to the ATF investigating the dealing of firearms without a license and straw purchasing, which is buying guns for people who are prohibited from owning a firearm.

Tracking Income

Gun rights activists say federal law enforcement is missing the mark.

“The poor usually live in areas with the most crime and thus have a strong need to arm themselves heavily,” Pratt said. “So targeting the indigent is sim-

ply another avenue for gun-grabbers to implement a backdoor gun ban.”

ATF headquarters won’t disclose how it acquired the other suspects’ incomes, employment information, and past gun purchases found in the FOIA forms.

“We are unable to discuss specific techniques utilized in criminal investigations,” ATF spokesperson Erik Longnecker told The Epoch Times. “ATF utilizes a multitude of legal means in our criminal investigations to protect our communities from violent gun crime.”

Longnecker referred The Epoch Times to the National Tracing Center website for information about “several overt programs such as multiple sales and demand letters that can be helpful in identifying illegal firearms trafficking.”

Buying Too Many Guns

A black man in Florida was monitored daily by the FBI for at least 90 days

in 2020 because an ATF agent wrote, “Based on my training and experience, I have not seen a legal firearms purchaser purchase approximately 30 firearms in a 120-day window for their personal collection.”

Licensed firearms dealers must report to ATF the sale of two or more handguns to the same purchaser within five consecutive business days. However, there is no federal law that limits the number of guns a person can buy.

“Some agent just decided, ‘That is enough Second Amendment for you this year,’” Robert Olson, the attorney who filed the FOIA lawsuit for the gun owners’ group, told The Epoch Times.

Buying and Selling Guns

A Wisconsin man was put under surveillance in 2020 because an ATF agent saw text messages related to buying and selling guns and suspected dealing without a license. The agent said

A gun shop owner holds a UK-manufactured Accuracy International sniper rifle at his store in Arcadia, Calif., on Feb. 10.

the man bought guns from the website Gunbroker.com, transferred them through a local gun store, and then resold the firearms “using email, text messaging, and the website Armslist. com.”

There is more redacted text than visible information on the form, but it doesn’t disclose the number of guns the suspect bought and sold.

“If you only make occasional sales of firearms from your personal collection, you do not need to be licensed,” the ATF says in an online guide. It also states that “you will need a license if you repetitively buy and sell firearms with the principal motive of making a profit.”

Too Many Gun Parts

In the secret documents, an ATF agent asked the FBI to flag a man in Arizona suspected of dealing gun parts.

“In my experience, it is common for people to purchase large number of AR-15 style lower receivers, build them into rifles, and sell the rifles for profit,” the agent wrote to get the suspect put into NICS.

A “lower receiver” is the base part of an AR-style rifle that has a serial number on it. It can’t fire without a barrel, trigger, and other parts added to it.

“It is common for people to buy several lower receivers and build them into finished guns. If it’s your hobby, that is not sufficient to prove you are illegally dealing firearms,” Olson said. “How does the agent distinguish between the Second Amendment enthusiast and the criminals?”

‘Bizarre’ Messages

A Missouri man was put into NICS after an ATF agent emailed, “[A] U.S. Attorney’s Office asked that we monitor his activity due to recent threats and bizarre messages he has been leaving.”

The agent wrote that the man “was recently released from BOP [Federal Bureau of Prisons] and has begun making threats toward the U.S. Attorney’s Office, federal judge, and ATF case agent.” The completed form doesn’t indicate the man has committed a felony, which would mean he would be in the NICS and prevented from buying a gun at the point of sale.

“Sending bizarre messages is not

something that makes you lose your Second Amendment rights,” Olson said. “He sounds like a bad guy, but it’s not connected to firearms. That’s a huge misuse of the background check process.”

tip—to have a woman tracked before an investigation has been done.

Documents show that a Hispanic woman in Texas was put into the NICS because an agent got an “iTip provided by an anonymous person” who related that she had “purchased 10 firearms in the last two weeks.”

The agent wrote that the investigation was incomplete because it didn’t have the background check forms from the dealer (“4473s”) or video footage from the store.

ATF and FBI Unbowed

There are no instances of the FBI denying any ATF request to put a person under warrantless surveillance in all of the documents released so far. Moreover, there are no documents showing that the monitoring periods ended. As previously reported, the FBI told the ATF that it will renew the NICS flags of 30 to 120 days and limitless times if requested.

Anonymous Tips

The ATF’s law enforcement role is to investigate when a prohibited person completes a 4473 gun background check, and the NICS denies the purchase. In one case in the files, the ATF appears—based on an anonymous

“It’s time for Congress to repeal the NICS check. Given that more than 95 percent of the initial stops are for mistaken identity, it is clear that NICS is not keeping guns out of criminals’ hands,” GOA’s Pratt said.

The ATF spokesperson declined to say whether the monitoring program with the FBI is ongoing. The FBI didn’t respond to a request for comment.

“The poor usually live in areas with the most crime and thus have a strong need to arm themselves heavily.”

Erich Pratt, senior vice president, Gun Owners of America

“Gun Owners of America” buttons for sale during an annual rally organized by the “Second Amendment March” group, in Lansing, Mich., on Sept. 27, 2022.

EXCLUSIVE

Flying High Again

6 years after being fired over pro-life social media posts, flight attendant is back at work

By Janice Hisle

CoL um B us , ohio—t o c har L ene Carter, it felt surreal. She was once again soaring amid the clouds, working as a flight attendant for the first time in six years.

“I literally was pinching myself on the airplane last night, because I’m like, ‘I am back at doing what I love doing,’” she told The Epoch Times on March 11, hours after completing her first official trip as a reinstated flight attendant for Southwest Airlines.

Carter, 57, completed her first series of flights just three days before the six-year anniversary of her termination.

The airline fired her on March 14, 2017, for expressing pro-life views via social media. She had worked for Southwest for nearly 21 years.

As The Epoch Times reported, Carter had become a staunch opponent of abortion for a very personal reason: She suffered lifelong regret and physical injury after terminating a pregnancy when she was 19. Carter later became a mother of two and an outspoken advocate for the unborn.

Verdict in Carter’s Favor

In July 2022, Carter’s wrongful termination suit went to trial.

A federal jury in Dallas found that Southwest had violated Carter’s right to religious speech and union criticism. The jury also found that her union, Transport Workers Union of America Local 556, violated its duty to represent her best interests.

A union leader worked with company officials to get Carter fired.

Late last year, U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr ordered Southwest to return Carter to her job.

“You don’t realize what you’ll truly miss until it’s taken away from you,” Carter said, beaming as she spoke. “And then, when you get it back, it’s even better than what it was during the first go-round.”

Overjoyed to get back to work after arduous litigation, Carter said she’d like to see all parties move forward.

But Southwest and the union oppose the outcome of Carter’s case.

Starr ruled that she is entitled to back pay, damages, interest, and “reasonable” attorneys fees. The total amount, to be split between Southwest and the union, approaches $5 million.

Southwest filed its most recent objections to Starr’s conclusions on Feb. 6. The company has asked Starr to grant a retrial. Southwest also has laid the groundwork to appeal to a higher court.

Carter declined to comment on the pending legal case, except to thank The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation for representing her.

She Felt Welcome

“I have been treated wonderfully,” Carter said, upon her return to the Southwest workforce.

Some people were aware of her legal battle, but “they were very encouraging,” she said. “They were saying, ‘Welcome back.’”

Carter said she felt camaraderie throughout her four-week intensive retraining. Sessions typically lasted about 10 hours a day, ensuring that flight attendants know proper aircraft safety, security, and emergency procedures.

“We’re there for your safety, not just there to bring you drinks. That just happens to be the perk, serving our customers, and making the flight wonderful for them,” she said.

On Feb. 28, after completing the training, Carter posted on her Facebook page: “Most of you know I have been in a battle for the past five-plus years. Well, some of that battle is over, and I’m back at the career I love!

“Plus, I have 51 new wonderful Co-Hearts to fly with. I’m beyond blessed, and yes, I am back at where I was before this whole nightmare started.”

1st Flight Scheduled

On March 10, Carter’s husband, Jhara, and daughter, Hannah, went with her to Denver Interna-

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP L: MICHAEL CIAGLO/THE EPOCH TIMES, COURTESY

OF CHARLENE CARTER, DANIEL SLIM/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

A Southwest Airlines plane approaches the runway at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Va., on April 2, 2022.

“You don’t realize what you’ll truly miss until it’s taken away from you.”

Charlene

Carter, flight attendant, Southwest Airlines

tional Airport as she reported for duty.

She felt thrilled to be back in uniform, with her wings pinned onto it. She said to herself, “I’m official,” as she showed her crew ID badge to airport security.

As she walked through the airport, “I’m just feeling like, ‘I’m home,’” Carter said.

After she took her place with other crew members on a Southwest aircraft, “everything just clicked, and my training kicked in,” Carter said.

Her trip went from Denver to Boston, then to Chicago Midway Airport, and finally to John Glenn Columbus International Airport in Ohio.

The trip went well overall, despite some foul weather, Carter said.

“There were a few things that I was like, ‘OK, wait, this has changed,’” she said. “But the re-

Charlene

mainder of it, it was like riding a bicycle–I just went right back to it, like usual.”

Carter said experiences with her fellow trainees have restored her faith that the values of Southwest’s founder—the late Herb Kelleher, and his right-hand woman, President Emerita Colleen Barrett—are still alive at the airline known by the stock ticker, LUV, because it’s based at Love Field, Texas.

“The love in that classroom was amazing. That was the real ‘heart culture’ that Colleen and Herb instilled in us,” Carter said.

“And I told every one of them in that class, at the very end: ‘Herb and Colleen would be so proud to know that you are representing Southwest and going out there and being that heart of the ‘LUV’ Airline.’”

Carter, a flight attendant who won a court order to get her job back, was part of this class of Southwest Airlines trainees in Dallas in February 2023.

Returning the ‘Whole’ Cow to Schools

Advocates push to allow school children the choice of whole milk

By Autumn Spredemann

The age-oL d argument for keeping “healthy fat” in the human diet has gained new traction as farmers, legislators, and nutritionists lead a movement to return whole milk to schools.

Advocates say U.S. children deserve to have the full spectrum of milk varieties available to them in the cafeteria. This crusade is backed by research showing that whole milk delivers critical fat-soluble vitamins and contributes to a lower risk of Type 2 diabetes.

It’s become a point of concern among nutrition experts since the amount of milk consumed in schools declined rapidly during the Obama-era ban on whole and 2 percent milk, which began in 2012.

That year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) halted the distribution of full-fat milk in lunchrooms.

Milk consumption in schools began to decline in 2008, but it accelerated quickly once the USDA ban on full-fat dairy began. Between 2008 and 2018, the average amount of milk consumed on a weekly basis per student dropped from 4.03 bottles to 3.39 bottles.

“Scientific evidence is really pointing to there being an overall survival advantage to the consumption of milk and dairy products,” Adam Lock, an associate professor in the Department of Animal Science at Michigan State

University, told The Epoch Times.

He said that milk, in general, contains many essential nutrients. This includes high-quality protein, minerals, and vitamins.

He also said there’s a growing body of evidence suggesting milk’s fatty acids offer health benefits.

The Skinny on Fat

“For far too long, milk fat got a bad rap due to the saturated fat content,” Lock said. “All ruminant products will have

A child is asked to choose a milk option for lunch at Olympic Hills Elementary School in Seattle on March 18, 2020.

high levels of saturated fat ... but not all saturated fat is the same. In fact, milk probably has the most diverse matrix of different fatty acids.”

Basically, to absorb fat-soluble vitamins, you need fat. Milk is loaded with vitamins, such as A and D, of this type.

“Fat-free milk would contain little to no fat-soluble vitamins since there’s no fat present,” Lock said.

Yet despite whole milk having the highest fat content, he stressed that the amount of fat is still pretty low.

Higher cow milk fat consumption was associated with lower juvenile obesity in 18 studies, a 2020 metaanalysis revealed.

“As an aside, it’s also important to remember that whole fluid milk still only contains 3.25 percent fat, much less than what most people think.”

So how did higher-fat varieties of milk disappear from schools? It was part of former President Barack Obama’s crusade to create healthier

than a generation where we were all raised on whole milk.”

Pennsylvania Farm Bureau President Rick Ebert told reporters during a March 2022 press conference, “Schools should have the ability to provide healthy options for students ... whole milk contains a number of key nutrients essential for good health and is a more flavorful product.”

Ebert’s comment was a response to state House Bill 2397, which allows schools to distribute whole and flavored milk, so long as it’s produced and bottled in Pennsylvania.

A House committee unanimously approved the bill on March 30, 2022.

Similar legislation has been presented within the past few years. In 2019, U.S. Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) introduced the Milk in Lunches for Kids (MILK) Act, which would grant schools the right to serve all forms of milk, including whole.

“Overregulation has limited the healthy varieties of milk schools can serve students. Since these Obamaera regulations went into place, milk consumption has notably declined in schools across the country,” Johnson said.

Farmers have also joined the fight to return whole milk to schools.

“Full-fat milk is not a demon. Fullfat milk is the most amazingly nutrient-rich food you can possibly consume,” Richard Osofsky, the president of Ronnybrook Farm, told reporters.

mance) therapist—a specially trained dietician—at Integrative Nutrition Solutions, told The Epoch Times.

Masters said it’s important to remember that the jury is still out when it comes to consuming the kind of fat found in whole milk.

“The impact of saturated fat consumption continues to be one of the leading controversies in nutritional science,” she said.

“It is clear that saturated fat in the diet raises LDL cholesterol levels. However, whether or not LDL cholesterol levels contribute to cardiovascular disease in a particular individual likely depends on several other factors.”

