R E H C A E T S U D O EX 55% of teachers plan to leave profession ahead of schedule By Autumn Spredemann
Fight Against State Control The Jewish community is battling New York's grip on private schools. p.16
Is the American Dream Vanishing? More buyers competing for fewer properties is making housing affordability a serious issue. p.26
JUNE 3–9, 2022 | $6.95
NO. 22
Editor’s Note
Teacher Exodus “it’s all too much. It’s a firestorm. It’s all eroding,” Heidi Rickard, an educator with more than two decades of experience, told Insight. Teachers are saying that behavioral changes in students resulting from disengagement and remote learning are on the rise, following almost two years of pandemic measures. It has become so bad that many teachers are deciding to retire or leave the profession early. “As a veteran teacher, when the best of my best isn’t working, that’s so defeating,” Rickard said. A recent survey revealed that 55 percent of teachers planned to leave the profession ahead of schedule. Another survey found that unfilled job openings at schools have led to more work obligations for the educators who’ve chosen to stay. One of the challenges, teachers told Insight, is a lack of respect for educators, as well as the aggressive or increasingly troublesome behavior displayed by students in classrooms. In addition, new teachers are facing increased hurdles to joining the profession. Read this week’s cover story to learn about the current challenges for teachers and the impact they’re having on the nation. Jasper Fakkert Editor-in-chief
2 I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022
JASPER FAKKERT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF CHANNALY PHILIPP LIFE & TRADITION, TRAVEL EDITOR CHRISY TRUDEAU MIND & BODY EDITOR
ON THE COVER Many teachers, who are now facing increased challenges in student behavior as a result of two years of pandemic measures, are leaving the profession for good. SENSAY/GETTY IMAGES
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. 22 | june 3–9, 2022
26 | Housing
49 | Investor Exodus
Affordibility Is the American dream of home ownership out of reach today?
Foreign investors no longer favor Chinese government bonds.
50 | Help Yourself
40 | Midterm
It’s great to be the go-to guy or gal, but don’t overdo it.
Challenge An Air Force vet hopes to become the first black Republican woman in the House this fall.
52 | China’s War
The Chinese regime’s war on the world is real and ongoing.
44 | Deglobalization
56 | Sugar Ray’s Pad
Fearful elites are attempting to shield globalization from the ire of voters.
45 | China’s Nuclear
Signaling Beijing aims to threaten Japan and Taiwan with its belligerent flyovers—and Moscow joined in on the latest round.
46 | Global Economy
Powell and Lagarde must move further and faster to have a chance of quelling the inflationary pressures confronting them.
47 | Housing Market
How much more will monthly mortgage payments climb this year?
48 | Monetary Policies
Money printing destroyed Argentina—and it threatens to destroy more countries as well.
Features 12 | Homelessness Crisis San Francisco’s policies have done little to help the lives of the homeless, advocates say. 16 | Don’t Touch Our Schools The Jewish community is leading the fight against New York’s push for greater control over private schools. 28 | Teacher Shortage U.S. schools are facing a mass exodus of teachers post-pandemic. THE LEAD
32 | Imprisoned Oath Keepers Founder Stewart Rhodes says a Jan. 5 parking garage meeting with a former Proud Boys leader was a handshake, not a conspiracy. Former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann arrives at federal court in Washington on May 18. Sussmann was charged with one count of lying to the government because he told a bureau official ahead of the 2016 presidential election that the derogatory information he was bringing about then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russia was not on behalf of a client. A jury found Sussmann not guilty on May 31.
Live like a champion prizefighter without stepping into the ring.
58 | City of Mosaics
Ravenna is a beautiful repository of culture and history.
60 | Backyard
Adventures Camping is about spending quality time outdoors, even at home.
63 | Run for Your Life
Some new gear to consider to get the most out of your runs.
66 | A Tropical
Concoction The semi-official drink of the British Virgin Islands.
67 | Grandparenting
101 Being a good grandparent is an honor and a big responsibility.
TENG CHEN/THE EPOCH TIMES
I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022 3
4 I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022
SPOTLIGHT Memorial of Massacre PHOTOS OF THE 19 CHILDREN AND TWO TEACHERS WHO DIED IN A MASS SHOOTING AT ROBB ELEMENTARY SCHOOL in Uvalde, Texas, are displayed at a makeshift memorial on May 30. (Top Row L–R) Tess Mata, 10, Rogelio Torres, 10, Jose Flores, 10, Maite Yuleana Rodriguez, 10, Jackie Cazarez, 9, Maranda Mathis, 10. (2nd Row L–R) Alexandria Aniyah Rubio, 10, Eliahana Cruz Torres, 10, Alithia Ramirez, 10, Jailah Nicole Silguero, 10, Uziyah Garcia, 10, Nevaeh Bravo, 10. (3rd Row L–R) Annabell Rodriguez, 10, Amerie Jo Garza, 10, Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, 10, Layla Salazar, 11, Eliahna Amyah Garcia, 9, and Irma Garcia, 48. (Bottom Row L–R) Eva Mireles, 44, Xavier Lopez, 10, Makenna Lee Elrod, 10. PHOTO BY CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022 5
SHEN YUN SHOP
Great Culture Revived. Fine Jewelry | Italian Scarves | Home Decor
ShenYunShop.com
6 I N S I G H T June 3–9, 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
No. 22
The Week
A Jewish man and child stand near a school in the Jewish Quarter of Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood, in New York on April 24, 2019. PHOTO BY JOHANNES EISELE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
New York’s Grip on Schools San Francisco’s Losing Battle Against Homelessness
Is the American Dream of Home Ownership Vanishing?
Official policies have made the problem worse, experts say. 12
More buyers are chasing fewer properties, so bidding wars continue. 26
16
Conspiracy Behind a Handshake? A parking garage meeting with a former Proud Boys leader was a handshake, not a conspiracy, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes says. 32
INSIDE I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022 7
The Week in Short US
“If you take Paxlovid, you might get 78% symptoms again.” Rochelle Walensky, director, CDC, on Pfizer’s COVID-19 pill Paxlovid
“We have moved quickly to send Ukraine a significant amount of weaponry and ammunition.” President Joe Biden
ICE has announced that an undercover operation targeting commercial human trafficking, including sex trafficking, led to the arrests of 43 individuals in Arizona.
40%
Orders for workplace robots in North America rose by 40 percent in the first three months of the year compared to the same period in 2021, according to the Association for Advancing Automation.
19 ATTORNEYS
The Florida Supreme Court recently disciplined 19 attorneys, including a former state’s attorney, the Florida Bar Association says. Of the 19, nine were suspended, six had their licenses revoked, one was reprimanded, and three were disbarred.
23 YEARS — Timothy Louis Hale-Cusanelli, a 32-year-old Army reservist from New
Jersey, has been found guilty on misdemeanor and felony charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol breach. The charges carry a statutory maximum of 23 years in prison. 8 I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022
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43 ARRESTS
The confidence level of American consumers increased from 75 percent last quarter to 78 percent this quarter, according to the latest BMO Real Financial Progress Index.
The Week in Short US MANDATES
Air Force Members Ask Court to Forbid Punishment for Refusal of COVID-19 Vaccines A GROUP OF AIR FORCE MEMBERS
social media platforms from censoring users based on their political views. Known as HB 20, the state law makes it unlawful for tech platforms to restrict or remove content based on “the viewpoint of the user or another person” or “the viewpoint represented in the user’s expression.” The statute also requires the platforms to establish procedures users can use to appeal a platform’s decision to remove content posted by the user. The law applies to platforms that have more than 50 million active monthly users in the United States. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, signed the bill into law in September 2021.
who are refusing to get a COVID-19 vaccine has asked a federal court to block the military from punishing them, saying the vaccination order is unconstitutional. Each plaintiff has sincere religious beliefs that prohibit them from receiving the vaccine, according to the recently filed complaint. “Plaintiffs’ religious beliefs generally fall into the following categories: (1) opposition to abortion and the use of fetal cell lines in development of the vaccine; (2) belief that the mRNA technology utilized in some COVID-19 vaccines usurps God’s creation of the human genome; and (3) that the body is a temple, and taking the vaccine would defile that temple,” the complaint reads. But their requests for religious accommodation from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s vaccination order were all denied. The group wants the court to order the military not to punish or kick out members who aren’t complying with the order, even if their exemption requests were rejected.
ENVIRONMENT
LAWSUIT
The Supreme Court in Washington on June 30, 2020. BIG TECH
Supreme Court Temporarily Blocks Texas Social Media Anti-Censorship Law THE SUPREME COURT voted 5–4 to temporarily block a Texas law that prevents
Biden Administration Creates Office of Environmental Justice in HHS THE DEPARTMENT of Health
The Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, in this file photo.
and Human Services (HHS) on May 31 launched a new Office of Environmental Justice, the latest in a series of Biden administration policies and bureaucratic entities centered on environmental justice, environmental racism, equity, and related concerns. The new office will fall under the authority of HHS’s Office of Climate Change and Health Equity, which was also established by the Biden administration through Executive Order 14008.
Depp Wins Defamation Lawsuit Against Ex-Wife Heard A SEVEN-PERSON JURY in Virginia
has awarded actor Johnny Depp $15 million in damages in his defamation lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard, who had countersued Depp. Jurors read the verdict aloud in the Fairfax County courtroom, finding that Heard defamed Depp when she wrote a 2018 opinion article for The Washington Post. The jury also found favor with Heard, awarding her $2 million. I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022 9
The Week in Short World CANADA
Trudeau Announces Bill to Ban New Handguns THE GOVERNMENT OF Canadian
A railway worker walks among tank cars used for transporting petroleum products, at a railway yard outside the TotalEnergies Leuna oil refinery in Spergau, Germany, on April 12. WORLD
Today’s Energy Crisis Worse Than Oil Shocks of 1970s: IEA Chief RUSSIA’S INVASION OF UKRAINE has roiled the energy markets, with long-term
implications for global oil and gas supplies, says Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency. Birol cautioned that the current energy crisis is “much bigger” and could persist longer than that seen in the 1970s, when two significant oil shocks caused inflation to spiral out of control in the United States. “Back then, it was just about oil,” Birol said in an interview with German daily Der Spiegel. “Now we have an oil crisis, a gas crisis, and an electricity crisis simultaneously.”
‘Historic Breakthrough’: US, Taiwan Announce New Trade Initiative THE UNITED STATES AND TAIWAN have agreed to a new trade initiative after the
island was excluded from the Indo–Pacific Economic Framework that President Joe Biden launched in May. The new agreement, formally called the U.S.–Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade, was announced following a June 1 virtual meeting between Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Sarah Bianchi and Taiwan’s top trade negotiator, John Deng. Calling the initiative “a historic breakthrough in Taiwan–U.S. economic and trade development,” Deng said it will pave the way for trade negotiations with the United States, potentially leading to a bilateral free trade agreement. He added that the initiative will help Taiwan build economic ties with other governments Shipping containers at the harbor in Keelung, Taiwan. on Dec. 8, 2020. around the world. 10 I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022
VACCINES
‘Significant’ Cases of Neurological Disorder Associated With the AstraZeneca Vaccine A UK STUDY by University College
London has confirmed “small but significant” cases of the serious Guillain–Barre syndrome (GBS), a rare neurological disorder associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine for COVID-19. The researchers speculate that “the majority or all” of the 121 UK cases of GBS in March to April 2021 were associated with first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine administered in January. “A similar pattern is not seen with the other vaccines or following a second dose of any vaccine,” lead author Michael Lunn said. GBS occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks its own nerves, typically resulting in numbness, weakness, pain in the limbs, and sometimes even respiratory failure.
THIS PAGE FROM TOP: SEAN GALLUP/GETTY IMAGES, SAM YEH/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES; RIGHT PAGE FROM TOP: STRINGER/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES, JORGE GUERRERO/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES, TOMOHIRO OHSUMI/ GETTY IMAGES, JUNI KRISWANTO/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
US–TAIWAN
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has introduced new legislation that would implement a “national freeze” on the sale, transfer, and importation of handguns into and within the country. The measure would cap the number of handguns already in Canada but wouldn’t ban them— people who own them could keep and continue to use them. Bill C–21 was proposed in the Canadian Parliament on May 30. The same legislation, which was presented in the last Parliament, was abandoned when the government called an election.
World in Photos
1. 2.
3.
4.
1. An elderly woman sits near destroyed residential buildings in Mariupol, Ukraine, on May 31, amid the ongoing Russian military action in the country. 2. Dancers perform a traditional dance during the Surabaya Vaganza parade, part of the celebrations of the city’s 729th anniversary, in Surabaya, Indonesia on May 28. 3. Pilgrims cross the Guadalquivir river en route to the shrine of El Rocio, in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Spain, on June 1. 4. Members of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force disembark from a CH-47 Chinook helicopter during a live exercise at East Fuji Maneuver Area in Gotemba, Japan, on May 28.
Squares painted on the ground to encourage homeless people to keep to social distancing during the pandemic, at a city-sanctioned homeless encampment across from City Hall in San Francisco on May 22, 2020. PHOTO BY JOSH EDELSON/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
12 I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022
Nation California
SOCIAL ISSUES
San Francisco’s Losing Battle Against Homelessness
Official policies have made the problem worse, experts say
T
By Michael Washburn Facilitating Drug Abuse The hotels tended to turn quickly into dens for drug use, according to Zac Clark, executive director of The HomeMore Project, a San Francisco nonprofit focused on homelessness. Clark’s first apartment in the city was at 449 O’Farrell Street. He moved in sometime in May 2020. The apartment was in the Tenderloin district just a few doors down from the Winton Hotel and the Super 8 hotel located at 445 and 415 O’Farrell Street, respectively. Clark said he vividly recalls what happened to the quality of life once the homeless were ensconced in these supposedly temporary shelters. “I would often hear people yelling vulgar and inappropriate things from their windows as they were doing drugs. Hotels created the perception that the city was making progress on homelessness, when, in fact, they were taking many strides back,” Clark said.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed speaks during a news conference in San Francisco on March 17, 2021. I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022 13
JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES
he homelessness crisis in San Francisco has gotten markedly worse in recent years, and while some may try to blame the problem on the pandemic, official missteps at the municipal level have seriously exacerbated the crisis, experts say. San Francisco Mayor London Breed has tried to alleviate the homeless problem in her city with funds obtained through Prop C, which passed in 2018—and which Breed initially opposed. Prop C levied a wealth tax on the richest corporations in the city with a view to generating funds to address homelessness. The mayor has also been a strong proponent of “transitional housing,” or putting the homeless in hotels as a temporary measure on the way to finding more permanent arrangements. Many support the mayor’s efforts, and recently released preliminary figures show a slight—3.5 percent— decline in the total number of homeless people within San Francisco over the past three years, to roughly 7,800, in the context of a 9 percent rise in the Bay Area overall. But a closer look at the issue reveals a different story and calls even the modest decline in San Francisco into question, observers and homeless advocates say. During the pandemic, the city’s policy of purchasing hotels and converting them into temporary hotels for the homeless bred conditions that provided neither a safe and stable environment for those who had been living on the street, nor an improved quality of life for people in the neighborhoods in question.
Nation California
Besides the failures of implementation, the city badly bungled its attempts to find longer-term arrangements for the homeless, in the view of Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the San Francisco-based Coalition on Homelessness. People living on the street, in many cases, were eager to find homes, but the city didn’t properly facilitate transitions, she said. In Friedenbach’s view, the single biggest mistake the city made during the pandemic was to cut off housing access to people living on the street. “There were about 300 people who were at the top of the list and had all their documents ready and another 600 or so who were also at the top of the list, but didn’t have their documents together yet. They were promised housing,” she said. “And then the pandemic hit and the focus shifted to those in ‘Shelter in Place’ hotels, who were the only ones who could move into housing. The system had to start all over with the people in the Shelter in Place hotels, and vacancies skyrocketed as they tried to get their paperwork together. Meanwhile, folks were stuck outside without respite for two years and substance use skyrocketed alongside overdoses, and mental health deteriorated.” In Friedenach’s analysis, the city’s decision to prioritize housing for the residents of Shelter in Place hotels made an already severe crisis even worse, when there were so many desperate homeless people with worsening mental health and substance abuse problems who had neither hotels nor residences of any kind.
