NEW YOR K | DC EDITION
0 0
In the News
NEWS
Countries around the globe
are setting tighter restrictions
to fight a resurgence of the
deadly CCP virus. ... A10
Americans trust their em-
ployers far more than the
business and NGO commu-
nity more generally, while
distrusting both government
and media, according to a new
study. ... A4
The House of Represen-
tatives has passed a rules
amendment implementing
fines against members who
don’t wear masks. ... A5
The Republican Party is
likely to continue most of
President Donald Turmp’s pol-
icies even as Democrats take
control of the White House,
Senate, and House. ...A6
The Senate Committee on
Foreign Relations has sched-
uled a hearing for the confir-
mation of Antony Blinken,
President-elect Joe Biden’s
nominee for secretary of
state. ... A5
Democratic leaders uni-
laterally authorized the in-
stallation of metal detectors
to block access to the floor of
the House, according to Re-
publicans, who have strongly
criticized the move. ... A6
The Senate Finance Com-
mittee will hold Janet Yel-
len’s confirmation hearing
for U.S. Treasury secretary
a day before President-elect
Joe Biden’s inauguration, Sen.
Chuck Grassley says. ... A7
The Supreme Court has
granted a Trump adminis-
tration request to reinstate
a rule requiring women to go
in person to obtain abortion
pills. ... A8
National Guard troops
guarding the U.S. Capitol are
authorized to carry firearms,
the Army says. ... A8
Customs and Border Pro-
tection has announced the
ban of all imports of cotton
and tomato products from
China’s Xinjiang region, in
the widest action yet to crack
down on the use of forced la-
bor of Uyghur Muslims. ... A4
BUSINESS
The recovery of first-quar-
ter earnings of companies
may be delayed as pandem-
ic-related lockdowns and
restrictions in several coun-
tries cloud hopes, investment
banks say. ...A18
Bitcoin, one of the most
powerful technological inno-
vations in the recent decades,
is taking center stage as we
enter the age of digital cur-
rency, author James Gorrie
says. ... A18
OPINION
Mark Bauerlein: The End of
Politics... A13
Roger L. Simon: Suppose
They Held an Inauguration
and Nobody Came?... A14
Lee Smith: It’s Not Censor-
ship, It’s a Coordinated Ef-
fort...A16
FEATURES
Regula Ysewijn is preserv-
ing the pride and history of
British baking, from the fa-
mous to the obscure. ...B1
Red chile sauce, made from
scratch, is a show-stealing
addition to any winter meal.
...B3
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Published in New York,
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| T H U R S D A Y, J A N . 14 , 2 0 21
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi presides over the House of Representatives during a vote on
CONGRESS whether impeach President Donald Trump, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 13, 2021.
Democrats, 10 Republicans Vote
for 2nd Impeachment of Trump
Republicans who criticized the move say it was rushed, offered no due process
to the president, and gave the public no confidence in the proceedings
BY IVAN PENTCHOUKOV
D
emocrats in the House
of Representatives, joined
by 10 Republicans, voted
to impeach President
Donald Trump for a second time, in
a 232–197 vote on Jan. 13. The single
article of impeachment alleges that
the president incited an insurrec-
tion that resulted in the breach of
the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
The impeachment, accomplished
in a single seven-hour session, was
the fastest in U.S. history. It is also the
first time in the nation’s history that a
president has been impeached twice.
Republicans criticized the rush,
arguing that it offered no due pro-
PANDEMIC
Big City
Flight
Continues as
Millennials,
Gen Z Work
Remotely:
Report
BY PETR SVAB
Americans leaving the big cities due
to CCP virus lockdowns isn’t just a
temporary phenomenon, as young
professionals are building homes
in smaller cities and millennials
are “finally nesting,” according to
a report by a California-based com-
mercial real estate firm.
“In 2020, we saw an untethering of
employees and their place of work
unlike any other time in history,”
stated the report by Graceada Part-
ners, released Jan. 13.
US–CHINA
US Indo-Pacific Strategy to Focus on Beijing’s Threats
BY FRANK FANG
The Trump administration on Jan. 12
declassified a U.S. national security
document that outlines its strategy
for working with regional partners
and allies to confront China’s threats
to the Indo-Pacific region.
Laid out in a 10-page document
with some redactions, the policy,
known as the U.S. Strategic Frame-
work for the Indo-Pacific, highlights
Taiwan’s role in combating the Chi-
nese regime’s military aggression.
Accuracy The Epoch Times was founded in 2000 as an independent newspaper with the goal to restore accuracy and
integrity in media. We have received numerous awards for our reporting, including from the Society of Professional
& Integrity Journalists, the Society for News Design, and the New York Press Association.
Truth & Tradition
cess to the president and no con-
fidence in the proceedings to the
American people. Democrats justi-
fied the truncated process by alleg-
ing that Trump poses a danger to
the nation every day he is in office.
“We know that the president of the
United States incited this insurrec-
tion, this armed rebellion, against
our common country,” House Speak-
er Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) alleged.
“He must go. He is a clear and present
danger to the nation that we all love.”
Every Democrat voted in favor of
impeachment.
Republicans who voted to im-
peach the president were Reps. Liz
Cheney (R-Wyo.), John Katko (R-N.Y.),
Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), Fred Upton
Two movers lift a box into a U-Haul van in Manhattan on Sept. 14, 2020.
“This shift has flattened the la-
bor market and added tailwinds
to quality-of-life-focused smaller
cities as employees vote for a shift
in work–life balance by picking up
and moving.”
While the trend of remote work
has been well underway at least
since the mid-2000s, the pandem-
ic situation has accelerated it by a
decade, Joe Muratore, Graceada
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
National security adviser Robert
O’Brien speaks during a press briefing
at the White House on Aug. 13, 2020.
SAUL LOEB/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
The article of impeachment against
President Donald Trump at the U.S. Cap-
itol in Washington on Jan. 13, 2021.
(R-Mich.), Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-
Wash.), Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), An-
thony Gonzalez (R-Ohio), Tom Rice
(R-S.C.), David Valadao (R-Calif.), and
Peter Meijer (R-Mich.)
Continued on A3
CHUNG I HO/THE EPOCH TIMES
co-founder, told The Epoch Times.
The phenomenon is particularly
visible in the sub-lease market in
the ultra-expensive first-tier cities,
where corporations stuck with long-
term leases struggle to find tenants.
The sub-lease space in areas such
as Manhattan and San Francisco
make up some 30–50 percent of the
commercial real estate offerings.
Continued on A3
The strategy is part of the Trump
administration’s broader national
security policy first disclosed in
2017, in which he called for a “free
and open Indo-Pacific.”
“Beijing is increasingly pressuring
Indo-Pacific nations to subordinate
their freedom and sovereignty to a
‘common destiny’ envisioned by the
Chinese Communist Party,” national
security adviser Robert O’Brien said
in a memo dated Jan. 5 that accom-
panied the declassified document.
Continued on A9
VOL . X V I I I | N O . 2 , 8 75 $1.
US–TAIWAN
US Changes
Course on
Taiwan in
Defiance of
Beijing
Latest tension over Taiwan
will likely be the first
major test for President-
elect Biden, who seeks ‘a
peaceful resolution’
BY EMEL AKAN
WASHINGTON—Washington has
long been cautious in dealing with
the Taiwan issue for fear of provoking
the regime in Beijing and heighten-
ing tensions. The tone of U.S.–Taiwan
relations, however, has dramatically
changed under the Trump adminis-
tration, particularly since a Septem-
ber 2020 visit to Taipei by a senior
U.S. official that paved the way for
new economic dialogue.
This approach of self-
censorship in U.S.–Taiwan
relations under Presidents
Barack Obama and George
W. Bush caused considerable
problems for U.S.–Taiwan ties.
Rupert Hammond-Chambers, president,
U.S.–Taiwan Business Council
On Jan. 9, the United States lifted
restrictions on contact with Tai-
wanese officials, marking the lat-
est move to deepen ties with the
democratic island.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
announced that he was removing
all “self-imposed restrictions” on
interactions of diplomats, service
members, and other officials with
their Taiwanese counterparts. The
decision came after a multi-year
review of arcane protocols.
Pompeo made the announce-
ment, during the final days of Presi-
dent Donald Trump’s term, saying
that the U.S. government will no
Continued on A2
FREE SPEECH
SCOTUS Hears
of Liability for
Campus Speech
Restrictions
BY MATTHEW VADUM
The Supreme Court was urged to al-
low a First Amendment lawsuit from
former students in which a Geor-
gia college belatedly expanded free
speech on campus after Christian stu-
dents ran afoul of its constitutionally
suspect campus “speech zone” policy.
The court heard oral arguments in
the case known as Uzuegbunam v.
Preczewski. The hearing lasted 92
minutes, exceeding the scheduled 60
minutes. The Trump administration
weighed in on behalf of the petition-
ers, former students at the college.
The case dates to 2016 when Chike
Uzuegbunam, a student at Georgia
Gwinnett College, a public college
in Lawrenceville, Georgia, was on
campus handing out literature and
Continued on A5
IMPEACHMENT
2ND IMPEACHMENT
OF TRUMP
“If we
impeached
every
politician
who gave a
fiery speech
to a crowd of
partisans, this
Capitol would be deserted,”
Rep. Tom McClintock said.
Read more on A1
A2 | NATION
US Changes Course on Taiwan in Defiance of Beijing
CONTINUED FROM A1
longer “appease the Communist
regime in Beijing.”
The move has angered China
since it claims sovereignty over
the island. This latest tension will
likely be the first major test for Pres-
ident-elect Joe Biden, according to
experts, as his approach will de-
termine the fate of the U.S.–China
relations under his presidency.
The United States sees Taiwan
as a strategic partner in the region
and there’s a growing bipartisan
push for the establishment of a bi-
lateral free-trade agreement with
the self-governed island.
Keith Krach, undersecretary of
state for economic growth, energy,
and the environment has played a
crucial role in the warming of rela-
tions with Taipei under the Trump
administration.
As a first step toward negotiating
a free trade agreement with Tai-
wan, Krach recommends pursu-
ing the completion of a Trade and
Investment Framework Agreement
(TIFA), which is a mechanism for
resolving bilateral trade issues.
“If the incoming team would like
to pursue TIFA, I think the table
has been set, especially with the
bipartisan support on Capitol Hill,”
he told The Epoch Times.
In September last year, Krach led
a delegation to Taiwan, becoming
the highest-ranking State Depart-
ment official to visit the island since
1979, when the U.S. government
transferred diplomatic recognition
to Beijing from Taipei.
If the incoming
team would like to
pursue [the Trade
and Investment
Framework Agree-
ment], I think the
table has been set.
Keith Krach, undersecretary for
economic affairs
His historic visit signaled the con-
tinuation of increasing support for
Taipei, in defiance of the Chinese
Communist Party regime. Krach
went there to attend a memorial
service for former President Lee
Teng-hui, the first democratically
elected leader of the island and
considered by many as Taiwan’s
George Washington.
A visit by such a high-profile U.S.
official was a big event in Taiwan.
“When I arrived at the hotel
to quarantine, almost every TV
station was showing footage of
the different chapters of my life,
back to when I was 5 years old,”
Krach said.
The move, however, drew imme-
diate condemnation from China.
“We were greeted with fighter jets
and bombers,” he said.
Beijing conducted military op-
erations near Taiwan to express
Rep. Cawthorn to Cosponsor Bill to Amend Section 230
LI HAI
Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.)
announced that he’s co-spon-
soring a bill to amend Section
230 to ensure Big Tech platforms
uphold U.S. consumers’ right to
free speech.
“I am co-sponsoring a bill to
amend Section 230 to demand
First Amendment protections be
applied to big tech platforms!”
Cawthorn wrote on Twitter on
Jan. 12.
Section 230 is part of the Com-
munications Decency Act (CDA)
of 1996 that largely provides pro-
tection to Big Tech companies
from being sued for content on
their websites.
The bill was introduced by Rep.
Greg Steube (R-Fla.).
The introduced bill states that if a
provider is dominant in its market
and “makes content moderation
decisions pursuant to policies or
Keith Krach (L), U.S. undersecretary for economic affairs, speaks to Brent Christensen, director of the American Insti-
tutes in Taiwan, during a funeral ceremony for former Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui, at the Aletheia University in
New Taipei City on Sept. 19, 2020.
its frustration. Chinese bomber
and fighter jets entered Taiwan’s
airspace at least 46 times during
the week of Krach’s visit, violating
a protocol that neither side would
cross the midline of the narrow
Taiwan strait.
The United States doesn’t have
a formal diplomatic relationship
with Taiwan, but maintains un-
official ties with the self-ruled
island under the 1979 Taiwan
Relations Act.
The act authorizes the United
States to provide the island with
military equipment for its self-
defense, and set up a nonprofit
corporation called the American
Institute in Taiwan (AIT), which
is the de facto U.S. embassy on
the island.
The U.S. delegation to Taipei
led by Krach also conducted eco-
nomic dialogue and collaboration
on a wide range of areas, includ-
ing secure technology, economic
empowerment of women, educa-
tion, entrepreneurship, healthcare,
energy, infrastructure, and global
supply chain realignment.
Krach’s visit came after U.S.
Health and Human Services Sec-
retary Alex Azar visited the island
in August to sign a cooperation
agreement on disease control and
drug development.
During his three-day visit, Krach
also set the goal of signing an
Economic Prosperity Partnership
(EPP) named after President Lee
before Thanksgiving and signing a
Science and Technology Coopera-
tion Agreement before Christmas.
As planned, both parties signed
a memorandum of understanding
for the EPP in Washington on Nov.
20. They also signed in December
the U.S.–Taiwan Science and Tech-
nology Cooperation Agreement to
bolster their commitment to trans-
parency, intellectual property, re-
search integrity, and human rights.
practices that are not reasonably
consistent with the First Amend-
ment to the Constitution,” then
they will lose the immunity cur-
rently provided by Section 230.
On Jan. 8, Twitter permanently
suspended President Donald
Trump’s account. Meanwhile, Ap-
ple and Google removed Parler, an
app seen as Twitter’s alternative,
from their respective app stores.
Apple criticized Parler for allow-
ing “dangerous and harmful” con-
tent. Amazon followed the move
and also removed Parler from its
web-hosting service.
“When you rip the tongue out
of somebody who would speak
against you, you don’t prove them
to be a liar. Rather, you just prove
that you’re paralyzed with fear on
the altar of oppression, that you’re
terrified of what they’re going to
say against you,” Cawthorn told
Fox News last week, recalling a
similar quote attributed to author
U.S. Undersecretary for Economic Affairs Keith Krach (L), Taiwan President
Tsai Ing-wen (C), and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. founder Mor-
ris Chang attend a banquet for the U.S. delegation in Taipei on Sept. 18, 2020.
Strong Momentum for a Trade
Agreement
About half of the U.S. Senate be-
lieves that it’s the right time to be-
gin trade talks with Taipei. In Octo-
ber last year, 50 senators sent a joint
letter to U.S. Trade Representative
Bob Lighthizer, urging him to start
“the formal process of negotiating a
comprehensive trade agreement.”
Under Trump’s presidency,
Washington significantly expand-
ed military aid to Taiwan as well.
Taiwanese officials are now hop-
ing the incoming Biden adminis-
tration will follow Trump’s lead.
Taiwan plays a key role in the
critical supply chains that the coro-
navirus pandemic has exposed last
year. The island is also a crucial hub
for the global semiconductor sup-
ply chain.
In May last year, Taiwan Semi-
conductor Manufacturing Co.
(TSMC) announced that it would
build the world’s most advanced
5-nanometer chip fabrication fa-
cility in Arizona, an important
milestone for building a safe 5G
network for the United States and
its partners.
Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) arrives on the House floor before being
sworn in, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 3, 2021.
George R.R. Martin.
“So these 60,000 conservative ac-
counts on Twitter that have now
been permanently banned? I’ll
THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021
HSU CHAO-CHANG/POOL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
COURTESY OF KEITH KRACH
TSMC recently acquired land in
north Phoenix to build its $12 bil-
lion factory and is planning to hire
more than 1,600 workers when the
plant is fully operational.
The deal with TSMC, which was
brokered by Krach “has the po-
tential to fundamentally reorient
Taiwan’s high-tech supply chain
away from China and towards the
United States,” according to Brent
Christensen, director at AIT, the de
facto U.S. embassy on the island.
“And I am convinced that the new
Lee Economic Prosperity Partner-
ship Dialogue will help us get to the
much-needed free trade agreement
as well,” he stated in an email.
Last year, the State Department
launched a campaign called
“Clean Network” to boot Huawei
and other Chinese companies from
critical telecommunications infra-
structure around the world. The
TSMC deal is an important compo-
nent of the initiative as it will help
bring semiconductor production
vital to national security back to the
United States, according to Krach.
More than 50 countries, includ-
ing Taiwan, have joined the Clean
BILL CLARK - POOL/GETTY IMAGES
tell you, this sets a very dangerous
precedent and something we have
to fight against.”
Cawthorn said during the inter-
Network as of December and more
countries and telecom operators
are expected to join the alliance.
Biden’s Approach to Taiwan
The ongoing U.S.–China trade dis-
pute will be a central issue for the
new administration. And Beijing
is anxious to see how Biden will
approach the outgoing adminis-
tration’s decision about the lifting
of the restrictions on contact with
Taiwanese officials.
China’s state-run media Glob-
al Times, in recent editorials,
slammed the announcement as
the Trump administration’s “last-
ditch madness.” However, Beijing
is unlikely to make any move to up-
set relations with the new admin-
istration before Biden takes office.
As part of the efforts to help
Biden’s transition team, the Trump
administration suddenly canceled
all planned travel this week, in-
cluding a trip by Kelly Craft, the
U.S. ambassador to the United Na-
tions, to Taiwan. Craft had been
scheduled to begin her three-day
trip on Jan. 13 and was to meet the
island’s president Tsai Ing-wen.
It is still unclear whether the
new administration will unwind
Trump’s policies on Taiwan and
pay a domestic political cost for
making concessions to the Chinese
Communist Party regime.
Rupert Hammond-Chambers,
president of the U.S.–Taiwan Busi-
ness Council, said that this would
be an early test of Biden’s attitude
toward Taiwan.
“This approach of self-censor-
ship in U.S.–Taiwan relations un-
der Presidents Barack Obama and
George W. Bush caused consider-
able problems for U.S.–Taiwan ties
and created further imbalances in
cross-strait tensions as the PRC
became further emboldened,”
Hammond-Chambers told The
Epoch Times.
He believes the Chinese regime
“is likely to demand the United
States reverse some or all of the
gains made in American national
interest with Taiwan” during the
Trump administration.
“As Mr. Biden has declared
there’ll be no new trade agreements
for the foreseeable future, the best
we can hope for is a resumption
of the TIFA [talks], not held since
2015,” Hammond-Chambers said.
According to him, while it’s hard
to conceive of the Biden adminis-
tration pursuing a trade agreement
with Taiwan, it is still possible for
his team to explore and possibly
implant “smaller agreements in-
cluding on investment and taxa-
tion, which the U.S. business com-
munity supports.”
An official with Biden’s transi-
tion team told reporters this week
that Biden would continue to
support “a peaceful resolution of
cross-strait issues consistent with
the wishes and best interests of
the people of Taiwan.”
Cathy He and Alice Sun
contributed to this report.
view that Republicans need to take
back the House and Senate in 2022,
otherwise there’s very little they
can do to reform Section 230.
“Social media is our generation’s
public forum. It ought to be subject
to the same protections provided to
all public forums,” Cawthorn stat-
ed on his website. “I am calling for
First Amendment protections to be
applied to this New Town Square.”
“Censorship of elected officials
by unelected elites is UNAMERI-
CAN!”
Cawthorn, 25, was sworn in as
a member of the House of Rep-
resentatives on Jan. 3. He’s one
of the youngest members of Con-
gress in history.
Cawthorn objected to the Elec-
toral College results during the
Joint Session of Congress on Jan.
6. He later said  he believed the
state he objected to had “broke
their constitutional mandate and
the way they ran their elections.”
 THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021
Democrats, 10
Republicans Vote for
2nd Impeachment
of Trump
CONTINUED FROM A1
Some Republicans argued that
moving forward with impeach-
ment would further divide the
nation.
“Instead of moving forward as
a unifying force, the majority in
the House is choosing to divide
us further,” Rep. Tom Cole (R-
Okla.) said. “I can think of no ac-
tion the House could take that’s
more likely to further divide the
American people than the action
we are contemplating today.”
Some of the Republicans who
opposed impeachment didn’t
explicitly defend the presi-
dent. Others opposed the charge
and argued that the president’s
actions didn’t amount to incite-
ment.
“At his rally, President Trump
urged attendees to ‘peacefully
and patriotically make your
voices heard.’ There was no men-
tion of violence, let alone calls to
action,” said Rep. Guy Reschen-
thaler (R-Pa.), a former Navy
prosecutor. “President Donald
Trump’s words would not even
meet the definition of incitement
under criminal statutes.”
“That’s impeachable? That’s
called freedom of speech,” Rep.
Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) said,
noting that the president also
threatened to oppose Repub-
licans in future elections, in-
cluding McClintock, who didn’t
support objections to slates of
electors. “Well, so what? That’s
called politics. If we impeached
every politician who gave a fiery
speech to a crowd of partisans,
this Capitol would be deserted.”
House Minority Leader Rep.
Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said
that Trump holds responsibility
for the attack on Congress, but
opposed a rushed impeachment.
“He should have immediately
denounced the mob when he saw
what was unfolding,” McCarthy
said.
The mob had already breached
Congress when Trump was giv-
ing a speech to a large crowd of
supporters more than a 30-min-
ute walk away, a timeline by The
Epoch Times shows. After news
of the breach of the Capitol was
reported, the president issued
a video message calling on the
crowd to support the police and
to go home. The day after, he said
there will be “an orderly transi-
tion on Jan. 20.” The president
Big City Flight Continues as Millennials, Gen Z Work Remotely: Report
CONTINUED FROM A1
“It’s just giant buildings sitting va-
cant,” Muratore said in a phone call.
As a result, “the value of down-
town high-rises will decline by 10
to 15 percent,” the report predicts.
By contrast, in cities such as Mem-
phis, Syracuse, and Austin, sub-
lease is only 1 percent of vacancies.
Millennials in par-
ticular are rushing
to buy homes. And
Gen Z is joining in
the trend.
Graceada Partners
It’s primarily the white-collar and
creative sectors driving the shift as
they’ve been escaping the city lock-
downs due to worries about health
and safety.