But Lock said cholesterol alone isn’t a good yardstick for measuring the health effects of full-fat dairy.

“Changes in cholesterol levels are only one risk factor for heart disease. The premise that the diet-heart hypothesis was based on was fatally flawed from the outset,” he said. “We know that drinking milk can raise cholesterol somewhat, but it raises HDL and LDL. The ratio is perhaps most important for this one risk factor.”

Though when it comes to obesity rates in children, studies have surprisingly linked whole milk consumption to reduced childhood obesity rates. A 2020 meta-analysis revealed that higher cow milk fat consumption was associated with lower juvenile obesity in 18 studies.

However, Secretary of Agriculture

lunchroom options.

Farmers and legislators are now taking action to give children the right to drink whole milk.

During a February congressional hearing, Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) expressed concern over kids being deprived of the health benefits of whole milk.

Speaking from his experience as a physician, Marshall said, “We’re going to have a generation of men and women with osteoporosis a decade sooner

Dairy producers in Wisconsin and Kansas also support the movement to bring back whole milk, hoping to capitalize on Pennsylvania farmers’ grassroots efforts that ended with favorable legislation.

However, despite research supporting its benefits, not everyone thinks whole milk should be offered in schools.

Jury Still Out

“I don’t see any nutritional advantages to offering whole milk to school-aged children, and with consideration to childhood obesity rates, I am not in favor of it,” Jennifer Masters,  a certified LEAP (lifestyle, eating, and perfor-

Tom Vilsack defended the USDA decision to remove full-fat dairy from cafeterias, saying the nation has been on the “right track” with school meals since 2010.

His comment reinforces a national strategy under President Joe Biden to end hunger and diet-related diseases by 2030.

And school lunch programs are a pivotal part of this strategy.

The Food and Drug Administration also proposed new regulations to further tighten this belt by redefining nutritional guidelines and what qualifies as “healthy” food.

New regulations are currently set to take effect during the 2024–2025 academic year.

A riderless horse, which represents a final farewell for some law enforcement officers and soldiers, at the funeral of President Ronald Reagan, in this file photo. The empty boots facing backward is a solemn gesture symbolizing the final trip of a soldier who will no longer ride.

PHOTO BY TIMOTHY CLARY/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

HEROIC HORSES HONORED WITH

A couple fulfills a lifelong dream with a sanctuary in Florida

By Natasha Holt

Feature Horses

L achua , fL a.— t ucked away in the woods of North Florida, 132 retired horses—some of them ancient in equine terms—graze and romp on acres of lush, hilly pastures.

The Retirement Home for Horses at Mill Creek Farm honors some of America’s distinguished public servants, equines that served in law enforcement and military units until age or injury ended their careers. The 335-acre farm guarantees its residents a safe home for the remainder of their lives.

“We feel that they’ve done their public service and deserve a great retirement,” farm director and board President Paul Gregory says.

Founded 39 years ago by his parents—Mary and Peter Gregory—the nonprofit grew from a dream they’d nurtured since their earliest years together.

After meeting at the University of London, the young couple had strolled on dates through a farm outside the city, visiting workhorses enjoying a brief annual respite.

“What if we could do something similar one day, but offer the horses forever homes, instead?” they had wondered aloud to each other over the years.

“We decided that if we ever made money, we would use it to rescue animals,” Mary Gregory recalled, in her gentle English accent. “We were on the same wavelength about it.”

Decades passed. She and her husband worked hard in hotel ownership, raised two sons and a daughter, and put aside a tidy sum.

Finally, it was time to ask themselves:

Now that we’re financially able, should we embrace iconic retirement goals of luxurious vacations and easy living? Should we reject that romantic, old plan that would require never-ending, physically demanding work and enormous investment to set up and operate a retirement farm for horses?

They were questions not to be taken lightly. But resoundingly, the “neighs” had it.

So, of one mind, the pair vowed to devote the rest of their lives to animals in need of rescue.

A Different Kind of Retirement

After living mostly in hotels, where they couldn’t have pets, the couple purchased an old watermelon farm on gently rolling hills between the two coastlines in northern Florida.

They immediately began taking in horses, even as much work still was needed to shape the property into what it is today.

Founder Mary Gregory pauses on a golf-cart jaunt around 335-acre Mill Creek Farm to chat with visitors about her love for the horses there.

They planted trees, erected shade shelters for the horses, and built miles of fencing, to transform once bare and uninhabited fields into shaded, homey pastures.

The Retirement Home for Horses at Mill Creek Farm officially opened in 1984. Since then, hundreds of horses have come to live out their days there.

Before he died in 2014, Peter Gregory helped set aside the land in a trust that guarantees the mission forever and ensures that the property never will be sold or developed. It forever must be used for the purpose of helping animals.

The cost to care for the current herd is about $400,000 per year.

“Once they set foot onto the property, we promise them that they’ll never leave,” Paul Gregory said on a Saturday, the only day visitors are allowed to amble in, poking carrots at the inquisitive noses of residents.

The horses also are promised that they’ll never

be ridden again, his mother, Mary Gregory, added. The aim is for them to enjoy their years of peaceful retirement without work, and with the highest standard of nutrition and medical care.

‘Always Be Kind to Animals!’

It’s not that the couple was opposed to using horses for suitable purposes.

Mary Gregory learned to ride and love animals when she was sent away to a private boarding school during World War II. There, she was taught to ride by an instructor who also worked with Queen Elizabeth II’s horses.

The headmistress of the school, who also taught Latin, would bring her dogs to class, Mary Gregory recalled. Students were much more interested in playing with the dogs than studying Latin, she remembered.

A visitor helps her 1-year-old daughter feed a carrot to Buddy, at the Retirement Home for Horses at Mill Creek Farm in Alachua, Fla., on May 28, 2022.

The teacher took that opportunity to insist to students, “You must always be kind to animals!” The mantra stuck.

Eighty years later, a tear slips down her cheek as she says that she finds it inconceivable that anyone would be cruel to an animal.

The farm gladly accepts former military and police horses of any age after they can no longer work. It also takes in horses from other bona fide rescue organizations, once the horses are older than 20 and deemed unsuitable for placement in adoptive homes.

Before being rescued, many of the horses endured cruelty. Farm volunteer Cynthia Lucia, 80, rattles off encyclopedic knowledge of every individual.

“This one was left tied to a tree in the Everglades, without any water, to be food for alligators,” Lucia said with disdain, gesturing at one of the grazing horses. At the time of rescue, some were found with bites that proved there’d been desperate tangles with the killer reptiles.

“And this one, Savannah, is blind, and has this one, Laura, as her seeing-eye horse,” Lucia says fondly, as the unseeing horse’s ears flick toward her.

“They stay together, and Laura shows Savannah where to go. You can feed Savannah carrots, if you tap them on the fence to show her they’re there.”

Most of the horses don’t move as fast as they used to. Many have arthritis and other health conditions that require special care and treatments, said Nora Denslow, a volunteer and board member.

The farm provides the costly medicines necessary to keep the horses out of pain and to manage any other common age-related conditions they have, such as Cushing’s disease.

The horses also receive weekly grooming, annual vet and dental care, and hoof trims by a farrier about every eight weeks.

Sparing No Expense

Anything that the horses need is done without sparing any expense, the younger Gregory said. He left a career in South Florida real estate to take over as director and president nine years ago, about the time that his father died.

“But if a golf cart goes down, and we can fix it with a rubber band and paperclip, and get

“The horses own this place, because everything that’s done is for them.”

Mary Gregory, owner, Retirement Home for Horses at Mill Creek Farm

Traveler, who lost his left eye, retired from the U.S. Army and now grazes on lush grass in his paddock at the Retirement Home for Horses.

two more weeks out of it, then that’s what we will do,” Paul Gregory chuckled.

“It’s all about the horses,” echoed his mother, now 90, who bounces along the farm’s paths on her golf cart, with a rescued dog on the seat beside her. “The horses own this place, because everything that’s done is for them.”

The expensive care that retired police and military horses require makes it especially hard for law enforcement agencies and military units to find them homes.

And even though officers love their equine partners, they usually can’t adopt them as pets, as K-9 officers often do with their retiring fourpawed partners.

That puts the horses at risk of being euthanized if they can’t be placed, volunteers told The Epoch Times.

“One would hope that these horses would have a place to go,” Denslow said. “But often when horses outlive their usefulness, they are discarded. So we’re glad to be able to give these animals a forever home where they can live out their days.”

Not just any equine can serve as part of a mounted patrol. Those horses must be unusually brave, calm, and willing. Because horses are prey animals and naturally prone to exhibit a flight response when scared or startled, this makes brave individuals an anomaly in the species.

Additionally, police horses often are larger than average to give their riders a better view of surroundings. Their unusual size also provides power needed to push back groups of people,

if necessary, making them efficient tools for crowd control.

An Honorable Service

Police officers from mounted units often express profound gratitude to find a guaranteed forever home for their retiring equine partners, Denslow said. As a result, the farm receives annual donations from some law enforcement agencies that have placed horses with them.

The retired mounted patrol horses living at Mill Creek Farm previously worked assignments ranging from the Super Bowl to riots. Many were ridden in parades and performed in law enforcement memorials and funerals.

Before retiring at Mill Creek Farm, some of the military horses served as “U.S. Army ambassadors,” often performing in the mounted color guard and carrying out duties at military burials. Some of the animals completed thousands of military missions in their careers and earned military ranks as high as sergeant.

Retirees living at the farm have received awards and certificates of appreciation from their former law enforcement agencies, and even from a former president. Former President Barack Obama signed a certificate honoring Sgt. 1st Class Possum upon his retirement. Possum still resides at the farm.

The oldest resident of the farm is 41-year-old Shamrock, a miniature donkey.

The previous record holder was R.C., an Appaloo-

The horses are promised that they’ll never have to leave and never be ridden again, according to the owners.

sa gelding, retired from Miami-Dade Mounted Patrol after serving for seven years. He lived to be 45.

The typical lifespan of a horse is 25 to 30 years. But most horses don’t retire in this kind of luxury.

Entering the ‘Field of Dreams’

When a retiree passes, volunteers weep and help bury him or her in the farm’s “Field of Dreams.” Many of the horses have been honored in perpetuity with memorial plaques on fences of the pastures where they once grazed.

Visitors are welcomed to the farm every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The cost of admission is two carrots per person. Experienced guests bring more, because there are so many soft muzzles reaching for a treat or a gentle pat.

Local and also out-of-town visitors flock to the farm during that weekly four-hour window to visit the horses. Some make the farm an annual stop during travels, bringing family and grandchildren back every year, Denslow said.

After winding down an oak-shaded driveway lined with a split-rail fence, guests pass through a welcome station, where volunteers greet them. A stand displays equestrian-inspired arts and crafts donated by local artisans, along with farm T-shirts and caps. Profits from merchandise sales go to the continued care of the animals.

$400,000

PER YEAR

Visitors stroll down miles of shady, paved trails and bridges over Mill Creek, encountering friendly horses in each pasture. On each fence line, laminated biographies highlight the past accomplishments of each retiree.

Lucia has been volunteering at the farm for 15 years. Because of some physical challenges, she can’t help with grooming anymore. But she loves to cart guests around, pointing out characteristics that make each resident special.

“There are Dakota and Amadeus,” she grins. “They both worked together for many years in the Palm Beach County Mounted Patrol.”

She praises the beauty of a shiny palomino, El Capitan, whom she introduces as her friend “Cappy.”

“He has these beautiful golden eyes that match his coat,” she points out to nearby visitors.

She’s seen many horses come and go over the years, but there are still about 14 she met during her first visits. She now pays a $50-per-month sponsorship for two that she’s become close to.

Curious guests often question, “Which one is your favorite?”

Lucia always responds the same way, communicating her unique love for each with precision. With a smile, she points to the parents’ nearby children, and asks, “Which one is your favorite?”

(Left) A visitor feeds carrots to a new friend at the Retirement Home for Horses on Feb. 11. (Above) Mill Creek Farm proudly displays a certificate of appreciation from President Barack Obama, honoring the late Master Sgt. Houdini, who served in the U.S. Armed Forces before retiring at the farm’s Retirement Home for Horses.

The yearly cost of caring for the current herd is about $400,000.

REGULATION

Forcing Doctors to Perform Abortions

A proposed rule at Biden agency would bypass conscientious objection laws

By Jackson Elliott

proposed d epartment of Health and Human Services (HHS) rule may force doctors to perform abortions against their conscience, according to the American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds).

Doctors deal with life-and-death moral decisions constantly, and moral decisions have long been part of the medical profession, ACPeds said.

But recent modifications to how the HHS enforces congressional conscience laws leave doctors vulnerable to being forced to perform abortions.

“This proposed rule corrupts the practice of medicine, will hurt those who are most vulnerable, and undermines the enforcement of our federal conscience laws. Conscience rights are not second-class rights,” Dr. Mike Artigues, president of ACPeds, stated in a press release.

Artigues called the rule an “affront” to the conscience rights of doctors.

The rule change resembles a 2011 rule passed under former President Barack Obama, which

Dr. Mike Artigues, president, American College of Pediatricians

the HHS deemed “inadequate” to protect conscience rights.

According to a letter by ACPeds, the new rule ignores congressional law and states that HHS must balance conscience protections and patient interest.

The procedures that must balance patients’ needs against conscience rights include abortion, sterilization, and assisted suicide, according to the proposed rule.

But on multiple votes, Congress chose conscientious objectors over balance, the letter states.

