JANUARY 6
A Legacy of Troubling Questions By Joseph M. Hanneman
JANUARY 7–13, 2022 | $6.95
ISSUE 13
Editor’s Note
A Legacy of Troubling Questions ONE YEAR AFTER the events of Jan. 6, 2021, many questions remain. During the protest outside the U.S. Capitol and the ensuing breach and riot, some 140 police officers were injured. One officer died from natural causes the next day, and two others committed suicide in the following weeks. One protester was shot and killed inside the building at the hands of a Capitol police officer, while the deaths of another three have been attributed to natural causes—although questions have been raised about whether police action contributed to two of those deaths. While Congress is conducting its own inquiry, the investigation has been widely criticized for its partisan nature. Much of the evidence about the events of that day remains under seal—including 14,000 hours of surveillance footage captured on the Capitol grounds. As the more than 725 defendants go on trial for alleged Jan. 6-related crimes, more evidence is expected to come out. In this week's cover story, reporter Joseph Hanneman reviews what we know so far as well as the lingering questions. He explores what evidence there is to support the allegation that the Jan. 6 events amounted to an insurrection, as well as the evidence behind claims that informants helped to instigate the breach and riot. Was the government warned about the potential for violence, and did Congress make the right preparations? And who are the unindicted individuals who were among the first to breach the Capitol? Read this week's cover story for an overview of the questions that remain. Jasper Fakkert Editor-in-chief
2 I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022
STEPHEN GREGORY PUBLISHER JASPER FAKKERT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF CHANNALY PHILIPP LIFE & TRADITION, TRAVEL EDITOR CHRISY TRUDEAU MIND & BODY EDITOR CRYSTAL SHI HOME, FOOD EDITOR SHARON KILARSKI ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR
ON THE COVER This week’s cover story sheds some light on the many remaining questions surrounding the events on Jan. 6, 2021. SAMUEL CORUM/GETTY IMAGES
BILL LINDSEY LUXURY EDITOR FEI MENG, BIBA KAJEVICH & JUNHAO SU ILLUSTRATORS SHANSHAN HU PRODUCTION CONTACT US THE EPOCH TIMES ASSOCIATION INC. 229 W.28TH ST., FL.7 NEW YORK, NY 10001 ADVERTISING ADVERTISENOW@EPOCHTIMES.COM SUBSCRIPTIONS, GENERAL INQUIRIES, LETTERS TO THE EDITOR HELP.THEEPOCHTIMES.COM (USPS21-800)IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY THE EPOCH MEDIA GROUP, 9550 FLAIR DR. SUITE 411, EL MONTE CA 91731-2922. PERIODICAL POSTAGE PAID AT EL MONTE, CA, AND ADDITIONAL MAILING OFFICES. POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO THE EPOCH TIMES, 229 W. 28TH STREET, FLOOR 5, NEW YORK, NY 10001.
issue 13 | january 7–13, 2022
26 | Constitutional
50 | Tough Times
Rights FBI’s “secret spy program” is detailed in court records.
Adopt a warrior code for the strength to triumph over hardship.
51 | Supporting
28 | Politics
Pregnancy From helping one pregnant girl in 1982 to 1,500 every year.
Survey data show that Biden and Democrats are losing their grip on Hispanic voters.
52 | Elections
44 | Beijing’s
Author John Fund discusses election fraud and voter ID laws.
Economic Warfare Informing U.S. consumers won’t stop looters—especially communist China.
45 | China’s COVID
Strategy CCP’s response to Omicron could be starvation lockdowns.
46 | Inflation
What caused the Great Inflation and what is similar today.
47 | Gas Prices
Can the White House bring down gas prices in 2022?
48 | Central Banks
The Fed’s “dovish” tapering and what it means for the European Central Bank.
49 | China
China expands its domination over companies via “golden share.”
56 | La Dolce Vita
Features
A villa offers luxurious seclusion on the Italian Riviera.
12 | Artificial Intelligence China is spending billions each year in pursuit of “brain control” weaponry in a bid to command the future of warfare.
58 | Czeching In
18 | Critical Race Theory A growing number of U.S. states are passing measures that ban efforts to inject CRT into K–12 education.
60 | Gifts of Love
30 | Solar Opposition Farmers look to protect their prime agricultural land against solar power conversion. 34 | January 6 One year Later The many unanswered questions about the events on Jan. 6.
Prague certainly has its fairy-tale side— and its quirks, too.
For Valentine’s Day, gifts that won't wilt or require a diet.
64 | A Perfect Fit
A bespoke suit is an excellent investment in style.
67 | Raise the Curtain! How to be the best audience member the next time you attend the opera.
A salt and plow truck sits abandoned after sliding off the road in icy conditions in Stafford County, Va., on Jan. 4. A winter storm brought record snowfalls to the mid-Atlantic states, stranding thousands of motorists overnight on 50 miles of I-95 in Virginia. CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES
I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022 3
T H G IL T O P S SNOW STORM PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN arrives at Andrews Air Force Base during a snowstorm, in Maryland on Jan. 3. PHOTO BY NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022 5
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Go to THEEPOCHTIMES.COM 6 I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022
NAT ION • WOR L D • W H AT H A P P E N E D T H I S W E E K
The Week
Issue. 13
Elizabeth Holmes walks outside the federal court after she was found guilty on 4 of 11 counts in her fraud trial in San Jose, Calif., Jan. 3. PHOTO BY NICK OTTO/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Elizabeth Holmes Found Guilty of Fraud and Conspiracy Theranos founder found guilty of conspiring to defraud investors in the blood-testing startup
✒
A JURY IN SAN JOSE, California, found Holmes guilty on 4 of 11 charges of fraud after seven days of deliberation, with each count carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. She was acquitted on three counts of defrauding patients who paid for tests from Theranos, and a related conspiracy charge. The jury could not reach a decision on three counts related to individual investors, for which U.S. District Judge Edward Davila said he intends to declare a mistrial. Prosecutors said Holmes swindled private investors between 2010 and 2015 by convincing them that Theranos’s small machines could run a range of tests with a few drops of blood from a finger prick. A sentencing date was not set immediately, and Holmes is expected to appeal. I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022 7
The Week in Short US
“The Senate as it has operated for 232 years [is an] extremely, extremely high bar that we must be very careful [of crossing].” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.), saying in a statement that he is opposed to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) proposal to change Senate rules in order to pass legislation that would federalize elections.
Rep. Brenda Lawrence Retires
Before 2022 Midterms
THE COVID-19 OMICRON VARIANT % ACCOUNTED FOR APPROXIMATELY 95.4 PERCENT OF U.S. COVID-19 CASES DIAGNOSED IN THE WEEK ENDED JAN. 1,
95
SAID THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION. 8 I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022
4.5 million Americans quit their jobs in November 2021,
an increase of 3 percent from the month prior, according to data released by the Department of Labor.
CHICAGO CANCELS CLASSES AFTER TEACHERS UNION VOTES
Chicago school officials have canceled classes following a teachers union vote to shift back to virtual learning due to a rise in COVID-19 cases. The Chicago Teachers Union voted 73 percent in favor of a resolution that called for a return to learning outside classrooms. The union says teachers won’t return to classrooms unless Chicago Public Schools makes changes, or unless the current COVID-19 wave eases.
“Vitamin D is really important, ivermectin is important, fluvoxamine, hydroxychloroquine also works. It’s just, a lot of people have been convinced that it doesn’t at this point, and are scared off of trying it.” Dr. Syed Haider, frontline COVID-19 expert.
THIS PAGE FROM TOP: PETE MAROVICH/GETTY IMAGES, ERIN SCHAFF-POOL/GETTY IMAGES, NTD; RIGHT PAGE FROM TOP: CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES, JOHN FREDRICKS/THE EPOCH TIMES, PFIZER/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS
Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-Mich.) has announced that she won't seek reelection to the House this year after four terms representing Michigan’s 14th District, joining a growing list of Democrats to retire before the 2022 midterms. Lawrence, 67, is the 25th House Democrat to announce he or she is retiring before the midterm elections this year.
A record
The Week in Short US COVID-19
COVID Oral Drug May Cause LifeThreatening Reactions: FDA PFIZER’S ANTIVIR AL OR AL
Students during class at St. Lawrence Catholic School in Miami on Aug. 18, 2021. FLORIDA
No School Closings, Florida Governor Says AS OMICRON CORONAVIRUS variant numbers rise throughout Florida, Gov. Ron
DeSantis says there is no need for “hysteria” like he is “seeing in other states.” “They’re letting hysteria drive them to doing really damaging things. We thought that people had learned,” DeSantis said of the reaction to Omicron. The governor said that in states where schools are being closed, officials are “doing things that should not be done" and "that is not the way you deal with this.” DeSantis said having kids thriving in school means a “healthier community.” FIREARMS
DOJ Announces New Rule for Firearms Sellers
drug developed to treat COVID-19 may cause severe or life-threatening reactions when used with common medications including some anticoagulants, antidepressants, and cholesterol-lowering statins, according to a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) fact sheet. Paxlovid is the first oral medication of its kind authorized by the FDA to treat COVID-19, with the aim of reducing the need for hospitalization before patients become too ill from the infection. The FDA on Dec. 22, 2021, granted an emergency use authorization (EUA) for Pfizer’s COVID-19 pill as a treatment for mild to moderate cases of COVID-19 in patients aged 12 and older. The FDA doesn’t recommend Paxlovid for those with severe kidney or liver disease. Paxlovid consists of a cocktail of two drugs, the first being nirmatrelvir, which stops the SARSCoV-2 virus from replicating, while the second component, ritonavir, acts to prolong nirmatrelvir’s effects.
THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
has announced a new rule about how licensed sellers must store firearms, set to take effect on Feb. 3. A firearm that belongs to a deputy at the Orange The new rule implements the County Sheriff’s Department Law Enforcement existing Gun Control Act require- Shooting Range in Orange, Calif., on March 30, 2021. ment that imposes strict licensing and regulation on the firearms industry, and states that federal firearms licensees that sell firearms to the general public must certify that they have secure gun storage or safety devices available. The act defines secure gun storage or a safety device as “a device that, when installed on a firearm, is designed to prevent the firearm from being operated without first deactivating the device,” “a device incorporated into the design of the firearm that is designed to prevent the operation of the firearm by anyone not having access to the device,” and “a safe, gun safe, gun case, lock box, or other device that is designed to be or can be used to store a firearm and that is designed to be unlocked only by means of a key, a combination, or other similar means.”
Paxlovid, a Pfizer COVID-19 pill, at a manufacturing facility in Ascoli, Italy, in a photo released by Reuters on Nov. 16, 2021. I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022 9
The Week in Short World OIL
OPEC+ Agrees to Increase Production to 400,000 BPD T H E I N T E R N AT I O N A L orga-
People wait in line at a walk-up vaccination site in Washington on Nov. 29, 2021. COVID-19
Omicron Spreads Faster Than Delta Within Vaccinated: Study A DA N I S H S T U DY of nearly 12,000 households has discovered that the Omicron
coronavirus variant spreads faster than the Delta variant among those who are fully vaccinated, and even moreso among those who have received booster shots, demonstrating strong evidence of the variant’s immune evasiveness. Omicron was found to evade the immunity of vaccinated individuals at a much faster pace compared to Delta, and at a higher rate than among the unvaccinated, according to the study conducted by researchers at the University of Copenhagen, Statistics Denmark, and Statens Serum Institut. “Comparing households infected with the Omicron to Delta VOC, we found an 1.17 times higher SAR for unvaccinated, 2.61 times higher for fully vaccinated and 3.66 times higher for booster-vaccinated individuals, demonstrating strong evidence of immune evasiveness of the Omicron VOC,” read the preprint of the study. SAR refers to secondary attack rate.
COVID-19 Vaccine Creator: ‘We Can’t Vaccinate the Planet Every 6 Months’ T H E C R E AT O R of one of the most wide-
ly used COVID-19 vaccines in the world has Oxford Vaccine Group Director Andrew acknowledged that it is “not sustainable” Pollard attends a news conference at Downing to continuously provide booster doses to Street in London on Nov. 23, 2020. people twice per year. Speaking to The Telegraph in an interview, Andrew Pollard, one of the creators of the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 shot, remarked, “We can’t vaccinate the planet every six months.” Policymakers should instead try to “target the vulnerable” moving forward rather than providing doses to anyone aged 12 and older, said Pollard, who is also in charge of the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization. More data should be gathered on “whether, when, and how often those who are vulnerable will need additional doses,” he added. 10 I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022
CHINA
China’s Xi Orders Military to Create ‘Elite Force’ to Win Wars CHIN E S E L E A DE R X I Jinping has delivered this year’s mobilization orders to the regime’s military, saying that it must evolve into an elite force capable of winning wars. “The armed forces must closely follow the evolution of technology, warfare, and rivals, redouble their efforts to better combine training with combat operations, and strengthen systematic training and the use of technologies to develop an elite force that is capable of fighting and winning wars,” the order said, according to state-run news agency Xinhua.
FROM TOP: JIM WATSON/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES, HENRY NICHOLLS/WPA POOL/GETTY IMAGES
VACCINATION
nization of petroleum-exporting countries (OPEC) and its oil producing allies have announced that they will increase oil production by a total of 400,000 barrels a day in February, as it appears that the Omicron variant of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus will have only a mild effect on demand and the global economic recovery. The 23-member oil cartel, led by Saudi Arabia and non-member Russia, stood by a previous decision to phase out production cuts after a slump in global demand during the pandemic. The decision would aim to reverse the deep cuts in production made in 2020, when demand for motor and aviation fuel plummeted because of the pandemic lockdowns and travel restrictions.
World in Photos
World in Photos
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1.
1. An Afghan street food vendor sits inside his illuminated stall in Kabul on Jan. 1. 2. A man runs along a flooded Mill Valley Sausalito Pathway during the king tide in Mill Valley, Calif., on Jan. 3. 3. A demonstrator looks on from behind a flaming tire at a makeshift barricade erected during a protest demanding civilian rule, in Omdurman, Sudan, on Jan. 4. Hundreds of Sudanese anti-coup protesters rallied on Jan. 4, chanting slogans against the military, as security forces were deployed in Khartoum and neighbouring cities, days after the resignation of the country's civilian premier. 4. Tourists take a selfie in front of the Eiffel Tower next to the river Seine, in Paris on Jan. 1.
2.
3.
4. I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022 11
A demonstration of a robotic arm performing brain surgery at the 2019 World Robot Conference in Beijing on Aug. 20, 2019.
WAR
BEIJING’S PURSUI
‘BR AIN CONT WE APONRY ✒ Text By Eva Fu
12 I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022
L
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: WANG ZHAO/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES, SEAN GALLUP/GETTY IMAGES, SHUTTERSTOCK
China’s communist party spends billions in bid to dominate future of warfare
AUNCHING A S SAULT S ON THE BAT TLEfield with a mere thought. Enhancing the human brain to create “super warriors.” Disrupting the minds of enemies to make them submit to the controller’s command. Once believed to only exist in science-fiction movies, the weaponization of the brain has been discussed by Chinese military officials for years. And Beijing is spending billions each year on neuroscience that could draw these scenarios ever closer to reality. “The study into brain science was born out of a vision for how the future warfare would evolve,” Li Peng, a medical researcher at a subsidiary of China’s state-run Academy of Military Medical Sciences (AMMS), wrote in an article in 2017. Such research, he said, has “an extremely strong military characteristic” and is crucial to securing a
China Military
A man wears an EEG brain scanning apparatus on his head during an experiment in Hannover, Germany, in this file photo.
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“strategic high ground” for every country. Li isn’t alone in stressing the urgency in militarizing brain science. In March, a Chinese military-run newspaper described cloud-powered artificial intelligence (AI) “integrating human and machine” as the key to winning wars. With the accelerating “intelligentization” of the military, it warned, China needs to quickly get a firm footing in this technology, and any delay “could lead to unimaginable consequences.”
‘Qualitative’ Advantage
s . n o i c t fu
n i ar b t u o
pa m o t
eHrots
According to research papers and articles in military newspapers, Chinese military officials see four areas where innovations in brain science could be weaponized. “Brain emulation” refers to the development
of high-intelligence robots that function like humans. “Brain control” is the integration of humans with machines into one, allowing soldiers to perform tasks ordinarily impossible to them. “Superbrain” involves the use of electromagnetic radiation, such as infrasonic waves or ultrasound, to stimulate human brains and activate the brain’s latent potential. The fourth, termed “controlling the brain,” is about applying advanced technology to interfere with and manipulate how people think. Two faculty members with the military-affiliated Army Medical University in a 2018 paper discussed their state-funded project researching a piece of biotechnology dubbed “psycho-virus.” Applied in the military, such a psychological weapon could help develop “super warriors” who are “loyal, brave, and strategic;” in wars, the psycho-virus could “manipulate the consciousness of the enemies, crush their will, and interfere with their emotions to make them submit to the will of our side,” the authors said. Brain scientists may also aid the recovery of handicapped soldiers and systematically elevate the health protection of military personnel, according to a 2019 article on PLA Daily, the official newspaper for the Chinese military, known as the People’s Liberation Army. While the Chinese Communist Party has been dedicated for years to “getting ahead of the biotechnology arms race,” the evolution of frontier technologies has brought added urgency, according to Sam Kessler, geopolitical adviser at North Star Support Group, a multinational risk management company. The “improbable futuristic technology that had been dreamed up in the past has now become more realistic in real-time,” he wrote in a note to Insight. “This creates little room for error as a potential loss of dominance of such technology could potentially lead to the weakening of strategic barriers if left unchecked.” Concerned about Chinese activities in biotechI N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022 13
China Military
nology, the United States in December blacklisted China’s AMMS—the country’s top medical research institute run by the Chinese military—and its 11 affiliated biotechnology research institutes, accusing them of developing “purported brain-control weaponry” to further the Chinese military. The Chinese regime didn’t comment on this aspect of U.S. blacklisting. The AMMS couldn’t be reached for comment, and China’s Ministry of National Defense didn’t return a request from Insight for comment.
“[T]he Chinese will simply maneuver a bit, change some names, and keep going fullspeed ahead on these efforts to weaponize biotech.” Grant Newsham, senior fellow, Center for Security Policy
‘A Matter of China’s Future’ The United States has been at the forefront in the field of brain technology, with the world’s largest number of research papers published on the subject. In April, Elon Musk’s neurotechnology startup Neuralink released a video showing a monkey playing computer games through a chip inserted in its brain. Synchron, a Silicon Valley developer of implantable neural interface technology, last month released seven tweets it said were sent 14 I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022
wirelessly by an immobilized Australian patient who had received the company’s chip implant, known as Stentrode. The National Institutes of Health granted Synchron $10 million last July to help launch its first U.S. human trial. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has also researched BCI for military applications, such as an “Avatar” project that aimed to create a semi-autonomous machine to act as the soldier’s surrogate. Beijing, closely tracking the developments in America, has demonstrated itself unwilling to stay behind. In January 2020, three months before Synchron began its first trial, eastern China’s Zhejiang University had completed testing of a brain implant on a 72-year-old paralyzed patient. Using his brainwaves, the patient could direct a robotic arm to perform handshakes, fetch drinks, and play the classic Chinese board game mahjong.