Failure to Contain
14 I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022
“I would see people overdose every couple of days, only to see them reappear on the same street the following day.” Zac Clark, executive director, The HomeMore Project
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP L: JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES, RICH FURY/GETTY IMAGES, COURTESY OF ZAC CLARK
Even with the Shelter in Place hotels giving some homeless people temporary residences, there were still enough people exhibiting anti-social behavior on the street to make life in the Tenderloin district unbearable for many citizens. The crisis prompted Clark to move out of his apartment at 449 O’Farrell Street in October 2020. “Every day, I would sit at my desk and view an encampment. I would see people overdose every couple of days, only to see them reappear on the same street the following day,” he said. Even these harrowing memories aren’t the worst from Clark’s days living on O’Farrell Street. “I saw drugged women get raped by teenage boys. I saw a naked, elderly lady get raped by a boy who could not have been older than 16. I found myself calling the police every few days for various concerns. After living there for half a year, rent prices plummeted during the pandemic, and I moved two streets up, one block over,” he said. But even in a city where the quality of life varies radically within the space of even a few blocks, this transition didn’t end Clark’s exposure to the
worst manifestations of the crisis. The city’s attempts to relieve the high concentration of homeless people in a few quarters haven’t solved the problem but dispersed it ever more widely within a city once renowned for its opulence, dynamism, and quality of life. He identified Market Street, SOMA (South of Market Street), Castro district, and the Mission district as regions that have absorbed large numbers of homeless people. “It is not nearly as concentrated in the Tenderloin and downtown as it used to be. In neighborhoods and areas where there used to never be anyone homeless, they are now starting to appear,” he said. Stephen Eide, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute who has studied and written widely on homelessness, noted that Clark’s view isn’t an isolated one. “I would say that the consensus opinion is that homelessness has both been a problem in San Francisco for a number of decades and gotten worse in recent years. I have never met anyone who didn’t agree with both views. This perception certainly is backed up by the official data,” he said. Eide faults the “Housing First” policy enshrined in state and federal programs for the city’s homeless, which places them in single-room occupancy (SRO) units in city-administered buildings. The consequences of this policy were the subject of an April 28 City Journal article detailing squalid
Nation California
One expert says that the single biggest mistake the city made during the pandemic was to cut off housing access to people living on the street.
and decrepit conditions in the buildings. Citing figures from San Francisco’s medical examiner, who found that at least 1,300 overdose deaths have happened in the city in the past two years, the report suggests that many of these deaths happened in SROs, and it disputes the claim in a San Francisco Chronicle piece that 166 people died in such facilities in 2020 and 2021. “I would weaken the ‘Housing First’ requirements baked into state and federal homelessness services funding programs,” Eide said.
A New Approach
borhood with the highest concentration of drug dealers in the city, Clark said. The problems of trying to run a drug treatment center there should be obvious. The new facility has received sharp criticism for functioning illegally as, in essence, a comfortable space for those with substance abuse problems to take drugs, instead of emphasizing treatment and prevention. Then when people leave, they run into the same temptations that plagued them before. “After individuals leave the Tenderloin Linkage Center, they are bombarded with all their previous dealers. This creates a challenging environment to overcome addiction,” Clark said. Recovering addicts who leave a center anywhere in the city run a high risk of encountering their former dealers, Clark said, given the city’s dimensions of about seven by seven miles, or about 46.9 square miles. “We believe that to allocate care and resources to these individuals experiencing homelessness effectively, there is a need to go outside of San Francisco,” he said. Therefore, Clark’s organization plans to build a treatment facility of its own in a neighboring city, which it isn’t yet ready to name. The HomeMore Project also promotes a different approach to treatment, according to Clark. “Government and other nonprofits emphasize the destination, but we focus on the journey. You develop habits, understand these developments, and set a foundation for your future,” he said. Breed’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment by press time.
(Left) A homeless man sleeps on the sidewalk near San Francisco City Hall on Dec. 5, 2019. The city’s attempts to reduce the high concentration of homeless people in a few quarters haven't solved the problem.
1,300 OVERDOSE DEATHS
have been recorded in the city in the past two years, a report says.
People sit in Alamo Square in San Francisco on May 3, 2020.
Besides prompting him to move from his O’Farrell Street apartment, Clark’s experiences with the escalating crisis led him to found the HomeMore Project and to seek to implement approaches that will avoid repeating mistakes at the official level that he says have only exacerbated the crisis. In his view, the relatively small size of San Francisco doesn’t lend itself to the approach favored by Breed. Clark noted that in January, Breed announced the opening of the Tenderloin Linkage Center. Launched as part of the city’s Tenderloin Emergency Initiative, the center’s website says that the facility is “designed to provide a safe space for anyone to easily and quickly access San Francisco health and human services resources.” The Tenderloin district happens to be the neighI N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022 15
A Jewish man crosses a street near a school in the Jewish Quarter of Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood, in New York on April 24, 2019 PHOTO BY JOHANNES EISELE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
EDUCATION
New York’s
GRIP ON SC 16 I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022
CHOOLS Jewish community leads fight against NY’s push for greater private school control BY ALEX NEWMAN I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022 17
In Focus Schools
N
e w Y o r k S t a t e i s considering far-reaching new controls over private schools in order to make them “substantially equivalent” to public schools, sparking concerns among advocates of religious liberty and parental rights. Under the proposal, students at private schools of which the state does not approve could, legally at least, be declared “truant.” That would put parents at risk of being jailed, while forcing children into public schools. Especially alarmed have been parts of the Jewish community—in particular, various Orthodox leaders and groups—that would be most affected. They say traditional Jewish schools, known as “yeshivas,” are in the crosshairs of the state and the activists pushing the measures. Hundreds of thousands of students could be affected under the plan if officials move ahead with it later this year. “We’re concerned with the idea of the state being the arbiter of how private schools should be run,” said Avrohom Weinstock, chief of staff of Agudath Israel of America, an Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization that works closely with yeshivas. Agudath, one of the leading forces opposing the proposed regulations, focuses on civil rights and ensuring that Orthodox Jews can freely practice their religion. But the organization says this battle should concern everyone. “These regulations being proposed now have a lot of concerning language,” Weinstock told Insight. “Then there’s the big picture: Here’s what they are doing now, what does it mean for the future? Are parents in charge of their children, or is the state?” Multiple Orthodox leaders and rabbis battling the proposal said that it represents a threat to the Jewish way of life and even to the community’s survival as a distinct religious group. They also warned that the plan could affect Christian schools eventually, too. One of the key leaders of the opposition, Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro, spoke out against the plan at a rally convened by the Central Rabbinical Union of the United States and Canada outside the New York State Education Department in Albany on May 16. Pointing to the thousands in attendance, Shapiro noted that the state’s Jewish community was doing very well and that its traditional education system was a big part of the reason for that. “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it,” the prominent rabbi and author told Insight in a series of phone interviews. “The government should not be involved in religious institutions’ curriculum.
18 I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022
“Just as they have no right to tell me as a rabbi what to teach in my synagogue, they have no right to tell us what to teach in our schools. It’s wrong for the government to be involved.” At the rally, Shapiro said that even if Jews wanted to change their educational curriculum, they are not authorized to, as it’s divinely mandated. He also promised to “put our children first” if, “God forbid, the regulations pass.” Echoing Shapiro and other Jewish leaders who spoke, Jews at the rally held signs arguing that the “substantial equivalency” requirement was an “attack on religious freedom.” Outside experts involved in education policy also told Insight that the move represents a threat to the rights of parents, educational liberty, and constitutionally protected religious freedoms.
The Proposed Rules The regulations under consideration by the New York State Board of Regents are being pursued under a state law requiring that non-public education be “substantially equivalent” to that pro-
Pedestrians walk past the Yeshiva Kehilath Yakov School in the South Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y., on April 9, 2019.
FROM L: DREW ANGERER/GETTY IMAGES, COURTESY OF INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL FOR MIDDLE EAST STUDIES
In Focus Schools
vided in government schools. The language in the statute dates back to over a century ago, when the state was seeking to regulate Catholic schools at a time when public schools were de facto nondenominational Protestant. But it has always been loosely interpreted, and the statute has never been vigorously enforced. Because traditional yeshivas often don’t teach the same subjects that public schools and many other private schools do, they would face tough scrutiny under the new measure. Officials, however, said they would respect diversity and religious communities under the plan. “Our state is rich in diversity, from our cultural, racial, and religious backgrounds to the languages we speak,” New York Board of Regents Chancellor Lester W. Young Jr said. “These differences are assets that should be embraced so we can learn from each other. “The Board and I are committed to ensuring students who attend school in settings consistent with their religious and cultural beliefs and
values receive the education to which they are legally entitled.” Education Commissioner Betty Rosa argued that the proposed rules were merely an effort to comply with state law. “We have an obligation under the law to ensure all students receive an education that enables them to fulfill their potential and teaches them the skills and knowledge needed to contribute to society and participate in civic life,” she said, adding that public feedback was reflected in the proposed rules. While there are numerous controversial provisions in the regulations, among the most concerning to critics has been the implication of a school failing to be considered “substantially equivalent” by the state. If such a determination is made by the state, “the nonpublic school shall no longer be deemed a school which provides compulsory education fulfilling the requirements of Article 65 of the Education Law.” Under state law, that would make children “truant.” Parents of a “truant” child who isn’t meeting compulsory education requirements could be charged, prosecuted, fined, and even jailed. The children, meanwhile, would be forced into a public school or an approved Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro private one. Many Jewish parents and community leaders have indicated that they would disobey if necessary, arguing that their obligation to obey God supersedes their duty to obey the government, as explained in their scriptures. While experts say the state would likely hesitate to jail parents, it’s a real possibility under the law. Another major concern is that schools could be reported to the state by anyone, even if that person doesn’t have a connection to the school. Critics said that opens the door to major abuses by those hostile to Jews or their yeshivas. The New York State Department of Education and the Board of Regents didn’t respond to questions from Insight about the proposed policy or the consequences of violating it. Instead, they sent links to the proposed regulations and to public statements made by officials.
“Just as they have no right to tell me as a rabbi what to teach in my synagogue, they have no right to tell us what to teach in our schools.”
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In Focus Schools
Support for the Measure Not all Jews are opposed to the state’s proposal. In fact, some of the leading figures involved in the battle think government regulation of the yeshivas is long overdue. Naftuli Moster, executive director of Young Advocates for Fair Education (YAFFED), told Insight that he was “hardly given an education” at his yeshiva growing up. “My secular education was basically an afterschool program,” he said. “We never learned science or history or the Constitution or the Founding Fathers.” According to Moster, widely viewed as the leading advocate for the proposed regulations, Jewish children need more instruction in “secular” subjects to be able to live in today’s society. “Any effort to portray this as trying to turn yeshivas into failing government schools [is] false,” he said. “This is not a government takeover of private education.” Advocates of more government oversight and regulation of yeshivas and private schools are not trying to force controversial notions of gender and sexuality into the curriculum, Moster said. “We just want [the students] to learn what a molecule is—really basic stuff,” he said, adding that accusations that the measures would violate religious freedom or undermine religious communities are “complete nonsense.” In 2019, when the state asked yeshivas to spend at least 3 1/2 hours of instruction time per day on “secular subjects,” the Jewish schools opposed it, Moster said. “Is that too much to ask?” he said. “They are not entitled to keep complaining anymore.” Over 50 rabbis and dozens of Jewish leaders from New York sent a letter to the New York State
Because traditional yeshivas often don't teach the same subjects that other schools do, they would face tough scrutiny under the proposed measure.
Education Department urging it to proceed with the new rules. “Judaic studies alone is not enough,” they wrote, arguing that a lack of secular education in yeshivas was an “injustice.” “While our Torah and traditions are enriching, they are not a substitute for formal education in English, mathematics, science, and social studies. “Together we call on the New York State Education Department to enforce education standards in Haredi [Orthodox Jewish] yeshivas. This is the only way to ensure that our Jewish brothers and sisters are granted the opportunity they deserve to gain essential skills to support their growth into the next generation of the Jewish people.”
Opponents Counter the Narrative Agudath’s Weinstock, though, said Moster and those supporting his position don’t represent the views of most Jews. In fact, Weinstock pointed out that of the 135,000 comments that have been submitted to authorities, just a tiny minority support the state’s efforts. A similar ratio was observed the last time the state proposed the regulation of yeshivas. The final day for public comment is May 31. The rabbinical union, which organized the rally in Albany to oppose the measure, secured tens of thousands of signatures on a petition urging the state to stop the proposal. “People and parents are really coming out en masse to protest the idea that private schools should be controlled by the state,” stated Weinstock, whose organization defends religious liberty for Jews and works closely with yeshivas. The proposed rules, he said, would make New York’s private schools “the most regulated in the country by far, as far as the level of control they are proposing.”
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Under state law, if the school fails to be considered 'substantially equivalent,' it would make children 'truant.' Parents of a 'truant' child could be charged, prosecuted, fined, and even jailed, and the children would be forced into a public school or approved private one.
In Focus Schools
“When setting up a regime for the state to control private schools, you are opening the door for anything to come in later,” he said. Parents have a prior right to raise their children, and they should be given “a lot of deference in how they choose to do that,” Weinstock said. Parents who don’t value religious education can choose other schools for their children, he added. “This is an effort to homogenize private schools with public education,” he said. “If I wanted to send my kid to a public school, I could do that for free. I wouldn’t have to work two jobs to afford a private school.” Additionally, the religious education provided by yeshivas, which Weinstock described as “challenging mentally and intellectually,” is central to the Jewish community, he said. “Our yeshiva system goes back thousands of years,” he said, noting that building a formalized system of learning and teaching was the first undertaking of the Jews arriving in the United States after World War II. “This is key to our survival. “We believe religious freedom is critical, so to
A Jewish man and his three sons walk down a street in the Jewish Quarter of Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood, in New York on April 24, 2019.
see this happening in a state like New York is really frightening. ... Are we going back in time? We know our history, we know what has happened to our people. This threat to our religious freedom has shaken people up. There’s a nerve that has been touched here—the idea that the state will come in and decide what we can teach, what we can’t teach.”
Yeshivas Not the Problem While critics argue that yeshivas don’t teach much English, science, math, or civics, supporters of the Jewish schools say they have worked very well for centuries, if not longer. Some trace them all the way back to Moses and Mount Sinai. Parents for Educational and Religious Liberty in Schools (PEARLS), a leading force in opposing the regulations, has consistently argued that yeshivas do, in fact, successfully prepare children for life and a future career. That is why parents choose them, the group contends. According to Shapiro, the state should actually be studying yeshivas and the Jewish community to see how they have achieved such success. I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022 21
The Lead Schools
“If I wanted to send my kid to a public school, I could do that for free, I don’t have to work two jobs to afford a private school.”
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with some members of the Board of Regents. One of them, Rabbi Chaim Flohr, who serves as dean for multiple Jewish educational institutions in New York, urged officials not to put the Orthodox community into such a tough situation. “We obey God and the government, in that order,” he told the officials, asking them not to “force us into a position of noncompliance” with the law. “We are loyal citizens of the state. We pay an exorbitant school tax to support a public education system from which we do not benefit much. We are not asking for anything in return. We did not come here today to seek any government funds. We came to ask to be left alone, and be allowed to educate our children the way God has commanded us to.”
Broader Threat For now, the threat to the independence of private schools in New York is mostly limited to Jewish yeshivas. But numerous experts and attorneys
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“There is no reason for these regulations,” Shapiro told Insight. “The Orthodox Jewish community is doing just fine in terms of being productive members of society. We’ve been in this country for generations—four generations we’ve been here—and our neighborhoods are clean, they are middle to upper class.” The children do well as adults, too. “There are students from our yeshivas who are CEOs and billionaires to average people to poor people like anywhere else,” he said. “But there is not a single Orthodox Jewish neighborhood that’s unsafe to walk in or a single Orthodox school that needs a metal detector.” Graduates of yeshivas also do as well or better than the average American in business, Shapiro said. That is at least partly due to having learned in the yeshiva not just the “three Rs” (reading, writing, and arithmetic), but also problem-solving skills, collaboration, and teamwork. In fact, standard methods of schooling used in public schools have long been shown to be inadequate for preparing young people for the workplace, Shapiro argued, referencing an article in Entrepreneur magazine titled “Why Traditional Schooling Can’t Prepare Students for the Modern Workplace.” While it’s true that many yeshivas don’t emphasize traditional academic subjects, and not all yeshivas are the same, their religious studies do provide critical skills that other schools often don’t, according to Shapiro. Avrohom Weinstock, chief of staff, “In religious studies, students Agudath Israel of America are encouraged to come up with new answers that teachers may not have thought of—even new questions,” he said. “You’re taught that a good question is an accomplishment, that an original answer is an extra accomplishment. This is the nature of Talmudic studies.” In any case, academics aside, yeshiva education is a religious obligation for many Orthodox Jews, Shapiro said. “The curriculum that we have in our religious schools—the Hasidic schools especially—has been handed down by tradition for centuries,” he said. “The curriculum itself is a religious mandate. Changing it is against our religion. The subject matter they want us to teach is not acceptable.” A group of rabbis had the opportunity to meet
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explained that once the proverbial camel’s nose is under the tent, Christian schools will eventually be in the crosshairs as well. A leading expert in the field, Jason Bedrick, a research fellow with the Center for Education Policy at the conservative-leaning Heritage Foundation, told Insight in phone and email interviews that the proposed regulations were an attack on parental rights, educational freedom, and religious liberty. “It’s one thing for the state to intervene in clear cases of educational neglect,” said Bedrick, a Jew who co-edited a book on the yeshiva controversy titled “Religious Liberty and Education: A Case Study of Yeshivas vs. New York.” In this case, however, “the standard is ‘substantial equivalency,’ an ambiguous and ill-defined term but one that strongly implies that private schools should more or less be doing the same thing that district schools do,” he said. “Of course, many, if not most, parents seeking private education are looking for something substantially different from what the district schools
There is no evidence that students in governmentcontrolled schools do better than students in yeshivas, a research fellow says.
are doing,” added Bedrick, noting that policymakers had been pursuing dramatic interference in schools that would compromise the wishes of parents and schools. Ironically, there is no evidence that children in government-controlled schools do better than Jewish students in yeshivas, he said. Bedrick also pointed out that the leading advocate of the regulations, YAFFED’s Moster, lamented in media interviews about never having learned what a molecule was during his yeshiva education. “He then went on to graduate summa cum laude and get a master’s degree,” Bedrick said, adding that Moster’s education helped him “develop the skills and habits of the heart necessary to sit for long hours, deeply engaged with complicated texts, [which is] required to succeed in other fields of study.” The “substantial equivalency” standard being pursued in New York would give the government “tremendous power to interfere with the autonomy of private schools, including religious schools,” Bedrick warned. “Interfering in this system is the tip of the spear, and we can see where that leads by looking at other nations in the West that have gone down that path.” Even though the state isn’t currently clamping down on Christian schools or homeschoolers, the same arguments could be used to do so, as some European governments are already doing, he said. “Governments in Europe are now forcing private schools to teach particular values and ideas favored by the governing elite, even when they are significantly at odds with the deeply held beliefs of members of certain religions,” Bedrick said. “If the yeshivas lose this fight, we’ll be one step further down the dark road that parts of Europe are already traveling.” The New York State Education Department will review public comments over the summer. Unless major changes are made to the proposed regulations, the Board of Regents is likely to vote on them this fall.
