JANUARY 6
UNINDICTED ‘SUSPICIOUS ACTORS’ By Joseph M. Hanneman
MAY 27–JUNE 2 | $6.95
NO. 21
Editor’s Note
Suspicious Actors for over a year, michigan radio journalist Bobby Powell tried to get federal authorities to pay attention to his footage. Present at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Powell witnessed events that ranged from peaceful protest to violent riots. What has surprised him, however, is that an individual he filmed in the act of vandalizing the Capitol building, ripping out a window pane, hasn’t been arrested nor charged. The masked individual hasn’t even appeared on the FBI’s wanted list, despite the agency possessing video evidence of the vandalism. Powell knows, because he gave the footage to the FBI personally. Powell believes the man was not just a regular protester, but instead acting with the intention of inciting the crowd. Before taking out the window pane, the suspicious actor can be heard encouraging protesters to damage it. Now that the dust has settled from the dramatic events of that day and prosecutions are ongoing, questions about several suspicious individuals remain unanswered. This week’s cover story sheds light on two such “suspicious actors” and a journalist’s efforts to bring attention to the issue—only to be met with closed doors. Jasper Fakkert Editor-in-chief
2 I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022
JASPER FAKKERT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF CHANNALY PHILIPP LIFE & TRADITION, TRAVEL EDITOR
ON THE COVER A suspicious actor rips out a window pane at the U.S. Capitol. The man hasn’t been indicted nor placed on the FBI’s wanted list. BOBBY POWELL/SCREENSHOT BY THE EPOCH TIMES
CHRISY TRUDEAU MIND & BODY EDITOR CRYSTAL SHI HOME, FOOD EDITOR SHARON KILARSKI ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR BILL LINDSEY LUXURY EDITOR BIBA KAJEVICH ILLUSTRATOR 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.
vol. 2 | no. 21 | may 27–june 2, 2022
20 | Protecting
49 | China’s
26 | 2020
50 | Leave the
Savings What is the best investment strategy during a recession?
Economic Woes Beijing policymakers are in a bind as the Chinese property market spirals.
Homicide Spike A new report reveals homicide surge was unrelated to COVID-19 or gun sales.
Phone at Home Simplify and improve life by taking a break from electronics.
52 | The Culture War
28 | Real Estate
Race, decolonization, and teaching the West to hate its own society.
Out-of-state buyers are causing a housing shortage in Tennessee.
42 | Investment Returns Data show why investors should stay away from Chinese stocks.
44 | US–Taiwan
Relations Biden’s omission of Taiwan from his Asia tour hurts U.S. consumers.
45 | ‘Zero-COVID’
Could growing protests against lockdowns in China overturn Xi’s policies?
46 | Debt Cancellation
Student loan forgiveness could unfairly burden millions.
47 | Student Loans
The elimination of student debt could cost Biden the midterms.
48 | Bringing Down
Inflation Powell’s “soft landing” prediction is overly optimistic.
56 | Your Own Monastery
Features 12 | The Tuberculosis Resurgence The killer infectious disease is making a comeback in the U.S. amid misdiagnoses and illegal immigration. 16 | Suing Big Oil Climate-related lawsuits brought by big cities against the oil and gas industry are under scrutiny. THE LEAD
30 | Jan. 6 Suspicious Actors
Still Not Charged
Exclusive videos show two men attacking the Capitol, neither of whom has been added to the FBI’s wanted list.
SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
58 | A Hidden
Florida Gem Explore Delray Beach to see why it’s a favorite of the locals.
60 | Everyday Life
Improvers New inventions are rapidly changing how we live, work, and play.
63 | Go Play Outside!
38 | China’s Psychological Warfare A new U.S. Army recruitment video highlights the threat of communist China. Employees raise the flag outside the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, on May 18, as the embassy reopens after closing for three months due to the Russian invasion.
This estate’s unique provenance dates back to the 13th century.
A sampling of games to get the family out into the fresh air.
66 | Brewing Perfection These machines let coffee and espresso purists be baristas.
67 | Solving Tricky
Situations Several suggestions on how to handle uncomfortable encounters. I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022 3
4 I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022
SPOTLIGHT
Defending Freedom U.S. SAILORS AND MARINES STAND ON THE flight deck of the USS Bataan as the ship passes the Statue of Liberty during Fleet Week (from May 25 to May 31) in New York Harbor on May 25. The week-long event, returning for the first time in person after two years online, honors the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard and includes public ship visitations and a variety of military demonstrations. PHOTO BY ANGELA WEISS/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022 5
SHEN YUN SHOP
Great Culture Revived. Fine Jewelry | Italian Scarves | Home Decor
ShenYunShop.com
6 I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022
Tel: 1.80 0.208.2384
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
No. 21
Active pump jacks draw oil to the surface, at the South Belridge Oil Field in Kern County, Calif., on Feb. 26 PHOTO BY ROBYN BECK/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Suing Big Oil The Tuberculosis Resurgence TB is making a comeback in the U.S. amid misdiagnoses and illegal immigration. 12
16
The Best Investments During a Recession
New Findings on 2020 Homicide Spike
To avoid panic selling, focus on having a good investment strategy. 20
A report finds that the surge in homicides was unrelated to COVID-19 and was weaker in GOP counties. 26
INSIDE I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022 7
The Week in Short US
“There are virtually no deaths from 40.1 [COVID-19] in people who have Million The U.S. government vitamin D levels in their has announced the sale of up to 40.1 blood above 50 ng/mLmillion barrels of crude oil to be released from [nanograms per milliliter]. ” the Strategic Petroleum Dr. Robert Malone
“I’m in the process of throwing 30 million doses in the garbage because nobody wants them.” Stéphane Bancel, CEO, Moderna, speaking at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
2 Million
3.3
Million
Top House Republicans are demanding answers from the FBI after courtordered information came to light showing that the federal agency collected the information of more than 3.3 million Americans without a warrant.
63%
Americans are increasingly pessimistic about the state of the economy and Joe Biden’s presidency, according to a CBS News poll. Sixty-three percent of respondents described their feelings about the state of the country as “uneasy” and “worrying.”
$360 Billion — Samsung Electronics Co. will spend about $360 billion over the next several years to 2026 to boost its businesses, from semiconductor chips to pharmaceutical drugs.
8 I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022
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The FDA has announced it will allow about 2 million cans of baby formula from the UK into the United States and for Abbott Laboratories to release about 300,000 cans of specialty formula, to help ease the ongoing nationwide shortage.
Reserve over the coming months.
The Week in Short US MANDATES
18 Major Airlines, FAA, and DOT to Be Sued Over COVID Vaccine Mandates JOHN PIERCE LAW has filed a
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on May 23. MARKETS
US Stocks Lead Global Market Rout Since Start of 2022 U.S. STOCKS AND FUNDS are leading the world in a widespread selloff across
lawsuit against Atlas Air on behalf of US Freedom Flyers and Atlas employees, and plans to sue all major airlines, 18 altogether, plus the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Transportation, contending that the vaccine mandates imposed by these agencies on the airlines’ employees infringed on their constitutional, religious, and medical liberties. The lawsuit against Atlas Air was filed in federal court in the Southern District of Florida, with more than 100 plaintiffs pursuing litigation. The plaintiffs are mainly unvaccinated pilots, flight attendants, and other Atlas staff.
global financial markets. From the Dow Jones Industrial Average to the Nasdaq Composite Index, U.S. equities are recording greater losses than benchmarks in foreign markets, and they’re being pummeled by other sectors. Year to date, the Dow has plunged 12 percent, the S&P 500 has slumped nearly 18 percent, and the Nasdaq has cratered about 28 percent. By comparison, the UK’s FTSE 100 Index is up more than 1 percent, Spain’s IBEX 35 Index has dipped 0.3 percent, the Nikkei 225 Index has lost 7 percent, and the TSX Composite Index has tumbled around 4 percent.
POPULATION
Elon Musk Warns About Declining US Birth Rate BILLIONAIRE ELON MUSK has again sounded an alarm over the country’s
dwindling birth rate, saying people should “celebrate having kids.” The tech visionary has for years warned that population collapse is the biggest threat to civilization, yet he’s recently focused more on domestic underpopulation. “USA birth rate has been below min sustainable levels for ~50 years,” he wrote on Twitter. “Contrary to what many think, the richer someone is, the fewer kids they have. I am a rare exception,” said the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, who is a father of eight. “Most people I know have zero or one kid. “We just need to celebrate having Elon Musk and his son onstage for TIME Person of the Year in New York on Dec. 13, 2021. kids.”
An Atlas Air cargo plane prepares to take off from Miami International Airport on June 16, 2021.
ECONOMY
Fed Officials Suggest Faster Rate Hikes: Fed Minutes THE FEDER AL RESERVE plans
to move forward with multiple 50-basis-point interest rate hikes to fight inflation, minutes from the May Federal Open Market Committee policy meeting revealed. According to the Fed policymakers, the U.S. economy is “very strong,” the labor market is “extremely tight,” and inflation is “very high.” I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022 9
The Week in Short World VACCINES
Sweden Recommends 5th Dose of COVID-19 Vaccine SWEDEN’S GOVERNMENT
UK Transport Police officers check that passengers are wearing face coverings at Hammersmith underground station in London on Nov. 30, 2021.
is recommending a fifth dose of COVID-19 vaccine for people aged 65 and over and for at-risk groups under 65, which includes those who are immunocompromised and pregnant women, authorities said. At-risk groups under 65 also include people with heart and lung disease, the Swedish Public Health Agency noted. The agency said the fifth dose—or third booster dose—will be available starting Sept. 1.
MANDATES
Almost 4,000 London Passengers Fined for Breaking COVID-19 Mask Rule ALMOST 4,000 PASSENGERS were fined for breaking COVID-19 mask rules on
GERMANY
Germany Narrowly Avoids Recession GERMANY’S ECONOMY narrowly avoided a recession in the first quarter as the
Ukraine war and the lingering effects of pandemic restrictions weighed on economic activity, but with enough wiggle room for Europe’s biggest economy to eke out a 0.2 percent pace of growth. Data released by Germany’s Federal Statistics Office showed that Germany’s gross domestic product grew 0.2 percent quarter-over-quarter in Q1 of 2022, in line with analysts’ estimates. The 0.2 percent pace of quarterly GDP growth means that Germany has managed to dodge a recession, typically defined as two consecutive quarters of quarter-over-quarter contraction. The country’s economic output fell by 0.3 percent Shoppers enter a supermarket in Berlin on Feb. 3. at the end of 2021. 10 I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022
A medical worker holds a vial of PfizerBioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine in Sweden on Feb. 21, 2021. CHINA
Chinese Regime Announces Military Drills Near Taiwan THE CHINESE MILITARY has an-
nounced in a statement that it would organize military drills in the sea and air spaces near Taiwan, a move it described as a “warning” to Washington. The statement, made by Col. Shi Yi, the spokesperson of Eastern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army, didn’t specify whether such a drill had taken place or was to come, but it described the move as a “solemn warning” to Washington over its “collusion” with Taiwan. The regime views the self-ruled island as its own territory to be taken by force if necessary.
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London’s public transport, Mayor Sadiq Khan revealed on May 25. Khan, who also chairs Transport for London—a local government body responsible for most aspects of London’s transport system—said more than 7,000 people were denied service for not wearing face coverings. During the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic, face coverings were twice made mandatory on England’s public transport, first for around a year between July 4, 2020, and July 18, 2021; then for eight weeks between Nov. 30, 2021, and Jan. 26, 2022. Rule-breakers would be issued a fixed penalty notice of 200 pounds ($251). The fine would be halved if paid within 14 days.
World in Photos
1. 2.
3.
4.
1. A grandmother holds the photo of her grandchild, one of 19 children who were killed in a mass shooting at Robb Elementary, during a community prayer evening held the day after the shooting, in Uvalde, Texas, on May 25. 2. Portraits of people who disappeared during the last dictatorship (1973–1985) in Uruguay are held by participants in the March of Silence in the capital city of Montevideo on the evening of May 20. 3. Two bear cubs play during their first outing at Sainte-Croix animal park in Rhodes, France, on May 26. 4. Divers assemble a piece of biodegradable material with several coral colonies in the tropical coral reef of Burgers’ Ocean aquarium in Arnhem, Netherlands, on May 23. I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022 11
A doctor examines the X-rays of a tuberculosis patient. At present, an estimated 13 million people are living in the United States with latent TB infections, according to the CDC. PHOTO BY SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES
The Tube Resurg
HEALTH
The disease is making a comeback in the US due 12 I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022
erculosis gence to misdiagnoses and the illegal immigration surge By Autumn Spredemann I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022 13
Nation Disease
O
NE OF THE WORLD’S LEADING
14 I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022
El Paso and Hidalgo are among the 10 counties with the highest reported TB cases. Both counties directly border Mexico.
Not Some Bygone Ailment Sarah Fortune, the John LaPorte Given professor of immunology and infectious diseases at Harvard University, is an avid proponent of TB awareness. This is important as health organizations continue battling the disease, which many people think is just a holdover from antiquity, like smallpox. “TB is the great infectious disease that nobody ever thinks about,” Fortune said during an interview on March 24 for World TB Day. “If you asked 100 people on the street in Boston about TB, most people would say that it had been eliminated in the 1960s or so.” That perception is dangerous, Fortune says. She maintains the threat of TB is very much a present-day concern. “Between one-quarter and one-third of the world’s population is latently infected with TB. ... Each year, roughly 10 million get sick, and 1 million die. And many of them are children. “There are hotspots for multidrug-resistant TB in Ukraine, Moldova, and Belarus. So it’s not just COVID that’s upending TB treatment, but also the war between Russia and Ukraine.” The World Health Organization shares this assessment in a 2021 Global TB report, noting that deaths from the disease have increased for the first time in more than a decade. And the institute places the blame squarely on the
CHARLOTTE CUTHBERTSON/THE EPOCH TIMES
killer infectious diseases—tuberculosis (TB)—is surging in the United States, with cases rising more than 9 percent last year. At present, an estimated 13 million people are living in the United States with latent TB infections, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). TB kills upward of 12 percent of those who’ve been infected. Some of the underlying causes contributing to the recent spike in cases are misdiagnosis as COVID-19 by health care professionals and the ongoing illegal immigration crisis at the U.S. southern border. “TB, globally, is one of the most common infections resulting in disability and premature deaths around the world,” infectious disease expert Dr. William Schaffner told Insight. Schaffner is a professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee. He said that while some commonalities are shared between TB and COVID-19, one specific characteristic helps identify the former. “Both affect the lungs, but the longer duration of TB symptoms distinguish it directly.” The CDC says that part of the reason for the rise in reported cases in 2021 could be misdiagnosis as COVID-19. Meanwhile, U.S. states are seeing a rise in TB cases that began last year and have continued into 2022. Some of the states with a growing number of reports include Washington, Texas, and California. “It’s been 20 years since we saw a cluster of TB cases like this,” says Dr. Tao Sheng Kwan-Gett, Washington state’s chief science officer. On April 28, Washington state’s Department of Health (DOH) reported the largest outbreak of TB in nearly two decades. Cases rose notably, catching the eye of the DOH in 2021, when 199 cases of TB were documented in the state, which was a 22 percent increase from the previous year. This year, 70 cases of the highly contagious disease have already been reported, 17 of which can be traced to several state prisons. Echoing the position of the CDC, Washington’s DOH also attributed the spike in TB to widespread disruptions in public health and health care services. They also say missed diagnoses due to similarities in symptoms between TB and COVID-19 were likely. “The pandemic has likely contributed to the rise in cases and the outbreak in at least one correctional facility,” Kwan-Gett said. He noted that increased access to testing and treatment is vital in controlling the outbreak.
Nation Disease
“TB, globally, is one of the most common infections resulting in disability and premature deaths around the world.” Dr. William Schaffner, infectious disease expert
COVID-19 pandemic. They cited a prolonged disruption in access to TB services and the reduction of critical health care resources as two of the primary culprits for the surge in deaths. Pandemic-related lockdowns that restricted access to treatment for the disease were also a factor. “This report confirms our fears that the disruption of essential health services due to the pandemic could start to unravel years of progress against tuberculosis,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Though misdiagnosis and lack of treatment during the pandemic account for some of the inflated case numbers and deaths, the U.S. immigration crisis also plays its part.