“Tech companies are almost all
working from home: higher-educat-
ed, more affluent professionals who
once lived in bigger cities have de-
cided to take a ‘gap year’ and move
later said he will not attend the
inauguration.
Cole pointed out that every im-
peachment in modern history
was preceded by a committee
investigation that included tes-
timony from witnesses and ex-
perts. He argued that a truncated
process affords no due process to
the president and does little to
offer confidence in the process to
the American people. Reschen-
thaler cautioned that charging
Trump would “lower an already
low bar for impeachment.”
Republicans proposed form-
ing a bipartisan commission to
investigate the breach as an alter-
native to impeachment. A pair of
Republicans who spoke in favor
of the commission characterized
the Capitol breach as a domestic
terror attack. Rep. Rodney Da-
vis (R-Ill.) cautioned that foreign
adversaries witnessed how easy
it is to take out a branch of the
U.S. government. The commis-
sion, if formed, would prepare a
report for the president advising
how to prevent a future breach,
Davis said.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) noted
that rioting was not isolated to
the breach of the Capitol on Jan.
6, but has gone on for months,
with politicians on both sides to
blame. Mace appeared to refer
to the nationwide riots fomented
and executed by the Antifa ex-
tremist group and the Black Lives
Matter (BLM) movement. The ri-
ots, arson, and looting caused up
to $2 billion in damage across the
nation and resulted in the deaths
of two dozen people. McClintock
suggested that if Antifa and BLM
rioters had been diligently pros-
ecuted, the events at the Capitol
might not have occurred at all.
Democrats repeatedly cited the
remarks by Republican Confer-
ence Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.),
the third-highest-ranking Repub-
lican in the House. Cheney had
earlier said that she would vote
to impeach Trump and alleged
that Trump’s actions amounted
to “the biggest betrayal of any
president of the United States in
our history.”
Not a single Republican in the
House joined the Democrats
when they impeached Trump for
the first time in 2020. The House
investigation and the Senate trial
at that time turned up no first-
hand witnesses to the allegation
that the president abused his
to places like Alaska, Santa Cruz,
Lake Tahoe, or even back to their
hometown,” the report states.
With the new-found freedom,
many are already making those
changes permanent.
“They are buying homes at a
breakneck pace,” the report states.
Home ownership rate hit a 12-
year high in the second quarter of
2020.
“While the trend started several
years ago, it has markedly acceler-
ated during the pandemic. Millen-
nials in particular are rushing to
buy homes. And Gen Z is joining
in the trend—homeownership for
people under 25 is up from 24 to 29
percent over a matter of months,
according to United States Census
data.”
That doesn’t mean the end of of-
fice workspace, though, the report
notes.
“People prefer the workplace, but
only if it supports their work, and
by that we mean high-functioning,
high-culture workspaces. ... If they
don’t feel by going to the workplace
they’re going to be more produc-
tive, they’d rather do it from home,”
Muratore said.
President Donald Trump steps off Marine One to board Air Force One before departing Harlingen, Texas, on Jan. 12, 2021.
Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) speaks during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington
on June 4, 2020.
President Donald
Trump’s words
would not even
meet the definition
of incitement under
criminal statutes.
Rep. Guy Reschenthaler
An empty street in San Francisco on April 6, 2020.
The situation has shifted power
toward the employees having a
stronger position to negotiate re-
mote work arrangements, he said,
and it’s likely companies will come
up with a mixed, hub model where
many employees are only required
to show up at the headquarters once
a week, for example, and work the
rest of the week from home or from
a branch office.
The report states: “Major com-
AL DRAGO-POOL/GETTY IMAGES
power by withholding foreign
aid from Ukraine in a bid to force
the nation’s president to start an
investigation into the Ukraini-
an business dealings of Hunter
Biden, son of President-elect Joe
Biden.
Hunter Biden held a paid posi-
tion on the board of a Ukrainian
gas firm Burisma when Joe Biden
served as the vice president. Joe
Biden has bragged that he forced
the firing of Ukraine’s top pros-
ecutor, Viktor Shokin, by threat-
ening to withhold $1 billion in
U.S. loan guarantees. Shokin has
alleged in a sworn statement that
he was fired because he refused
to drop an investigation into
Mykola Zlochevsky, the owner
of Burisma.
The breach of the Capitol took
place while the two chambers
debated whether an objection
to the counting of presidential
electors from Arizona should be
affirmed. After the building was
secured, both chambers voted
to overrule the objection. More
JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES
panies like Oracle are taking the
leap and shifting their ‘headquar-
ters’ to a secondary market. Other
powerhouse tech companies like
Amazon, Apple, and Google plan
to further a hub and spoke model
with offices across the U.S. They
plan to embrace a ‘remote-first’
work schedule and commute to an
outpost office as needed.”
That can benefit the bottom line,
too, as companies can reduce their
NATION | A3
MANDEL NGAN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
than one hundred Republicans
voted to uphold the objection.
Democrats criticized the Re-
publicans who voted in favor
of the objection. Rep. Jim Mc-
Govern (D-Mass.), who coordi-
nated the floor speeches prior to
the impeachment debate, had,
himself, objected in 2017 to the
counting of the electors from
Alabama. The lead manager of
the impeachment proceedings,
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), had
objected in 2017 to the counting
of the Florida electors.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said:
“Americans are tired of the dou-
ble standard. They are so tired of
it. Democrats objected to more
states in 2017 than Republicans
did last week, but somehow we’re
wrong.”
Democrats, including Pelosi,
selectively quoted from Trump’s
speech on Jan. 6, in which the
president said “we fight like hell”
in regards to his team’s legal bat-
tle to challenge the legitimacy of
the election in several states.
“I think one of our great
achievements will be election
security, because nobody, until
I came along, had any idea how
corrupt our elections were,” the
president said, before noting that
others would not have taken a
stand. “We fight like hell, and if
you don’t fight like hell, you’re
not going to have a country any-
more.”
The impeachment follows an
unprecedented wave of censor-
ship against the president by
U.S. social media giants. Face-
book, Twitter, and Google had all
banned Trump from their plat-
forms as of Jan. 13.
Jordan said: “It’s not about im-
peachment anymore. It’s about o
canceling the president and any-
one that disagrees with them.”
office footprint and cast a wider net
while fishing for talent.
“Diversity in employment—di-
versity in people, in locations, in
backgrounds, etc.—leads to origi-
nal ideas and approaches and an
environment for innovation,” the
report states. “There is more talent
to go around when you’re not just
centered in one place.”
Hiring in smaller markets could
also allow employers to pay less.
“At the very least, it is a major
conversation among executives
and in virtual board rooms,” the
report states.
The situation can present op-
portunities for smaller cities that
have long suffered under the shift
of manufacturing overseas.
“Renaissance in traditionally
working-class cities is a real pos-
sibility,” the report states. “The
key here is that the cities that may
have been losing population and/
or economic activity for the last
half-century will need some sort
of cultural or lifestyle renaissance
that leads more younger profession-
als to choose to live there and truly
make it another outpost economy
with increased business activity.”
A4 | NATION
Biden Picks Former UN Envoy Power
to Lead Humanitarian Aid Agency
ZACHARY STIEBER
President-elect Joe Biden said
on Jan. 13 that he’s picked Sa-
mantha Power, who served as
U.S. ambassador to the United
Nations during the Obama ad-
ministration, to lead the U.S.
Agency for International De-
velopment (USAID), the fed-
eral  agency that’s primarily
responsible for administering
civilian foreign aid and devel-
opment assistance.
Biden’s transition team in
a statement also  announced
that the USAID administrator
position will be elevated to be
a member of the National Se-
curity Council.
The team described Power as
“a crisis-tested public servant
and diplomat.”
“Samantha Power is a world-
renowned voice of conscience
and moral clarity—challenging
and rallying the international
community to stand up for the
dignity and humanity of all
people. I know firsthand the
unparalleled knowledge and
tireless commitment to prin-
cipled American engagement
she brings to the table, and her
expertise and perspective will
be essential as our country re-
asserts its role as a leader on
the world stage,” Biden said in
Americans Trust Their
Employers, Distrust Media and
Government, Survey Says
TOM OZIMEK
Americans trust their employers
far more than the business and
NGO community more gener-
ally, while distrusting both gov-
ernment and media, according
to a new study.
Institutional confidence
among Americans is highly
localized, according to an an-
nual survey released Jan. 13 by
public relations firm Edelman,
which shows that 72 percent of
U.S. respondents believe their
employer is a mainstay of trust.
“Trust has gone local,” Edel-
man CEO Richard Edelman
said in a statement. “The CO-
VID-19 pandemic, with more
than 1.9 million lives lost and
joblessness equivalent to the
Great Depression, has acceler-
ated the erosion of trust.”
Americans expressed neutral
levels of trust in business (54
percent) and NGOs (50 percent),
while distrusting the media (45
percent) and government (42
percent), the survey showed. A
score between 50 and 59 percent
reflects a neutral level of trust,
while a score below 49 percent
shows distrust, according to
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Then-Vice President Joe Biden talks with then-U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power in the
Oval Office on Aug. 4, 2015.
a statement.
“As USAID Administrator,
Ambassador Power will be a
powerful force for lifting up
the vulnerable, ushering in a
new era of human progress and
development, and advancing
American interests globally.”
Power, who endorsed Biden
survey methodology. Scores
above 60 percent reflect posi-
tive levels of trust.
Business is the only institu-
tion people trust globally (61
percent), with neutral levels
of trust in NGOs (57 percent),
government (53 percent), and
media (51 percent.).
“Business has emerged as the
last institution standing, the
only one rated as both compe-
tent and ethical and 50 points
ahead of government on com-
petence and approaching NGOs
on ethics,” Edelman said.
Meanwhile, trust in all news
sources has hit record lows, fuel-
ing mistrust of societal leaders.
“This is the era of information
bankruptcy,” Edelman said.
“Media sources are seen as po-
liticized and biased. The result
is a lack of quality information
and increased divisiveness.
“Fifty-seven percent of Ameri-
cans find the political and ideo-
logical polarization so extreme
that they believe the U.S. is in
the midst of a cold civil war.”
Most people responding to
the survey think that govern-
ment leaders (57 percent), busi-
ness leaders (56 percent), and
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last year, said in a statement:
“As a journalist, activist, and
diplomat, I’ve seen the world-
changing impact of @USAID. At
this critical moment, I feel im-
mensely fortunate to have the
chance to serve again, working
with the incredible USAID team
to confront COVID-19, climate
A line worker at Nissan Motor Co.’s automobile manufacturing plant in
Smyrna, Tenn., on Aug. 23, 2018.
journalists (59 percent) are
intentionally trying to mislead
people by saying things they
know are false.
“The pandemic and infodem-
ic are two strands of a Rambo
DNA, inextricably linked in
their destructive force,” Edel-
man said. “Government and
media, the usual sources of
quality information in a cri-
sis, have both failed to meet
the test.”
Americans see a crisis in so-
cietal leadership on a number
of fronts, the survey shows,
with employer CEOs the only
ones trusted by both Biden and
Trump voters. Of the people
who said they voted for Presi-
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change, humanitarian crises,
& more.”
Senate Democratic Leader
Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told
colleagues this week that
among the priorities when he
takes over as Senate majority
leader will be hearing from and
confirming Biden’s nominees.
REUTERS/WILLIAM DESHAZER/FILE PHOTO
dent-elect Joe Biden, 68 percent
said they trust their workplace
leadership; among those who
voted for President Donald
Trump, this figure stood at 61
percent.
There’s active distrust in gov-
ernment leaders among both
groups of voters, with 45 percent
of Biden supporters and just 28
percent of Trump voters saying
they have confidence in elected
officials. There is also mistrust
in business leaders, with just 41
percent of Biden backers and 35
percent of Trump supporters
saying they trust business CEOs.
“This is truly a run on the bank
of trust,” Edelman said of the
findings.
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US Bans All Cotton,
Tomato Products
from Xinjiang in
Crackdown on
Forced Labor
CATHY HE
The United States announced on Jan.
13 it will ban all imports of cotton and
tomato products from China’s Xinji-
ang region, in the widest action yet to
crack down on the use of forced labor
of Uyghur Muslims.
Customs and Border Protection
(CBD) officials at all U.S. ports of entry
will be required to detain cotton and
tomato products grown or produced in
Xinjiang, including apparel, textiles,
tomato seeds, canned tomatoes, and
tomato sauce, CBD said in a statement.
The order came amid intensifying
scrutiny on Beijing’s forced labor prac-
tices targeting the regime’s Uyghurs
and other Muslim minorities. A re-
cent report found that in 2018, at least
570,000 Uyghurs were forced to pick
cotton in the region.
The region supplies about 20 percent
of the world’s cotton, so the order could
have major impacts on the global fash-
ion industry and its supply chains.
“CBP will not tolerate the Chinese
government’s exploitation of modern
slavery to import goods into the United
States below fair market value,” said
Acting CBP Commissioner Mark A.
Morgan. “Imports made on the cheap
by using forced labor hurt American
businesses that respect human rights
and also expose unsuspecting con-
sumers to unethical purchases.”
CBP said the order was issued “based
on information that reasonably indi-
cates the use of detainee or prison
labor and situations of forced labor.”
More than 1 million Uyghurs and
other Muslim minorities have been
detained in hundreds of internment
camps. Survivors of the camps recount
being tortured and forced to undergo
political indoctrination.
“We demand the Chinese close their
camps and stop their human rights
violations,” Acting Department of
Homeland Security Deputy Secretary
Ken Cuccinelli said in a statement.
More than 100 camps in the region
contain factory facilities where detain-
ees are forced to work, according to a
recent Buzzfeed investigation.
Researchers last year found that tens
of thousands of Uyghurs have been
transferred to work at factories across
China in conditions suggestive of
forced labor. Those facilities manu-
factured goods for 83 global brands.
The Trump administration has
already blocked imports from sev-
eral individual companies linked to
forced labor in Xinjiang, targeting
goods including apparel, cotton, and
hair products.
Canada and the British government
both recently said they too would take
steps to stop goods tainted by forced
labor from entering their countries.
Last year, the United States sanc-
tioned several Chinese officials and a
paramilitary group over their roles in
overseeing abuses in Xinjiang. Dozens
of Chinese entities and companies also
have been blacklisted from doing busi-
ness with U.S. firms.
The Associated Press
contributed to this report. 
 THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021
Senate Committee
Schedules Confirmation
Hearing for Biden’s
Secretary of State Nominee
IVAN PENTCHOUKOV
The Senate Committee on
Foreign Relations sched-
uled a hearing for Jan. 19 for
the confirmation of Antony
Blinken, President-elect Joe
Biden’s nominee for secre-
tary of state. The hearing will
take place one day prior to
the inauguration on Jan. 20.
Blinken served as the
Democratic staff director for
the committee from 2002 to
2008. From 2009 to 2013, he
served in the Obama admin-
istration as the deputy as-
sistant to the president and
national security adviser to
the vice president.
The first hearing in the
confirmation process usu-
ally consists of introduc-
tions from people who know
the nominee, a statement
from Blinken himself, and
remarks from committee
members.
Once the confirmation pro-
cess advances to the ques-
tioning phase, Blinken is
likely to face inquiries about
his role with WestExec, an
College That Restricted Campus Speech Liable for Damages
Even After Ending Policy, Supreme Court Hears
CONTINUED FROM A1
sharing his Christian be-
liefs when a college official
stopped him, informing
him that he was breaking
the rules by not speaking
within the boundaries of an
approved campus “speech
zone.” The policy allegedly
chilled speech on campus.
Joseph Bradford, another stu-
dent who also is a petitioner
in the lawsuit, censored
himself after learning how
officials treated his fellow
student.
Uzuegbunam had been
unaware that while he was
engaging in free speech, he
hadn’t been standing within
the boundaries of the school’s
two tiny speech zones where
students were allowed to ex-
press themselves.
“Open only about 10% of
the week, the zones com-
prised one patio and one
sidewalk—the size of a legal
pad on a football field com-
pared to the entire campus.
To speak their views at all
other times or places, stu-
dents had to obtain a permit.
Even to use the zones, stu-
dents had to obtain a reser-
vation by submitting a form
and any leaflets in advance,
and four officials would then
decide, with no criteria to
guide them, whether to allow
it,” according to his lawyers
at the Scottsdale, Arizona-
based Alliance Defending
Freedom (ADF).
Uzuegbunam went through
the permitting process. He
spoke a second time and
believed he was complying
with campus rules. Some-
one complained to campus
security and within minutes
of beginning his talk, Uzueg-
bunam was again confronted
by college officials. They ac-
cused him of “disorderly con-
duct,” which they defined as
any expression that “disturbs
the peace and/or comfort of
person(s).”
That effectively left Uzueg-
bunam without a voice on
campus, his lawyers say.
Lacking a speech permit,
he wasn’t allowed to speak in
the 99.99 percent of campus
advisory firm he founded af-
ter his tenure in the Obama
administration.
WestExec recently deleted
a portion of its website that
advertised the company’s
work in helping American
universities solicit donations
from China without compro-
mising their Department of
Defense research grants.
One of the deleted sen-
tences stated, “WestExec can
advise on strategies to screen
foreign research partners
and donors, reduce risk as-
sociated with operations in
China and ... navigate these
issues with the Defense De-
partment.”
Avril Haines, Biden’s nomi-
nee for director of national
intelligence, also worked for
WestExec.
A spokeswoman for West-
Exec told the Washington
Free Beacon that the firm
“previously offered a service
targeted to U.S. research uni-
versities to help them avoid
inadvertently becoming
involved with the Chinese
government.”
An American flag waves in front of the Supreme Court in Wash-
ington on Nov. 2, 2020.
College officials
accused Uzuegbu-
nam of ‘disorderly
conduct,’ effec-
tively leaving him
without a voice on
campus, his law-
yers say.
space situated outside the
speech zones. Even if he were
to reserve time in one of the
approved speech zones, he
would only be allowed to say
things that didn’t make any-
one uncomfortable, a task
that ADF says is both impos-
sible and incompatible with
the free-speech protections
of the First Amendment.
Georgia Gwinnett College
eventually modified its stu-
dent speech policies, after a
lawsuit was filed against it
on behalf of Uzuegbunam
and Bradford. The college
decided to allow for speech
in any outdoor area of cam-
pus. This policy change and
Uzuegbunam’s graduation
from the college led a fed-
eral district court to dismiss
the case, a ruling that was
upheld by the 11th Circuit
Court of Appeals.
But the damage to her cli-
ents’ constitutional rights
was already done, their law-
yer, Kristen Waggoner of
ADF, told the Supreme Court
during oral arguments on
Jan. 12.
“When Georgia Gwinnett
The firm still lists “manag-
ing China-related risk in an
era of strategic competition”
as one of the services it pro-
vides.
WestExec said it helped “a
major U.S. manufacturing
firm” to “continue to provide
capability to and remain a
trusted partner of the [U.S.
government] while pursu-
ing commercial activities in
China.” The firm said it “ad-
vised on a communications
strategy for engagements
with U.S. national security
officials.”
In 2017, the year he co-
founded WestExec, Blinken
wrote an op-ed for The New
York Times titled “Trump Is
Ceding Global Leadership to
China.” The editorial glori-
fied Xi Jinping and derided
President Donald Trump.
“While Mr. Trump is ob-
sessed with building walls,
Mr. Xi is busy building bridg-
es,” Blinken wrote.
WestExec hasn’t disclosed
its clients to the Senate, and
at least one senator has in-
dicated that may become a
PATRICK SEMANSKY/AP PHOTO
officials stopped Chike Uzu-
egbunam and Joseph Brad-
ford from sharing their faith,
the officials caused concrete
injuries,” she said.  “Chike
and Joseph lost forever the
chance to get those days back
and speak their message to
their peers. No policy change
can ever restore that lost op-
portunity.”
The college, represented
by Georgia Solicitor General
Andrew Pinson, shrugged off
the petitioners’ claims.
The nominal damages
sought aren’t justified be-
cause the college changed
the offending policy, which
means “there’s no longer
any threat that a plaintiff’s
injury will recur in the fu-
ture,” he said.
Several justices discussed
the issue of nominal dam-
ages, suggesting such token
awards can be the best way
of dealing with certain kinds
of cases.
Justice Elena Kagan raised
pop star Taylor Swift’s sexu-
al assault lawsuit, in which
she sought $1 in damages
because she wanted a judg-
ment that would draw atten-
tion to the harm done to her
and other women. In August
2017, a Denver jury found in
favor of Swift, who claimed
former radio host David
Mueller groped her during a
meet-and-greet.
It was “the most famous
nominal damages case” she
knew of in recent times, Ka-
gan said.
“And she said I’m not really
Then-Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) shakes hands with Chinese Foreign Minister
Wang Yi at the Olive Hall before a meeting at the Foreign Ministry office in Beijing on Feb. 11, 2015.
roadblock for the confirma-
tions of Blinken and Haines.
“The Senate is not obligated
to confirm anyone who hides
this information,” Sen. John
Cornyn (R-Texas) wrote on
Twitter on Nov. 29, 2020.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)
wrote on Twitter on Nov. 30,
2020, “America will not be
stronger or safer if its foreign
policy & national security
agencies are led by people
who just finished getting
paid to help American com-
panies do business with the
Communist Party of China.”
Democrats will likely con-
trol the Senate by the time
a confirmation vote is held.
Currently, Vice President
Mike Pence holds the tie-
breaking vote with Demo-
crats and Republicans split-
interested in your money,”
the justice said. “I just want
a dollar. And that dollar is go-
ing to represent something
both to me and to the world
of women who have experi-
enced what I’ve experienced.
And that’s what happened.
The jury gave her a dollar.
“Nobody thinks that be-
ing sexually assaulted is re-
ally only worth a dollar. ... It’s
worth a lot more than that. ...
She wanted to prove a point.”
Pinson pushed back.
Swift “had the ability to