Schools could be reported to the state by anyone, so the new measure could open the door to major abuses by those hostile to Jews or their yeshivas, critics say. I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022 23
T H G IL T O P S Discover Gold TANZANIAN MINERS LOOK FOR GOLD AT AN open-pit gold mine in Nyarugusu, Tanzania, on May 27. Tanzania, a land rich in minerals, is the fourth-largest gold producer in Africa, with gold representing more than 90 percent of the country's mineral exports, which are sold mainly to South Africa, India, and Switzerland. PHOTO BY LUIS TATO/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
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I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022 25
R E A L E S TAT E
Is the American Dream of Home Ownership Vanishing? More buyers are chasing fewer properties, so bidding wars continue By Mary Prenon
H
ow much money do we really need to buy a home, and can we afford it? These are questions that real estate agents and mortgage professionals hear every day, and the answer is always the same— it all depends on many different factors. Sheetal Sawhney, originating branch manager at CrossCountry Mortgage’s office in North Bergen, New Jersey, cites the three main things people will need in order to prequalify for a mortgage: income statements (W-2s or 1099s and tax returns for the past two years), a recent credit report, and a current asset list (bank and investment statements). CrossCountry Mortgage currently operates more than 600 branches in all 50 states. “In addition to income verification and credit reports, we need to determine how much cash they have for a down payment and closing costs because that will affect their monthly mortgage payments,” she told Insight. “Sometimes first-time homebuyers are able to borrow against their company 401K plans for down payments, but each company has their own guidelines.” GENERALLY, BANKS AND mortgage firms
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GEORGE RATIU, SENIOR economist with
Realtor.com, said the rise in mortgage interest rates only complicates the problem. “The last four months have seen such a rapid acceleration of home prices and mortgage rates, and that combination has resulted in mortgage payments that are up to 50 percent higher than they were a year ago,” he told Insight. “Compare that with the 8.3 percent inflation rate, and you’re seeing a tremendous impact on people trying to qualify for a loan.” Realtor.com’s recent report of the nation’s 20 “Hottest Housing Markets” listed Manchester, New Hampshire, in the top spot. While the median listing price is higher than the national average—$462,000—the report indicates the Manchester-Nashua area is relatively affordable compared to nearby Boston, where the median home price recently soared to $755,000. Manchester, along with Concord, New Hampshire—with a $427,000 median home price—also offers short commutes to Boston.
L A CROSSE-ONAL ASK A , WISCONSIN,
and Topeka, Kansas, held the third and fourth spots on the list with median home sales prices of $300,000 and $195,000, respectively. Burlington, North Carolina, took fifth place with a median home price of $350,000. “Looking at the data we collected, we continue to see the ‘donut effect,’ where homebuyers are stretching out their commute up to 2 1/2 hours from their local metropolitan area, the center of the donut,” said Ratiu. “We see the same thing on the West Coast, where people are purchasing over an hour away from San Francisco or Los Angeles.” A search on Realtor.com’s website for a $425,000 home in Manchester provides a ballpark estimate of expected monthly payments. With a 20 percent down payment and 5.25 percent interest and estimated local real estate taxes, the monthly payment could be in the area of $2,503. With a 10 percent down payment and the same interest rate, the monthly bill would be about $2,937. “Everyone wants to know what’s going to happen, and while I do see a leveling out, I don’t see a repeat of the 2008 re-
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require a 20 percent down payment, and anything less than that percentage will usually involve private mortgage insurance (PMI) payments. Sawhney said loans from the Federal Housing Authority are also available for those who qualify, and typically they require only a 3.5 percent down payment for one to four-family homes. “Right now, the market has been so brutal,” she said. “We still have a demand for housing, but there are fewer homes
and more buyers, so we continue to see multiple bidding wars. The sellers want to take the most attractive offers, and many buyers who are able to offer higher down payments are preferred.” The latest data from Realtor.com puts the national median home price at $425,000. Given this scenario, a homebuyer would need a down payment of $85,000 (20 percent) or $42,500 (10 percent), plus PMI charges. “In either situation, this can be very frustrating for first-time buyers who may not have a lot of savings,” added Sawhney. In some cases, lenders will agree to a 5 percent down payment, which would translate to $21,250, plus PMI.
Nation Housing Affordability
$425,000 The national median home price, according to Realtor.com.
of 2022 and decrease by about 6 percent in 2023. However, Quint noted that multi-family construction is very strong, as people still seek rental opportunities. Whether purchasing new construction, a single-family home, multi-housing dwelling, condo, or co-op, the bottom line for lenders is determining an acceptable debtto-income ratio. Sawhney said that would ultimately determine how much people can afford to spend on a home. “Some people have a lot of debt, like car loans or student loans, while others have very little debt,” she said. “We also consider property taxes, which can often break a deal if they’re too high.” In the New York metro area where Sawhney operates, many potential homebuyers often look for lower-cost alternatives like condos, co-ops, or “fixer-uppers.” “For those who really want a more affordable, move-in-ready, single-family home, the trend is to travel further away from the city to get a better deal,” she said. SHE ADDED THAT it’s not uncommon for
cession,” Ratiu said. “The underwriting of home loans is like day and night compared to that time, and there’s a lot more regulations now. Plus, we still have strong demographics supporting demand, and the younger generations remain interested.” Ratiu said Realtor.com has already started to see more listings coming on, including new construction. According to data from the National Association of Home Buildings (NAHB), there was a 13 percent increase in new home construction nationwide in both 2020 and 2021. Rose Quint, an economist with NAHB, told Insight that the majority of new building starts were in the South and West, leaving out the heavily populated Northeast. “During and after the pandemic, there has been a migration to areas like North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, and Idaho,” she said. “People who now have the opportunity to work remotely are leaving the bigger metro areas to find housing in warmer, more spacious communities.” In fact, she noted, 37 percent of newly constructed homes in 2020 sold for less than $300,000. However, April 2022 stats
indicate just 10 percent of homes sold nationally were under $300,000. “Keep in mind that the cost of building materials has escalated by about 35 percent, and the price of lumber is now over twice the cost from just two years ago,” she said. “Builders have to now increase the prices of homes, and just the lumber alone can often add $30,000 to the price of a new home.” WHILE PROSPECTIVE HOMEOWNERS
from states such as California, New York, and Massachusetts, as well as Washington, D.C., may be unaffected by price increases of new homes in the South and West, Quint noted that the locals in those regions are often being priced out of their own market. “Affordability is going to be a serious issue in this country,” she said. “Just under 50 percent of the homes sold in the U.S. in the first quarter of this year were affordable for the typical median-income family.” The current national median family income is $90,000. The NAHB expects single-family housing construction to be flat for the rest
people to look as far away as neighboring Pennsylvania. “A lot of people are now going into their city office only two or three days a week, so they’re not commuting every day.” With interest rates now hovering at 5.25 percent, monthly mortgage payments can be hundreds of dollars more now than they were last year, when rates remained in the low 4 percent range. “A lot of people who got preapproved last year are finding they need to get preapproved again due to the increased rates,” she said. “And now, they may not be able to afford the same priced house as they would have in 2021.” Sawhney suggests that potential homebuyers seek out a banker or mortgage lender first, before working with a real estate professional, so they have a clear understanding of what they can afford. She also offers her own list of dos and don’ts for clients, including do disclose all other loans and don’t make any major purchases such as a car, appliance, or furniture that could affect the debt-to-income ratio. She also advises clients not to make a major career change until the loan closes. “Home ownership is not out of reach— you just have to do your homework first and choose what will work best for your budget.” I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022 27
EDUCATION
US Schools Facing Mass Exodus of Teachers
Post-pandemic classroom behavioral challenges and ongoing staffing shortages pushing teachers out
By Autumn Spredemann 28 I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022
A class in session as students return to in-person learning at St. Anthony Catholic High School in Long Beach, Calif., on March 24, 2021. PHOTO BY PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
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W
ITH THE END OF THE academic year in sight, an overwhelming number of educators are planning to close the book on their teaching career. Much of this stems from post-pandemic classroom behavioral challenges with students and ongoing staffing shortages that have created an excessive workload for teachers. Many educators who have 25 years or more under their belt are opting to retire, but even less seasoned ones are walking away and choosing a different career path. Back in February, the National Education Association (NEA) released a survey conducted by GBAO Strategies that revealed that a startling 55 percent of teachers planned to leave their profession ahead of schedule. The NEA is the most prominent teachers union in the United States, representing 3 million educators. WIDESPREAD EDUCATOR SHORTAGES
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COVID-19 AND ITS SUBSEQUENT re-
strictions created a mental health crisis for youth, which is now manifesting as aggressive or excessively troublesome behavior in the classroom. In October 2021, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the Children’s Hospital Association acknowledged that the pandemic-fueled decline in child and adolescent mental health had become a national emergency. And the dire shortage of counselors in school districts to assist students has added to this. Rickard noted: “We haven’t had a counselor all year. Nobody even applied.” A joint study on the role of school counselors from the Connecticut State Department of Education, the Connecticut School Counselor Association, and the Center for School Counseling Outcome Research and Evaluation at the University of Massachusetts–Amherst revealed that schools with fewer students and more counselors had lower rates of student suspensions and disciplinary actions. Former superintendent, educator, and school counselor Gary Marks spent decades working in Nebraska schools. He agreed that student counseling and support for teachers in the classroom have hit a critical point. “You need way more counselors when you’re having all these mental health issues,” Marks told Insight. For example, he pointed to his grandchildren’s school district, in Farragut, Tennessee, which has only two counselors for about 600 students. Marks also thinks that a general lack of respect for educators underscores why more are leaving the job early, and others are reluctant to apply. “The respect situation is just a huge issue,” he said. Marks was candid when asked about the difficulties of hiring new talent in
Two years of excessive screen time at home and the disengagement of online learning have left students struggling, falling behind, and drifting in a sea of depression. schools: “I don’t know right now, given the way the world is, if I’d be interested in being a classroom teacher.” Yet the struggle to keep existing educators and hire new ones is only half the battle. A new report from the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education indicates that the number of university students pursuing teaching degrees is declining. In 2019, U.S. colleges awarded fewer than 90,000 undergraduate degrees in education. That’s down from nearly 200,000 per year in the 1970s. Over the past 10 years alone, the number of people completing traditional teacher preparation programs has dropped by 35 percent. “This is a five-alarm crisis,” NEA Presi-
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predate the arrival of COVID-19, but the pandemic also served as the last straw for many, kicking off the trend of early departure. A RAND study from January 2021 showed that nearly a quarter of those surveyed expressed the desire to quit after just one year of teaching during the pandemic. The average national turnover rate was only 16 percent before COVID-19. However, in 2021, that number jumped to 25 percent. This year, 80 percent of NEA members reported that unfilled job openings at schools have led to more work obligations for the educators who’ve chosen to stay in their profession. “I think people are leaving because it’s all too much. It’s a firestorm. It’s all eroding,” Heidi Rickard told Insight. Rickard has been an educator since 1999. After spending some time teaching in Colorado Springs, Colorado, she put down roots in the Alameda Unified School District in the San Francisco Bay Area. She explained that many veteran teachers “just can’t take it” anymore and are leaving due, in part, to the scale of mental health challenges students have brought back to the classroom after two years of
online learning. “As a veteran teacher, when the best of my best isn’t working, that’s so defeating,” Rickard said. Two years of excessive screen time at home and the disengagement of online learning have left students struggling, falling behind, and drifting in a sea of depression.
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55% OF TEACHERS
in the United States are planning to leave the profession ahead of schedule, a February study reports.
Nearly a quarter of those surveyed in a study from January 2021 expressed a desire to quit after just one year of teaching during the pandemic. dent Becky Pringle said. One of the hurdles administrators face amid the scarcity is a lengthy certification and training process even after qualified university graduates apply to teach. “I want to continue teaching—however, I’m being forced out,” Lisa Carley Hotaling told Insight. Having taught in Michigan and New York, Hotaling found herself between a rock and a hard place after she took a teaching job in California as an emergency hire in the Alameda Unified School District. DESPITE ALREADY HAVING a master’s
degree and more than a decade of education and classroom experience, she still has to take the California Basic Skills Test (CBEST) and go back to school specifically for her master’s in education to continue teaching. When Hotaling started teaching in the state, she was given only a one-year credential. “[Then] I’ll be required to return to school to do what I’m already doing in the classroom. It makes no sense,” she said. “And I have to pay for further education on top of it?” Last year, the Golden State eliminated
the requirement for the CBEST and the California Subject Examinations for Teachers to earn a teaching credential, so long as the applicants complete approved coursework. Yet some districts still want their educators to complete the additional screening. “It’s very tricky to fill positions,” Heather Dutton told Insight. Dutton has been a math instructor for nine years in the Community Learning Center Schools in the San Francisco Bay Area. She explained that a lot of time is spent training a teacher, who may leave if they’re not a good fit. This happens
more often with newer teachers, Dutton said, because the first three years are profoundly challenging. “I went into COVID with seven years of teaching experience. If your first three hellish years are on top of a pandemic, it would just crush you,” Dutton said. “We lost a lot of teachers before the pandemic anyway—maybe 30 percent. But if you started in the middle of this horrible pandemic ... people think it’s just too hard and can get paid as much or more doing something else.” Adding to this, the lack of substitute teachers has created a disproportionately high workload for the educators who remain. “The [substitute teacher] shortage is awful. We haven’t had subs all year. I think the pool of them dried up during COVID,” Dutton said. Additionally, Rickard said the lack of substitutes makes it nearly impossible for teachers to be absent from school for even a day. “I feel guilty if I have to take a day off. There’s literally no one to cover. It leaves everybody in a bind,” she said. Dutton mentioned that at her school, only three teachers will return in the fall. The rest will be new hires. “If all the veteran people give up, where will we be?” Rickard said.
Many veteran teachers are leaving, due in part to the scale of mental health challenges students have brought back to the classroom from online learning. I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022 31
Protesters rally at the U.S. Capitol to protest against the results of the 2020 presidential election, in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. PHOTO BY SAMUEL CORUM/GETTY IMAGES
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JANUARY 6
CONSPIRACY BEHIND A HANDSHAKE? Parking garage meeting with former Proud Boys leader was a handshake, not a conspiracy, Oath Keepers founder says BY JOSEPH M. HANNEMAN
I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022 33
A
A Greeting, Not a Meeting Rhodes said there was no meeting. The entire encounter consisted of a handshake greeting that lasted mere seconds. 34 I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022
“Now they’re blowing that up into some kind of great big conspiracy meeting,” Rhodes told Insight. “It’s just ridiculous. That’s the way it’s been from the beginning with all of this. It’s been manufactured, falsified evidence from the very beginning.” William Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, said in response to an inquiry from Insight, “Following our usual practice, we are not commenting on pending cases beyond what is stated or submitted to the Court.” Rhodes was indicted by a federal grand jury in January on charges of seditious conspiracy to disrupt or prevent certification of the 2020 presidential vote in Congress on Jan. 6, among a number of other charges. Prosecutors allege Rhodes and 10 other Oath Keepers conspired to attack the U.S. Capitol and prevent certification of the Electoral College votes. He is being held without bail pending trial, which likely won’t begin before September. Tarrio was not at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. A judge ordered him to leave the District of Columbia when he released Tarrio on Jan. 5 on charges he set fire to a Black Lives Matter banner at a protest in December 2020.