Crossing the Line Two states that are experiencing comparatively high TB caseloads, California and Texas, are also struggling to hold back a tide of illegal immigrants. U.S. Border Patrol documented over 1.6 million encounters with migrants along the southern border with Mexico in the 2021 fiscal year. This is the highest annual total on record. Based on the areas experiencing the surge in TB reports, some of the migrants appear to be bringing the pathogen with them. In Texas, Latinos comprised 50 percent of reported
A Border Patrol agent helps an unwell person within a large group of illegal immigrants near Eagle Pass, Texas, on May 20.
30% OF TB patients in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas from 2006 to 2013 were migrants.
50%
OF REPORTED TB cases in Texas occurred in Latinos.
TB numbers, according to the state’s Department of Health Services. El Paso and Hidalgo are among the 10 counties with the highest reported TB cases; both counties directly border Mexico. On the other side of Hidalgo county is the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, which serves as a migration waypoint along the northern route to the United States. Historically, it also has the second-highest occurrence of TB in the entire country. During an official study conducted from surveillance data in Tamaulipas from 2006 to 2013, immigrants comprised more than 30 percent of TB patients. The study also indicated that of the migrants surveyed, the majority specified cities along the U.S. border as their intended destinations. In response to the spike in cases this year, the Texas Biomedical Research Institute announced on March 29 that it would host one of the country’s leading TB research training programs. For field research, the program will also collaborate with San Antonio’s Heartland National TB Center, the only freestanding TB clinic in the United States. “California and Texas are the top two states in the country with cases of TB,” said Texas Biomedical President Larry Schlesinger. “TB is not a phenomenon ‘over there.’ It’s actually over here.” Meanwhile, California documented 1,750 new TB cases in 2021, which is a 3 percent increase from the previous year. San Diego County, which shares a border with Mexico, continues to boast the highest rate of the disease in the state, more than twice the national average. Data from a 2020 study indicated that 71 percent of San Diego County TB cases occurred in people born outside the United States. The disease rate among people born in another country was an astounding nine times higher than in U.S. citizens. That’s partly because the disease can have a long incubation period. It can take weeks, months, or even years after a person becomes infected to present symptoms. This makes it difficult to identify people carrying the disease without proper testing. And it becomes even harder among a population entering the country illegally. The illegal immigration crisis in the United States has stretched the resources of Customs and Border Protection officials to the limit. “We’re at a breaking point,” says Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council. He pointed to the miles of unpatrolled and open frontier with Mexico, which sees more than 200,000 illegal entries per month. While TB cases are still very prevalent in places such as Central and South America, Asia, and India, Schaffner noted that the United States has done an admirable job of controlling the disease within its borders. I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022 15
Steam rises from the Miller coal power plant in Adamsville, Ala., on April 11, 2021. PHOTO BY ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
16 I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022
Suing Big Oil ENERGY
Big cities’ climate-related lawsuits against Big Oil under scrutiny By Nathan Worcester
I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022 17
Nation Fossil Fuels
r ecen t wav e of government climate change lawsuits against oil and gas firms may prove deeply harmful, actually inhibiting the growth of new, greener technologies by diverting resources that would otherwise fuel innovation, according to a May 16 issue brief from the Pacific Research Institute. “There are many serious adverse consequences from state and local litigation against traditional energy companies, but no societal upsides should the plaintiffs in these cases prevail,” economist Wayne Winegarden asserted in the brief. “Global climate change policies should solely focus on creating positive incentives for innovation. “The court cases filed by the municipalities worsen the market environment and are, consequently, an obstruction to the development of these next-generation technologies.” OVER THE PAST half-decade, high-pro-
file suits have pitted San Francisco and Oakland, California; New York City; Baltimore; Boulder, Colorado; and other municipalities against heavy hitters in the traditional energy sector. In its initial 2017 complaint directed at five oil companies, San Francisco’s city attorney Dennis Herrera stated that global warming is behind flooding, shoreline erosion, and damages to the city, saying this creates liability for those firms because of their greenhouse gas emissions in recent decades. A California judge dismissed that suit as well as an associated Oakland suit in 2018. He argued that the judicial branch isn’t the place to address climate change, stating that “the court will stay its hand in favor of solutions by the legislative and executive branch.”
18 I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022
“FOSSIL FUEL COMPANY defendants
want the cases heard in federal court, where they can argue that the cases should be quickly dismissed on the grounds that federal common law climate claims are displaced by the Clean Air Act,” Korey Silverman-Roati of Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law wrote in a 2022 blog post. That Clean Air Act precedent stems from an 8–0 Supreme Court decision in 2011, “American Electric Power Co., Inc. v. Connecticut.” The majority opinion, authored by Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, noted that the Clean Air Act delegates decision-making on emissions to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). “Local and state government plaintiffs want the cases to remain in state court, where they can argue that climate nuisance claims are similar to past common law efforts to hold companies accountable for misleading the public about their products’ harms, like those against tobac-
co companies,” Silverman-Roati wrote. Donald Kochan, an economist at Virginia’s George Mason University, doesn’t buy the tobacco comparison. “Tobacco was not a regulated industry, whereas coal, oil and gas are all heavily regulated,” Kochan told Insight. Notably, the Supreme Court ruled that tobacco isn’t subject to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authority. Both Congress and the EPA can come up with new laws for the hydrocarbon sector. It’s also much easier to trace individualized harms to tobacco—say, a case of lung cancer in a long-time cigarette smoker. Yet in both cases, similar incentives may be at play. Kochan pointed out that the tobacco cases netted billions for plaintiffs’ lawyers. Lawyers on the other side also profited. In 1997, defense attorneys reportedly
SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES
An economist argues that much of the financial burden of successful climate lawsuits will be borne by consumers.
“This order accepts the science behind global warming. So do both sides. The dangers raised in the complaints are very real. But those dangers are worldwide. Their causes are worldwide. The benefits of fossil fuels are worldwide. The problem deserves a solution on a more vast scale than can be supplied by a district judge or jury in a public nuisance case,” wrote Judge William Alsup, a Clinton appointee, in his order granting dismissal of the cities’ complaints. “The concept that they can assess these damages and attribute them to oil companies is far-fetched,” Winegarden told Insight on May 17. A key point of contention has been whether those suits belong in federal or state courts. Fossil fuel companies favor the former venue, while governments prefer the latter. Just weeks ago, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals again ruled that Baltimore’s climate damages lawsuit against oil companies should be heard in the State of Maryland’s court system. The court’s previous ruling on the suit had been reversed by the Supreme Court in 2021. “The state court is a more favorable jurisdiction for these cases,” Winegarden said.
Nation Fossil Fuels
Flared natural gas is burned off at Apache Corp.’s operations at the Deadwood natural gas plant in the Permian Basin in Garden City, Texas, on Feb. 5, 2015.
changes in liability assessment or liability formations can be suddenly and quite dramatically changed by courts,” he said. John Dernbach, a professor at the Widener University Commonwealth Law School specializing in environmental law, has a different perspective. “The municipalities and other plaintiffs in these cases are claiming that the actions of the fossil fuel companies damage them. These cases are intended to compensate the plaintiffs for real damage they have suffered and will continue to suffer. They have every right to be heard in court on these claims,” he wrote in an email to Insight. CLIMATE NUISANCE LITIGATION, Wine-
cost the tobacco industry $600 million per annum. A climate litigation database that shows up near the top of Google search results is maintained through a venture between Columbia’s Sabin Center and the law firm Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP. It focuses in part on litigation, including climate change litigation. Last year, Arnold & Porter surpassed $1 billion in revenue. IN HIS BRIEF, Winegarden argued that
much of the financial burden of successful climate lawsuits will be borne by consumers. “While tracing out the impacts from all these costs is difficult, the close historical relationship between the price of oil and the price of gasoline provides a partial sense of the costs that will be imposed on the broader economy,” he wrote.
Republican lawmakers have often linked the current spikes in energy prices to policy decisions under the Biden administration. Their Democratic colleagues, by contrast, have frequently blamed costlier gasoline on price-gouging by corporations. One new bill approved by the House would, if enacted, allow the Federal Trade Commission to penalize companies deemed to be selling gasoline at “unconscionably excessive” prices. President Joe Biden could grant it that authority by declaring an “energy emergency.” He could extend that emergency indefinitely. Kochan, like Winegarden, has doubts about the legal basis of cities’ lawsuits against energy companies. “The argument for common law development is that it evolves slowly and incrementally. It is not meant to be an open vehicle through which dramatic
garden argued, is in line with a broader attempt to implement expansive climate policy at every level, including across the federal government. Although he is skeptical of a carbon tax, Winegarden noted that such a measure might at least be within the purview of Congress. (Some scholars have argued EPA also has the authority to impose a carbon tax.) “Litigation just doesn’t fit into that,” Winegarden said, in an echo of Alsup’s concern about judicial overreach. Winegarden would like to cut the marginal tax rates of companies working on innovations that might curb greenhouse gas emissions. Yet, such cuts shouldn’t tip the scales in favor of particular technologies or firms. “When we get political favorites, you skew the trade-offs, because you start not looking at the costs of some technologies or the benefits of others,” he told Insight. One example of that politicized disfavor may be natural gas. Winegarden’s brief noted that it has been the subject of climate change litigation despite its major role in reducing U.S. carbon intensity in recent years. Insight has sought comment from New York City, one of the municipalities suing energy companies over climate change. Insight also has sought comment from legal scholars and lawyers known to support climate litigation, as well as The Wilderness Society, an environmental nonprofit focused on preserving open public lands. I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022 19
P R O T EC T I N G S AV I N G S
The Best Investments During a Recession Instead of panic selling, it’s advised to have a good investment strategy
T
By Andrew Moran
BEST STOCK INVESTMENT VEHICLES EXCHANGEtraded funds that replicate the composition and performance of indexes are less volatile. HIGH-QUALITY dividend stocks, such as dividend kings that have increased payouts at least once a year for at least 50 straight years, are also less volatile.
and industries; most people and professionals are not good at market timing,” Schulman told Insight.
Seeking Value
Gold bullion bars at the ABC Refinery in Sydney on Aug. 5, 2020. 20 I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022
JP Morgan Chase urges investors to prepare their portfolios now for slowing growth in the future. According to Jacob Manoukian, the U.S. head of investment strategy at JPMorgan, investors could transition to sectors that can generate consistent cash flows and outperform once growth is scarce, such as healthcare and technology. “For the first time since the pandemic began, investors are being paid an adequate return to invest in what we believe is a relatively safe asset that would likely offer portfolios some protection if a recession does come to pass,” he stated. But a buy-the-dip mentality could be a reliable
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h e d ow jon e s i n dus t r i a l Average has lost roughly 14 percent in the first five months of this year. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index slipped into a bear market by falling 28 percent year-to-date, and the S&P 500 is on the bear market’s doorstep by tumbling 19 percent. The latest performances in the stock market could give investors some pause before buying into the equities arena. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s recent Survey of Consumer Expectations revealed that only 38 percent of Americans think U.S. stock prices will be higher one year from now. So, where should investors start parking their capital and how should they put their money to work? A crucial investment strategy is to establish a road map for investing. Essentially, what do you want your portfolio to look like once the peak of the storm has passed through the financial markets? Instead of trading in and out of securities and speculating on names, Michael Ashley Schulman, the chief investment officer of wealth management firm Running Point Capital Advisors, purports that it is recommended to establish a solid financial plan. “Every environment and cycle is different and one typically wants to have a solid financial plan or long-term road map rather than just a notion of trading in and out of individual names
Investment strategists think bonds could appear to be more attractive once again as traders attempt to seek shelter from the red ink flooding the U.S. stock market. strategy as investors seek discounts for value stocks with sound fundamentals and strong long-term prospects. Instead of being more conservative during a recession, the best investment tactic “is to become more aggressive,” argues James Royal, a senior investing and wealth management reporter at Bankrate. “The rationale is simple: After stocks have fallen, investors are paying a lower price for the future growth of those businesses. It’s the classic ‘buy low, sell high’ that everyone knows but that relatively few can practice because fear so often gets in our way during a market downturn,” he stated. Stock funds and dividend stocks are some of the best investment vehicles investors could consider. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that replicate the composition and performance of indexes
“Pharmaceuticals makers tend to fare well in such an environment. Utilities would tend to fare pretty well.” Christine Benz, director of personal finance and retirement planning, Morningstar
are less volatile and can help investors weather the market turbulence more than a portfolio of individual stocks. High-quality dividend stocks, such as dividend kings that have increased payouts at least once a year for at least 50 straight years, are also less volatile than other kinds of stocks, according to investment advisors. Market experts further note that indebted businesses typically suffer immensely during recessions. As a result, many investors will avoid corporations carrying large debt loads since they are vulnerable to a rising-rate environment. Christine Benz, the director of personal finance and retirement planning for Morningstar, urged investors to consider companies that specialize in consumer staples (food, beverages, and household goods), explaining that they are terrific stocks to own in any type of economy. I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022 21
Investing In A Recession
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“Also, pharmaceuticals makers tend to fare well in such an environment. Utilities would tend to fare pretty well,” she added. At the same time, even value stocks will face some bruising in the recession selloff, says Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior market analyst at Swissquote Bank. That said, value stocks can “better weather the selling pressure” than their alternatives since investors like the cash they have on their balance sheets rather than expectations of future revenue. “To me, the best pick is the quality pick, and we can easily throw some tech companies into that mix, including names like Apple, Microsoft, and Google,” she told Insight.
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Jan. 7.
What About Commodities? The commodities market has been on a tear this year, with energy and agriculture prices soaring. So far this year, natural gas is up 130 percent, crude oil is up about 40 percent, soybean 20 percent, wheat 55 percent, corn 32 percent, and
Fixed-Income Could be Great Again With yields on the rise, returning to core bonds could be a worthwhile strategy for investors. This is becoming increasingly notable, too. Despite being battered at record levels this year, investors are pouring back into the bond market again because of the growing normalization of yields. Many market experts contend that it is important to develop a hedge should equity markets continue to slide if growth prospects diminish heading into 2023. Since the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite Index, investment strategists think bonds could appear to be more attractive once again as traders attempt to seek 22 I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022
shelter from the red ink flooding the New York Stock Exchange. Indeed, the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield is hovering around 3 percent. Capital Group, a financial services firm, also championed fixed-income investments. “Fixed income investments can provide an essential measure of stability and capital preservation, especially when stock markets are volatile,” the investment management firm purported.
JP Morgan Chase urges investors to prepare their portfolios now for slowing growth in the future.
Investing In A Recession
even orange juice, which had been paralyzed for years due to falling demand and citrus psyllid, has risen nearly 15 percent. But stocks that specialize in these sectors could witness some softer earnings, Ozkardeskaya warned. “Energy and commodity stocks could see their earnings soften from the latest quarters, if high prices hit the global demand, and jeopardize revenues,” she said. Mining stocks have also come under pressure in recent months, mainly due to growth worries and the slump in metal prices. Copper has tumbled nearly 4 percent, silver has lost more than 6 percent, and gold is barely trading in positive territory. This corner of the market could also come under pressure from a strengthening greenback. The U.S. Dollar Index (DXY), which gauges the greenback against a basket of currencies, has surged about 7 percent year-to-date. A stronger buck is typically bad for dollar-denominated commodities because it makes it more expensive for foreign investors to purchase. Many market analysts think that the DXY has more room for growth because of the Federal Reserve’s tightening campaign and investors trying to seek shelter in traditional safe-haven assets. Additionally, investments like gold are generally sensitive to a rising-rate environment since it lifts the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion. Opportunity cost rises because they get increased competition from higher-yielding investments.
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Wall Street and Main Street Talking Recession Recession talk is heating up on Wall Street, with some of the top banks, CEOs, and economists forecasting an economic downturn sometime over the next 12 to 24 months. The Wells Fargo Investment Institute made a mild recession its base case scenario for the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023. The bank’s research division projected a 1.3 percent contraction for three quarters, which would be lower than the 10 percent decline in 2020 and the 3.8 percent drop in 2008 and 2009. Deutsche Bank thinks a recession is on the horizon for 2023, anticipating that it “will be worse than expected.” Morgan Stanley brought the odds of a downturn to 27 percent in the next 12 months. “We will get a major recession,” Deutsche Bank economists wrote in a report to clients on Tuesday. A monthly survey of Bloomberg economists raised the probability of a recession within the
People shop for groceries at a supermarket in Glendale, Calif., on Jan. 12.