seek compensatory damages
for that,” Pinson said. “The
proving the point, however,
is ... not something that fed-
eral courts exist to do, how-
ever important that dollar is
to Taylor Swift or ... anyone
else in constitutional claims
or otherwise.”
Justice Clarence Thomas
told Waggoner that the court
has found that “an injury has
to be real and substantial.
But, if you’re only asking for ...
a dollar or nominal damages,
doesn’t that seem to under-
mine the real and substantial
requirement?”
Waggoner replied, “I don’t
think so.
“Congress has held that
under Section 1983 [of the
Civil Rights Act], the vindi-
cation of civil rights is so sig-
nificant that it did away with
the amount in controversy.
And this Court has held that
vindicating constitutional
rights is of the highest im-
portance and that it is an in-
jury in and of itself to have
the government engage in
misconduct and not redress
that injury, no matter how
insignificant the damage
award might be.”
ADF senior counsel Kate
Anderson was upbeat after
the hearing.
“Many of the justices’ ques-
tions recognized that nomi-
nal damages are often the
best way to vindicate those
whose constitutional rights
have been violated and to
provide a court remedy in
many contexts,” she said.
Mark Tapscott
contributed to this report.
ting the Senate seats 50–50.
Three Republican senators
sought documents on Blink-
en in 2019 in connection to
Hunter Biden’s work for
Ukrainian gas giant Burisma.
Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s
son, held a paid position on
the board of Burisma when
his father served as the vice
president and the Obama
administration’s point man
on Ukraine.
Not long after joining the
board of Burisma in 2015,
Hunter Biden contacted
Blinken  for “advice on a
couple of things,” accord-
ing to the senators. Blinken
replied “absolutely,” but the
meeting appears not to have
taken place as scheduled, ac-
cording to emails obtained
by Fox News.
House Approves Fines for
Members Who Don’t Wear Masks
ZACHARY STIEBER
The House of Representa-
tives on Jan. 12 passed a
rules amendment imple-
menting fines against mem-
bers who don’t wear masks.
House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi (D-Calif.) had im-
plemented rules requiring
members to wear a mask on
the House floor, but some
legislators have been ignor-
ing the rules.
According to the resolution
passed Jan. 12, the sergeant-
at-arms “is authorized and
directed to impose a fine
against a Member, Delegate,
or the Resident Commis-
sioner for the failure to wear
a mask in contravention of
the Speaker’s announced
policies of January 4, 2021.”
The resolution was em-
bedded as an amendment to
H.R. Res. 21, which called on
Vice President Mike Pence
to invoke the 25th Amend-
ment to remove President
Donald Trump from office.
The House approved that
resolution 223–205, even
though Pence told Pelosi
directly he wouldn’t invoke
the amendment.
The amount of the fines
wasn’t outlined. Reports in-
dicated that violators would
be penalized $500 for a first
offense and $2,500 if they
violate the rules again.
Democrats have increased
pressure on Republicans to
wear masks after four mem-
bers tested positive for CO-
VID-19 following the Jan. 6
joint session of Congress.
Three of them, all Demo-
crats, blamed Republican
colleagues for the diagno-
ses. They pointed to video
STEFANI REYNOLDS/GETTY IMAGES
NATION | A5
ANDY WONG - POOL/GETTY IMAGES
On Feb. 4, 2016, Ukraine’s
top prosecutor seized the as-
sets of Burisma owner Myko-
la Zlochevsky. On the same
day, Hunter Biden followed
Blinken on Twitter. The ac-
tion may have been a signal
that Blinken and Biden got in
contact with each other, ac-
cording to Sen. Chuck Grass-
ley (R-Iowa), one of the three
senators who requested doc-
uments on Blinken in 2019.
Joe Biden has bragged pub-
licly about forcing the ouster
of Ukraine’s top prosecutor
by threatening to withhold
$1 billion in loan guaran-
tees from the struggling na-
tion. The prosecutor, Viktor
Shokin, has said in a sworn
affidavit that he was fired
after refusing to drop the
Burisma investigation.
footage showing members
sheltering in place in a room
in the Capitol after protest-
ers stormed it that day.
One of the Democrats,
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-
Wash.), didn’t wear a mask
during part of the session.
In addition, Rep. Gwen
Moore (D-Wis.) returned
to the Capitol after testing
positive despite not finish-
ing the quarantine period
recommended by the Cen-
ters for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC).
People can contract COV-
ID-19, the disease caused by
the  CCP (Chinese Com-
munist Party) virus, from
people who are or aren’t
wearing masks, but mask
proponents have repeatedly
portrayed transmission as
more likely if people aren’t
wearing masks.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio)
told colleagues on the
House floor on Jan. 12 that
in the new rule, “they say if
you don’t wear a mask, you
can get fined, no regard to
whether you’ve already had
COVID, whether you’ve had
the vaccination.”
“Your mask slips down a
little bit, you get fined, in
a rule with no debate?” he
added.
But others said they sup-
ported the fines.
“I just voted for a rule that
imposes a fine against mem-
bers of Congress who refuse
to wear a mask. My col-
leagues who aren’t following
CDC guidelines are actively
endangering us ALL,” Rep.
Carolyn Bourdeaux (D-Ga.)
wrote in a tweet. “Cases are
spiking and we need to do
our part now.”
Speaker of
the House
Nancy Pelosi
(D-Calif.)
walks to
the House
floor at the
U.S. Capitol
on Jan.
13, 2021.
A6 | NATION
Post-Trump Republican Party Likely to Continue
Most of His Policies, With Less Bombast
MARK TAPSCOTT
News Analysis
Republicans face some tough
questions as they head into
the political wilderness with
Democrats in control of the
White House, Senate, and
House of Representatives until
at least 2023.
The biggest question concerns
the man who pulled off a mi-
raculous upset to win the White
House in 2016, but who now
leaves the Oval Office much as
he entered and occupied it: Bom-
barded with criticism and now
confronted with newly empow-
ered Democrats bent on exter-
minating him and his supporters
from public life.
Depending on how President
Donald Trump conducts himself
in the months ahead, he could
remain the dominant figure
in the Republican universe,
according to GOP officehold-
ers and campaign strategists
interviewed by The Epoch Times
since the Jan. 6 confrontation at
the U.S. Capitol.
“I certainly don’t think the im-
pact of Trump in the Republican
Party or in Republican politics is
going away just because of every-
thing that has happened,” Rep.
Greg Steube (R-Fla.) said.
“I just don’t think the presi-
dent’s influence on the party
and politics is going away. I
think you’re seeing some people
who are trying to distance
themselves now from the presi-
dent, but in six months, where
are we going to be?”
Steube emphasized that his
focus in the next two years will
be “on winning the House back,
just as it was in the past two
years.” Despite Trump’s loss to
former Vice President Joe Biden,
Republicans gained 11 seats in
the House of Representatives.
Other conservative Republican
activists express similar continu-
ing enthusiasm for Trump and
some disdain for party leaders,
who have been less supportive.
“The GOP’s only hope is to hue
closely to the Donald Trump
agenda,” Less Government
Chairman Seton Motley said.
Republicans Condemn Democratic
Leaders for Metal Detectors Blocking
House Chamber Access
MARK TAPSCOTT
Democratic leaders unilater-
ally authorized the installation
of metal detectors by the U.S.
Capitol Police (USCP) to block
access to the floor of the House
of Representatives, according to
Republicans, who have strongly
criticized the move.
The threat is outside,
not inside. Every
resource used inside
is one that can’t be
used outside.
Rep. Rodney Davis
“This is political correctness
run amok,” Rep. Rodney Davis
(R-Ill.) said in a statement emailed
to reporters late on Jan. 12. “The
threat is outside, not inside. Every
resource used inside is one that
can’t be used outside.”
Davis, who is the ranking Re-
publican member of the House
Committee on Administration
that has oversight authority for the
USCP, “remains concerned that
many chamber security changes
are being made at the direction
of the majority, rather than in re-
sponse to any real security con-
cern,” according to the statement.
President Donald Trump at the Stop the Steal rally in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021.
“So, of course, they are stead-
fastly refusing to do so. It is, as
always, exceedingly humorous
watching the 5 percent of the
GOP that doesn’t like Trump
—who run the party show—
blaming all of their failings on
the 95 percent of the GOP that
likes Trump.”
Brian Darling, former senior
counsel to Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)
and now head of the Washing-
ton-based Liberty Government
Affairs firm, said Trump may
soon be out of the Oval Office,
but he still will be around.
“Trump will be an active power
in American politics and the
Republican Party going forward,
no doubt. Before the [Jan. 6 Capi-
tol] riot, he received a record 75
million votes for an incumbent
president, and after the turmoil
of a second impeachment by the
Democratic-controlled House,
he will still have a loyal follow-
ing,” Darling said.
Darling was referring to
Speaker of the House Nancy
Pelosi (D-Calif.) demanding that
Trump either be removed from
office under the 25th Amend-
ment before his term ends Jan. 20
or face a second impeachment.
The Democrat-led House
The statement also described a
security briefing provided on Jan.
12 by House Sergeant-at-Arms
Tim Blodgett, Acting U.S. Capitol
Police Chief Yogananda Pittman,
and Acting U.S. Capitol Police As-
sistant Chief Sean Gallagher.
During the briefing, House Re-
publicans were told the metal
detectors were being installed,
as well as other enhanced secu-
rity measures being initiated, as
a result of demonstrators forcibly
breaching the Capitol building
during a Jan. 6 protest.
Demonstrators entered the Sen-
ate and House chambers, dam-
aged historic property, and, at
one point, all but overwhelmed
the USCP officers guarding the
Capitol. Five deaths are being at-
tributed by officials as a result of
the riot, including that of USCP
Officer Brian Sicknick and pro-
testor Ashli Babbitt, a 14-year Air
Force veteran who was shot by an
officer. Demonstrators were seen
sitting in the Speaker’s Chair after
the chamber was evacuated by
members.
The installation of the detec-
tors prompted outrage among a
number of House Republicans,
including Davis, who reportedly
shouted at House Majority Leader
Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), “You’re tak-
ing valuable resources completely
away from where it needs to be,
and you guys did it without any
impeached Trump in December
2019, but the Republican-led
Senate declined to convict the
chief executive. House Demo-
crats introduced new impeach-
ment charges on Jan. 11 and
there is talk in their ranks of
pushing for post-presidency
criminal prosecutions.
But Darling cautioned Repub-
licans not to make the mistake of
thinking that Democrats will be
able to do anything they please
after Biden is sworn in on Jan. 20.
“We all need to keep in mind
that Democrats are going to
need strict party discipline to
get anything partisan done.
They have yet to announce
plans on the Senate’s filibuster
and they still have a number of
Democrats in the House and
Senate residing in red districts
and states,” Darling told The
Epoch Times.
“It is not going to be easy for
Democrats to pass anything con-
troversial. Expect the [Rep. Alex-
andria] Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.)
gang to be disappointed from the
start,” he added. “I fully expect
the Democratic socialists to have
a miserable two years until they
are back in the minority when
Republicans take back the House
consultation with the minority.”
Other House Republicans ex-
pressed similar anger on Jan. 12,
including newly elected Rep. Lau-
ren Boebert (R-Colo.).
“I am legally permitted to carry
my firearm in Washington, D.C.
and within the Capitol complex,”
she wrote on Twitter. “Metal de-
tectors outside of the House would
not have stopped the violence we
saw last week—it’s just another
political stunt by Speaker Pelosi.”
In another tweet, Boebert said,
“The fact is my concealed carry
permit was issued by the District
of Columbia Metropolitan Police.”
Boebert is a vocal defender of the
Second Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution, which guarantees
“the right to keep and bear arms.”
Boebert declared shortly after
her election that she planned to
carry a firearm whenever she is
in the nation’s capital, including
on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol
and in the House chamber.
The installation of the detec-
tors seemed at least partially
aimed to prevent Boebert from
being armed while performing
her duties in the House chamber,
as Blodgett told members that
“failure to complete screening or
the carrying of prohibited items
could result in denial of access to
the Chamber.”
Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-Ind.)
called the installation of the metal
THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021
JENNY JING/THE EPOCH TIMES
and Senate.”
Taxpayers Protection Alli-
ance President David Williams
said: “It has always been easier
to be in opposition than to be
in power. The GOP can now get
back to its roots of being fiscally
conservative.”
Americans for Tax Reform
(ATR) President Grover Norquist,
who was a key figure in the Re-
publicans’ 1994 “Contract with
America” campaign that restored
the party to control the Senate
and House for the first time in 40
years, sees a similar path for-
ward for the GOP in 2021.
“Democrats will soon control
the House, Senate, and the White
House. What should Republi-
cans do? The same thing they
did when Clinton in 1992 and
Obama in 2008 swept the House,
Senate and White House with
much greater majorities,” the
ATR head told The Epoch Times.
“Offer constructive alternatives
to the Democrat lurch to the left
and take back the Congress two
years from now,” he said.
Perhaps the most important
question regarding the future
prospects for the GOP concerns
the evangelical and conser-
vative Christian voters who
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is screened at a metal detec-
tor at the doors of the House of Representatives chamber in Washington on
Jan. 12, 2021.
detectors “unconstitutional based
on Article 1, Section 6” of the Con-
stitution. “This should not stand.
@GOPLeader with House Repub-
licans must formally protest.”
The detectors are set up at some,
but not all, of the entrances to the
House chamber.
Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-
Ariz.) wrote on Twitter that, “for
members of Congress to enter the
floor of the U.S. House, we now
have to go through intense securi-
ty measures, on top of the security
we already go through. These new
provisions include searches and
being wanded like criminals. We
now live in Pelosi’s communist
America!”
Lesko also wrote that “in this
Democrat-controlled House,
members of Congress are be-
ing fined for not wearing masks
on the House floor, even when
speaking and more than six feet
away from anyone. It’s $500 for
the first offense and $2500 for
routinely make up a fourth to
nearly half of the party’s elec-
tion-day turnouts.
Among the most influential
evangelical leaders is Focus on
the Family President Jim Daly,
who told The Epoch Times that
it’s possible there will be a mea-
surable decline in the enthusi-
asm in coming months for the
GOP among such voters.
“It’s possible, I think there
could be because of the fervor for
Trump and what is perceived as
a mis-caricature of justice there,
in that Trump gets a different
treatment,” Daly said.
“I’m not saying that’s accurate,
but I do think when you look at
Twitter and the other situations
we have right now, there is a
building resentment within con-
servative Christians about that
double-standard,” he said.
But, he said, “when you look
forward, I don’t know that there
is an alternative for the conser-
vative Christian community at
this stage. I think the Republican
Party, based on the platform,
based on the policies they’ve
pursued—smaller government,
religious liberty, pro-life—those
are the things that by and large
conservative Christians support
and we’re not going to find them
in the Democratic Party.”
Daly said he expects different
leadership to rise in Republican
ranks, including Sens. James
Lankford of Oklahoma, Marco
Rubio of Florida, and Ted Cruz
of Texas.
“Effective leadership is the key,
how do we pick up the pieces
and move forward,” Daly said.
“If somebody could be maybe
a little less caustic, a little more
articulate on the issues, I think
Christians will support that
individual.”
Daly said he anticipates the
Biden administration to be “a
radical four years and I think
that, in and of itself, and what Big
Tech is doing, and what main-
stream media has done, will
continue to solidify Christians
around the Republican party.”
Contact Mark Tapscott at
Mark.Tapscott@epochtimes.com
CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES
the second offense. This is out-
rageous!”
The strengthened requirement
regarding the wearing of masks
was included in the security brief-
ing described in the statement
made available to journalists on
Jan. 12.
Since the Jan. 6 breach of the
Capitol building by protesters,
four House members have test-
ed positive for COVID-19. Three
of the four are Democrats, who
blamed Republicans for not
wearing masks while sheltering
in place with other legislators as
authorities dealt with protesters.
Meanwhile, on Jan. 3, Rep.
Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) was pres-
ent in the House chamber to vote
to reelect Nancy Pelosi as speaker,
before completing the recom-
mended quarantine period after
a positive COVID-19 test.
Contact Mark Tapscott at
Mark.Tapscott@epochtimes.com
 THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021
FTC Asks
Supreme Court to
Let It Take Funds
From Payday Lender
MATTHEW VADUM
The Federal Trade Commission
should be able, under current law,
to order a payday lender to hand
over its so-called ill-gotten gains
after its leader was convicted of
usury, fraud, and racketeering, the
Supreme Court heard Jan. 13.
The court heard 67 minutes of
oral argument in the case known
as AMG Capital Management Inc. v.
Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
The case goes back to when
race car driver Scott Tucker was
sentenced in January 2018 to 200
months in prison for operating a
nationwide internet payday lend-
ing enterprise that, according to a
Department of Justice (DOJ) sum-
mary, “systematically evaded state
laws for more than 15 years in or-
der to charge illegal interest rates
as high as 1,000 percent on loans.”
After a five-week jury trial, he
was found guilty in October 2017
of racketeering, wire fraud, money
laundering, and Truth in Lending
Act offenses.
Tucker and his company, AMG
Capital Management, are appeal-
ing a decision by the U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
that found the FTC had the power
to seek disgorgement of $1.27 bil-
lion in ill-gotten gains.
AMG provides high-interest,
short-term payday loans online
Pompeo Says History Will Reflect ‘Good
Work’ of Trump Administration
ZACHARY STIEBER
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
says that when people reflect on
the Trump administration, they’ll
see the good work that was accom-
plished on behalf of the American
people.
“History will reflect on the good
work that this president, and our
administration, has done,” he said
during a Jan. 12 interview with
conservative radio host Hugh
Hewitt.
“Those books will be written
about the changes that we have
made in the world, the recognition
that we have taken about reality,
sovereignty, respect for basic dig-
nity and human rights, a return to
the founding principles in a way
that previous administrations had
not done.
“I’ll let others write it, but I think
that those actions—the actual
things that happened—will be re-
flected in a way that shows there
was good work done on behalf of
the American people.”
Trump’s legacy won’t be defined
by the violent Jan. 6 breach of the
U.S. Capitol after supporters of the
president had gathered outside,
Pompeo says.
“Look, what happened that day
was terrible, and I have said re-
peatedly that those folks who en-
gaged in this activity need to be
identified, prosecuted, and they
are criminals and ought to be
treated as such,” he said.
Pompeo spent most of the inter-
view discussing the Chinese Com-
munist Party and the Trump ad-
ministration’s relatively hardline
stance against it, compared to past
administrations.
Asked if he was worried that a
Joe Biden administration would
essentially be a third term of Presi-
dent Barack Obama, Pompeo said:
“I don’t want to comment on the
people, but the policy matters an
awful lot.
“You’ve seen President Trump
and our administration lay out a
robust response to the great pow-
er competition that the Chinese
Communist Party presents to the
that renew automatically. The FTC
sued the company in 2012, claim-
ing it failed to provide adequate dis-
closure regarding loan terms. AMG
ended the targeted practices but
refused to hand over the money.
Tucker and his business partner,
attorney Timothy Muir, lied to mil-
lions of customers regarding the
true cost of their loans to defraud
them out of hundreds, and in some
cases, thousands of dollars, DOJ
said.
“Further, as part of their multi-
year effort to evade law enforce-
ment, the defendants formed sham
relationships with Native American
tribes and laundered the billions of
dollars they took from their cus-
tomers through nominally tribal
bank accounts to hide Tucker’s
ownership and control of the busi-
ness.”
In 1914, the Federal Trade Com-
mission Act created the Federal
Trade Commission and gave it the
power to “prevent” persons from
“using unfair methods of com-
petition in commerce.” Congress
later expanded the FTC’s reach,
empowering it to prevent persons
from using “unfair or deceptive
acts or practices in or affecting
commerce,” according to a peti-
tioner’s brief.
The FTC Act authorizes the FTC
to carry out an administrative adju-
dication if it “has reason to believe”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the State Department in Washington on
Jan. 4, 2021.
United States. We believe we have
the right end of the stick on this.
We think this is the right direction
of travel. We think the American
people demand it.
“We have seen the world respond
to this in positive ways.  We’ve seen
the Australians do remarkable
work in pushing back.  We’ve seen
the Japanese, the South Koreans.  “We were involved in a very seri-
We’ve developed the Quad now
with the Indians that is very pow-
erful in simply saying no, we’re not
trying to punish, we are not trying
to contain China.  We are simply
demanding that they engage in the
world in a way that big nations with
large economies, powerful militar-
ies—we haven’t even talked about
their missile program and their
nuclear program—with countries
that have real capacity to destabi-
lize and make the world insecure.
“There is a requirement, there is
a responsibility that comes with
it. And the United States ought to
lead—whoever is president of the
United States ought to lead—the
path forward in responding to the
Chinese Communist Party in this
way.”
Pompeo told The Epoch Times in
a recent interview that the United
States had been ignoring the na-
ture of the communist party.
“President Trump recognized
that when he began his campaign,
The Federal Trade Commission in Washington, in this file photo.
someone has violated or is violat-
ing the prohibition on unfair or de-
ceptive acts or practices. If, after a
hearing, the Commission decides
that “the act or practice in ques-
tion is prohibited,” it must make a
written report and issue a “cease
and desist” order. The statute also
gives the FTC the rulemaking au-
thority to “define with specificity
acts or practices which are unfair
or deceptive.”
Congress later amended the law
to give the FTC authority to enforce
its orders in U.S. district courts.
During oral arguments, the jus-
tices seemed skeptical of the claims
by the FTC.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh asked
FTC attorney Joel R. Marcus if his
client actually possesses the legal
authority it claims.
“I worked in the Executive Branch
for many years, so I understand
how this happens,” the justice said.
CHARLOTTE CUTHBERTSON/THE EPOCH TIMES
and then when he took office,
we’ve now changed fundamen-
tally, how I think the West looks at
China, not just the United States.