Rhodes said that Oath Keepers were assigned security duties on Jan. 6 at a Stop the Steal rally in Area 8, adjacent to the Capitol. FROM TOP: COURTESY OF ROBERTO MINUTA, SABOTEUR MEDIA/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS
PARKING GARAGE CONTACT between Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes III and former Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio on Jan. 5, 2021, was nothing more than a brief handshake, not a meeting to coordinate plans for the following day at the U.S. Capitol, Rhodes said in an interview with Insight. Federal prosecutors detailed the alleged parking-garage meeting between Rhodes and Tarrio in the March 7, 2022, indictment of Tarrio and five other Proud Boys accused of conspiracy to obstruct the counting of Electoral College votes at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The indictment says the Rhodes–Tarrio meeting lasted 30 minutes, and implies the meeting was related to the Jan. 6 violence that would occur the next day at the U.S. Capitol. “During this encounter, a participant referenced the Capitol,” the indictment said, providing no other details about who made the reference or what it meant.
Nation Prosecution
Before he left D.C., Tarrio stopped at the Phoenix Park Hotel, but was ordered off the premises. He went to a nearby parking garage, where he eventually encountered Rhodes. Tarrio has previously said it was a case of happenstance. “We did not coordinate to assault the Capitol,” Tarrio said in a documentary in 2021. Rhodes said he was part of a three-person security detail for attorney Kellye SoRelle, the general counsel for Latinos for Trump and the Oath Keepers. SoRelle was invited to the parking garage to meet Tarrio by Bianca Gracia, head of Latinos for Trump, to make sure Tarrio had proper legal representation in his criminal case. “So we just followed and watched over Kellye SoRelle,” Rhodes told Insight in a call from the Cimarron Correctional Facility in Cushing, Oklahoma. “She went with Bianca to go meet Enrique. Enrique is also a member of Latinos for Trump. “And so we walked up. There’s a film crew with him. And I just walked up and said, ‘I’m Stewart Rhodes of Oath Keepers,’ shook his hand, and said, ‘I’m glad you’re out.’ He said, ‘Thank you,’ and then I walked away.” SoRelle said Rhodes and Tarrio merely shook hands and did not have a conversation.
Members of the Oath Keepers escort Capitol Police down the Capitol steps, through the crowd, to safety.
“We go down into the parking garage. We’re there for a very brief time. Stewart says, ‘Hi man, nice to meet you,’ whatever, then walks off,” SoRelle told Insight. “I ask him about attorneys, if he needs one because I’ve got contact information. I talked to him maybe two minutes.” SoRelle said she then stepped back to where Rhodes and the film crew were standing, while Gracia spoke with Tarrio for a few more minutes. “It was maybe 10 minutes tops down there,” SoRelle said. “It was very brief. Everybody’s encounter was maybe a minute or two. ... I was there maybe a little bit longer than Stewart, but it wasn’t about anything other than [Tarrio’s] arrest and attorneys and making sure his legal needs were met.” Video from the parking garage reviewed by Insight shows Rhodes briefly reaching into a small group to shake hands with Tarrio. “Stewart. [It’s a] pleasure,” Rhodes said, to which Tarrio replied, “The pleasure’s all mine.” Rhodes then stepped back. No one uttered the word “Capitol.” The video was used in a recent documentary on the Proud Boys on Channel 4 News in the United Kingdom. Footage was shot by a New York filmmaker working on a documentary for the National Geographic Channel, prosecutors said. “We were there for the purpose of watching over Kellye SoRelle’s safety. That’s the only reason we were there,” Rhodes told Insight. “So I was just being cordial and polite because I’d had a falling out with Enrique over a long distance. “We’d never met in person before,” Rhodes said. “I walked up and said, ‘Hello,’ which I thought was a classy thing to do. ‘I’m glad you’re out. Thank you.’ And I walked away.” Rhodes said SoRelle had received death
Enrique Tarrio, chairman of the Proud Boys, and Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers, in a garage in Washington, in a still image taken from a Jan. 5, 2021, video. I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022 35
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36 I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022
Members of the Oath Keepers attend the rally at the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
Enrique Tarrio (C), leader of the Proud Boys, speaks at an event in Miami on May 25, 2021. Joshua A. James pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
FROM TOP L: JIM BOURG/REUTERS, JOE RAEDLE/GETTY IMAGES, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE/ SCREENSHOT VIA THE EPOCH TIMES, THE EPOCH TIMES, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
threats after becoming a whistleblower exposing possible election fraud in Detroit during the counting of presidential election ballots in November 2020. Because of the threats, Oath Keepers provided her with security while she was in Washington to speak at a Latinos for Trump event on Jan. 6, 2021. “We stepped away to let her have a private conversation,” Rhodes said. “And that was the end of it. We got done. I didn’t talk to Enrique again. We stepped away outside of earshot and stayed out of earshot the entire time.” In a wide-ranging interview, Rhodes condemned the U.S. Department of Justice’s prosecution of the Oath Keepers, accusing the DOJ of manufacturing evidence to support a preconceived conclusion. That’s the entire track record of all of this from day one,” he said. “Everything has been a giant nothing-burger, made out of nothing.” Rhodes said he and fellow Oath Keepers went to Washington on Jan. 6 not to attack the U.S. Capitol or subvert actions of Congress, but to provide event security. Oath Keepers were assigned security duties at a Stop the Steal rally in Area 8, adjacent to the Capitol, he said. “In all those indictments and all the media, they don’t mention the fact that we were there to protect an event on the Capitol grounds,” Rhodes said. “That’s why we were there. “Leave that out, make it sound like we were at the Ellipse watching President [Donald] Trump’s speech, and in a reaction to President Trump’s speech, we all marched to the Capitol and ran inside. They’re lying by omission.” Prosecutors allege two groups of Oath Keepers moved across the Capitol grounds in a “stack
formation,” a military-style maneuver used to breach buildings. One stack climbed the stairs outside the historic Columbus Doors on the east side of the Capitol and then “breached” the entrance into the Rotunda, according to the indictment. Video evidence showed the giant 17-foot-tall bronze Columbus Doors were open on Jan. 6, despite the expectation of huge crowds due to Trump’s speech. One of the inner doors to the Rotunda was opened from the inside by a protester. Police initially resecured the entrance, but the inner doors were opened again from the inside, allowing hundreds of people to stream into the Capitol. The Oath Keepers who went inside the Capitol for less than 20 minutes didn’t damage the building or force their way into private offices, he said. Some of them made “stupid statements” about following a plan, but it was nothing but loose talk, he said. “Those Oath Keepers teams did go inside, but did so entirely of their own volition,” Rhodes said. “It was part of no plan, they just got stupid
Nation Prosecution
that day ... and fell for the trap, bumbled into the buffalo jump. “Doors were wide open, people walked in those Columbus Doors, opened up from the inside. You cannot open those from the outside,” Rhodes said. “They’re magnetic, massive doors. So someone on the inside opened them up, and the Oath Keepers from Florida wandered in right along with the rest of the crowd. Did not do much of anything inside, except actually help police officers. They helped two different police officers that I know of.” At one point, a group of Oath Keepers stepped in to calm a situation between a hostile crowd and U.S. Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn, said Rhodes and Jonathon Moseley, one of his attorneys. “They did protect a black police officer who was armed with an M4/AR-15 and was very agitated, scared-looking and was surrounded by a bunch of yelling Trump supporters,” Rhodes said. “The Oath Keepers jumped in between and dialed it all back, calmed him down, calmed the Trump supporters down, and escorted that black police officer to other Capitol police officers and hooked him up with his buddies. So that he wasn’t by himself.” Rhodes said he mentions the race of the officer because his group is often falsely maligned as racist and composed of white supremacists. The stakes in the situation were high, which is why the Oath Keepers stepped in to be a buffer between the angry crowd and Officer Dunn. “If you’re armed and you got unarmed assailants, multiples coming at you, you’re in a lethal-force situation and you can’t let them take your gun,” he said. “So in that kind of situation, law enforcement officers will shoot.” Moseley said he is seeking the closed-circuit security camera video that shows this incident. “We’re trying to get the video,” Moseley said. “The video from that corridor is mysteriously missing from the government.”
“Because they got someone to agree to ‘testi-lie.’ That’s the only reason I was indicted. For an entire year, they had nothing on me. So [they had to] go find something and make something.” Rhodes
James faces 7 1/4 to 9 years in prison when he is sentenced this summer under a plea deal with federal prosecutors. “That was the only deal they would accept because that's what they want ... to create a false crime and to create a false witness,” Rhodes said. “And that's why they finally indicted me because they got someone to agree to testi-lie. That's the only reason I was indicted. For an entire year, they had nothing on me. So [they had to] go find something and make something.” Rhodes said the most explosive allegations in the federal indictment—that he and the Oath Keepers brought weapons to Virginia in case they were needed—had nothing to do with the Capitol or any illegal plot. The arms, some of which Rhodes purchased on his trip from Texas to Washington, were a contingency in case Trump invoked the Insurrection Act as a response to the election corruption and left-wing threats to lay siege to the White House and remove him from office. No weapons were brought into Washington. The Insurrection Act of 1807 gives the president latitude to employ the armed forces or militias from any state to put down an insurrection, such as the attempt to replace the legitimate government of the United States. There was some speculation after the 2020 election that Trump might use the Insurrection Act, something Rhodes publicly advocated. “We urged him to use his powers to declassify files held by the NSA or the CIA or the FBI on corrupt politicians and expose them as part of his way of fighting against this coup,” Rhodes
‘Absolute Fabrication’ Rhodes said he believes the Department of Justice leaned hard on Oath Keepers member Joshua A. James, who pleaded guilty on March 2 to seditious conspiracy and obstruction of an official government proceeding. James, 34, of Arab, Alabama, will likely testify against Rhodes and other Oath Keepers, though Rhodes describes it as “testi-lie.” “They’ve convinced or coerced Josh James, a member of Oath Keepers, to testify, you know, bearing false witness to allege this massive conspiracy beginning back in November,” Rhodes said. “Absolute fabrication.”
Oath Keepers member Jeremy Brown, a retired U.S. Army Green Beret, dressed in tactical gear at the U.S. Capitol. I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022 37
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Oath Keepers are made up of current and former military, police, and first responders such as firefighters and EMTs. The group’s primary role in recent years has been to protect Trump supporters in the streets against attacks by Antifa and other violent groups, Rhodes says. said. “All of that is perfectly constitutional. None of that is anything other than protected free speech and political speech.” “I did declare publicly that we would have a contingency plan that if President Trump invoked the Insurrection Act, and needed us to protect the White House and protect him because Antifa had threatened, it swore they were going to lay siege to the White House and remove Trump by force after the election,” he said. “So we just said, ‘Hey, if the president goes to the Insurrection Act—but only if—we would then respond if he calls us up as the militia,’ which he certainly can do under federal statutes.” Rhodes said he made no secret of his plans to aid Trump if he exercised that legal authority. “I wasn’t trying to hide it. It’s no secret,” Rhodes said. “It’s like, ‘Hey, President Trump, please invoke the Insurrection Act. And by the way, if you need us, we’re here.’ “My big concern with him is safety, and the White House, because Antifa threatened to lay siege to the White House,” Rhodes said. “I wasn’t even thinking about the U.S. Capitol. I was focused on if the president of the United States needed us to protect him from radical, far-left terrorists. That’s it.”
Patriotic, With No Violence Rhodes slammed the notion that the Oath Keepers are some kind of violent extremist group. Membership is made up of current and former military, police, and first responders such as firefighters and EMTs. The group’s primary role in recent years has been to protect Trump supporters in the streets against attacks by Antifa and other violent groups. 38 I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022
Nation Prosecution
“Oath Keepers from day one has always been 100 percent lawful and above board,” he said. “Nothing we do is ever unlawful. “What we do is to protect people. We’ve done that across the country, all through the Trump administration; protected Trump supporters from Antifa on the streets,” he said. “And that’s why we were in D.C. all three times. “We’ve never had to even use force, ever,” Rhodes said. “We use our presence and our deterrence, and Antifa is afraid of us. So the left hates us. They hate the Proud Boys for much the same reason. “We’re the two major groups in the country that protect Trump supporters in the streets from radical leftist terrorists, and they don’t like that. So this has been part of a way to get rid of us and get us out of the way. It’s also a way to get at President Trump, ultimately.”
Jan. 6 Committee Appearance
Cesequiduci vere, consed mi, eic totatis enienim sedis suntionsequo dolupiscipit harunt idunt harupta tiissi conseque
(Top) Protesters gather near the inside of the east front door of the U.S. Capitol in Washington. (Far left) In a wide-ranging interview, Rhodes condemned the U.S. Department of Justice’s prosecution of the Oath Keepers, accusing the DOJ of manufacturing evidence to support a preconceived conclusion. (Left) People gather on Capitol Hill to protest election results in Washington. I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022 39
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: WIN MCNAMEE/GETTY IMAGES, SARAH SILBIGER/ POOL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES, LEO SHI/THE EPOCH TIMES
Rhodes said he appeared before the House of Representatives select committee on Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol. He said he refused to discuss anything that took place after the November 2020 election, but he did talk about the Oath Keepers and its history. He was asked to come back for an “off-the-record” interview. Rhodes said the Feb. 25 suicide of Jan. 6 defendant Matthew L. Perna made him change his mind about appearing before the committee. Perna, 37, took his own life after learning federal prosecutors intended to seek sentencing enhancers that could have put him in prison for 41 to 51 months. In charging documents and the paperwork of the plea agreement, Perna wasn’t accused of vandalism or violence at the Capitol. He and his attorney were blindsided by the Department of Justice’s decision to seek penalty enhancers, relatives said. “I was thinking about it [another committee appearance], but then when he committed suicide, I realized they’re not interested in the truth, they’re just out there to hurt people and persecute people,” Rhodes said. “I’m not going to give them any credence whatsoever.”
MIDTERMS
Jennifer-Ruth Green, an Air Force veteran, won the Republican primary for Indiana's 1st Congressional District. She will face Democratic Rep. Frank Mrvan in the general election in November.
Veteran Mounts Challenge Against Democrat
Jennifer-Ruth Green is aiming to upset incumbent Rep. Frank Mrvan to become the first black Republican woman in House By John Ransom
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h e n j e n n i f e r -ru t h Green, a black woman, won an overwhelming victory in Indiana’s 1st Congressional District Republican primary in May, she helped improve the chances that the GOP would take the once-reliable Democratic district in the general election. Not only did Green, a political newcomer,
40 I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022
beat an accomplished politician, Blair Milo, who served as mayor of LaPorte, Indiana, and is currently in the administration of Indiana’s Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb, she also won by a comfortable margin. In a race that included Green, Milo, and another conservative campaigner who got 15 percent of the vote, Green very nearly collected a majority of the vote, winning 49.2 percent of the Republican primary voters, according to the final totals at Ballotpedia. Milo won 18 percent
Nation Politics
ville, a subscription newsletter that covers Indiana politics at the micro-level, told Insight, while refusing to handicap the race for any candidate.
Back to Importantville “Importantville,” many might remember, is how then-presidential candidate Donald Trump described Indiana, as he campaigned in the state for the final 57 GOP delegates he needed to clinch the nomination.。 “Now Indiana is becoming very important ... you folks belong where you belong; it’s called Importantville right? I love it,” Trump said about Indiana while campaigning there in 2016, according to ABCNews. It’s appropriate because Green campaigned as a strong supporter of Trump, releasing a 30-second ad that attacked her GOP opponent as a “Never Trump Republican.” “Don’t be fooled. Milo refused to support Trump,” the Green ad stated, claiming that Milo wouldn’t support Trump’s nomination or his immigration policies. Such an ad could have rankled the Pence brothers, one of whom has feuded with Trump since the 2020 election was final, but those close to the campaign say no. “Jennifer-Ruth is a battle-proven leader and she has just the skillset to turn Indiana’s 1st District red and defeat Rep. Frank Mrvan and his 100 percent support for the failed Biden–Pelosi agenda,” Thomas said.