A woman competes during the wheelchair race at the Cybathlon Championship, the first edition of an international competition organized by ETH Zurich for physically impaired athletes using bionic assistive technology, such as robotic prostheses, braincomputer interfaces and powered exoskeletons, in Kloten, Switzerland, on Oct. 8, 2016.
FROM LEFT: MICHAEL BUHOLZER/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES, JEAN-PIERRE CLATOT/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Weeks before the move, the Commerce Department’s Industry and Security Bureau solicited public comments about a proposed rule to ban the export of brain-computer interface (BCI) technology, an emerging field that seeks to enable humans to directly communicate with an external device with just their thoughts. Such technology would provide a “qualitative military or intelligence advantage” for U.S. adversaries, such as by “enhancing the capabilities of human soldiers, including collaboration for improved decision making, assisted-human operations, and advanced manned and unmanned military operations,” the Commerce Department said.
China Military
Over the past six years, Beijing has come to see progress on brain-related research as “a matter of China’s future,” according to Chinese media reports. The country’s leading national scientific institution, the state-run Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), has poured around 60 billion yuan ($9.4 billion) annually into efforts to map out brain functions, its website shows. In September, China’s Ministry of Science and Technology opened up applications for research into the field, with an additional 3 billion yuan (about $471 million) allocated for 59 research streams. The role of brain science has been significant enough that Chinese leader Xi Jinping has identified it as a priority field of emerging technology significant for the country’s national security and for making China a central hub for the world’s cutting-edge scientific innovations. “China is closer than in any time of history to
the goal of rejuvenating the Chinese nation, and we need more than any time in history to build a world science and technology superpower,” Xi told CAS scholars in a 2018 speech.
Military ‘High Ground’ The Chinese regime is racing to close the gap with the United States in harnessing the power from this emerging technology. In terms of the volume of published papers on brain technology, China is second only to America, said Zhou Jie, a senior engineer with state-run scientific research institute China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, at a recent forum on BCI. That number grew at a pace of 41 percent over the period of 2016 to 2020, more than double the global average of 19 percent, according to a May report co-written by a Beijing-based AI robot manufacturer and a
A brain-controlled exoskeleton that would allow a disabled patient to walk again, at the biomedical research center Clinatec in Grenoble on Oct. 7, 2019.
I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022 15
China Military
A Chinese military-run newspaper has described cloudpowered artificial intelligence ‘integrating human and machine’ as the key to winning wars.
Five cloned macaques at a research institution in Shanghai on Nov. 27, 2018. Chinese scientists said the five monkeys were cloned from a single animal that was genetically engineered to have a sleep disorder, saying it could aid research into human psychological problems.
think tank advising Beijing on big data and AI. The stack of Chinese innovations on BCI has appeared to keep pace with the growing enthusiasm. AMMS, the Chinese military academy under U.S. sanctions, has been at the forefront of neuroscience research. Inventions from the AMMS and its affiliates since 2018 include various nerve signal collection devices, miniature skull implants, a remote monitoring system for restoring damaged nerves, and wearable augmented reality glasses designed for enhancing robot control, according to an open depository of patent applications. In 2019, the Institute of Military Medicine under AMMS created a brain-controlled unmanned aerial vehicle. To move the vehicle forward, an operator puts on an electrode cap and imagines moving their right hand. Thinking about feet movement would instruct the machine to descend. The AMMS’ National Defence Science and Technology Innovation Research Institute in 2021 acquired a patent for using virtual reality for spacecraft docking. The device interprets the astronaut’s brain and limb activities and converts them into orders to adjust the aircraft’s position in real-time. While a sizable portion of innovations in BCI and other fields of brain technology has potential medical use, some may also be leveraged for military purposes. One Chinese university previously touted unmanned combat via thought-controlled robots as a “high ground” in AI that China “must race to control.” “Witness more miracles with Chinese characteristics in strengthening the army,” proclaimed the National University of Defense Technology, a military academy that supplies talent for China’s armed forces, as it showed off a list of brain-controlled devices produced by the university, including a wheelchair and a car that could travel roughly 9.3 mph “on any road.” “Together, let’s change the world with our
‘minds,’” the school declared in a post on its website last November. The university didn’t respond to a request for comment by Insight by press time.
Calls for Self Reliance
Ethical Risks China has a unique advantage to help it gain a leg up in the race: its vast bank of nonhuman primates, according to Poo Mu-ming, a key figure spearheading China’s brain research at CAS. China has been the world’s top supplier for 16 I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022
FROM LEFT: STR/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES, KEVIN FRAYER/GETTY IMAGES
The Commerce Department’s blocking rules may hinder or delay Beijing in its path of advancing biotech and brain-related technologies but are unlikely to slow it down, according to Grant Newsham, a senior fellow with the Center for Security Policy and a retired U.S. Marine colonel. “The Chinese will simply maneuver a bit, change some names, and keep going full speed ahead on these efforts to weaponize biotech,” he told Insight. But the sanctions serve a useful purpose at home: “making it impossible for Americans (and others) who want to invest in and partner with the Chinese organizations to claim they ‘didn’t know’ what the Chinese were doing—or to argue that ‘it isn’t prohibited,’” he said. Meanwhile, Chinese researchers have been focused on achieving self-sufficiency in this area. In 2019, a research team at Tianjin University in northern China unveiled a “Brain Talker” chip, which, when linked to the brain through an electrode cap, could decode a user’s mind intent and translate it into computer commands in less than two seconds. Fudan University, an elite public institution in Shanghai, in January presented a remote BCI chip that can be recharged wirelessly from outside the body, avoiding potential damage to the brain. The chip consumes only one tenth of the power of its Western counterparts and costs half as much, Chinese state media reported at the time. The term “self-developed” was prominently featured in both team’s announcements and media reports. Tao Hu, associate director at CAS’s Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, said China has the potential to lead the world in the field of BCI. “China is not lagging behind foreign countries in terms of the design aspects for core BCI gear,” he wrote in a June article published on Chinese state media. He called on the country to step up resource allocation to accelerate BCI development, given the risk that the United States might block BCI exports to China.
China Military
test monkeys but stopped shipping them once the pandemic began. Poo, who in 2008 switched from mice to monkeys as the test animal at his neuroscience institute at CAS, had long wanted to utilize the country’s test animal resources to boost China’s brain research standing, according to state media reports. His team in 2017 cloned the world’s first pair of monkeys using the same method that produced Dolly the Sheep—a crucial step forward for China’s brain-related research. With the same cloning technology, Chinese scientists could mass-produce and experiment on identical monkeys, eliminating interferences to experiments resulting from individual differences in test animals, Poo told Science Times, a newspaper under CAS, in October. The AMMS has also proposed studies into building a database for an “aggressive consciousness control weapon” that targets specific spiritual or ethnic groups. Such a project was first mentioned as early as 2012 by the Institute of Radiation Medicine under AMMS. The database aimed to establish a collection of images and videos that could trigger aggressive behavior. Its proposed targets include “spiritual leaders, organizations and extreme religious groups who share the common belief, and ethnic groups who share similar traits in locations and lifestyle habits.”
Innovation in braincomputer interface and other fields of brain technology may be leveraged for military purposes.
12
INSTITUTES Concerned about Chinese activities in biotechnology, the United States has blacklisted China’s AMMS— the country’s top medical research institute run by the Chinese military— and its 11 affiliated biotechnology research institutes.
China’s more lenient ethical bar compared to the West has provided it with more leeway to gain a foothold with its BCI-related experiments that would “greatly empower them and streamline their innovations,” according to Kessler. In China, such experiments have “less red tape preventing them from using questionable testing practices,” he told Insight. “That makes all the difference in a world where one’s edge in technology and intelligence can depend greatly on how they manage their ability to stay ahead of the curve.” Asked by a journal he oversaw whether BCI technologies may one day “enslave” humans, Poo appeared undisturbed. “If we have the confidence that our society will be able to develop mechanisms to control the use of technologies for our benefits, then we need not worry about AI,” he told the National Science Review, a peer-reviewed journal under the auspices of CAS, in 2017. “Since the 1950s, many people have been worrying about the build-up of nuclear bombs and thought that we will soon be destroyed by a nuclear holocaust. But we still live quite well now, aren’t we?” Andrew Thornebrooke and Donna Ho contributed to this report. I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022 17
CRITICAL RACE THE EDUCATION
✒ Text By Bill Pan
18 I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022
The proposals and laws combating CRT don't always explicitly mention the words “critical race theory,” but instead target specific concepts and beliefs that are a part of or derived from the ideology.
In Focus Education
PHOTO BY MEGAN JELINGER/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
EORY
WHAT IT IS AND WHERE IT’S BEING BANNED
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HE PRESENCE OF CRITICAL race theory (CRT) in K–12 education has become a prominent issue in some of the nation’s recent high-profile elections. In Virginia’s gubernatorial race, Glenn Youngkin, a Republican running on an anti-CRT platform, defeated former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who insisted that CRT isn’t being taught in Virginia’s K–12 classrooms and stated that parents shouldn’t tell schools what to teach their children. An outgrowth of Marxism, CRT interprets society through a Marxist dichotomy between “oppressor” and “oppressed,” but replaces the class categories with racial groups. Proponents of CRT see deeply embedded racism in all aspects of U.S. society, including in neutral systems such as constitutional law and standardized tests, and deem it to be the root cause of “racial inequity,” or different outcomes for different races.
Is CRT Being Taught in American Schools? CRT isn’t being taught in American schools in a similar way that Maria Montessori’s pedagogy isn’t being taught in Montessori schools around the world. School administrators and teachers who endorse CRT don’t teach the college-level academic framework to young children, but incorporate its key elements into policies, training programs, curricula, teaching materials, class activities, and homework assignments. Parents Defending Education, a parent-led nonprofit organization, has documented hundreds of such cases from across the country. For example, a class of third-graders at a San Jose, California, elementary school was instructed to “deconstruct their racial identities,” then rank themselves according to “power and privilege” they supposedly possess. In an elementary school in Washington’s Bellevue School District, second-grade students were told to I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022 19
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have “explicit conversations about race, equity, and access” in an effort to help them “recognize and identify white culture.” The effort to inject CRT into the curriculum is currently being advanced under various euphemisms such as “culturally responsive teaching” and “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” according to Christopher Rufo, an author and filmmaker best known for exposing how CRT infiltrates governments, schools, and businesses. “There’s this revolving language system that they use to confuse, that they use to avoid, and that they use to obfuscate,” Rufo told EpochTV’s “American Thought Leaders” program. “They’re deploying it because they refuse to defend critical race theory on the merits, because even they know that it’s indefensible politically.”
Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed into law House Bill 377 on April 28, 2021.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum signed into law House Bill 1508 on Nov. 12, 2021.
PHOTOS BY THE EPOCH TIMES, GETTY IMAGES
How Many States Are Taking Action Against CRT? As of Nov. 22, 2021, 10 states have passed anti-CRT measures: Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and South Carolina. Arizona’s Supreme Court later overturned the CRT ban that existed as a part of the state’s 2022 budget bill, citing the state constitution requiring individual bills to encompass a single subject. The proposals and laws combating CRT usually don’t explicitly mention the words “critical race theory,” but instead target specific concepts and beliefs that are a part of or derived from the ideology. Notable exceptions are those in Idaho and North Dakota. Many state lawmakers modeled their anti-CRT measures after the Trump administration’s September 2020 executive order that banned “offensive and anti-American race and sex stereotyping” in trainings for federal agencies and contractors. That order was rescinded in January 2021 on President Joe Biden’s first day in the White House. Some legislative efforts also explicitly ban the teaching of The New York Times’ “The 1619 Project” or any curriculum based on it. Spearheaded by Nikole HannahJones, the highly controversial project consists of a series of literature that collectively portrays the United States as an inherently racist nation built upon white supremacy.
CRT bans in America: Which state is doing what? 20 I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law Senate Bill 3 on Sept. 17, 2021.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed into law House Bill 1775 on May 7, 2021.
CRT banned by law
CRT banned by state attorney general
CRT ban doesn’t apply to schools
CRT ban invalidated by courts
In Focus Education
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law House File 802 on June 8, 2021.
THESE STATES BAN CRT BY LAW:
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu signed into law House Bill 2 on June 25, 2021.
ARKANSAS— Republi-
can Gov. Asa Hutchinson on May 3, 2021, allowed Senate Bill 627 to become law without his signature. The law bans state entities, which don’t include public schools or colleges, from training employees about “divisive concepts” such as that Arkansas or the United States is “fundamentally racist or sexist.” IDAHO— House Bill
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed into law Senate Bill 623 on May 25, 2021.
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STATES
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson allowed Senate Bill 627 to become law without his signature on May 3, 2021.
As of Nov. 22, 2021, 10 states—Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and South Carolina— have passed anti-CRT measures.
377, which was signed into law by Republican Gov. Brad Little on April 28, 2021, declares that the tenets of CRT “exacerbate and inflame divisions” on the basis of sex, race, and other criteria in ways contrary to the well-being of the citizens of Idaho and the United States. The law bans public colleges and schools from directing or otherwise compelling students to “personally affirm, adopt, or adhere” to any of those tenets. IOWA— Gov. Kim Reyn-
olds, a Republican, on June 8, 2021, signed into law House File 802, which orders government agencies, including public schools, to not teach, advocate, promote, or act upon “stereotyping,
CRT banned by state board of education
Ongoing legislative effort to ban CRT
Governor call for CRT ban
Failed legislative effort to ban CRT
scapegoating, or prejudice toward others on the basis of demographic group membership or identity.” The law also says it doesn’t prevent the use of school curriculum that teaches the topics of sexism, slavery, racial oppression, segregation, and discrimination. NEW HAMPSHIRE—
A much-revised and cut-down version of anti-CRT legislation was passed as a part of House Bill 2 and signed into law by Republican Gov. Chris Sununu on June 25, 2021, prohibiting the teaching in public schools and workplaces that any individual is “inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive” or should be discriminated against on the basis of race, sex, or gender identity. The original proposal contained a provision that would ban promoting the idea that New Hampshire or the United States is inherently racist. NORTH DAKOTA— On
Nov. 12, 2021, Republican Gov. Doug Burgum signed into law House Bill 1508, a onepage measure requiring that school districts ensure “factual, objective” instruction for students and “may not include instruction relating to critical race theory in any portion” of the curriculum that they require or offer. The law defines CRT as “the theory that racism is not merely the
CRT banned by state board of education /Ongoing legislative effort to ban CRT
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product of learned individual bias or prejudice, but that racism is systemically embedded in American society and the American legal system to facilitate racial inequality.” OKLAHOMA —Under
House Bill 1775, signed into law on May 7, 2021, by Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, students attending any of the state’s public colleges and universities can’t be forced to participate in “any form of mandatory gender or sexual diversity training or counseling.” Schools are also required to not teach that any individual is “inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive” due to their race or sex. SOUTH CAROLINA —
Certain provisions added to the education section of the state’s 2021–2022 budget bill pull funding from schools using teaching and training materials that promote ideas such as that an individual is “inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive” on the basis of race or sex, or that “fault, blame, or bias” should be assigned to a race or sex. The bill became law on June 30, 2021. Bill Lee, a Republican, on May 25, 2021, signed into law Senate Bill 623, which bans schools from teaching or promoting assertions such as that “the rule of law does not exist,” “meritocracy is inherently racist or sexist,” or “all Americans are not created equal.” The law also says it doesn’t prohibit discussion of “controversial aspects of history,”
TEXAS —Republican
Gov. Greg Abbott on Sept. 17, 2021, signed into law Senate Bill 3 to replace his state’s existing anti-CRT law enacted in June 2021. In addition to the ban on concepts such as that any individual is “inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive” by virtue of one’s race or sex, the reworked measure requires at least one teacher and one administrator at each school to undergo a civics training program, and that any teacher who chooses to discuss “a widely debated and currently controversial issue” must explore that topic “objectively and in a manner free from political bias.”
22 I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022
ANTI-CRT LAW IN THIS STATE IS NO LONGER VALID
Some legislative efforts also explicitly ban the teaching of The New York Times’ “The 1619 Project” or any curriculum based on it.
ARIZONA —Gov. Doug
Ducey, a Republican, signed into law House Bill 2898 on June 30, 2021, prohibiting the use of “public monies for instruction that presents any form of blame or judgment on the basis of race, ethnicity or sex” in PreK–12 education programs and setting a $5,000 fine for violations. The Arizona Supreme Court on Nov. 2, 2021, upheld a trial court ruling that the bill was invalid, saying that the state constitution doesn’t allow bills containing multiple subjects.
“[Supporters of CRT] are deploying it because they refuse to defend critical race theory on the merits, because even they know that it’s indefensible politically.” Christopher Rufo, author and filmmaker
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TENNESSEE —Gov.
including historical oppression of a certain race or religious group, so long as they remain “impartial.”
In Focus Education
CRT is being injected into curricula under euphemisms such as “culturally responsive teaching” and “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” an expert says.
damentally racist document, or that certain races are fundamentally oppressive or oppressed. House Bill 5097 would require that the state’s model core academic curriculum content standards do not include “any form of race or gender stereotyping.” It’s almost certain Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer will veto the bills should any of them reach her desk. MISSOURI —Under
LAWMAKERS IN THESE STATES HAVE PROPOSED MEASURES TO BAN CRT: ALABAMA —Two bills
have been pre-filed for the upcoming 2022 legislative session. House Bill 8 would ban public schools and colleges from teaching CRT or punishing students for not supporting or accepting CRT concepts. House Bill 11 would require public schools and colleges to fire employees who teach CRT or “classify students based on race or sex.” ALASKA —Republican
state Rep. Tom McKay
pre-filed a to-be-numbered bill that would ban schools from allowing students to be “instructed in, adopt, or adhere to” the tenets of CRT. It would also ban the teaching of The 1619 Project. FLORIDA —Republican
state Rep. Randy Fine in September 2021 introduced House Bill 57 that would ban the use of “divisive concepts” in teaching and training in all public schools and colleges, state agencies, county, and municipal governments, and private government contractors. On Dec. 15, 2021, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis proposed the Stop W.O.K.E. Act, which would allow parents and teachers to sue schools, and employees to sue employers for trying to impose CRT or “woke” values upon them.
KENTUCKY—Bill
Request 60, a prefiled measure for the upcoming 2022 legislative session, would ban teachers from using learning materials that promote “division between or resentment of” different groups of people based on race, sex, religion, and class. It would also ban concepts such as that Kentucky or the United States are “fundamentally or irredeemably racist or sexist.” LOUISIANA —House
Bill 564, introduced by Republican state Rep. Ray Garofalo in April 2021, would prohibit all schools and colleges from teaching a series of “divisive concepts” including that racial equity should be prioritized over the equal treatment of all people.