Many investors will avoid corporations carrying large debt loads since they are vulnerable to a risingrate environment.
38%
OF AMERICANS think U.S. stock prices will be higher one year from now, according to a survey.
next year to 30 percent in May, up from 27.5 percent last month. A Conference Board study of American CEOs revealed that most anticipate a recession. A second-quarter CNBC|SurveyMonkey Small Business Survey discovered that 80 percent of small business owners are penciling in a recession this year. But Goldman Sachs strategists, led by David Kostin, contend that “a recession is not inevitable,” noting that investors are pricing in more substantial odds of a recession than are presently ubiquitous in a broad array of economic data. “Rotations within the U.S. equity market indicate that investors are pricing elevated odds of a downturn compared with the strength of recent economic data,” the bank’s strategists stated in a recent research note. However, according to Desmond Lachman, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), there are “many signs” spotlighting that a “deeper-than-normal recession” is in the works. “Among the reasons to fear a deeper-than-normal recession is that monetary-policy tightening is causing the equity and credit market bubbles to burst,” he wrote, adding that turbulence in the financial markets, inflation, and a decrease in household wealth would add to economic pressures. Schulman believes that if a recession does happen, it will be the strangest one the United States has ever seen. “If the U.S. has a recession soon, it could be a most unusual recession with plentiful credit, low unemployment, and high inflation—significant factors not normally associated with an economic slowdown—that could disrupt normal cash flows and industry preferences,” Schulman added. I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022 23
24 I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022
T H G IL T O P S Royal Ball GUESTS WEAR BAROQUE-STYLE COSTUMES in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles in France on May 23. The theme of the sixth edition of the Fêtes Galantes was the Royal Wedding of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI. The annual fancy dress ball aims to recreate the baroque splendor of Louis XIV’s dazzling court feasts, held to show off the wealth and power of France’s longest-reigning monarch. PHOTO BY LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022 25
C R IM E
New Findings on 2020 Homicide Spike
A report reveals the surge in homicides was unrelated to COVID-19 or gun sales and was lower in GOP counties
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By Nathan Worcester
26 I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022
Police investigate a crime scene where three people were shot, at the Wentworth Gardens housing complex in the Bridgeport neighborhood of Chicago on June 23, 2021. icans, increased by 34 percent, greater than a 19 percent increase among white Americans. “American homicide is overwhelmingly intraracial,” the authors wrote—in other words, it typically involves perpetrators and victims of the same race. The authors found that homicides were far less common in counties with a high-
The authors found that homicides were far less common in counties with a higher GOP share of the vote in 2016, and the growth rate between 2019 and 2020 was also lower in those counties.
er Republican share of the vote in 2016. What’s more, the homicide growth rate between 2019 and 2020 was also lower in those counties. “Although we need more data to say definitively, we find some evidence that suggests that the nation’s political cultures played a role, with homicide increases in GOP-leaning counties tending to be smaller than those in Democratic-leaning counties when we focus on homicides within counties over time,” the authors wrote. This sets their work apart from a March report by the center-left Third Way think tank, “The Red State Murder Problem.” Third Way found that homicide rates were significantly higher in states that supported Donald Trump in 2020. “Homicide rates are simply far higher in Trump-voting states than Biden-voting states,” said Jim Kessler, lead author of
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ew r esea rch h as found that the 2020 homicide surge was weaker in Republican-voting counties, not linked to gun sale increases or COVID-19, and higher among black Americans, adding to a deeply contentious debate over the violence that shook the United States that year. “Some people were claiming there was not a spike or that it is in Republican states, and others were claiming it just had to do with COVID,” Christos Makridis, a fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute and lead author of the new analysis, said in an email interview with Insight. The year 2020 was marked by the death of George Floyd and associated protests and riots. “Covid-19 deaths are slightly negatively correlated with the number of homicides but not statistically related to the homicide growth rate, which underscores that the rise in crime cannot be explained by Covid-19,” Makridis and his co-author, Manhattan Institute fellow Robert VerBruggen, wrote in their May 18 issue brief. According to the Manhattan Institute brief, the rate at which black Americans died by homicide, already far higher than the rates among Hispanic Americans, white Americans, and Asian Amer-
Nation Report
34%
ACCORDING TO THE MANHATTAN Institute brief, the rate at which black Americans died by homicide, already far higher than the rates among Hispanic Americans, white Americans, and Asian Americans, increased 34 percent.
the Third Way report, who characterized that state-level pattern as “undeniable.” Yet, John Lott, an economist who served in the Department of Justice under Trump, took issue with Third Way’s reliance on data at the scale of individual states rather than more granular information. “State-level data is not very useful. States have both urban and rural areas—and policing is a local decision in cities, which tend to be Democratically controlled even in Republican states,” Lott told Insight. He cited the discretion afforded to local district attorneys (DAs) when it comes to prosecution and bail. DAs funded by leftwing billionaire George Soros, including Kim Foxx in Chicago and Chesa Boudin in San Francisco have been faulted by opponents for rising rates of property crime and violent crime, along with creating an atmosphere of overt hostility directed at law enforcement.
“Is it easier to put together data on states than it is to get the county-level data? Yeah, sure, it’s a little easier. But to me, it just shows kind of a level of laziness in terms of work,” Lott said. Explaining his choice of data, Kessler told Insight that he and his co-author “used all local sources,” including “state crime data from state reports and where that was not available, local newspaper sources.” He pointed out that 2019 and 2020 were marked by a surge in gun ownership, as indicated by an increase in gun background checks. “It’s hard not to attribute high murder rates with high gun ownership since nearly 80 percent of all homicides are with guns,” Kessler told Insight. Yet, Lott pointed out that gun crimes actually dropped by a significant amount, according to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report. Data from the National Crime Victimization Survey, which is meant to bridge any gap between crimes reported to police and crimes that go unreported, show a similar 27 percent drop. While scholarship on homicide often uses FBI data, the Manhattan Institute’s issue brief instead relied on data supplied by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The authors explained this choice by arguing that the CDC’s numbers are far more comprehensive than what the FBI provides, although with the caveat that the CDC statistics include gun accidents and some other non-homicides. Both FBI and CDC data show a similar uptick in homicides during 2020. Lott noted that CDC data doesn’t provide the level of detail on firearm crime that he emphasized to Insight. Kessler said he had found CDC data incomplete in the course of conducting his own research.
He also questioned the Manhattan Institute’s exclusion of counties with fewer than 10 homicides. The report attributed those exclusions to “privacy reasons.” “What is so wrong about those counties? For example, I recall that South Dakota had the biggest jump in murders as a percentage between 2019 and 2020. Are any South Dakota counties in the Manhattan Institute report? Our report counted every single homicide,” Kessler said. Makridis confirmed that the county-level analysis didn’t include any counties in South Dakota. He said his analysis had been replicated at the state level, suggesting that the omission of particular counties wasn’t an issue. Notably, the Manhattan Institute report’s map of state-level increases in the homicide death rate also appears to show South Dakota near the top of the heap, alongside Kentucky, Delaware, New York state, Montana, Idaho, and Connecticut. “I would have included things like changes in arrest rates or changes in conviction rates for changes in prison population and things like that, which I think would go a long way to explaining the increases that we’ve observed over the last two years or two and a half years now,” Lott told Insight. Makridis doubts that sort of key law enforcement data can be found at the level of individual counties. Like Lott, he acknowledged the likely significance of attitudes toward law enforcement. “So many of the comments I hear from police officers just anecdotally is that they feel marginalized and ostracized.”
A worker restocks handguns at DavidsonDefense in Orem, Utah, on March 20, 2020. I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022 27
R E A L E S TAT E
What’s Fueling Tennessee’s Red-Hot Housing Market? Nashville’s median single-family house price rose 25.7 percent this year
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By Autumn Spredemann
28 I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022
estate agent Dana Moser, with United Real Estate Solutions, told Insight. Moser works in Knoxville, which has seen a 29 percent spike in home values over the past year. She said buyers moving to the area from other cities and states aren’t prepared for how fast homes are selling or how to find one in their price range. “ONE OF THE THINGS you have to do as
a realtor is to educate people as to how prices are going now. And let potential clients know that if you want to spend so much money, don’t look at a house that is priced at that because those homes will be selling well above the market listing price,” she said. An above-list sale price isn’t as much of a challenge for buyers coming from locations such as California because of the sizable amount of money they might bring to the table. However, this dynamic has created enormous challenges for local home buyers in Tennessee. “I know a lot of people from California that just resigned and came to Tennessee with no backup plan whatsoever. But with the housing they sell, they usually have a lot of cash reserve and say they are just going to start living here and figure it out,” real estate agent Jean Chung told Insight. Chung, at Realty Executives Associates, and explained that locals are up against stiff competition in the housing market. “Buyers here are facing problems as they are up against cash buyers [from out of state] ... especially for smaller houses,” she said. “If you think about Californians, they are selling a million-dollar prop-
erty and coming here [Tennessee] and buying a half a million-dollar home, and buying two or three investment properties. “So those people who need to purchase at an investment property level who need to get a loan can’t compete with the cash buyers.” Both Chung and Moser say COVID-19 was the big driver of the housing shortage, as people both from out of state and living in urban areas with less space began seeking more square footage and open spaces. THIS PHENOMENON IS especially prev-
alent close to Nashville, where Century 21 Platinum Properties’ Jennifer Huggins said members of the U.S. military are among those affected by Tennessee’s housing shortage and inflated prices. Just 49 miles from the Music City is Clarksville, where Huggins said home
SHANNON FAGAN/GETTY IMAGES
o u si n g woe s continue to plague U.S. homebuyers this year after purchase prices and rents hit unprecedented levels in 2021. Meanwhile, locals in Tennessee have found themselves between a rock and a hard place because of inflated prices resulting from people moving in from other states. Many out-of-state buyers arrive from areas with more expensive housing markets and living costs and have driven up the cost of housing across the board in the Volunteer State. The median price for a residential single-family home has soared 25.7 percent in Nashville, and 19.4 percent in Memphis this year. Nashville was ranked No. 6 on Zillow’s list of the hottest housing markets for 2022. Meanwhile, the Music City was No. 12 among the top 20 U.S. cities struggling with acute housing shortages last year, which some industry experts attribute to the trend of internal migration sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic. That combined with the appeal of Tennessee’s lack of state income tax, and comparatively low cost of living, and its location within the “Sun Belt,” has drawn thousands of new residents from across state lines over the past two years. In 2020, Tennessee had the most significant net gain of U-Haul trucks crossing its borders. Last year, a movers study done by United Van Lines showed the state ranked in the top 10 destinations at No. 7. “To me it’s disturbing. I would really like for things to go back to normal where people that are looking for a house have the time to evaluate it,” real
Internal Migration
A combination of the pandemic and the appeal of Tennessee’s lack of state income tax, comparatively low cost of living, and location within the United States’ “sun belt” has drawn thousands of new residents over the past two years.
the rental is so high they can’t afford it. And now, we are low on houses for them to purchase,” Huggins said. “Military families are living in hotels longer. Even to afford an Airbnb for a month is way too high for them to pay. So we are kind of struggling with our local military to find them affordable housing now.” And that goes double for people in lower-income earning brackets. Currently, there’s a deficit of 127,102 affordable rentals that are accessible to low-income earners. This metric doesn’t solely apply to the rental market. In the Nashville area, people who earn less than 60 percent of the city’s median income ($52,026) are struggling to find housing and also address basic monthly household needs. buyers from places such as California, Washington, and Chicago make it difficult for service members stationed at Fort Campbell to buy a home for their families. “WITH THE HOUSING shortage we’ve had
because our inventory is super low, we’re still in a seller’s market. We’re only averaging about 350 houses in our inventory, when we have close to 200,000 people in our area, adding the military to that,” Huggins told Insight. She explained the problem that military members and their families face relates to inflation. Service members receive a housing allowance that’s based on rank and the allocation often can’t cover the increased interest rates and home prices. “We are kind of in a perfect storm at the moment because our rental prices have also increased,” Huggins said. Rental prices have surged statewide,
“[Californians] are selling a million-dollar property and coming [to Tennessee] and buying a half a milliondollar home, and buying two or three investment properties.” Jean Chung, realtor
creating an affordable housing crisis for even those not looking to buy. In Nashville, rental prices have jumped more than 21 percent since last year, Memphis rental market prices have climbed 39 percent, and Knoxville has seen a 28 percent increase. “Needless to say, this has really affected our military base in this area. The on-post housing is backed up, and
A REPORT FROM THE mayor’s office es-
timates the housing shortage will rise to nearly 31,000 units by 2025. Josh Sanderson at Smithbilt Homes illustrates how the housing shortage and price hikes are affecting the buyer’s market. “Our waiting list is heavy, but not as heavy as in the past. We see people dropping out of the buying scene with interest rates and price increases, but the list is still long,” he told Insight. Sanderson explained that while demand is strong, it will likely subside at some point. In the meantime, the boom for builders is on, with no discernable end in sight. “We just had a deal fall through at the closing table due to unforeseen circumstances. So we re-listed the home for sale at $50,000 higher than the previous contract price, and we sold it within an hour.” I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022 29
JANUARY 6
V IDEOS SHOW UNINDIC T ED
‘SUSPICIOUS ACTORS’ ATTACKING CAPITOL ON JAN. 6 One man removed a window but laid blame on others when he realized he was being recorded BY JOSEPH M. HANNEMAN 30 I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022
A billboard at a bus stop on Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest advertises a message from the FBI seeking information related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 9, 2021. PHOTO BY AL DRAGO/GETTY IMAGES
I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022 31
The Lead Capitol Riot
Two masked men who were filmed by Bobby Powell at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Neither has been arrested or charged.
B
In Search of an Audience As the smoke at the Capitol cleared following the Jan. 6 unrest, Powell began his long quest to find an audience for his video evidence. He was in Washington that day as a credentialed reporter representing his news podcast, “The Truth 32 I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022
Is Viral,” and radio station WCHY in Cheboygan, Michigan. After he called the FBI on Jan. 15, 2021, an agent from the bureau’s Joint Terrorism Task Force called him back and took his information. He also contacted the U.S. Secret Service and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Powell provided the address to a website where agents could view his Jan. 6 videos, and offered to come in for an interview. Even after nearly a half-dozen
“These are two men that are pulling windows out of the Capitol and pushing people inside the doors. ... Why isn’t the FBI interested?” Bobby Powell, radio journalist and podcaster
follow-ups with the FBI and other agencies, there has been no reply from any law enforcement officer. He thought photos of the men would eventually appear among the 1,558 individuals on the FBI’s Jan. 6 most-wanted page. That never happened, nor have they been arrested or charged. “These are two men who are pulling windows out of the Capitol and pushing people inside the doors,” Powell told Insight. “Why isn’t the FBI interested? That is the key question.” The agency’s national press office told Insight, in response to an inquiry about the video and Powell’s claims, that “the FBI has no comment on the ongoing Jan. 6 investigation.” Meanwhile, Powell posted a video link to the Twitter page of the U.S. Capitol Police with the question, “Who are these men?” About five minutes after posting the link, his Twitter account was permanently suspended. Twitter didn’t respond by press time to a request for comment about the action. Google, meanwhile, demonetized his “The Truth Is Viral” YouTube page, and Facebook took down his livestreams and drastically cut the reach of his videos. Powell has been broadcasting on the internet since 2008. Based on what he says he witnessed on Jan. 6, the grizzled radio veteran and
ALL PHOTOS BY BOBBY POWELL AND FORD FISCHER/ SCREENSHOTS VIA THE EPOCH TIMES
OBBY POWELL THOUGHT someone would be interested in his video evidence showing two “suspicious actors” taking part in events on the east side of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He was in for the surprise of his life. The semiretired Michigan radio journalist and podcaster has spent the past 16 months trying to get politicians, media personalities, pundits, and the FBI to view his video footage and identify the two “suspicious actors.” He wants to see those men charged with destruction of government property and assault. Almost no one, it seems, wants to listen. Powell has learned that his video isn’t welcome in many places; some people view it as a threat. In Michigan, he said a politician friend suggested he take a six-figure bribe to keep quiet. When he flatly refused, he said his life was threatened. The 29 minutes of high-definition video have turned Powell’s life upside down.