“She’s a newcomer, but she’s a polished campaigner.” Adam Wren, publisher, Importantville
FROM TOP: COURTESY OF JENNIFER-RUTH GREEN CAMPAIGN, HOUSE CREATIVE COMMITTEE
Democrats’ Sagging Hopes of the vote. Such a blowout win against an establishment candidate may have embarrassed bigwigs in Indiana like former Vice President and former Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, his brother U.S. Rep. Greg Pence (R-Ind.), and Holcomb. The state GOP, however, seems solidly behind her candidacy. “Jennifer-Ruth Green is an incredible candidate who will motivate and inspire not only Republicans, but northwest Indiana voters across the political spectrum,” Luke Thomas, press secretary and digital director at the Indiana GOP, told Insight in an email. With the support of the GOP in the most important race in the state, Green could upset incumbent Democrat Frank Mrvan, who is seeking reelection for the first time, just as she surprised insiders in the GOP. “She’s a newcomer, but she’s a polished campaigner,” Adam Wren, publisher of Important-
Indiana’s 1st Congressional District, which used to reliably give Democrats 60 percent or more of the vote in general elections, is only leaning Democrat by 4 percent, according to a 2021 analysis by the Cook Political Report. But that was before the tough year Democrats have had under President Joe Biden. Inflation, a struggling economy, and a Democratic Party that seems out of touch with voters have the GOP poised for some upsets, according to the latest Associated Press polls, which show Biden under a 40 percent approval rating nationwide. Most alarming for liberals is the sagging approval rating Biden has been given by Democrats. After enjoying a positive bounce subsequent to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Biden’s approval rating has plunged nearly 10 points among Democrats, according to the AP poll, to a lowest-ever for his presidency, at 73 percent. It’s an ominous sign for Democrats in
Incumbent Democrat Frank Mrvan, representative for Indiana's 1st congressional district since 2021.
I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022 41
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49.2% IN A REPUBLICAN PRIMARY RACE that included Green, Milo, and another conservative campaigner, Green nearly collected a majority of the vote, winning 49.2 percent, according to Ballotpedia.
competitive House districts such as Indiana’s 1st, “with deepening pessimism emerging among members of his own Democratic Party,” the AP stated. And that gives Green a legitimate shot to be the only black woman to represent the GOP in the House next year, and wrestle one of two congressional districts out of seven away from the Democrats in Indiana. This is especially true when one reckons that Indiana, as a whole, is one of the more reliable partisan Republican states in the country, according to FiveThirtyEight. Mrvan has all but tied his fate to that of Biden’s after waiting to shake the president’s hand at the conclusion of the State of the Union speech this year. It wasn’t just a photo-op for Mrvan either. He stopped to thank Biden for signing a massive spending bill that critics say may have helped lead to the worst inflation in 40 years. “I’m Frank Mrvan, I represent Gary, Indiana, I’m co-chair of the Steel Caucus, and I want to thank you for the infrastructure bill for our district and also for the steel industry, and what that will do for Northwest Indiana’s economy,” Mrvan told Biden, according to Mrvan’s campaign Facebook site.
Green: ‘Mrvan Owns Biden’s Failures’
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“But there’s been an overreach,” on this subject by the Biden administration that “could impact our readiness.”
A Serious Campaign Green served as a mission commander for counterintelligence activities in Baghdad and later as a deputy chief for a nuclear command post, according to her campaign biography. But she’s not running on her military laurels, but as an unapologetic conservative backed up by political savvy. “She has one of the best political operatives in the state working for her, so the campaign is very serious,” Wren, the political analyst, said. Wren is referring to Tim Edison at FP1 Strategies who helped Josh Hawley win his Senate race in Missouri in 2018, and who, according to The New York Times, is promoting a more diverse GOP, one that seeks to make black men and black women more welcome. Green emphasized that seeing more people like themselves in positions of leadership means that more black people will vote for the GOP and more black people will run for office as conservatives. She said that meeting one of the Tuskegee Airmen—a famed group of African American pilots and support staff who fought in World War II—for example, gave her the courage to become an Air Force pilot. Mrvan won the district in 2020 with 57 percent of the vote. But more Democrats showed up in the 2022 primary than did Republicans, which could be problematic. Still, if given the funding and whole-hearted party support in one of the legitimate places that the GOP is competitive, Green has a chance to take a House seat from the Democrats. And that victory could bring Republicans a black woman and veteran to the House, willing to battle for the constituencies that the GOP claims are the key to the party’s future. Insight has reached out to the White House and Mrvan’s office for comment.
COURTESY OF JENNIFER-RUTH GREEN CAMPAIGN
Green told Insight that Mrvan voted with “Biden and Pelosi” 100 percent of the time. “Frank Mrvan owns all of Biden’s failures from inflation to gas prices to food prices to the baby formula shortage to surging crime, border chaos and ‘woke’ attacks on Hoosier families,” Green said, while emphasizing that she’s pro-America and pro-military. Despite coming from the same congressional district where Biden’s secretary of transportation, progressive Pete Buttigieg, was mayor, Green refuses to be labeled the “anti-Buttigieg” candidate, pushing back against contrasting her conservative credentials to former Mayor Buttigieg’s progressive stances. “I’m pro-America, pro-family, pro-national defense. I’m not anti-anybody. I wish that Biden was pro-economy,” Green said. When asked if the racial diversity training pushed in the U.S. military under Biden had affected the readiness of the armed services, Green, a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, who still serves as a reservist, was direct. Green said that, of course, historically there have been some real injustices racially and that some of the discrimination issues “are worth fighting for.”
Green emphasized that seeing more people like themselves in positions of leadership means that more black people will vote for the GOP.
P OL I T IC S • E C ONOM Y • OPI N ION T H AT M AT T E R S
No.22
Perspectives
The National Association of Realtors anticipates that existing home sale prices will continue to rise, putting the American dream of home ownership out of reach for many. PHOTO BY KEVIN TRIMMER/GETTY IMAGES
CCP THREATENS QUAD WITH NUKES
HOME AFFORDABILITY WORSENS
HOW MONEY PRINTING WRECKS COUNTRIES
Russia joined in flights against US, Japan, Australia, and India. 45
Mortgage payments are expected to be $800/month more than last year. 47
Argentina is inflating its currency to pay for wasteful state spending. 48
INSIDE I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022 43
Thomas McArdle
THOMAS MCARDLE was a White House speechwriter for President George W. Bush and writes for IssuesInsights.com.
Fearful Globalists
The globalist aristocracy wants to safeguard globalization
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hen we hear José Manuel Barroso, former president of the European Commission and current chairman of Goldman Sachs International, lamenting on the eve of this week’s first postCOVID meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, of recent trends that he fears portend “a decoupling world,” what could he mean? Barroso’s worries were extensive, as globalization contends with “friction from nationalism, protectionism, nativism, chauvinism if you wish, or even sometimes xenophobia, and for me, it is not clear who is going to win.” He cited “tension between the US and China ... accelerated by the pandemic and now this invasion of Ukraine by Russia.” The mood seems to be distinctly along the lines of “if it weren’t for this confounded war, on the heels of this confounded pandemic, this super party of ours wouldn’t have been pooped.” That a figure such as a former Portuguese prime minister could end up occupying the upper echelons of the second-largest investment bank in the world, with its name being a byword for corporate capitalism, is reminiscent of John O. Brennan casting his vote for Communist Party USA head Gus Hall in the 1976 presidential election and then, four years later, being given a job at the CIA—which knew of his Communist allegiance—before finally being appointed director of the CIA by then-President Barack Obama in 2013. Soviet-style communism wasn’t pure enough for Barroso. At university, he was one of the leaders of the Maoist Portuguese Workers’ Communist Party (at the time, a secret organization known as the Re-Organized Movement of the Proletariat Party). There’s an embarrassing video of Barroso in 1976 bemoaning “the crisis of the bourgeois education
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system,” which he called “anti-proletarian,” and contending that “it throws students against workers and workers against students.” What would the young, Maoist Barroso have said if a TV interviewer had asked if he thought Goldman Sachs was anti-proletarian?
In the summer of 2008, when 53 percent of Irish voters opposed the Lisbon Treaty, Barroso bullied and bribed Ireland into submission. Barroso’s curious protectiveness of the land of Mao Zedong always seemed to manifest itself in the following years. In 2008, he was arguing that “China could and should have a greater voice in international financial institutions.” In 2014, Barroso was scolded in strong terms by Human Rights Watch for his reticence regarding China’s persecution of its own people. “We deplore the fact you have not been specific in past public statements about human rights violations in China and thus failed to engage in a public dialogue with both the people of China and Europe,” Lotte Leicht, the organization’s EU director, wrote in a letter to Barroso while he was president of the European Commission on the eve of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit to Brussels in March 2014. “At a time where courageous Chinese activists, journalists, and lawyers are demanding government accountability and implementation of rights enshrined in both Chinese and international law, it is quite simply unacceptable for you as President of the Commission not to speak out as set out in the EU’s Strategic Framework.” Quoting that formal commitment, Leicht pointed out that “the EU
pledged to raise human rights issues ‘vigorously in all appropriate forms of bilateral dialogue, including at the highest level.’ We call on you to live up to this pledge and support those inside China struggling to ensure their human rights.” “Democracy” is a word that passed through Barroso’s lips often during his EU years, but when, in the summer of 2008, 53 percent of Irish voters opposed the Lisbon Treaty, Barroso bullied and bribed Ireland into submission, helping assure that a second referendum approved it the following year. Nigel Farage, the father of Brexit, described Barroso’s philosophy in 2012. “Whilst you think the nation-state should continue to exist, it mustn’t have any democratic powers. All democracy is to be vested [within the EU] under what you call ‘the community method,’ which of course means that your unelected commission has the sole right” to present legislation. The litany of vices Barroso rattled off recently, led by “nationalism,” can’t be managed by a bureaucratic creature whose underlying purpose is to shrink nationality. No matter how much money the likes of Barroso can wield to buy compliance, no international body can keep the lid on the boiling pot of free, industrialized nations’ citizens’ anger at a level of inflation unseen by most in their lifetimes, the consequences of dovish Europeans practically inviting Russian President Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine through the shortcomings of their energy and military stances, and years-long migration crises in Europe and the United States. Only people running their own countries—nation-states’ representative governments in action—carrying out the messy work of passing, changing, and repealing laws in a manner seen by the populace as legitimate, can let off the steam that will otherwise lead to an explosion.
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
CCP Threatens Quad With Nukes Russia joined in flights against US, Japan, Australia, and India
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hile china and Russia coordinate nuclear-capable bomber flights against the United States and its Quad allies—Japan, Australia, and India—the Quad is tied in knots, talking about fishing patrols, making unilateral concessions on Taiwan, and turning a blind eye to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. On May 24, the same day that Quad heads of state, including U.S. President Joe Biden, held their meetings in Tokyo, six Chinese and Russian bombers flew over the Sea of Japan and environs. The flights directly threatened the other Quad heads of state, including Fumio Kishida of Japan, Anthony Albanese of Australia, and Narendra Modi of India. Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force scrambled fighter jets in response to the bombers, warning them off the country’s airspace. Beijing aims to threaten, degrade, and test Japan and Taiwan’s air forces. The number of belligerent flights has increased in tandem with China’s economic growth and military spending. In February, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy went further, sailing into Australia’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and firing a military-grade laser at an Australian air force plane conducting legitimate surveillance close to home. In the context of such belligerence, the Biden administration is doing too little and sometimes even backsliding into unilateral concessions. On May 22, national security adviser Jake Sullivan made such a concession to Beijing, perhaps to “improve” the chances of securing a summit between Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Sullivan announced that Taiwan wouldn’t be joining Biden’s new Indo-Pacific trade pact, the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework.
Predictably, throwing Taiwan under the bus had the opposite of the intended effect. Instead of announcing a summit, Xi got Russian President Vladimir Putin to join in bomber flights near both Japan and Taiwan.
In the context of such belligerence, the Biden administration is doing too little and sometimes even backsliding into unilateral concessions. Beijing wants countries in the Asia-Pacific—including India, Australia, Japan, and Taiwan—to feel so greedy for a part of China’s economic growth and so threatened by its nuclear-capable hypersonic missiles and long-range bombers that they cede leadership of all of Asia, pieceby-piece, to Beijing. There aren’t many takers at the moment, although a few countries—such as Laos, Cambodia, and most recently, the Solomon Islands—are succumbing to what likely includes Beijing’s widespread tactic of bribery of heads of state. This is according to court convictions, reporting, and my sources, who are in a position to know. Beijing has presented the allegedly corruption-induced agreement with the Solomon Islands as a model for other Asia-Pacific islands, including Kiribati and possibly Tonga and Vanuatu. The agreements would cover economic, military, and cyber cooperation, putting these countries squarely into Beijing’s sphere of influence, including naval basing rights and the opening of their telecommunications systems to electronic spying by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Beijing is threatened by the Quad because the United States and its
allies offer a better alternative—and without corruption. In two words, the Quad is offering freedom and sovereignty. The CCP’s response to this choice for integrity is to try to scare countries with the threat of nuclear war, as they did this week. In their small way, the Quad and its allies are at least not showing much fear and inching forward in defense of the region. At the meeting, the Quad announced that it would start satellite-tracking illegal fishing in Asia, most of which emanates from Chinese ships that have turned off their transponders. What’s really needed, however, isn’t just tracking, but all NATO and Quad-plus (those present at the Tokyo meeting by video also included South Korea, New Zealand, and Vietnam) coast guards on joint patrols in an arc of freedom from the Bay of Bengal off of India through the South China Sea and the Philippine Sea, all the way to the Sea of Japan and beyond. China has the world’s largest fleet of illegal fishing vessels, which ply the EEZs of countries far from Asia, including around Africa and South America. With the rise of China’s blue water navy, coast guard, and maritime militia, all of which are ultimately part of—and controlled by—the PLA, China’s naval forces will increasingly deploy globally for the protection of illegal fishing and hydrocarbon exploitation in direct conflict with Quad members’ attempts to enforce the world’s EEZs. The requirement of a NATO-Quad EEZ police force is a regrettable but necessary acceptance of risk against Beijing. Fishing surveillance and unilateral concessions on Taiwan won’t defeat Russian and Chinese bombers. The Quad will have to step up its game if it wants to hold the line. I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022 45
Milton Ezrati
MILTON EZRATI is chief economist for Vested, a contributing editor at The National Interest, and author of "Thirty Tomorrows" and "Bite-Sized Investing.”
Courting Policy Failure
The Fed and the ECB have made inadequate responses to inflation
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uropean central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde seems even less aware than Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Jerome Powell. Both face pressure to deal with intense inflations—8.3 percent in the past year in the United States and 7.5 percent in the eurozone. But since the necessary response risks recession, Powell has moved timidly, and Lagarde hasn’t moved at all. Their lack of conviction will likely cause both inflation and recession. The Fed has only just edged onto an anti-inflationary heading. Policymakers there have begun to reverse their so-called “quantitative easing” program. Instead of buying securities directly on financial markets, they’ll now sell the hoard of securities they previously amassed. They hope in this way to absorb inflationary liquidity from the economy. Fed policymakers have also made small steps toward raising interest rates, adding 0.75 percentage points to the target federal funds rate to bring it to 1 percent. Other central banks, notably in Canada and New Zealand, have taken similar steps. The ECB hasn’t even gone this far. Lagarde has talked about ending the bank’s quantitative easing program, perhaps in May, perhaps not until September. She stated that interest rate increases will wait until late this year, if then. Lagarde has explained her lack of action by drawing two distinctions to the U.S. situation. Europe, she said, is less far along in its post-pandemic recovery than the United States, and its economy is much more vulnerable to the sanctions imposed on Russia. She’s correct about Europe’s situation, but she still runs great risks with Europe’s inflation. In one context, Powell’s caution and
46 I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022
Lagarde’s reluctance to do anything are easy to understand. No policymaker wants to impose the kind of restraint that might precipitate a recession. But unless they take the risk and move a lot further and a lot faster, neither has a chance of quelling the intensifying inflationary pressures confronting them.
Left unchecked, inflation on its own would impose sufficient economic distortions to precipitate stagflation and ultimately an economic downturn. Their timid postures might be justified if the inflation were, as some in authority have asserted, simply the transitory result of post-pandemic supply chain problems or the immediate consequence of the sanctions placed on Russia, but it isn’t. Although these considerations have contributed to inflationary pressures, today’s inflation has much deeper and more fundamental roots, making it stubborn and hard to quell. The underlying problem stems from years of misguided fiscal and monetary policies. For over a decade now, governments on both sides of the Atlantic have pursued extremely stimulative fiscal postures that have created extremely wide budget deficits. Each continent has faced a succession of crises that seemed to require such policies at each stage, but the deficits have accumulated nonetheless. Worse from an inflation standpoint, the authorities on both continents have used extremely expansive monetary policies to finance these fiscal policies. The Fed
in the United States, for example, has used new money creation to purchase roughly $5 trillion in government debt during this time, $3 trillion in just the last couple of years. This is the modern equivalent of financing government by running the printing press—a classic prescription for inflation. Against the staying power of this kind of inflationary pressure, central bank actions to date look weak, to say the least. Especially since inflation has had a chance to build a powerful momentum during the past year or so, Lagarde’s stated concern about undershooting Europe’s 2 percent inflation target sounds ridiculous. That’s certainly a long way below today’s 7.5 percent reality. More realistic thinking might consider how much restraint it will take for the ECB to quell such an embedded inflationary pressure. Nor could a less aggressive monetary approach save Europe or the United States from recession. Left unchecked, inflation on its own would impose sufficient economic distortions to precipitate stagflation and ultimately an economic downturn. The uncertainties engendered by inflation would, for example, stymie business investment in productive projects. Inflation would also divert what investment monies are available to inflation hedges—such as art and real estate speculation—away from productive, job-creating investments. Even if they could get wage hikes, workers would see a rising cost of living destroy the buying power of their incomes. The ultimate downturn may take longer to develop than one resulting from monetary restraint. Still, it would arrive nonetheless and probably last longer and be more severe than anything risked by prompt and effective anti-inflationary monetary action.