MAINE —Republi-
can state Rep. Meldon Carmichael in February 2021 introduced House Paper 395, which would prohibit public school teachers from engaging in “political, religious or ideological advocacy” in the classroom, segregating students according to race, or “singling out one racial group of students as responsible for the suffering or inequities experienced by another racial group of students,” with penalties for violations up to and including termination of the teacher. MICHIGAN —Two
bills are currently in committees. Senate Bill 460 would ban “anti-American and racist theories” such as that the United States is a fundamentally racist nation, that the U.S. Constitution is a fun-
House Bill 952, schools and colleges could lose state funding if they implement any racial or social justice-centered curricula, including, but not limited to, The 1619 Project, Learning for Justice of the Southern Poverty Law Center, We Stories, programs by Educational Equity Consultants, BLM at School, Teaching for Change, and Zinn Education Project. NEW JERSEY—Repub-
lican state Sens. Michael Testa and Joe Pennacchio in November 2021 introduced Senate Bill 4166, which would ban key CRT concepts from being taught in the classroom, and would require public school teachers to present “materials supporting both sides of a controversial issue.” NEW YORK—Intro-
duced in August
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2021 by Republican Assemblyman Colin Schmitt, Assembly Bill 8253 is a one-page bill that would ban courses that teach students to bear collective responsibilities or feel collective guilt for actions committed previously by people of the same race, or courses that teach students to discriminate based on race. It would also ban schools from requiring students or employees to learn or study The 1619 Project. NORTH CAROLINA —
Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, on Sept. 10, 2021, vetoed House Bill 324, which would have banned public schools from teaching ideas such as that an individual is “inherently racist, sexist or oppressive” based on his or her race or sex. OHIO —House Bill
322 and 327 would prohibit public schools from teaching “divisive concepts” such as that “members of one race cannot and should not attempt to treat others without respect to race,” or accepting private funding for any curriculum that promotes those concepts. They would also ban extra credit for political advocacy work. PENNSYLVANIA —
RHODE ISLAND —The
Republican-sponsored House Bill 6070 sought to mandate that any publicly funded contract, grant, or training program to include provisions prohibiting teaching “divisive concepts” and prohibit making any individual “feel discomfort, guilty, anguish or any distress” on account of their race or sex. The bill died in committee. WEST VIRGINIA —
Under Senate Bill 618, public school teachers would be fired for teaching or training students to believe certain “divisive concepts,” but could discuss those concepts as part of a larger course of academic instruction in an “objective manner and without endorsement.” House Bill 2595 would pull state funding from schools that teach or promote “divisive acts.” WISCONSIN —Senate
Bill 409 would ban public universities and colleges from teaching students and training employees about “race or sex stereotyping.” Senate Bill 410 would prohibit race or sex stereotyping in training provided to employees of local and state governments. Senate Bill 411 would prohibit such concepts from being taught in public schools, with violations resulting in a loss of 10 percent of state funding. It’s almost certain that Democratic Gov. Tony Evers will veto these bills should any of them reach his desk.
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$5,000 FINE
sa h y e c u D g o . v o G a n z i r A es u h t g n i t b h or p w a l de ng i s n o i tc ur s n i r o f s e i n o m c i l b u p “ f o e ma l b f o mr y na st e r p t a h ,e c a r f o s i a b e h t n o e m g d u j r o 2– K-erp nix”es ro tyic n hte g n it e s d na s m rg o p n i t ac u de INSGGG a .s n o i t a l o i v r f e n i
GOVERNING BOARDS OF EDUCATION IN THESE STATES HAVE TAKEN ACTION AGAINST CRT: ALABAMA —The Ala-
bama State Board of Education in October 2021 approved a resolution to ban “offering K-12 instruction that indoctrinates students in social or political ideologies or theories that promote one race or sex above another.” FLORIDA —Under the
latest guidelines by the Florida Board of Education, CRT and Holocaust denial are deemed “theories that distort historical events” and inconsistent with the board’s approved standards. Florida teachers are also not allowed to uti-
lize materials from The 1619 Project, because it describes the American founding as something other than the “creation of a new nation based largely on universal principles stated in the Declaration of Independence.” GEORGIA —In an 11–2
vote on June 3, 2021, the Georgia Board of Education approved a resolution stating that the United States “is not a racist country” and that Georgia “is not a racist state.” The board also affirmed in the resolution that it will not support or impart any K–12 public education resources or standards that “indoctrinate students in social, or political, ideology or theory” or “promote one race or sex above another.” UTAH —The Utah State
Board of Education on Aug. 3, 2021, implemented a set of rules prohibiting teachers from promoting or endorsing ideas such as that the content of one’s character is determined by his or her race.
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
House Bill 1532 would prohibit public schools and colleges from promoting or teaching “racist or sexist concepts,” including hosting a speaker who advocates those concepts. It would also grant the state attorney general authority to investigate any complaint filed by a Penn-
sylvania resident and suspend state funding for the institution found in violation.
The CRT interprets society through a Marxist dichotomy between ‘oppressor’ and ‘oppressed,’ but replaces the class categories with racial groups.
ATTORNEYS GENERAL OF THESE STATES FOUND CRT TO BE UNLAWFUL: ARKANSAS —In an
Aug. 16, 2021, opinion, Republican Attorney General Leslie Rutledge called CRT a “neo-Marxist ideology that distorts and rewrites history,” and
that “instituting practices based on CRT, professed ‘anti-racism,’ or associated ideas” can violate federal anti-discrimination laws and the state constitution. Her opinion is non-binding and therefore doesn’t ban teaching CRT in Arkansas schools. MONTANA —Attor-
ney General Austin Knudsen, a Republican, on May 27, 2021, declared that the use of CRT and “anti-racism” is discriminatory and violates federal and state civil rights law. Any school or public workplace that
uses CRT or “anti-racist” training could lose funding and may be liable for damages.
A woman holds up a sign during a rally against critical race theory instruction in schools, at the Loudoun County Government Center in Leesburg, Va., on June 12, 2021. SOUTH DAKOTA —
GOVERNORS OF THESE STATES HAVE ENCOURAGED LEGISLATIVE ACTION AGAINST CRT:
Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican, was one of the first high-profile elected officials to sign the “1776 Action” pledge, a promise to reject progressive activism and CRT from K–12 schools in her state. On Dec. 21, 2021, Noem unveiled a one-page draft legislation that she said would block CRT as the basis of education in South Dakota colleges and schools.
MISSISSIPPI —In
his budget recommendation for fiscal year 2023, Republican Gov. Tate Reeves urges state lawmakers to pass an anti-CRT bill to “prevent these destructive lies from being taught in any classroom funded by the taxpayers.” He also proposed a $3 million investment in a “Patriotic Education Fund” to educate students on the “exceptional good” their nation has achieved.
I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022 25
4 t h A M E N DM E N T C ONCE R NS
‘Secret Spy Plane Surveillance Program’ Controversial FBI program detailed in court records
h e f b i ’s s o - c a l l e d s e c r e t spy plane surveillance program is under scrutiny in a Florida terrorism case, where the defendant has asked a federal judge to toss evidence from the bureau’s aerial surveillance activities. The FBI’s aerial surveillance program was first revealed in June 2015 by The Associated Press, which reported that the bureau maintained a civilian air force through private shell companies. The FBI admitted to the program days later. “It should come as no surprise that the FBI uses planes to follow terrorists, spies, and serious criminals,” the FBI said in a statement at the time. “Contrary to some recent media reporting, the FBI’s aviation program is not classified. Some of our aircraft are registered covertly because overt registration would put our aircraft and operations at risk of compromise.” Nevertheless, the existence of the FBI’s program sparked outrage among civil libertarians, who celebrated when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled in June that a similar program operated by the Baltimore Police Department violated the Fourth Amendment. In August, accused terrorist Muhammed Momtaz Al-Azhari asked U.S. District Judge Anthony
26 I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022
“The planes generally flew at about 10,000 feet, sometimes above cloud cover. Small, quiet, and high in the sky, the planes were barely noticeable to those on the ground.
The existence of the FBI’s aerial surveillance program has sparked outrage among civil libertarians.
Muhammed Momtaz Al-Azhari, accused terrorist
Porcelli to review the FBI’s program. According to prosecutors, Al-Azhari planned and attempted to carry out an attack on behalf of ISIS before his arrest in May 2020. Al-Azhari’s motion accuses the FBI of running a “secret spy plane surveillance program,” as described by the AP and other reports, before providing details about how the bureau’s air force was used to monitor him. Al-Azhari said the FBI’s planes would circle his Tampa home “often for hours on end.” “The planes followed Mr. Alazhari as he went about his life, for example, watching him pick up
428 HOURS
ACCORDING TO Al-Azhari, the FBI captured 428 hours of footage of him and created 935 separate videos with the planes.
FROM TOP LEFT: SAMIRA BOUAOU/THE EPOCH TIMES, SHUTTERSTOCK, ROBYN BECK/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES, U.S. DISTRICT COURT MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA TEMPA DIVISION
T
By Ken Silva
FBI Surveillance
his mail from his mailbox, watching him drive to visit his sister at her apartment, watching him visit an Urgent Care facility, and watching him check himself in for inpatient mental health treatment,” the motion reads. “The planes generally flew at about 10,000 feet, sometimes above cloud cover. Small, quiet, and high in the sky, the planes were barely noticeable to those on the ground. The FBI sometimes used multiple planes on the same day, with a new plane picking up the surveillance another had left off.”
Prosecutors said the aerial surveillance performed in this case wasn’t a search under the Fourth Amendment and that even if it were a search, it would still be legal.
Muhammed Momtaz Al-Azhari said the FBI’s planes would circle his Tampa home “often for hours on end.” According to Al-Azhari, the FBI captured 428 hours of footage of him and created 935 separate videos with the planes—violating the Fourth Amendment in the process. “This court should suppress the aerial footage and any evidence derived from the aerial surveillance because the surveillance was an unreasonable search under the Fourth Amendment,” the motion reads.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) responded to the motion on Sept. 29, accusing the defense of mischaracterizing the FBI’s aerial surveillance activities. Prosecutors said the aerial surveillance performed in this case wasn’t a search under the Fourth Amendment and that even if it were a search, it would still be legal. “The surveillance conducted in this case is not novel, nor did it involve highly invasive or extensive monitoring that would raise constitutional concerns,” prosecutors said. The DOJ also stated that FBI agents and surveillance pilots were prepared to testify to the facts, including that they only surveilled what was visible in public, unobstructed areas; that they only used one plane for surveillance at a time; and that the planes operated only in close coordination with ground surveillance. Prosecutors stated: “The last point merits further discussion. At the time aerial surveillance ramped up, the FBI had every reason to believe that the Defendant was planning an imminent attack.” They also noted that the FBI was “leaving nothing to chance.” “In short, the aerial surveillance at issue functioned as an extra set of eyes: another member of the investigative team that supported—not supplanted—the on-the-ground effort,” the DOJ stated. A hearing has yet to be scheduled for the parties to argue Al-Azhari’s motion to suppress. Additional motions have been filed in the meantime, including a request for a mental health exam, as the defense is also arguing that AlAzhari could be mentally unfit for trial. Porcelli granted the defense’s request for a mental exam on Dec. 7, finding “reasonable cause to believe that the defendant may be presently suffering from a mental disease or defect rendering him incompetent to proceed in this matter.” A status conference is set for Jan. 18.
“This court should suppress the aerial footage and any evidence derived from the aerial surveillance because the surveillance was an unreasonable search under the Fourth Amendment,” the motion reads.
I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022 27
POLITICS
BIDEN, DEMOCRATS
LOSING GRIP ON HISPANIC VOTERS Survey data show growing challenges ahead for Democrats as support evenly split with Republians now By Mark Tapscott
If recent survey results hold in the next presidential election, the 2024 outcome could reverse 2020.
S
News Analysis
hock waves are still roiling the political universe weeks after a Dec. 8 Wall Street Journal story reported new survey data showing Hispanic voters souring on President Joe Biden and being evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. The same Hispanic voters who favored Biden, a Democrat, in 2020 by a two-to-one margin over Republican President Donald Trump—then well on his way to fulfilling his 2016 promise to “build the wall” on the U.S. border with Mexico—are now split between the two parties, according to the Journal. FORTY-FOUR PERCENT said
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“STR ATEGISTS IN BOTH par-
ties have been working since the 2020 election to calculate the size of the shift among Hispanic voters to the GOP and to understand its causes. One indepth study, by Catalist, which compiles and analyzes voter data for Democratic candidates and progressive causes, found that Hispanic voters swung toward
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44%
they would again back Biden in a 2024 rematch, while 43 percent marked themselves for Trump. Those numbers indicate a 20 point drop for Biden. If they hold in the next presidential election, the 2024 outcome could reverse 2020. The same even split is seen in the Journal’s results among Hispanics regarding the two major political parties, with 37 percent identifying as Democrats and 37 percent identifying as Republicans. With Republicans already heavily favored to regain congressional majorities in 2022, an even split among Hispanics, who
normally vote overwhelmingly Democrat at the congressional level, could be disastrous for Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). The Journal survey was conducted jointly by Democratic pollster John Anzalone and Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio. Their survey interviewed 1,500 registered voters, including 165 Hispanics. The small Hispanic sample would usually be a warning to not put too much stock in the results. But the reason the shock waves didn’t subside shortly after the Journal story appeared is that data showing a dramatic shift among Hispanic voters began emerging soon after the 2020 election, and the results of more recent surveys suggest that the trend is accelerating.
Nation Elections
Mr. Trump by 8 points compared with 2016 in the two-party vote,” the Journal reported. “Shifts in some parts of the country were larger. In its analysis of the 2020 electorate, Equis Labs, which studies the Latino electorate, found swings toward the GOP of 20 points in parts of Florida’s Miami-Dade County; of 12 points in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas; and double-digit swings in parts of the Northeast. In South Florida, the shift was big enough to flip two congressional seats to the GOP, the firm concluded.” David Shor, research director of Open Labs R&D, a New Yorkbased data analysis firm, told NPR on July 11 that the 2020 elections showed a definite shift among Hispanics away from Democrats to Republicans. “BASICALLY EVERY WHER E
where there were large concentrations of Hispanic voters, there were large swings in the 6 to 9 percent range. And, you know, that ranges from the Bronx in New York to Arizona to Massachusetts to California. This was a national trend that happened basically everywhere,” Shor told NPR’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro. A more recent indicator of an accelerating trend among Hispanics away from Biden and the Democrats is seen in the most recent NPR/ PBS Newshour/Marist College Poll, which found that 65 percent of Hispanic respondents disapproved of Biden’s performance since taking office in 2021. Only 35 percent of Hispanic voters said they still supported Biden, with an unusually small 2 percent being unsure of who they would support. The Hispanic results of the Marist survey, which was conducted during the second week of December among more than 1,000 registered voters, were far from the only worries that it produced for Biden and Democrats. Among respondents making less than $50,000 annually, 57 percent disapproved of Biden, compared to 37 percent approving. The numbers for those
making more than $50,000 were similar, showing 55 percent disapproving and 42 percent approving. Similarly, 52 percent of nonwhite voters disapproved of Biden’s job performance, compared to 44 percent who approved of it. White college-educated suburban women were the only consistent Biden supporters in the survey. University of Southern California (USC) sociology professor Manuel Pastor told Insight on Dec. 29 that the trend “is definitely occurring.”
“The painting of the Democrats as socialists raises a lot of fears, not just among Cubans but also other exiles that are immigrants to Florida and Texas.” Manuel Pastor, director, USC’s Equity Research Institute “ TO SOME EXTENT, a lot of
political analysts were surprised that Trump did as well with Latinos, or Hispanics, in the most recent presidential election, especially after four years of anti-immigrant rhetoric, though that was toned down a bit in the last year,” he said. Pastor, director of USC’s Equity Research Institute (ERI), said the shift was initially attributed to Hispanic voters in Texas and Florida, particularly in areas on the U.S. border with Mexico. “The painting of the Democrats as socialists raises a lot of fears, not just among Cubans, but also other exiles that are immigrants to Florida and Texas,” he said. “In the borderlands of Texas, Hispanics are likely to have an undocumented cousin and an uncle who works for the Border Patrol, so they tend to be of two minds about how tough to be about the border.
“The Republican inroads have been a little bit stronger or more widespread than that. Latinos are still overwhelmingly Democrats, but not at the same level as black Americans are. “That’s not entirely a surprise, as Latinos have long been a constituency that Republicans could make some inroads with because of family formation and family values [and] high levels of labor force attachment, which squares with work ethic, because of high levels of entrepreneurship.” The ERI describes itself as seeking “to use data and analysis to contribute to a more powerful, well-resourced, intersectional, and inter-sectoral movement for equity.”
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ASKED ABOUT BIDEN’S HIGH
disapproval numbers, Pastor pointed to the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on the Hispanic community. “The Latino population has been super-hard hit by COVID, by the combination of the health impacts where the case rates have been much higher, and, especially, the death rates, which when you adjust for the age disparities, has been much higher than among black Americans,” he said. Lending support to Pastor’s analysis on the role of the virus is the fact that respondents rated COVID-19 as their number one concern in the most recent Ipsos-Axios Latino Poll, which was done in conjunction with Telemundo.
An even split among Hispanics, who normally vote overwhelmingly Democrat at the congressional level, could be disastrous for President Joe Biden and Democrats.
I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022 29
S OL A R POW E R
FARMERS WARY OF SOLAR ENCROACHING ON PRIME LAND
Farmers look to protect their agricultural land against solar power conversion
By Nathan Worcester
30 I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022
Energy Alternative Sources
16,000 SQUARE MILES THE DEPARTMENT
of Energy released its Solar Futures Study in 2021 that envisioned a maximum solar deployment scenario of more than 16,000 square miles.
“IT’S VERY FRUSTR ATING to try to protect your
FROM LEFT: STEVE PROEHL/GETTY IMAGES, ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
(Above) A solar farm in Gillespie, Ariz. Despite some states having relatively stringent regulation of solar energy developments, many farmers believe their lands are still vulnerable. (Top Right) A farmer in the Marvin Chapel field in Mount Airy, Md., on May 19, 2020.
farm,” cotton farmer Nancy Caywood told Insight. Caywood and her family manage Caywood Farms in rural Casa Grande, Arizona, south of Phoenix in Pinal County. She said they’re under significant pressure to sell their land to large solar companies, which are buying up parcels near their property. “It’s eyesores to me,” she told Insight. Caywood said that surveyors and other people are coming onto her family’s land without their permission. “They’re very bold,” she said, adding that she’s not sure which companies have been intruding on the Caywood property. Caywood worries about what could happen to the solar installations near her if their parent companies go under. Abengoa, the Spanish company that built Solana Generating Station near Gila Bend, Arizona, recently filed for bankruptcy. She’s also concerned that the land used for solar farms may never be able to be restored to farmland. Even now, the land her family owns close to the new solar farm is apparently being affected by the massive installation. Caywood’s son Travis measured ambient temperatures on the east end of the family’s farm that were 10 degrees warmer than the rest of the property. That portion of the property abuts a solar farm identified as Pinal Central Energy Center, LLC, which was developed by NextEra Energy Resources and was described as one of that company’s “investments in Arizona” according to a 2021 presentation by the firm. Representatives of NextEra Energy Resources didn’t respond to Insight’s request for comment by press time. Another nearby solar project, the 2,100-acre Eleven Mile Solar Center, is just across the Arizona State Route 287 from Caywood Farms. The project’s website claims it will generate more
than 900,000 megawatts of electricity per year from 850,000 solar panels. Insight also reached out to Orsted, the Danish multinational power company that is a partner in the project, for comment on Caywood’s remarks as well as the installation’s projected power output, given longstanding concerns about the real-world efficiency of solar panels. Company officials didn’t respond before press time. A spokesperson for the Solar Energy Industries Association, an industry trade organization, offered a different perspective. “Solar projects and agricultural lands are often highly compatible. Farmers and landowners can gain significant revenue for lands they are not actively farming and projects almost always are conducted to the benefit of both parties,” the spokesperson told Insight via email. The spokesperson declined to comment on the specific individual stories described in this article, stating that “we don’t know all the facts.”