“Even if it is true that Congress sought to strike a balance between competing interests in matters of conscience, it is the responsibility of HHS to respect that balance by enforcing the laws as Congress has written them, not to unilaterally restructure the rules to fit the Department’s idea of what such a balance should look like,” the letter reads.

A further provision of the Biden administration rule prioritizes providing patients with all the abortions they want.

“Our health care systems must effectively deliver services—including safe legal abortions—to all who need them in order to protect patients’ health and dignity,” the rule reads.

When providing abortion is a “must,” then the right to conscience comes second, the ACPeds letter argues.

“The proposed rule leaves the public wondering how the Department will both enforce federal conscience laws while, at the same time, force health care professionals (in contradiction of these laws) to act against their consciences,” it states.

Abortions Over All

Already, the Biden administration has allowed the University of Vermont Medical Center to force a nurse to participate in an abortion despite her religious objections, the letter states.

The administration has also compelled nuns and others to provide insurance coverage for abortion, it also stated.

“We, as doctors, must not be forced to participate or train in procedures that kill one of our patients, the preborn baby, or fear being driven out of the health care field,” Artigues said.

To force objecting doctors into aiding in abortions, the new HHS rule simply steps back from enforcing laws, according to the ACPeds letter.

Instead, it notes that the HHS’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) “can investigate complaints” and removes the penalties for violating the rules.

“The proposed rule does not require that incidents of discrimination be reported, relying instead entirely on voluntary reporting, which ... OCR may not even choose to investigate,” the

The Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, in this file photo. A proposed HHS rule would decrease the number of ethical doctors and also reduce the overall number of doctors, a letter by ACPeds states.

“We, as doctors, must not be forced to participate or train in procedures that kill one of our patients, the preborn baby, or fear being driven out of the health care field.”

ACPeds letter reads.

This lack of official reporting and formal complaint resolution leaves any conscientious objectors vulnerable to reprisal if they complain, according to the letter.

“As it stands, the proposed rule serves to discourage victims of discrimination from coming forward, as they cannot with any confidence expect that they will receive justice or even be protected from further injustice,” the letter reads.

Sacrificing Medicine’s Future

The implications of this new rule will drive conscientious people away from medicine, ACPeds stated.

If the government forces ethical doctors to choose between their job and their conscience, they will leave their job, the ACPeds letter states. It also stated that these choices would decrease the number of doctors when the United States already has a doctor shortage and would decrease the moral quality of doctors.

“This appears to be an intentional attempt by the government to purge from the system pedia-

A doctor performs a sonogram to confirm pregnancy on a patient seeking abortion services at the Women’s Reproductive Clinic in Santa Teresa, N.M., on June 15, 2022.

tricians and other physicians who practice ethical health care. This will dramatically worsen both the quality and accessibility of care in an already struggling health care system,” the letter reads.

Besides decreasing the number of ethical doctors, the HHS rule will reduce the overall number of doctors, the letter states.

Already, the American Medical Association predicts that by 2034, the United States will have at least 17,800 fewer doctors than it needs.

By making it more difficult to be a doctor, the HHS’s actions will incentivize current doctors to leave medicine and prospective doctors to reconsider joining the profession, the letter states.

“If the government forces health care professionals to choose between conscience and career, America will lose current physicians and other health professionals who are already in high demand and short supply,” the letter reads.

Public comment on the HHS rule ended on March 6. It’s unclear when the rule could go into effect.

The HHS didn’t respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.

UK R AINE’S HISTO R AS US MILITARY AID SURGES, CONCERN

Ukrainian soldiers ride in infantry fighting vehicles in Novoselivka, Ukraine, on Sept. 17, 2022.

PHOTO BY JUAN BARRETO/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

AID MONEY

Y OF CO RR UPTION

GROWS OVER LACK OF AUDITING

BY ADAM MORROW

Since russia invaded u kraine on Feb. 24, 2022, the United States has provided Kyiv with military, economic, humanitarian, and other forms of aid.

According to official sources, the total U.S. contribution to the Ukrainian war effort now stands at some $113 billion, vastly exceeding contributions made by Kyiv’s other allies.

But as the bills have continued to mount, so have calls for greater oversight as to how those funds are being spent. Recent corruption scandals in Kyiv have raised fears that U.S. taxpayer dollars are, in the absence of accountability, being squandered.

What’s more, dissident voices are pointing out that the war shows little—if any—sign of ending soon, despite the West’s seemingly boundless support for Ukraine.

Breaking It Down

Responding to questions from The Epoch Times, the Washington-based Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) confirmed that the $113 billion figure was “still accurate.”

This figure, it explained, “includes only the funding packages Congress approved through December 2022, and Congress has not approved any further packages in 2023 thus far.”

According to CRFB data, roughly three-fifths of the $113 billion, that is, $67 billion, has been allocated for “defense needs,” while the remaining two-fifths, $46 billion, has been earmarked for “non-defense concerns.”

More precise breakdowns can appear bewildering, with official and semi-official sources (state agencies, think tanks, media outlets, etc.) often appearing to contradict one another.

“The confusion tends to be in how money is appropriated and spent by the government,” stated the CRFB, a nonpartisan group with the stated aim of “educating the public on issues with significant fiscal policy impact.”

Congress, the group stated, “has constitutional authority to decide how much federal spending there should be—the ‘power of the purse’—while the Executive Branch (the president and other agencies) are charged with spending that money.”

“Depending on when you account for that spending will get you different amounts,” the CRFB stated, “because it takes the Executive time to actually spend the money Congress appropriates.”

Complex Channels

The fact that disbursements are made through a complex medley of bureaucratic channels,

typically involving multiple agencies, tends to compound the confusion.

In the case of military aid, for instance, these channels include—but aren’t limited to—the Presidential Drawdown Authority, the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, and Foreign Military Financing.

According to the CRFB, the Presidential Drawdown Authority lets the president send U.S. weapons straight to Ukraine, while the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative lets the government—in tandem with the private sector—provide equipment and training to Ukraine’s military.

The Foreign Military Financing, meanwhile, allows the government to replenish the stockpiles of NATO allies that have given their own military hardware to Ukraine.

Nonmilitary forms of assistance—including economic, humanitarian, and government aid—are funneled to Ukraine through similarly complex channels.

For example, since the conflict began, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has given Kyiv $13 billion in “direct budget support.”

According to a USAID report released on the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion, these funds are meant to help Kyiv pay for “basic public services,” such as health care and education.

They’re also meant to help Ukraine maintain “a well-functioning state with strong institutions free of corruption” and “a vibrant, inclusive economy, a free press, and robust civil society.”

Mounting Concerns

While these lofty objectives appear well-intentioned, a recent string of corruption scandals in Kyiv has served to raise questions as to whether U.S. largesse was being spent as intended.

Two days before USAID published its report, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability sent a powerfully worded letter to the heads of USAID, the State Department, and the Defense Department.

In 2015, The Guardian famously described Ukraine as ‘the most corrupt nation in Europe.’

In the Feb. 22 letter, committee head James Comer (R-Ky.) called on the heads of the three federal agencies to ensure that funds bound for Ukraine were being used “for their intended purposes” so as to prevent “waste, fraud, and abuse.”

The letter cites a Jan. 25 statement by John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council (NSC), in which he claimed the NSC had “not seen any signs” that U.S. budgetary assistance to Kyiv had “fallen prey to any kind of corruption.”

Kirby’s assertion, the letter goes on to note, came one day after several high-ranking Ukrainian officials were removed from their posts amid graft allegations.

According to the letter, Kirby’s remark suggested the NSC was “unaware” of the corruption scandal in Kyiv, thus “heightening concerns that U.S. agencies are not conducting oversight of taxpayer assistance to Ukraine.”

The three agencies were then given until March 8 to hand over a wide range of “documents and information” pertaining to how they were “conducting oversight of these funds.”

Two days before the deadline, the State Department’s Bureau of Legislative Affairs sent a letter to Comer stressing the three agencies’ commitment to “working closely” with his committee to ensure that the funding was being used “effectively, efficiently, and for

President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden welcome Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the White House on Dec. 21, 2022.

its intended purpose.”

In the letter, the agencies offered to hold an “interagency briefing” for members of the Oversight Committee “to address your questions and to provide requested information.”

As of the time of writing, however, a date for the proffered “interagency meeting” had yet to be made public.

Scandal in Kyiv

Before Russia’s invasion, the Western press didn’t shy away from reporting on corruption plaguing the Kyiv government. In 2015, British newspaper The Guardian famously described Ukraine as “the most corrupt nation in Europe.”

But after Russia sent troops into Ukraine early last year, the media abruptly changed its tune, seldom portraying Kyiv in anything other than glowing terms.

According to the mainstream narrative, Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, were defending the West and its democratic ideals—almost single-handedly—from the depredations of “Russian autocracy.”

A former comedian and television actor, Zelenskyy won the presidency in 2019 on pledges to combat endemic government corruption.

Time magazine celebrated Zelenskyy—and the amorphous “Spirit of Ukraine”—as its “person of the year” for 2022. Any criticism of Kyiv, or its TV-friendly wartime president, was denounced by mainstream media pundits as Russian “disinformation.”

This aura of infallibility, however, took a major hit on Jan. 24 when a raft of top Ukrainian officials abruptly resigned or were sacked amid corruption allegations.

The deputy defense minister stepped down following claims he had procured rations for troops at inflated prices, while a deputy infrastructure minister was arrested on charges of taking kickbacks for overpriced generators.

Several other high-ranking officials, including regional governors and an assistant attorney general, were likewise forced from their posts amid similar allegations.

“Internal problems that interfere with the state are being cleaned up,” Zelenskyy said at the

Officers stand next to plastic bags filled with U.S. banknotes seized by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine at the anti-corruption prosecutor’s office in Kyiv, Ukraine, on June 13, 2020.

$113 BILLION 30%

THE TOTAL U.S. CONTRIBUTION to the Ukrainian war effort now stands at some $113 billion, according to official sources.

time. “It is necessary for our protection and helps our rapprochement with European institutions.”

‘Black Hole’

The NSC, for its part, responded to the dismissals by praising Zelenskyy’s “quick action ... to ensure effective monitoring and accountability of public procurement and to hold those in positions of public trust to account.”

Last April, CNN, whose pro-Kyiv bona fides are hardly open to question, cited an unnamed intelligence source who alleged that U.S. arms fell “into a big black hole” after crossing the Ukrainian border.

In August 2022, CBS News aired a documentary titled “Arming Ukraine,” which featured interviews with Jonas Ohman, the head of a pro-Kyiv “NGO” that funnels Western arms and equipment into Ukraine.

In the documentary, Ohman claims that only about 30 percent of these arms and equipment actually “reaches its final destination.” He later attributes the alleged shortfall to interference by local “powerlords, oligarchs, and political players.”

Elsewhere in the 23-minute documentary, Ohman claims that his organization has been bringing arms into Ukraine “since the summer of 2014.”

Despite the documentary’s overtly pro-Ukraine stance, it was swiftly retracted by CBS two days after it aired following an outcry by Kyiv.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba accused the broadcaster of having “misled a huge audience by sharing unsubstantiated claims and damaging trust in supplies of vital military aid to a nation resisting aggression and genocide.”

Writing on Twitter, Kuleba went on to demand “an internal investigation into who enabled this [documentary] and why.”

‘Long History’ of Corruption

Yet despite Kyiv’s protestations, it wasn’t the first time such claims were made.

The Kremlin has repeatedly warned that Western arms bound for Ukraine were ending up in the hands of criminal gangs and terrorist groups.

48%

In June 2022, Jurgen Stock, secretary-general of Interpol, issued a similar warning.

At a Feb. 28 hearing of the House Armed Services Committee, Pentagon Inspector-General Robert Storch was questioned by lawmakers regarding concerns that U.S. weapons were falling into the wrong hands.

Storch, for his part, said his office had found no evidence that this was the case, but added that investigations were still in their early stages. His office, he added, would “continue to make independent oversight of assistance to Ukraine a matter of the highest priority.”

“And we will continue to keep the Congress and the public informed about our work,” he added.

However, when further pressed by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), a vocal critic of unfettered aid to Kyiv, Storch conceded that “there’s a long history of issues with corruption in Ukraine.”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin speak with reporters in front of pallets of U.S. aid to Ukraine, in Poland on April 25, 2022.

JOONAS OHMAN, the head of a pro-Kyiv organization that funnels Western arms and equipment into Ukraine, claimed that only about 30 percent of these arms and equipment actually reach their final destination, in a documentary.

PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR U.S. assistance to Kyiv has fallen to 48 percent from 60 percent since the opening months of the conflict, an AP poll shows.

Concerns regarding the potential diversion of Western arms and equipment bound for Ukraine haven’t been confined to the United States.

In July 2022, the Ottawa Citizen, citing “multiple defense sources,” reported that Canada “has no idea about the whereabouts of the equipment it has provided to Ukraine as it does not actively monitor the distribution of gear.”

Facts on the Ground

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, the United States has provided the latter with a vast array of offensive equipment, including tanks, armored vehicles, artillery systems, and munitions of all shapes and sizes.

But there’s little evidence that Ukraine is winning the conflict, despite frequent claims to the contrary by the Western mainstream media.

Last year’s Ukrainian counter-offensives in Kharkiv and Kherson were widely hailed as victories.

Since then, however, Russian forces have shored up their positions—especially in the east-

ern Donbas region, which remains the primary focus of its “special military operation.”

Recent weeks have seen Russian forces capture several positions in Donetsk, with the strategic town of Bakhmut, a key Ukrainian transport hub, all but surrounded.