EMEL AKAN is a senior reporter for The Epoch Times in Washington. Previously, she worked in the financial sector as an investment banker at JPMorgan.
Emel Akan
Home Affordability Worsens
Mortgage payments are expected to be $800/month more than last year
HAL BERGMAN/GETTY IMAGES
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he monthly mortgage payment for a typical home in the United States for new buyers has climbed by 45 percent or about $600 more than the previous year, according to the estimates by the National Association of Realtors (NAR). In April, the average monthly mortgage payment for a single-family home increased to $1,900, based on a median home value of $391,200 with a 10 percent down payment and a 5 percent 30-year mortgage rate, according to an analysis by Gay Cororaton, NAR’s senior economist. This is a significant jump from last year’s $1,300 average mortgage payment, Cororaton told Insight. Estimates indicate that if the Federal Reserve continues with its projected rate hikes this year, monthly mortgage payments will be about $800 higher compared to last year, making homeownership much more challenging. Rising home prices and mortgage rates are slowing down buyer demand, Cororaton noted. “The risk right now is greater than it was a year ago, when the economy was still rising,” she said. Given the heightened risk and uncertainty in the economy, people recognize that it’s not a good time to buy a property, Cororaton said. As a result, they continue to rent, driving up rental prices. Mortgage rates have already risen in anticipation of Fed rate hikes. Compared to last year, the interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has increased from roughly 3 percent to 5 percent, representing the largest jump since the 1980s. So far, the U.S. central bank has increased its benchmark rate by 75 basis points, bringing it to a range of 0.75–1 percent recently as part of its effort to combat persistently high inflation. Fed officials signaled that there would
Despite slowing demand and rising costs, real estate professionals believe house prices have room to rise further because of very tight inventory. be a couple more rate hikes in the coming months. According to Fed projections, interest rates are expected to rise to nearly 1.9 percent by the end of the year. If the Fed proceeds with additional rate hikes, mortgage rates might jump to 6 percent this year, according to the NAR’s estimates. Cororaton forecasts that if a typical house price reaches $400,000 by December and mortgage rates hit 6 percent, the monthly mortgage payment will be $2,176 by the end of the year, which is about $800 higher than in 2021. This is an almost 60 percent jump from the previous year, she noted. This analysis applies to existing home sales. New house sales would have even higher mortgage payments. “New homes are more expensive than existing single-family homes,
with a price difference of about $50,000,” Cororaton said, noting that mortgage payments for new homes may be a couple hundred dollars more than those for existing homes. And this is one of the reasons why sales of new homes have slowed considerably this year. In April, sales of new single-family homes in the United States fell for the fourth consecutive month, plummeting to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 591,000, the lowest level since April 2020. The dip from March to April was 16.6 percent, much higher than the 2.4 percent drop in existing home sales. Despite slowing demand and rising costs, real estate professionals believe house prices have room to rise further because of very tight inventory. “The inventory is so scarce that it flies off the shelf right away the moment it shows up,” said Aleksandra Scepanovic, founder of the Ideal Properties Group, a brokerage firm in New York. Scepanovic, who specializes in downtown Brooklyn and surrounding areas, told Insight that there’s a lot of pent-up interest from the time of the pandemic in purchasing homes, but some people are backing away because of growing costs. Many choose to rent rather than own a home, and as a result, rental market prices have spiraled out of control, she said. On top of that, the pipeline of new houses is diminishing, Scepanovic said, which isn’t helping to cool off house prices. According to NAR, the median price of a house increased by 14.8 percent in April compared to the same month last year. The group anticipates that existing home sale prices will continue to rise, albeit at a slower rate of 10 percent by the end of the year, putting the American dream of homeownership out of reach for many. I N S I G H T June 3–9, 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
How Money Printing Wrecks Countries
Argentina is inflating its currency to pay for wasteful state spending
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48 I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022
Empires always fall because they start destroying the purchasing power of their currency. major currencies globally. The main reason for this relative strength is that the Federal Reserve monitors global U.S. dollar demand and is seen as taking decisive action against inflation. However, the often-repeated fallacy that massive money printing doesn’t cause inflation ended abruptly with the disaster committed in 2020. The United States, euro area, and most global economies decided to address a supply shock with massive demand-side policies, financing the unprecedented increase in government spending with newly created money, and inflation soared vigorously. On the one hand, politicians in the United States are increasingly defending pursuing even more aggressive monetary policies to finance an unaffordable and rising government budget. On the other hand, some nations are starting to look for alternatives to the U.S. dollar to sell commodities. These are still distant threats, but
they shouldn’t be ignored. The reader may think Argentina is a crazy example to compare with the United States, but the exaggeration is deliberate. Just look at the history of governments pushing the incentive to massively increase the budget financed by an increasingly less-demanded currency, and the risks for the euro or the dollar become more apparent. The reader may say that the citizens of developed economies would never allow such a thing to happen in their nations, but Argentina also had a rich and prosperous economy decades ago. It was one of the richest and largest economies in the world at the start of the 20th century. A combination of protectionism, populist interventionist policies, and insane monetary decisions destroyed the economy to a place where it never recovered. All the above-mentioned insane decisions of the Argentine governments are now championed by politicians all over the United States and Europe, often saying, “It won’t happen to us,” and “This time is different.” It isn’t different. Empires always fall because they start destroying the purchasing power of their currency, and their position in the world collapses as protectionism and interventionism erode confidence in the government and its institutions. Once the destruction starts, it’s only a matter of time before citizens start to save in gold or other real reserves of value. There’s a lesson for all those who defend constantly pushing the limits of monetary policy and isolationist measures. Once pushed too far, there’s no turning back. JP Morgan used to say gold is money and everything else is credit. Credit is confidence. Once confidence is lost, the currency dissolves. This is a lesson for everyone.
JUAN MABROMATA/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
he most dangerous words in monetary policy and economics are “this time is different.” The big mistake of politicians in Argentina is to believe that the country’s inflation is multi-causal and that everything can be solved with increasing doses of interventionism. The consumer price index in Argentina experienced a year-on-year rise of 58 percent in April 2022, which means 2.9 percentage points above the variation registered in March—a real catastrophe. No, inflation in Argentina isn’t multi-causal; it only has one cause: an extractive and confiscatory monetary policy—printing pesos without control and without demand. Argentina is ballooning its monetary base to finance excessive, inflated, and destructive public spending. So far this year, the monetary base has increased by 43.83 percent, which is utter madness. Inflation is at 58.2 percent. In the past 10 years, the Argentine peso has lost 99 percent of its value against the dollar. It’s expropriating the country’s wealth by printing useless pesos. Many Argentine Peronists say that the United States also massively increases its money supply and has no inflation, but the argument doesn’t hold. The monetary base of the United States grows at a rate of 9.9 percent, six times less than that of Argentina, and the United States is also suffering from inflation of 8.5 percent. In aggregate terms, money supply, including all the currency in circulation, has shot up in Argentina by 2,328 percent in 10 years, while in the United States, it has doubled. Confidence in the U.S. dollar isn’t falling yet; it’s rising, and that’s why it’s strengthening relative to most
Fan Yu
FAN YU is an expert in finance and economics and has contributed analyses on China’s economy since 2015.
Investors Abandoning Chinese Bonds Market experts believe the bigger driver in foreign outflows is geopolitics
ALY SONG/REUTERS
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arge net capital flows out of China have officially become a trend as Chinese fixed-income securities have lost their luster to foreign investors. Capital drawdowns out of China’s interbank bond market exacerbated and continued for the third straight month in April. Most experts blame the shift on a declining yuan currency and a lower yield premium over similar U.S. government bonds as the Chinese central bank monetary policy diverges from the more hawkish U.S. stance. The about-face is in stark contrast to the trend from the past few years, when yield-starved foreign investors flocked to the Chinese bond market because of extremely low yields of U.S. debt compared to Chinese debt of the same tenure, even adjusted for risk. For years, overseas investors saw Chinese government bonds as a source of relatively high fixed-income returns while Western economies kept historically low borrowing rates. Today, this longstanding dynamic has completely reversed. Foreign investors’ holdings of China’s interbank bonds have fallen dramatically. Foreign institutional investors held 3.77 trillion yuan ($567 billion) of Chinese interbank bonds at the end of April, a decrease of 109 billion yuan from March, or a 3 percent drop, according to official data. This followed a March decrease of about 113 billion yuan compared to February. For context, the last time—before this year—that foreign investors’ holdings in Chinese debt declined in consecutive months was in late 2018. The U.S. Federal Reserve announced a 50 basis point benchmark rate hike with more to come, while the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) has been contemplating quantitative easing measures to mitigate an ongoing economic disaster driven by lockdowns
Capital drawdowns out of China’s interbank bond market exacerbated and continued for the third straight month in April. instituted under the regime’s rigid “zero-COVID” policy. Now the higher yields provided by U.S. government bonds look relatively more attractive. Global investors now also have to weigh the increased geopolitical risks of holding Chinese debt. Bond yields support the actual capital flows. In 2020, U.S. 10-year Treasurys yielded roughly 0.7 percent, while similar tenure Chinese government bond yields exceeded 3 percent. As of late May, the 10-year government bond yields have reached parity, with Chinese 10-year bonds yielding 2.82 percent, and 10-year Treasurys yielding just slightly more, at 2.86 percent. Factor in the higher relative default risk and geopolitical risk of holding Chinese bonds, and it’s easy to see that an investor would prefer to hold U.S. Treasury bonds over their Chinese counterparts. The PBoC has remained cautious in its economic stimulus measures, stop-
ping short of drastic measures that could push bond yields even lower. The PBoC is acutely aware of this trend, and it’s careful to not ease too much relative to the rest of the world, lest its actions further destabilize China’s economy and drive the yuan even lower. Already, the monetary policy divergence has impacted the FX market. The yuan has fallen by roughly 5 percent versus the U.S. dollar since Jan. 1. Some market watchers believe the bigger driver in foreign outflows is not rates, but geopolitics. “These outflows began after February 24, when war in Ukraine began. The longer these outflows last, the clearer it becomes that markets are looking at China in a new light since Russia invaded Ukraine,” Institute of International Finance Chief Economist Robin Brooks wrote in a May Twitter post. Perhaps cognizant of not raising more alarm bells, Chinese authorities have suddenly stopped reporting certain metrics related to foreign capital flows into and out of its onshore bond market. The China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS) suddenly stopped reporting daily bond trade data by overseas investors after May 11. Previous to that day, large net foreign outflows had been reported. CFETS didn’t provide a reason for the missed data reports, which further fuels speculation that CCP authorities stopped reporting so as to not fan the flames of capital outflows by foreign investors selling Chinese sovereign debt. Regardless, the move—if true— would be a huge step backward for Beijing, which had tried hard to cultivate a semblance of free markets with transparent information flows to attract foreign investors to its domestic markets. I N S I G H T June 3–9, 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
Don’t Overdo Helpfulness
Remember to value your own time when assisting others
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aying no is hard. At one point in my early 40s, I was helping three renegade nuns found a small private middle school, serving on the parish council of my church, and teaching Sunday school to sixth-graders, as well as being in charge of a den in my son’s Cub Scout Pack. These were all good causes, but my wife and I were also struggling to keep two businesses afloat—a bed-and-breakfast and a bookstore—while raising and homeschooling our children. That was the crazy year I finally learned how to say “No,” not just to others, but to myself as well. With the exception of being a Scout den leader, I had volunteered for those other tasks. Carried away by enthusiasm, I quickly found myself in an all-out sprint with the finish line nowhere in sight. Commitments and obligations arrive with different baggage. The friend who needs help loading a moving van on a Saturday morning? No sweat on that one; it’s a one-time shot, and it’s over in four hours. The supervisor who asks us to work late several days each week? Depending on our circumstances, that proposition can be a lot tougher. We want to keep the boss happy, but we haven’t seen our wife and kids since early morning. And the parks director who approaches us about coaching our 10-year-old daughter’s soccer team? That’s two nights of practice each week and a game every Saturday for three months. That can be one heavy load. Of course, some people are automatic nay-sayers, which can also be a mistake. By saying no to every request, they may be denying themselves an experience they might otherwise have enjoyed. Once, for example, I spoke to the Cubmaster of the Scout
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Being able to say no is a positive recognition of our other duties. pack about whether I could ask a man we both knew to take my place as a den leader. He snorted with contempt. “Danny?” he said. “He never volunteers for anything.” Too bad for Danny, who was divorced and might have found one more way to reconnect with his son. At any rate, being able to say no is a positive recognition of our other duties. An overloaded schedule, a lack of knowledge or skill, or agreeing to undertake a task just to make someone happy: all are good reasons to duck out of one more commitment. Besides, if we’re already devoting extra time to some project—such as serving on the Friends of the Library Board or volunteering as an assistant in our daughter’s classroom two days each week—it’s better to do one job well rather than three or four jobs poorly. And readily available to us are some polite and gentle ways to turn down
such requests. In her online article “How to Say No to Others (and Why You Shouldn’t Feel Guilty),” Erin Eatough offers readers 10 short replies that can get us off the hook of obligation without offending someone. These include “I’m honored you asked me, but I simply can’t,” “I’m sorry, I’m not able to fit this in,” and “Unfortunately, I already have other plans. Maybe next time!” Many parents employ a “Yes” or “No” strategy that also works well in these situations. When my young teenagers used to ask if they might go to a party on a Saturday night, I had two answers ready to go: “Let me think about that” or “Let me talk it over with your mom.” Similarly, when someone asks us to oblige ourselves to some cause or job, we can say, “Let me consider that” or “I’m pretty busy. Let me look at my schedule.” Of course, we should then honor that promise, weighing the options before finalizing a decision. International author Paulo Coelho offers this nugget of wisdom: “When you say ‘Yes’ to others, make sure you are not saying ‘No’ to yourself.” Bingo.
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Nation Profile
THOUGHT LEADERS
China’s War on the World
‘The first step of gaining control of any population is to create some kind of fear’
“The pandemic was designed to create enormous fear in populations around the globe.”
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he warfare is daily,” Gen. Robert Spalding says of China’s policies. “It never ends.”
Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Robert Spalding, author of "War Without Rules."
In two recent episodes of “American Thought Leaders,” host Jan Jekielek and retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Robert Spalding discuss the Chinese regime’s strategy of unrestricted warfare, in which any and all tools are allowed—from flooding our streets with fentanyl to stealing intellectual property to exploiting a global pandemic. The goal? To dominate the world without firing a single shot. Spalding is an expert in unrestricted warfare and the author of the new book “War Without Rules: China’s Playbook for Global Domination.” JAN JEKIELEK: “War
GEN. ROBERT SPALDING:
The pandemic was designed to create enormous fear in populations around the globe. The first step of gaining control of any population is to create some kind of fear. You’re willing to give up your freedom, 52 I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022
FROM L: OTABIUS WILLIAMS/THE EPOCH TIMES, STR/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Without Rules” is about another book, “Unrestricted Warfare,” which was written 20 years ago. You call that book the manual that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has used to achieve dominance in many areas. In your book, you use the example of how the CCP weaponized the pandemic to explain how one of these unrestricted warfare strategies could work. Why don’t you lay that out for me?
Nation Profile
because you seek safety. In “Unrestricted Warfare,” they talk about how to create fear. You have to understand what the CCP was doing. Scientists need data, and the Chinese were obfuscating the data. If you don’t have data, you plan for the worst and hope for the best. That’s what you’re thinking as an epidemiologist. The CCP would never come out and say anything if there were a crisis. They seclude themselves. That allows them to watch the situation and see how it develops. They’re very good at figuring out a way to take advantage of how a thing is developing. MR . JEKIELEK: There
are other elements here. Chinese leader Xi Jinping, when the pandemic began, canceled domestic flights to stop the spread of the virus within China. But the Chinese media would scream racism at any suggestion that there would be a stoppage of international flights.
with a less efficient society that’s not well-organized or self-actualizing, but you’re better off than everybody else is, so you’ve won. The brilliance of China is to give concessions by saying they’re going to give concessions but not actually giving the concessions. A good example of this is, “Stop hacking into our systems.” They reply, “Oh, OK. We’ll stop that.” But do they stop? No, they don’t stop. Staff members prepare to spray disinfectant at Wuhan Railway Station in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, on March 24, 2020.
out internationally.” Now, you’re not thinking like the CCP, where warfare is daily; it never ends. Everybody needs to suffer the pandemic, because if we all suffer the pandemic, then they’ll be able to take advantage of that fact. They own the supply chain. They have personal protective equipment and masks and everything else. This is the way the CCP thinks. And that’s what unrestricted warfare is all about.