Protecting Soil Caywood isn’t alone in her concerns about the use of good farmland for solar installations. Annette Smith, executive director of Vermonters for a Clean Environment, told Insight via email that the protection of prime agricultural soils has been an issue in her New England state. Vermont law now specifies that primary agricultural soils won’t cease to be defined as such when a solar installation is built on them. “My goal was to see that using prime ag land for solar should not be an opportunity to have the land ‘switched’ to commercial, industrial, or some other category simply by installing solar panels thereupon,” state Sen. Mark MacDonald, the Democratic lawmaker who drafted the language, told Insight via email. I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022 31
Energy Alternative Sources
Farmers are concerned that farmland used for solar installations may never be able to be restored to farmland.
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Many farmers are facing pressure to sell their land to major solar companies.
“We always say that when a solar company comes in and puts in their pollinator habitat, it’s three years away from becoming a patch of weeds.” Janet ChristensenLewis, owner, Puck’s Glen Organic Farm
includes 8,820 solar panels, is currently being sold to Green Mountain Power under a multidecade agreement, according to AEP OnSite Partners, which built the array. Green Mountain Power confirmed to Insight that it’s still under that power purchase agreement. Representatives of EDF Renewables didn’t respond to a request for comment by press time. Vermont is one of only 15 states with statewide solar decommissioning requirements, as described in a December 2021 report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Despite the state’s relatively stringent regulation of the energy source, Smith believes the status quo still leaves farmland vulnerable. “The state of Vermont really hasn’t done much to protect prime ag soils from solar development,” Smith said. “It’s a case-by-case basis and so far it has not been an impediment to approval, as long as it is returned to being prime ag after the project is decommissioned.” An SEIA spokesperson told Insight via email that the group supports decommissioning standards “to promote transparency and clarity while encouraging responsible development of solar projects.” “Solar developers are seeking to optimize among numerous factors including both minimizing impacts to local resources (like prime ag lands) and access to the grid. Developers will choose less productive agricultural land to avoid such conflicts,” the spokesperson wrote.
Downsides Janet Christensen-Lewis, who owns Puck’s Glen Organic Farm on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, thinks the wider public is only just beginning to grasp the downsides of solar power.
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: SHOTBYDAVE/GETTY IMGAES, FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES, CAYWOODFARMS.COM
In a telephone call, he added that the language was also motivated by prospective improvements in solar panel efficiency. “In future years, it won’t take as many acres to produce the same amount of electricity,” he said. “The dynamic over the years has changed,” Smith told Insight. She said Vermont’s Republican Gov. Phil Scott has given the state’s scientists more freedom to consider the downsides of solar projects than his predecessor, Democrat Peter Shumlin. “When Gov. Shumlin was in charge, it was ‘build everything everywhere regardless of impacts,’” Smith said. In 2014, under Shumlin, one major solar development ended up claiming what Smith called “some of the finest prime agricultural soils in Rutland County, Vermont.” Despite these concerns, the Public Service Board (PSB) granted the land to Rutland Renewable Energy, LLC, which was owned by the utility-scale solar company groSolar and has since been sold to the French firm EDF Renewables. In its decision, PSB concluded that the company’s Cold River Project “will not significantly reduce the agricultural potential of the soils found at the Project site.” The case made it to the Vermont Supreme Court, which upheld the PSB’s decision against opposition from the Town of Rutland and several neighbors. “The project site contains a variety of primary agricultural soils; the standards prohibit siting a ground-mounted solar facility on primary agricultural soils. The site has not, however, been used for agricultural production for 15 to 20 years,” Justice John Dooley noted in his opinion affirming PSB’s ruling. The power produced at the Cold River site, which
Cattle on a ranch on the outskirts of Delano, Calif., on Feb. 3, 2014.
“I think the public consciousness may have been what I was about six years ago,” she told Insight. “I just wanted to flip a light switch, totally oblivious to all of the consequences of energy production. And then when you’re faced with projects that are coming that are actually going to impact your surroundings, you take a closer look at things.” “I suspect that if you said to people in New York City that we should take Central Park, which is 800 acres, and cover it with solar panels, they would be aghast,” she said. “What they don’t realize is that 800 acres is pretty much nothing for the solar that’s being put in now. And we’re using that land.” In September 2021, the Biden administration’s Department of Energy released its Solar Futures Study, which envisioned a maximum solar deployment scenario of more than 16,000 square miles—an area slightly smaller than the states of Massachusetts and Connecticut combined. That report, like some other solar energy research undertaken in recent years, envisions the “co-location of agriculture and solar energy.” But Christensen-Lewis is skeptical that such “agrivoltaic” technology could be realized at a large scale. “You’re not going to run combines underneath—you’re never going to figure out a way to make that happen underneath solar panels.” The Solar Futures Study also emphasizes the potential of “solar-pollinator habitats,” which are intended to combine solar panels with pollinator-friendly native plants, ultimately bolstering crop yields while simultaneously producing cleaner energy. Christensen-Lewis, who already plants wild-
“It’s very frustrating to try to protect your farm.” Nancy Caywood, cotton farmer
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has statewide solar decommissioning requirements.
flowers on her organic farm to encourage pollinators, has her doubts about those habitats as well. “We always say that when a solar company comes in and puts in their pollinator habitat, it’s three years away from becoming a patch of weeds, and then they’re going to have to use Roundup,” she said. “It’s just a label—it’s just a selling point— and not necessarily a very good one.” Maryland has set the target of producing 50 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030, increasing the pressure to build more solar in the state’s rural counties. Yet development along the Eastern Shore hasn’t gone without controversy. The Maryland Department of the Environment ruled that Great Bay Solar I, LLC’s solar plant construction sites in Princess Anne, Maryland, violated multiple titles of the state’s environmental law. The department found that Great Bay Solar had disturbed nontidal wetlands at multiple sites, reaching a settlement whereby the company paid the department a $400,000 civil penalty. Christensen-Lewis was involved in a successful effort to keep a large solar farm out of Kent County, Maryland, where she believes it threatened prime farmland. Despite these victories, the outlook for many farmers facing pressure from major solar companies remains uncertain. Caywood, of Caywood Farms in Casa Grande, worries her fourth-generation farm could become “an island” surrounded by utility-scale solar. “They’re putting it [solar] out here in the rural areas, on our farmland, and in our forests,” Christensen-Lewis said. “That’s land that we see major other purposes for—for feeding people, for making sure that we have environmental protections in place.” I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022 33
JAN IN-DEPTH
A LEGACY O
✒ By Joseph M
T
he hardened-steel baton made the most disturbing sound as it bounced off Victoria White’s skull. It varied between a hollow click and a deeper snap, depending on where on her head the metal weapon made contact. “Please don’t beat her!” a man in the crowd yelled.
34 I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022
It was chaos in the West Terrace tunnel entrance of the U.S. Capitol on the afternoon of Jan. 6, 2021. Outside, thousands who had attended President Donald Trump’s “Save America” rally milled about the terrace, while groups of rioters battled police near the tunnel. An almost demonic cacophony emanated from under the tunnel arch. “I didn’t even touch you,” a woman cried.
“I need help! I need help,” a man shouted. “Stand up, dammit!” intoned a police officer in riot gear. “Get out!” boomed another. Then a blood-curdling scream, followed by the ear-splitting sound of an emergency siren. After repeatedly striking White in the head, the officer in white holstered his baton. Then he made a fist with his bare left hand and punched White in the face.
The Lead Jan. 6
NUARY 6
OF TROUBLING QUESTIONS
M. Hanneman
Demonstrators rally to protest alleged voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021.
FROM LEFT: BRENT STIRTON/GETTY IMAGES, CAPITOLPUNISHMENTTHEMOVIE.COM/BARK AT THE HOLE PRODUCTIONS
Ray Epps is seen trying to recruit men to attack the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 5, 2021. They accuse him of being a federal agent.
“Oh, no-no-no! Please! Please don’t beat her!” someone shouted, to no effect. After three full-force knuckle shots to White’s head, the officer in white paused. Then he went in for two more blows. He grabbed the hair at the back of her head and pulled it hard. White looked dazed and confused. She wore a blank stare. Another officer reached in with his baton in an appar-
ent attempt to prevent more blows. The officer in white grabbed his colleague’s arm and shoved it back at him. The almost unbelievable violence meted out on the unarmed, 5-foot-4-inch White provides a stark contrast to the often-preached narrative that Jan. 6 was strictly an insurrection carried out by mobs of Trump supporters wanting to overthrow the government.
White was a victim of brutality. Her lawyer is preparing a civil suit. Hers is one of the hidden stories of Jan. 6, exposed only after a federal judge ordered that three hours of surveillance video held by the U.S. Department of Justice be released to White’s attorney.
Political Divide Widens The voluminous media coverage in I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022 35
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36 I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022
President Joe Biden described Jan. 6 as the “worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.” The Associated Press asserted it was “the most sustained attack on the seat of American democracy since the War of 1812.” Steven Sund, former U.S. Capitol Police chief, called it “a coordinated violent attack on the United States Capitol by thousands of well-equipped armed insurrectionists.” Many Americans don’t see those words as hyperbole, insisting Trump-fueled mobs fully intended to disrupt the U.S. Congress and overthrow the federal government.
“America does not punish its citizens pre-trial. Authoritarian regimes do.” Joseph McBride, attorney
Across the political chasm are those who reject that dominant narrative, and assert that while Jan. 6 was many things, it was no insurrection. They view that characterization as a convenient way to suppress the truth. The real Jan. 6 story, they believe, remains hidden on some 14,000 hours of surveillance video from around the Capitol grounds. Portions of that video will undoubtedly be unsealed as some of the more than 725 people arrested for alleged Jan. 6-related crimes go on trial. Whatever the chaos of that infamous day is called, one thing seems clear. The full Jan. 6 story hasn’t been told. One year later, the legacy of Jan. 6 is a trail of troubling questions—the answers to which could rock American politics and deepen the divide between its citizens.
Is There Evidence of Treason or Sedition? In response to the violence at the Cap-
itol, the FBI launched one of the most sweeping investigations in its history. Agents pored over cell phone video, social media postings, surveillance video, and police bodycam footage to identify those who were at the Capitol that day. The FBI opened a national tip line and posted videos and photographs of protesters. Tips came from many sources, including neighbors and family members who turned in their relatives. Of the more than 725 people arrested over the past year, no one was charged with treason or sedition. At least 225 defendants were charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding police, including 75 who allegedly used a deadly or dangerous weapon, or caused serious bodily injury to an officer. The most common charge issued by federal prosecutors—involving 640 individuals—was for entering or remaining in a restricted federal building or grounds. About 40 percent of all those arrested were charged with impeding or attempting to impede an official proceeding—the certification of the Electoral College votes from the 2020 presidential election. Of the 165 people who have pleaded guilty to date, nearly 90 percent of the cases involved misdemeanors. The rest were felonies.
Are There Any Investigative Conclusions? House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) appointed a select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 breach and subsequent violence. That group’s work is ongoing. Preliminary findings could be made public by summer. Republican House members are conducting their own probe, but complain that Democrats refuse to cooperate or share records with their GOP colleagues. The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and the Committee on Rules and Administration, issued a report on the Capitol breach that cited a range of intelligence and law enforcement failures that enabled the violence. Among the findings in the Senate report was that neither the FBI nor the Department of Homeland Security issued formal intelligence bulletins about
FROM TOP: SAMUEL CORUM/GETTY IMAGES, COURTESY OF AARON BABBITT
the weeks leading up to the one-year anniversary of Jan. 6 demonstrates the substantial and growing divide between Americans of differing political stripes. The prevailing narrative is that supporters of Trump, whipped into a frenzy by his Jan. 6 speech at the Ellipse, descended on the U.S. Capitol in a violent attempt to upend democracy. A large crowd of Trump supporters— estimates ranged from 30,000 on the low end to 2 million on the high end—crowded the Ellipse to hear the president rail against the 2020 presidential election. Trump contended, along with millions of supporters, that widespread election fraud in key states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, Arizona, and Wisconsin had robbed him of a second term and placed Democrat Joe Biden in an illegitimate presidency. The speech started approximately an hour later than scheduled. Well before Trump concluded his remarks, a group of protesters breached a lightly guarded barrier on the Capitol’s pedestrian walkway. They quickly headed for the Capitol building. By the time the throngs of rally-goers made the long walk to the Capitol grounds, the perimeter fencing and security signs indicating the site was restricted had been methodically removed. As tens of thousands of protesters surrounded the Capitol, pockets of violence broke out. Windows were broken, and protesters climbed inside, just after 2 p.m. At other entrances, protesters found doors propped open and proceeded inside like tourists. The circumstances of the worst violence are hotly contested, but the results were real. Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt, 35, was shot and killed by a Capitol Police officer as she attempted to enter the Speaker’s Lobby. White and others were beaten by police in or near the West Terrace tunnel, attorneys say. Some 140 police were injured during battles with rioters. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick died on Jan. 7, 2021, although his death was eventually determined to be from natural causes. Capitol Police Officer Howard Liebengood and Washington Metropolitan Police Officer Jeffrey Smith—both of whom were on duty at the Capitol—took their own lives in the weeks after Jan. 6.
The Lead Education
Protesters breach the U.S. Capitol grounds in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021.
the potential for violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6. The FBI’s Norfolk field office sent out a situational information report late on Jan. 5, warning of individuals traveling to Washington for “war” at the Capitol, but the agency overall didn’t view as credible online posts calling for violence. Capitol Police didn’t have a department-wide operational plan or staffing plan for the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress, the report said. It faulted a lack of training in civil disturbances and a failure to provide basic protective equipment to rank-and-file officers.
Who Incited the Capitol Breach and Violence?
Aaron Babbitt with his wife, Ashli, who was killed at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. “She loved life,” he said.
Independent media and online sleuths sounded alarms about the presence of unindicted individuals among those who first breached the Capitol at about 12:50 p.m. These men played a central role in the breach, encouraged proI N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022 37
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testers to go to the Capitol, and directed people into the building. Yet they haven’t been arrested, indicted, or identified by the FBI as among the wanted. Who were they? A man—now known to be Ray Epps of Queen Creek, Arizona—was captured on video on Jan. 5, 2021, attempting to recruit Trump supporters to assault the Capitol the next day. “Tomorrow, we need to go into the Capitol,” Epps says, as seen in a video clip. “Into the Capitol!” A man near him says, “What?” and others are heard shouting, “No!” Then the crowd breaks into a chant: “Fed! Fed! Fed! Fed!”—accusing Epps of being a federal agent. Epps gets into verbal sparring with some of the Trump supporters. “You’re counterproductive to our cause,” one young man shouts. Epps shouts back, staying on message: “It doesn’t matter. ... That’s not what we’re here for. ... You’re getting off the subject. ... We’re here for another reason.” Another video shows Epps saying, “Tomorrow—I don’t even like to say it because I’ll be arrested,” prompting a man nearby to reply, “Then let’s not say it.” Epps responds: “I’ll say it. We need to go into the Capitol!” A young man in the crowd, wearing an American flag neck gaiter, replies, “I didn’t see that coming!” On Jan. 6, as crowds milled about the Washington Monument in long lines to get in to watch Trump’s speech, Epps could be heard shouting through a megaphone: “As soon as our president is done speaking, we are going to the Capitol, where our problems are. It’s that direction. Please spread the word!” Epps is seen again in video footage taken at the metal barricades outside the Capitol at 12:50 p.m., as a small crowd chants, “USA! USA!” He whispers something in the ear of a man wearing a backward Make America Great Again cap. A few seconds later, the young man helps push over the barricade as Epps steps back to watch. This first breach of the security perimeter was 20 minutes before Trump finished his speech. Epps is then seen sprinting with the crowd up the steps toward the Capitol. A few days after the Jan. 6 violence, the FBI placed a photo of Epps on a “Seeking Information” poster, asking for the 38 I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022
Protesters enter the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. public’s help in identifying those who breached the Capitol. He could be seen in Photograph No. 16. That photo has since been scrubbed from the FBI website. On the current list of 1,559 photographs of people the FBI wants to identify, there is no longer a No. 16. The list skips from Photograph No. 15 to Photograph No. 17. Epps hasn’t been arrested or charged. John Guandolo, a former FBI agent and counter-terrorism expert who was on the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, said he saw FBI agents dressed as protesters. “For a good portion of the day, I was with law enforcement, FBI, etcetera,” Guandolo said in an interview for the documentary “Capitol Punishment.” “Guys would walk by, and we’d look at each other and be like, ‘Two more right there. Here comes another. There’s another one.’ They were everywhere.” Revolver, an alternative news outlet, identified others around the Capitol grounds who were active participants in the breach but whose photos weren’t included on the FBI’s wanted list. One man, wearing a grey Bulwark jacket, knit cap, and sunglasses, is seen on video rolling up the green plastic fencing around the security perimeter. He pulls up the stakes and removes the “Area Closed” signs.
A man in a blue cap with a blue bullhorn is seen in multiple videos atop the media tower erected for the inauguration. Dubbed “Scaffold Commander” by online researchers, he barks out directives and encouragement for 90 minutes. “Don’t just stand there! Keep moving!” “Move forward! Help somebody over the wall!” Once the crowd filled in around the Capitol, Scaffold Commander switched gears. “We’re in! Come on! We
Ray Epps is shown at lower left on an early FBI “wanted” poster, but his photo has since been scrubbed from the FBI website.
The Lead Jan. 6
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: BRENT STIRTON/GETTY IMAGES, BRENT STIRTON/GETTY IMAGES, FBI.GOV/WAYBACK MACHINE
FBI and ATF law enforcement officers direct protesters to leave the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. gotta fill up the Capitol! Come now, we need help!” Revolver’s video investigation said that whether or not Epps and Scaffold Commander knew each other, their words and actions worked well together. “So we have Scaffold Commander directing the body of the crowd from the tower above, and Ray Epps directing the vanguard front-liners at the police line below,” the Dec. 18 story read. “Yet neither one of them has been prosecuted, nor is either presently ‘wanted’ by the FBI.” Revolver founder Darren Beattie took to Twitter to ask Epps to expose who his handlers were. “But now, it is time to think for yourself, Ray. Forget about your boat and your ranch and your grill. If you make the right move and tell the truth, you change everything,” Beattie wrote on Dec. 29. Neither Epps, the FBI, nor federal prosecutors have commented on Epps’s actions that day, on whether he worked for the FBI, or on why he hasn’t been indicted. Epps told an Arizona Republic reporter on Jan. 12, 2021, “I didn’t do anything wrong.” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) asked Attorney General Merrick Garland on Oct. 21
to dispel concerns about the Epps videos, but Garland wouldn’t comment. “You’ve said this was one of the most sweeping investigations in history,” Massie said during a public hearing. “Have you seen that video, those frames from that video?” Garland began talking about a standing practice of not commenting on investigative specifics, before Massie interrupted him: “How many agents or assets of the federal government were present on January 6th, whether they agitated to go into the Capitol, and if any of them did?” Garland’s reply: “I’m not going to comment on an investigation that’s ongoing.”