Even when you look at Europe and
Australia and Southeast Asia, they
know that the Chinese Commu-
nist Party is up to no good,” Pom-
peo said.
ous counterterrorism campaign,
appropriately so. We took our eye
off this enormous threat and now
it’s upon us. It’s now inside the
gates. The Chinese Communist
Party is here in America, and the
Trump administration has be-
gun in every dimension to turn
the ship in the right direction, to
get America to once again do the
right thing and protect itself from
this communist threat in China.”
Pompeo also noted during the
interview how the Trump admin-
istration has “recognized reality”
by designating the Houthi rebels
in Yemen as a terrorist group, as
part of an outlook that even critics
admit has shifted the workings in
the Middle East. Trump has led
peace agreements between sev-
eral countries and Israel while
strongly opposing Iran and its in-
fluence in the region.
Jan Jekielek contributed
to this report.
“When you’re in the Executive
Branch or an independent agen-
cy, you want to do good things and
prevent or punish bad things, and
sometimes your statutory authority
is borderline. And it could be war
policy or immigration or environ-
mental or what have you, but with
good intentions, the agency push-
es the envelope and stretches the
statutory language to do the good
or prevent the bad.
“The problem is ... this results in
a transfer of power from Congress
to the Executive Branch to decide
whether to exercise this new au-
thority. That’s a particular concern,
at least for me, with independent
agencies. So and why isn’t the an-
swer here for the agency to seek this
new authority for Congress for us to
maintain the principle that sepa-
ration of powers, that the agency
should stick to the authority ... in
the text and not ... go beyond that?”
Yellen’s Confirmation Hearing as
Treasury Secretary Set for Jan. 19
ISABEL VAN BRUGEN
The Senate Finance Committee
will hold Janet Yellen’s confir-
mation hearing for U.S. Treasury
secretary on Jan. 19, a day before
President-elect Joe Biden’s inau-
guration, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-
Iowa) announced.
Grassley, the committee’s chair-
man, said in a Jan. 12 statement
obtained by The Epoch Times that
members will meet at 10 a.m.
The timing of the hearing will
mean that Yellen, the former chair-
woman of the Federal Reserve, will
appear before a panel that’s still
controlled by Republicans. Demo-
crats won’t take control of the Sen-
ate until Jan. 20, after Biden and
Vice President-elect Kamala Har-
ris (D-Calif.) are sworn into office.
With the election of two Demo-
crats from Georgia last week, the
U.S.  Senate will be split 50-50.
Once Harris is sworn in on Jan. 20,
she will become the tie-breaking
vote, giving the Democrats effec-
tive control of the Senate.
Yellen, 74, was the head of the
Federal Reserve between 2014 and
2018 under the Obama adminis-
tration. Her term wasn’t renewed
by President Donald Trump.
She is expected to easily win
Senate confirmation and is most
likely to be one of the first con-
firmed of Biden’s Cabinet picks. If
confirmed, Yellen would become
the first woman to hold the posi-
tion, and the oldest to hold the role
in recent history.
Yellen is expected to push what
she has described as “extraordi-
nary fiscal support” to assist the
COVID-19-ravaged economy.
According to financial docu-
ments disclosed on Dec. 31, the
former Federal Reserve head made
more than $7 million from speech-
es and working with Wall Street
firms over the past two years. She
also worked with large companies
such as Citi, Credit Suisse, Gold-
man Sachs, Google, City National
Bank, Salesforce, UBS, Citadel
LLC, and Barclays.
The document showed that Yel-
len brought in more than $1 mil-
lion after giving nine speeches to
NATION | A7
PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Marcus replied: “The real ques-
tion is what was Congress’s intent
when it gave the commission the
authority to seek a permanent in-
junction in federal court. And if it
intended to accord the agency ... the
ability to go ask the court for all of
the inherent equitable remedies,
then I think that resolves your con-
cerns about separation of powers
issues.”
Justice Stephen Breyer suggested
to AMG attorney Michael Pattillo
that it may be unwise to back away
from the FTC’s position when the
courts have sided with the agency
for the past half-century.
“The argument that’s against
you is simply this to me: Law isn’t
perfect. Courts make mistakes.
We make mistakes too. And this,
if it is a mistake, has been around
for years. ... So too much time has
passed, water under the bridge,
good-bye.”
Citi and earned $800,000 speaking
to Citadel, a hedge fund founded
by billionaire Ken Griffin.
Grassley’s announcement didn’t
elaborate on how quickly the panel
would vote on the nominee or when
the nomination would be taken up
by the full Senate. The former vice
president is keen to get Yellen’s
nomination through the Senate
quickly so that she will be able to
help win congressional passage of
another COVID-19 relief package.
Confirmation hearings have
also been scheduled for Biden’s
Defense Department pick Lloyd
Austin, Homeland Security nomi-
nee Alejandro Mayorkas, and State
Department pick Antony Blinken.
Transition officials said Jan. 12
that Biden plans to appoint acting
agency heads across the federal
government once he’s sworn in,
because of transition delays.
”Given the stakes—with our
national security on the line,
and lives and jobs being lost ev-
ery day—further delay in moving
forward with his nominees will
only hurt the American people,”
transition spokesman T.J. Ducklo
said, according to The Wall Street
Journal. “That is especially true for
nominees for secretary of State,
Defense, Treasury and Homeland
Security. Congress must act now to
have confirmed agency heads in
place as soon as possible.”
The Associated Press
contributed to this report.
ALEX WONG/GETTY IMAGES
U.S. Secretary of the Treasury
nominee Janet Yellen speaks during
an event to announce President-
elect Joe Biden’s economic team at
The Queen in Wilmington, Del., on
Dec. 1, 2020.
A8 | NATION
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on Oct. 21, 2020.
Rubio Urges Biden to Break
‘Paralysis in Washington’ and
Push for $2,000 Stimulus Checks
TOM OZIMEK
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) urged
President-elect Joe Biden to bridge
partisan divides in Washington
and push Congress to adopt a nar-
row bill that would deliver $2,000
stimulus checks rather than pad
relief legislation with unrelated
issues.
“Please do not allow direct pay-
ments to the American people to
get caught up in the normal po-
litical games by adding a wish list
of far left or other unrelated pri-
orities to this legislation,” Rubio
wrote in a letter obtained by Axios.
“All too often, popular and nec-
essary legislation is used as lever-
age to secure passage for policies
that cannot pass on their own
merit,” he wrote. “We have already
seen it in the midst of the pan-
demic when additional funding
for small businesses was blocked
repeatedly for months on end.”
Rubio was referring to Repub-
lican efforts to deliver targeted
relief measures that were repeat-
edly blocked by Democrats, who
MARK MAKELA/GETTY IMAGES
President-elect Joe Biden delivers
remarks on the ongoing CCP virus
pandemic at The Queen in Wilming-
ton, Del., on Dec. 29, 2020.
National Guard Arms Personnel Guarding Capitol
ZACHARY STIEBER
The National Guard troops guard-
ing the U.S. Capitol are authorized
to carry firearms, the Army an-
nounced Jan. 13.
The personnel were armed on the
night of Jan. 12 in response to a re-
quest from federal authorities, the
D.C. National Guard said in a state-
ment. The arming was greenlit by
Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy.
“National Guard members are
postured to meet the requirements
of the supported civil authorities,
up to and including protective
equipment and being armed if nec-
essary,” the statement said. “The
public’s safety is our top priority.”
Photographs showed hundreds
of guardsmen in the Capitol as
House members debated im-
peaching President Donald Trump
again. D.C. Guardsmen were ac-
tivated before Jan. 6 per a request
from Washington Mayor Muriel
held out for a more comprehensive
package. Democrats and Republi-
cans then deadlocked for months
over the bigger pandemic relief
bill, with key differences being
Democrat demands for more state
and local funding, and GOP re-
quests for a liability shield against
COVID-19-related lawsuits. Fol-
lowing a hard-fought bipartisan
compromise that involved drop-
ping both liability protection
and state and local aid demands,
the $900 billion pandemic relief
bill won sweeping approval in
the House and Senate, and was
signed into law by President Don-
ald Trump on Dec. 27, 2020.
In an apparent bid to head off
another round of politically-
charged negotiations over the
next piece of pandemic-related
legislation, Rubio called on Biden
to push for quick relief.
“We do not need partisan stunts,
more show votes, or cynical
ploys,” Rubio wrote. “You have the
ability to help break the paralysis
in Washington by delivering des-
perately needed relief. I implore
you to rise above the rhetoric and
deliver an increase in assistance
for American families.”
“It would send a powerful mes-
sage to the American people if, on
the first day of your presidency,
you called on the House and
Senate to send you legislation
to increase the direct economic
impact payments to Americans
struggling due to the pandemic
from $600 to $2,000,” Rubio wrote.
The idea of $2,000 stimulus
checks was first floated by Presi-
dent Donald Trump, and it quickly
won support from Democrats and
some Republicans, but not GOP
Senate leadership. A narrow bill
that would have upped the $600
payments by $1,400 was blocked
Bowser but weren’t armed. Nu-
merous others, including person-
nel from Maryland and Virginia,
poured into the city after the Capi-
tol was breached.
Five people died from the events
on Capitol grounds, including a
protester who was shot dead by
a U.S. Capitol Police officer. That
officer has been placed on leave
pending an investigation. Another
officer died from injuries suffered
while responding to the breach.
Bowser, a Democrat, asked for
and received an emergency decla-
ration for the District of Columbia.
Trump ordered federal assistance
to supplement the city’s response
efforts to “the emergency condi-
tions resulting from the 59th Presi-
dential Inauguration.”
Up to 15,000 National Guard
troops are authorized to deploy to
Washington ahead of the Jan. 20
inauguration, Gen. Daniel Hokan-
son said on Jan. 11.
STEFANI REYNOLDS/GETTY IMAGES
by Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell (R-Ky.).
Rubio urged Biden to bridge
partisan divides in Washington
and send a message of unity by
delivering more aid quickly.
“Although I share many of my
colleagues’ concerns about the
long-term effects of this addi-
tional spending, we simply can-
not ignore the fact that millions of
working class families across the
nation are still in desperate need
of relief,” Rubio wrote.
“At a time when they need it
most, we must recognize the posi-
tive message it would send to the
American people and the entire
world if Republicans and Demo-
crats came together on January 20,
2021 to put the American people
first.”
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck
Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on Jan. 12
that a Senate under his control
would focus first on passing more
emergency COVID-19 relief and
confirming Biden’s Cabinet nomi-
nees. Following Democrat victories
in the Senate runoffs in Georgia,
there’s a 50–50 split in the upper
chamber, with Vice President-elect
Kamala Harris eligible to cast a tie-
breaking vote once sworn in as vice
president on Jan. 20.
The Democratic caucus is poised
to renew the push for $2,000 direct
payments as part of the next re-
lief bill, but Schumer said it would
also include more aid to state and
local governments, a long-stand-
ing GOP bugbear.
In December 2020, Biden said
more pandemic relief would be
one of his top priorities after as-
suming office, and while he didn’t
provide a detailed proposal, he
said it would include more direct
relief as well as state and local
funding.
“To date, our troops have been
requested to support security, lo-
gistics, liaison, and communica-
tion missions,” he said.
Authorities told reporters on Jan.
12 that more than 160 case files
have been opened in regards to
the breach.
“This is a 24/7, full-bore, exten-
sive operation into what happened
that day,” said Steven D’Antuono,
an FBI official, noting that agents
have received more than 100,000
pieces of digital media from the
public.
Bowser told the public during a
separate event that they shouldn’t
travel to Washington for Biden’s
inauguration.
“Our goals right now are to en-
courage Americans to participate
virtually and to protect the District
of Columbia from a repeat of the
violent insurrection experienced
at the Capitol and its grounds on
January the 6th,” she said.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021
A woman looks up information about an abortion pill, in Arlington, Va., on
May 8, 2020.
Supreme Court Reinstates
Rule Requiring Women to Pick
Up Abortion Pill in Person
JANITA KAN
The Supreme Court has granted a
Trump administration request to
reinstate a rule requiring women
to go in person to obtain abortion
pills.
The nation’s top court voted
6–3 on Jan. 12. to remove a lower
court’s preliminary injunction on
the Food and Drug Administra-
tion (FDA) rule that requires wom-
en to pick up the abortion medica-
tion mifepristone from a hospital,
clinic, or medical office and to
sign a disclosure form. Mifepris-
tone, also known as Mifeprex, is
usually taken together with the
medication misoprostol in order
to end pregnancies up to 10 weeks
after conception.
Mifepristone is subject to distri-
bution restrictions to ensure the
safe use of the drug, according to
the FDA. The pill is only supplied
directly to health care providers
that meet certain qualifications,
and they’re required to ensure
that the woman has access to
medical facilities for emergency
care. The provider must also re-
view and sign an agreement form
with the patient.
In July, a district court judge is-
sued an order that suspended the
FDA’s in-person requirement for
the drug for the duration of the
CCP virus pandemic.
The American College of Obste-
tricians and Gynecologists and
other groups sued the Trump ad-
ministration to block the enforce-
ment of the rule, arguing that it
poses serious and unnecessary
risks due to the virus.
The court ruled along ideo-
logical lines, with Chief Justice
John Roberts writing a concur-
ring opinion in granting to lift
the lower court ruling. Roberts
said that it isn’t about a woman’s
right to access abortion, but rath-
er whether the district court had
properly ordered the FDA to waive
its in-person requirements.
Roberts wrote that he didn’t
Visa Says It Has Temporarily
Suspended All Political Donations
JACK PHILLIPS
Visa Inc. said on Jan. 12 that it will
suspend all political donations as
it reviews its guidelines.
In a statement to Reuters, the
company confirmed the move.
The firm stated it wouldn’t toler-
ate illegal activity via its network
and products.
“We are vigilant in our efforts to
deter illegal activity on our net-
work, and we require our affiliate
banks to review their merchants’
compliance with our standards,”
the company stated.
The Epoch Times has reached
out to a Visa spokesperson for
more information.
Amazon, American Express,
AT&T, Dow, Marriott, Mastercard,
and other firms have suspended
contributions to members of
Congress who voted to object
to November’s election results
during the Jan. 6 Joint Session of
Congress.
J.P. Morgan Chase, Microsoft,
Facebook, Coca-Cola, Citigroup,
OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
think courts had the “background,
competence, and expertise to as-
sess public health” to substitute
its own evaluation over that of
experts.
“In light of those considerations,
I do not see a sufficient basis here
for the district court to compel the
FDA to alter the regimen for medi-
cal abortion,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, Justice Sonia Soto-
mayor wrote a dissenting opin-
ion saying that she believes the
policy imposes “an unnecessary,
unjustifiable, irrational, and un-
due burden on women seeking
an abortion during the current
pandemic.” Justice Elena Kagan
joined in her dissent.
The mifepristone pill has been
part of the national dialogue
over abortion. Over the past year,
many states have introduced and
defended in court laws known as
heartbeat bills, which make it a
crime to perform an abortion, ex-
cept in a few circumstances, after
a fetal heartbeat has been detect-
ed, which is generally at six weeks.
In September, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-
Texas), 19 Republican senators,
and 71 House Republicans wrote
a letter to FDA Commissioner Ste-
phen Hahn asking the department
to ban the use of the pill.
They argued that the abortion
pill has been used to terminate
the lives of an estimated 3.7 mil-
lion unborn babies, caused 24
maternal deaths, and resulted in
nearly 4,200 adverse reactions in
women, including bleeding, ex-
treme abdominal pain, and life-
threatening infections, the law-
makers wrote.
The FDA fact sheet also reported
such adverse side effects.
The case at the Supreme Court
isn’t the only legal challenge
against the FDA rule. The Ameri-
can Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
is pushing for courts to perma-
nently remove the restrictions,
which they say “impose signifi-
cant burdens on women seeking
abortion with no medical basis.”
Hilton, Duke Energy, Marathon
Petroleum, and United Parcel
Service (UPS) have also sus-
pended contributions to politi-
cal parties.
“The focus of business leaders,
political leaders, civic leaders
right now should be on govern-
ing and getting help to those who
desperately need it most right
now,” JPMorgan Chase said in a
statement. “There will be plenty of
time for campaigning later.”
“We want you to be assured that
we will not support candidates
who do not respect the rule of law,”
Citi said in an internal memo, ac-
cording to a report from Business
Insider. “We intend to pause our
contributions during the quarter
as the country goes through the
Presidential transition and hope-
fully emerges from these events
stronger and more united.”
The activity comes after several
social media firms moved to sus-
pend accounts held by President
Donald Trump—the most notable
being Twitter.
 THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021
New CCP Virus
Outbreak in
Northeastern
Chinese Province
Spreads Quickly
NICOLE HAO
An outbreak of the CCP virus in
Heilongjiang Province is quickly
spreading, despite authorities’ at-
tempts to contain it.
The virus’s resurgence, occur-
ring throughout parts of northern
China, has resulted in millions
being locked down at home,
while tens of thousands of sus-
pected patients were moved to
quarantine centers.
Latest Outbreak
Heilongjiang authorities said the
latest outbreak, traced to a preg-
nant woman and her 10-year-
old son, has already infected
hundreds within the past three
days.  After the woman tested
positive for COVID-19 at a hos-
pital in Wangkui county, Suihua
city, authorities said she caused
outbreaks in Harbin, Mudanji-
ang, Qiqihar, and Yichun cities.
On Jan. 13, the neighboring
province of Jilin reported that
its local outbreaks originated
among people who had recently
traveled to Wangkui county.
The Jilin Health Commission
announced that people who
took the same train, worked in
US Indo-Pacific Strategy to Confront Beijing’s
Threats Revealed in Declassified Document
CONTINUED FROM A1
“The U.S. approach is different.
We seek to ensure that our allies
and partners ... can preserve and
protect their sovereignty.”
The document was declassified
earlier than usual. In the United
States, classified documents typi-
cally aren’t declassified for  25
years—meaning the 10-page docu-
ment wasn’t due for public release
until 2043.
China and Taiwan
The document describes in detail
how the Chinese regime poses a
threat to the United States and
like-minded partners in the Indo-
Pacific.
“China aims to dissolve U.S. alli-
ances and partnerships in the re-
gion. China will exploit vacuums
and opportunities created by these
diminished bonds,” according to
the document. “Chinese econom-
ic, diplomatic, and military influ-
ence will continue to increase in
the near-term and challenge the
U.S. ability to achieve its national
interests in the Indo-Pacific region.”
In terms of confronting the Chi-
nese military, the U.S. strategy
committed to “devise and imple-
ment a defense strategy capable
of’’ three objectives: deny China
sustained air and sea dominance
inside the “first island chain” in
a conflict; defend the first island
chain nations, including Taiwan;
and dominate all domains outside
the first island chain.
The first island chain is an arbi-
trary demarcation from the south-
ern Japanese island of Kyushu,
Taiwan, the Philippines, to Indo-
nesia. For decades, China’s military
strategists have seen the first island
chain as a barrier before the regime
can project its air and naval power
to the second island chain and be-
yond. The second chain stretches
from Japan to Guam and Papua
New Guinea.
The U.S. strategy would “enable
Taiwan to develop an effective
asymmetric defense strategy and
capabilities that will help ensure
its security, freedom from coer-
cion, resilience, and ability to en-
the same office, or resided in
the same neighborhood as the
travelers soon contracted the
disease.
For example, a couple that trav-
eled to Changchun city from
Wangkui via train tested posi-
tive. At least three passengers
who were in the same train car
as the couple but hadn’t visited
Wangkui later tested positive.
Hebei
The situation in the current virus
hotspots of the cities of Xingtai
and Shijiazhuang in Hebei Prov-
ince remains serious. On Jan. 13,
the National Health Commission
arranged for 11 medical teams
from across China to travel to
Hebei and assist in epidemic
prevention efforts.
The province’s blood center also
announced that it had a short-
age of platelets—the key blood
component that forms clots and
stops bleeding.
Some COVID-19 patients in
serious condition may need to
be put on a heart-lung machine
known as ECMO to provide respi-
ratory support; a related surgical
procedure would require a blood
transfusion.
Anti landing spikes on the coast of Kinmen, the front line islands of Taiwan, on
Oct. 20, 2020.
gage China on its own terms,” the
document adds.
Experts noted that the docu-
ment’s language on Taiwan is a de-
viation from the U.S. government’s
longstanding policy of “strategic
ambiguity”—meaning not clearly
stating whether the U.S. govern-
ment would defend Taiwan in the
event of an attack by China.
Beijing claims sovereignty over
Taiwan despite its de facto nation-
state status, with its own democrat-
ically elected government, military,
and currency. The Chinese regime
has repeatedly threatened to use
military force to bring the island
under its fold.
Kuo Yu-jen, professor at the In-
stitute of China and Asia-Pacific
Studies of Taiwan’s National Sun
Yat-sen University, said this may
be the first publicly released U.S.
government document that has
identified Taiwan as a key security
partner in the first island chain.
He added that the point in making
the document public is to show that
the regime in China is a clear threat
to the first island chain. The docu-
ment also highlights the strategic
importance of Taiwan’s location.
Dr. Malcolm Davis, a senior ana-
lyst at the Canberra-based think
tank Australian Strategic Policy In-
stitute, said the document is clearly
stating a different U.S. position on
Taiwan.
“It implies a clear US willingness
to come to Taiwan’s assistance if
A medical worker conducts a nucleic acid test on a resident at a community center in Qiqihar, Heilongjiang Province,
China, on Jan. 13, 2021.
More Contagious?
On Jan. 13, the Shanxi, Zhejiang,
and Xinjiang governments stated
that their outbreaks were traced
back to Shijiazhuang.
Shandong Province announced
that it also detected an asymp-
tomatic carrier (Chinese authori-
ties count them separately from
those who present clinical symp-
toms) who had recently traveled
to Wangkui.
Meanwhile, Guizhou, Hubei,
Guangxi, and Shaanxi provinces,
as well as Tianjin city, quaran-
tined up to thousands of people,
claiming that they were identi-
fied as close contacts of patients
from Hebei, Heilongjiang, Liaon-
ing, and Beijing—all regions that
currently have severe outbreaks.
Some netizens questioned how