GEN. SPALDING: If you’re
the CCP, you’re not going to allow Chinese nationals to fly inside the country, but you are going to allow them to fly internationally. Not only are you going to allow them to fly internationally, if a country says, “Don’t fly to our nation,” you’re going to say they’re racist. Why? Because you want to take advantage. You don’t want to suffer the pandemic on your own. If it happened in America, we would say, “Let’s keep it here. Don’t let it break
MR . JEKIELEK: You
describe the relationship of the CCP to the United States as a parasitic one. Please explain that.
same outcomes—is what’s baked into unrestricted warfare. The parasitic nature of China is one part industrial. The money that would’ve gone toward building infrastructure that supported our industrial base was poured into China. It wasn’t invested in the United States, in our industrial base and manufacturing; it was invested in China. MR . JEKIELEK: You talk
about this in your book. There was certainly massive growth, but you argue it was based on this unsustainable parasitic model. GEN. SPALDING: Because
GEN. SPALDING: If I create
a system where you are tied to me economically, and your wealth is tied to our relationship, then I can use these economic relationships to manipulate you. Having the ability to use other nonviolent tools— tools that don’t involve any bloodshed yet still have the
everything that’s coming out of these free countries— the United States and the European Union—is going into China. Ultimately, the problem with a parasite is that it ends up killing the host. In the case of the CCP, that is their goal anyway. They want to kill the host. You end up
MR . JEKIELEK: The ex-
ample that always comes to my mind is, “Yes, we’ll stop taking organs from prisoners of conscience. We’ll do it.” But they don’t stop. GEN. SPALDING: They
don’t stop. “We’ll stop sending fentanyl.” But they don’t stop. MR . JEKIELEK: What is
going on with these extreme lockdowns in China? GEN. SPALDING: Well, it
could be to just see how far they can take it—how much can they control the population, or who are the ones who are the problems? Maybe they’re testing how they might approach a Taiwan invasion, if it starts to go wrong or if it becomes too bloody and the population needs to be suppressed. I don’t think it’s because they actually believe that it will prevent the spread of COVID; that’s not it. There are many things that go into how the CCP thinks about lockdowns, because they’re an incredible tool for control. The CCP doesn’t do things willy-nilly. It’s very deliberate. I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022 53
Nation Profile
“The money that would’ve gone toward building infrastructure that supported our industrial base was poured into China.” What’s important to Xi is taking back Taiwan. He said he’s not going to leave it to the next generation. And I honestly don’t believe there’s anything we could do to stop the CCP from invading Taiwan. What’s achievable for us is something that says, “Hey, we are going to do our best to ensure the safety of the people of Taiwan.” We’re not going to be able to stop China’s invasion. That’s beyond our ability at this point, because we’ve
allowed them to build up too much military power on their side of the strait.
of nuclear war—at winning a war [with China] over Taiwan. Nobody wants to contemplate nuclear war, because you’re talking about the potential end of civilization. So, if it’s the end of civilization, or if China gets Taiwan, what’s your choice if you’re the president of the United States? And if that’s the case, what do we do? What’s our responsibility? It’s to do the best we can to provide for [Taiwan] and to struggle to defeat communism, but you’re talking about a long-term struggle. MR. JEKIELEK: So, what to
MR . JEKIELEK: Is what
you just expressed a commonly held view? GEN. SPALDING: I don’t
think that we Americans are very good at saying, “We’re not the best.” But in war game after war game, we lose in a war with China over Taiwan. And not only do we lose, we lose fast. Really fast. We have no chance—short
do? And I don’t mean about Taiwan; I mean, in general. Are you suggesting that America needs to wage unrestricted warfare in response? GEN. SPALDING: What is
America? It’s a mind virus. It’s this idea that, by your nature, you’re supposed to be free as a human. And that’s a terribly powerful idea. We need to get reacquaint-
ed with our own principles and values—what they mean. Therein lies the allure of America. We don’t have to wage unrestricted war on China. What we have to do is reach our true potential, because once Americans reach their true potential and have the blessings of liberty, then their enthusiasm and boundless energy cannot be subdued. It will shine like a beacon around the world. For over two centuries, this has made us strong. People look to us and say, “I wish I were like that.” We’ve allowed China to basically erode international order, our own domestic institutions, and those principles and values. We must break free of that. Then, we’re going to shine like a beacon again. When we do, we can work with other nations with similar aspirations. China can’t compete with that. They know it. That’s why they’re so afraid. There are Chinese people who would embrace American freedom if they could. MR . JEKIELEK: Any final
thoughts? GEN. SPALDING: I just
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. Chinese soldiers at a ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Sept. 8, 2020. 54 I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022
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want to say thank you for what you’re doing as a journalist because I believe in the importance of the fourth estate. I believe in this country and in the Constitution. I believe that we have to fight to preserve it.
T R AV E L • F O O D • L U X U R Y L I V I N G
No.22
Unwind The Great American Outdoors technically includes your yard, so here’s how to skip the drive and do your next campout at home. PHOTO BY PANTHERE NOIRE/ SHUTTERSTOCK
Save Gas by Camping in Your Backyard CONNECTED TO THE Adriatic by the Candiano Canal and known for Roman and Byzantine architecture, Ravenna is home to a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 58
RUNNING, WHETHER around the block or in a marathon, is a great way to stay fit, so consider getting some gear to make it more enjoyable. 63
60
INVENTED IN THE BRITISH Virgin Islands, this refreshing tropical concoction may have caused a few headaches, despite its name. 66
INSIDE I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022 55
ITALIANSTYLE Perfection
This Pacific Palisades estate and family home of Sugar Ray Leonard is an architectural masterpiece By Phil Butler
Throughout the home, fine antiques and accents, collected by Ray Leonard’s wife Bernadette Robi on her world travels, punctuate the overall sense of fine living and design perfection. This is truly an elegant and tasteful home. 56 I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022
Lifestyle Real Estate
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JIM BARTSCH/JADE MILLS
he home of boxing legend sugar Ray Leonard, one of the immortals of sports, is now on the market for $46.5 million. One of the most significant properties in Pacific Palisades, the Leonard Estate is grand in every way and served the Leonard family well as their home for more than two decades. Situated behind private gates on nearly 1.8 acres of sculpted nature, this Los Angeles west side mansion is an architectural masterpiece designed in the Florentine style. Renowned architect Richard Landry created a custom vision constructed from the finest materials available and built by master craftsmen. Once featured prominently in Architectural Digest and other design magazines, the 16,700-square-foot main house has seven sumptuous bedrooms. Overall, including the adjoining guest house, the property has eight full and four half baths. The main residence was designed to ensure family comfort as well as entertaining on a lavish scale. The Italian-inspired home has a two-story family room, formal dining and living rooms, a solarium, a screening room, and a fantastic gourmet kitchen that’s a chef’s dream. The mansion’s main suite features two bathrooms, a fireplace, and sparkling French doors leading onto Juliet balconies. There’s also an inviting veranda outside for taking in Pacific Ocean vistas.
Landry, who also designed mega-homes for pop star Michael Jackson and movie icon Sylvester Stallone, acquired antiques and specialty materials from all over Europe in order to fabricate this Italian villa remake. Stone from Jerusalem, an antique fireplace from Italy, the Juliet balconies, the use of fine plaster throughout, and much more detail went into the making of this unique residence. Outside, the private drive of the property winds into a large motor court rimmed by mature trees, expansive lawns, and brilliant gardens. Other estate features include a wonderfully sun-drenched pool, a lighted tennis court, a grass meadow with putting green, and the aforementioned guest house. Also on the grounds are private nooks, fountains, picturesque walkways, a secret garden, and a four-car garage. Ray Leonard and his wife Bernadette Robi were married on the grounds of the estate and raised their children here. Leonard, considered one of the greatest fighters in history, won 36 of his 40 professional fights on the way to gaining world titles in five different weight divisions. Leonard was also an Olympic champion.
THE LEONARD ESTATE PACIFIC PALISADES, LOS ANGELES $46.5 MILLION • 7 BEDROOMS • 16,700 SQUARE FEET • 1.8 ACRES KEY FEATURES • CELEBRITY PROPERTY • WORLD-FAMOUS ARCHITECT • CUSTOM FEATURES THROUGHOUT • ULTRA-PRESTIGIOUS NEIGHBORHOOD AGENT JADE MILLS ESTATES STEPHANIE ZEBIK, MANAGING DIRECTOR
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.
310-285-7508
The formal dining room serves to envelop you in finery and warmth. Heirlooms mixed with timeless accents and brilliant materials are everywhere you look. The driveway culminates in a huge motor court in front of the main residence. Here you get the feeling you’ve arrived at a sumptuous Italian villa, wrapped in leafy trimmings.
Inside, the home features family and gathering spaces that are grand yet warm and inviting. Here the two-story family room, like most of the home’s other main spaces, opens onto the natural paradise outside. I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022 57
Travel Italy
The Piazza del Popolo.
A World of Mosaics
This small coastal city full of artistic treasures was once the ‘seat of empires’ By Tim Johnson
C
ertain destinations in italy are immediately recognizable, with a whole set of colorful and unmistakable images associated. Rome? The curve of the Colosseum, of course, dating back to the first century, plus the Spanish Steps, the flow of the Trevi Fountain, and the soaring dome of St. Peter’s in Vatican City. But Ravenna? It turns out, this small city on the east coast of the Italic Peninsula has plenty to offer, including truly spectacular mosaics and a rather surprising history. Plus, flamingos and herons, just over there in the wetlands fringing the edge of town. “This was a very safe place, with the sea on one side, and a big marsh on the other,” the guide said, pointing to the vibrant green spaces just off to the right of the bus. “And thus, this
58 I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022
was once the seat of empires.” Set just inland from the Adriatic Sea, Ravenna is a vibrant city of about 150,000. I arrived on a cruise ship, the Viking Sky, with just a single day to explore. Leaving the ship and riding in from the port, the guide walked us back in history. Settlements uncovered in the area by archaeologists date all the way back to the 5th century B.C., when an ancient people known as the Umbrians built villages on hilltops across the region. Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon near here, and Ravenna was made a federated town in the Roman Empire in A.D. 89. CENTURIES OF DEVELOPMENT and prosperity
followed under the Romans, the port both strategic militarily and a hub for trade with other wealthy places further east. Ravenna grew to a city of some 50,000, and in A.D. 402, Emperor Flavius Honorius made it the capital of the West-
Bologna airport Ravenna
ITALY Rome
From the Bologna airport, Ravenna is just about an hour away by car. Cured meats, cheeses, and piadina bread at Osteria Passatelli in Ravenna, Italy.
Travel Italy
ern Roman Empire, which stretched from North Africa across the Iberian Peninsula, all the way across modern-day France to Britain. “The city was very elegant and famous,” the guide said. It didn’t last long. The empire suffered a fatal blow at the Battle of Ravenna in A.D. 476, but the city then became the capital of the Eastern Goths—the Ostrogothic Kingdom—in A.D. 493, and, soon after that, the Italian seat of the Byzantine Empire. Many of the details have become historical trivia, but this heady era, when Ravenna was one of the most important cities on the globe, left behind a number of beautiful sites, including basilicas and the Mausoleum of Theodoric, who ruled both the Ostrogoths and the Visigoths until his death in A.D. 526.
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TODAY, RAVENNA BUSTLES. No longer set directly
on the coast—the port silted up in the centuries since—its pedestrian center is a pleasant place for a stroll. Boutiques line cobblestone passageways. People gather at the Piazza del Popolo, the city’s main square since the 13th century. There are plenty of places here for a bite of pizza and pasta, but the nearby Mercato Coperto is even better. Set on a site of trade for fishermen and butchers dating back to the Middle Ages, the current “new” covered market dates to the beginning decades of the 20th century. Today, you can pick up everything from produce and seafood to meat and gelato over two floors, in a light-filled space under one vaulted roof. But there’s no time to tarry. Today’s destination is one that’s made Ravenna famous among history buffs and art enthusiasts around the world: the mosaics. UNESCO has recognized
Mosaics inside the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy.
a collection of eight buildings across the city that feature these intricate creations, together honoring them with World Heritage Site status. They include the Mausoleum of Theodoric, and all date back to that heyday in the 5th and 6th centuries when Ravenna reigned supreme. THE MOST IMPRESSIVE, perhaps, is the Mau-
soleum of Galla Placidia, set in the courtyard of the Basilica of San Vitale. From outside, it’s not much to look at. Standing in line for a few minutes—the space inside is small, and a particularly interested and enthusiastic group of university students moved slowly ahead of us—I lowered my expectations as I considered the diminutive size and simple, nondescript brick exterior of the building. But crossing the threshold, I entered another world. Intimate and close, the bright colors and incredibly intricate designs almost overwhelm and consume. A starry sky spreads across the shallow, domed ceiling, gold embedded in a deep-blue background, constellations that seem close enough to reach out and touch. Green grapevines climb the archways. Christ the Good Shepherd and various saints look down from above. Despite the building’s name, Empress Galla Placidia probably was never buried here—her body actually rests in Rome. The guide said Cole Porter wrote one of his best-known songs, “Night and Day,” after a visit here. And as I proceeded out, back toward the heart of town, my heart was indeed singing. More to see here in Ravenna, and hopefully a visit back soon to enjoy even more. Tim Johnson is based in Toronto. He has visited 140 countries across all seven continents.
8
UNESCO
World Heritage monuments, most displaying glorious mosaic art, can be found in Ravenna.
If You Go Stay: Housed in an 18th-century palace, the fourstar Palazzo Bezzi is within steps of some of the major mosaic sites, with fresh, bright rooms and a terrace overlooking the rooftops of the city. Take Note: One of the best ways to explore Italy is by sea, where you can unpack your suitcase once and let the ancient wonders come to you. Viking Ocean’s week-long Italian Sojourn takes you to a number of ports of call along the Italic Peninsula, around the boot from Rome to Venice.
Frescoed dome of the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy. I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022 59
S’mores at Home
If high fuel prices have you considering canceling your summer campout, do it at home By Bill Lindsey The entire goal of camping is to get closer to nature, so consider trying it at home.
60 I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022
Lifestyle Backyard Camping
s the price of fuel continues to head for the moon, driving the car, SUV, or RV to a faraway campground becomes less appealing. So don’t leave home— just get out of the house. Camping has always been a traditional pastime in the United States, but according to a recent study commissioned by the state of Wisconsin, it’s now more popular than ever. A whopping 48 million households went camping in 2020—an increase of 6 million from 2019. Camping takes many forms, from backpacking to staying in million-dollar RVs, but the one thing they all have in common is spending time someplace away from home, enjoying the views and new experiences. However, with fuel prices currently significantly higher than those of a year ago, driving a car, much less a gas- or diesel-guzzling RV, almost any distance dampens the appeal of discovering distant and exotic campgrounds. We offer a possible solution: Stay home.
LEFT PAGE: PHOTO BY M-GUCCI/GETTY IMAGES; THIS PAGE FROM TOP: COURTESY OF COLEMAN, INTEX, CAMP CHEF, SKOOKIE
MOST PEOPLE RUSH inside when they
get home from work or school, making the front or backyard a semi-unfamiliar area that is fair game for a campground. It’s also a safe bet that few have spent the night in their yard on purpose. A day and night spent in your own yard will provide a new appreciation of what goes on outdoors, especially after the lights go out. Even in heavily populated neighborhoods, it’s not uncommon to see nocturnal wildlife going about their normal routine. If you have access to night vision binoculars, break them out after the campfire. Bring regular binoculars, too, in order to do some daytime birdwatching, but avoid the temptation to spy on neighbors—it rarely ends well if you get caught! With that in mind, a stay-at-home camping trip begins to make sense. To do it right, you need to set ground rules, such as that once you’re out of the house, you stay out—no trips inside to raid the refrigerator, check social media, or watch TV allowed. There can be exceptions, of course, but the idea is to treat the yard as the campground; once you’ve arrived, you
To do it right, you need to set ground rules, such as that once you’re out of the house, you stay out. are there for the duration of the vacation. So, how do you do it? Start by deciding how much you want to rough it. If you have an RV or camping trailer, from a fifth wheel to a pop-up, it’s not cheating to use it. In fact, doing so makes camping a breeze, as you’ll have almost everything you need in the driveway or backyard. The next level involves a tent, from a traditional Whiteduck bell tent to a clear Alvantor bubble tent with a view of the stars. No tent? No problem. A tarp strung from trees provides protection from the elements. Hardcore backpackers may even opt to forgo a tent, preferring to sleep under the stars in a hammock or in a sleeping bag on the ground. With the accommodations set, next comes the question of meals. If you don’t have a camper equipped with a galley (kitchen), consider a cooler, such as the RTIC 45-quart model, to hold ice, food, and beverages, and a camping stove like the Camp Chef Outdoor Oven and Skookie, which lets you do everything from frying food on the upper burners to baking cookies in its oven—all in the wide-open outdoors of the wilderness or your yard. While you could cook over a fire, it’s probably best to go slowly so as to not have to learn too many new skills or risk upsetting the neighbors.