What Is the Significance of Unindicted Actors? Attorneys who represent Jan. 6 defendants say if Epps or other participants
225 DEFENDANTS At least 225 defendants have been charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding police.
were FBI informants or agents, then it blows a hole in the idea that Trump supporters were solely responsible for violence at the Capitol. Participation by government actors could legally invalidate conspiracy charges, they say. Attorney Jonathon Moseley, who represents Jan. 6 defendant Kelly Meggs of Dunnellon, Florida, a member of the Oath Keepers, issued subpoenas to Epps, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, and other men who played visible roles on Jan. 6. As Meggs’s April trial on conspiracy charges approaches, Moseley wants to know why Epps was at the Trump rally and Capitol, and whether he was working for the government. Moseley said Epps was seen at the first breach of a police line at the pedestrian walkway, about 200 yards from the Capitol building. Video shows Epps as he appears to rush the makeshift barricade erected by police, “then stops short,” Moseley said. “It’s like he’s head-faking people to rush with him, but then he never touches it,” he said. “A police officer falls—I think it may be a woman—and his immediate instinct is to go help her, and he thinks better of it and steps back. It really looks like he’s undercover.” I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022 39
The Lead Jan. 6
Moseley said the involvement of government-paid actors in facilitating or inciting the breach of the Capitol complex would create reasonable doubt in just about any of the Jan. 6 cases. “There are legal consultants who keep emphasizing that, legally, you can’t conspire with the government. So if he’s working directly or indirectly for the government, then people are innocent of the conspiracy,” Moseley said. “It’s a legal rule. If there are 10 people conspiring and one of them is with the government, not only could it be entrapment, but it also may invalidate a conspiracy.” That type of legal issue has been raised in a Michigan case in which a group of men stand accused in federal court of a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat. Defense attorneys recently filed a motion to dismiss the case, contending that government agents and informants concocted the kidnapping plan and pushed to convince the defendants to participate.
Are Jan. 6 Detainees Political Prisoners?
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Rep. Rodney Davis America, all because they supported Trump by being at the U.S. Capitol on that fateful day. During incarceration, they’ve suffered—among other things— severe beatings by guards; the denial of medical attention, including medications for chemotherapy; and refusal of food, McBride said. Christopher Quaglin, charged with assaulting police officers during the riot, suffers from celiac disease, but the jail feeds him only food with gluten, McBride said. He has been refused medical
A 28-page report issued in late 2021 by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said treatment of Jan. 6 detainees was “inhumane.”
treatment. “Yes, we are extremely concerned that he will die,” McBride wrote on Twitter on Dec. 27. Ted Hull, the superintendent of Northern Neck Regional Jail, where Quaglin is housed, said McBride’s assertions are wrong. “Regardless of Mr. McBride’s fictitious assertions,” Hull told Insight, “inmate Quaglin is and has been receiving the appropriate dietitian-designed diet consistent with his specific dietary requirements and the appropriate level of medical services consistent with his diagnosis.” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) toured the D.C. jail with Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) in November, then issued a 28-page report titled “Unusually Cruel.” The report said the conditions for the Jan. 6 detainees were “inhumane.” Couy Griffin, the founder of Cowboys for Trump who attended the Jan. 6 Trump rally and was on the Capitol grounds, never went inside the Capitol building. He was charged with entering and remaining in a restricted building, and disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building. He was arrested
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: DOCUMENT COVER/MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE, DREW ANGERER/ GETTY IMAGES, CAPITOLPUNISHMENTTHEMOVIE/BARK AT THE HOLE PRODUCTIONS
Third-world banana republics are notorious for terrible prison conditions and brutal treatment of the accused and convicted alike. Some lawyers, family members, and defendants believe the District of Columbia operates a jail that would be at home in any of those countries. The jail is sometimes called “DC-GITMO,” after the U.S.-run terrorist detention camp in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The poor accommodations at the D.C. jail have long been the subject of discussion in the nation’s capital. The Washington Post said conditions there were “deplorable,” an ironic descriptor, considering who the jail’s primary occupants are these days. The issue got national attention in 2021 because of repeated allegations of brutal, abusive treatment of men accused of Jan. 6 crimes. “American citizens are being tortured right now within five miles of the White House,” said Joseph McBride, a New York attorney who represents a half-dozen Jan. 6 defendants. “America does not punish its citizens pre-trial,” McBride wrote on Twitter. “Authoritarian regimes do.” McBride said his clients have suffered treatment that should never happen in
“Unfortunately, over the past twelve months, House Democrats have been more interested in exploiting the events of January 6th for political purposes than in conducting basic oversight of the security vulnerabilities exposed that day.”
The Lead Jan. 6
and jailed, but eventually released while awaiting trial. “I spent the next nine days in that cell in total solitary confinement. No shower, no phone, no attorney,” Griffin said in the film “Capitol Punishment.” The guards, he said, often chanted “F Trump! F Trump!” and called him an “[expletive] white cracker.” He complained about his treatment to the deputy warden, who he said told him, “The only job these guards have is to keep your chest moving up and down.” Richard Barnett of Gravette, Arkansas, faced seven charges for his alleged actions on Jan. 6, including sitting in the office chair of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, captured in a now-iconic news photograph. One day during his four-month detention, Barnett experienced tightness in his chest and arm pain. He called for
help, but the guard who responded only mocked and laughed at him. Barnett then called out to a female staff member, who said she would get help. “Richard [lay] there for a significant period of time—certainly enough for him to die,” read McBride’s report on jail conditions, which he sent to Amnesty International. After being given a medical checkup and returned to his cell, Barnett fell asleep. A guard began pounding on the glass door to his cell, jolting him awake so quickly he stood up and then fainted, hitting his head on the sink. Now bleeding from a head wound, Barnett screamed for an hour before help came, the report said. One day, Barnett’s cell door opened, and some nine officers entered, cuffing his wrists and shackling his legs. Guards violently shook him back and forth, lift-
ed him off his feet by the shackles, and slammed him headfirst into the concrete floor, according to McBride’s report, a copy of which was also sent to the American Civil Liberties Union. The U.S. Marshals Service conducted a surprise inspection of the D.C. jail facilities in October and interviewed 300 detainees. Conditions at the jail “do not meet the minimum standards of confinement,” the Marshals report said. As a result, the Marshals Service removed all of its detainees and transferred them to facilities in the federal Bureau of Prisons. This didn’t include the Jan. 6 detainees. Emery Nelson, spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons, said the agency doesn’t comment on “anecdotal allegations” or provide information about individual inmates. “The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is committed to accommodating the needs of federal offenders and ensuring the safety and security of all inmates in our population, our staff, and the public,” Nelson said. “The BOP takes seriously our duty to protect the individuals entrusted in our care.”
Who Died at the Capitol on Jan. 6?
U.S. Capitol Police detain protesters outside the House Chamber during a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.
Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd aims his Glock 22 at the window where Ashli Babbitt is about to appear.
One person was killed at the hands of U.S. Capitol Police, and police action might have contributed to the death of two others, but the four other deaths related to Jan. 6 were either from natural causes or suicides. Ashli Babbitt was shot in the left shoulder and killed as she crawled through a broken window at the entry to the Speaker’s Lobby. Ashli’s husband, Aaron Babbitt, said a careful examination of video footage from the hallway indicates Ashli was upset with rioters who smashed glass in the double doors. He thinks she panicked and sought escape through the window, only to be shot by Lt. Michael Byrd as a result. She was unarmed and presented no threat to anyone, Aaron Babbitt said. Rosanne Boyland, 34, of Georgia, died in or near the West Terrace tunnel at the Capitol. McBride says surveillance video shows Boyland was beaten by a police officer as she lay on the ground. The D.C. medical examiner ruled the death accidental: intoxication from a prescription medication. Kevin Greeson, 51, of Georgia, died I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022 41
The Lead Jan. 6
on the Capitol grounds of a heart attack brought on by cardiovascular disease, the medical examiner ruled. Benjamin Phillips, 50, of Pennsylvania, died of atherosclerosis, heart disease characterized by fatty plaques that build up in the arteries, the medical examiner ruled. Of the three police officers who died in the weeks following Jan. 6, Sicknick died from natural causes, and Liebengood and Smith died from suicide.
Did Democrats Weaponize Jan. 6?
42 I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022
ARRESTS
Of the more than 725 people arrested over the past year on Jan. 6-related charges, none have been charged with treason or sedition. “Both the Sergeant at Arms and the chief administration officer failed to produce any documents to Republicans pursuant to our requests,” Davis wrote, “suggesting that these House officers may be providing documents only to Democrats on a partisan basis.” Davis said Republicans want to know why Sund’s Jan. 4, 2021, request for National Guard support on Jan. 6 was denied, and whether Pelosi or her staff ordered the refusal. They also want to know what conversations occurred during Capitol violence on Jan. 6, when Sund again asked for National Guard help. Finally, they want to know why the select committee on Jan. 6, appointed by Pelosi, won’t examine the speaker’s role “in ensuring the proper House security preparations,” the letter said. When asked whether the speaker had responded to Davis, Henry Connelly, Pelosi’s communications director, referred
Christopher Quaglin with his wife, Moria, who fears her husband could die without medical attention in federal custody.
COURTESY OF QUAGLIN FAMILY
Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.), ranking member of the Committee on House Administration, accused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Democrats of “weaponizing events of January 6th against their political adversaries.” Davis sent a letter to Pelosi on Jan. 3, 2022, complaining that House Democrats repeatedly obstructed attempts by Republican lawmakers to investigate security vulnerabilities at the U.S. Capitol before and during Jan. 6 violence. The obstruction came through denial of House records and ignoring repeated requests for documents, Davis wrote. “Unfortunately, over the past twelve months, House Democrats have been more interested in exploiting the events of January 6th for political purposes than in conducting basic oversight of the security vulnerabilities exposed that day,” Davis wrote. Specifically, lawmakers want to know about a request that former U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund said he made to then-House Sergeant-at-Arms Paul Irving prior to Jan. 6 for “the assistance of the National Guard,” Davis wrote. Sund reported that Irving was “concerned about the ‘optics’ of a National Guard presence at the Capitol.” During violence on Jan. 6, when Sund asked about getting authorization for the National Guard, Irving responded that he “needed to run it up the chain of command,” the letter said. In February 2021 testimony before the U.S. Senate, Irving denied Sund’s claims. Republican lawmakers then requested access to Irving’s communications to substantiate that denial. Davis said he wrote to House General Counsel Douglas Letter to request those records, but Letter never replied.
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Insight to a statement issued by House Administration Committee Chair Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.). “The Ranking Member’s letter is pure revisionist fiction. The Chief Administrative Officer and House Sergeant at Arms have already notified Ranking Member Davis they are complying with preservation requests and will fully cooperate with various law enforcement investigations and bonafide congressional inquiries,” Lofgren said in the statement. From the inception of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Republican leadership discounted its work because Pelosi rejected two of the five Republicans chosen by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for the probe. McCarthy then withdrew his picks. Pelosi appointed Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) to serve on the nine-member panel. The select committee could issue at least an interim report by mid-2022 and a final report in the fall, committee sources told several media outlets. Committee chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said in December that there was no set schedule for public hearings to release the group’s findings. Insight asked the Department of Justice for comment on the presence of federal agents on Jan. 6, but didn’t receive a reply by press time. Insight contacted Epps through his business for comment, but didn’t receive a reply by press time.
P OL I T IC S • E C ONOM Y • OPI N ION T H AT M AT T E R S
Perspectives
Issue. 13
Pump jacks and wells are seen in an oil field on the Monterey Shale formation where hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is used to extract gas and oil near McKittrick, Calif., on March 23, 2014. PHOTO BY DAVID MCNEW/GETTY IMAGES
Will Americans Spend More on Gas in 2022? While the U.S. government predicts gas prices will fall below $3 in the new year, many analysts are forecasting the opposite. 47
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STOPPING THE LOOTERS— HERE AND IN CHINA 44
CHINA’S STARVATION LOCKDOWNS 45
THE LAST GREAT INFLATION 46
THE FEDERAL RESERVE’S ‘DOVISH’ TAPERING 48
I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022 43
THOMAS MCARDLE was a White House speechwriter for President George W. Bush and writes for IssuesInsights.com.
Thomas McArdle
Stopping the Looters—Here and in China Can federal regulations really dry up the demand for stolen goods?
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ig brick-and-mortar retailers including Best Buy, Home Depot, and Target are backing a curious strategy against the organized smash-and-grab looting going on during the Christmas shopping season in cities such as San Francisco and Chicago that are run by Democratic mayors and district attorneys who won’t prosecute robbers. They’re calling for the passage of bipartisan legislation that promises to “expose criminals who are selling consumers stolen, fake and dangerous products.” “The Integrity, Notification, and Fairness in Online Retail Marketplaces for Consumers (INFORM Consumers) Act,” sponsored by the Democratic chairwoman and her ranking Republican colleague on the consumer protection and commerce subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The idea is that if you know goods are stolen or counterfeit, you won’t buy them. Can federal regulations really dry up the demand for stolen goods when people see the massive discounts, and are inclined not to ask questions? Last year, the editor-in-chief of tech news website Lifewire.com, Lance Ulanoff, pointed out that stolen goods being sold online already aren’t that difficult to identify—prices that are too good to be true, inaccuracies and misspellings in descriptions, amateurish graphics, and sellers’ anonymity being obvious clues. Moreover, the resale sites themselves profit, and therefore, have an interest in turning a blind eye to the goods’ origins. So it’s peculiar to hear Brian Dodge, president of the Retail Industry Leaders Association, earlier this month tell Fox News that the INFORM Consumers Act is “the solution that exists.” When asked by Fox’s Neil Cavuto if the “federal solution” that he’s “committed to” includes “more police” and “funding for more guards,” Dodge claimed that “the solution here is not necessarily focused on the police
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side,” although he conceded that “there’s obviously work to be done there.” But for big retailers, Dodge says “the solution is to take away the easy access that criminals have to unsuspecting buyers.”
Instead of blaming consumers for being seduced by low prices, retailers must support real measures against Beijing’s criminality— before it’s too late. Dodge said that “there used to be a time where criminals or thieves would steal products and the only way they could sell them was in a dark alley,” while today, they do it online. Not surprisingly, he made a point of naming the personification of “online,” the archrival of his organization’s members: Amazon. Still, let’s not let Amazon off the hook. The online giant may now back the INFORM Act (with future changes “to further strengthen the bill”), but in June, Amazon used its clout to kill INFORM as part of a bipartisan proposal aimed to rein in China economically and militarily. Which brings us to the world’s biggest looter, and most notorious criminal reseller of products belonging to others. The regime in Beijing encourages and facilitates the theft of U.S. intellectual property, that property’s replication, and the displacement of the legitimate American sellers in the Chinese domestic market, then finally their displacement in the global market. China’s People’s Liberation Army and its Ministry of State Security are also heavily involved. The widespread propagation of the evidence that this is happening simply won’t stop Western consumer demand for cheap Chinese products. Americans and Europeans are already inundated with the horror stories of slave labor,
human rights violations such as the bloody persecution of the Uyghurs, and the Chinese regime’s objectives in overtaking the United States as the world’s preeminent superpower. While technology, of course, is the most serious economic sector in mainland Chinese theft, consider a more mundane example. Amazon offers the impressive Sonnet model fountain pen in “Red Lacquer with Gold Trim” by the longstanding pen manufacturer Parker for a price well over $100. Go to eBay, however, and the same product is apparently available for under $9. Then, a near-to-identical version from mainland China with another brand name can be purchased on Amazon for under $6. In this case, the product description celebrates the pen being “inspired from the long history and splendid traditional culture of China, which contributes to the fine artistic elements and design concept.” No hiding the product’s origins is necessary. There are YouTube videos by fountain pen aficionados comparing the real Parker, the counterfeit, and the copycat with a different brand name, coming to the conclusion that the quality is not all that far apart on the three offerings. So, when a consumer has the opportunity to save more than $100 for a status symbol that has a good chance of fooling those he seeks to impress, how often will ethical qualms get in the way? It’s clear that only holding thieves in U.S. cities responsible for their thievery by applying the law will deter them. In the same vein, stopping Beijing’s economic warfare against the free world requires approving laws that go beyond tariffs, keeping their products out, and ending Americans’ dependency on them. Instead of blaming consumers for being seduced by low prices, retailers must support real measures against Beijing’s criminality—before it is too late, as we watch communist China’s global rise.
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.
Anders Corr
China’s Starvation Lockdowns Draconian social distancing gets worse due to Omicron
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e i j i n g’s c ov i d -1 9 strategy–known as “COVID Zero”—is getting increasingly draconian and arbitrary as the SARS-CoV-2 virus mutates to become exponentially more transmissible. The measures include mass testing, surveillance, quarantines, driving, flight, and border controls, disinfectant trucks, and aggressive contact tracing. Reports of starving residents in lockdown are coming from Xi’an city, while “buffer zones” with increased restrictions are announced around the country in border regions. On Dec. 28, the regime restricted entry into Beijing for anyone who had visited a border county over the previous two weeks, including from counties with no cases. In Jingxi, on the border with Vietnam, four COVID “rule-breakers,” who allegedly transported illegal migrants, were reportedly marched through the city on Dec. 28 holding their own photos in a “walk of shame.” In a video, the four wear white hazmat suits and are flanked by two police officers each. Following and surrounding the suspects are dozens of police in black, some wearing riot gear. The COVID Zero strategy, for all its social and political faults, might have worked against the less-transmissible Alpha and Beta variants, if Beijing’s self-reporting is to be believed. But the more contagious Delta variant is straining the system, and Omicron, which spreads 70 times more quickly, will likely destroy it. Globally, COVID cases increased 11 percent in just one week in late December, according to the World Health Organization. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) must choose: maintain its strict lockdowns, or rapidly immunize its population with more effective Western mRNA vaccines. Lockdowns are likely to fail against
Omicron, and mRNA immunizations will take time. Ending lockdowns before mRNA vaccinations could allow Omicron to sweep through the population with the risk of millions of deaths. There’s no good solution for the hostages that China calls its citizens.
China’s political reaction to Omicron is likely to get much stronger as the variant evades controls and expands rapidly in the population. COVID Zero is already causing some reports of “starvation” in Xi’an, where The Sun reported that residents are locked down until their mass test results come back negative. Some lack the ability to shop and are using social media to beg neighbors for food. China has stockpiled 1.5 years’ worth of grain and bean reserves from international markets, which could help it extend lockdowns. But China’s sudden purchases are causing famines in other parts of the world. China currently has 18 percent of the world’s population, but 69 percent of the world’s maize reserves. Even so, residents in Xi’an have noted that China’s grain reserves aren’t reaching their bowls. While the latest variant, Omicron, is as much as 25 percent less likely than Delta to cause hospitalization for those with vaccines or prior infection, according to a British study, that drops to 11 percent for those without protection. Tragically, Chinese vaccines are relatively ineffective, including against Omicron. While China licensed the more effective Western vaccines that use mRNA technology, “Beijing has yet to approve them for domestic use, waylaid by what would appear to be technological nationalism and misplaced pride,” according to Howard W. French,
writing in the World Politics Review. French noted that Beijing’s “stringent policies ... have had the extra benefit [for the CCP] of increasing political control, a permanent aim of the country’s authoritarian system.” China’s political reaction to Omicron is likely to get much stronger as the variant evades controls and expands rapidly in the population. On Dec. 21, a Delta flight turned back over new cleaning rules imposed by Shanghai. The rules, apparently announced mid-flight from Seattle, require significantly more ground time, and are without a grandfather clause. The new procedures “are not operationally viable,” according to the airline, and also redundant, according to reports. Xi’an, with a population of 13 million, is locked down and has undergone mass testing five times. Residents aren’t allowed to drive, and all domestic flights are banned. Yet the city still identifies approximately 150 infections per day, up from a few dozen in early December. These are extraordinarily low numbers relative to the spread outside China. But almost none are the more transmissible Omicron variant, which apparently has yet to take hold in the country. If Xi’an’s lockdown isn’t enough to stop the Delta variant from its slow burn, it will do even less against Omicron. The human costs of Beijing’s failed strategies against COVID are global and mounting, from the early coverup to the ineffective vaccines, lockdown strategy, and grain hoards that are causing famines internationally. The CCP must put its pride aside and rapidly vaccinate China’s population with the most effective mRNA vaccines. Lacking such a plan, it seems that the tough measures seen in Xi’an and Jingxi will only expand, with draconian effect on what freedoms Chinese citizens have left, and a rising risk of starvation in China and the world’s developing countries. I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022 45
MILTON EZRATI is chief economist for Vested, a contributing editor at The National Interest, and author of "Thirty Tomorrows" and "Bite-Sized Investing.”