Last September, Russia effectively annexed Donetsk and Luhansk (which together comprise Donbas), along with the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. It now considers all four regions as Russian Federation territory.

Last year’s annexations coincided with the mobilization of 300,000 fresh troops, many of whom will likely take part in an anticipated springtime offensive.

But while the mainstream press plays down Russian battlefield gains, a handful of dissenting voices—including respected military experts— have issued stark warnings regarding the course of the conflict.

Last November, retired Army Col. Douglas Macgregor, who advised the secretary of defense under the Trump administration, warned that

A helicopter crew member of Ukraine’s 18th Separate Army Aviation Brigade carries boxes of ammunition in eastern Ukraine on Feb. 9.

“heavy” Ukrainian casualties had “dangerously” eroded Kyiv’s combat capabilities.

Writing in The American Conservative magazine, Macgregor asserted: “Contrary to the western media’s popular ‘Ukrainian victory’ narrative, which blocks any information that contradicts it, Ukraine is not winning and will not win this war.”

‘As Long as It Takes’

Meanwhile, prospects for a diplomatic solution appear more distant than ever.

On March 10, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow saw “no chance for holding talks at the moment.”

Six days later, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken echoed these sentiments. “I see no evidence that, right now, Russia is interested in a diplomatic resolution ... that would end this war.”

So the question begs itself: In the absence of a solution, either military or diplomatic, how long is the United States willing to throw money and arms into Ukraine?

According to most U.S. officials and their like-minded counterparts in Europe, the answer is obvious: For as long as it takes.

“We are committed to standing with Ukraine for as long as it takes,” State Department spokesman Ned Price reiterated at a March 13 press briefing. “We are committed to our Ukrainian partners.”

In response to a question from The Epoch Times, Price added, “It’s important for the United States to be resolute, along with the dozens of countries around the world who have not only stood with Ukraine but endorsed the U.N. system, the U.N. Charter, international law, and the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights.”

Ukraine Fatigue

But as the cost of arming and funding Ukraine continues to rise, others in government aren’t willing to wait so long.

On Feb. 10, a handful of Republican lawmakers, led by Gaetz, unveiled a bill in Congress calling for an end to military and financial

Members of the Ukrainian Territorial Defence Forces attend a training course in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on April 7, 2022.

assistance to Kyiv.

The bill’s 11 proponents sought to justify the legislation by citing the steadily mounting cost to taxpayers, the risk of escalation with a nuclear-armed Russia, and the erosion of U.S. military stockpiles.

The resolution, dubbed the “Ukraine Fatigue” bill, calls on all parties involved in the conflict to reach a negotiated solution.

“We must suspend all foreign aid for the war in Ukraine and demand that all combatants in this conflict reach a peace agreement immediately,” Gaetz said in a press statement.

Claiming the United States was in a period of “managed decline,” the firebrand congressman warned of further deterioration if Washington continued to “hemorrhage taxpayer dollars” by prolonging the war.

The text of the bill includes a long list of U.S. military contributions to Ukraine, which, it asserts, have “severely depleted U.S. stockpiles, weakening U.S. readiness in the event of conflict.”

‘On the Precipice’

The bill has little chance of being adopted, and its sponsors still represent a minority opinion— even among fellow Republicans. Nevertheless, it appears to reflect mounting public opposition to boundless support for Ukraine.

Days after the bill was introduced, a poll conducted by The Associated Press found that public support for U.S. assistance to Kyiv had fallen to 48 percent from 60 percent since the opening months of the conflict.

On March 14, after Russian warplanes downed a U.S. drone near the Russian-controlled Crimean Peninsula, Gaetz reiterated his call to “end our involvement in this conflict.”

“With today’s loss of a U.S. Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone in the Black Sea, we are once again reminded of the treacherous reality of our involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war,” he wrote on Twitter.

“It is impossible to ignore the dire risk of total war with Russia as we teeter on the precipice of direct conflict.”

After Russia’s invasion, the Western press changed its tune on Ukraine, seldomly portraying the country in anything other than glowing terms.

A Ukrainian paratrooper awaits an order to fire a mortar shell at a frontline position near Bakhmut, Ukraine, on March 16.

Perspectives

TOO WRONG TO FAIL

IS

DEBT RELIEF IS WORSE THAN YOU THINK

PHOTO

Too Wrong to Fail

Were the failed US banks acting sensibly or madly?

In the movie “ i t’s a Wonderful Life,” old man Henry Potter mocked George Bailey’s just-deceased father by remarking that “ideals without common sense can ruin this town.” And he said of George issuing a loan to his friend Ernie, Bedford Falls’s cabby, “You see, if you shoot pool with some employee here, you can come and borrow money.”

Were the now-failed Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank acting sensibly or madly? And did they shoot pool with powerful Washington figures in hopes that they could avoid ruin despite their lack of sense?

How much common sense is there in the “ideals” associated with SVB not having a chief risk officer for most of last year as it hurtled toward collapse but at the same time employing a chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer and making a point of focusing on climate change, and social and corporate governance policies? “Issues of inequity in the innovation sector” apparently mattered more to SVB president and CEO Greg Becker than the soundness of his bank’s loans in an environment of rising interest rates amid high inflation.

It’s no shock to find that Joe Biden’s presidential campaign and political action committees were bestowed with at least $11,900 from SVB executives, with SVB Managing Director Gerald Brady giving $5,600 to Biden’s 2020 campaign, according to the Federal Election Commission. The Democratic National Committee and various party politicians are announcing the return of the money or donating funds received to charities.

Congress early this month moved against a Biden administration rule forcing pension funds holding $12 trillion of 150 million Americans’ savings to include environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) in their

investment decisions—in other words, make your retirement finances dependent on the same kind of thinking that led SVB to collapse. ESG equities distinctly underperform the market.

Who can forget Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart, scrambling to hand out cash meant for his honeymoon to beleaguered depositors during the run on the Bailey Savings & Loan? But the tone-deaf 16th-largest bank in the country was handing out company-wide bonuses to its employees for their 2022 work just hours before the government had to take it over.

exceed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (FDIC) $250,000 ceiling. Would a bank in deep trouble in, say, Roberts County in the Texas panhandle, where the median average family income is $50,400, have received such exceptional treatment from Uncle Sam?

In the case of Signature Bank, it wasn’t Bailey shooting pool, it was superstar bankers poached from competitors in at least one case spending “most of his week golfing with prospective clients.” Big Signature Bank customers ultimately included rap superstars.

And speaking of Ernie the Bedford Falls cabby, among Signature’s peculiar banking practices was to encourage taking out loans to buy New York City’s infamously expensive taxi medallions— in itself a regulatory shell game—in expectation of Uber and Lyft upending the passenger transport landscape.

Of far more import, however, was Signature’s overexposure in cryptocurrency, where it placed more than a quarter of its $109 billion in deposits before the FTX debacle last year that sent crypto spiraling to earth.

The bailing out of these two boutique, politically fashionable institutions by the “wokest” of woke presidents is for the benefit of the well-to-do; most of the tens of billions of dollars in deposits

And don’t swallow former Federal Reserve chairwoman and current Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s claims that the “bank fees”-funded rescues will leave no taxpayers on the hook. Like any other business, banks ultimately pass the taxes and fees imposed upon them by the government down to their customers, whether it happens individually or collectively, conspicuously or in a hidden manner. As Fordham University law school professor and bank bailout expert Richard Squire points out, while management at SVB and Signature may be being allowed to save face, “the venture capital firms and the startups are being bailed out. There is no doubt about that.”

The Biden administration’s nearly $5 trillion in spending is the engine behind the inflation that forced the Federal Reserve to embark on an extended policy of raising the interest rates under its direct control—which in turn has put the squeeze on banks, especially those conducting fast-andloose financial practices. But as scary as that chain reaction may be, the FDIC’s guarantee to reimburse all the rich uninsured depositors at the two failed institutions, making an exception to its $250,000 cap, and no matter how big the depositors’ accounts, is more alarming.

Such measures take the United States down a road toward total nationalization of the banking system and remove the indispensable elements of accountability and discipline all businesses need: certainty that misjudgment and irresponsibility must come with a cost.

When Washington bails that out, America turns into Potterville.

THOMAS MCARDLE was a White House speechwriter for President George W. Bush and writes for IssuesInsights.com

The bailing out of SVB and Signature by the ‘wokest’ of woke presidents is for the benefit of the well-to-do.

Anders Corr

Bond Traders Blind-Sided in China

China’s regu L ators are putting its $21 trillion bond market at risk. The ham-fisted regime isn’t only centralizing financial power and reshuffling financial regulatory personnel, but also is banning the best brokers and data aggregators from selling real-time price data.

Screens where China’s bond prices appeared went blank on March 15. Managers at the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, who surprised markets with the ban, cited legal technicalities and data security.

Bloomberg claimed the lack of data and overregulation caused “market mayhem.”

Blind-sided traders scurried to the best alternatives, the two regular Chinese messaging apps WeChat and Tencent’s QQ. The traders attempted to get price quotes and close sales in chat groups, a method widely used a decade ago. However, in many cases, the time lag was too great and price data expired by the time that sales were attempted.

Some overseas traders couldn’t trade at all because of compliance issues, since trading in chatrooms is against regulations in many countries.

Others traded “blind” without much market information. International traders were at a major disadvantage to their counterparts in China if the latter had better data.

“Chat group quotes are in Chinese mostly,” a hedge fund strategist told the Financial Times. “If they don’t know Chinese, they don’t get quotes.”

One Chinese fund manager told the FT, “The market becomes more unpredictable these days, either flat or with huge volatility.”

Trading volumes dropped 30 to 60 percent.

These troubles were added to an already difficult bond trading envi-

ronment in China, where pricing is difficult due to mostly over-the-counter transactions “where identifying counterparties and accessing quotes have long been headaches for traders,” according to Bloomberg.

Also on March 15, China’s $740 billion offshore credit market stalled in the context of the Silicon Valley Bank failure.

business” in an attempt to increase investment and trade, the bond blackout is the latest in a long string of the Chinese Communist Party’s arbitrary crackdowns on the market.

Last month, billionaire tech dealmaker Bao Fan disappeared, as had Jack Ma in 2020 just before the cancellation of his Ant Group initial public offering. At $34 billion, it would have been history’s largest.

The regime removed Didi’s ride-hailing app from stores days after its 2021 initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange for $4.4 billion, robbing its new shareholders of about 70 percent of its value.

“Bloomberg’s China Credit Tracker shows stress in such notes rose to 4 in February from 2 in January, which had marked the lowest reading since data compilation began in 2021,” Wei Zhou and Ailing Tan wrote. “The slide toward more stress came as Chinese dollar bonds lost 1.6 percent last month alongside a global pullback on fresh U.S. interest-rate worries.”

“We are going backward in terms of trading efficiency because this will lower secondary transaction volume for sure,” a senior China credit analyst in Singapore commented. “This definitely will spark more concerns on the transparency of China’s regulation.”

Bond price data feeds disappeared without official comment, which increased market unease. What information was reported about regulators’ reasoning was second hand from anonymous market actors.

The affected data vendors are private companies at risk of state takeover. Indeed, the only bond data service to work in China at the time of the price blackout was affiliated with the central bank.

While regime officials have repeatedly attempted to convince overseas investors that “China is open for

China’s draconian COVID-19 lockdowns slowed the entire economy for three years.

Concerns about the Chinese Communist Party’s utilization of its tech companies for espionage abroad make it difficult for them to expand and turn them against each other in cutthroat competition for local market share in China itself. Three of the biggest—Alibaba, JD, and PDD—lost $33 billion of market value in a single day last month.

As long as the regime limits foreign stock investors to purchasing shell companies called variable interest entities, rather than the companies themselves, and fails to allow full transparency in reporting and accounting, as required of all other companies on U.S. exchanges, China’s economy will be crippled with investor doubt.

China’s stocks are down about 15 percent from this year’s high, and in January, overseas Chinese interbank debt fell to its lowest since 2020. In 2022, international funds sold record amounts of China bonds.

While the regime in Beijing persists on its authoritarian path of communism, it will likely continue to stumble. No single individual is a better economic manager than the market composed of all individuals.

ANDERS CORR is a principal at Corr Analytics Inc., publisher of the Journal of Political Risk. He is an expert in political science and government.

Three of the biggest— Alibaba, JD, and PDD— lost $33 billion of market value in a single day last month.

Milton Ezrati

Is There Reason to Fear AI?

Artificial intelligence will neither take over life nor steal all the jobs

Chat gpt and other aspects of artificial intelligence (AI) have created a lot of fear.

Many dread, and have done so for years, that AI will steal millions of jobs and, worse, gain some sentience and take over, as the computer HAL did in the 1970’s film “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Neither the takeover nor mass unemployment is a realistic prospect.

To be sure, jobs will be lost, but the effect will unfold more slowly than the fearmongers suggest, and if history is any guide, the changes will create as many new jobs as they destroy.

Before yielding to fears of an AI takeover, consider what else a computer would need to feel if it were to develop a lust for power. Human emotions don’t come one at a time. To see a machine striving to take over, one would also need to imagine it having the package of emotions that are typically found in people, such as desire, embarrassment, anger, frustration, or a sense of inadequacy.

Anything is possible, of course, and a computer’s lust for power makes for good Hollywood. The whole package of feelings is almost impossible to imagine.

Another perspective on the small likelihood of this frightening prospect emerges from one Wall Street Journal columnist’s experiment. He asked ChatGPT to opine on a familiar ethical dilemma, a thought experiment that appears in almost every ethics discussion, the specifics of which matter little for these purposes.