The Lead Capitol Riot
honorably discharged Marine believes the men in the video are FBI or other government agents who were assigned to draw supporters of then-President Donald Trump into the Capitol building so they could be arrested. If proven true, Powell’s allegation would be the latest evidence suggesting
that federal agencies played a role in the Capitol riots. “I’ve been giving speeches in New York, North Carolina, and Florida for the January 6 defendants,” Powell said. “And I flat out come out and say it: “The FBI led the insurrection at the Capitol. “I have proof, and the FBI didn’t want to hear anything about it.” Defense attorney Brad Geyer sees great value in Powell’s video and its potential exculpatory role for defendants charged with myriad crimes for being at the Capitol on Jan. 6. “Powell presents important visual evidence suggesting facts and context that fall outside the accepted narrative,” Geyer told Insight, “a narrative upon which seemingly every Washington constituency seems unanimous: It was 100 percent the fault of the person attending a rally who engaged in a criminal act by entering the Capitol.” Geyer, who represents Oath Keepers defendant Ken Harrelson, filed a motion on May 6 to compel prosecutors to help him identify 80 “suspicious actors” and “material witnesses.” Most of those on Geyer’s list were captured on video at
or near the Columbus doors on the east side of the Capitol. Geyer’s motion outlines criminal behavior by some of the suspicious actors, such as removing security fencing and signage, breaching police lines, attacking officers, and inciting crowds to storm into the Capitol. Powell’s video is more evidence that adds weight to the argument, he said. “Let’s forget about the rally being overrun by people who look like inauthentic rally attendees at best, who also seem to be ghosts as far as investigative agencies are concerned,” Geyer said.
A Day That Changed Everything Powell was supposed to retire after his assignment on Jan. 6. He went to Washington to cover Trump’s rally and ended up at the Capitol, documenting the unrest and rioting. He was on the terrace on the east side of the Capitol when a 20-year-old California man ran into his field of view. Dressed mostly in black, Hunter Allen Ehmke jumped up on a window sill and started kicking in a multipane window. After smashing several of the lower panes, Ehmke made a fist and punched
A massive crowd gathers on the east side of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022 33
The Lead Capitol Riot
For Powell, Twitter permanently suspended his account, Google demonetized his YouTube page, Facebook took down his livestreams, and PayPal shut down his account. Due to the loss of income, Powell was forced to sell his home. the upper glass. Police officers then sprinted into view and knocked Ehmke off his perch before swarming over him on the ground. As Ehmke was placed in handcuffs, a hostile crowd started to gather. The eight police officers involved in Ehmke’s capture left as quickly as they had arrived. Powell was surprised to find himself guarding the broken window. The scene didn’t sit well with some of the bystanders. “Does this make any [expletive] sense to y’all?” a man with a red beard asked bystanders. “This is a [expletive] trap,” the man added, in reference to the window. A man off-camera said, “That is definitely a trap.” As he picked up glass shards that lit34 I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022
(Top left) A suspicious actor vandalized a Capitol window on Jan. 6, 2021. He has not been placed on the FBI wanted list nor arrested or charged. (Bottom left) Hunter Ehmke, 21, is detained by police after smashing windows. (Above) A suspicious actor is heard suggesting that others open up the rest of the window. tered the window sill, Powell heard a voice from behind him say, “Why don’t you guys open up the rest of it?” Powell replied, “Because I think that would probably be illegal.” The stranger’s dress and demeanor stood out among the protesters passing by the window. He was wearing a black ball cap with an American flag patch. His face was covered with a black and gray striped neck gaiter. He walked onto the east terrace carrying a large white stick. It’s not clear what became of the stick. He had a radio attached to a strap on the left-center of his chest. On the left side of his chest was a bite valve attached to a hydration pack on his back. As Powell pondered what the man was up to, he finished toying with the splintered glass. “I’m just picking up garbage,” Powell told the man. To Powell, the man was out of place. “I knew he was an operator of some kind right away,” he said. “He was no protester. He was there on a mission.” Powell took a few steps to his left and turned around with his camera rolling, just in time to see the man pull out one of the lower glass panes and drop it on the ground. After the glass came loose, it appeared the man realized he was being filmed. He then unceremoniously dropped the glass and stepped away. Gavin Crowl then ran onto the scene and shoved the man in black away from the window. Powell gave Crowl a stern
warning to stay away from the window: “Do not go in there!” As Crowl attempted to walk away, the man in black pursued him and gave him a shove that almost knocked him off his feet. While it wasn’t recorded on video, Crowl said that the man shouted at him, “Why are you breaking that window? Who do you think you are? Get out of here!” Crowl seemed incredulous at being accused of what the man himself had just done. The man shoved Crowl again, then made a fist as if to strike him. Crowl put up his hands in surrender and walked away. “Obviously, the guy in black was trying to cover his own [expletive] because he had seen my press helmet and the fact that I was pointing the camera right at him,” Powell said. “He didn’t know how long I had been recording. He was just trying to cover his own butt. And then the guy leaves. He just leaves. Never to be seen again. “I’ve watched surveillance footage; he just melts off into the crowd and I can’t see him anymore.”
2nd Suspicious Actor Acted as Doorman Powell moved over to the nearby Columbus doors, where a large, rambunctious crowd was trying to get into the Capitol rotunda. He saw about a dozen men come running out or being shoved out of the entrance by police.
The Lead Capitol Riot
for being at the Capitol on Jan. 6—would commit suicide nearly 14 months later.
ALL PHOTOS BY BOBBY POWELL AND FORD FISCHER/ SCREENSHOTS VIA THE EPOCH TIMES
An Uphill Battle
Some of the men had been maced. Clouds of tear gas streamed out of the entry. As Powell moved toward the front line, a man who was holding the doors open used his right arm to shove Powell toward the entrance. “Hold the line!” the man shouted. Someone else screamed, “Hold the line!” Like the first suspicious actor, this man had a calm demeanor and a military efficiency about him, according to Powell. He wore a green fleece zip-up jacket, a brown checkered neck gaiter, a camo-pattern cap, and dark sunglasses. His gloves had bright lime-green tape on them. To Powell, he looked out of place. Powell apparently didn’t notice, but video footage shows that the first suspicious actor who broke the glass was directly in front of him, crouched down behind another man. To his right was Matthew Perna of Sharon, Pennsylvania, who—after becoming distraught over being threatened with years in prison
A man who had just pulled a pane of glass out of a window shoves Gavin Crowl of Lincoln, Neb., and accuses him of the vandalism.
Peter Ticktin (L), an attorney for former President Donald J. Trump, accepts a thumb drive with video from journalist Bobby Powell in early May 2022.
Powell estimates he has spent more than $20,000 over 16 months trying to get his story out. He spoke to producers of some of the biggest names in broadcast news, including one who told him flat-out they weren’t interested in a story about alleged government agents attacking the Capitol. Powell still has his podcast and publishes news on Substack, but the loss of revenue from YouTube struck a heavy blow. Days after he appeared on a Newsmax program, PayPal shut down his donation account. Since then, he has turned to GiveSendGo to help support his efforts. “I called PayPal and spoke to a supervisor who told me they could find no policy I had violated, just that my account was marked, ‘Do not reinstate,’” he said. Due to the loss of income, Powell was forced to sell his home to avoid foreclosure. “They’ve taken away all my sources of income except for my Social Security disability,” he said, “so I had to sell my house.” He feels the weight and stress of Jan. 6. “I was going to pack in my microphone and go fishing. Here it is 16 months later, and I am still going,” Powell said. “I’ve had four heart attacks in 16 months. The last one nearly killed me. If I hadn’t been in the emergency room when it happened, it would have.” In early May, Powell hand-delivered a flash drive with his videos to Trump attorney Peter Ticktin, who had put out a statement asking the public to submit Jan. 6 video footage. “I’m going to see—I guess the entire country is going to see—how well they will be able to ignore it, now that I’ve given a video to Trump,” he said.
$20,000 POWELL ESTIMATES
he has spent more than $20,000 over 16 months trying to get his story out.
I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022 35
36 I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022
T H G IL T O P S School Massacre
A WOMAN CRIES AND HUGS A YOUNG GIRL while on the phone outside the Willie de Leon Civic Center in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24. Salvador Ramos, 18, killed 19 children in a shooting at an elementary school in Texas. The shooter himself and two teachers were also killed. His motive remains unclear, officials say. PHOTO BY ALLISON DINNER/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022 37
NATIONAL SECURITY
China’s Psychological Warfare Against the West New US psychological operations recruitment video casts spotlight on China threat By Andrew Thornebrooke
38 I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022
Chinese soldiers ride in tanks as they pass in front of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City during a military parade in Beijing on Sept. 3, 2015. PHOTO BY KEVIN FRAYER/GETTY IMAGES
Nation Military
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NEWS ANALYSIS
he phrase “a threat rises in the east” is superimposed over rolling footage of Chinese and Russian military parades. Ethereal, eerie music plays as cinematic impressions of the Eurasian alliance between China and Russia are interspersed with images of the last century’s most emblematic struggles for democratic values. There is footage of the fall of the Berlin Wall, a free speech protest in Hong Kong, the toppling of a Saddam Hussein statue in Baghdad, and the resolute stand of Tiananmen Square’s “Tank Man.” This is not some documentary about the myriad threats democracy has faced time and time again, but a new video created by the Army’s 4th Psychological Operations Group and shared on social media by U.S. Special Forces Command. Equal parts recruiting video and actual psychological warfare, the project might best be described as a proof-ofconcept for the military’s capability to build confidence at home and to instill fear abroad. https://youtu.be/VA4e0NqyYMw The video, aptly titled “Ghosts in the Machine,” opens with a quote from “The Art of War,” written by Chinese military philosopher Sun Tzu some 2,500 years ago: “If your opponent is of a choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.” At first glance, one might think that the quote suggests that the Chinese Communist Party has been pretending to be weak for years in order to lull the United States into a false sense of superiority. By the end of the three and a half minutes of growing unease, however, one wonders whether it has not been the other way around all along. Indeed, that may be just the purpose of Ghost in the Machine. After all, the video itself is psychological warfare.
The Sugar-Coated Pill To realize the importance of psychological operations such as Ghosts in the Machine, one needs to look beyond its visage of cinematic splendor and intentional creepiness, and penetrate to the I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022 39
Nation Military
40 I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022
other nations, both inside and outside of China, and, most prominently, against the United States,” the report said, referring to the acronym for the People’s Liberation Army, the official name of the regime’s military. The roots of the CCP’s psychological warfare go deep, and their tendrils can be seen crawling rampant across Western media in the form of Twitter bots, sponsored newspaper articles, and state-sponsored misinformation. And the onslaught has been going on for decades.
“Unlike a national army dedicated to the defense of a state and its people, the Chinese military’s purpose is to create political power for the party.” Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Robert Spalding
Unrestricted Warfare The CCP’s current efforts can be traced back to the 1999 book “Unrestricted Warfare.” Written by two retired PLA colonels, the book described the strategy and operations through which China could overcome the United States—without being embroiled in kinetic warfare. Unrestricted Warfare argued that the United States’ weakness was the widespread belief among American military and political leadership that military dominance was solely dependent on technological means, rather than legal, economic, or social factors. The book, therefore, advocated the use of lawfare, economic warfare, terrorism, and data and supply chain network disruption as various means of undermining the U.S. military.
Much of the book’s proposed strategy was later codified as the “Three Warfares Strategy” in a 2003 document published by the PLA and titled “Political Work Guidelines of the People’s Liberation Army.” Since then, the CCP has worked tirelessly to adapt the Three Warfares Strategy to the social media era, using social networking platforms as tools of war to combat the minds of the party’s enemies. Moreover, the introduction of Three Warfares has helped to underscore the promulgation of military-civil fusion, a CCP strategy that seeks to erode any boundary between civilian and military spheres, thus accelerating the erosion of distinctions between war and peace. To that end, it is vital to understand that the PLA is not a military of the Chinese state, but a wing of the Chinese Communist Party. Thus, the entire military apparatus of China is designed to defend and promote communism first and foremost.
Party Above All How the Chinese military serves the whims of the CCP rather than the interests of the Chinese people was elucidated by retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Robert Spalding during an interview with EpochTV’s “China Insider” on May 12. “The People’s Liberation Army is the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party,” Spalding said. “In the West, we consider the military to be a protector of the state, which in a democracy includes the people. In China’s case, the People’s Liberation Army is actually a party army, so it protects the party’s prerogatives.” “Unlike a national army dedicated to the defense of a state and its people, the Chinese military’s purpose is to create political power for the party.” According to a report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, U.S. leadership believed for years that the CCP’s psychological warfare efforts were a thing of the past. Such beliefs were proven wrong, however, with the rise of CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping in 2012, whose rule has overseen a resurgence of party initiatives pushing psychological operations as a core part of Chinese national strategy. Xi has referred to the work of organizations that engage in psychological operations for the CCP as China’s “magic
FROM L: SAMIRA BOUAOU/THE EPOCH TIMES, STAFF SGT. RICHARD EBENSBERGER/RELEASED
threat that the video is working against. According to innumerable reports from the nation’s think tanks and institutions of higher learning, the United States is in a war, though its leadership seems largely unaware of it. It is a war without conventional weapons, but that is nevertheless being fought in hearts and minds everywhere. Indeed, it is a war on the minds of Americans everywhere. It is the psychological campaign of unrestricted hybrid warfare perpetrated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) with the purpose of eradicating the United States’ will to defend itself and preserve democratic values. According to one report published by the Washington-based think tank Hudson Institute earlier this month, this psychological warfare is one part of a suite of so-called cognitive operations used by China’s communist regime to undermine U.S. security. “Cognitive operations involve using psychological warfare to shape or even control the enemy’s cognitive thinking and decision-making,” the report stated. Indeed, the report quotes directly from the primary propaganda organ of the Chinese military, the PLA Daily, that the ultimate aim of cognitive operations is to “manipulate a country’s values, national spirit/ethos, ideologies, cultural traditions, historical beliefs, etc., to prompt them to abandon their theoretical understanding, social system and development path, and achieve strategic goals without victory.” In not so many words, it is a military campaign against the United States to convince Americans to give up their society without fighting. It is, according to a report by the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, a “long-standing Chinese government strategy to exploit foreign media to deliver Chinese propaganda.” The goal of which is to destabilize and otherwise interfere in the political processes of the United States by offering a “sugar-coated pill,” something easy to swallow but lethal to consume, often in the form of anti-American propaganda disguised as domestic information and reproduced online. “According to the PLA, China is already in constant battle over the narrative of China’s rise and the PLA’s intentions with
Nation Military
A U.S. Air Force major completes a flight in an operational B1-B Lancer at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, on Jan. 21, 2014.
the United States’ ability and worthiness. “What they’ve been able to do is use proxies in the West to have the same control over the narrative in the West that they have within China,” Spalding said. “We have no institution in the West that is tasked with understanding this form of warfare.” Spalding’s comments were in line with recent remarks made by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who said that the CCP was exploiting the United States’ free and open information channels and social media networks to promote authoritarianism abroad and strike at the heart of American democracy.
Ghosts in the Machine weapons.” Those organizations include, most predominantly, the General Political Department within the PLA and the United Front Work Department, the latter of which is charged with overseeing the regime’s overseas influence operations and answers directly to the CCP’s Central Committee. Indeed, since the ascension of Xi, Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua has gone so far as to explicitly characterize the PLA’s psychological warfare and political work as “thoroughly implement[ing] Xi Jinping’s thoughts on socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era.” Importantly, according to the Johns Hopkins report, the CCP’s psychological warfare units under Xi have sought to leverage social media as a key component of “cognitive domain operations” in order to scale Chinese propaganda to a global audience, and to sway, anger, and misinform the citizens of foreign nations to the benefit of the party. “China uses the tools of information and finance to advance political warfare on a global scale,” Spalding said. “It’s a type of warfare that is completely alien to the way that we think of warfare.” Thus, while U.S. military leaders and members of Congress have harped on
budget proposals and the number of ships being built for the Navy, the CCP has already committed itself to winning a war without firing a shot.