Milton Ezrati
The Last Great Inflation
Much of what caused the inflation of the ‘70s is repeating
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ith inflation in the headlines, a look back at the last experience might offer needed perspective. There is no claim here that history repeats exactly. Rather, a look back offers ways to dispel nonsense and identify what is important. The Arab oil embargo of 1973 dominates most references to the last great inflation. No doubt oil played a role, but problems appeared long before the embargo. Inflation began to build in the second half of the 1960s. After years of barely any inflation, consumer prices by 1966 were rising at a 3.5 percent annual rate and then built on themselves so that by 1969, they were rising at a 6.0 percent rate. This initial price pressure had two clear roots. One was the strain President Lyndon Johnson had placed on the federal budget and the economy by simultaneously pursuing a war in Vietnam and a domestic war on poverty. Second was the willingness of the Federal Reserve to accommodate the government’s credit needs by creating a powerful flow of new money. The broad M2 measure of the nation’s money supply rose a rapid 8.0 percent a year on average during this time. In 1969, when Richard Nixon took over from Johnson, he continued to spend freely, even though the war in Vietnam had begun to wind down. Nixon added a new inflationary factor to the mix in August 1971 by ending the dollar’s convertibility to gold. This move destroyed the fixed exchange rate system that had prevailed for decades. The dollar fell on global exchange markets, adding directly
46 I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022
to American living costs by raising the prices of imports. More fundamentally, the break with gold removed any restraint on the Fed’s ability to create new money. Growth in the country’s money supply soared at rates approaching 12 percent a year on average between 1971 and 1973. Along with federal spending, it boosted buying pressure and added to the inflationary trend, bringing the rate of price increases up quickly from a brief pause during the mild 1971 recession toward the old highs.
Policymakers recently promised a more restrictive monetary posture, but announced plans for only the most gradual of moves. Oil entered the picture in 1973. By then, the members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) had begun to chafe over how the American inflation was eroding the real value of their product. While other prices were rising, oil, set by U.S. interests, had held at a relatively steady $25 a barrel. OPEC took control of pricing by imposing an embargo on oil sales and then quadrupled prices. The Fed responded by pouring still more money into the economy. The broad money supply jumped 14 percent in 1974. The Fed intended this to ease the economic strains of high oil prices, but the added money mostly extended and enlarged the immediate inflationary impact of the one-time jump in oil prices. By early 1975, inflation was running at more than 11 percent a year.
By 1979, consumer price inflation verged on a rate of 14 percent a year. The economic harm had become widespread. By skewing notions of value, inflation had destroyed wealth and distorted incentives, retarding the capital spending that would otherwise have fostered growth. With the Fed accommodating inflation, all expected it to continue. Workers made wage demands on the expectation of rapid increases in the cost of living, and managements granted them on the expectation that they could easily raise prices to more than offset the impact on the bottom line. This so-called wage-price spiral gave inflation a life of its own, even as workers fell further and further behind. All suffered. The end came when a new Fed chairman, Paul Volcker, refused to validate the inflation as the Fed had previously done. He cut the pace of money growth. Without a ready source of Fed-provided liquidity, interest rates spiked upward. The 10-year Treasury yield briefly hit 16 percent, and shortterm rates touched 21 percent. Painful as these responses were, the Fed’s actions broke the inflationary spiral. By 1983, some 18 years after the process had started, consumer price inflation had fallen below 3.0 percent a year. Though much today is different, much also looks like this past. Washington is spending even more aggressively than it did 40 to 50 years ago. The Fed similarly has also pursued an expansive monetary policy. Policymakers recently promised a more restrictive monetary posture, but announced plans for only the most gradual of moves. The U.S. economy may get lucky, but the picture looks disturbingly like it did last time.
EMEL AKAN is a senior reporter for The Epoch Times in Washington, D.C. Previously she worked in the financial sector as an investment banker at JPMorgan.
Emel Akan
High Gas Prices: Here to Stay? Demand has outpaced supply since the third quarter of 2020
mericans are expected to spend more on gas in the new year if Wall Street predictions play out. While the U.S. government says gas prices will fall below $3 per gallon in 2022, many analysts are forecasting the opposite. With strong global demand and “underinvestment” in the oil and gas sector, prices at the pump are likely to continue their upward march in 2022 and even in 2023, further fueling inflation. Despite the recent slump in oil prices because of fears over the Omicron coronavirus variant, both international benchmark Brent crude and U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose by more than 50 percent in 2021, closing the year at about $80 and $76 per barrel, respectively. JPMorgan analysts are predicting that Brent crude prices will hit $125 per barrel in 2022 and $150 in 2023. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia (OPEC+) oil cartel has limited capacity to boost production, Christyan Malek, JPMorgan’s head of oil and gas research, wrote in a recent report. “OPEC+ is not immune to the impacts of underinvestment,” the report reads. Goldman Sachs is also maintaining its bullish stance on oil. Damien Courvalin, head of energy research at Goldman Sachs said oil prices could hit $100 in 2023 if supply can’t keep up with strong demand. According to Courvalin, output growth is hindered by challenges, including cost inflation and more expensive financing as investors steer capital away from fossil fuels. Francisco Blanch, Bank of America’s head of global commodities, also predicted that Brent crude oil could shoot
Despite the recent rally in oil prices, domestic producers are in no rush to pour money into drilling new wells. up to $120 per barrel in June 2022. These projections shouldn’t come as a surprise. Industry executives have been ringing alarm bells for months about the massive underinvestment in the oil and gas sector. Global upstream—exploration and production—investment in the sector in 2021 sank to nearly $350 billion for a second consecutive year. This was 25 percent lower than 2019 levels, according to a recent report by International Energy Forum. Meanwhile, demand for oil and gas has neared pre-pandemic highs. Investments in oil projects in the United States have also dipped, mainly due to uncertainties around the country’s transition to clean energy. U.S. oil production still stands 1.4 million barrels per day below its pre-pandemic level of 13 million, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). This has left oil imports from Russia to fill the void. Demand has outpaced supply since the third quarter of 2020. If this trend
continues, the world will head for an energy crisis, critics say. They blame governments for pursuing an abrupt end to fossil fuels and have even likened their efforts to the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. But the U.S. government is confident U.S. producers will pump more oil in 2022. The domestic crude oil production will reach 12.1 million barrels per day toward the end of 2022, according to EIA’s predictions. This may relieve the price pressure at the pump. The government agency is forecasting the average gasoline retail price to fall to $2.88 per gallon in 2022 from the current level of $3.28. However, U.S. shale producers have been hesitant to invest in production, despite high oil prices. In 2021, many used their cash flows to reduce debt or reward shareholders via dividends or share repurchases instead of reinvesting in operations to grow oil output. U.S. energy independence was the result of the shale revolution, which enabled the country to significantly boost its production since 2008. The shale boom made the United States the world’s largest oil and gas producer and a leading exporter of the fuels. Before the pandemic, however, many producers were under significant financial distress, as most were debt-ridden. The low oil prices hurt their cash flows and pushed some of them to the brink of bankruptcy. Despite the recent rally in oil prices, domestic producers are in no rush to pour money into drilling new wells, as they have been discouraged by the Biden administration’s climate policies and Build Back Better plan, according to Jerry Simmons, president of the Domestic Energy Producers Alliance. It’s unclear whether U.S. oil producers will slowly pump more oil as the year progresses, but they’re most likely to be in the driver’s seat in 2022. I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022 47
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.”
Daniel Lacalle
The Federal Reserve’s ‘Dovish’ Tapering
The US central bank has once again exposed why the dollar is the world's reserve currency
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n f l at i o n h a s s k y rocketed, and aggressive monetary policy is the key factor in understanding it. I already explained it in my article “The Myth of Cost-Push Inflation.” The Federal Reserve has finally recognized this and has made a U-turn to its policy of keeping buybacks and rates low. The Fed now expects core inflation to remain above 2.7 percent in 2022 (previously, it expected 2.3 percent) and that it will be above 2 percent in 2023 and 2024. That means the consumer price index will probably remain above 4 percent in that period. Considering that it will close the year above 6 percent, we’re talking about inflation of more than 14 percent in three years, a great risk to the recovery, real wages, family savings, and investment. The Fed has at least acted and will reduce its monthly sovereign bond purchases by $20 billion and mortgage-linked assets by $10 billion by 2022. In addition, it will accelerate the rate increases to three moves in 2022, three in 2023, and two in 2024 to reach a 2.1 percent reference rate in 2024. It’s still a modest reduction for the magnitude and scope of an overly aggressive and even counterproductive stimulus program that has been active for too many years, since no one can understand what the Fed is doing buying mortgage-linked assets with the real estate market at its highest or raising rates to 2.1 percent with core inflation above 2 percent during 2022–2024. The central bank will continue to purchase up to 50 to 60 percent of net Treasury issuances into 2024 and keep rates below target inflation—a very “dovish” tapering. But the Fed is doing something
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The Federal Reserve has once again exposed why the dollar is the world's reserve currency and why no one should copy the central bank's policy without the global demand for currency enjoyed by the dollar. The Fed can afford a sharp change in monetary policy and to see how the markets reward it and attract more demand for dollars. The euro doesn’t have that luxury. more important and key: It’s generating much greater demand for dollars and absorbing savings from the world into the United States, by making the traditionally safest investment (the U.S. 10-year bond) more attractive to global investors. The Fed has taken the reins again and left the European Central Bank (ECB) with a changed pace and wrong policy. Despite runaway inflation that’s the highest in three decades in
the euro area, the ECB is maintaining its extremely aggressive monetary policy, negative rates, and bond purchases that account for 100 percent of the net issuance of the member states. The ECB is caught between a rock and a hard place because it can’t take decisive action as states have become accustomed to the unprecedented monetization that has led the ECB’s balance sheet to be 81 percent of eurozone GDP compared to 37 percent for the Fed with respect to U.S. GDP. If the ECB reduces its so-called expansionary policy, states such as Spain or Italy will not be able to withstand the slightest rise in borrowing costs. On the other hand, if the ECB maintains a huge buyback program and negative rates, the inflation tax and stagnation may condemn the eurozone to a stagflation that some countries have already experienced in the past. The ECB has launched into the Japanization of Europe, and now, it can’t back down. The Federal Reserve has once again exposed why the dollar is the world’s reserve currency and why no one should copy the central bank’s policy without the global demand for currency enjoyed by the dollar. The Fed can afford a sharp change in monetary policy and to see how the markets reward it and attract more demand for dollars. The euro doesn’t have that luxury. The ball is now in the court of Christine Lagarde and the ECB: Will it choose to continue inflating the bubble of debt and wasteful spending of deficit-laden and fiscally irresponsible states, or will it choose to regain monetary sanity and avoid stagflation? I hope, for our sake, it chooses the latter.
Fan Yu
FAN YU is an expert in finance and economics and has contributed analyses on China's economy since 2015.
Beijing Expands Domination Over Companies With a golden share, the CCP has de facto control over companies
estern finance experts used to recognize two categories of Chinese companies: stateowned enterprises and privately held (including publicly traded) enterprises. That distinction is increasingly passé. Soon all Chinese companies—no matter their legal and financial ownership— could effectively become state-controlled. Reuters recently reported that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is expanding its use of so-called “golden shares.” Golden shares are a nominal financial ownership stake in a private company, say 1 percent, sold to a CCP state-owned organization. The organization purchasing the stake could be a local or provincial government organization or a state-owned investment group. Despite such small outlays, “golden shares” grant the CCP a seat on the board and veto rights over key business decisions. With a golden share, the CCP has de facto control over companies. We can argue over the practical difficulties of managing so many private companies, but make no mistake, the CCP will have the final say over all business matters if it so chooses. The Party may or may not care to meddle in daily operations, but would have the final say if it wishes to invoke it. This changes the calculus once again for U.S. investors owning Chinese stocks. We’ve argued that investors must scrutinize their Chinese stocks with a different lens than U.S. stocks— if they choose to own Chinese stocks at all—and this latest governance overreach pushes Chinese stocks further into “speculative” territory. “Golden shares” were first reported after ByteDance (TikTok’s Chinese parent company) disclosed that it had sold such a stake to a CCP-affiliated entity— more than 1 1/2 years after the fact. Reuters reported that Chinese trucking
Going forward, Chinese companies will maximize the interests of the Party, its apparatuses, and so-called national security. Real shareholders will be relegated to silent partners. technology platform company Full Truck Alliance Co. recently sold a “golden share” to China Internet Investment Fund, which is backed by the regime’s internet regular. Ride-hailing firm DiDi and music streaming service Ximalaya are both reportedly negotiating the sale of “golden share” stakes to state-owned entities. Thus far, just a few firms have sold or are reportedly selling “golden share” stakes. All appear to be technology firms managing tons of user data. We can infer that it’s only a matter of time before all data-rich tech firms receive phone calls from the CCP about selling “golden shares.” Looking beyond tech, all consumer-facing companies are potential agencies of the CCP. Its theoretical scope is limited only by the CCP’s imagination, its ability to execute, and available resources. In my last column, I suggested that the entire Chinese private sector is potentially at the disposal of the CCP in
a time of need, though execution could be hampered by practical logistics and bureaucratic inefficiency. Now holding “golden shares” in every conceivable Chinese private enterprise suddenly solves many of these challenges. Let’s explore a recent manifestation of how this could play out. Tech conglomerate Tencent Holdings was recently forced to sell a 15 percent stake in e-commerce giant JD.com. While Tencent claimed that the sale was voluntary and Wall Street analysts twisted themselves into a knot writing that it was somehow a “good move” for investors, this was a Beijing directive. Tencent holds minority stakes in a variety of successful Chinese technology startups, including Meituan, Pinduoduo, and Kuaishou, among others. Will it be compelled to sell its other stakes? Time will tell. We don’t know if Tencent has issued “golden shares,” but what transpired is similar. The CCP’s goal is to box in tech giants to limit their power and influence and reduce their inter-dependencies. If companies become too powerful and independent, they become less deferential to the Party and harder to rein in (e.g. Alibaba and Jack Ma). But Tencent management and shareholders should be livid. Ownership in other startups is a hallmark of Tencent’s success, and its participation in other fast-growing firms is leverage for future growth. In other words, it’s good business. The “golden share” will instead handcuff companies, who no longer work to further their own interests or the interests of their shareholders. The mantra of “maximizing shareholder value” no longer applies. Going forward, Chinese companies will maximize the interests of the Party, its apparatuses, and so-called national security. Real shareholders will be relegated to silent partners. It’s always been this way to an extent, but the CCP’s intentions are now clear as day. I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022 49
JEFF MINICK lives and writes in Front Royal, Va. He is the author of two novels, “Amanda Bell” and “Dust on Their Wings,” and two works of nonfiction, “Learning as I Go” and “Movies Make the Man.”
Jeff Minick
The Best Kind of Tough Triumphing over hardship, the warrior way
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om et i m es, w e find inspiration and sound advice in unexpected sources. Prompted by a friend, I recently read Jocko Willink’s “Way of the Warrior Kid III: Where There’s a Will ... ” In this novel for adolescents, which is directed especially at boys, we meet Marc, a seventh-grader who’s having problems adjusting to Danny, a new kid in Marc’s circle of buddies. The trouble is that Danny, who’s always smiling and wants to be a friend, can best Marc in all sorts of athletic and academic contests. Marc’s Uncle Jake, a wise ex-Navy SEAL, takes his envious nephew under his wing, as he has in the two earlier novels, and adds to the Warrior Code that he has already taught Marc by pointing him in the direction of comradery, compassion, and understanding. Though Willink is unfamiliar to me, many of my readers have doubtless listened to his podcasts or read his books for adults on stamina and leadership. Disgruntled with what contemporary children’s literature was offering to his own kids, Willink, himself a former Navy SEAL, embarked on a crusade to inspire younger readers, as an Army recruiting slogan once put it, to “be all you can be.” As I read “Where There’s a Will,” it struck me that Willink’s advice for adolescents might prove to be worthwhile for adults as well. Here are just a few of the precepts of the Warrior Kid Code as compiled by Marc: “The Warrior Kid wakes up early in the morning.” “The Warrior Kid studies to learn and gain knowledge and asks questions if he doesn’t understand.” “The Warrior Kid trains hard, exercises, and eats right to be strong and fast and healthy.” “The Warrior Kid works hard, saves
50 I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022
Few of us would meet the criteria required to become Navy SEALs, but all of us can adopt a warrior’s code. money, is frugal and doesn’t waste things, and always does his best.” “I am the Warrior Kid and I am a leader.” Now there’s a code that goes to the very heart of self-improvement, and it’s not just some syrupy nostrums pumped out to inspire kids. By now, most of us are aware that hard times have arrived in our country. Gas and food prices are skyrocketing. Rents, mortgages, and the price of a new car—or a used pickup truck, for that matter—are through the roof. And depending on where we live, goods in our local shops and even in the big box stores may be in short supply. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to linger, and the dark winter predicted by some is now upon us. Sometimes, life these days can look pretty bleak. That means it’s time to be tough. It’s time to be the best
kind of tough: hard on the outside and compassionate within. Whatever our status—parents, grandparents, relatives, or mentors such as coaches and youth group leaders—we need to teach our young people to face the world squarely just as it is, shoulders back and heads erect, strong and defiant in the face of hardship. We need to teach them the importance of self-reliance, self-sacrifice, duty, and responsibility. Just as importantly, we need to make that we exhibit these same positive character traits ourselves. To face our present trials, we must rely on our inner resources—an understanding of virtue, an acquired strength of mind and body, and a willingness to sacrifice ourselves for our family and friends. And all of us moms and dads, family members, and mentors need to act as leaders for those we love and cherish. Few of us would meet the mental and physical criteria required to become Navy SEALs like Jocko Willink, but all of us can adopt a warrior’s code, a set of high standards and solid principles that will give us the strength not only to survive hardship and tribulation, but to triumph over them. Let’s make 2022 the Year of the Warrior.