the virus could spread so quickly,
even as local authorities usually
SAM YEH/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
#China tries to force its annexation
against the will of the Taiwanese
people,” Davis wrote in a Twitter
post.
On Jan. 13, at a daily press brief-
ing, China’s foreign ministry
spokesperson Zhao Lijian accused
the United States of using its Indo-
Pacific strategy to “oppress China’’
and “have a sinister intention to
destroy regional stability.”
Elsewhere
Aside from Taiwan, the document
notes the importance of the Unit-
ed States aligning its Indo-Pacific
strategy with those of Australia,
Japan, and India.
“India remains preeminent in
South Asia and takes the leading
role in maintaining Indian Ocean
security, increases engagement
with Southeast Asia, and expands
its economic, defense, and diplo-
matic cooperation with other U.S.
allies and partners in the region,”
the document states.
It adds: “A strong India, in cooper-
ation with like-minded countries,
would act as a counterbalance to
China.”
According to the document, oth-
er countries that would play a vital
role in the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy
include the Maldives, Bangladesh,
Sri Lanka, South Korea, Singapore,
Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, the
Philippines, and Thailand.
NTD contributed to this report.
implement draconian lockdown
measures soon after cases are de-
tected.
The Hebei government hasn’t
yet identified the patient zero
who first ignited the latest wave
of COVID-19. But it claims that
the virus strain originated from
Europe.
During a press conference on
the national situation held by the
central government in Beijing,
the deputy director of China’s
Center for Disease Control and
Prevention denied speculation
that a new mutated virus strain
is spreading in China. Feng Zi-
jian added that he believes the
outbreaks across the country are
controllable.
Canceled Political Meetings
The Chinese Communist Party
convenes meetings every year
Chinese COVID-19 Vaccine Shows
50.4 Percent Efficacy in Brazil Trial
EVA FU
A leading Chinese COVID-19 vac-
cine candidate has been found to
be 50.4 percent effective, accord-
ing to the results of a late-stage
trial in Brazil, a potential setback
to the Chinese regime as it seeks
to leverage the vaccine to boost
its global image.
The results from Brazil’s state-
funded Butantan Institute on
Jan. 12 were just enough to pass
the 50 percent threshold set by
the World Health Organization
for regulatory approval. It was
far lower than initial claims an-
nounced last week that touted a
78 percent efficacy rate.
CoronaVac, a vaccine devel-
oped by Beijing-based drug-
maker Sinovac Biotech, is one
of Brazil’s two immunization
candidates. The government last
week made a deal to purchase up
to 100 million doses of the Chi-
nese vaccine.
The latest revelation has fu-
eled skepticism about Chinese
vaccines. Brazilian President
Jair Bolsonaro, who in October
vowed that “Brazilian people
will not be anyone’s guinea pig,”
said on Jan. 13 that he was right
to question the credibility of vac-
cines from China.
“This 50 percent is good, is it?
All the [criticism] I got for my
comments, and now they are
seeing the truth. Four months of
being lambasted because of the
vaccine,” Bolsonaro told support-
ers outside his residence.
Bolsonaro noted that he had no
say in vaccine approval, as the
health regulator Anvisa would
make the final call.
Last week, Butantan Institute
researchers celebrated a 78 per-
cent efficacy rate of the Coro-
naVac vaccine against “mild-
to-severe” virus cases, and 100
percent rate for very severe cases.
The figure fell after accounting
for a group of “very mild” cases
among over 12,000 volunteers
who didn’t require clinical as-
sistance, the institute said on
Jan. 12.
Chinese state media made light
of the trial results in the news
CHINA | A9
STR/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
known as the Two Sessions; the
central government and local of-
ficials announced their sched-
ules in December last year.
But with the ballooning out-
breaks, on Jan. 11, Hebei said the
meetings, originally planned for
Jan. 25, would be postponed.
Last year, the national Two Ses-
sions meetings were postponed
due to the pandemic; this year’s
meetings are planned for March
4–5.
The Party elites who attend the
meetings are relatively old and
hence, are vulnerable to CO-
VID-19.
Last year, Shandong Province
announced that its representa-
tives averaged 54 years old.
The average age of currently
diagnosed COVID-19 patients in
Hebei is 50, the central govern-
ment said.
coverage. A Jan. 13 headline from
the state-affiliated tabloid Global
Times emphasized that the Sino-
vac vaccine was “100% effec-
tive in preventing severe cases,
could reduce hospitalizations
by 80%,” citing a Chinese doctor
who claimed the vaccine is “good
enough.” The Party-run Beijing
Daily attached importance to the
“safety” and “effectiveness” of the
vaccine, without mentioning the
numbers.
In the United States, vaccines
developed by Pfizer and Mod-
erna, both with about a 95 per-
cent effectiveness, received FDA
authorization in December and
have began to be administered
to the general public.
In China, authorities have
rushed to vaccinate people
since July under an emergency
use policy that allowed the use
of vaccines that hadn’t completed
clinical trials.
Yin Weidong, chairman of Sino-
vac Biotech, said in a Jan. 13 news
conference that the company
plans to double its production
capacity to 1 billion doses by Feb-
ruary. The Jan. 12 efficacy results
have so far been the lowest for the
vaccine. The company has also
received orders from Turkey and
Indonesia for CoronaVac, with in-
terim data showing an efficacy
rate of 91.25 percent and 65.3
percent respectively.
Asked about concerns around
the vaccine, Yin said the phase 3
trials from Brazil and elsewhere
“have been sufficient to prove
the safety and effectiveness of
the CoronaVac vaccine around
the world.”
In a move to assure the public,
Hong Kong, which has already
placed orders for Sinovac vac-
cines, said on Jan. 13 that it would
have a panel of experts review
any vaccine based on clinical
data before its rollout.
The Butantan Institute has
faced criticism for transparency
over CoronaVac trial data. It was
initially scheduled to release the
vaccine testing results in mid-
December, but delayed the action
multiple times, citing a need for
Sinovac to collect additional data.
A10 | WORLD
CCP Virus Resurgence Occurring
in Countries Across Globe
BOWEN XIAO
A resurgence of the deadly CCP vi-
rus is occurring across the globe,
spanning European and African
nations to countries such as Can-
ada, China, and Japan, while the
United States reported a record-
breaking daily death toll on Jan.
12 of 4,300.
A  litany of measures such as
lockdowns, curfews, and school
closures have been put in place
in an attempt to stem the spread
of the CCP (Chinese Communist
Party) virus, while some countries
are starting to roll out vaccines.
Meanwhile, an increasing num-
ber of countries are reporting new
variants of the virus, which could
affect how it’s transmitted.
China
Chinese authorities throughout
Northern China have struggled
to contain the CCP virus—which
originated in Wuhan, China, in
December 2019—despite enact-
ing stringent lockdown measures.
Hebei Province is the hardest-hit,
with two cities, Shijiazhuang and
Xingtai, seeing the biggest surges
in new infections.
Areas of Hebei, Liaoning, Hei-
longjiang, Henan, and Ningxia
provinces, as well as Inner Mon-
golia and Beijing, announced that
they entered “wartime” mode
over the weekend as a result of
surges in CCP virus cases. “War-
time” mode typically means that
draconian restrictions are placed
on when residents can leave their
homes, and almost all public fa-
cilities, such as schools, stores,
stadiums, and parks, are closed.
“At present, diagnosed patients
and cluster outbreaks are happen-
ing all around the country,” Xu
Hejian, a spokesperson for the
Beijing city government, said at a
press conference on Jan. 8.
It’s been widely reported that
A resident undergoes a CCP virus test in the basement of a residential com-
pound as part of a mass testing program in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province,
China, on Jan. 12, 2021.
Estonia’s PM Resigns Over Corruption Scandal in His Party
HELSINKI—Estonia’s prime min-
ister resigned on Jan. 13 over a cor-
ruption scandal involving a key of-
ficial of his Center Party suspected
of accepting a private donation for
the party in exchange for a political
favor on a real estate deal, prompt-
ing new talks on forming a new rul-
ing coalition.
The resignation of Prime Minister
Juri Ratas, who is also the Center
Party’s leader, automatically trig-
gers the resignation of Estonia’s
three-party coalition government
but doesn’t automatically mean a
new election.
Ratas said early on Jan. 13 on his
Facebook page that he would step
down as “the suspicion expressed
by the Public Prosecutor’s Office
... does not mean that someone is
definitely guilty but they will inevi-
tably cast a serious shadow over all
those involved.”
“In such a situation, it seems only
right that, by resigning myself, I
will give the opportunity to shed
light on all the facts and come to
clarity,” Ratas wrote on Facebook.
Ratas said he personally hasn’t
done anything wrong.
“Despite taking political respon-
China has underreported cases
of the virus in a bid to safeguard
its image both nationally and in-
ternationally.
The central government ad-
vised against travel for the Lunar
New Year holiday, which falls on
Feb. 12 this year. Millions usually
make trips to their hometowns to
reunite with their families.
Over the weekend, city govern-
ments across the country also an-
nounced  a new rule requiring
those who wish to travel during
the holiday to receive prior ap-
proval from their employers.
United Kingdom
The UK is entering the “worst
weeks” of the  CCP virus  pan-
demic, England’s chief medical
officer said on Jan. 11.
Professor Chris Whitty said
the country must “double down”
on lockdown measures before the
vaccine rollout begins to have an
impact on the spread of the dis-
ease. Witty blamed the grave situ-
ation on a new variant of the CCP
virus, which the government said
has a 50 to 70 percent faster rate of
transmission.
“This new variant is really push-
ing things in a way that the old
variant, which was already very
bad, was not able to,” he told the
BBC’s “Breakfast” program.
Data published by the Office for
National Statistics show that on
average, one in 50 people have
the CCP virus in England, with
around 1 in 30 for London, where
infections have been rising the
fastest.
Across the UK, countries such as
England, Northern Ireland, Scot-
land, and Wales are all under lock-
down, meaning that people aren’t
allowed to leave their homes
unless they have a “reasonable
excuse” which can range from
shopping for essentials, religious
worship, and medical appoint-
STR/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
sibility, I can say with all my heart
that, as prime minister, I have not
made any malicious or deliber-
ately wrong decisions,” he wrote
on Facebook.
After Ratas’s announcement,
parties immediately started talks
on cobbling together a new gov-
ernment. Estonian President Kersti
Kaljulaid said she would propose
that Kaja Kallas, chairwoman of
the main opposition, center-right
Reform Party, which emerged as
the winner of the 2019 general elec-
tion, to form the new Cabinet.
Ratas has led a majority coalition
of his left-leaning Center Party, the
nationalist EKRE party, and the
conservative Fatherland party
since April 2019. He has held the
post of the prime minister of the
Baltic country of 1.3 million since
November 2016.
There are currently five political
parties represented at Estonia’s
101-seat Riigikogu legislature, or
Parliament.
Only a limited number of com-
binations exist for a majority co-
alition, particularly as the Reform
Party has ruled out cooperation
with the populist EKRE, Estonia’s
ments. Police are issuing fines
for those that leave their homes
without a valid reason.
UK Health Secretary Matt Han-
cock said on Jan. 11 that the gov-
ernment needs to assess the im-
pact of the vaccines before they
can say more about when to ease
the restrictions to curb the CCP
virus.
The government plans to vacci-
nate everyone in the four groups
that have the highest death rate
from the CCP virus—care home
residents and their caregivers, ev-
eryone over the age of 70, all front-
line health and social care work-
ers, and everyone who is clinically
extremely vulnerable—with the
first dose by mid-February.
Canada
On Jan. 12, Ontario declared an
emergency after the latest model-
ing put Canada’s most populous
province on track to have more
than 20,000 new CCP virus cases
per day by the middle of February,
a nearly tenfold increase from the
current count.
Ontario, which is battling a coro-
navirus surge that has swamped
its hospitals and triggered a prov-
ince-wide lockdown, could also
see roughly 1,500 more deaths in
its long-term care homes through
mid-February under a worst-case
scenario, according to modeling
from experts advising the govern-
ment.
New restrictions that take effect
on Jan. 14 mandate that residents
must stay at home except for es-
sential activity, while outdoor
gatherings will be limited to five
people and non-essential con-
third-largest party, which runs
largely on an anti-immigration
and anti-European Union agenda.
On Jan. 12, Estonia’s security
police said it was investigating
the offices of state credit agency
KredEx over suspicions of corrup-
tion regarding a 39 million-euro
($48 million) loan granted to the
Porto Franco real estate complex
in the harbor district of the capital,
Tallinn.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office
said separately it suspected the
Center Party and five people of
criminal involvement in the Porto
Franco real estate case including
party secretary Mihhail Korb, real
estate businessman Hillar Teder,
and Kersti Kraht, an adviser to the
country’s finance minister. Korb
announced his resignation late on
Jan. 12.
As the largest political party in
Tallinn, the Center Party controls
the office of mayor and has the fi-
nal say over how to develop pub-
lic infrastructure projects such as
roads and transport in the capi-
tal. Estonian media reported that
Tallinn Mayor Mihhail Kolvart has
been questioned in the case but
THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021
A patient is taken from an ambulance at the
Royal Free Hospital in London on Jan. 11, 2021.
struction work will be restricted.
“I know the stay at home order
is a drastic measure, one we don’t
take lightly. Everyone must stay
home to stay lives,” Ontario Pre-
mier Doug Ford said at a media
briefing. “Enforcement and in-
spections will increase.”
Ontario, the country’s economic
engine, has been under lockdown
since Dec. 26, with non-essential
businesses shuttered and schools
closed for in-person learning.
The daily number of CCP virus
cases has spiked above 3,500 on
average over the past seven days,
government data showed. On Jan.
12, Ontario reported 2,903 new
CCP virus cases.
Under the worst-case scenario
with 7 percent case growth, there
would be 40,000 new cases daily
by mid-February, while the best-
case scenario with 1 percent
growth would result in 5,000 new
cases every day, Ontario’s data
showed. Case growth has recently
been over 7 percent on the worst
days, the data showed.
Japan
Japan’s Prime Minister  Yoshi-
hide Suga said on Jan. 13 that
seven additional prefectures
would be placed under a state of
emergency, according to Kyodo
News. The prefectures are Osaka,
Aichi Tochigi, Gifu, Hyogo, Kyoto,
and Fukuoka.
The announcement came as Ja-
pan’s total number of virus cases
topped 300,000 amid a recent
spike in infections.
The total passed 200,000 in late
December, but despite the recent
and rapid increase,  Yasutoshi
Estonian Prime Minister Juri Ratas speaks to the press at the European Coun-
cil headquarters in Brussels on Oct. 2, 2020.
isn’t suspected of any wrongdoing.
Teder, whose son Rauno Teder
is the main shareholder in Porto
Franco, is suspected of cutting a
deal with Korb on facilitating ac-
cess routes to the Porto Franco
estate in the harbor district in re-
turn for 1 million-euro donation to
Center. In 2015, Hillar Teder was
a suspect in a corruption case in-
TOLGA AKMEN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Nishimura the minister in charge
of Japan’s coronavirus response,
expressed reluctance to expand
the emergency nationwide, the
outlet reported.
Japan continues to be in a “very
serious situation” when it comes to
infections, Health minister Nori-
hisa Tamura told an expert panel.
It comes as a new variant of
the CCP virus, which is distinct
from the ones found in the United
Kingdom and South Africa was
detected in Japan, health officials
announced on Jan. 10. According
to Takaji Wakita, the Director-
General of Japan’s National In-
stitute of Infectious Diseases, the
variant was found in four people
who arrived from Brazil.
United States
The overall U.S. death toll from the
CCP virus has eclipsed 380,000,
according to Johns Hopkins Uni-
versity. Confirmed infections
have topped 22.8 million in the
United States.
The United States recorded 4,327
deaths on Jan. 12 by the universi-
ty’s count. Arizona and California
have been among the hardest-hit
states.
The daily figure is subject to
revision, but deaths have been
rising sharply over the past 2 1/2
months, and the country is in the
most lethal phase of the outbreak
yet, even as the vaccine is being
rolled out. New cases are running
at nearly a quarter-million per day
on average.
Nicole Hao, Alexander Zhang,
Reuters, and The Associated Press
contributed to this report. 
OLIVIER HOSLET/POOL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
volving former Tallinn Mayor and
Center Party leader Edgar Savisaar.
Ratas insisted the real estate
project has had no influence on
government decision making.
Estonia is a member of the Euro-
pean Union and NATO since 2004.
By Jari Tanner
From The Associated Press
 THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021
Italian Coalition
Ally Withdraws
Ministers, Sparking
Political Crisis
ROME—Matteo Renzi, a former
Italian premier, withdrew his par-
ty’s ministers on Jan. 13 from Pre-
mier Giuseppe Conte’s govern-
ment, triggering a political crisis
in the middle of a pandemic that
might lead to a revamped Cabi-
net, a different coalition leader,
or even an early election that op-
position right-wing parties hope
will bring them to power.
If Conte or someone
who could replace
Renzi can’t muster
enough support,
President Sergio
Mattarella may dis-
solve the Parliament.
Renzi, who leads the small cen-
trist Italy Alive party, has been
chafing for weeks at what he sees
as Conte’s heavy hand in decid-
ing how some 200 billion euros in
European Union funding will be
used to help pull Italy out of years
of economic stagnation that has
been worsened by the COVID-19
pandemic.
In announcing that the farm
and family ministers and Cabi-
net undersecretary were bolt-
ing the 16-month-old center-left
government, Renzi said he had
enough of Conte’s frequent gov-
erning through decrees instead
of turning to Parliament.
Ethiopia Says Ex-Foreign Minister Killed by Military After Refusing to Surrender
NAIROBI—Ethiopia said on Jan.
13 its military had killed three
members of the Tigray region’s
former ruling party, including for-
mer Ethiopian Foreign Minister
Seyoum Mesfin.
The three Tigray People’s Liber-
ation Front (TPLF) officials were
killed, and five other party mem-
bers were captured, after they re-
fused to surrender to the military,
the government’s task force for the
crisis in Tigray wrote on Twitter.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s
government declared victory in
its conflict with the TPLF on Nov.
“Italy Alive didn’t provoke the
political crisis,” Renzi told report-
ers, putting the blame for the gov-
ernment’s unraveling on Conte’s
methods.
“We won’t allow anyone to have
full powers,” said Renzi, who had
governed Italy from 2014-2016.
It’s unclear if Conte may try to
negotiate further with Renzi or
soon tender his resignation to
President Sergio Mattarella, who
for weeks has been insisting the
government focus on dealing
with the COVID-19 pandemic,
which has worsened years of
Italy’s economic stagnation.
If Conte or someone who could
replace him can’t muster enough
support, Mattarella may dissolve
the Parliament, paving the way
for early elections that, if opinion
surveys hold, could bring an al-
liance of right-wing and far-right
nationalist forces to power.
Earlier, after conferring about
his center-left government’s sta-
bility with Mattarella, Conte ex-
pressed hope that Renzi’s support
would remain.
“Otherwise, a (government)
crisis wouldn’t be understood by
the country,” which is struggling
with high numbers of COVID-19
infections amid a nationwide
vaccination campaign, Conte
told reporters.
“If there is willingness, I’ll work
to reinforce the cohesion of the
coalition,” he said.
Mattarella has said that if the
current government collapses,
he may pull the plug on the legis-
28, 2020, after nearly a month of
fighting.
Fugitive leaders of the TPLF had
vowed to continue to fight from
the mountains of the region in
northern Ethiopia, but Reuters
has been unable to contact them
for weeks.
The military said last week it had
captured Sebhat Nega, a founding
member of the TPLF.
At the weekend, it said it had
killed 15 members of the TPLF and
captured eight others, according
to state-run TV.
Seyoum was Ethiopia’s foreign
LET’S
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Matteo Renzi, former Italian premier and head of the Italy Alive party, arrives to hold a press conference at the Italian
Chamber of Deputies in Rome on Jan. 13, 2021.
lature and trigger early elections
rather than risk an alternative
coalition with fragile support in
Parliament.
Opinion polls have consistent-
ly shown that any quick return
to the ballot box would reward
center-right parties, including
the right-wing League of Matteo
Salvini and the nationalist Broth-
ers of Italy.
Conte’s main partners in the
current 16-month-old govern-
ment are the populist 5-Star
Movement and the center-left
Democratic Party. This coalition
had replaced another also head-
ed by lawyer Conte that included
Salvini’s Euro-skeptic party and
the 5-Stars.
If Renzi does yank his Italy
Alive party’s support from the
government, Conte could at-
tempt a Cabinet shuffle.
But if Conte runs of political
minister from 1991 to 2010.
Airstrikes and battles since early
November 2020 in Tigray are be-
lieved to have killed thousands of
people. Fighting is continuing in
some parts and more than 2 mil-
lion people need aid, the United
Nations said this week.
Reuters has been unable to verify
claims by either side since phone
and internet connections to the
Tigray region are down and access
to the area is strictly controlled.
By Maggie Fick
From Reuters
TRUTH and TRADITION
Help Spread
the Word
capital, Mattarella could decide
on fresh elections as the better
course. With businesses suffer-
ing due to lockdowns and other
restrictions in the country where
the pandemic first sprung, Mat-
tarella could seek out a non-polit-
ical figure to lead a government.
That figure would need to draw
enough support across the po-
litical party spectrum in Parlia-
ment.
Two names have been touted
by political commentators: Ma-
rio Draghi, the former European
Central Bank chief, and Marta
Cartabia, who formerly headed
Italy’s constitutional court.
Renzi’s two ministers in the
government abstained from a
Cabinet vote on Jan. 12 to ap-
prove a draft plan for using the
EU funds.
Renzi has brushed off criticism
that he is irresponsibly provoking
REUTERS/TIKSA NEGERI/FILE PHOTO
Subscribe to
The Epoch Times
WORLD | A11
ALBERTO PIZZOLI/POOL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
a government crisis in the middle
of a pandemic.
“What we’re doing is called
POLITICS: studying the cards
and making proposals,” he
tweeted.
Renzi is known for power plays.
He became Italian premier in
2014 after he maneuvered the
governing Democratic Party to
oust Enrico Letta. Renzi, though,
lost a political gamble two years
later when he staked his premier-
ship on a constitutional referen-
dum that failed, forcing him to
resign.
He later broke with his fellow
Democrats and formed the Italy
Alive party, which, while small,
has enough support in the Sen-
ate to make his voice count in the
government.
By Frances D’Emilio
From The Associated Press
Former Ethi-
opian Foreign
Minister Sey-
oum Mesfin in
Addis Ababa on
April 2, 2016.
A12 THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021