Brave New World At the heart of the CCP’s efforts to assault the minds of the American public, then, is the critical ability of social media and related technologies to create content that can have a real-world effect. “[T]he PLA is developing technologies for subliminal messaging, deep fakes, overt propaganda, and public sentiment analysis on Facebook, Twitter, LINE, and other platforms,” according to a report by the RAND Corporation. “Other articles also suggest that the PLA could blackmail or tarnish the reputation of politicians as well as co-opt individual influential civilian social media users to extend the reach of Chinese propaganda while obfuscating its Party origins.” It is through this “hostile social manipulation on foreign platforms” that the CCP can essentially launder state-backed propaganda through proxy channels in the way a mobster might launder ill-gotten gains through a front organization. By obfuscating the origin of social media posts and using technologies such as deep fakes, the party can more effectively diminish American confidence in
The sudden appearance of a recruitment video for psychological warfare units in the U.S. military is perhaps not such a mystery, given the battles being waged against the American mind. The primary objective of the CCP’s efforts is to create doubt, fear, and exhaustion to such an extent that American leadership will make mistakes in planning and executing strategy. Likewise, the U.S. Army’s “Ghosts in the Machine” video lifts the mirror at the effort. “Anything we touch is a weapon,” the video says, before flashing the motto of the 4th Psychological Operations Group, “Verbum Vincet”—“the word will conquer.” The message is clear enough, China’s transnational campaign of repression and psychological terror is not without recourse. The psychological warfare apparatus of the American military and intelligence communities have changed history before and can do it again. It is surely not by accident that images of the famous Tiananmen Square protests were interlaced with videos of pro-democracy revolutions, or that footage of the PLA marching was juxtaposed with the fall of the Soviet Union. The United States has toppled great powers from within and from without, the video implies, and can do so again. As the video so abruptly states, “We are everywhere.” I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022 41
Chinese Stocks
INVESTMENT
Why Investing in Chinese Stocks Is a Bad Idea
The MSCI China index has returned less than 1.1 percent annually since 1992
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By Emel Akan
42 I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022
and medium-size company stocks that trade on Chinese stock markets or are listed abroad. The index, which has more than 700 entities, covers around 85 percent of China’s equity universe. Following the recent sell-off in the Chinese stock market, global investors have become more anxious about investing in Chinese assets. It’s important for investors to realize that stock market returns and economic growth do not correlate, according to Robin Parbrook, co-head of Asian equity alternative investments at Schroders, a global investment management firm. “Even where we have domestically-orientated stock markets, returns will be affected by proper legal systems and protection of property rights,” he wrote in a report last October. This partially explains the success of stock markets in countries with strong government and independent legal systems, Parbrook noted, such as Australia and Sweden. Parbrook compared the performance of the MSCI China index against that of MSCI indexes of other Asian countries in October and discovered that Chinese stocks had been the weakest performers since 1992.
Investors Dump Chinese Assets at Record Pace Despite the sluggish returns, why do investors continue to invest in China? According to Parbrook, many active
THIS PAGE: YIFAN DING/GETTY IMAGES
he Chinese economy has grown tremendously over the past three decades, but its stock market has offered investors very dismal returns. Chinese stocks have had the worst performance among Asian and the world’s largest stock markets, according to Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) data released in April. Since its inception in December 1992, the MSCI China index has returned only 1.06 percent per year, which is significantly lower than the returns of MSCI’s emerging markets index (6.91 percent) and its flagship global stock index (8.25 percent). The performance of the China index was poor across the board, with annual returns of 3.96 percent over 10 years, 2.27 percent over five years, and minus 4.92 percent over the past three years. The returns comprise price performance and income from dividends. Meanwhile, stock market investors in the United States have enjoyed higher gains, with the MSCI USA index generating an annual return of 11 percent since December 1987. “China uses the West’s money and pays almost zero returns for enormous risk,” J. Kyle Bass, founder and chief investment officer of Hayman Capital Management, told iNSIGHT. Bass, who has been a vocal critic of investing in China, also said that “fiduciaries should be sued for investing” in the Chinese communist regime. The MSCI China index consists of large
Medical workers spray antiseptic outside the main gate of the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Feb. 3, 2020.
China fund managers have achieved good returns by disregarding the index and focusing on stock picking. However, the scope of Chinese industries and stocks that are investable has narrowed in recent months, and valuations have fallen because of heightened risks, he noted. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has increased its influence and crackdown on private companies, causing Chinese markets to crash and investors to flee. According to the Institute of International Finance (IIF), capital outflows from China in the first quarter of this year were the largest on record. Investors are abandoning Chinese stocks and bonds due to COVID-19 lockdowns, depreciation, and the perceived risk of investing in countries with strained Western relations, IIF analysts stated. One recent example of an investment firm that has cut exposure to Chinese assets is the 400-year-old Dutch financial institution Van Lanschot Kempen. After developing a new screening technique, the company began blacklisting a number of Chinese assets in an effort to “avoid controversial countries,” Bloomberg reported. “It’s shocking to me that it’s taken [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s invasion and war crimes for the world’s pension and endowment crowd to ‘develop’ riskbased tests for investing in despotic autocracies,” Bass wrote on Twitter in reaction to the Dutch asset manager’s decision. “Just think about how much of the West’s pension and endowment assets are already trapped in China. Hundreds of billions.” Chinese equities continued to fall behind other markets in the first quarter of this year due to lockdowns imposed in major cities, including Shanghai. Beijing’s severe zero-COVID strategy is having a negative impact on investment sentiment and the broader economy. Regulatory concerns about Chinese stocks listed in the United States also contributed to market volatility, according to analysts. Chinese policymakers have recently turned their focus to supporting economic growth through monetary policy easing. Despite this, China still posted a negative investment return last month, as concerns about the economy grew.
P OL I T IC S • E C ONOM Y • OPI N ION T H AT M AT T E R S
Perspectives
No.21
U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida shake hands during the U.S.–Japan summit meeting in Tokyo on May 23. Biden arrived in Japan after his visit to South Korea, part of a tour of Asia aimed at reassuring allies in the region. PHOTO BY JOSH EDELSON/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
BIDEN SLIGHTS TAIWAN Taiwan was conspicuously absent from the president's fiveday trip to Asia. 44
POLITICAL RISKS OF STUDENT DEBT RELIEF The Biden administration faces a difficult choice as pressure mounts.
‘SOFT LANDING’ IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE 47
Expectations of a controlled explosion are overly optimistic.
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INSIDE I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022 43
THOMAS MCARDLE was a White House speechwriter for President George W. Bush and writes for IssuesInsights.com.
Thomas McArdle
Biden Slights Taiwan
Taiwan was conspicuously absent from the US president’s 5-day trip to Asia
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ess than two weeks ago, delivering a muchballyhooed speech from the fake White House “game show set” across the street from the actual White House, with its digital projections masquerading as windows looking out into the Rose Garden and dozens of rectangular quartz/LED lights hanging from the ceiling, President Joe Biden said, “I want every American to know that I’m taking inflation very seriously, and it’s my top domestic priority.” But Biden’s trip to Asia proves that this promise is just as false as the set, which was apparently constructed so the president can read speeches from a face-on monitor absent reflective teleprompter glass that TV viewers would be able to see. Conspicuously absent from the itinerary of his fiveday sojourn to allies that included South Korea and Japan was free Taiwan, which many observers believe communist China is poised to invade, perhaps within months. A presidential stop there would have carried out two important objectives. First, it would have bolstered U.S. national security and given the Taiwanese confidence that the United States had their backs; a potential invasion could be deterred if it were made clear to Chinese leader Xi Jinping that the United States would do a lot more than talk in defending against forcible communist dominance. In the course of the past 30 years, polls show that residents of the island declaring their nationality to be Taiwanese rather than Chinese has swelled in the most staggering terms, from less than 18 percent to more than 64 percent—so a Chinese invasion would be an act of foreign conquest in the eyes of most of the island’s citizens. But secondly, Biden could have
44 I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022
personally implored Taiwan to help bring relief to the supply chain issues that he claims are a major reason for the United States suffering its highest inflation in four decades. Apparently, however, inflation relief has little if anything to do with this trip to the continent from which we imported $1.2 trillion worth of merchandise last year. In Biden’s brief joint press conference with newly sworn-in conservativeoriented South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol in Seoul on May 21, it was Yoon who stressed the importance of fighting supply chain disruptions, characterizing it as a national security issue.
Taiwan stands out as an opportunity to wean the West off its dependence on China. Partly due to COVID-19, Yoon said, “we see permanent risks when it comes to the supply chain. So it is very important to stabilize the supply chain.” Biden only made a passing acknowledgment that Samsung and other Korean firms “help strengthen our supply chains, secure them against shocks, and give our economies a competitive edge”—the kind of typical rhetoric that would be expected were there no consumer price crisis happening. All the free nations in Asia could be coaxed to do more to offset the dangerous dependence on Chinese manufacturing that U.S. businesses, accommodated by Washington politicians, have developed in pursuit of cheaper labor over the past four decades. To cite just one area illustrating the hazards, the United States actually ceased
producing penicillin in the face of cheap imports, and this country is severely ill-equipped to make any of the other antibiotics for treating pediatric infections and pneumonia should a major global medical supply disruption arise. About 95 percent of our ibuprofen and 70 percent of our acetaminophen are supplied by China. A decade and a half ago, hundreds of Americans died from contaminated Chinese heparin, a vital heart disease medication. Cutting off medical supplies is a particularly ruthless tactic in war, in the modern era and long past, but Beijing has the power to do such a thing to the U.S. economy today. Taiwan stands out as an opportunity to wean the West off its dependence on China. Regarding medicine, for example, a U.S. president who recognized the superiority of a less-fettered private sector could stand on Taiwanese soil and rouse its governmental and business leaders to improve its onerous drug approval process, which reportedly averages 30 months and has left Taiwan competitively crippled in the global pharmaceutical market. If Taiwan can gain the kind of global trust it has in the semiconductor field, where it has come to enjoy a reputation for excellence and reliability and constitutes 90 percent of the global market, it can boost its performance in medicine and other areas. And a push from a U.S. administration that chooses to engage in leadership can be instrumental. Score another squandered opportunity from a U.S. president whose foibles and failures are well recognized by the public, but whose weakness is making the free world a lot more vulnerable than commonly appreciated.
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 Lockdown Protests Grow Protests against the CCP’s lockdowns could overthrow the regime
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ro t e st s a r e spreading in China because of extreme COVID-19 lockdowns, employer and bank failures, rationing of food and sanitation, and Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s attempt at an unprecedented third term as leader. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) claims that foreigners instigate the protests, which are censored on social media. Rebellious netizens then repost them, including to the blockchain, making them impossible to delete. The CCP’s lockdowns, which arguably have no legal basis, are costing China as much as $46 billion per month. That’s 3.1 percent of its gross domestic product. As businesses stop operating and depositing funds in banks, the financial system is starting to falter. In China’s Henan Province, which is located about equidistant from Beijing and Shanghai, protests by bank depositors emerged when three local banks froze as much as $1.5 billion in customer assets without explanation. Depositors are protesting at bank branches, according to a report on May 18. In Beijing, as COVID-19 cases have spiked, lockdowns have gradually been imposed. On May 15, a protest erupted at Beijing’s Peking University (PKU) against a new metal wall meant to lock students in their dorms. While a CCP secretary implored as many as 300 protesters to disperse, some began dismantling the wall behind him to chants of “tear it down!” Chinese netizens praised the protest and likened it to the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. The comparison is less farfetched when considering that PKU played a prominent role in the
1919 and 1989 student protests in Tiananmen Square. Political commentator Ji Feng told Radio Free Asia that the regime’s failed policies could ignite “a large-scale student protest in Beijing.”
As more than a year of future lockdowns in China looks likely, residents are fleeing Shanghai and expatriates are leaving China. The most powerful spring protests emerged in Shanghai, where 25 million people have been under lockdown since March 2. The regime censored words from China’s own national anthem that were used by protesters and early videos of citizens from the city, who chanted “We want to eat” and “We want freedom.” In April, students at two universities in Shanghai found creative ways to protest the lack of access to food, showers, and toilets. A student at Tongji University displayed a sign during a Zoom call with officials, and one student at East China Normal University used black tape to write on the door of a bathroom, “I want to shower!” Video protests have gone viral. One such video, “Voices of April,” revealed the desperation of residents without food or freedom. Videos of the Hong Kong protest song “Do You Hear the People Sing?” were shared widely. Another video, “Shanghai Late Spring,” showed small acts of rebellion, including citizens clashing with police, set to a British punk
song with the lyrics “Cheer up London, you’re already dead.” High-rise apartment complexes in Shanghai have coordinated “concerts” to protest lockdowns, including banging on pans and yelling from balconies. A group of angry Shanghai residents found rotting vegetables that were supposed to have been distributed by the regime, broke into the storage area, and threw them onto the street. Dozens of residents at a time protested in the streets amid allegations of officials stealing food supplies. Perhaps in response to the growing unrest, Shanghai officials announced plans to reopen some shopping and businesses on May 16. However, officials have increased lockdowns in some neighborhoods and canceled international soccer events scheduled for summer 2023 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. As more than a year of future lockdowns in China looks likely, residents are fleeing Shanghai and expatriates are leaving China. Xi will seek his third term as chairman of the CCP this year. Prominent figures in China’s regime, including former premier Zhu Rongji and senior adviser Hu Wei, have been critical of Xi and his policies, including his bid for a third term, the lockdowns, the crackdown on tech companies, and support for Russia. COVID-19 cases and lockdowns are increasing in Beijing. The PKU protests spread from students at Nankai University near Beijing, who hung two protest banners on May 4. Could the protests against Xi’s policies grow further? Could they ultimately overthrow the criminal regime in Beijing? We should all hasten that day. I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 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 Inequity of Student Debt
Helping indebted students will burden many who can ill afford it
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resident joe biden’s approval ratings have sunk. Several Democratic strategists have suggested that they’ll lift if the president fulfills his campaign promise to forgive student debt or at least a part of it. Their suggestion has brought the matter to the forefront of public debate. Aside from expense issues, much of the argument has centered on questions of fairness. Economics has a contribution to make here. It can show that debt cancellation would be far from fair on many levels, including the fundamental inequity built into the college debt system. Forgiveness would anger as many as it pleases, perhaps more. The issue also reveals how little America’s elite thinks about anyone other than their friends and neighbors. The fairness arguments center mostly on how to treat other college types, those who saved for higher education or have already paid down much of their debt. Some have said the only way to put all ex-students on an equal footing would be to add forgiveness compensation for those who paid down their debt. Counter arguments to such questions point out the expense and that new initiatives to help those in need do little to help those who suffered earlier. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez has weighed in, pointing out that not all government programs benefit everyone. Although it’s hard to argue with that statement, her view typically offers little to the debate and sidesteps the question of equity altogether. This debate so far has remained remarkably narrow. No one, it seems, has considered future students. Will today’s debt forgiveness, for instance, carry a promise to forgive
46 I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022
the future college debts of those in high school or in grade school today? Or will equity to these future students demand that college becomes free, along with debt forgiveness for yesterday’s students? That would save future students any need for debt forgiveness—or saving, for that matter. A full debate on equity would also need to go beyond the question of how to apportion benefits. It must consider who pays.
Economics can show that debt cancellation would be far from fair on many levels, including the fundamental inequity built into the college debt system. Because the debt is owed to the government, forgiveness would deny the budget a source of revenue. Forgiveness then would, in one way or another, burden all taxpayers. Those who have already paid down their debt, if left uncompensated, would not only miss the benefit, but would also see a federal budget much less able to provide other services that they might need. Such a constrained budget would make it hard for still less fortunate people to get the services they need, many of them with low incomes who, for financial reasons, never even considered college. A single mother supporting her family off a meager paycheck might prefer that Washington extend food stamp subsidies rather than give up the revenue from credentialed former college students. Consideration of fairness surely
demands that people consider these aspects of the debt forgiveness question. Concern for equity also demands consideration of who has benefited from and continues to benefit from the student debt system. These are the universities, their faculties, and their administrators—possibly the most privileged people in society. The easy terms of student lending have filled classrooms and enlarged money flows for tuition and fees. This flood of students and money has further enabled colleges to raise their costs much faster than anything else in society, including health care. Today, the burden for these benefits rests on the debtor students. Forgiveness would shift that burden, mostly to taxpayers. But the fundamental fairness question about beneficiaries and those who pay would remain. Is it fair that easy borrowing for college has burdened families, young scholars, and, perhaps soon, all taxpayers to the benefit of arguably the most privileged people in society? It’s easy to feel sorry for young people struggling with their finances, especially because many were duped into taking courses of study that could never enable them to discharge the debt. But before rushing to indulge such pity at what’s effectively the taxpayer’s expense, it behooves all involved to look broadly at whether the apportionment of benefits is fair and whether it’s fair to burden others in society who may be considerably less privileged than indebted students or the universities. Questions of equity demand that the debate answer questions about the inequity of burdening so many for the sake of a relatively small and extremely privileged group.