Profile Supporting Pregnancy
Helping Young Women Keep Their Babies By Patrick Butler
FROM TOP: COURTESY OF LIVING ALTERNATIVES, THE EPOCH TIMES
T
he key to volunteering is perseverance, said Bev Kline, director of Living Alternatives, a nonprofit organization in Tyler, Texas, focusing on pregnant young women. This is especially true, she said, if one is going to be a “full-time” volunteer, as she was when she started “LA” in 1982. “A lot of people volunteer a couple or four hours a week,” she said, “and that’s OK. But if you want to actually start something and sustain it, it will take lots of time and perseverance through the good and difficult moments—and there are plenty of both!” Kline has seen her effort to help a single girl in 1982 blossom into a fulltime outreach to pregnant girls, serving more than 1,500 clients in 2021. The beneficial results of perseverance have been many, she said. “I started out buying home pregnancy tests for under a dollar,” she said, “and just kept going from there. Now we have a fully equipped mobile pregnancy center going out every week to cities all across East Texas.” Her model, built completely from the needs of girls who came for help, attracted attention from an international pregnancy outreach. A representative from Heartbeat, based in Columbus, Ohio, visited Living Alternatives in 2017. “When he saw what we were accomplishing, he said, ‘How are you doing this? You’re living the dream! This is the kind of thing we want to see reproduced in the whole country.’” In January 2020, Living Alternatives opened a newly built, two-story 6,000-square-foot pregnancy resource center called Axia, complete with free ultrasound testing, said Stephen Settle, the center’s director. Counseling and testing by volunteer nurses, a baby store, day care, and parenting classes for men and women are available. Girls coming to Axia are assigned a
nurse, along with a mentor, on day one. They stay with the girl until the baby comes to term, then continue with the mother until the child turns 1.
“If you want to actually start so mething and sustain it, it will take lots of time and perseverance through the good and difficult moments.” Bev Kline, director, Living Alternatives
The new facility, located directly across the street from Tyler Junior College, is debt-free. Everything was paid for by the generous donations of volunteers. No government support was involved, Settle said. Living Alternatives owns the property. “The Axia building wasn’t just the result of cash donations,” Settle said. “The materials and installation of our parking lot, for instance, were donated by local contractors. There are many instances of donations such as that.” But at the heart of Axia are its part-time and full-time volunteers and a handful of paid permanent staff, including Settle, coupled with perseverance, Kline reiterated. She explained how she could still be a full-time volunteer. “That’s someone who is not paid, per se, by a regular paycheck,” she said. “Money to live on comes from individuals who believe in what you are doing. That kind of life is not for everyone, but it was the way I could start and go for so long.
“I’m 72 now, and it’s still working,” she said with a laugh. “I still pay taxes, but the income can be irregular.” An outreach to pregnant girls hadn’t been her goal in life, she said. “That happened completely by circumstances. I met a girl who was in need, had nowhere to go, was alone, hurting, and vulnerable, and I took her in. “Because of her need, I told some people, ‘I need some things to help this girl,’ and that’s how it started. Then another girl came and needed something different, and that led to something else. “That’s how we still do it today, rather than build a structure first that offers services, we develop our services from the needs that come to us, and if you persevere, God is faithful to provide the rest.”
I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022 51
Nation Profile
THOUGHT LEADERS
BROKEN ELECTIONS How prevalent is election fraud in the United States, and what can be done about it?
T
he Pew Research Center,” says John Fund, “estimates that between 15 and 20 percent of voter registrations right now are invalid, outdated, or inactive.” In a recent episode on “American Thought Leaders,” host Jan Jekielek discussed America’s voter ID laws and the integrity of our elections with John Fund, co-author with Hans von Spakovsky of “Our Broken Elections: How the Left Changed the Way You Vote,” which examines the vulnerabilities of our election process and offers recommendations to fix those problems.
JAN JEKIELEK: I’ve been
JOHN FUND: Until about
a decade ago, this issue was discussed in a bipartisan way. Many newspapers in 52 I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022
In 2016, a majority of people who voted for Hillary Clinton believed she won the election, either by interference from the Russians or by manipulation behind the scenes. That also undermined confidence in the elections. Then you had the Trump– Biden election, which was full of controversy. Now, my book isn’t about taking sides or determining the final outcome of the 2020 election. But it absolutely nails down documented problems in the 2020 election. MR . JEKIELEK: Let’s go
back to this issue in the Nov. 3 elections here in New York. MR . FUND: There were
John Fund, co-author of “Our Broken Elections: How the Left Changed the Way You Vote.”
BLAKE WU/THE EPOCH TIMES
enjoying your new book, “Our Broken Elections.” It seems there’s this ubiquitous narrative that voter fraud isn’t a thing. How does this all work?
America have won Pulitzer Prizes for uncovering voter fraud cases: the Chicago Tribune, the Miami Herald, and the Cleveland Plain Dealer as recently as the early 2000s. In 2002, Congress came together, a Democratic Senate and a Republican House. This was after the Bush v. Gore fiasco in Florida, and they passed the first federal election law. That bill gave states and local governments money to improve their voting machines. It also toughened up requirements that states clean up their voter rolls. And then in 2008, the Supreme Court weighed in on a 6–3 decision on the constitutionality of voter ID laws. When Barack Obama came in, his Justice Department was adamantly opposed to these voter ID laws. One top Justice Department official actually told a group of Justice Department lawyers, “We’re not going to enforce it because it will reduce voter turnout. It won’t increase voter turnout.”
Nation Profile
“Chicago used to have people who would go out to the graveyards, take names down, and then enter them into the polling book. It’s a long, dishonorable tradition.” even be a contentious issue. MR . FUND: The Democrat-
three constitutional amendments on the ballot in New York state, which is one of the most liberal states in the country. The first would’ve made it much easier for the legislature, the Democratic legislature, to gerrymander the state. The second would’ve set up a same-day voter registration system. People could go to the polls and give an address, register to vote on the spot, and vote immediately, which is an open invitation to fraud and abuse. The third amendment would’ve dismantled whatever remains of the election protections, which is that if you send in a mail-in ballot, it’s a valid ballot and can be
cast legitimately. All these amendments lost overwhelmingly in New York state, one of the most liberal in the country. The average voter doesn’t buy into this consensus in the mainstream media that voter fraud isn’t an issue. MR . JEKIELEK: In Cana-
da, voter ID is required. MR . FUND: The vast ma-
jority of European nations don’t allow mail-in voting. The vast majority of them would never consider having someone show up on Election Day, registering, and being able to vote there on the spot. MR . JEKIELEK: It’s hard
to believe that this might
ic Party believes the health of a democracy should be measured by how many people vote. At the same time, however, Americans shouldn’t have votes canceled out by someone who shouldn’t be voting or someone who’s moved out of state. Someone who’s dead. Look, I believe in honoring our ancestors, but I don’t believe in representation without respiration. MR . JEKIELEK: Represen-
tation without respiration? MR . FUND: Well, if you
allow dead people to vote, isn’t that what you’re giving them? Representation without respiration? Chicago used to have people who would go out to the graveyards, take names down, and then enter them into the polling book. It’s a long, dishonorable tradition. Many people have said to me: “I tried to vote in the last election and was told someone had already voted for me. I had to fill out a
provisional ballot, but my ballot wouldn’t be counted, ultimately, because someone had voted. They had my name and address, and without ID they were able to vote.” MR . JEKIELEK: There’s
not a lot of times I’m speechless when doing this show, but this is one of them. MR . FUND: It’s a difficult
crime to prove. Prosecutors are loath to pursue them because a lot of prosecutors want to climb the political ladder, which means they’re going to run for office. And if you prosecute a voter fraud case, you’re going to anger partisans in the other party. And in certain neighborhoods and cities, you’re automatically going to be accused of racism or voter suppression. Who wants that on their political record, even if the charge is bogus? Minorities support voter ID and election integrity laws as much or more in many cases than whites. They think it’s a serious problem. Why would that be? It’s because many
I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022 53
Nation Profile
“Sunlight is the best disinfectant, but much of the mainstream media has bought into a single narrative on this.” minority voters live in urban areas or in impoverished rural areas where political machines dominate. COVID allowed the left to take all the ideas they had for dismantling election integrity and put them into practice under the cover of COVID health rules. In some places, the mailin vote exceeded the voting at the polls. Now, I’m in favor of absentee mail-in voting, but it shouldn’t become the norm. It should be the exception. We should vote under the supervision of election officials at a polling place. MR . JEKIELEK: I can’t help
some of those critical swing states that everyone knew the election for president would be decided on.
who no longer exist, or who are otherwise out of the system.
MR . JEKIELEK: So, would
ultimately, what’s going to bring back faith in the system?
you say this dramatic increase in absentee ballots is the biggest issue? MR . FUND: It’s the biggest
but doubt more and more the validity of elections.
potential issue because the opportunity for mistakes, manipulation, and even outright fraud exists.
MR . FUND: In modern
MR . JEKIELEK: Let’s talk
times, the vast majority of elections have been conducted freely, fairly, and properly. The problems Hans and I outline in the book are mostly isolated or limited to places where long-term political machines want to stay in power. You cheat when you think it’s going to be close and when you think it will make a difference. In the 2020 election, what was concerning was the creative ways that people had of tilting the balance in
about how to create a system that’s more reliable and effective at making sure every vote is a real one. MR . FUND: We need to
update our voter rolls. We need to make sure that the voter rolls are an accurate reflection of who the voters are. The Pew Research Center estimates that between 15 and 20 percent of voter registrations right now are invalid, outdated, or inactive. They represent people who aren’t eligible to vote,
MR . JEKIELEK: And so,
MR . FUND: Doing what we
have written in our book. We also need the media to devote resources to telling the full story. Sunlight is the best disinfectant, but much of the mainstream media has bought into a single narrative on this. There are exceptions like your network, but most of the time, people just repeat the same old tired charges of racism and voter suppression. when that’s not the real story anymore. That may have been the case in the 1960s, and we fought to overcome that. The story is different now. It has different villains and different sets of facts. This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
54 I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022
THIS PAGE: GEORGE FREY/GETTY IMAGES
Utah County Election workers gather ballots from a drop box in Springville, Utah, on Oct. 26, 2020.
T R AV E L • F O O D • L U X U R Y L I V I N G
Unwind
Issue. 13
Charles Bridge, named after King Charles IV, is adorned with 30 sculptures of saints. Gothic towers stand at both ends. TTSTUDIO/SHUTTERSTOCK
City of a Hundred Spires The Czech capital, where many centuries-old buildings survived wartime untouched, is a beauty to behold. 58
✒
TRADITIONAL VALENTINE'S DAY gifts are fleeting, so we’ve curated suggestions that will inspire fond memories of your thoughtfulness year-round. 60 THE SUIT IS society’s current equivalent of a uniform; wearing one that was designed and created expressly for you tells the world you are worthy of respec. 64 AN OPERA'S AUDIENCE and performers interact in a most unique manner, requiring the exercise of basic etiquette and mutual respect. 67 I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022 55
At nearly 14,000 square feet, the villa is a complete and luxurious residence meant for secluded living and entertaining. There are external garages, staff accommodations, and every feature you might expect of such an exclusive property.
Elegance on the
ITALIAN RIVIERA A villa with views of Portofino offers secluded living among lush Mediterranean gardens
By Phil Butler
O
56 I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022
conservatory to punctuate the villa’s outdoor entertainment space. An elegant guest house and hunting room complete this extraordinary riviera property. Considered one of the most beautiful residences on the Ligurian Riviera, the estate offers its owners and their guests breathtaking views over the Golfo del Tigullio and of the beautiful Portofino coastline. Just down the hill, the vibrant harbor town of Rapallo and its restaurants, trattorias, and eclectic retail stores are conveniently within reach. The front gates of Villa Le Magnolie are only 2,000 feet from the nearest beach, and there are also superb golf and tennis clubs nearby. Rapallo, which is only six miles from Portofino and 17 miles from the center of Genoa, was established sometime during the 8th century B.C. A subdivision of the municipality of Genoa, the town is known as the winter residence for many of the most-affluent Italians and is surrounded by the amazing Parco Naturale Regionale di Portofino. Phil Butler is a publisher, editor, author, and analyst who is a widely cited expert on subjects ranging from digital and social media to travel technology.
VILLA LE MAGNOLIE RAPALLO, ITALY 6,900,000 EUROS ($7.18 MILLION) • 8 BEDROOMS • 8 BATHROOMS • 1,300 SQUARE METERS (13,993 square feet) • 1.5 HECTARES (3.71 acres) KEY FEATURES: • EXCLUSIVE PRIVACY • PERIOD ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES • LUSH PRIVATE GARDENS • SOUGHT-AFTER LOCATION • POOL AND CONSERVATORY AGENT SAVILLS ANNABEL SMITH, GLOBAL RESIDENTIAL EXPERT +44 (0) 20 3664 9887
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF SAVILLS
verlooking the historic seaside town of Rapallo, Villa Le Magnolie is a private, secluded world with views of Portofino on the Italian Riviera. This elegant villa sits at the end of a sweeping drive that terminates at the grand entrance façade of the main house, which is enveloped in fabulous Mediterranean gardens. The 18th-century villa is a very private property, hidden primarily because of its unique hilltop location. Listed for 6.9 million euros ($7.18 million), Villa Le Magnolie offers almost 14,000 square feet of interior space, eight bedrooms and eight baths, three reception rooms, a drawing room, a sitting room, a formal dining room, and a modern kitchen. The three-story home also has a wine cellar, an elevator, and its own chapel with hand-painted frescoes. Stone floors, tasteful period marbles, and accompanying finery punctuate the villa’s elegant interiors. Outside, 1.5 hectares (3.71 acres) of terraced Mediterranean gardens feature delightful roses, bougainvilleas, and a stunning array of flowers and trees. There’s an outdoor swimming pool with a pool house, and a
On the ground floor, there are three large bedroom suites featuring separate lounges, dressing rooms, and bathrooms. The second floor has five additional bedrooms, each served by an en-suite bathroom.
The estate also has separate guest and staff accommodations, two garages for four vehicles, sub-basements for service, and its own elevator to serve all three floors.
The interiors of the villa feature fine plaster walls, lavish furnishings, and the warmth and charm of period architecture. Most of the rooms open onto terraces or offer views of the Eden-like gardens that surround the residence.
The stunning pool area adds a finishing touch to the grandiose luxury and welcoming charm of this one-of-a-kind property.
A chapel inside the villa features handpainted frescoes and fine marble accents. I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022 57
Travel Czech Republic
The Gothic Church of Our Lady before Tyn overlooks Old Town Square in Prague.
A Storybook City Finding the best of Prague By Tim Johnson
58 I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022
Most Shops and Restaurants WCILAEPT
eruosand evnAmrica dolars,but youLrebstoJ g e t n li o c a c ru .e n y
Beer Heritage One thing that didn’t suffer through the years: beer. Czechs drink more of the stuff per capita than any other country on earth, and it remains their passion. In the nearby town of Pilsen, the famous Pilsner was born, created when a group of frustrated homebrewers decided to unite and brew a product that was consistently great. The town is now home to Pilsner Urquell, the national beer, where you can take a Willy Wonka-style tour beyond the gates and explore deep into the heart of the operation.
ALIAKSANDR ANTANOVICH/SHUTTERSTOCK, RADOSLAW MACIEJEWSKI/SHUTTERSTOCK, FOTOKON/SHUTTERSTOCK
n yone w ho h a s been t her e will tell you: Prague feels like a fairy tale. It doesn’t matter if it’s your first visit or your 20th, when you walk into Old Town Square just after dark, you will draw a breath. Your head will tip up, admiring the monuments and spires: the soaring gothic towers of Our Lady before Tyn, the solid bricks of Old Town Hall, the astronomical clock dating back to 1410, the oldest one still in operation in the world. Some have called this Czech capital the “largest open-air museum on earth,” and that’s fair. Spared most of the bombs that turned many other European cities into post-World War II reconstructions, Prague’s oldest buildings and bridges actually date back centuries. But it’s more than that. Czechs have always been believers—including the late Vaclav Havel, the country’s poet-turned-president. Artists are rarely well-suited for government work, but Havel made the initial transition well, elected to lead
the country into a new future. At the Prague Castle, a national institution that overlooks the entire city, from the soaring buttresses of St. Vitus Cathedral to the windows (and defenestration) that instigated the Thirty Years’ War, this is an important place. Havel outfitted the guards with what he estimated to be storybook uniforms. He invited Frank Zappa for an official state visit. Havel ended the gray of communism and gave the country a flourish of color—and it hasn’t looked back.
Travel Czech Republic Walk through the process with a guide, learning general brewing processes as well as their own special take on the product, then enjoy a pint nearby. Some of the bars in town offer unfiltered and unpasteurized versions. In some cases, the brewery delivers the freshest version they can provide, direct from the factory, in a shining tank. And you can get a beer massage, too, which I experienced while staying at a luxury hotel that was once a monastery (and still is, with just a handful of monks occupying a corner of the building). The monks still brew the good stuff, and one brings a sample in a silver urn to the spa, and it’s mixed into a massage oil. The brochure mentions many healthy properties; the brew regenerates your skin. Yes, there are a number of sites you should visit when you come to Prague. Old Town Square, certainly. A guided tour of Prague Castle, up on the hill on the far side of the river, is a must. And a stroll across the Charles Bridge is the signature experience here, a span whose construction dates back to 1357. Lined with statues, it’s named for the first king of Bohemia to be named Holy Roman Emperor, Charles IV—his stamp remains all over the city.
City Quirks But you’ll find quirks, too. Just off Old Town Square, in the bureaucratic environs of City Hall,
absolutely worthwhile endeavor. Staying Czechs If You Go at the Four Seasons drink more Prague, one of the few Getting Around: beer per properties here that The city offers an extensive public sits directly on the Vlcapita than transit system, tava—the longest river with subways any other in the Czech Republic—I and streetcars nationality climbed into a small covering most of the destinations motorboat with Capon earth. you’d like to visit. tain Stepan. Employed There’s Uber, too, by the Four Seasons Hoin a pinch. tel since the hotel renoStay: The Four vated and grouped four Seasons Prague distinct buildings is one of the few PRAGUE hotels in the city into one united situated directly operation in the CZECH REPUBLIC on the river. Take 1990s, he helped their river tour to authorities rescue see the city in a stranded people when whole new way. floods on the river rose Note: Despite to record levels in 2001. its popularity, Prague remains Now, he simply pilots a a relatively Trains run daily little wooden boat and inexpensive between Prague shows visitors a view destination, in part and other of Prague they’ve never because it has European cities. shunned the euro before seen. in favor of the After climbing in, Czech crown we roll. First, through (CZK). narrow passageways I’d never imagined, under the Charles Bridge. Then past Little Venice, a canal lined with old mills, plus waterfront restaurants and bars. “During communist times, the pollution was so bad you couldn’t see from one side of the river to the other,” he said, hand steady at the controls. A chill is in the air, and I’m happy to be here now, on the country’s longest waterway, the world’s greatest open-air museum rising around me. A beer awaits when I get back to dry land. But for the next hour, I’ll ride, seeing a whole different side of the city. Tim Johnson is based in Toronto. He has visited 140 countries across all seven continents.
The Prague Astronomical Clock in Old Town Square is the oldest clock in the world still in operation. It was first installed in 1410. you’ll discover one of the world’s weirdest elevators. Built without doors, the cars just move constantly. Step on, then alight at your desired floor. No buttons required. It’s a strange and slightly wonderful experience to ride this lift, striding into the car, then stepping off at your desired floor while the whole operation just continues to roll. Seeing the city from the river is a rare and
THE HISTORY of Prague Castle dates back to
870
A guide shows old wooden barrels in the cellars at Pilsner Urquell Brewery. I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022 59
Valentine’s Day Gift Guide:
THOUGHTFUL AND LASTING TOKENS OF LOVE 1
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For Him Man Cave-Turned-Concert Hall
1. SYNG CELL ALPHA SPEAKER A proper man cave needs a sound system that brings the music to life, and when it resembles the Death Star from Star Wars, can it get any better? The wireless system fills the room with a 360-degree wide, extremely immersive sound experience. MSRP: $1,799
Honey, I Got You A Rolls!