TRUTH and TRADITION

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Flags at the U.S. Capitol fly at half-staff to honor Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, in Washington on Jan. 8, 2021.
The End of Politics
MARK BAUERLEIN
The actions of the Demo-
cratic Party, corporate
America, Silicon Valley,
and academia, not just in
the past several days but
in the past several years,
should convince all Republi-
cans of a social or religious conservative
bent that they’re no longer in a standard
political contest.
The battle has changed.
In the old days, when Democrats won,
they proceeded to push their politics
everywhere they could. We won, you lost,
they could say, and that gave them power
to push this regulation and that legisla-
tion. Republicans could push back where
possible and plan for the next election.
They didn’t have to spend much time
justifying their own existence.
That, right there, is the new challenge.
Perhaps, it started with the Bush–Gore
contest in Florida, where the first “not-
my-president” outcries were heard (as
far as I know). The Tea Party of 2010, too,
struck liberals as a crazy interruption of
normal politics, not a political movement
so much as a populist rabble.
Then, of course, Donald Trump, which
brought the illegitimacy charge to
completion.
Trump never impressed liberals as
a political figure, and his supporters
weren’t seen as a political bloc. No, they
were an aberration, an irrational up-
surge, an eruption of atavism into the
sane operations of American democracy.
You don’t compromise with such cre-
tins, you don’t debate them. You get rid
of them. Democrats today aren’t satisfied
with winning. They don’t gaze across
the aisle and see an outnumbered but
legitimate opposition. Instead, they spy a
group of deplorables who shouldn’t even
be in the room. Republicans such as Sen.
Ted Cruz (R-Texas) aren’t to be defeated,
but eliminated, removed.
This is the dynamic faced by conserva-
tive Republicans. If they stay true to con-
servative principles, they can expect the
vitriol to flow. It won’t be discursive; it’ll
be ad hominem. Notice how the debates
in Washington for more than four years
have downplayed policy differences that
might be negotiated through the old
ways and means.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021 • A13
It’s different now; they turn on shame,
the shame of the right.
Democrats want to blame Trump for
the “polarization,” but that’s a dodge.
The readiness of the left to smear a
conservative if he acts too boldly long
predates the Bad Orange Man. Ever since
the Culture Wars of 30 years ago, we’ve
been shifting from political competition
to moral arraignment, and the process is
now complete. The trial is over; it’s time
for sentencing.
Democrats have pronounced Republi-
cans guilty, and punishments must begin.
Few Republican politicians are
equipped for this kind of war. Most
can’t stand up to the indignation of the
left. They still shudder at allegations of
racism. They show no signs of under-
standing the rhetorical game that’s being
played, not just on them, but on the
many millions who voted for Trump. The
purpose of that game is to defeat conser-
vatives, forever. It’s to discredit them, to
depoliticize them, to make them appear
unworthy of the barest consideration in
the political realm.
A spirit of expulsion, vengeance, and
purification is on the loose. The media
love this moral drama, and they thrill
to its chthonic roots, although they
don’t understand them. The Democrats
sense an advantage in running with
it. Trump’s supporters feel the threat
acutely, and they want fresh leaders to
fight back. They want to hear Republican
voices turn the condemnations of the
Democrats right back at them, to be just
as accusatory and dismissive of leftism
Democrats today
aren’t satisfied
with winning.
Reporters wait outside the
Senate chamber at the U.S.
Capitol on Jan. 21, 2020.
DREW ANGERER/GETTY IMAGES
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
as the left is of rightism.
When Joe Biden talks about systemic
racism in American life, conservative
voters relish the chance to witness a Re-
publican blurt, “Nonsense! The ‘systems’
you mean—schools, media, entertain-
ment, technology—are run by liberals,
not conservatives, you silly one. Gimme
a break—this is all phony!” The indigna-
tion of the Democrats should be met
with disdain, laughter, or an indignation
stronger and unwavering.
Establishment Republicans don’t have
the stomach for this moral combat. They
don’t know how, or perhaps they ac-
cept the moral terms, or simply find the
whole thing overwhelming. The media
amplify the moral denunciations, too,
and Republicans still care what report-
ers and commentators say about them.
The press love to play judge and jury, the
millennials who’ve joined them having
no sense of the old ethos of journalistic
independence. They fully support the
disappearance of conservatives from the
public arena.
It’s hard for a politician to live with this
nonstop censure and ridicule. Republicans
expect it from Democratic opponents, but
not from so many parts of the media world.
They get worn down and worn out.
The pluralism of the past is over. A
public square in which everyone accepts
the permanent existence of political
opponents no longer obtains. Demo-
crats want a one-party state, and all too
many Republicans will bend, granting
liberals the field on social, cultural, and
educational matters while battling over
a few regulations, tax rates, and trade. In
practical terms, that means surrender on
90 percent of the issues. But Democrats
will never credit them for those conces-
sions. They want to win the other 10
percent as well, so no acknowledgement
is given, only more voluminous charges
of obstruction, dirty-dealing, shame.
The future will clarify two kinds of
Republican: the one who gets along
with liberals, and the one who doesn’t;
the one who defends himself with, “No,
I am not a deplorable person,” and the
one who says, “Your indignation, my
Democrat friend, is as bogus as a three-
dollar bill—save it.”
Mark Bauerlein is an emeritus professor
of English at Emory University.
A14 | OPINION
Suppose They Held an
Inauguration and Nobody Came?
ROGER L. SIMON
The increasingly fascistic
American left is setting a
trap for the rest of their
fellow citizens—often
termed “deplorables,”
but more appropriately
dubbed “normals” by Kurt
Schlichter—by warning that we intend
violence all over the country during Joe
Biden’s inauguration.
This is nonsense, of course, but any
kind of demonstration can be declared
violent by a complaisant media or, more
ominously, manipulated in that direc-
tion by provocateurs, with the slightest
incident magnified beyond recognition.
Part of their intent is clearly to under-
mine the Second Amendment—actually
to disarm us.
Another part is to justify yet more cen-
sorship and “canceling,” furthering their
assault on the No. 1 principle that makes
America America: freedom of speech.
Do not fall for it. There is a much better
way to protest the inauguration.
Don’t show up!
When I say don’t show up, I mean really
don’t show up.
Don’t protest the inauguration in any
way, not in Washington, not at your
state house, nowhere. Ignore the whole
thing. Don’t even watch the event on tele-
vision or stream it on any of your devices.
Let Bret Baier blather away all by him-
self, with or without Martha McCallum.
That means no Newsmax or OAN, too.
And, especially, don’t watch their
“Virtual Inaugural Parade.” Turn it into a
ratings disaster.
I know you will be tempted, but don’t do it.
Not even a glimpse. Ignore, ignore, ignore.
DILBERT
PEANUTS
RED AND ROVER
GRAND AVENUE
MUTT & JEFF
The presidential inaugural platform is under construction in front of the U.S. Capitol, as part
of the West Front Lawn is closed to the public on Capitol Hill in Washington on Nov. 9, 2020.
You must have something better to do,
such as fixing that leaky faucet in the
guest bathroom once and for all, or fi-
nally installing that second peg board in
the garage that’s still in its shrink wrap.
Put another way: Suppose they held an
inauguration and nobody came?
This is the proper way to protest this par-
ticular inauguration, a just response to an
election with serious allegations of fraud
that were never remotely investigated, not
even for the paltry 10 days proposed by a
handful of senators as a last resort.
A presidential inauguration is a cel-
ebration of democracy. There is nothing
to celebrate here.
The proper visual image of this inaugu-
COMICS
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
ration should be a cluster of lonely Dem-
ocrat politicians and their media friends
surrounded by ... nothing ... emptiness.
Well, not entirely empty. Maybe signifi-
cant phalanxes of police and National
Guard watching over violent disturbanc-
es that obviously never happened, an
image—fittingly—out of North Korea.
So what do we do now?
Take notes. Remember everything they
are doing and everything they say.
Just this week, speaking of violence,
we learned the lead attorney for one of
their most “sainted” outlets, PBS, wanted
to throw Molotov cocktails at the White
House and have our children taken away
by the Department of Homeland Secu-
GARFIELD
GINGER MEGGS
BIG NATE
DRABBLE
FRANK AND ERNEST
THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021
rity, Chinese Communist Party-style, to
re-education camps.
It’s just more evidence so many in the
left have already earned their MP de-
grees, as in Masters of Projection.
A presidential inauguration is a
celebration of democracy. There
is nothing to celebrate here.
So, patience, grasshopper, this isn’t the
time for demonstrations. That time will
come. Give them a chance to hang them-
selves a little more, because, like the PBS
attorney, they surely will.
They’re only just getting started. Give
them a month or two in power and watch
what happens.
Now is the time for us to organize, to
understand on whom we can rely and
whom we can’t. They’re revealing them-
selves every day.
We are, after all, half the country—and
likely to be more than half soon enough
because our ideas are so much better
and they are getting the opportunity to
put their wretched ones into action.
There will be a time—not far away—for
demonstrations. Big ones.
Roger L. Simon is an award-winning
novelist, Oscar-nominated screenwriter,
co-founder of PJ Media, and now a col-
umnist of The Epoch Times.
 THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021
SPECIAL SERIES
How the Specter of Communism
Is Ruling Our World
Desecrating the Arts
The Epoch Times here serializes an adaptation from the Chinese of
“How the Specter of Communism Is Ruling Our World,” a new book by
the editorial team of the “Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party.”
3. Communism’s
Sabotage and Abuse
of Art
d. The Perversion
of Literature
Unleashing Man’s Dark Side
as ‘Criticism’ and ‘Protest’
Writers and artists in the Western
free world, under the influence
of anti-traditionalist sentiment,
consider all laws, regulations,
and moral codes to be restrictive
and suppressive. They see prob-
lems with modern society and
the weaknesses of human nature,
but instead of dealing with them
rationally, they promote extreme
individualism via criticism and
protest, indulging in their per-
sonal desires.
They use degenerate means to
express so-called resistance, while
strengthening the dark side of their
nature, indulging in hatred, lazi-
ness, desire, lust, aggression, and
the pursuit of fame. A lack of moral
self-restraint won’t solve any social
issues; it can only worsen them.
The power of art is enormous.
Good art can rectify the
human heart, elevate morality,
harmonize yin and yang,
and even enable humans to
connect with heaven, earth,
and divine beings.
During the counterculture
movement of the 1960s, American
poet Allen Ginsberg became the
representative of the Beat Genera-
tion and is still venerated today by
those who wish to rebel against
society. His poem “Howl” depicts
extreme lifestyles and mental
states, including alcoholism,
sexual promiscuity, drugs, sod-
omy, self-mutilation, prostitution,
streaking, violent assault, theft,
vagabonding, and madness.
As the counterculture move-
ment became institutionalized,
“Howl” came to be regarded as a
literary classic and was included
in numerous literary collections.
Ginsberg admitted that he was
a communist when he “was a
kid” and held no regrets. [28] He
idolized Fidel Castro and other
communist dictators and widely
promoted homosexuality and
pedophilia. Ginsberg is a clear
representative of the common
ground between communism and
extreme individualism.
Spreading Pornography 
From the beginning of the 20th
century, explicit sexual content
began to appear in literary works,
some of which were filled with
such content yet were still praised
as classics. Many commentators
and scholars abandoned their
social responsibilities and praised
such pornographic works as real,
artistic masterpieces. Much of
traditional morality is based on
proper relations between the
sexes and self-restraint. Breaking
such restrictions—with whatever
noble-sounding justification—un-
dermines and destroys morality.
Dehumanizing People  4. Reviving True Art
Over the past several decades,
as the culture became more and
more confused, a great deal of
genre fiction surfaced, including
thrillers and works of horror and
fantasy. Through such works, low-
level elements can control people’s
minds and bodies, resulting in the
dehumanization of human beings.
A three-foot block of ice does
not result from only one day of
coldness, as a saying goes. It takes
a long period of time, and the
involvement of many fields, for
literature to degrade so far that it
becomes a tool for evil. Romanti-
cism widened literature’s cover-
age of people’s private and inner
lives, and some ugly and bizarre
phenomena—including ex-
treme and insane human mental
states—were presented for public
consumption. Several British
Romantic poets were collectively
dubbed “the Satanic School” be-
cause of the immoral content of
their poems.
Realism uses the excuse of
presenting reality to express the
degenerate side of human nature.
Thus, certain works emphasize
warped thoughts and immoral
conduct. One critic called realism
“romanticism going on all fours.”
[29] The philosophy of natural-
ism, as promoted by Jean-Jacques
Rousseau, attributed the decline
in human morality to the social
environment and family genetics,
thus removing the individual’s
moral responsibility. Aestheticism
calls for “art for art’s sake,” claim-
ing that art is meant to simply pro-
vide sensory stimuli and carries
no moral imperative.
Much of traditional morality
is based on proper relations
between the sexes and
self-restraint. Breaking
such restrictions—with
whatever noble-sounding
justification—undermines
and destroys morality.
In fact, all art has subtle, pro-
found, and long-lasting effects on
the moral compass. To deny the
moral responsibility of art is to
open the door for immorality to
creep in. While some contempo-
rary authors have generated high-
quality works, what many others
have produced is simply dreck.
The negative elements are obvi-
ously the result of declining moral
standards, and they effectively
paved the road for communist
ideology to destroy mankind via
literature.
When a person writes, his or her
moral standard and mental state
are reflected in his or her work.
With the overall decline of human
morality, the negative mindset of
writers takes a dominant stance.
This has created numerous works
Chapter Eleven
that, instead of seeking to bring
out the goodness in people, pull
people down toward hell.
The power of art is enormous.
Good art can rectify the human
heart, elevate morality, harmonize
yin and yang, and even enable
humans to connect with heaven,
earth, and divine beings.
In the past century, the specter
of communism took advantage of
man’s demon nature and malice,
prompting the creation of an enor-
mous variety of so-called “art.”
People were led to revolt against
and blaspheme the divine, oppose
tradition, and overturn moral-
ity. This had the ultimate effect
of turning large parts of society
demonic, to a degree that would
have been deeply shocking to any-
one living in a previous era.
Realism uses the excuse of
presenting reality to express
the degenerate side of human
nature. Thus, certain works
emphasize warped thoughts
and immoral conduct.
One critic called realism
‘romanticism going on all fours.’
Compared to the beauty of
traditional arts, modern works
are extremely ugly. Humanity’s
aesthetic standards have been
destroyed. The avant-garde has
become mainstream and com-
mands vast sums of money, while
traditional, upright arts have been
denigrated.
Arts have been manipulated into
a vehicle for people to indulge in
their desires and vent their demon
nature. The boundary between
beauty and ugliness, grace and
vulgarity, goodness and evil,
has been blurred or even erased.
Grotesquerie, chaos, and darkness
have taken the place of universal
values. Human society is filled
with demonic messages, and
human beings are being steered
along a path of decadence and
destruction.
Only by elevating morality and
returning to faith and tradition
will humankind be able to see an-
other renaissance in the arts. Only
then will we all see the beauty,
nobility, and splendor of what art
can be and is meant to be.
Notes
28. Allen Ginsberg, “America,”
“Selected Poems 1947–1995”
(New York: HarperCollins
Publishers Inc., 2001).
29. Irving Babbitt, “Rousseau
and Romanticism” (Boston:
Houghton Mifflin, 1919), 104.
This concludes Chapter Eleven.
See next edition for the next
installment.
To purchase the books, visit
EpochShop.com
OPINION | A15
Stephen Gregory, Publisher
Jasper Fakkert, Editor-in-Chief
Channaly Philipp, Life & Tradition,
Travel Editor
Chrisy Trudeau, Mind & Body Editor
Crystal Shi, Home, Food Editor
Sharon Kilarski, Arts & Culture Editor
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A16 | OPINION
AP PHOTO/NOAH BERGER
It’s Not Censorship,
A Twitter sign
hangs at its compa-
ny’s headquarters
in San Francisco on
Jan. 11, 2021.
It’s a Coordinated Effort
A time to strengthen families and communities
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES
LEE SMITH
The moves fully
Big Tech, social media, and
the press used the violence expose the
on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6 as a architecture of the
pretext to purge their platforms American oligarchy.
of conservative figures and Re-
publican officials, most notably
President Donald Trump. Amazon,
Apple, and Google conspired to deplat-
form Parler, regarded as a conservative,
The suspended Twitter account of President
Donald Trump appears on an iPhone screen in
San Anselmo, Calif., on Jan. 8, 2021.
The Book or free-speech, alternative to Twitter.
Critics of the sweeping actions argue,
You’ve Been rightly, that censorship violates not only
First Amendment freedoms but also the
Waiting spirit of the law protecting internet ser-
for... vice providers from liability.
But this isn’t censorship. Rather, it’s
part of the strategic logic of mass conflict.
The leadership of the political, corporate,
and cultural establishment that today
rules America shut down the communi-
cations of those against whom they are
waging war.
The moves fully expose the architec-
ture of the American oligarchy—Big
Tech is a Democratic Party-funding
mechanism and part of its operational
arm, with social media and the prestige
press serving as information-warfare
platforms disseminating propaganda
HOW THE
and blocking information damaging
to the regime. For instance, Simon and
Schuster canceled Sen. Josh Hawley’s
SPECTER OF COMMUNISM
book with the timely title of “The Tyr-
anny of Big Tech,” claiming that Hawley
played a dangerous role in events at the
Capitol.
IS RULING OUR WORLD
Jan. 6 was indeed a big deal, but not for
the reasons the regime gives publicly.
From its perspective, what Hawley did
was much more dangerous when he offi-
cially questioned the integrity of the 2020
vote, i.e., the regime’s legitimacy.
The specter of communism did not In fact, the communication lockdowns
began long before the election. Most fa-
disappear with the disintegration of the mously, social media blocked allegations
of Biden family corruption and financial
Communist Party in Eastern Europe ties to Chinese Communist Party prox-
ies. Given Big Tech’s relationship with
the CCP, concerns that a foreign power
ORDER NOW!
played a role in the decisions made by
tech executives to silence Trump, Bei-
jing’s most outspoken and still most
powerful critic, can hardly be dismissed.
In any case, the corruption of the Ameri-
can regime is now a matter of record, and
EpochShop.com
that’s why its vanguard moved so quickly
after the events of Jan. 6.
They were spooked.
Obviously, it wasn’t Trump alone
who brought hundreds of thousands
THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021
of Americans, including families, to
Washington on a Wednesday in January
to march in the cold. But for the regime,
Trump must be seen to be at the center
of the picture, not only to isolate and
degrade the current leader of the opposi-
tion, but more importantly to obscure
optics dangerous to the regime’s health.
The press and social media edited
Trump’s Jan. 6 statements to buttress the
narrative of a strongman determined
to hold on to power by directing his
followers to set on a sacred democratic
institution.
“I know that everyone here will soon
be marching over to the Capitol build-
ing to peacefully and patriotically make
your voices heard,” Trump said during
his speech, a sentence found nowhere
in reports claiming he’d incited an
insurrection. After Trump supporters
entered the Capitol, some forcefully,
some through open doors, social media
blocked his video statement urging pro-
testors to go home peacefully.
Strip away social media and the press’s
forged account of Jan. 6, and it’s an
instantly recognizable event replayed
throughout history—disenchanted
masses seeing no other choice but to
descend on a capital city to march on
a corrupted parliament. Through that
lens, Jan. 6 is a family-friendly version
of the protests against the depraved
parliamentarians of, among recent oth-
ers, Burkina Faso in 2014, Hong Kong in
2019, and Lebanon in 2020.
Jan. 6 was more than four years in
the making, starting with the “Rus-
siagate” operation that the spy services
and prestige press organizations ran
against Trump. The regime’s assault on
the republic was serial and continuous:
the fraudulent special counsel investiga-
tion tasked to unseat Trump; the bogus
impeachment of the president designed
to cover for yet more alleged Biden family
corruption in yet another foreign coun-
try; the weaponization of the corona-
virus lockdowns to destroy small busi-
nesses while enriching tech giants such
as Amazon; the George Floyd riots; and
culminating finally in the compromised
election of a candidate who repeatedly
gave public evidence he was no longer
cognitively competent.
Jan. 6 was the day that Americans
finally declared the oligarchic regime a
third-world farce. With its lack of legiti-
macy exposed by the demonstrators,
the regime had to move to delegitimize
not only Trump but the action and the
protestors—it was an “insurrection,”
and even those who didn’t participate in
violence were “domestic terrorists.”
Banishing Trump and others from
Twitter, such as retired Gen. Michael
Flynn, and canceling Parler, satisfied
the regime’s vanguard since it targeted
their opposite numbers, elites, social
media executives, journalists, and
so on. How other Trump supporters
regard the move isn’t clear, since only
a fraction of his 75 million voters is on
Twitter. Eventually, the regime will de-
ploy other instruments to widen its fire,
redefining all opponents to its agenda
as “white nationalists” and setting
against them law enforcement, as well
as employers, banks, transportation
services, and so on.
In the meantime, the first order of
business is to restore communications,
for the opposition as a whole. Other
social media platforms are likely to arise
but will also find themselves embroiled
in conflict they’re likely to lose to tech
giants. There are options, however:
America’s one fail-safe form of com-
munication, our media before there was
one—houses of worship.
All churches, synagogues, and
mosques must be reopened immediate-
ly. Here is where Americans can share
our common bond, as well as informa-
tion, knowledge, gossip, jokes, recipes,
etc. This is a moment to strengthen fami-
lies and communities, to ground faith
in prayer, communion, and love, and to
steel the spirit.
As local, state, and federal authorities
move to keep Americans isolated by
shuttering houses of worship under cov-
er of coronavirus measures, court cases
must be brought against authorities by
the hundreds, the thousands, compel-
ling the regime to act out its fundamental
illegitimacy and confess its inability to
govern a constitutional republic.
Lee Smith is the author of the recently 
published book “The Permanent Coup:
How Enemies Foreign and Domestic
Targeted the American President.”
 THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021 OPINION | A17
CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES

Both Conservatives and Liberals

are Angry, This Isn’t a Good Situation
BOB ZEIDMAN
America is, unfortunately,
ripe for civil war. Every-
one is angry and scared,
and so many “leaders”
are making things worse.
I’m reaching out to the
congressional Problems Solv-
ers Caucus, and any other politicians who
care more about America than they do
about winning elections, to take the steps I
prescribe at the end of this article.
popular among conservatives, such as
Reddit and Tumblr, are going strong
without any similar threats against them.
Liberals are angry; conservatives are an-
gry and scared. This isn’t a good situation.
Most, if not all, of my moderate conserva-
tive friends have purchased weapons last
year for fear that their inalienable rights are
being denied, while the police are being
defunded and unable to protect them. Con-
servatives value their constitutional rights
deeply, and these restrictions over the past
year, in particular, are taking a toll.
Bob Zeidman is the creator of the
A man walks field of software forensics and the
through the U.S. founder of successful high-tech Silicon
Capitol Rotunda on Valley firms, including Zeidman
March 24, 2020. Consulting and Software Analysis and
Forensic Engineering. He is the author of
textbooks on engineering and intellectual
property as well as screenplays and
novels. His latest novel is the political
satire “Good Intentions.”