The program recognized the reference and came back with a review of what people said about it. He then asked the program if it meant that sacrificing people’s lives would be

OK in order to publish a racial slur. The program responded with a blanket statement that it’s never right to use such words. In other words, let them die rather than offend others. The computer neither thought nor exercised judgment. It simply regurgitated its programming. That’s a long, long way from sentience or a will to power.

with the PC’s ability to track packages from pickup to delivery and created a previously nonexistent service that continues to employ millions in jobs that hadn’t previously existed.

This is just one example. Go back hundreds of years and the same pattern prevails repeatedly. When steam-powered spinning and weaving machines displaced hand weavers in Britain in the late 18th century, there was great fear of widespread unemployment.

People formed groups called Luddites to break up the threatening “robots.” They failed to stop the change. Yet by the early 19th century, Britain’s textile output had increased 50-fold and employed many more people than before the machines were invented.

On the matter of lost jobs, recent and more distant history explains why these fears, too, are misplaced. Consider how AI applications have grown in recent years, as has their sophistication. If they were poised to render millions of jobs irrelevant, one would think that the process would have started to do so by now. Yet today, the joblessness rate in the United States is near a 50-year low. This fact would require explaining if we’re to buy into the fear of lost jobs.

Some might respond that the job losses will wait until the technology is fully developed. But that’s just the point. That time allows the economy to adjust. Take the personal computer, for instance. It took more than 20 years from its invention in the 1970s to be ubiquitous on office desks and shop floors, where it eventually did displace many jobs. But during this time, businesses used the same technology to create millions of new jobs.

Federal Express, for instance, combined long-existing jet technology

Each wave of invention has generated similar fears of mass unemployment. Yet for over the 300-some years since the Industrial Revolution began, developed economies have, on average, employed about 95 percent of those who want to work. Had the innovations caused permanent displacements, as was and is always feared, this figure would’ve fallen with each innovative wave.

If this history is any guide, and that’s likely, the application of AI will create as many jobs as it destroys, perhaps more. Like the PC, the internet, the spinning jenny, and other advances, only some new jobs will require advanced degrees.

While this familiar process unfolds in the coming years and AI becomes more sophisticated, life will change radically. The programs, however, won’t develop the human feeling needed to motivate a takeover. For better or worse, human beings will remain in charge. Things may be different this time, but people have said that before and always have been wrong.

MILTON EZRATI is chief economist for Vested, a contributing editor at The National Interest, and author of “Thirty Tomorrows” and “Bite-Sized Investing.”

To see a machine striving to take over, one would also need to imagine it having the package of emotions that are typically found in people.

Andrew Moran

Got Beeflation?

US beef prices are expected to rise due to supply concerns

Beef prices are expected to jump in the coming months as domestic supplies continue to shrink, according to a recent U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report.

This year, total red meat and poultry production is forecast to fall for the first time in close to a decade, the USDA reported in its biannual outlook on dairy, livestock, and poultry.

USDA researchers say the downward projection is the result of a 6 percent decline in beef output that “more than offsets forecast increases in pork (2 percent), broiler meat (1 percent), and turkey (7 percent) production.”

Because of the shrinking production of cattle, there’s expected to be a year-over-year decline in beef output, the first since 2015.

Earlier this year, the U.S. beef cow herd plummeted to its lowest level since 1962, the USDA reported in its biannual cattle report. Last year, a severe drought raised livestock feed costs and forced ranchers to send cows to slaughter rather than keeping them for reproduction.

The February producer price index (PPI) found that complete beef cattle feed, supplements, concentrates, and premixes rose by nearly 11 percent from the same time a year ago. This PPI component hit a year-over-year percentage peak of 26.4 percent in August 2022.

“While 2019 was the second-wettest year on record for the continental United States, after 1973, dry conditions began to persist in 2020, mostly in the West and Plains farm production regions,” the USDA stated. “Overall, drought has contributed to reduced pasture and range conditions and increased beef and cow slaughter. Any changes to the current drought conditions will likely impact inventory numbers in the coming year.”

Today, there are fewer than 29 million beef cows, down by nearly 4 percent from last year, the smallest herd size for this time of year in 61 years. The number of cattle and calves nationwide tumbled by 3 percent to 89.3 million.

The latest figures confirm that the U.S. beef market is tight, according to University of Missouri livestock economist Scott Brown.

“It just continues to tell us we’re going to get tighter in terms of slaughter-ready numbers in the second half of 2023,” Brown told CME Group’s Brownfield Ag News.

According to a recent report from Rabobank, a Dutch-based multinational banking and financial services company, the herd won’t be rebuilt until 2025 at the earliest, which will weigh on prices.

“Much like the start of previous cattle cycles, competition for U.S. beef among restaurants, retailers, and

export partners will increase; battles for market share among existing processors will intensify; and feedyards will struggle with capacity utilization. That much seems certain,” Rabobank senior analyst Lance Zimmerman wrote in a research note.

“These changes could alter the trajectory of prices and production in the next cattle cycle.”

It isn’t only the United States experiencing beef supply troubles.

Brazil, the world’s largest beef exporter, suspended beef exports to China after discovering a case of mad cow disease. The Ministry of Agriculture confirmed an instance of the animal illness—bovine spongiform encephalopathy—prompting the government to halt shipments to Beijing. China accounts for approximately 60 percent of Brazil’s exports, ahead of Argentina and Uruguay.

In Ireland, finished cattle stocks destined for beef factories dropped by more than 6,000 head in the first 10 weeks of 2023, according to new data from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

Farmers in New Zealand could slow output in response to inflationary pressures affecting input costs.

Despite sliding on an annualized basis by more than 1 percent, beef and veal prices have been rising steadily month-over-month, including a 1.1 percent increase in January and a 0.6 percent jump in February. The average cost for all uncooked ground beef was $5.21 per pound in February, up by 21 percent from the pre-pandemic price of $4.30.

Live cattle futures have risen by about 3 percent year-to-date on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Although meat prices have eased in recent months, they remain up by 6.8 percent year-over-year. Chicken, ham, and pork are up by 8.8 percent, 8.3 percent, and 1.5 percent, respectively.

ANDREW MORAN has been writing about business, economics, and finance for more than a decade. He is the author of “The War on Cash.”

Due to shrinking cattle production, there’s expected to be a yearover-year decline in beef output, the first since 2015.

Debt Relief Is Worse Than You Think

The student loan relief helps a few thousand to hurt millions

The s upreme c ourt has heard different arguments from supporters and opponents of President Joe Biden’s student debt forgiveness program. It’s probable that the justices will rule before June. However, it’s important to remember a few challenges.

To help the disadvantaged access top universities, it’s important to have a thriving and affordable loan system, a solid grant program, and an open market that supports the majority, including those who aren’t in university yet.

We must aim to make the current system better, not maintain it by disguising the problem with a deficit-financed subsidy.

A student loan debt relief program does nothing to solve the cost of tuition. It justifies it and will likely make fees rise again as universities see that the government subsidizes those who may take out a difficult-to-pay loan. Furthermore, by providing a subsidy to the already indebted, banks may have an incentive to give loans to students with less probability to repay them. It’s likely to create a wave of nonperforming loans predicated on the view that this scheme will be prolonged and even increased.

A student loan debt relief program is a subsidy to take risky debt. It penalizes those who paid their loans and those who will access new tuition, and it incentivizes others who didn’t take student loans and worked their way through college to take a risky loan. It may sound like a clever idea on paper, but it helps an exceedingly small proportion of citizens while hurting everyone else. Why? Because the loan relief program is paid with a higher deficit, which means higher taxes

and more inflation now and in the future. There’s no revenue measure that finances this scheme, because the government already runs a massive deficit.

Providing a subsidy to students who cannot pay their loans doesn’t help them consume more. First, even if that were the case, the impact on total consumption of those who receive the relief compared to the negative effect for those that suffer higher taxes and persistent inflation does not even move the needle. However, I believe that the impact on consumption, even for those benefited by the program, will be limited. It’s unlikely that a partial bailout of the debt of a citizen is going to make a complete reversal of that person’s credit score.

If the debt relief of students is considered a stimulus for the economy that will boost consumption, why do the same proponents ask for

constant increases in taxes for those who can consume and invest?

Would it not be easier to provide a tax-deduction scheme that allows all those who take student loans to benefit from lower personal income burdens? Furthermore, would it not be better to agree with the financial system on support to help refinance and restructure nonperforming loans in order to provide a market-oriented relief instead of a subsidy to excess debt?

The problem of the debt relief program is that it needs to be a subsidy so that the ones who receive it think that it was the government that helped them, not the taxpayers and consumers, who were actually the ones who paid for it in higher inflation and taxes. Any other, and more reasonable, alternatives don’t create votes.

If we looked for better alternatives, we would be thinking of providing support through a market-based restructuring of debt, and avoiding the negative consequences of perpetuating and increasing tuition fees and elevated inflation as well as penalizing those who paid their debt. This student loan relief helps a few thousand to hurt millions.

There are numerous ways to facilitate a restructuring of high debt burdens, and the financial system can help to make it quickly and efficiently. Of course, there must be ways to support those students who took loans they cannot repay today. It must be a tailored, ad-hoc restructuring that doesn’t create negative perverse incentives for everyone else to take credit they can’t afford. It can include tax deductions for talented students.

The same students who think it’s a promising idea to receive this relief will also pay for it in high inflation and higher taxes for longer.

DANIEL LACALLE is chief economist at hedge fund Tressis and author of “Freedom or Equality,” “Escape from the Central Bank Trap,” and “Life in the Financial Markets.”

The same students who think it’s a promising idea to receive this relief will also pay for it in high inflation and higher taxes for longer.

Fan Yu

What’s Ailing Regional Banks?

Bank runs, as they say, have a way of spiraling.

The first two bank failures, those of Silvergate Bank and Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), were the results of idiosyncratic circumstances at those two entities. Or so the analysts say.

But when New York-based Signature Bank was also taken over by regulators on March 12, a full-on panic ensued. Signature was under scrutiny for weeks, if not months, for its role in cryptocurrency exchange FTX’s collapse last year. It had taken steps last year and this year to reduce its crypto deposit exposure, and its disclosures for the past few months revealed an orderly reduction of crypto deposits. Crypto deposits were less than 18 percent of the total, Signature said in early March.

Once Silvergate was done for, however, Signature Bank’s fate was sealed.

That’s three failed banks in one week. Investors and depositors— mostly corporate and financial clients—were on the move. And a slew of (mostly regional) banks were caught in the spiral.

First Republic Bank, Pacific Western Bank, and Western Alliance Bank are all West Coast-based banks with perceived exposure to startup, venture capital, and technology clients and saw their shares plummet in the immediate aftermath. They have some of the same cohorts of depositors that pulled their cash out of SVB.

Soon thereafter, almost all regional banks saw their shares decline on the perception that they all faced similar issues.

Upon initial examination, SVB depositors were spooked by a rating downgrade. And by the time SVB’s hired bankers were preparing for an equity capital raise, enough

depositors had left that potential investors took a look and passed. The rating agencies were concerned about SVB’s unrealized losses on its securities portfolio, which, if realized, would almost wipe out the bank’s equity.

The irony? The reason the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Federal Reserve had to step in to save SVB was partly driven by the Fed itself. Its recent interest rate hikes, and specifically the velocity of those hikes in such a short period, had sent yields skyrocketing. Banks sitting on a large bond portfolio, such as SVB, would be inflicted with huge losses.

Shrinking the deposit base isn’t a problem unique to SVB.

The overall amount of deposits in the U.S. banking system has been trending down since peaking in early 2022.

Aside from that, there are some traits differentiating certain banks

from others that could determine how susceptible they are to a “bank run.”

For one, look at a bank’s percentage of uninsured deposits to total deposits. It’s no coincidence that SVB and Signature were the two banks with the highest percentage of uninsured deposits (94 percent and 90 percent, respectively). Some others? First Republic, Zions Bank, Comerica Bank, and Huntington Bank also have high percentages, although all of them are less than 70 percent, according to regulatory filings.

Another trait is a bank’s exposure to commercial real estate loans and construction and developmental real estate loans. Low occupancy in office and retail buildings are causing some landlords to default on their mortgages. That’s not a “run on the bank” risk, but it’s an earnings hit for banks and, if the losses are severe, could lead to rating downgrades and cause depositors to flee (just like SVB).

A third factor is regular consumers. The more consumer and retail deposits a bank has, the more stable it generally is. The higher the ratio of consumer and retail customer deposits, the less susceptible a bank is to deposits being pulled. Theoretically, consumers and mom-and-pop businesses are less yield-hungry—and are less glued to financial headlines—and won’t pull their cash to buy T-bills as quickly as a corporate client would.

Wells Fargo, Regions Bank, Citizens Bank, and PNC Bank had some of the highest retail deposit ratios—all more than 60 percent— among all the banks in J.P. Morgan’s research coverage, according to a note to clients.

The two banks that had no retail deposit base? SVB and Signature Bank.

The reason that the FDIC and the Federal Reserve had to step in to save Silicon Valley Bank was partly driven by the Fed itself.

FAN YU is an expert in finance and economics and has contributed analyses on China’s economy since 2015.

THOUGHT LEADERS

Therapist: Trans Industry Is Based on ‘Bill of Lies’

Vulnerable children are caught in the middle of a lucrative industry that creates medical patients for life

Stephanie Winn, a licensed marriage and family therapist.

We’re agreeing with the lie,” therapist Stephanie Winn says, “that these vulnerable young people really have no other ways of coping than to make life-altering decisions with a lot of negative ramifications for their health.”