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
Political Risks of Student Debt Relief The Biden administration faces a difficult choice as pressure mounts
PAUL MORIGI/GETTY IMAGES FOR WE, THE 45 MILLION
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resident joe biden is making a final decision on whether to fulfill his campaign pledge to cancel student loans at a politically precarious time. Biden wants to avoid alienating his young supporters ahead of the November elections, but he faces a tough choice, as canceling student debt in the midst of high inflation might spark a backlash, potentially costing his party the midterms. In April, Biden extended the moratorium on student debt payments for the sixth time through Aug. 31. Critics say canceling or delaying student loan payments is a bad policy that will merely stoke the flames of inflation and do more harm to the economy. Debt forgiveness is akin to the Federal Reserve increasing the money supply, according to E.J. Antoni, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation. “One of the key things that people don’t realize about debt is that when you take out a loan, you actually are creating money,” Antoni told Insight. “Conversely, when you repay a debt, that is destroying money, so you actually can expand and contract the money supply simply by taking on debt and by repaying debt. When it comes to student loans, the principle is literally no different.” Since the pandemic began in 2020, the Federal Reserve has poured money into the financial system in unprecedented amounts to protect the economy from the effects of the health crisis and lockdowns. Inflation has surpassed 8 percent this year, a 40-year high, in part because of the Fed’s policies. The central bank is now preparing to slam on the brakes by tightening the money supply in order to bring inflation under control. However, forgiving student loans will undermine these efforts, making it more difficult for policymakers to combat inflation.
Unlike other policies, which require congressional approval, the decision to cancel student loans can be taken by the executive branch, according to Democrats. Student loan relief also lowers the incentive to work and affects labor force participation, which retards economic productivity and raises prices, critics say. According to the Urban Institute, the majority of outstanding student loan debt is carried by those with relatively high earnings. The Biden administration’s decision could have an effect on nearly 43 million borrowers who owe more than $1.6 trillion in federal student loans. Unlike other policies, which require congressional approval, the decision to cancel student loans can be taken by the executive branch, according to Democrats. They contend that the president has the unilateral authority to do so because the Higher Education Act of 1965 grants the education secretary the authority to “waive, or release” federal student loans.
Some argue that this unilateral authority is ambiguous and that it might be challenged in courts. If they attempt to make this move and the courts overturn it, they may suffer more political damage than benefit, Antoni noted. Proponents of student loan forgiveness claim that the cancellation of some or all of student debt would minimize the negative consequences it has on the economy, such as low homeownership and small business formation. Advocates also argue that student loan forgiveness would help reduce racial income disparities. Mike Lux, a Democratic political strategist, believes providing broader debt forgiveness would greatly increase young people’s motivation to vote. “We desperately need to motivate young people to vote to have a chance to win this election,” Lux recently told Washington Post. However, Biden and Senate Democrats have a major disagreement over the relief amount. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y) have been advocating for a more sweeping package that would forgive up to $50,000 per borrower in student debt. However, Biden has indicated that he would support relief only up to $10,000 per borrower. He’s also considering imposing income limitations on student loan forgiveness to keep higher-income borrowers out. According to economists at the New York Federal Reserve, forgiving $10,000 per borrower would cost the government nearly $321 billion. Raising the cap to $50,000 would cost $904 billion. Because of the political risks, some speculate that the Biden administration may instead seek to extend the moratorium on student loan payments until after the November elections. I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 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
‘Soft Landing’ Is Almost Impossible Expectations of a controlled explosion are overly optimistic
48 I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022
We can see that markets have lost more than $7 trillion in capitalization in the year so far with a very modest move from the Fed. icant damage to the economy, are simply too optimistic. However, the biggest problem is that the Fed wants to curb inflation while at the same time, the federal government is unwilling to reduce spending. Ultimately, inflation is reduced by cutting the amount of broad money in the economy, and if government spending remains the same, the efforts to reduce inflation will only come from obliterating the private sector through a higher cost of debt and a collapse in consumption. You know that the economy is in trouble when the fiscal deficit is only reduced to $360 billion in the first seven months of fiscal year 2022, despite record receipts and the tailwind of a strong recovery in gross domestic product (GDP). Now, with GDP growth likely to be flat in the first six months but mandatory and discretional spending still virtually intact, government consumption of
monetary reserves is likely to keep core inflation elevated even if oil and gas prices moderate. The idea of a gradual cooling down of the economy is also negated by the reality of emerging markets and European banks. The relative strength of the U.S. dollar is already creating enormous financial holes in the assets of a financial system that has built the largest carry trade against the dollar in decades. It’s almost impossible to calculate the nominal and real losses in pension funds and the negative result of financial institutions in the most aggressively priced assets, from socially responsible investment and technology to infrastructure and private equity. We can see that markets have lost more than $7 trillion in capitalization so far in 2022 with a very modest move from the Fed. The impact of these losses isn’t evident yet in financial institutions, but the write-downs are likely to be significant into the second half of 2022, leading to a credit crunch exacerbated by rate hikes. Central banks always underestimate how quickly the core capital of a financial institution can dissolve into inexistence. Even the financial system itself is unable to really understand the complexity of the cross-asset impact of a widespread slump in extremely generous valuations throughout all kinds of assets. That’s why stress tests always fail. And financial institutions all over the world have abandoned the healthy process of provisioning, expecting a lengthy and solid recovery. There’s no possible painless normalization path. After a massive monetary binge, there’s no soft hangover. The only thing the Fed should have learned is that the enormous stimulus plans of 2020 created the worst outcome: stubbornly high core inflation with weakening economic growth.
JIM WATSON/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
f t er mor e t h a n a decade of chained stimulus packages and extremely low rates, with trillions of dollars of monetary stimulus fueling elevated asset valuations and incentivizing an enormous leveraged bet on risk, the idea of a controlled explosion or a “soft landing” is impossible. In an interview with Marketplace, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that “a soft landing is really just getting back to 2 percent inflation while keeping the labor market strong. And it’s quite challenging to accomplish that right now.” He went on to say that “nonetheless, we think there are pathways ... for us to get there.” The first problem with believing in a soft landing is the evidence of weak economic data. While the headline unemployment rate appears robust, both the labor participation and employment rates show a different picture, as they’ve been stagnant for almost a year. Both the labor force participation rate, at 62.2 percent, and the employment-population ratio, at 60 percent, each remain 1.2 percentage points below their February 2020 values, as the April jobs report shows. Real wages are down, as inflation completely eats away the nominal wage increase. The University of Michigan consumer confidence index in early May fell to an 11-year low of 59.1 from 65.2, deep into recessionary territory. The second problem with believing in a soft landing is underestimating the chain reaction impact of even allegedly small corrections in the markets. With global debt at all-time highs and margin debt in the United States alone at $773 billion, expectations of a controlled explosion, where markets and the indebted sectors will absorb the rate hikes without signif-
Fan Yu
FAN YU is an expert in finance and economics and has contributed analyses on China’s economy since 2015.
Beijing Policymakers in Bind More property developer defaults are likely going forward
STRINGER/REUTERS
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rdinarily, beijing would eagerly rescue its property developers and enact aggressive policy easing to prop up a sagging real estate market. But these aren’t ordinary times. Despite facing terrible economic conditions and outlook, China’s financial policymakers have only responded with relatively modest easing measures. The reason is twofold. One, regulators want to curb excess leverage in the property sector, and there’s disagreement on whether or how much to bail out the industry. And two, Beijing fears the ineffectiveness of stimulus measures, especially in areas under COVID-related lockdowns. Headlines have moved on and Evergrande is seldom in the news, but real estate developers are still struggling, and it’s spread beyond a few names. Sunac China Holdings, the country’s No. 4 property developer by sales and which formerly had one of the stronger balance sheets in the sector, defaulted in May on a $29.5 million interest payment on its offshore dollar bonds. April sales among the country’s largest developers more than halved compared to last year. Yicai, a mainland Chinese business website, stated that major real estate companies, including Vanke and Country Garden, saw a combined sales decline of 52 percent from last April. By another measure, home sales by floor space declined by 42 percent in April year over year. On the ground, continued COVID-19 lockdowns have kept workers at home, shut businesses, halted construction, and vastly
As Beijing continues to test the limits of China’s tolerance for real estate pain, global investors are wise to stay far, far away. reduced sales traffic in showrooms. The resulting economic pressures have also hit consumer confidence, with fewer buyers willing to commit to new home purchases. Given this backdrop, more property developer defaults should be expected going forward. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has apparently decided to pass another round of ministimulus. On May 15, Beijing announced that it would let banks cut the lower limits of interest rates for first-time homebuyers by 20 basis points. The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, in a joint notice, said that borrowers purchasing their first homes would have the lower limit of potential mortgage rate reduced to 20 basis points (0.2 percent) below the prime rate. It’s not nothing, but it certainly
won’t move the needle for the property market. But it puts into action Chinese regime boss Xi Jinping’s words when he said a few years ago that “homes are for living in, not for speculating.” It seems policy stimulus going forward would be moderate and encourage ownership of primary homes, not investing. The Financial Times recently suggested that current top monetary policy decision-makers are more hawkish than we’re used to seeing. Both Liu He, Xi’s top economic adviser, and Yi Gang, governor of the PBoC and a Liu ally, are against aggressive interest rate cuts. China’s top policymakers have been trying to deleverage—or at least keep steady—the Chinese economy over the past few years, and despite the trying economic backdrop, Beijing is keen to keep the spigot shut for as long as possible. There’s also widespread concern that China will risk currency devaluation and broad-based capital flight as the policy of the PBoC and the U.S. Federal Reserve continues to diverge. As U.S. benchmark rates rise further relative to Chinese rates, global investors will look to pull capital out of China. For now, stimulus support from Beijing has been accompanied by warnings that authorities intend to keep debt levels in check and that they’ll look to avoid opening the floodgates. And this is despite some truly atrocious April economic results, with retail sales falling off a cliff, exports slowing, and construction starts falling by 44 percent. As Beijing continues to test the limits of China’s tolerance for real estate pain, global investors are wise to stay far, far away. I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 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
Ditch the Phone
Take an occasional break from electronic gadgets
T
his past year, American teens and preteens spent an average of nine hours per day in front of a screen.” So writes Auguste Meyrat, a teacher, in his online article about tech addiction and our young people. They “are glued to their devices, playing video games, scrolling through social media, and streaming videos.” The harm done by this fixation, which the coronavirus pandemic only worsened, is immense. These same kids are missing out on face-to-face interactions, outdoor sports and play, reading, and any number of other activities. Most observers, especially parents, agree that this addiction—there’s no better name for it—is unhealthy. But what about adults and our screens? Reid Health Services reports that we’re riding the same dopamine train as the kids. In addition to using electronic gadgets for work, we spend hours each day looking up news, connecting with social media, and just bouncing around on our phones and computers. Often we’re at their beck and call, breaking off conversations, interrupting our chores, and telling others “Wait just a minute” while we look at a text or a missed call. And as Reid Health tells us, the ills inflicted by our digital devices are consequential. We damage our eyesight and strain our back and neck muscles. We dislocate our cognitive thinking skills and entertain insomnia and depression, and our sedentary ways can lead to obesity and stiff joints. Outside of the workplace, Reid recommends no more than two hours per day of screen time. The hours saved would be better spent in physical activities, ranging from tennis to cleaning the kitchen and vacuuming the living room. 50 I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022
Ditto when taking a walk or mucking about in the yard. Leave the phone behind. Good advice, but easier said than done. The guy who busts his chops all day laying brick comes home, pops open a Bud, flops down on the sofa, and watches television until bedtime. The ER nurse working the 3–11 shift may want nothing more than a glass of wine and a few hours on Facebook. The bank manager buries his burdens by answering emails and texts from family and friends, and then watching bands from his college days on YouTube. Cutting back our screen play is tough. For many of us, clicking a remote or keys on a laptop is a lot more appealing than digging in the garden, reading a book, or dealing with household finances. We wipe away stress with our machines, much as some might do with a good slug of bourbon. But a few simple tricks can help restore some balance in our lives. Leave the phone in the car. When we’re heading into the grocery store,
ditch the phone. That 30-minute shopping trip then means half an hour without temptation. Ditto when taking a walk or mucking about in the yard. Leave the phone behind. Reduce our time on social media or cut it out altogether. A couple of years ago, I quit going to my Facebook page and didn’t miss it one whit. TikTok? Twitter? No thanks. At my age, time is as precious as gold, and I don’t want to spend it dinking around on a phone. “Enough is enough.” I write on a laptop. Two or three times a day, I’ve learned to click out of all sites, close down, and just say, “That’s it for a while.” I also frequently push away from my desk and stand and stretch, or find something else to do for a few minutes—tidying up the living room, washing the dishes, even just sitting on the porch—to get me away from the keyboard. “A man’s true delight,” wrote Marcus Aurelius, “is to do the things he was made for.” I appreciate my computer, but we were not made for our machines. They were made for us. Let’s treat them as the servants they are.
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Visit THEEPOCHTIMES.COM I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022 51
Douglas Murray, author and journalist. THOUGHT LEADERS
Notes From the Front Lines of the Culture War Race, decolonization, deception, and teaching the West to hate its own society
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f the Founding Fathers can be discarded,” Douglas Murray says, “and Abraham Lincoln can be discarded, and everyone else can be discarded from American history, what have you got left?”
JAN JEKIELEK: You start
DOUGLAS MURR AY: It’s
one of the tactics being used at the moment, even though the West has never been less racist. In the early 1960s in America, you might have said, “We’ve got intrinsic racism in our society,” and you would have been right. Is that the case in 2022? Obviously not. It’s an unfair attempt to misrepresent society. MR . JEKIELEK: Yet some-
how we’ve internalized this attitude. MR . MURR AY: That’s a
52 I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022
very interesting tendency, isn’t it? Because it’s not natural. Most people want to think well of themselves, their history, their family, and their culture. You have to be taught to dislike it, unless it’s a completely dislikable culture. I think people in the West have been taught disproportionate criticism of their own society for more than a generation now.
nothing negative must be said about anyone else. This was a trope that came up in the post-colonial years. There are various scholars who were responsible for it. There was also a desire for revenge. People talked of justice, but they meant revenge.
MR . JEKIELEK: But how
works of some of the postcolonial thinkers such as Frantz Fanon are imbued with a desire for revenge against the West for the colonial era. And we can see this in the critical race theorists today, in the work of people such as Ibram X. Kendi in ‘How to Be an Antiracist.’
did that happen? MR . MURR AY: Through
a range of things. For example, we all live on campus now. These ideas spill out until everything the West did is looked on with disfavor. Anything can be said about the West, but
MR . JEKIELEK: So how do
these things connect? MR . MURR AY: Well, the ALL PHOTOS BY JACK WANG/THE EPOCH TIMES
In a recent episode of “American Thought Leaders,” host Jan Jekielek and author and journalist Douglas Murray discuss critical race theory, the ongoing assaults on U.S. history in our public square, and the importance of once again taking pride and finding value in Western achievements. Murray’s latest book is “The War on the West.”
off “The War on the West” with race and critical race theory. Is that the most important component of the attack on the West?
Kendi and others say the correction to past injustice is present injustice wrapped up in the language of fairness, but you’re actually talking about revenge. And you can’t have hypothetical revenge on the culture. You can’t only attack the history of a country or its philosophical foundations or cultural inheritance. You have to attack the people. And the people of the West are majority white. And they’ve gotten away with it because they’ve terrorized people. To object is to be accused of bigotry. They say, “America has nothing good to be said for it. It was founded with slavery. It only grew as a power because of slavery.” If an American says, “I feel some pride in my country. I’m fairly sure we’ve done something right,” that person will be accused of racism. It’s a bullying tactic, but it’s been very effective. Almost everybody has been shut up by that tactic. So they smear people, damaging their reputations and often their livelihoods. It’s a very effective tool.