Over the past few years, many liberals I
know have called me a hater, racist, xeno-
phobe, and other easy/hurtful labels on
social media; many former friends have
blocked me. They are angry at a level I’ve
never seen before.
Over the past nine months of lockdown,
conservatives have seen double standards
in which peaceful protests and violent
riots were allowed, excused, and often
encouraged by Democrat mayors and gov-
ernors. Prominent Democrats contributed
to funds to bail out rioters. At the same
time, churches and synagogues were shut
and congregants threatened with jail time,
while peaceful protests against the lock-
down were condemned as “super spreader
events.”
President Donald Trump made some
remarks last week that prompted a protest
at the Capitol. He specifically called
for a peaceful march, but it turned into
something worse. Then, he was banned
permanently from Twitter and Facebook.
This move is inflaming his supporters and
many others on the right.
I’ve seen threats against Israel and calls
for the destruction of the Jewish people
on Twitter and Facebook by U.S. profes-
sors and Iranian rulers whose accounts
were never shut down. I’ve seen Demo-
cratic politicians on Twitter and Facebook
excusing the burning of buildings and
attacks on police, but their Facebook and
Twitter accounts weren’t shut down.
Yet, Trump’s account was shut down
permanently.
Then, the big tech companies con-
spired to shut down their competitor
Parler, which represents free speech to
many people. This is an anti-competitive,
anti-free market, anti-conservative,
anti-American move. Other controversial
free-speech sites that aren’t particularly
OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
A man in black (R) tries to steal a "Don't Tread
on Me" flag from a supporter of President
Donald Trump during a rally on Nov. 14, 2020.
PASS IT ON.
I don’t want to see a civil war. I would
rather see right and left coming together to
understand each other’s concerns. I want
civil dialogue and compromise in areas
that aren’t fundamental to our beliefs. This
isn’t happening. I don’t believe the main-
stream media is willing or able to help. Dear Readers, ink on paper is a rare thing nowadays
But I support the bipartisan No Labels considering how much people live in the digital world.
nonprofit, and they’ve put together a
Problem Solvers Caucus of Democrats and
We put a lot of pride into making this printed paper,
Republicans who are willing to work to- each story carefully crafted. It is our honor to deliver it
gether to save America. They can help and to you, to keep you informed, our dear readers.
are willing, but they need to know what
steps to take in the next few days. Here are We believe our paper is truthful and uplifting.
my suggestions:
We hope our paper brightens your day.
1. Make a statement against impeach-
ment. Don’t make Trump a martyr. An “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Please do not send
impeachment will inflame the extreme the paper to the recycle bin after you finish reading.
and the not-so-extreme on the right.
More violence will occur. Just ignore
him until Jan. 20. PASS IT ON TO YOUR NEIGHBOR, A FRIEND, OR A RELATIVE.
2.Condemn both the Capitol riots and
the Black Lives Matter (BLM) riots.
A bipartisan message condemning
the attacks on the Capitol, if not done
correctly, will inflame rather than heal.
There must be a similar condemnation
of the riots throughout America and
ongoing in Portland and Seattle. Those
on the right, even the moderates, see
our cities being destroyed and the de-
struction encouraged by many Demo-
crats. Otherwise, any condemnation
will be seen as simply self-serving—
caring about their own safety but not
that of the American public. Peace of Call us
today!
3. Get President-elect Biden to talk to
the nation. He needs to comfort the Mind
American public and ask for calm. He
should condemn the Capitol attack in the
and also the BLM riots. He must not
attack Trump or his supporters. He Mountains
should also assure conservatives that
all voices must be heard—liberal and
conservative—and that America under
of NC /ĨƚŚĞƐĞĐŽŶĐĞƌŶLJŽƵ͕ĐĂůůZĞƚƌĞĂƚZĞĂůƚLJ
ĂŶĚǁĞ͛ůůůŽĐĂƚĞĨŽƌLJŽƵĂƐĂĨĞ͕ƐƵƐƚĂŝŶĂďůĞ͕
ĂŶĚĐŽŵĨŽƌƚĂďůĞƌĞƚƌĞĂƚŝŶƚŚĞŵŽƵŶƚĂŝŶƐ
Are you concerned about: ŽĨǁĞƐƚĞƌŶE͘tĞ͛ƌĞƚŚĞŽŶůLJĮƌŵŝŶ
his leadership won’t tolerate censor-
ship of any opinions or any speech. ͻ ŝǀŝůƵŶƌĞƐƚ͍ tEƐƉĞĐŝĂůŝnjŝŶŐŝŶƚŚŝƐƚLJƉĞŽĨƉƌŽƉĞƌƚLJ͖
4. Stop the Democrats’ rhetoric altogeth- ͻ 'ŽǀĞƌŶŵĞŶƚƚƌĂǀĞů ĚŝƐĐƌĞƚĞůLJŚĞůƉŝŶŐĐŽƵŶƚůĞƐƐĨĂŵŝůŝĞƐĮŶĚ
er. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in par- ƌĞƐƚƌŝĐƟŽŶƐ͍ ƚŚĞŝƌƐĂĨĞŚĂǀĞŶĂŶĚƌĞƚƌĞĂƚƐ͘tŚĞŶůĂǁĂŶĚ
ticular must be prevented from getting ͻ ŚĂŽƐŝŶLJŽƵƌƚŽǁŶ͍ ŽƌĚĞƌďƌĞĂŬĚŽǁŶǁŚĞƌĞLJŽƵůŝǀĞ͕ǁŚĞƌĞǁŝůů
ͻ &ĂŝůƵƌĞŽĨƚŚĞƉŽǁĞƌŐƌŝĚ͍ LJŽƵŐŽ͍dŚĞƟŵĞƚŽƉƌĞƉĂƌĞŝƐŶŽǁ͘
to a microphone or TV camera anywhere
to spread more dissent. Stop Democrats
from attacking Trump and his support-
ers. It feels good to attack Trump on 828-773-8090 ŶĂĸůŝĂƚĞŽĨ<ĞůůĞƌtŝůůŝĂŵƐ
his final days, but true leaders can keep
john@retreatre
john@retreatrealty.net
WƌŽĨĞƐƐŝŽŶĂůƐ͘ĂĐŚŽĸĐĞ
ŝŶĚĞƉĞŶĚĞŶƚůLJŽǁŶĞĚĂŶĚŽƉĞƌĂƚĞĚ͘
their mouths shut for a few days to allow
calm if they want to save this nation. www retreatrealty net
www.retreatrealty.net
5. Hope and pray.
A18 | BUSINESS & ECONOMY
Day of the Cryptocurrency Is Here
An outlier since 2009, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are now taking center stage
JAMES GORRIE
Commentary
The age of digital cur-
rency has arrived.
Unfortunately, it’s less of a
brave new world than it is
an uncertain one, marked by
political upheaval and economic excesses.
Anyone not living under a rock knows
that the world today is very different—
and far less stable—than it was even a
year ago.
Of course, on the flip side, these times
are also marked by transformative in-
novations. In fact, cryptocurrency and
its blockchain technology are, without
doubt, two of the most powerful techno-
logical innovations to come about since
at least the invention of the internet.
Context of the Times
But understanding the context sur-
rounding the current economic times in
which we live is the key to understanding
why Bitcoin is leading the cryptocur-
rency renaissance.
First, America’s pandemic economy is
marked by our expanding reliance on
meager government checks to millions of
Americans amid layoffs, salary cuts, and
failing small businesses. And yes, those
payments have been insufficient, ineffi-
cient, and riven with fraud. What’s more,
there was no controlling how people
spent the money when they received it.
The loss of faith in the
established American system
is expressed in people’s desire
for alternative currencies.
That’s why a digital dollar is immi-
nent. In April 2020, when the first round
of pandemic lockdowns was put in
place, I wrote about the coming of the
digital dollar: “Requiring the Federal
Reserve member banks to establish
digital dollar accounts or ‘digital wal-
lets’ for every American would make it
much easier and quicker for the relief
funds to reach them.”
I also wrote, “But does that reason
alone make it the worthwhile or even
right thing to do?”
Of course, it doesn’t. The digital dollar is
designed and intended to streamline de-
livery and replace the existing paper cur-
rency system and the individual privacy
and personal control that comes with it.
Why Bitcoin’s Value Is Skyrocketing
As of today, the digital dollar still hasn’t
emerged. But with or without the digital
dollar, the day of digital or cryptocur-
rency has certainly arrived.
How do we know this?
Simple; Bitcoin, the original crypto-
currency, has seen its value more than
double in the past 30 days, from around
$19,000 to almost $42,000 per coin (cur-
rently around $34,000).
Why would that be?
Lockdowns in 2021 Threaten
to Slow First-Quarter
Earnings Recovery
LONDON—A major chunk of the recov-
ery in companies’ earnings expected in
the first quarter is at risk of being pushed
back further as lockdowns and mobility
restrictions in several countries cloud
hopes of a swifter economic recovery,
investment banks said.
China announced lockdowns in four
cities while European countries unveiled
tighter and longer coronavirus restric-
tions on Jan. 13, denting back-to-normal
hopes and sparking worries about further
economic damage in 2021.
Germany, Britain, and the Netherlands
indicated strict Covid-19 curbs would
last into early February, and Italy said it
would extend its state of emergency to
the end of April. Japan also expanded a
state of emergency in Tokyo, hurting the
prospects of holding an already delayed
Summer Olympics.
INA FASSBENDER/FP VIA GETTY IMAGES
(Above) Physical imitations of cryptocurrency
displayed in Dortmund, Germany, on Jan. 27,
2020. (Top) A woman walks past closed store
fronts in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens,
N.Y., on April 15, 2020.
The reasons are as simple as they are
compelling. For one, the current political
crisis is causing people around the world
to lose faith in the dollar. For another,
the rapid escalation of debt is undermin-
ing faith in the dollar. More to the point,
American leadership is losing credibility
at home and around the world.
In short, the loss of faith in the estab-
lished American system is expressed
in people’s desire for alternative cur-
rencies. That’s completely understand-
able, but let’s focus on the debt question
in this discussion.
Debt Destroying the
Dollar and Raising Bitcoin
The reality is that most major curren-
cies—and most conspicuously the U.S.
dollar—are now saddled with unsustain-
able debt levels. This is due to either lock-
ing down economies or the repercus-
sions of the lockdown in terms of falling
While additional
stimulus could
provide upside
risks, rising
COVID cases
suggest a more
tepid recovery
from here.
Savita Subramanian,
equity strategist, BofA
market demand around the world.
A pandemic-crippled U.S. economy,
trillions of dollars in new debt, and a very
publicly divided political establishment,
all damage the perception and desirabil-
ity of the U.S. dollar.
“But wait,” you may wonder, “what
value do Bitcoin and other cryptocurren-
cies bring to those who own it?”
After all, there’s neither a national
economy nor precious metal backing
Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency. But
none of those things matter for Bitcoin,
because economies and precious metal
prices can be—and are—manipulated
by central banks.
Today, the most compelling answer
for Bitcoin’s popularity and rise in price
is that it, along with other cryptocur-
rencies, enjoys the status of not being
a national currency. They’re much less
subject to the manipulation, debt, and
devaluation that attaches to all national
currencies.
Does that mean cryptocurrencies
can’t be over-valued, manipulated, or
inflated? No, it doesn’t. But the risk of
that is lower. In fact, even if—according
to conventional thinking—Bitcoin may
have reached bubble status, there’s a
reasonable argument that it hasn’t.
That argument boils down to the
fact that cryptos carry no debt and users
can remain anonymous. Privacy and con-
trol are critically important to those who
hold Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
In short, it’s what Bitcoin is not that is prov-
ing to be its most crucial advantage, and is
what’s driving its skyrocketing price.
The Bitcoin Threat to Jealous Gods
Will Bitcoin and other cryptos such
BRENDAN MCDERMID/REUTERS
A price screen display above the floor of the
New York Stock Exchange after the close of
trading on March 12, 2020.
Those actions prompted words of
caution from major investment banks.
Goldman Sachs said signs of gloom were
creeping in with, 48 percent of its clients
expecting economic growth to under-
shoot expectations of 5.3 percent growth
in 2021.
Analysts’ earnings estimates for the first
quarter didn’t reflect the worry either—
Europe is seen reporting a whopping 40
percent jump in profits, while the United
States is forecast to see a 16 percent rise.
“We see risks of downward guidance
this earnings season,” Bank of America’s
THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021
JOHANNES EISELE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
as Ethereum et al. continue to rise in
value indefinitely?
Will they replace the dollar and other
world currencies?
And will people be able to remain
anonymous and hide their wealth in
cryptocurrencies indefinitely?
The answer to all of these questions
is “No.”
Allowing the masses to do as
they choose with an untraceable
currency is anathema to all
governing authorities.
Again, the reason is simple. Global
banks and national governments must
have control over their currencies. The
very name “cryptocurrency” means
hidden currency, and hidden wealth
threatens monetary institutions around
the world. Allowing the masses to do
as they choose with an untraceable
currency is anathema to all governing
authorities.
Banks and governments, to put it po-
litely, are jealous gods.
That’s why, one way or another, Bitcoin
and all other cryptocurrencies will even-
tually be either seized or otherwise co-
opted into the global financial system,
whether they want to be or not.
The day of cryptocurrencies is here; but
sooner than later, that day will be over.
James R. Gorrie is the author of “The
China Crisis” (Wiley, 2013) and writes
on his blog, TheBananaRepublican.com.
He is based in Southern California.
equity strategist Savita Subramanian said
in a note, highlighting a consensus on U.S.
profits that points to just a 3 percent drop
compared to pre-COVID-19 levels.
“While additional stimulus could provide
upside risks, rising COVID cases suggest a
more tepid recovery from here.”
There were some cracks appearing in ex-
pectations of a V-shaped bounceback in
earnings, with the pace of upward revisions
in global earnings estimates cooling down
in recent weeks.
Still, U.S. and European companies were
seen reporting profit growth of 20.8 percent
and 38 percent respectively for 2021, ac-
cording to Refinitiv data.
Vaccine rollouts have been a major rea-
son for the rosy outlook picture.
“There is widespread hope that a COV-
ID-19 vaccine rollout in 2021 can normalize
the underlying real economy and increase
earnings, employment, and margins,” said
Steen Jakobsen, chief investment officer at
investment bank Saxo.
“The risk is that new mutations of the vi-
rus will dilute our attempt to normalize our
society with the first-generation vaccine.”
By Thyagaraju Adinarayan
From Reuters
 THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021
Climate Risk and
Financial Stability
The spurious case for regulators greening the financial system
RUPERT DARWALL
Commentary
Shortly before her nomi-
nation as Treasury secre-
tary in the Biden ad-
ministration, Janet Yellen
appeared on a Bloomberg
New Economy panel discussing the role
of central banks as the world struggles to
emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The panel revealed a sharp difference of
opinion between Yellen and one of her
predecessors—Larry Summers, President
Bill Clinton’s second Treasury secretary.
“Don’t we think that central banks re-
ally need to be careful about holding out
the idea that they are relevant to sectoral
issues involving differentials between
one sector or another like environmen-
tal protection?” Summers asked. The
environment isn’t within central banks’
“proper remit,” Summers suggested;
having the Fed make special efforts to
buy green bonds was “a confusion.”
“On sustainable goals, I think it does
make sense for supervisors to be taking
the risks from both climate-related risks
and the risk of changes in prices and
stranded assets,” Yellen replied, articu-
lating what has become the consensus
among central bankers and financial
regulators.
As Villeroy de Galhau, governor of the
Banque de France, puts it, “Climate change
is part of our mandate for financial stabil-
ity, but also for monetary policy.” De Gal-
hau’s bank was behind the creation of the
Network of Central Banks and Supervisors
for Greening the Financial System, found-
ed in December 2017 on the second an-
niversary of the Paris Agreement.
Thanks to the Trump presidency, Ameri-
can regulators are coming late to the party.
The Fed joined the greening network only
after Trump’s election defeat. The excep-
tion is the Commodity Futures Trading
Commission (CFTC), one of whose com-
missioners has compared the impact of
climate change on financial markets to
the 2008 subprime crisis. In September
2020, the CFTC produced a 196-page re-
port on climate risk and financial stability.
Being first out of the blocks gives the CFTC
climate bragging rights, and its report will
likely serve as the reference point for the
greening of financial regulation and the
The headquarters of
the Bank of France in
Paris on April 17, 2020.
The Federal Reserve in
Washington on April 2, 2020.
OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
ALEX WONG/GETTY IMAGES
Treasury Secretary nominee
Janet Yellen speaks during
an event to name President-
elect Joe Biden’s economic
team, at The Queen in Wilm-
ington, Del., on Dec. 1, 2020.
BERTRAND GUAY/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Fed under the Biden administration.
The CFTC report, “Managing Climate
Risk in the U.S. Financial System,” is an
important document. As has become
standard, it construes two main types of
climate risk as threats to financial stabil-
ity: those arising directly from the physi-
cal impacts of man-made climate change
and those arising from climate policies.
It isn’t sufficient that these affect corpo-
rate cash flows and the value of financial
assets. For these to constitute a genuine
threat to financial stability, it’s necessary
to assume that markets also fail to price
these risks.
There is a tone of the lady doth protest
too much to the report’s discussion of
the physical impacts of climate change.
“Like others, I see what is already hap-
pening—entire regions burned by
increasing wildfire, larger storms, more
frequent floods,” Bob Litterman, who
chaired the committee responsible for
the report and spent 23 years at Gold-
man Sachs in risk management, writes in
the foreword. The only problem: The data
don’t support Litterman’s claim.
“When I hear climate change discussed
it’s suggested that it’s a major reason and
it’s not,” Scott Stevens of the University
of California—Berkeley told Michael
Shellenberger in reference to last year’s
California wildfires.
Litterman’s claim about larger storms
is falsified by the data. Accumulated
Cyclone Energy (ACE) measures the in-
tensity and frequency of tropical storms
and cyclones and indicates the damage
potential of a storm season. According
to Ole Humlum, global ACE data show
no clear trend for the entire period from
1970. Bjorn Lomborg points out that 2020
was indeed an extraordinary year for
hurricane activity—one of the weakest of
the last 40 years, with global ACE just 76
percent of the 1980-to-2010 average.
The CFTC report contains a chart
showing a rising incidence of inflation-
adjusted, $1 billion disaster events since
1980—a function of the greater intensity
and frequency of extreme weather events,
the commission claims. This conclusion
is a travesty, something one might expect
from an activist NGO rather than a finan-
cial regulator. (In fact, Litterman is also
a vice chair of the World Wildlife Fund.)
As Lomborg explains in a 2020 paper,
BUSINESS & ECONOMY | A19
“All kinds of disasters are likely to become
bigger as there are more people and more
wealth in the path of danger,” in what is
known as the Expanding Bull’s-Eye Effect.
The report’s fear-mongering purpose is
evidenced by its promotion of the widely
discredited RCP8.5 warming scenario in
order to help “shape awareness among
policymakers”—i.e., to scare them. The
damaging effects of climate change are
manifested through extreme weather.
Much of the CFTC report
consists of a financial regulator
telling investors how to do their
job—and making a mess of it.
Though the enhanced greenhouse
effect is global, weather remains local.
It’s thus inherently implausible that a
concatenation of local weather events
across a bicoastal continental land mass
subject to different weather systems
will wreak such havoc as to constitute a
systemic shock to the financial system.
There’s a sound of barrels being scraped
at the report’s implication that Silicon
Valley and Wall Street could be hit so
badly by simultaneous but separate
extreme weather events that they cause a
catastrophic shock.
Perhaps the sole benefit of the CO-
VID-19 pandemic is showing just how
resilient and adaptable humans are if
they’re allowed to be. The report’s state-
ment that a world racked by “frequent
and devastating shocks from climate
change cannot sustain the fundamen-
tal conditions supporting our financial
system” isn’t supported by any evi-
dence—and on examination turns out to
be preposterous.
The report also presents a weak case
for the second category of climate risk—
those arising from the destruction of
business value from climate-change
policies. Climate policies are hardly
new. Germany passed it first Renewable
Energy Act 20 years ago, so it’s surprising
that the CFTC didn’t analyze what impact
these measures had on financial mar-
kets. The German power generators had
been given free carbon credits, but from
a peak in January 2008 to August 2015,
the three quoted generators lost between
59 percent and 85 percent of their market
value. Nonetheless, the DAX 30 index of
German blue-chip companies rose by 39
percent. The market worked. No evidence
of threats to financial stability there.
When financial regulators and
central bankers start playing
climate politics under the guise
of promoting financial stability,
they lose focus on their core
responsibility.
Much of the CFTC report consists of a
financial regulator telling investors how
to do their job—and making a mess of it.
It recommends imposition of a manda-
tory, standardized disclosure framework,
and then, in the same paragraph, says
that the understanding of climate risk re-
mains “at an early stage.” Companies are
reluctant to disclose climate risk data be-
cause of concerns about being disadvan-
taged, the CFTC claims. Yet only a few
pages before, it suggests that companies
that do disclose would enjoy improved
market confidence in their management,
valuations, and cost of capital. Disclo-
sure is essential, but ambiguity as to
when climate change rises to the thresh-
old of materiality is the primary barrier
to disclosure. Got all that? As analysis,
the report is an incoherent mess.
But to accuse the CFTC of making bricks
without straw would be to miss the point.
The CFTC makes no secret of seeing its
job as finding ways to channel capital to-
ward net-zero investments. When finan-
cial regulators and central bankers start
playing climate politics under the guise
of promoting financial stability, they lose
focus on their core responsibility. Markets
thrive on diverse, often conflicting, views
of the future. They over-heat when a single
view predominates. Savage corrections
can follow. Perhaps that’s what Summers
alluded to when he spoke of confusion. If
so, confusion is what we’re in for over the
next four years. And therein lies the true
threat to financial stability.
Rupert Darwall is a senior fellow of the
RealClear Foundation and author of
“Green Tyranny: Exposing the Totalitarian
Roots of the Climate Industrial Complex”
and the report “The Climate Noose: Busi-
ness, Net Zero, and the IPCC’s Anti-Capi-
talism.” From RealClearWire.
A20 | THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021