In a recent episode of “American Thought Leaders,” host Jan Jekielek talked with Stephanie Winn, a licensed marriage and family therapist who’s currently treating detransitioners and parents of gender-questioning youth.

Winn is also featured in “Affirmation Generation,” a new documentary that critically explores the “gender-affirming” model, society’s suppression of detransitioners, the for-profit trans industry, and the many myths associated with being transgender.

JAN JEKIELEK: Stephanie, congratulations on this amazing film. In it, you say, “Clinicians, we’ve been sold a bill of lies.” What are the lies?

STEPHANIE WINN: We’ve been lied to that “gender-affirming” care is an actual model of psychotherapy like other models. Models of psychotherapy generally include ways of conceptualizing and formulating our clients’ distress and understanding their presenting problems and then helping treat their distress. We do a psychosocial assessment, what’s happening for them physiologically, environmentally, socially, and internally. With the so-called gender-affirming model, we’re told to not ask questions, just to affirm and agree without questioning or discernment.

This social affirmation by therapists is the first step in a process that leads to experimental hormones and surgeries that are very costly to physical health. We’re undermining people’s long-term health when we practice “gender-affirming” care. We’re agreeing with the lie that

these vulnerable young people really have no other ways of coping than to make life-altering decisions with a lot of negative ramifications for their health.

MR. JEKIELEK: In many cases, these children or teens are just discovering themselves, and they’re making these profound decisions without being able to grasp the consequences. How is this being considered?

MS. WINN: In our documentary, Lisa Marchiano says that it’s naive of any responsible adult to go along with this child’s understanding of who they are and what they’re going to want in the future. Anyone watching this can think of someone they know who swore up and down that they didn’t want children when they were in their teens or 20s. Then, a switch flipped, maybe even at 35, where they wanted children desperately, and now they’re grateful they have them.

If healthy people can pass through normal phases of life thinking they didn’t want children and then that changed for them, how can we assume that young, vulnerable, mentally unwell, impulsive teenagers and prepubescent teens could possibly know what they’ll want in the future?

MR. JEKIELEK: Gender dysphoria is associated with some other is-

sues, and often those just get swept off to the side. A term mentioned in the film describes that.

MS. WINN: The term is diagnostic overshadowing. It’s the idea that when you have various comorbidities or potential comorbidities that haven’t been diagnosed or ruled out properly, gender dysphoria overshadows all of them.

There’s a dangerous presupposition that if you treat gender dysphoria by changing the young person’s body, all the other issues will go away. What I see is actually the opposite.

You’ll hear these youth refer to things as “my dysphoria.” When they say my dysphoria, they could be talking about anything. They could be talking about PMS or social anxiety or ADHD. We know that about 48 percent of the children referred to the Tavistock Gender Identity Clinic, which has now been ordered to shut down, were autistic.

Many of the vulnerable young people who are presenting with gender dysphoria are autistic, and many have trauma histories. They’ve been bullied, and they’ve been abandoned. We know these kids are overrepresented in foster care and adoption. The natural response to that is shame and inadequacy.

That shame can be painful and overwhelming. It takes a lot of maturity to learn how to integrate our shame and tolerate it. So there is this idea that “Nothing’s wrong with me, my identity, my mind, my psyche; it’s my body that’s wrong. That’s why I’m different.”

MR. JEKIELEK: You often hear this told to parents: “If you don’t affirm, your child is going to commit suicide or there’s a higher likelihood they’ll commit suicide.”

MS. WINN: It’s such a dangerous myth. We do see higher rates of suicidal ideation in trans-identified young people, but we really can’t separate that out from their

“Many of the vulnerable young people who are presenting with gender dysphoria are autistic, and many have trauma histories.”

THE EPOCH TIMES, YORK DU/THE EPOCH TIMES

comorbidities: depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, body dysmorphia, and eating disorders.

If you look at all the psychiatric comorbidities, as far as I’m aware, the rate of suicidal ideation amongst trans-identified youth isn’t higher than non-trans-identified young people with those same comorbidities. But we should also consider that a lot of these young people are being told on the internet and by their peers that they should threaten suicide to get what they want; therefore, we see a higher rate of suicidal ideation.

The threat of suicide has been grossly distorted and people have been intimidated in a way that’s really quite sick, because that’s truly every parent’s worst fear. The fact that people are using it in a manipulative way is just morally abhorrent.

MR. JEKIELEK: You’ve mentioned that this “gender-affirming” care doesn’t work as a therapy, whereas watchful waiting actually has been shown to work.

MS. WINN: Watchful waiting isn’t particularly an approach to therapy. It’s not a whole therapeutic toolkit. It’s basically just the message that if a kid presents with distress or confusion about their gender or sexual identity, don’t do anything about it. Just let them be a kid, give them time and chances, and they’ll likely grow out of it. Kids will believe in all kinds of things. We adults often need to just watch and wait.

MR. JEKIELEK: You’ve referred to the term “gender cult.” How is it a cult?

MS. WINN: How it isn’t a cult would be a shorter list. You start off with young, vulnerable people, many of them gifted, quirky, and weird, and you start off with love bombing them, giving them this idea of belonging and that it’s all going to be so great when you join us, and it’s just literally rainbows and glitter. Those are the symbols they use.

MR. JEKIELEK: One of the things mentioned in the film are these very extensive interventions that put young people on a track to be medicalized for life. There’s a whole industry ramping up for this purpose.

MS. WINN: It’s a huge industry that’s growing and a big money maker for hospitals.

And you’re right that these trans-identified young people are being set up to become medical patients for life. Once someone is on cross-sex hormones, for example, they have to continue taking those hormones. And if they don’t, if they physically “detransition,” then they’re going to encounter another host of medical problems. The detrans young people I’ve met are dealing with really complex and novel medical situations that a lot of doctors don’t know how to treat.

MR. JEKIELEK: This is obviously critical information that both par-

ents and kids should know at the outset of these discussions.

MS. WINN: One of my main concerns as a mental health professional is how badly my field has betrayed these vulnerable people. In many cases, therapists played a role in this. We pushed people down a path of transition, and it’s not pretty, and a lot of people don’t want to talk about it.

We need to start looking at what people are experiencing, being present with the pain and suffering we’ve caused them. Detransitioners have been medically and mentally harmed by the professionals who are supposed to help them, and now they don’t trust us, and that’s our fault. We need to earn back their trust, and that’s not a process that can be rushed.

We also need to start educating a new generation of professionals to deal with the aftermath, as well as making some societal shifts. For instance, medical care for detransitioners isn’t properly funded. Can you believe that in some cases Medicaid will pay for a confused, distressed young woman to amputate her breasts, but they won’t pay for reconstruction? Not that you can reconstruct breasts; you can’t restore the breast tissue if the mammary glands have been removed. But if she wants something cosmetic to help her feel like she’s restoring her dignity, they won’t provide that.

MR. JEKIELEK:  “Affirmation Generation” is one step in that direction. It’s a film that can help anyone with an open mind accept its contents. It’s beautiful in that way. So how can people see it?

MS. WINN: They can stream “Affirmation Generation” at AffirmationGenerationMovie.com.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

“One of my main concerns as a mental health professional is how badly my field has betrayed these vulnerable people. In many cases, therapists played a role in this.”

‘THE FINAL WAR’: A FILM ABOUT THE REAL EXISTENTIAL THREAT TO THE UNITED STATES

It’s not climate change. It’s not raging inflation or even the national debt. The real threat to the United States and to the world is the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) 100-year plan to defeat America and establish world domination. There’s no urgency in the Mainstream Media. That’s why “THE FINAL WAR” had to be made.

Anchored by senior investigative reporter Joshua Philipp, and one-and-a-half years in the making, “THE FINAL

WAR” is a film that is so relevant to current events and so important that we’re offering it to EVERYONE for free. It will answer your questions about the pandemic, the impending invasion of Taiwan, and how the CCP works to keep the U.S. occupied with at least four global adversaries.

See the film. Know the danger. Be prepared. “THE FINAL WAR” is already underway.

Think Before Advising

When asked for advice, ask questions to develop helpful suggestions

By Jeff Minick

First, do no harm.”

Although this admonition never appears verbatim in the Hippocratic oath—a classic translation states that healers of the sick “abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous”—most of today’s health care professionals take these words to heart. They avoid harm by examining and diagnosing patients before proceeding to a treatment.

Unfortunately, a lot of us fail to adopt this same “do no harm” strategy when ministering to others. We saw a classic example of this failure during the COVID-19 pandemic, when governments and regulatory agencies mandated lockdowns, masks, and vaccines to beat the virus but neglected to consider the fallout from these policies: the damage done to children by months-long school closures or the terrible wounds inflicted on the economy, for example. These “physicians” treated the disease but not the patient.

Closer to home, many of us often do the same. We rush to judgment before properly diagnosing a situation and so do harm rather than good. The man hired to turn around a failing business may jump in with pre-calculated remedies before taking time to evaluate all the problems, thereby causing even greater turmoil.

Another example: While the teenager is trying to explain the smashed headlight on the van, her father is too busy raging at her carelessness to listen. By the time Dad learns that another shop-

per at the grocery store has slammed a car into the van in the parking lot, not only has the van been damaged, but so too has his daughter’s trust.

The physician and the nurse employ checklists and diagnostic tools to devise a prognosis for the benefit of their patient. How about us? What are some tools we can use in our everyday lives to avoid heaping harm onto injury when offering help?

Count to 10

“When angry, count to 10 before you speak,” Thomas Jefferson said. “When very angry, a hundred.”

In Carol Sorgen’s article “Anger Management: Counting to 10 and Beyond,” professor of psychiatry Dan Johnston cited Jefferson.

“The familiar childhood admonition of ‘counting to 10’ before taking action works because it emphasizes the two key elements of anger management— time and distraction,” Johnston said.

This old trick doesn’t just work for anger management. Whether at the office or a backyard barbeque, when someone who’s confused or hurting seeks our advice, it’s usually best to proceed with caution, to mull over their words and their pain before responding. To give

them impetuous or half-baked advice will likely do far more harm than good. First, count to 10.

Ask Questions

During an annual physical, you fill out forms inquiring as to the state of your health, the doctor examines you, and tests are sent to the lab. These are all ways of asking your body, “Everything OK?”

When a fellow employee seeks our counsel about taking a promotion— more money, but way more responsibilities—or a friend wonders why her relationships with her family are such a mess, we can act like physicians, asking questions intended to produce healthy solutions, not additional distress.

Let Them Talk

The perplexed or troubled often need a sympathetic listener more than a counselor. They then work through their difficulties by talking, weighing the pros and cons, and arriving at their own conclusions. Some of them may even thank us for coming up with answers, when it’s they themselves who have solved the problem.

Some doctors are renowned for their bedside manner. We can practice this same skillset, avoiding harm while seeking to make others well again.

It’s usually best to proceed with caution, to mull over their words and their pain before responding.

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.”

Unwind

The Austrian ski towns of Leogang and Seefeld are just as charming in the off-season, with wonderful vistas and an array of great restaurants and lodging to choose from.

Summer in Austrian Ski Villages 72

ORIGINALLY OWNED

by Mark Wahlberg, this amenityladen Southern California estate is a self-contained resort ideal for families and entertaining.  70

THE FIRST WINES WERE ROSES, with a light, fruity flavor and pink hue derived from the grape skins; the popularity of these delightful wines continues to grow.   75

WHEN YOU LEARN WHERE to look and how to find great deals, you don’t have to be incredibly wealthy to enjoy a very upscale lifestyle.  76

PHOTO BY DANIEL TRIXL/SHUTTERSTOCK

Live Like a Movie Star

By Bill Lindsey

A fabulous, family-focused, amenity-laden Southern Californa estate.

Actor Mark Wahlberg created a secluded retreat for his large family in the hills above Los Angeles

Nest L ed into a 1.7-acre site in Beverly Hills’ exclusive Oak Pass Road gated community is perhaps the ultimate home for a large and active family. Built by actor Mark Wahlberg, the property features a 13,000-square-foot, five-bedroom, six-bath main residence with 1,000 square feet of decks looking out over the grounds and surrounding countryside.

Plus, it features a two-story guesthouse and a two-level, standalone gym with a 3,000-square-foot workout area equipped with professional-grade equipment, a fullsize boxing ring, and an adjacent basketball court. Other outdoor amenities include a resort-style swimming pool with multiple waterfalls and a grotto, several fire pits, an outdoor kitchen with a wood-fired pizza oven, citrus trees, and a putting green.

Secured behind a gate, the sprawling, two-story main residence is situated to enjoy views of the surrounding canyons, with the living room, kitchen, formal dining area, and bedrooms all equipped with sliding glass

walls that can be completely opened. Wire-brushed white oak flooring and tall ceilings throughout the home create a comfortable, spacious atmosphere, and a high-tech Savant whole-house automation system ensures optimal efficiency. The airy kitchen is well-equipped to feed a large family and many guests, with Wolf and Sub-Zero stainless-steel appliances, climate-controlled wine storage, and an abundance of counter space.

Given Wahlberg’s profession, it’s no surprise that the residence has a spacious home theater with a 136-inch screen, three couches to accommodate guests and family, a wet bar, and even a fireplace. The master bedroom features a wood-burning fireplace and a his-and-hers bathroom with marble slab counters, aromatic oil-andsteam showers, a hair salon, and a private staff entrance.

The guest house is set at one corner of the property for maximum privacy but has easy access to the gym and pool area.