MR . JEKIELEK: What are
some other dimensions of this war on the West? MR . MURR AY: The main
one is a war on history, where a story of pride, heroism, and striving is turned into a story of shame. That’s been done to America. It’s been done to Great Britain, Canada, and other English-speaking countries. We’ve had our histories reframed and rewritten. It’s also been done to individuals. When I was growing up, Winston Churchill was one of our great national heroes. For most of us, he still is, but everything written by academics and the media has become so negative that mobs have repeatedly attacked Churchill’s statue. It’s the same here in America. They say Thomas Jefferson was a racist and therefore there’s nothing to gain from him, and so you must pull down all likenesses of him. If the Founding Fathers can be discarded, and Abraham Lincoln can be discarded, and everyone else can be discarded from American history,
“We’re talking about people who want to destroy or radically transform the West.” what have you got left? And the same movement is running through the arts so that Shakespeare and other great figures of literature are now deemed out of date and anachronistic. Again, take away Shakespeare, take away the canon of Western literature, and what have you got? It’s a form of cultural revolution, and they’ve gotten away with it far too easily to date. MR . JEKIELEK: In the
book, you talk about this idea of decolonizing everything. What does that mean? MR . MURR AY: Decoloniz-
ing has become an anti-white, anti-West movement, where everything from the West is torn down. For instance, every single philosopher of the Euro-
pean Enlightenment, who in many cases inspired the Founding Fathers, has now been torn down. And they’ve all been torn down for similar reasons. They all roughly lived around the 18th century—in the era of slavery and colonialism. So everyone can be tarred by association with it. Some are accused of owning shares in companies that benefited from slavery, others of not having focused on abolishing slavery. Others are accused of saying something we now regard as a racist. And all of this is done in an atmosphere of complete contextual collapse. MR . JEKIELEK: As you
wrote in the book, one philosopher has escaped this ire. MR . MURR AY: Karl
I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022 53
Nation Profile
“The development of everything we think of as modernity is Western in origin.” Marx. By the standards applied to every other thinker, Marx was guilty of every single one of the modern heresies, as I lay out in some detail. Marx was incredibly racist. He uses the N-word all over the place and usually it’s prefixed to Jew. He’s incredibly antisemitic, of course. If Karl Marx were anyone else, he would have been canceled years ago. So we’re not talking about honest critics who want to make the West better. We’re talking about people who want to destroy or radically transform the West. Marx is central to these people; therefore, he must stand.
MR . JEKIELEK: So what
does the West have going for it? MR . MURR AY: The devel-
opment of everything from science and medicine, everything we think of as modernity, is Western in origin. Then there’s democracy, the idea of liberty, freedom of thought, conscience, and expression, and freedom to vote. Historically, these are uncommon except in the West, where they originated. There’s also our cultural, philosophical, and religious inheritance, the traditions of Athens and Jerusalem, and unparalleled artistic innovations.
MR . JEKIELEK: But the ar-
gument is, “That was made on the backs of the rest of the world.” MR . MURR AY: They were
made on the backs of a lot of people, including people in the West. The Industrial Revolution was done on the backs of British men and women. Was the West built only on slavery? Certainly not. Was it a part of it? Yes. People who pretend they’re oppressed by these long-dead things are shakedown merchants and frauds. Nietzsche tells us to be wary of people who pick at scars long since healed and then cry about their wounds. There’s an awful lot of those people around at the moment. Look at the ridiculous hucksters in America who present themselves as victims. They’re all over the place. These are people who are tearing at closed wounds and screaming
about their pain. And I don’t believe them. MR . JEKIELEK: What’s
the path for the West to rediscover its own value? MR . MURR AY: We have to
be more careful with our societies. We have to take greater care of them. In his poem ‘The Mower,” Philip Larkin says we should be careful and kind while there’s still time. We should be kind to our own society, as well as others. MR . JEKIELEK: There are
people out there thinking, “I want to fight for the West.” What should they do? MR . MURR AY: The first
thing is to know their arguments. One of the reasons I wrote “The War on the West” is to help furnish people with their arguments. People need to know how to counter the lies. And they need to take pride in themselves again, to feel appropriate pride for things that have gone well in their society. It involves people knowing more than we currently do because we’re dealing with some very bad actors on the national and international stage who want us to be ignorant, who want us to fall for their propaganda and the lies they tell us. Everybody has a role to play in their own lives, with their families, friends, and communities. This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Douglas Murray, author of “The War on the West.” 54 I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022
T R AV E L • F O O D • L U X U R Y L I V I N G
Unwind
No. 21
Just north of Boca Raton and south of Palm Beach is the hidden gem of Delray Beach, offering all the fun with half the traffic. PHOTO BY NICOLA FORENZA/ SHUTTERSTOCK
A Taste of South Florida ALL HOMES COME WITH A STORY, but this one involves 13th-century monks, French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, and Monaco’s Prince Rainier III. 56
THESE EPIC BACKYARD games will get everybody outside for some fresh air fun. 63
58
TO COFFEE AND ESPRESSO FANS, making the perfect cup is a high form of art. This collection allows them to create masterpieces at home. 66
INSIDE I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022 55
A Most
UNIQUE Estate
This entrancing 25-acre property dating to the 13th century was once a monastery, and owned by Prince Rainier of Monaco By Phil Butler
In all directions, earthy materials and brilliant stonework abound. Giant beamed ceilings give the impression of a fortress, which is softened by the warm and welcoming grounds.
56 I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022
Lifestyle Real Estate
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THE VILLA OWNERS/CARLTON INTERNATIONAL
her e a r e pl aces in t he wor l d that are like time portals. Definitively, they’re sometimes called “transportive,” which by definition conveys an ability “to carry away with strong and often intensely pleasant emotion.” Domaine la Sylviane, located outside the quaint medieval village of Valbonne in France, is just such a place. If romance, history, and owning something transcendent appeals to you, this former monastery delivers a unique opportunity. Located on 25 acres of secluded grounds a short drive from the French Riviera, the property was originally occupied by monks in the 13th century and then further developed in the 17th century. In the early 19th century, Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte bequeathed the estate to one of his generals. Subsequently, the general’s daughter, Sylvie, inherited the property now bearing her name. Once the home of the family of Prince Rainier III of Monaco, the estate’s current owners purchased it in the early 1970s. Set in the midst of ancient olive groves, verdant gardens, and wild nature are five ancient buildings that have been converted into a family paradise. In all, the property has 10 bedrooms and nine baths, spread over nearly 13,000 square feet of living space in five main buildings. La Bastide, which is the multi-level primary residence, has five luxurious bed-
room suites, including a spacious master bedroom on the ground floor. The main house also has double reception areas, an additional bedroom, a stunning country kitchen, formal and informal dining areas, a laundry, a wine cellar, and much more. An adjacent residence, Le Pigeonnier, features a reception area, a gourmet kitchen, a laundry, three bedrooms, and two full baths. La Ferme is another adjacent accommodation with two individual apartments. Finally, La Bergerie, the Olive Press, and the caretaker’s house extend the estate’s living spaces to suit any gathering or occasion. There’s also a pool house and gymnasium on the grounds. An in-ground, heated swimming pool, a tennis court, a barbeque area, and countless al fresco dining or picnicking spots can also be found on the grounds. In nearby Valbonne, the estate’s owners and their guests can enjoy the little town’s picturesque square, countless chic boutiques, and a wide variety of gourmet dining experiences. A short drive away are the French cities of Nice and Cannes, where international flight connections and world-famous touring, entertainment, and sporting experiences await. 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.
VALBONNE, FRANCE PRICE ON REQUEST
• 10 BEDROOMS • HISTORIC PROPERTY • UNIQUE LOCATION KEY FEATURES
• EXPANSIVE ACCOMMODATIONS • STUNNING ARCHITECTURE • HEATED SWIMMING POOL • ORCHARDS/ VINEYARDS AGENT
CARLTON INTERNATIONAL EMAIL: INFO@ CARLTON-GROUP.COM +33 493 95 1111
Located just outside the medieval village of Valbonne, Domaine la Sylviane is a working estate that produces 1,000 liters of olive oil and other agricultural products that make the property virtually self-sustaining. The living spaces in all of the residences exude provincial charm and atmosphere. The result is traditional elements handcrafted into a nostalgic dream.
A well-appointed country kitchen with a spacious pantry stands ready for the preparation of meals for the owners and guests. I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022 57
Travel Florida
The sun rises over the Atlantic Ocean in Delray Beach.
Surf, Sand, and Pinball Family fun in Delray Beach
By Cary Dunst
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Water Skiing Without the Boat After a short Uber ride north from Delray to West Palm Beach, we arrived at Shark Park 561, founded by the son of golf legend Greg “The Shark” Norman. It’s among a growing number of wake park facilities that employ a tower and cable system, 58 I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022
TALLAHASSEE
FLORIDA ORLANDO
DELRAY BEACH MIAMI
Getting there: West Palm Beach airport is only 30 minutes north of Delray.
ALL PHOTOS BY COPYRIGHT FRED J. ECKERT
h e n accou n t i ng f or both the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts, Florida has a huge coastline, second in length only to Alaska’s. With so many vacation-worthy towns from which to choose, my family recently traveled to Delray Beach to combine a restful beach trip with memorable activities for our two pre-teen kids. Though my wife and I would have been content to do nothing more than read, stroll the beach, cool off in the ocean, and then repeat, our kids were full of energy and ready for action.
rather than a motorboat, to pull riders around a lake course. We quickly navigated through electronic waivers, helmet and life-jacket fittings, and kneeboard, ski, and wakeboard choices. We arranged a lesson with Donnie, a tall, sandy-blond high schooler. Donnie started my kids on kneeboards, the easiest way to learn. After some on-land coaching, he left us to take a solo lap around the course. One at a time, my kids received the rope handle from the cable operator, who offered some last-minute encouragement, and then counted down: “Three, two, one, go!” The slack in the rope tightened and off they went, pulled from the dock’s ramp like a rock skipping across the lake to an expectant Donnie, who received and stabilized them on the water and taught them how to navigate the sharp tug of the cable at the four turns on the course. He got both kids both riding and having fun from their very first try.
Travel Florida
I was not so lucky! I tried a wakeboard and succeeded in getting up on the water in one out of five attempts, only to fall at the first turn. After numerous comical “Dad wipeouts,” I was content to sit on the dock with a drink and newfound appreciation as I watched the young locals’ fluid riding styles and epic jumps where they twirled and flipped through the air.
Surfing With Nomads While the wake park was great fun, the kids also wanted to surf an ocean wave, and the Nomad Surf Shop, just north of Delray in Boynton Beach, was the place to go. Founded by Ron Heavyside in 1968 out of the back of his father’s TV repair shop, this second-generation institution has outfitted and inspired South Florida surfers for more than 50 years. We were put at ease by our instructor, John, and followed him out to the back where he selected foam-topped longboards for us. We then walked a block to the beach, where John’s lesson began on the sand, teaching us how to lie and paddle on the board, then assume a push-up position and pop to our feet once inside the wave. It was then time to try it in the water. John walked backward through the gentle waves, guiding both kids’ boards through the warm, shallow waters. He helped each child get into position and then gave them a swift push into the wave, shouting encouragement to pop to their feet. With most of the work done by John, both kids surfed a half-dozen waves. They were jubilant as they stood on the board skimming atop the whitewater. Even Dad got up on a few waves with the help
of John’s instruction. With our fresh, firsthand experience with the challenge of surfing, we encountered another Delray local scene as we were taking our daily stroll on the beach—enormous, sail-like kites flying above the ocean and sand. On closer inspection, these huge sails were attached to the torsos of people on surfboards, who were carving turns in the water. The most advanced riders would pull straight up off a wave and fly for several seconds before returning to the water.
Pinball Wizard Rounding out the family-friendly activities on dry land was a visit to the Silverball Museum, a collection of vintage pinball and arcade machines. These relics from generations past were beautifully maintained. Unlike the tourist-trap arcades where your kid can easily burn through $100 and then come looking to you for more, Silverball charges for admission, and you can play as much as you want. Some nights, it stays open until 2 a.m., and there’s a great bar and food menu to keep your energy up. Even my wife, who hates video games, got into the fun, dusting off her Ms. Pacman skills to the surprise and delight of the kids. My son was proud to show me his high score on several of the machines he played. As we were getting ready to leave, the karaoke scene was starting to heat up. After a week spent enjoying Mom and Dad time on the beach and fun activities for the kids, our only regret was that we couldn’t stay longer in Delray, and we are already plotting our return.
An instructor gives a child a kneeboarding lesson at An instructor from Nomad Surf Shop the Shark Park 561 cable park in West Palm Beach. teaches a lesson.
2 miles
of uninterrupted beach beckon sun and sand seekers.
If You Go Stay: We loved our stay at the boutique Crane’s Beach House. The in-room full kitchens, laundry facilities, and two pools are extremely convenient for families and extended stays. Other great options are the Opal Grand, The Seagate, The Ray, and the Colony Hotel and Cabana Club. Dine: Celebrity chef and former professional snowboarder Akira Back’s innovative Asian fusion menu at The Ray Hotel was a great choice for our date night, and we had enjoyed a family meal at the Ember Grill, also located at The Ray.
Getting air off one of the ramps at the Shark Park 561 cable park in West Palm Beach. I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022 59
TECHNOLOGY THAT IMPROVES LIFE
New inventions and innovations are rapidly changing how we live, work, and play By Bill Lindsey
Trickle-down technology created for industrial use increasingly ends up in our homes. 60 I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022
Lifestyle High-Tech Wonders
I
t’s easy to take technology for granted, but consider that 100 years ago, only 35 percent of homes in the United States had telephones. Cellphones, which now are found in the hands of pretty much everyone, were relatively rare as recently as 30 years ago, with only an estimated 11 million in use in the United States at the time. As another example of how quickly technology improves, Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon a mere 66 years after the Wright brothers' historic flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The spread of the internet and more focused efforts have streamlined the creation of technology that improves lives, although it sometimes takes a while for an idea to become reality. Though 3-D printers existed as a concept in 1945, with methodology developed in the 1970s, it wasn’t until 1987 that the first commercial unit was created by 3D Systems Corporation. Initially mostly found in aerospace applications and soon thereafter adopted for use by dentists and physicians, 3-D printers such as the Formlabs Form 3+ are now in everyday use by hobbyists creating jewelry or fabricating hard-to-find parts for antique cars or furniture. As long as a drawing can be made of the object desired, it can be created, using a computer linked to a 3-D printer, loaded with software readily available online.
LEFT PAGE: MASKOT/GETTY IMAGES; RIGHT PAGE FROM TOP: COURTESY OF APPLE, FUJIFILM INSTAX, PETCUBE
AS NOTED EARLIER, the internet has
greatly increased the speed of the development and introduction of new technology, much of which trickles down to everyday applications. With an estimated 70 percent of U.S. households owning pets, many of which are dogs, it was only a matter of time until a way was found to interact with them remotely. With a Petcube Bites 2, you can talk to your dog while you are away from home. A high-definition 1080p camera provides real-time video, while two-way audio allows you to talk to them and hear their happy barks. To get their tail wagging, it can dispense treats as snacks or rewards for good behavior. You can even check in on them quietly, using the wide-angle
Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon a mere 66 years after the Wright brothers’ historic flight.
An Apple AirTag makes lost keys a thing of the past. It also lets you keep track of luggage, purses, portable electronics, and even pets.
camera with night vision capability. And, of course, the internet also allows us to see who’s at our front door, even if we happen to be on the other side of the planet. In addition to confirming when deliveries are made, a two-way system such as Google’s video doorbell lets you see and talk to whoever may be at your front door. Easily installed, this high-tech version of a door peephole can be hard-wired or powered by batteries; this system has both practical and security aspects.
Wouldn’t it be great if you could print all those photos on your phone? With an Instax Mini Link printer, you can.