2. ROLLS-ROYCE CELLARETTE Enjoying an after-dinner cigar and a glass of whisky is a time-honored ritual to celebrate the end of the day. To do it right, give him this handcrafted cigar humidor and whisky chest with hand-blown crystal glasses and a cigar cutter and lighter from S.T. Dupont.
If this is what it takes to get him to take the trash out, it’s well worth it. Adding in the fact that he’ll have a grin on his face that will last all year, this makes for a very romantic gift.
cant other would be a barista—or a special someone who gave them this gift. The touch-screen menu makes choosing a beverage almost effortless. The integral grinder and steam wand ensure the freshest brews.
Eternity Rose their beauty their delicate
4. MONTEGR APPA HARRY POT-
Jewels for Your Queen
Writing everything from thank you notes to grocery lists is more enjoyable with a special pen. Any fan of Harry Potter will treasure this one for many years to come, and it may well increase in value, making it an investment-grade gift.
8. SPAFIND Give her the p ing her to cho and a favorite gift card is acc wide, so she c one to be used
PRICE ON REQUEST
MSRP: FROM $20,999
Letters From Hogwarts TER FOUNTAIN PEN
MSRP: $4,500
For Her
MSRP: $45,830
Coffee for Thee and for Me!
Make the Kids Jealous
TOUCH COFFEE MAKER
3. POLARIS RZR XP TURBO S
5. BREVILLE THE BARISTA To a coffee lover, the perfect signifi-
$999.95
6. CARTIER HIGH JEWELRY Wow the love of your life with a selection from Cartier’s [Sur]naturel Collection or any of the other High Jewelry collections. The choice of royalty and celebrities, there’s sure to be a piece to make her heart flutter.
Roses Are Forever
7. VENUS ET FLEUR ETERNITY ROSES
Most roses, no matter how beautiful, soon wither. But what if you could give that special someone a bouquet that looks fresh months later?
FROM LEFT: COURTESY OF ROLLS-ROYCE, SYNG, POLARIS, MONTEGRAPPA, CARTIER, BREVILLE, SPAFINDER, VENUS ET FLEUR, TIKI, CANON, OSAKI, HOBOT, BUBU DESIGN BOUTIQUE, PETSAFE, FURBO
60 I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022
MSRP: $1,29 OTHER SIZES FROM $44
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$25 TO $2,00
For Both
Stoke the Em
9. TIKI FIR An evening s roaring fire w other is sure romance aliv
By Bill Lindsey
Flowers wither and chocolate goes right to the thighs, so show your affection instead with gifts that say “I love you” all year long. 9
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For Furry Friends Better Than Catnip PETSAFE BOLT AUTOMATIC LASER LIGHT CAT TOY
13
This thoughtful gift makes sure your kitty doesn’t feel left out on Valentine’s Day. It can be used in manual mode, or when you get tired, set it to automatic mode to make the laser dance unattended for 15 minutes. $21.95
It’s OK to Talk to Your Dog
es are treated to retain for up to a year and e scent for several weeks.
99 LARGE CLASSIC; S AVAILABLE
Pampering
DER GIFT CARD
perfect spa day by allowoose the spa she prefers e treatment regime. This ccepted by spas nationcan choose one nearby or ed while on vacation.
00
a Wood Pack containing real wood pellets made from sawdust, the fire is ready in minutes. MSRP: $350
Make Movies Come to Life
10. CANON EOS VR SYSTEM Canon makes it easy to record your romantic getaways in 3-D Virtual Reality. The EOS R5 camera, paired to the proprietary 5.2-millimeter dual fisheye lens, can record 30 frames per second in 10-bit color at up to 8K equivalent resolution. MSRP: $5,898
Float on Air
11. OSAKI ZERO GR AVITY
mbers of Love E PIT
spent in front of a with your significant e to keep the flames of ve and well. By using
MASSAGE CHAIR
The rejuvenating effects of a deep massage after a long day make this a gift that both of you will enjoy well after Valentine’s Day. Multiple strength, intensity, and speed adjustments combined with NA-
SA-inspired zero-gravity full-body support ensure complete relaxation. MSRP: $9,999
Marriage Saver
12. HOBOT-388 ROBOT WINDOW WASHER
In a good relationship, chores are shared. In a great relationship, you get a robot to do them. Utilizing AI technology, spinning cleaning wheels and a fine mist applied by an ultrasonic nozzle remove dust from windows while you relax. $529
FURBO DOG CAMER A & TREAT DISPENSER
Our pups get lonely when we’re not home, but since they can’t operate a phone with their paws, this is a great way to check in on them. They’ll like hearing your voice and getting a treat, too. MSRP: $199
Written in the Stars
13. BUBU DESIGN BOUTIQUE STARRY NIGHT MAP
The stars were aligned when you met your true love, and this wall art celebrates that special moment. The ready-to-hang framed poster shows all of the stars that were in the sky on your first date or any other meaningful occasion. $10.73
I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022 61
Epoch Booklist
RECOMMENDED READING NONFICTION
‘A Plague Upon Our House: My Fight at the Trump White House to Stop COVID From Destroying America’
By Scott W. Atlas
Pandemic Policies Atlas, who was on Donald Trump’s COVID-19 Task Force and advocated a public policy perspective, wrote a mind-blowing exposé about how policies were instituted— without basis in public policy or science—and ultimately had disastrous effects on society. A heart-wrenching story. BOMBARDIER BOOKS, 2021, 352 PAGES
‘I, Citizen: A Blueprint for Reclaiming American SelfGovernance’
By Tony Woodlief
Rekindling Citizen Engagement In this book, Woodlief described how our government has continued to stray from our founding principles, providing ample
This week, with our fiction picks, we travel to the outskirts of heaven, and explore what it’s like to be the most ideal of men.
examples of our ever-expanding government and discussing how our system, which started off so well, has been slowly but surely dismantled. “I, Citizen” is a call to action for Americans to begin playing the traditional role of good, concerned citizens: It doesn’t mean jumping on social media to address the country’s ills, but doing as Theodore Roosevelt suggested—actually getting in the arena. ENCOUNTER BOOKS, DEC. 7, 2021, 264 PAGES
FICTION
‘The Great Divorce’
By C.S. Lewis
Taking the Bus From Hell to Heaven A group of people living in hell board a bus and travel to the outskirts of heaven, where if they repent of their sins they can enter into that paradise forever. However, only a few of them possess the desire and willpower to shake off their past offenses. All the others cling to their pride and their wrongdoing, and so return to hell, which in this case means alienation from God and from one another. Forgiveness and humility are the themes in this short, brilliant novel. HARPERONE, 2015, 160 PAGES
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Are there books you’d recommend? We’d love to hear from you. Let us know at features@epochtimes.com
‘The Nine Cloud Dream’
By Kin Man-jung, transl. by Heinz Insu Fekl
The Life You Always Wanted This 17th-century Korean classic centers around a monk who undergoes a most interesting punishment for being tempted by eight fairy maidens: getting reincarnated as the most ideal man. As he journeys through his new life, he realizes that all isn’t as it seems. Well-written and entertaining, this book easily offers insight into our modern age: Then and now, our desires are still the same—but so are the fundamental truths. PENGUIN CLASSICS, 2019, 288 PAGES
SELF-IMPROVEMENT
‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change’
By Stephen R. Covey
Boost Your Productivity Rather than a glittery array of life-hacks, Cov-
ey’s book aims to put forth a set of fundamental principles to live by, from being proactive and managing priorities to envisioning the end in mind. If you’ve never read “The 7 Habits” or even if it’s been a while, now is the perfect time of year to absorb the valuable lessons it conveys. GARDNERS BOOKS, 2004, 384 PAGES
CLASSICS
‘The Importance of Being Earnest’
FOR KIDS
‘Snowflake Bentley’
By Jacqueline Briggs Martin, illustr. by Mary Azarian
One Man’s Gift to the World This is the story of a young boy’s lifelong pursuit to capture the beauty of snowflakes. See also a compilation of his work, “Snow Crystals;” these books will show children the beauty of nature and the potential of their own curiosity. HMH BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS, 2009, 32 PAGES
By Oscar Wilde
Sparkling Wit to Light Up the Winter Subtitled “A Trivial Comedy for Serious People,” this stage comedy gently pokes fun at Victorian manners, class distinctions, and customs while having brought laughter to audiences since its first performance more than a century ago. The dialogue is brilliant—Wilde’s ability to write dazzling epigrams shines here—while the situations created by deceptions and name changes whip up a delicious mix of wonderful absurdities. Read the play with family or friends or even aloud to yourself, then watch one of the many film versions that exist. DOVER, 2008, 64 PAGES
‘Anne of Green Gables’
By Lucy Maud Montgomery
Still a Role Model for Girls Today Anne Shirley is a high-spirited 11-yearold orphan whose imagination frequently lands her both in trouble and in the hearts of readers. Sequels to this story allow us to accompany her on many other adventures and into adulthood. BANTAM BOOKS, 1982, 336 PAGES
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 suggest several films about overcoming adversity, as well as a classic mystery.
NEW RELEASE
INDIE TV SERIES PICK
A Place Called Hollywood (2019)
American Underdog (2021 ) This film tells the real-life success story of Kurt Warner (Zachary Levi), who faced almost insurmountable odds to realize his dreams as a sports star—and so much more. This is super-inspiring, cinematic soul food. It shows that ordinary people can make extraordinary decisions that have profound implications for not only themselves but also those around them. It also unabashedly keeps faith, family, and tradition at the forefront, which is why this film is so wholesome and refreshing. It is much more compelling than any superhero film.
BIOGR APHY | DR AMA | SPORT
Release Date: Dec. 25, 2021 Director: Andrew Irwin, Jon Irwin Starring: Zachary Levi, Anna Paquin, Hayden Zaller Running Time: 1 hour 52 minutes MPAA Rating: PG Where to Watch: Theaters
CLASSIC MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE an ensemble of other great actors. It’s widely considered to be one of the greatest whodunits ever made. CRIME | FILM-NOIR | MYSTERY
The Maltese Falcon (1941) Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) is a private detective tasked with finding an invaluable relic. His quest takes him
on a dangerous ride through the murky underworld of San Francisco. With numerous twists and turns, this intriguing mystery features Bogart at his best, along with
Release Date: Oct. 18, 1941 Director: John Huston Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George Running Time: 1 hour, 40 minutes Not Rated Where to Watch: HBO Max, DirectTV, Redbox
When young actor Charlie Law (Kristos Andrews) moves from the Midwest to Los Angeles to seek fame and fortune, he isn’t prepared for the various trials and tribulations he will face. As he navigates the tricky waters, he meets various denizens—some good, some not so good. With fantastic directing and acting performances, this series deftly encapsulates what creative hopefuls go through when they follow their dreams to LA.
Overall, it carries a message about never compromising one’s principles for a chance at “making it big.” T V MINI-SERIES | DR AMA
Release Date: May 4, 2019 Director: Gregori Martin Starring: Meg Foster, Adetokumboh M’Cormack, Lisa Wilcox Running Time: 1 hour, 40 minutes (total) MPAA Rating: Not Rated Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video
UPLIFTING SPORTS DRAMA
Peaceful Warrior (2006) Dan (Scott Mechlowicz) is a skilled yet arrogant gymnast who seems bound for the Olympic team. However, a tragic accident seemingly ends his lofty dreams of greatness. Grief-stricken and with hopes fading, Dan meets a mysterious stranger who begins to teach him some valuable and humbling lessons about life. In an age of senselessly violent drivel and woke debris, this is a refreshing and uplifting film that
should inspire all but the most jaded. It not only entertains, but also dispenses both wisdom and hope. DR AMA | ROMANCE | SPORT
Release Date: June 23, 2006 Director: Victor Salva Starring: Scott Mechlowicz, Nick Nolte, Amy Smart Running Time: 2 hours MPAA Rating: PG-13 Where to Watch: Redbox, DirectTV, Vudu
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ks y c u all b n tu o i c ill is a m ss ss a e le ce k t ro i i l b ng e a sy p i ok uit ea o L r q rly fo fai By Bill Lindsey a
Lifestyle Style
Once the style and fabric have been selected, the critical measurement phase can begin.
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M
ost people need at least two suits to cover interviews, weddings, semi-formal events, parties, and funerals. Office workers may need at least double that number, to put into rotation. Budget plays a large factor, of course, but the reality is that for some professions and workplaces, a suit is the expected uniform. Because an ill-fitting suit sends the wrong message, it’s worth it to survive on ramen noodles for a while in order to get a really nice, well-fitting suit. There are three main categories of suits: bespoke, made-to-measure, and tailored, aka ready-to-wear. The term “custom” comes up often, which can be confusing. All bespoke suits are custom, but not all custom suits are bespoke. With a bespoke suit, a pattern is created according to your exact measurements. You select the fabric and the style, and go over specific details desired, such as the lining to be used, custom embroidery, lapel style, functional buttons on the sleeve, and much more. In a made-to-measure suit, your mea-
surements are taken by a tailor to be used in the creation of the suit; some pre-existing patterns may also be used. Ready-to-wear suits are bought “off the rack” and then tailored to fit.
If no pattern exists and not a single piece of fabric has been precut, it is a bespoke suit. Commissioning a bespoke suit is a pricey proposition, but it is 100 percent made to fit you, taking as much as 50 hours to create. In comparison, a good-quality off-the-rack suit can be purchased for $400 to $600 and may require $150 or so of tailoring to fine-tune the fit. Made-to-measure suits are created from block patterns based on average sizes. The fabric and style options allow for customization over the off-the-rack options, with costs typically starting at about $600, subject to fabrics and style. The cost of a bespoke suit hand-made from premium materials using a pattern
created exclusively for your body will typically start at about $2,000 and go straight up. It’s easy to understand why no one enjoys wearing a suit that doesn’t fit quite right. Tugging at the sleeves, a crotch that’s a bit too tight, fabric that doesn’t lay right, or any other fit issues can make wearing some suits uncomfortable. It might have seemed to fit OK off the rack and after tailoring, but if your body is a bit shorter or wider than the norm, there’s only so much a tailor can accomplish. You’d wear it because you have to, but not for a second longer than absolutely necessary. On the other hand, imagine sliding into a suit that exactly matches your body, draping perfectly, fitting like a glove because it takes every inch and contour of your build into account. Now, imagine it being crafted from the finest materials in precisely the color and style desired. You’d never want to take it off. Because they are handcrafted for precise, no-stress-points fit, using top-notch fabrics and assembly methods, a bespoke suit can also last I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022 65
Lifestyle Style
LIFESTYLE
WEAR IT WELL It’s all in the fit and the fabric
1 What Do You Want?
Bespoke attire allows the wearer to express their personality and sense of style, with a perfect fit as a wonderful bonus.
66 I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022
tions but in the end, your decision is final. This is when you pick fabrics, colors, lining, buttons, and the many other aspects that will make this a one-off suit. In step three, measurements are taken to create a pattern for the suit and take into account posture issues. As your mom would say, “Stop wiggling and stand up straight!” Step four is devoted to the final fitting, during which any adjustments can be made. Then, the suit is ready to be worn. Once you’ve experienced the style and perfect fit of a bespoke suit, you’re ready to explore bespoke shoes, shirts, and ties.
2 What Is Your Budget?
If you only need a suit once a year, a $500 off-the-rack suit may be a good choice. However, if your attire makes a statement to clients and coworkers, a $2,000 or more bespoke suit will always make the best impression.
3 When Do You Need It?
The custom nature of all bespoke clothing harks back to a time when the wearer and designer worked in concert to create sartorial masterpieces.
If you need a suit ASAP, buy off the rack and seek out a talented tailor. Having it made locally saves a bit of time, but the painstaking process of creating a pattern, cutting, and assembling fabric can’t be rushed.
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for decades when properly cared for. When do you need it? A bespoke suit can take weeks to create, so if you have an urgent need for a suit, this isn’t the route to go. Can it be altered? All things being equal, yes, a bespoke suit can be altered. Your height and shoulder size are not likely going to change over the years, but the waistline can be another story. A skilled tailor can fairly easily let the seat out a few inches in response to more pasta than gym time, but if you go from a size 34 waist to a size 42 waist, while another panel could theoretically be installed, it probably wouldn’t look right. To obtain a bespoke suit, Option A is to go to London’s Saville Row, home of the original bespoke suit makers, but there are other alternatives. Traveling tailors, often based in Hong Kong, visit cities across the United States to take your measurements and then send your suit for final fitting. Most major cities are also home to bespoke tailors. Regardless of which route you follow, the path has four steps. Step one is to book an appointment for the initial consultation. Explain what you want so they can advise if it’s possible. It is beyond critical that the client and the tailor have a relationship based on mutual respect and trust. Step two is to describe to the tailor what you want; they may offer sugges-
One of the attributes of bespoke or made-to-order suits is the ability to specify fabric, style, and features. If you want functioning sleeve buttons, you’ll need to go bespoke or made to order.
Curtain Time!
Bravissima!
A guide to enjoying your opera experience to the fullest Attending a live performance of the opera is a feast for all the senses, as you take in the sights and sounds of the performers, the orchestra, and the other guests around you. By Bill Lindsey
4 It’s OK to Applaud!
1 What to Expect The opera is an exciting, interactive experience during which the guests and performers can see and hear each other. Be thoughtful and courteous, and refrain from talking or fidgeting. If you must take a sip of water, be discreet as your actions can be distracting to those around you. The overall experience can be a bit daunting for children, so make arrangements for a babysitter.
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2 Be on Time Plan to be in your seat at least 15 to 20 minutes prior to curtain going up. This allows you time to use the restroom if needed, read the program, allow nearby guests to take their seats, and generally be prepared to enjoy the performance. If you arrive after the performance has begun you may be directed to temporary seating in order to not disturb the other guests. You will be able to claim your seats after intermission.
In most cases of live performances, applause tends to be held for the conclusion of an act. However, it’s absolutely acceptable to briefly applaud a stirring solo or group performance during an act. The performers thrive on this recognition; look closely and you’ll see beaming smiles. Adding an enthusiastic “brava” or “bravissima” to honor a female performer, or “bravo” or “bravissimo” for a male performer, is a thoughtful touch. A standing ovation should be reserved for the conclusion of the opera.
3 Dress to Impress A quick look around the lobby makes it clear many guests enjoy dressing for the occasion. There is no such thing as being overdressed for the opera! That being said, for all but formal events, a cocktail dress for the ladies and a sports coat or suit for the gentlemen are acceptable. Jeans, shorts, T-shirts, and flip-flops are not appropriate, even for afternoon matinees. Dressing up, even just a bit, adds to the overall experience.
5 No-Phone Zone As soon as you take your seat, phones should be turned off, not merely muted. Screens lighting up to indicate incoming calls or texts distract from the performance. Calls or texts can be made or returned during the intermission from the lobby, not from your seat. While the desire to capture the performance, especially if any performers are family members, is understandable, using your phone or a camera to take photos or video is absolutely not allowed.
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