OAK PASS ROAD ESTATE $28.5 MILLION

• 5 BEDROOMS

• 6 BATHS

• 13,000 SQUARE FEET

• 1.7 ACRES

KEY FEATURES

• GUEST HOUSE

• PROFESSIONAL-GRADE GYM

• RESORT-STYLE POOL AGENT MYLES LEWIS OF COMPASS (323) 3777033 AND SKYE HANKEY OF PREMIER REALTY SERVICES (310) 279-7221

(Above) Located behind the main residence, the pool is a delight for kids and adults alike, with waterfalls and a grotto. (Top Right) The pool’s grotto is the perfect place to escape the sun’s rays while relaxing in the hot tub, veiled by the waterfall. (Right) The home’s airy and casual gathering areas feature glass walls that can be opened to enjoy the view of the grounds and the surrounding countryside.

Alpine Oasis

Tradition meets innovation in the gorgeous Alpine towns of Leogang and Seefeld

The Saalfelden Leogang has more than 250 miles of trails with fantastic views.

PHOTO BY JANNA GRABER

By Janna Graber

I’m on an e- B ike cruising a L ong the quiet streets of Leogang, a village of 3,200 in the shadow of the Austrian Alps. Tidy Alpine homes with flower boxes and stacks of firewood line the winding village path that leads into the countryside, where cattle graze in lush green pastures.

In the winter, skiers descend on this region. The nearby Skicircus Saalbach Hinterglemm Leogang Fieberbrunn is one of the largest ski areas in Austria, with more than 70 lifts and 167 miles of ski runs.

Summer in Saalfelden Leogang

But in summer and fall, the region of Saalfelden Leogang takes on a whole different feel. Located at the base of the ski resort, Bikepark Leogang, the first-of-its-kind mountain bike school and park, kicks into high gear. Riders of all levels and ages can take lessons and ride at the park.

That afternoon, my friends and I head out for a hike, which is a popular pastime here. The Saalfelden Leogang region has almost 250 miles of trails. We take the gondola to the top of the mountain and then follow a trail that promises to add sound experiences to the amazing views.

Along the path are five different TONspur Islands, each with a different sound installation. The idea is to listen and enjoy the scenery with all your senses. The combination is compelling. At one stop, I relax on a chair and listen to a soulful orchestral piece.

Innovation Meets Tradition

It’s just another example of how tradition blends with bold innovation here. That originality extends to local farms and dairies, too.

I stop at one farm stand that sells produce from self-service chilled lockers. You select the fruits, vegetables, and even meats you want, and then open the locker with your credit card purchase. Other artisanal farmers in the valley produce organic products, from cheeses to locally grown saffron.

I get to sample many of those regional products at the award-winning Dahoam restaurant. Executive Chef Andreas Herbst’s alpine kitchen highlights local producers. His signature multicourse experience, a “Great Journey through Leogang,” provides a culinary tour of local products used in exquisitely prepared dishes. The restaurant is a must-visit in Leogang.

My base in Leogang is the family-run Naturhotel Forsthofgut, one of the top resorts in the region. Nestled against the Leogang Mountains, the resort offers multiple pools, spas, a sauna, playgrounds, a children’s

Leogang

is one of Austria’s most popular hiking areas.

Seefeld is about 59 miles from Munich by train. Now a ski and mountain biking center, Leogang was once a mining village.

The Parish Church of St. Oswald, Seefeld, is the site of a 1384 miracle and one of Austria’s most popular pilgrimage destinations.

FROM TOP: THE EPOCH TIMES,

UWE MICHAEL NEUMANN/SHUTTERSTOCK

Leogang Seefeld

AUSTRIA

art room, and even an equestrian center. It’s the kind of place a family can visit and find everything they need for a memorable holiday.

A Visit to Seefeld

The small town of Seefeld is another Austrian alpine treasure. Located between the mountains and valley on Tyrol’s high plateau, its combination of pastoral landscape against rugged mountain peaks is straight out of a postcard.

With a population of 3,400 residents, you can walk Seefeld’s historic Old Town in just a few minutes. Filled with local artisan shops, family-owned restaurants, and elegant shops, it’s well worth the time. We stop for a local beer and a snack at Hotel Klosterbräu, which has been in the same family for 200 years.

Later, my friends and I visit the nearby Toni Seelos ski jumps and the Seefeld Sports Arena. Many skiers train at these World Cup and Olympic venues.

Alpin Resort Sacher

The highlight of my visit to Seefeld is my stay at the iconic Alpin Resort Sacher, a five-star wellness hotel that combines alpine tradition and luxury with ease. Owner Elisabeth Gürtler and General Manager Anton Gustav Birnbaum are the consummate hosts and immediately make me feel welcome.

A member of The Leading Hotels of the

World, the hotel is part of the Sacher Family Hotels. This family-run group is best known for the famous Hotel Sacher in Vienna. Gürtler served as managing director for many years before turning over the reins to her children. Then she set her eyes on turning the Alpin Resort Sacher in Seefeld into the top resort it is today.

Her careful eye for detail is plain to see when staying at the Alpin Resort Sacher. The design is elegant and useful at the same time. Guests’ needs are anticipated before they are even requested, making for a very pleasant experience.

The best part of the hotel is its 50,000-squarefoot wellness oasis, which is so large that I find myself wandering from room to room, wondering where to start. There are saunas, steam rooms, cozy relaxation and quiet rooms, hot pools, and cool pools. By the end of my time there, I’m feeling relaxed and invigorated.

All too soon, my week in Austria is over. But along with my suitcase, I pack a sense of contentment. The beauty of the Alps, the people I met, and my time in nature have all contributed to a feeling of well-being. That, for me, is one of the reasons I travel.

Janna Graber has covered travel in more than 55 countries. She is the editor of three travel anthologies, including “A Pink Suitcase: 22 Tales of Women’s Travel,” and is the managing editor of Go World Travel Magazine.

If You Go

Fly: Innsbruck Airport is 12 miles from Seefeld. But if you’re flying from the United States, the easiest way is to fly into Munich, Germany.

Getting Around: From the airport, you can rent a car or take a train; it’s between 1 1/2 to 2 hours away. It’s also easy to reach both towns by train from major European cities like Vienna.

When to Go:

If you’re a skier, head to Austria from late November to early March. If you’d like to hike and explore during warmer weather, May through October is an excellent time to go.

Riders of all levels and ages can take lessons at Bikepark Leogang, the first-of-its-kind mountain bike school and park.

A WORLD OF PINK: EXCEPTIONAL ROSÉS TO KNOW

Pink wines come in many shades, from blush to garnet, across the spectrum of dry to sweet

By Melanie Young

When choosing rosé wine, many people erroneously assume that the paler the color, the better the quality. Another common misperception is that rosés tend to be sweet rather than dry.

“There is no correlation between color, body, and sweetness,” notes Victoria James, sommelier and author of “Drink Pink: A Celebration of Rosé.” “The color speaks more to the grapes, weather, maceration process, and other factors.”

As the weather warms, bottles of rosé flood store shelves. Here are a few worldclass regions to know.

French Rosé

The pale, dry rosé wines of Provence in southern France are considered the benchmark for many wine drinkers. Provence’s Mediterranean climate delivers rosés with a pleasant salinity and soft herbal notes, amid flavors of fresh citrus and wild red berry fruits.

The three largest AOCs are Côtes de Provence, Côtes d’Aix-en-Provence, and Coteaux Varois en Provence. The smaller AOCs Bandol, Cassis, and Palette also produce highly regarded rosés.

Rhône Valley’s Tavel

AOC, northwest of Avignon, exclusively produces rosé. Spicy grenache noir is the dominant grape for Tavel rosés, which are all blends using other Rhône varietals. These wines are aromatic and fuller-bodied with dense fruit, ideal for pairing with meatier dishes, spicy foods, and even baked fruit pies.

Pink wines are popular for warmweather sipping.

Some of the most foodfriendly rosés are darker in color.

Provence’s pale, dry rosés are considered the benchmark for many drinkers.

ROSE BASICS

The Grapes: A rosé wine starts with red grapes. Color is imparted to the wine when the grape skins come into contact with the juices.

The Process: The two most common methods of making rosé are limited skin contact and saignée. In rare instances, rosé is made by blending red and white wines.

To Serve: Rosé should be served chilled, between 45 and 55 degrees F. Drink them young.

Italian Rosato

Chiaretto, which translates to “pink,” is Italy’s most popular dry rosé. Chiaretto di Bardolino is exclusive to the Lake Garda region. The rosés are crisp and dry, much like those of Provence, thanks to Lake Garda’s Mediterranean microclimate.

Wines made on Lake Garda’s Lombardy coast to the west are made with sangiovese and groppello, which add spice notes to the fruit. The Veneto side to the east uses local corvina, rondinella, and molinara grapes, delivering more floral-style chiarettos. Pasta, pizza, charcuterie, and sushi all pair well.

Cerasuolo (Italian for “cherry”) d’Abruzzo DOC is a dark garnet-colored rosato produced from the montepul-

ciano grape. These are fuller-bodied wines with flavors of pomegranate, cherry, strawberry, and anise. Chill and enjoy as you would a red wine.

Spanish Rosado

Rioja, Navarra, and Cigales all produce refreshing rosés the color of blushing cheeks, with ripe wild strawberry and herbal characteristics. Most are made from tempranillo or garnacha (grenache in France). These wines pair well with popular Spanish dishes such as paella, tortilla española, jamón, and stuffed peppers.

Melanie Young writes about wine, food, travel, and health. She cohosts the weekly national radio show “The Connected Table LIVE!” and hosts “Fearless Fabulous You!” both on iHeart.com

Don’t judge a rosé by its color.

You don’t need to ‘know a guy’ to buy high-end goods at a steep discount

HOW TO LIVE LIKE A

By doing your homework and seeking great deals, it’s not hard to live a champagne lifestyle on a beer budget.

By Bill Lindsey

There are two ways to live a lavish lifestyle: Be very wealthy and spend with no regard to price or shop smart and buy right. Of these two approaches to living well, the second one requires more effort but provides a great sense of accomplishment.

Look for Sales

The idea is to buy top quality when shopping for cars, tools, furniture, clothes, and other items, including watches, cameras, computers, or televisions.

The next step is to sale shop. This works at mall stores, mail-order retailers, wine and liquor stores, specialty shops, and more; virtually all retail stores at some point will put items on sale or offer discounts. However, the most efficient way to take advantage of these sales is to discover them prior to going to the store, or in the best scenario, being advised of them in advance by the retailer.

Subscribing to mailing lists from stores that offer high-end products can help eliminate missing out on a sale on items that were already slated for purchase and is a much more efficient strategy than roaming store aisles looking for deals.

An easy way to accomplish this is by spending some time signing up for mailing lists and researching loyalty clubs. These sometimes include special discounts for holiday periods and birthdays. It’s easy to unsubscribe from an email list if or when the volume becomes annoying or the items

offered are no longer of interest, and ads received in the mail can be tossed away, guilt-free.

Macy’s is just one of many examples of retailers that offer numerous discounts on high-end products ranging from clothing to cookware throughout the year, with many of the discounts compounded by taking part in a store-issued credit card.

Dining Deals

Fine dining represents another opportunity to make money go further. Many high-end restaurants occasionally offer prix fixe specials, in which an appetizer, entrée, and dessert are offered for a set, discounted price, with no substitutions. Most restaurants often offer discounts, especially around holidays but also on birthdays and anniversaries; ask the hostess or server, or explore the establishment’s social media page to receive notifications.

Yet another way to enjoy fine dining for less is to consider gift cards from favorite restaurants, which often are promoted by adding a “free” card for every gift card of a set amount purchased; for example, receiving a $20 card for every $100 gift card equates to an overall 20 percent discount.

Even high-end retailers offer sales and special promotions, during which savvy buyers can buy luxury goods at deep discounts.

“Open box” and refurbished electronics are sold at steep discounts, yet backed by full warranties, making them a smart buy.

When dining at fine restaurants, consider prix fixe meals or join a loyalty program to take part in special menu offerings or birthday/anniversary discounts.

Certified pre-owned luxury vehicles with low miles and backed by manufacturer warranties, can be purchased at prices usually associated with mid-level vehicles.

LEFT PAGE: PHOTO BY DMITRY LOBANOV/SHUTTERSTOCK, NET VECTOR/SHUTTERSTOCK; THIS PAGE CLOCKWISE FROM L: MIRELLE/ SHUTTERSTOCK, KALI9/GETTY IMAGES, PIXEL-SHOT/SHUTTERSTOCK, SKIRGAILA PHOTOGRAPHY/SHUTTERSTOCK

Virtually all retail stores at some time will put items on sale or offer discounts.

Just Like New

Choosing open-box and refurbished items represents a way to buy highend electronics, including cameras, televisions, cellphones, and computers, from local and online retailers at a significant discount. Prior to purchase, review the fine print to determine return or refund options, as well as how and by whom the items may be warrantied. In many cases, these items are in new or like-new condition.

Driving a luxury car or SUV can actually be more affordable than expected when vehicles are purchased through a certified pre-owned (CPO) program. Examples include Porsche, BMW, Cadillac, and other high-end brands. Administered by local dealerships, these vehicles are backed by manufacturer warranties honored across the United States.

Fine watches can also be purchased from retailers specializing in preowned timepieces that are backed by warranties. Sensing an opportunity, watchmaker Rolex recently initiated an in-house CPO program, offering refurbished timepieces that are warrantied for two years at a discount from new prices.

While buying a curated pre-owned luxury watch is clearly a great opportunity to buy more for less, the concept of pre-owned clothing might be off-put-

POWER SHOPPING

You don’t have to be rich to live well

1

Enjoy the Hunt

ting at first. However, the reality is that quite a bit of haute couture clothing is worn infrequently or even only once. In addition to hundreds of stores across the country selling secondhand items, Goodwill Industries operates several Goodwillfinds stores and a handy online boutique, all devoted to reselling donated luxury goods and designer clothing at steeply discounted prices.