Consider stringing solarpowered or batterypowered lights to give the campsite a festive atmosphere.
Who says you have to use a sleeping bag? Consider inflatable furniture for daytime lounging and sleep-time duty.
Some camp stoves allow you to bake, broil, and fry just like you do in your kitchen.
ALL PROPER CAMPING calls for sitting
around outside, but comfort counts, so consider inflatable seating like that from Intex, which converts from a sofa to a bed, or a do-it-all camp chair like the Sport-Brella, which reclines and has drink holders and an overhead umbrella. String a few battery-powered LED lanterns, like those from Coleman, in the trees to provide light after the sun goes down. No I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022 61
Lifestyle Backyard Camping
LIFESTYLE
DRIVEWAY ADVENTURES Make camping at home an adventure
A campfire is a must, but consider a self-contained unit to ensure safety as you make s’mores.
1 Stay Home
campout would be complete without a campfire, but in the interest of safety and avoiding another way to alarm the neighbors, consider a portable fire pit, such as the Bonfire from Solo Stove. Weighing just 20 pounds and crafted from stainless steel, it uses hardwoods rather than expensive propane; just make sure to use the spark shield for maximum safety. If any of the campers aren’t familiar with the wonders of enjoying a messy yet oh-so-delicious s’more while singing camp songs, now is the time to initiate them into the club. Afterward, use the telescope you borrowed from the house earlier to do some serious stargazing. THE CALL OF nature can sometimes be
62 I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022
If you have a traditional tent, use it as your cozy backyard quarters.
Save gas by “camping” in your driveway or backyard. Plan to do all the cooking and playing outside, just as if you were at a campground, avoiding the temptations inside your home.
2 Play With Matches A campfire to sing around as you roast marshmallows is a must, but be careful. Use a firepit with a spark screen or cover to keep things safe.
3
Sleep Tight If you don’t have a camper or RV, use a tent or even a tarp and some sleeping bags to get some rest. Add a batterypowered lantern and fan to the must-have list.
THIS PAGE FROM TOP: COURTESY OF SOLO STOVES, WHITE DUCK
drowned out by the call of the restroom; this is one example where the “don’t go into the house while camping” rule can be bent. There are portable restroom systems available, but once again, it’s best not to test the patience and understanding of the neighbors by using one in the front yard. Another worthwhile rule is to limit or outright prohibit cell phone use and electronic games. This is supposed to be a vacation, so you need to find ways to remain happily occupied.
Since many campgrounds have pools, barbecue grills, and games like horseshoes, if your yard is so equipped, the driveway glamping rules allow their use; if not, consider investing in a few outdoor games. Several other notable gear suggestions include a battery-powered fan to ease the heat of summer days and nights, a battery-powered lantern, bug repellant, compact flashlights with fresh batteries for all campers, and a ukulele.
Luxury Living High-Tech Running Gear
THE LATEST GEAR TO MAKE YOUR NEXT RUN THE BEST EVER Running or walking is an excellent form of exercise we can all do, anywhere and any time. Using the right gear makes it more effective and a lot more enjoyable, too. By Bill Lindsey
Made in the Shade
ROKA SR-1X
Don’t Waste Time
$210
A bug in your eye can ruin a run; these lightweight (0.88 ounces) shades help block bugs and raindrops, as well as harmful UV rays. The grippy “Gecko” nosepiece helps keep them in place, while a wide variety of interchangeable lenses accommodates changing conditions.
GARMIN FORERUNNER 945 $599.99
In addition to making sure you get to work on time, this watch has informative features you’ve never considered, but should. Examples include weather forecasts, “TrackBack” for runs on new routes, Varia Radar to warn of approaching traffic, calorie burn info, oxygen consumption, acceleration rates, and much more.
COURTESY OF GARMIN, ROKA, NORDICTRACK, WITHINGS, SHOKZ
Laugh at the Rain and Snow
NORDICTRACK COMMERCIAL 2450 $2,499
Smart Scale
WITHINGS BODY CARDIO SCALE $149.95
Running and walking have great health benefits, including many you can’t see. This scale allows up to eight users to track heart health, plus body and muscle mass, water and fat content, and weight. It also displays a weather forecast and the previous day’s steps.
Devoted runners go out in the snow, rain, at night, and in the heat of summer. Smart runners use this system to run in the comfort of home. The 22-inch screen allows interactive training sessions, while the ActivePulse function adjusts the incline and speed to maximize the workout.
Fast Talking
SHOKZ OPENRUN PRO CONDUCTION HEADPHONES $179.95
Listening to music while running can get you into the zone. The open-ear, bone conduction design provides excellent audio for music and phone calls while allowing you to be aware of traffic, approaching bikes, dogs, and more. Best of all, they won’t fall out. I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022 63
Epoch Booklist RECOMMENDED READING FICTION
‘One Italian Summer’
This week, we feature a young readers’ set about a silly maid; a pillar of Western civilization; and a magical novel about mother-daughter love.
ers in the nearby town. This best-seller was soon made into a movie starring Sydney Portier as “Schmidt,” who won an Academy Award for his performance. A beloved tale that continues to attract readers today.
SCIENCE
GRAND CENTRAL PUBLISHING 1988, 128 PAGES
‘The Bet’
Thirty-year-old Katy Silver has lost her mother, who was also her best friend. They had planned a trip to Positano, Italy, together to retrace her mother’s visit when she was Katy’s age. Striking out on her own, Katy discovers an unexpected path to healing. ATRIA BOOKS, 2022 272 PAGES
‘The Lilies of the Field’
By William Barrett
Building Beauty Published in 1962, this novella features Homer Smith, a black itinerant skilled craftsman and ex-G.I. who stops to help some nuns in the West with some minor repairs and is persuaded to stay on and help them build a church. Smith’s efforts on behalf of the sisters soon bring help from oth-
By Paul Sabin
HISTORY
Opposing Visions of the Future
‘From the River to the Sea’
In 1980, Paul Ehrlich and Julian Simon bet on the future price of five metals. If in 10 years the price rose, Simon would pay Ehrlich the difference. If the price dropped Simon would receive the difference in price from Ehrlich. The bet was really about the visions of the two men: the apocalyptic predictions of Ehrlich versus the optimistic growth predicted by Simon. It’s a riveting look at the environment, technology, and economics.
By Rebecca Serle
Queen of My Heart
Are there books you’d recommend? We’d love to hear from you. Let us know at features@epochtimes.com
By John Sedgwick
When the Railroad Builders Fought Railroad rivalries played a significant role in 19th-century U.S. history. No rivalry was as intense or bitter as the one between the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway, and the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. At times it erupted into actual gunfire. This book presents their highstakes battle and the winner that linked the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. Readers watch rivals build railroads that helped shape modern America. This is a kaleidoscopic book that carries readers from coast to coast. AVID READER PRESS, 2021 352 PAGES
64 I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022
YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2013 304 PAGES
CLASSICS
‘Jane Eyre’
By Charlotte Brontë
Love and Principle This Charlotte Brontë classic is a wonderful
romance in which the protagonist, Jane Eyre, begins life as an orphan and grows up to become a governess and the love interest of the wealthy Edward Rochester. Although Jane and Edward find love, Edward has a secret that may ruin their happiness. Tragedy turns into hope in this love story. WORDSWORTH EDITIONS 1997, 448 PAGES
‘Confessions’
By Augustine of Hippo
The Long Pilgrimage of a Soul In “Confessions,” which many scholars regard as the first Western autobiography, Augustine spends 10 of the 13 books on the story of his conversion from paganism to Christianity. As we make that journey with him, we meet philosophers, astrologers, and early Christians such as Bishop Ambrose of Milan and Augustine’s devout mother, Monica. His psychological insights heavily influenced Western culture. Even today, readers of all religious backgrounds find gems of wisdom in this memoir by a saint and a father of the church. PENGUIN CLASSICS, 1961 352 PAGES
FOR KIDS
‘Amelia Bedelia’
By Peggy Parish
Gentle Humor and a Ditzy Protagonist Encased in a tiny suitcase are five stories about the literalminded maid and cook who has entranced children for decades. These level 2 readers are designed for those who grasp the basics of reading, but may still need some help. GREENWILLOW BOOKS REPRINT, 2016, 320 PAGES
‘The Borrowers’
By Mary Norton
Tiny Humans, Big Hearts The Clocks are a family of tiny humans living under the kitchen floor of an English manor. Their home furnishings are “borrowed” from the normal-sized family. All is well until one of them gets spotted by a boy from the manor. CLARION BOOKS, 2003 192 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 a comedy about a wannabe golfer reaching for his dreams, and a coming-of-age family film full of treasure-seeking fun.
NEW RELEASE
FAMILY PICK
‘The Goonies’ (1985)
‘The Phantom of the Open’ (2022) This is the charming underdog story of Maurice Flitcroft (Mark Rylance), who lives with his wife and kids in Barrow-in-Furness, England. Although he works as a crane operator, he manages to get into the 1976 British Open Golf Championship. The only problem is that he doesn’t have any experience. This heartwarming tale features outstanding acting performances and a peppy soundtrack that, along with its clever script, is a real crowd-pleaser. It encourages folks to never give up on their dreams, no matter how far-fetched they seem.
COMEDY | DR AMA | SPORT
Release Date: June 3 (Limited) Director: Craig Roberts Starring: Mark Rylance, Sally Hawkins, Ian Porter Running Time: 1 hour, 46 minutes MPAA Rating: PG-13 Where to Watch: Theaters
well-paced, suspenseful, and creepy. Its still-impressive special effects deliver a visual and aural feast for the senses. ACTION | SCI-FI | THRILLER
When a large object crashes in Southern California, scientist Clayton Forrester arrives to investi-
gate. Soon, Martians emerge from the object and the invasion of Earth begins. Perhaps the quintessential alien invasion film, this is as good as it gets—
when they were kids. However, this one’s for older kids, since the baddies are pretty creepy. ADVENTURE | COMEDY | FAMILY
Release Date: June 7, 1985 Directors: Richard Donner Starring: Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, Jeff Cohen Running Time: 1 hour, 54 minutes MPAA Rating: PG Where to Watch: Redbox, Vudu, Tubi
ONE OF THE GREATEST DISASTER MOVIES
‘The Poseidon Adventure’ (1972)
1950S ALIEN INVASION FILM THAT DELIVERS
‘The War of the Worlds’ (1953)
When brothers Mikey (Sean Astin) and Brandon (Josh Brolin) discover that they’re about to lose their homes, they gather their friends together for one last weekend. Little do they know that they’ll all soon embark on an incredible adventure. This is one of the best coming-of-age family films out there. It’s got everything but the kitchen sink: edge-of-your-seat thrills, lost treasure, strong young male friendships, and now-famous actors
Release Date: Aug. 26, 1953 Director: Byron Haskin Starring: Gene Barry, Ann Robinson, Les Tremayne Running Time: 1 hour, 25 minutes MPAA Rating: PG Where to Watch: Epix, DirecTV, Amazon
While traveling from New York to Greece, an ocean liner called the S.S. Poseidon is struck by a gigantic tidal wave. With the captain dead, a group of survivors, including the fiery Reverend Scott (Gene Hackman), must work together in their attempt to escape certain death. Even to this day, this film’s special effects are outstanding. With its realistic sets and dizzying cinematography that serves to ratchet up the tension
(and the viewer’s nerves), it’s one of the best disaster movies of all time. ACTION | ADVENTURE | DR AMA
Release Date: Dec. 13, 1972 Director: Ronald Neame Starring: Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Shelley Winters Running Time: 1 hour, 57 minutes MPAA Rating: PG Where to Watch: Epix, Vudu, Redbox
I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022 65
Food Drinks
ANATOMY OF A CLASSIC COCKTAIL: THE PAINKILLER Bring the beach to you with this potent, rum-based refresher, bright with fresh juices, creamy with coconut, and spiced with nutmeg—and a dose of bartender drama By Kevin Revolinski
I
Pusser's Rum is the official base—but don't be afraid to experiment with others.
f you like piña coladas—this is even better. Swapping orange juice in for the lime and sprinkling in a bit of nutmeg, you end up with a dangerously drinkable Caribbean cocktail called a Painkiller. Don’t bother with the little umbrella— it only gets in the way. I first learned to make the drink Freshly while helping out at the Sunday squeezed pig roasts at Mount Victory Camp orange juice is a must. on St. Croix back in the early 2000s. In fact, the first Painkiller was served in the Virgin Islands, but the British variety: Over on the island of Jost Van Dyke, bartender Daphne Henderson created it at The Soggy Dollar, a Finish with six-stool bar along the beautiful a sprinkle of grated beach of White Bay. The beach nutmeg. had no dock, so boaters dropped anchor and swam ashore, bellying up to the bar with a pocket full of wet bills. The recipe originally relied on some local tipple, Cruzan Rum from St. Croix, but a big fan of the drink and a regular patron of The Soggy Dollar, Charles Tobias, had Note: Cream of coconut is not the same as his own ideas. unsweetened coconut cream.
PAINKILLER
For many years, the British Royal Navy provided each sailor a daily tot, a rum ration, from the Navy’s own supply of a blend of five different West Indian rums. The practice ended on July 31, 1970, and the Navy put the remaining supply up for auction. A buyer shipped the lot of it to a warehouse in Gibraltar and gradually sold it all off. Collectors may still have bottles of it floating around out there. But then in 1979, Tobias obtained the rights to that Admiralty recipe, founding a company 66 I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022
Serves 1 • 2 ounces Pusser’s Rum (or other dark rum) • 4 ounces pineapple juice • 1 ounce freshly squeezed orange juice • 1 ounce cream of coconut (Coco Lopez) • Garnish: freshly grated nutmeg, pineapple wedge Add the rum, pineapple and orange juices, and cream of coconut to a shaker with ice and shake vigorously but briefly to combine. Strain into a hurricane glass or snifter over crushed ice. Sprinkle grated nutmeg on top, and garnish the glass with a pineapple wedge.
that kept the name the sailors gave it: Pusser’s Rum, as in the rum distributed by the ship’s purser, the supply officer. As the story goes, Tobias and Henderson challenged each other, making up drinks according to their individual recipes. The drinks made with Pusser’s Rum impressed the fortunate impromptu judging committee at the bar that day, and the reincarnated Royal Navy rum became the official ingredient in a Painkiller. What does official mean here? Pusser’s Rum managed to trademark the drink name and recipe, and in 1989, it actually brought a cease and desist to a bar in New York named Painkiller. They settled out of court and the bar became PKNY. So be careful that your house guests don’t snitch if you swap rums in your Painkillers. Kevin Revolinski is an avid traveler, craft beer enthusiast, and home-cooking fan. He's based in Madison, Wis.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP L: BARINART/SHUTTERSTOCK; KOZAK_STUDIO/ SHUTTERSTOCK; BESJUNIOR/SHUTTERSTOCK; NERZA/SHUTTERSTOCK
Pusser’s Rum Enters the Ring
This dangerously drinkable Caribbean cocktail is a warm-weather classic.
How to be a
Good Grandparent Use the tricks and techniques you used to raise your kids to help them raise theirs
Becoming a grandparent is a second chance at raising kids. The difference is that this time you know what to look out for so you can be there for your own children as they go through the process. By Bill Lindsey
4 Teach Them
1 Be a Resource Think back to when you had your children, and how you found someone who had already raised kids to provide advice, or a trusted babysitter so you could take a night off from parenting duties. Offer your services to your kids so they know they can call on you to watch your grandchildren while they have a date night or to assure them that all will be well when their kids develop a fever or the sniffles.
As the children grow up, there may be times when, as a grandparent, you have a more open relationship with them than they have with their parents. This is common, especially during the traumatic teen years. It’s important that you work hard to maintain their trust by offering gentle guidance without lecturing, and being able to know when they need help but may be afraid to ask for it. Be their real-life guardian angel.
CSA IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES
2 Be Switzerland It’s only natural to want to take sides in a contentious issue, such as when the kids can begin dating, but you need to hold your emotions in check, letting the parents make their own decisions. A knowit-all attitude, even if you’re right, can wreak havoc on relationships. The goal is to be the person your grandkids and your kids rely upon for unbiased assistance when they need to settle an issue.
5 Be There 3 Raise Responsibility Resist the urge to spoil your grandkids. Buying the little princess a pony for her 10th birthday or handing your grandson the keys to a Mustang on his 16th birthday is you showing off, not you helping them. Teach them to respect things and themselves by earning an allowance or getting a parttime job. Teach them to respect those around them, treat them with respect and kindness, and lend a helping hand to those in need.
As you watch your grandchildren grow up, make sure they know that they have a special place in your life. While you certainly need to follow your own path and enjoy your pursuits, let the kids know that they’re more important than your job or planning your next trip to Paris. They need to feel comfortable coming to you for help with a decision or just to spend time with you on the porch sipping lemonade.
I N S I G H T June 3–9, 2022 67
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