ON A RELATED note, most of us have
left home only to wonder, when we are a few blocks or many miles away, if we locked the door. While it is likely the door is locked, the nagging doubt can prompt a trip back home or a call to a friend to check it for you. A Yale Smart Lock lets you use a smartphone app to check the status of the door remotely and to lock it if you forgot to do so. The system also allows to you provide remote access to family or trusted neighbors or friends to check on pets or otherwise enter the home. Sometimes technology goes back and reinvents itself. The first Polaroid camera went on sale in 1948, over time becoming an iconic item for its ability to produce a snapshot on the spot. In 1943, Edwin Land, a pioneer in the science of polarizing lenses and sunglasses, was inspired when his 3-year-old daughter asked why she couldn’t see vacation photos right away. The result was the Land Camera, which ejected a photo that could be viewed in 60 seconds. The popularity of these cameras waned in the 1980s, but now Fujifilm has developed a way to create instant photos
If the pup is home alone, a PetCube Bites 2 lets you talk to him and give him treats.
I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022 61
Lifestyle High-Tech Wonders
LIFESTYLE
AMAZING TECHNOLOGY A lot of high tech has at-home applications
An AirTag allows you to use an iPhone to immediately locate any tagged item. taken on smartphones in the form of the Instax Mini Link printer. Now you can once again take a photo or video and immediately print a color photograph. Technology has also provided a solution to the all-too-common question: “Where did I leave my keys?” The Apple AirTag can be attached to keychains to make locating them a simple matter of checking your iPhone. These little items also come in handy for keeping track of laptops, camera bags, bicycles, and more. No app is required to activate them, in a process that’s as simple as activating Bluetooth. You can attach them to luggage, pet collars, and just about any other item that may
become misplaced. The only downside is that you’d need another phone in order to use them to locate the phone you keep misplacing.
With a Google video doorbell, you can see who is at the front door whether you're home or many miles away.
1 Can’t find It? Make It A 3-D printer is the solution to obsolete, hard-to-find parts needed to repair antiques or to create oneof-a-kind jewelry.
2 Shake It Like a Polaroid Just like the original Land Camera, Fujifilm’s Instax Mini Link printer creates photos from smartphones anytime, anywhere.
3 Safer and Smarter The internet allows us to turn lights on or off, see who is at the front door, adjust thermostats, and open or lock doors, from anywhere on the globe.
62 I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022
FROM TOP: SRDJAN RANDJELOVIC/SHUTTERSTOCK, GOOGLE, FORMLABS
Can’t find the part you need? Use a 3-D printer to create it in minutes.
Luxury Living Backyard Games
TURN YOUR BACKYARD INTO A FAMILY FUN ZONE It’s easy to lure the kids away from the TV and social media when you add these outdoor games to your collection By Bill Lindsey
A Game of Skill
TOWERBALL
Watch Out Below!
JENGA XXL GIGANTIC CARDBOARD EDITION $299.95
Jenga is a Swahili word meaning “build.” Jenga XXL builds on the excitement with an enormous eight-foot-high tower that’s made of cardboard to ensure that it doesn’t hurt players or pets when it comes crashing down. It disassembles easily and compactly for storage.
$189.99
A Must-Have Classic
L.L. BEAN TOURNAMENT HORSESHOES $119
Leon Leonwood “L.L.” Bean loved to play horseshoes at his hunting and fishing camps. In his 1927 catalog, he wrote, “Put a pair of stakes out near your camp or cottage and note how quickly your place becomes popular,” and that’s still true today.
The 360-degree alternative to cornhole, TowerBall was created as an entirely new approach to the classic simplicity of backyard toss games. The result is a fusion of cornhole and darts, in a game that’s fun and challenging for players of all ages, from kids to highly competitive adults.
Fun That’s Ready to Go FROM TOP L: COURTESY OF JENGA, L.L. BEAN, CALIBER GAMES, AMISH TOY BOX, HAMMACHER SCHLEMMER, BADEN SPORTS
CHAMPIONS PICKLEBALL SET Hand-Crafted Family Fun
FAMILY TRADITION 8-PLAYER AMISH-MADE WOODEN CROQUET SET $309.50
Playing croquet is how the Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Amish enjoy spending a warm Sunday afternoon. Their enthusiasm for the game is evident in this carefully crafted, maple hardwood hard-to-find eight-player set that allows more people to join the fun.
A New Way to Kick
HAMMACHER SCHLEMMER KICKBALL DARTBOARD $179.99
You may think you were great at kickball, but can you hit a Treble 20 or Bullseye? Maybe a rousing game of Cricket, 501, or Around the Clock is more your style. Backyard entertainment goes big with this six-foot-tall challenge that combines the athleticism of soccer with the precision of darts.
$249.99
While the latest trendy new home accessory may be a formal pickleball court, this lets you get your game on now without waiting for a construction crew. The high-quality Champions Pickleball Set has everything you need for backyard or driveway games, including an easy-to-set-up portable net. Sandy Lindsey is an award-winning writer who covers home, gardening, DIY projects, pets, and boating. She has two books with McGraw-Hill. I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022 63
Epoch Booklist RECOMMENDED READING FICTION
‘All the Light We Cannot See’
By Anthony Doerr
Goodness Found, Even in War A French girl named Marie-Laure LeBlanc has fled Paris with her father to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo. A German boy named Werner Pfennig is an expert transmitter, and he tracks the enemy. Two young lives, two warring cultures, both cling to survival in 1944. SCRIBNER REPRINT EDITION 2017, 544 PAGES
‘Anecdotes of Destiny and Ehrengard’
By Isak Dinesen
Stories From a Great Danish Writer This collection of stories includes the beautiful tale “Babette’s Feast,” later made into an equally fine film. Babette, a chef, now a refugee from revolutionary France, becomes a servant of two sisters bound to their past and
This week, we feature a history of America’s clashing opinions about World War I, and a classic about a traitor growing to love his homeland.
the strictures of their pietistic religious faith. Both suffered romantic disappointment in their youths. After years of devoted service, Babette wins a lottery and spends the money on a lavish feast for the sisters and their friends. A beautiful tale of the meaning of sacramental grace. VINTAGE REISSUE EDITION 1993, 288 PAGES
CURRENT AFFAIRS
‘Class Dismissed’
By Nick Adams
When College Isn’t the Only Answer A college degree often costs more than $60,000. Adams argues that college may not be the best road to a successful career. For many, it’s a four-year detour. He suggests alternative paths to career success. In fact, half the book discusses remunerative careers attainable through trade schools or community college certifications. He lists people who didn’t finish college, including James Cameron, Michael Dell, and Anna Wintour. Anyone uncertain about whether college is for them should read it. POST HILL PRESS, 2019 192 PAGES
64 I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022
Are there books you’d recommend? We’d love to hear from you. Let us know at features@epochtimes.com
HISTORY
‘Adriatic’
By Robert D. Kaplan
The Line Between East and West Where does the West end and the Orient begin? Kaplan claims the Adriatic Sea forms the dividing line. Part travelogue, part history, and part personal reminisce, this book explores the Adriatic from ancient times through the present day. Kaplan takes readers around the Adriatic, starting in Rimini, Italy, and working his way around the coast to Corfu, Greece. He examines each stop’s history, culture, and place in the modern world. RANDOM HOUSE, 2022 368 PAGES
‘The Approaching Storm’
By Neil Lanctot
America’s View of World War I The United States had no interest in participating in The Great War, as Neil Lanctot makes very
clear in his book. But those opinions began to change for its citizens and especially for its nation’s leaders. This book is a superb analysis of the views of Woodrow Wilson, Teddy Roosevelt, and Jane Addams that helped frame America’s decision to go to war. RIVERHEAD BOOKS, 2021 672 PAGES
CLASSICS
‘The Man Without a Country’
By Edward Everett Hale
FOR KIDS
‘Beatrix Potter: The Complete Tales’
By Beatrix Potter
Animal Adventures Loved by Kids Here in one volume are 23 tales, plus their original illustrations, about such beloved icons as Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny. This volume also includes four stories published after Potter’s death. This book is a delight for the little ones. WARNE PUBLISHERS, 2006 400 PAGES
Be Careful What You Wish For Swept up in a treasonous plot along with Aaron Burr, Army Lt. Philip Nolan exclaims at his trial, “Damn the United States! I wish I may never hear of the United States again!” The judge grants his wish, and Nolan spends the rest of his life aboard a ship, never setting foot again in the states and never allowed to read a newspaper or discuss contemporary events. Hale’s short story about love of country remains pertinent today, reminding young and old alike of the importance of patriotism and the beauty of American ideals. INDEPENDENTLY PUBLISHED REPRINT, 2021, 41 PAGES
‘A Bear Called Paddington’
By Michael Bond
That Sort of Bear First published in 1958, “A Bear Called Paddington” tells the story of a marmaladeloving bear who finds a loving home with the Brown family of London. Paddington says: “Things are always happening to me. I’m that sort of bear.” HARPERCOLLINS, 2016 176 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 look at the definitive interpretation of Superman, as well as an enthusiastic remake of the 1950 classic “Father of the Bride.”
NEW RELEASE
FAMILY PICK
‘Father of the Bride’ (1991)
‘Dinner in America’ (2022) The misanthropic singer (Kyle Gallner) of a punk band is being pursued by law enforcement and ends up at the home of a young female fan (Hannah Marks). As they travel through the Midwest, romance blossoms between them. This mean-spirited rom-com is full of unlikeable characters who spout quippy vulgarities, while the few responsible, traditional characters are portrayed as “uncool.” The film tries way too hard to be edgy—its style is irritating, but matches the intentionally obnoxious performances of its main cast. Solid pass.
COMEDY | DR AMA | MUSIC
Release Date: May 27, 2022 (United States) Director: Adam Rehmeier Starring: Kyle Gallner, Hannah Marks, Lea Thompson Running Time: 1 hour, 46 minutes MPAA Rating: Not Rated Where to Watch: Theaters
this drama is not only emotionally arresting, but it has a sense of realism that almost makes it seem like a documentary. DRAMA | HISTORY
Many agree that this exceptional film depicts the most accurate account of the sinking of the largest ocean liner in the world (at the time),
the RMS Titanic, after it struck an iceberg in 1912. Much richer and more factually informative than the 1990s version,
makes it very relatable, especially for viewers who’ve gone through the same stressful time. COMEDY | FAMILY | ROMANCE
Release Date: Dec. 20, 1991 Directors: Charles Shyer Starring: Steve Martin, Diane Keaton, Martin Short Running Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes MPAA Rating: PG Where to Watch: Redbox, Vudu, DirecTV
ONE OF THE GREATEST SUPERHERO MOVIES
‘Superman’ (1978)
THE SINKING OF THE TITANIC
‘A Night to Remember’ (1958)
In this remake of the original 1950 comedy, Steve Martin stars as George Banks, whose daughter Annie (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) is getting married. This prospect triggers panic in George, who’s struggling to come to grips with the fact that his little girl has grown up. While nothing will ever compare to the original Spencer Tracy version, this film captures a similar vibe (an average American family planning an important event) that
Release Date: Dec. 16, 1958 Director: Roy Ward Baker Starring: Kenneth More, Ronald Allen, Robert Ayres Running Time: 2 hours, 3 minutes Not Rated Where to Watch: Pluto TV, Amazon, Criterion
After After his homeworld is destroyed, Superman (Christopher Reeve) finds a new home on Earth. While working under the secret identity of Clark Kent, he develops a crush on fellow reporter Lois Lane (Margot Kidder), and as Superman, he attempts to thwart the dastardly plans of Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman). This film may seem tame when compared with today’s more meanspirited and violent superhero flicks. But
its wholesomeness, along with its many positive messages, is part of the magic that sets it apart. ACTION | ADVENTURE | SCI-FI
Release Date: Dec. 15, 1978 Director: Richard Donner Starring: Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder, Gene Hackman Running Time: 2 hours, 23 minutes MPAA Rating: PG Where to Watch: HBO Max, Vudu, Redbox
I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022 65
Ultimate Coffee Makers:
EVER SINCE AN ETHIOPIAN
A Guide to Coffee and Espresso Machines for Lovers of the Bean By Bill Lindsey
goatherder named Kaldi discovered his goats enjoying coffee beans, we’ve been seeking ever-better ways to brew the bodacious beverage that is coffee. Rev It Up!
Super Veloce Serie Titano This machine is a perfect addition to the man caves of those who appreciate horsepower as much as they enjoy espresso. Patterned after a V10 engine block, these half-scale, stainless steel, hand-crafted machines weigh a massive 50 pounds, utilizing capsules to brew the perfect espresso. CONTACT FOR PRICING AT SUPERVELOCE.CO
Eager to Please
Classic Made Better
This multi-talented machine is like having your own barista on call 24/7 to create any of 28 specialties to suit your whims. Using artificial intelligence, it refines its recipes and settings to match your preferences. In addition to its many impressive brewing processes, it looks great, too.
Paying tribute to the brand’s original Trazzi design, this thoroughly updated machine extracts coffee in an infusion phase and an emulsion phase to ensure authentic, full-bodied flavor. Other notable features include an adjustable cup rest to accommodate mugs or smaller glasses, automatic descaling, and flow-stop programs.
Jura Giga 6
$5,999 AT SHOPJURA.COM
The Real Thing
La Marzocco GS3
STARTS AT $7,500 AT LAMARZOCCOUSA.COM
66 I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022
Osma Pro Iced Coffee Maker Coffee aficionados who prefer their drink chilled will love this cold brew system. Engineered to extract more of the natural sugars of the beans, it creates a sweeter beverage compared to traditional brewing methods. Best of all, it delivers a perfect iced coffee in just 90 seconds. $695 AT DRINKOSMA.COM
$595 AT ILLY.COM
A Mesmerizing Method Luxury Belgian Royal Family Balance Siphon Coffee Maker
This balance brewer machine makes every pot of coffee an exciting performance. As one chamber holds coffee grounds, the other holds water, which is heated by an alcohol stove. The heated water flows up and into the coffee chamber, initiating the brewing process. $119 AT WAYFAIR.COM
COURTESY OF RETAILERS
This system is a scaled-down version of the machine used by professional baristas, making it an ideal choice for purists. In addition to dual stainless-steel boilers, it utilizes a unique temperature control system, a saturated group head, a no-burn steam wand, and an oversized drip tray.
Iced Is Nice
illy X1 iperEspresso Anniversary 1935 Machine
Awkward Situations How to handle inopportune encounters with tact and diplomacy
Unexpectedly running into a disgruntled ex or a co-worker you recently had to terminate can be disconcerting. With a bit of forethought, you can react with dignity and grace, avoiding hurt feelings. By Bill Lindsey
4 Banishing Bullies
1 The Ex-Files “Love Seminar” author Helen Chen says that 85 percent of relationships end badly, making the chances of running into an ex possible when both reside or work in the same area. Unless the breakup was mutually amicable, the best way to minimize an uncomfortable situation is to politely acknowledge each other without breaking stride. If the encounter occurs in an elevator or at a restaurant, pretending you don’t notice them may allow them to avoid feeling uncomfortable.
CSA IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES
2 Office Mates Managers face the dilemma of coming into contact with workers they have let go. If the separation was simply due to economics and you’d happily rehire them if possible, enthusiastically greet them; it’s smart to maintain the relationship. However, if their separation was the result of poor performance or unacceptable behavior, keep the contact polite, professional, and as brief as possible. If they discuss their termination, advise them to contact your company’s HR department.
Sadly, many people enjoy intimidating and denigrating others at work, in social situations, or in public. The best option is not to engage with them, as that encourages their inappropriate behavior. We cannot hope to change them, but we can control how we react. If they’re a co-worker or your superior, report their behavior to your manager or HR. In a social situation or with a stranger in public, create and maintain your distance.
3 Family Feud According to a recent study by the law firm Wilkinson & Finkbeiner, almost 50 percent of marriages in the United States end in divorce. In the event you find yourself face-to-face with an angry friend or family member of your ex, accept the fact that the encounter may not be pleasant. Extricate yourself with dignified grace, even if it means agreeing with them that you were in fact the bad guy.
5 The Lost Spouse Death is a certainty, but that doesn’t lessen the devastation it can cause to loved ones. A chance encounter with a recently widowed spouse is an opportunity to show them compassion and caring. It’s not uncommon for the surviving spouse to feel lost and adrift as friends keep their distance, uncertain as to how to proceed with the relationship. Be the friend they need; reconnect and assure them you’re there for them.
I N S I G H T May 27–June 2, 2022 67
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