There are also online consignment stores such as Farfetch, which sells luxury clothing, shoes, jewelry, and accessories at prices far below original cost. Items that remain in inventory past a certain set period will be offered with additional discounts. Be sure to research return policies before making any online purchases.

Savvy shoppers can even find unique home items at discounted prices. Habitat for Humanity’s “ReStores” sell furniture, appliances, and fixtures donated by builders and homeowners. Sometimes, the items are very special, as was the case when the Vail, Colorado, store was given a handmade wooden bathtub and a set of matching sinks. Crafted in Switzerland, the tub alone retailed for $24,000; all three items were quickly snapped up for $12,000.

The bottom line is that, while it’s good to be rich, smart buyers don’t have to be wealthy to live an upscale lifestyle.

Finding good deals requires effort and time. Start by researching upscale stores and restaurants to find sales and discount offers. Sign up for sale notices, and birthday and anniversary offers, too.

2

Another Type of Recycling

Stores operated by Goodwill, Habitat for Humanity, and other organizations sell donated luxury clothing, goods, and home improvement materials at steep discounts.

3

CPO and Open-Box Deals

Pre-owned luxury vehicles and like-new electronics backed by manufacturer warranties are a good way to get the best for much less.

When purchased from a trusted dealer, a pre-owned, fully serviced luxury watch backed by a warranty can be surprisingly affordable.

OUTDOOR EQUIPMENT MADE TO LAST

Camping is a great way to spend time outdoors, and by using old-school gear that is made to last for several generations of campers, it’s even more enjoyable

By Bill Lindsey

Let There Be Light

COLEMAN POWERHOUSE DUAL FUEL LANTERN

$114.99

A traditional, hand-pressurized lantern spreads a special kind of light that makes camping more fun, and few do it as well as Coleman. Unlike battery-powered or propane-fueled lanterns, the Powerhouse operates on Coleman fuel or unleaded gasoline; one gallon of fuel lasts as long as 4 1/2 cans of propane, making it much more costefficient, as well as more fun.

Caffeinated Camping

GSI OUTDOORS GLACIER STAINLESS COFFEE PERCOLATOR

$49.95

There are few things as good as fresh coffee brewed over an open fire, which is why serious campers make sure they have the most reliable coffee pot to be found. Crafted of heavy-duty 18/8-gauge corrosion and dent-resistant stainless steel, it’s designed to brew coffee for many generations of campers. Available in sizes from 8 to 36 cups, it features an inner basket, a wire bail handle, and a PercView dome.

A Room With a View

KODIAK FLEX-BOW DELUXE CANVAS CAMPING TENT

$599.99

The difference between a good tent and a great tent becomes clear in rainstorms and after years of use. Made from custom-woven HydraShield canvas and top-grade YKK zippers, this 100-square-foot portable mansion is engineered to provide many years of service. Featuring four windows, a rain fly, and an interior height of 6 1/2 feet, it can be pitched by just one person.

Snug as a Bug in a Rug

L.L.BEAN MOUNTAIN CLASSIC SLEEPING BAG

$79.99–$119

Maine-based L.L.Bean has been producing heirloom-quality outdoor gear since Leon Leonwood Bean founded the company in 1912. This summer-weight sleeping bag is made to comfortably accommodate campers up to six feet tall (a larger version is also available). Made of durable ripstop and high-lofting insulation for many seasons of use, the bags can be zipped open to create a blanket or together with another bag.

Roaring Campfires Are Over-Rated GARRETT WADE CLASSIC CAMPING STOVE—SMALL BURNER

$53.20

Cooking over a campfire looks easy in movies, but in real life, you want a reliable stove with an adjustable flame. This gleaming brass, hand-pumped kerosene fuel stove is available with an eight- or 10-inch burner designed to prepare meals for four or more campers. The simple, yet reliable system is easy to master, powered by inexpensive kerosene and alcohol.

RECOMMENDED READING Epoch Booklist

FOREIGN AFFAIRS ‘When China Attacks’

By Col. Grant Newsham

Subtitled “A Warning to America,” Newsham’s book is important for several reasons. He imagines a Chinese seizure of Taiwan and its deadly consequences both for the Pacific region and America’s future. But Newsham, who is an Epoch Times contributor, also describes in detail how China has waged a gray-zone war against the United States for decades with devastating effects on the American economy and its people and cities. He concludes with specific recommendations for resisting these assaults. This is a loud wake-up call for all Americans.

REGNERY PUBLISHING, 2023, 256 PAGES

GEOLOGY ‘Beaches of the Gulf Coast’

By Richard A. Davis Jr.

For many, a day at the beach is perfect. Yet a beach itself is surprisingly complex, a result of intricate dynamics and host to a multifaceted ecology. This book covers its subject on many levels and includes a wealth of visual aids. It takes readers on a Gulf Coast tour, starting in Florida and working counterclockwise through Mexico and into Cuba. Davis, a coastal geologist, explores the processes that create beaches, the plants and animals that inhabit them, and the human impact upon them.

TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2014, 244 PAGES

recommend?

We’d love to hear from you. Let us know at features@epochtimes.com

HISTORY

‘The Lionkeeper of Algiers’

By Des Ekin

Des Ekin has uncovered a special piece of American history that has long been overlooked. This book follows the capture, imprisonment, and political and social maneuverings of the young American sailor James Leander Cathcart. Cathcart’s personality and wit guide him through the perils of being a Barbary pirate prisoner in Algiers and eventually place him before George Washington to help broker a deal for peace between the two nations. Ekin has established the foundation for a new American hero.

PROMETHEUS BOOKS, 2023, 272 PAGES

FOR KIDS

‘The Jolly Barnyard’

By Jan Brett

Each year, the bunny who decorates the most beautiful egg accompanies the Easter Bunny on Easter morning as he hides his eggs. As Hoppi dreams up his design, a robin’s egg falls out of the tree above, so he does his best to keep it safe. This sweet tale, coupled with Brett’s colorful and engaging illustrations, make for a perfect Easter-time read.

MEMOIR

‘Never Give an Inch’

By Mike Pompeo

Mike Pompeo’s

memoir is a bona fide tour de force that often reads like a thriller. It’s packed full of personal, political, and poignant content and told with unflinching transparency as he recalls his tenure during the Trump administration, first serving as the director of the CIA and then as secretary of state. Readers will feel the challenge and tension of daily decision-making—whether with colleagues or heads of state. Pompeo’s account of what it takes to keep America safe is riveting.

CLASSICS

‘The Hound of Heaven and Other Poems’

By Francis Thompson (translator)

Francis Thompson’s most renowned poem was “The Hound of Heaven,” which tells of God’s pursuit of the fugitive human soul. Included in this collection are religious ballads and sonnets, a miscellany of verse, and poems for children. Some of the latter feature the daughters of Alice and Wilfrid Meynell, Thompson’s rescuers from poverty and obscurity. In the introduction, G.K. Chesterton labels “The Hound of Heaven” as the “greatest religious poem of modern times and one of the greatest of all times.”

BRANDEN BOOKS, 2014, 82 PAGES

This week, we feature Mike Pompeo’s riveting memoir and an absorbing history that establishes a post-Revolutionary War sailor as an American hero.

Ian Kane is a U.S. Army veteran, filmmaker, and author. He enjoys the great outdoors and volunteering.

MOVIE REVIEWS

Epoch Watchlist

This week, we feature family-friendly films that focus on friendship: one about magical animals and the other about curious sea monsters.

FAMILY PICK

‘School of Magical Animals’ (2023)

When Ida Kronenberg (Emilia Maier) transfers to a new school, she finds it difficult to make new friends. However, Ida’s teacher, Miss Mary Cornfield (Nadja Uhl), introduces her entire class to enchanted animals that soon become their helpful companions. What adventures await them?

This family-friendly movie is based on German author Margit Auer’s children’s book series “The School of Magical Animals.” It’s a wonderful film full of mystery, fantasy, and wonderment—an uplifting experience that highlights the value of friendship.

A FRENCH COMEDY ABOUT THE TECHNOLOGY-OBSESSED

‘Mon Oncle’ (1958)

Monsieur Hulot (Jacques Tati) is a simple man whose relatives want a more “advanced” and modern lifestyle. He pays them a visit,

seeking to rescue his nephew from their obsession with modernity.

Buoyant music and deft body language drive this hilarious comedy as generations clash. It’s a

ADVENTURE | FAMILY

Release Date: March 24, 2023 (U.S.)

Director: Gregor Schnitzler

Starring: Emilia Maier, Leonard Conrads, Loris Sichrovsky

Running Time: 1 hour, 33 minutes

MPAA Rating: PG

Where to Watch:  Theaters

timely (and scathing) tale about society’s overreliance and blind acceptance of technology.

COMEDY

Release Date: Nov. 3, 1958

Director: Jacques Tati

Starring: Jacques Tati (uncredited), Jean-Pierre Zola, Adrienne Servantie

Running Time: 1 hour, 56 minutes

Not Rated

Where to Watch: Criterion Channel, HBO Max, Apple TV

In this unique animated comingof-age tale, a young sea monster named Luca Paguro (Jacob Tremblay) lives with his parents on the Italian Riviera. He soon meets another sea monster youth named Alberto (Jack Dylan Grazer) who shows Luca how to turn into his human form. What adventures await the two new friends?

This is a charming film that features a simple storyline, bereft of any of the typical existential threats and psycho-babble of similar fare. It’s a

delightful film with positive messages about male comradery and loyalty.

ANIMATION | ADVENTURE | COMEDY

Release Date: June 18, 2021

Director: Enrico Casarosa

Starring: Jacob Tremblay (voice), Jack Dylan Grazer (voice), Emma Berman (voice)

Running Time: 1 hour, 35 minutes

MPAA Rating: PG

Where to Watch: Apple TV, Redbox, Vudu

A MASTERFUL TALE OF DESPERATE SALESMEN

Ross’ (1992)

This film depicts the lives of four men who work for a floundering real estate business. When a smug sales trainer shows up to “motivate” the men, he says that only two of them will keep their jobs—dependent on their sales performances. But with weak sales leads, the men soon resort to desperate measures.

This award-winning film functions as a masterclass in both direction and acting. Its ensemble

cast spouts gritty dialogue that brings the characters they portray to life. Truly a must-see drama.

CRIME | DRAMA | MYSTERY

Release Date: Oct. 2, 1992

Director: James Foley

Starring: Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin

Running Time: 1 hour, 40 minutes

MPAA Rating: R

Where to Watch: Hulu, Vudu, Redbox

‘Luca’ (2021)

‘Glengarry Glen

—Paul Behrends, consultant

Exquisite beauty from the heavens, profound wisdom from dynasties past, timeless legends and ethnic traditions all spring to life through classical Chinese dance, enchanting live orchestral music, authentic costumes, and patented interactive backdrops. It is an immersive experience that will uplift your spirit and transport you to another world.

Join us for a night filled with courage and wisdom, light and hope...

I’ve reviewed about 4,000 shows, and none can compare to what I saw tonight.”

—Richard Connema, Broadway critic

“A fascinating insight into what China’s culture used to be and what I hope one day will be restored to China.”

—Edward McMillan-Scott, former

of the European Parliament

Vice-President

“I encourage everyone to see and all of us to learn from.”

—Donna Karan, creator of DKNY

CHINA BEFORE COMMUNISM

Movie Night Etiquette

How to Make Sure Everyone Enjoys the Movie

Going to see a movie is a fun way to escape from everyday life as you enjoy adventure, comedy, romance, or some combination thereof, but be considerate of other patrons.

By Bill Lindsey

1 Plan Ahead

The goal should be to arrive ready to enjoy the movie, so address potential distractions beforehand. Take traffic into account when you head to the theater to allow plenty of time to get there, buy tickets, choose snacks, and use the restroom before you find your seats. Arriving as the movie is starting, or shortly thereafter, means disturbing the other patrons as you take a seat and get settled in.

Quiet as a Mouse 2

Movie theaters are designed to allow everyone to hear clearly, which means all sounds travel. “No talking” is the cardinal rule, and whispering can sometimes be even more disturbing than talking normally. Eating and drinking can be noisy, too, so consider your snack choices; the sound of candy bar wrappers rustling or nachos being crunched may disturb those around you, and the sound of someone using a straw to try to suck the last few drops of soda from a cup is most definitely annoying.

Text-Free Zones 3

Most people know not to take—or even worse, make—a call during a movie; your needs don’t outweigh those of your fellow movie patrons. But just muting the phone isn’t the answer, as the screen will light up when a call or text comes in, distracting those around you. Don’t return a text! Turn the phone off. If you are expecting a call that you simply can’t miss, you shouldn’t be in the theater.

Sit Back and Enjoy 5

Everyone else in the theater shares your reason for being there: to enjoy the movie. This makes it incumbent on everyone to behave politely. Take care to not accidentally kick the seat in front of you, and if you do, apologize quickly. If you are very tall, consider how you might block the view of those behind you as you choose your seat. On a related note, if you arrive wearing an overly tall hat, take it off when you are seated.

Well-Behaved Children 4

A movie theater is no substitute for a babysitter, and it’s absolutely not an appropriate place to bring most young children. If you do bring children, choose a movie that will keep them entertained and quiet. If the children are squirming, kicking the seats in front of them, or making noise, you need to quietly escort them to the lobby; they need to learn that misbehaving means no more movies.

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