TRUTH and TRADITION

In Our Own Words

In the Footsteps of My Grandfathers

Dear Epoch VIP,
Sometimes when I look around and see our staff
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TRUTH AND TRADITION

IN SEASON FLASH IN THE PAN

Cauliflower The Partial Enchilada

in the Spotlight Red chile sauce, made from scratch,
is a show-stealing addition to any winter meal.
3 ways to love—not hide—this versatile
winter vegetable.

See B2 See B3

GOOD EATS†††|†††RECIPES†††|†††DRINKS THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021 B1

FOOD
REGULA YSEWIJN

The
The trick
trick
to
to making
making the
the
best
best Chelsea
Chelsea bun,
bun,
Ysewijn
Ysewijn says,
says, is
is to
to
roll out the pastry
roll out the pastry
as
as thinly
thinly as
as you
you
can manage.
can manage.

Ysewijn champions some of Britain’s most popular bakes—such as the Chelsea bun, which back in early 18th-century London may have been “the first sweet confection that people ever queued for
in masses,” she writes, and remains ubiquitous in British bakeries today—alongside nearly forgotten regional gems.

Preserving the
RACHAEL DYMSKI Ysewijn, a food historian, author, and

M
photographer, learned this rhyme as a
ost of us can look at our small child, skipping rope in her native
lives and careers and point country of Belgium.

Pride and History

to something that shaped Upon hearing it, “I was besotted,” said
their trajectory: important, Ysewijn. “I knew I had to go to England. ... I
eye-opening moments, spe- started basically asking for every Christmas
cial events, influential people. For Regula and birthday if we could go to England.”

of British Baking
Ysewijn, it was a nursery rhyme:
White swans, black swans,
Will you sail to England with me?
England is locked
In her new cookbook, food historian The key is broken
And there is no blacksmith in the country
Regula Ysewijn documents Britain’s Who could repair our key
rich baking heritage, from the Let them pass,
Let them pass
When she was 9, her parents granted her
wish, and they went to England for the first
time—and then every holiday after that.
What Ysewijn recalls most about those
trips is the way the food fascinated her.
“The food worked in my head,” she said.
“It worked. We ate out at a lot of pubs, and
there was an enormous amount of diversity
on the British pub menu.”

famous to the obscure And the last one we will catch. Continued on B4

Call for Food Writers

Are you an experienced food writer? We’re looking to commission stories
about unique, time-honored food traditions and recipes from across the
FOOD
country—and around the world. If interested, send your pitch, author bio, and
2 to 3 writing samples to food@epochtimes.com S!
E FOR U
W RIT
B2 THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021

Simply put,
cauliflower is
a workhorse in
the kitchen.

Cauliflower
VICTORIA DE LA MAZA At the grocery store, look for heads of

A
When cauliflower that are unblemished with no
classic winter staple, cauliflower you're soft spots. They are normally sold wrapped
is a hardy, healthy, low-calorie grocery in plastic or already cut into florets. At

in the
vegetable of the cabbage family shopping, the farmers market, choose smaller ones
(Brassica oleracea). look for without blemishes.
With its mild taste and versatility—easily heads of The three recipes I am sharing today are
steamed, boiled, roasted, or fried—it can cauliflower totally different ways to use this winter

Spotlight
be transformed into all sorts of dishes.
It’s also a huge help for those following a
gluten-free or paleo diet, and today, it has
become increasingly popular as a lower-
carb alternative to rice, potatoes, pizza
crust, and pasta in many baked dishes.
3 ways to love—not Simply put, cauliflower is a workhorse
in the kitchen. Have you tried cauliflower
hide—this versatile risotto? You must. Or whole cauliflower
sliced into steaks and roasted with a drizzle
winter vegetable of pesto? Amazing. How about a medley
of different colored florets, steamed and
served with Champagne sauce? Fabulous.
that are
vegetable. They are unique in that the mild
unblemished
with no soft flavor of the cauliflower is not hidden, but
spots. rather enhanced, with the simple addition
of olive oil, a touch of cream, a handful of
cheese ... and a little kitchen magic!
Victoria de la Maza is an award-
winning cookbook author, columnist,
and international TV host. Passionate
about great food, she combines American
traditions with her European heritage to
create classic-with-a-twist recipes and
ideas for stylish entertaining at home.

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

ROASTED CAULIFLOWER
WITH ROMESCO
Roasting is one of the easiest yet most flavorful
ways of cooking cauliflower. The flavors
concentrate during the roasting, bringing out
savoriness and depth of flavor with the simple
addition of olive oil. I often serve roasted
cauliflower just like that. It’s so easy! But to turn it
into a rustic hors d’oeuvre, I serve it with romesco
sauce for dipping.
Romesco is a thick tomato and roasted red
pepper sauce originally from Catalonia, Spain. It
is traditionally served with calcots, a local green
onion that resembles a small leek or a large scallion.
The dish is served but once a year to celebrate the
harvest in late February. Farmers and growers
gather around a bonfire, char the calcots over
the open fire, peel them, and then dip them in the
romesco sauce.
But here, as open bonfires are frowned upon, I am
roasting cauliflower florets in the safety of my
home oven and serving them with the romesco
sauce on the side.
SERVES 6 AS AN APPETIZER
1 medium head cauliflower (1 1/2 pounds),
leaves removed, cut into large florets   over medium heat. Toast them for about 2 minutes,
Olive oil   shaking the pan, until some turn golden brown.
FOR THE ROMESCO SAUCE
1/2 cup slivered almonds 
1/4 cup hazelnuts
1/2 cup jarred roasted red peppers  
1 clove garlic, minced  
1/2 cup canned diced tomatoes, drained  
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar  
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika or pimentón  
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (you can leave
this out if you don’t like spicy) 
1/4 teaspoon sea salt 
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper  
1/2 cup olive oil
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Arrange the cauliflower florets in one layer on a
baking tray. Drizzle olive oil on top and season with
ground pepper. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and
roast for 20 minutes, until still firm but fork tender.
Remove the foil and roast until it is cooked through In a food processor, add the roasted red peppers, and thick. Taste to adjust seasonings. Store in the
and golden brown, about 10 to 15 minutes. garlic, toasted almonds and hazelnuts, tomatoes, refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Meanwhile, make the romesco sauce. vinegar, paprika, cayenne (if using), and salt To serve, arrange the cauliflower pieces on a plate
Toast the almonds and hazelnuts in a frying pan and pepper. Pulse a couple of times to mix the with a small bowl of romesco for dipping, or spoon
ingredients. Add the olive oil and pulse one or two a few tablespoons of romesco onto a plate and
more times to mix. The sauce should be chunky arrange cauliflower pieces on top. Serve warm.

This cauliflower and pear soup is elegant, 2 ripe pears, cored and diced (about 3 to 4
CREAMY CAULIFLOWER AND PEAR SOUP sophisticated, and oh-so-chic! The flavor of the cups)
pear comes through as sweet but not sugary, and 6 cups chicken broth  
it blends with the cauliflower to create a delicious
cream. Blending the soup until very smooth elevates 1/2 cup half and half  
it to dinner party status. 1/4 teaspoon sea salt 
I like serving it in consommé cups (those are the cups 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper  
with two handles) and garnishing it with chopped
chives just before serving. Similar to vichyssoise, this 4 tablespoons finely chopped chives
soup is delicious served hot or chilled. In a large stockpot, melt the butter over medium
For an elegant dinner, follow the soup with beef heat. Add the onion and ginger and sauté until the
Wellington and a combination of roasted baby onion is transparent. Add the cauliflower, pears,
vegetables, such as potatoes, carrots, and squash, broth, and half and half. Season with salt and
pepper to taste.
and a chocolatey dessert.
Bring the soup to a boil, then lower the heat to a
SERVES 4 simmer, cover, and cook until the vegetables are
4 tablespoons butter, salted   very soft, about 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and
let the soup cool briefly.
1 medium onion, diced (about 1 cup)
Once the soup is no longer smoking, work in
1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and diced (about batches to purée it in a blender until smooth. Strain
2 tablespoons)  through a medium sieve and return it to a clean pot.
1 large head cauliflower (2 1/2 pounds), To serve, reheat over low heat and garnish with the
leaves removed, cut into florets  chopped chives. Serve hot or chilled.
 THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021 B3
ALL PHOTOS BY VICTORIA DE LA MAZA ARI LEVAUX

Red chile enchilada sauce, thickened with corn masa.

FLASH IN THE PAN

The Partial Enchilada

Red chile sauce, made from scratch,
is a show-stealing addition to any winter meal
ARI LEVAUX too, including, fortuitously, the pain of
hot chiles.
Winter is the season for red chile enchilada
sauce. Star of the Sauce
You can almost smell the piñon and ju- I’ve got some red chiles drying in my living
niper smoke drifting from the leaky wood room, strung up in ristras, New Mexico-
stove, as you explore the profound depths of style. The peppers are Italian long hots, thin
a good red chile sauce made from scratch. and crinkled. Eating them is sometimes
The sauce is good on potatoes, squash, and described as like playing Russian roulette,
other wintry foods, keeping you warm in- because you never know when one will
side and out, from your spicy mouth to your be searing. Mine are consistently sweet at
Roasting is one of the easiest yet sweating skin, and for better or worse, ev- the tips. You take a bite, feel the pungent
erything in between. power, and brace to be slapped, but get
most flavorful ways of cooking You can find the ingredients nearly ev- kissed instead by that bright red sweet-
cauliflower. erywhere, from the bulk section of Whole ness. Encouraged, you keep eating—until
Foods to the “ethnic foods” aisle of a small- you get slapped for real as you approach
town supermarket, with little more than the seeds.
salsa, soy sauce, and ramen.
We aren’t going to call it “chili,” by the
CHEESY CAULIFLOWER AND BACON GRATIN way. The Mexican word for the plant from
Mexico is “chile.” Enchilada, meanwhile, All the other stuff, like
is the past participle of enchilar, a Spanish
Creamy gratins are a comforting backbone of winter cooking. Using
cauliflower as the base gives you a healthy-ish dish, where the florets are verb that literally means “to put chile on tortillas, chicken, cheese,
enveloped in a rich, luscious béchamel sauce. I love adding diced ham or something.” In the popular dish enchila- et al., are just different
bacon, but you can easily omit it if you want a vegetarian option. das, named after that verb, the “something”
It can be a whole dinner in itself, served with a salad, or a side dish as part
to which chile is applied is corn tortillas. ways to season and
The world’s first enchiladas were little
of a buffet. I love the simplicity of this dish, and the groans of pleasure that
more than tortillas dipped in chile sauce. decorate the chile.
I hear when I serve it to family and friends.
Generations of Mexican chefs took this ini-
SERVES 4 TO 6
tial breakthrough in countless directions. It’s a great pepper for red chile sauce, but
1 large head cauliflower (about 2 Chips and salsa is one derivative, although any whole pod will work, preferably not
pounds), leaves removed, cut into some might argue the chips are actually too hot. When you eat as much chile as I
florets entomatadas, aka treated with tomato. (Not do, you have to pace yourself. If you can’t
4 ounces bacon (about 4 strips), cut to be confused with enfrijoladas, treated get whole pods, you can substitute ground
into 1/2 inch strips with beans.) chile; depending on its quality and fresh-
3 tablespoons butter   I once fed cayenne powder to my chickens ness, that can turn out fine.
to make their yolks extra-red. Although At some point, folks like me might as well
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour  
they didn’t taste spicy—the capsaicin concede that we aren’t actually applying
1 cup milk   doesn’t make it to the eggs, even though the chile to this or that substrate, because
1 cup half-and-half   beta-carotene does—those yolks, gram- chile is the substrate. And all the other
The cheesy matically speaking, were enchilados. stuff, like tortillas, chicken, cheese, et al.,
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg   béchamel In Spanish language slang, enchilada are just different ways to season and deco-
1/4 teaspoon sea salt  sauce.
can mean red-faced and triggered, like a rate the chile. But until then, we’ll keep
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper   charging bear sprayed with mace. Mean- calling it red chile sauce.
1 cup grated Gruyere   while, researchers have determined that
capsaicin does indeed trigger a rush of en- Ari LeVaux writes about food in
1 cup grated cheddar  
dorphins. The endorphins can dull pain, Missoula, Mont.
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
Bring a large stockpot of water to a boil. Cook the cauliflower until just
tender but still firm, about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.
RED CHILE TREATMENT
In a medium frying pan, cook the bacon until crispy. Drain on paper towels
and set aside.
While most New Mexican red chile recipes are the entire enchilada
In a saucier or saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and whisk in
thickened with a little flour, I prefer corn masa, the Heat the stock to a simmer. Add the cleaned chile and
the flour until the flour is all incorporated. Add the milk, half-and-half, and
same stuff tortillas and tamales are made of. Masa is a simmer 10 minutes. Then turn off the heat and let sit
nutmeg, and season with salt and pepper. Whisk gently until the mixture
flour made from corn treated with calcium hydroxide. for an hour.
begins to boil and thickens. Lower the heat to a simmer and add the
This ancient process (it used to employ wood ash)
Gruyere and cheddar. Remove from the heat and continue whisking until When it’s cool, add to a blender with the oregano and
is called nixtamalization, and it gives the cornmeal a
the cheese melts to make a smooth sauce. garlic, and blend until smooth. It will coalesce into a
creamier texture.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. magical, near translucent state of chile gel, and some
I gently fry the masa in butter into a kind of roux. This cooks will call it good right there.
In a 8- x 11- x 2-inch casserole dish (or other 2-quart baking dish), spread
masa-based roux is easier to manage than a flour-based Heat the butter and oil in a saucepan on medium heat.
about 1/4 of the sauce on the bottom. Add the cauliflower and sprinkle
one, and has this fun, smooth foaming action that will Add the masa and fully stir it into the oil and butter.
the bacon on top. Top with the rest of the sauce to cover the cauliflower.
eventually develop a nutty brown color and flavor, but When it starts to brown, add the onions and water.
Sprinkle with Parmesan.
isn’t eager to burn. (To stay with this French sauce-y Cook until the onions are translucent, stirring as
Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and the theme, you could stir in some cream at the very end.) necessary to prevent sticking, about 10 minutes. Then
Parmesan has turned golden brown. Serve hot.
Just a few spoonfuls of masa add a distinct dissolved- add the chile blend and heat to a simmer. Keep it there
tortilla flavor that’s so noticeable I often skip making 5 to 10 minutes, stirring often. Don’t overcook. You
the “whole enchilada,” if you will, and simply apply this want to keep that bright red hue.
thick chile sauce to my choice of protein. I’ll garnish To make enchiladas, stack or roll your tortillas (heat
with onions, cilantro, and avocado and call it good. them first in a foil-wrapped stack if rolling). Heat the
1 quart chicken stock (1 or more tablespoons chicken in the chile sauce for a few minutes before
Better than Bouillon paste in a quart of water, or building the enchiladas. Bake until the cheese melts,
equivalent) and serve garnished with raw onion.
ARINA P HABICH/SHUTTERSTOCK
1 ounce dried red chile pod, clean and devoid of
seeds and stems
3 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon oregano
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon oil
2 tablespoons masa
1 pound onions, minced
1 cup water
Optional: cooked chicken meat, corn tortillas, Use red chile sauce to build the whole enchilada—
grated jack or similar cheese, and fresh onions for or simply put it on anything and everything.
B4
Preserving the Pride and History
of British Baking
Continued from B1
That included a lot of Indian-inspired
foods, due to Britain’s connection with
India. Ysewijn recalls one holiday where
she had chicken curry for the first time:
“It blew my mind. I mean, it did things
in my mouth and my head and mind—it
was magical.”
“I traveled around England thinking
about food all the time,” she said. “I had
breakfast and started thinking about
lunch.”
A budding baker, Ysewijn became an
astute learner of Britain’s distinct food
scene when she was still a child, peer-
ing through bakery windows to see what
they offered, ordering soup for lunch and
writing down what type of bread came
with it (the British have more than seven
names for bread).
At home in Belgium, Ysewijn searched
for the flavors of England. She learned to
bake a pound cake, then began watching
Jamie Oliver. She learned, as she baked,
that food was something to be enjoyed,
not simply eaten to survive.
In the years since, she’s continued to
bake and research, and has published
several books on British baking. Her
latest, “The British Baking Book: The
History of British Baking, Savory and
Sweet,” highlights the rich heritage and
culture of British cooking, document-
ing local specialties and delving into the
stories behind some of Britain’s most
popular bakes.
Scones, for example, were originally
baked on a griddle over a fire, and Cor-
nish fairings, a ginger sweet treat (and
one of the six recipes for different types
of gingerbread in the book), have been
sold at English fairs for centuries.
Pride and Culture
Why should a Belgian write a book on
British food and culture? Ysewijn makes
an excellent point: “From an outsider,
looking in, you can see the food culture
differently. You can see what’s different
in that culture from your own culture.”
What’s different, Ysewijn emphasizes,
is the pride.
Ysewijn noticed, even as a child, the
pride that the British take in serving
distinct, well-made food: local sausage,
fresh produce, and other quality ingredi-
ents. She found herself drawn to British
food because of the thoughtful way in
which it was made. It was always good
because they cared about the quality of
what they served.
The theme of pride and ownership
in one’s food and its history echoes
throughout the book, especially in the
recipes distinctive to each region of
Britain.
Take the Cornish pasty, a semi-circular
pie traditionally filled with meat, potato,
onion, and turnip, eaten by fishermen and
miners of Cornwall, a county on the south-
west coast of England known for its stun-
ning cliffs and scenery. In 2011, Cornish
CLAPCAKE
Clapcake, clapbread, or havercake from
Cumbria, northern England, and clap scones
from Scotland, resemble the thin crispbread
we usually associate only with Scandinavia.
“The Diary of Celia Fiennes” from 1698
tells us how these clapcakes were made in
Cumbria:
They mix their flour with water, so soft as
to rowle it in their hands into a ball, and
then they have a board made round and
something hollow in the middle riseing by
degrees all round to the Edge a little higher,
but so little as one would take it to be only
a board warp’d, this is to Cast out the Cake
thinn and so they Clap it round and drive it
to ye Edge in a Due proportion till drove as
thinn as a paper and still they Clap it and
drive it round, and then they have a plaite
of iron same size with their Clap board, and
so shove off the Cake on it and so set it on
Coales and bake it...
After being baked, the clapcake was dried
in front of a fire on a special wooden rack
called a “havercake maiden,” which looks
like a miniature bench. Celia also writes that
people dipped it in milk, ate it with meat, or
simply smeared it with butter, and that it was
the only bread eaten in this region unless you
lived close to a market town where there were
regular markets.
Novelist Elizabeth Gaskell described the drying
of clapcakes in 1863: “The great rack of
clap-bread hung overhead, and Bell Robson’s
Author Regula Ysewijn.
“The British Baking Book:
The History of British Baking,
Savory and Sweet” by Regula
Ysewijn (Weldon Owen, $35).
I try to catch
things before they
disappear into
oblivion.
Regula Ysewijn, food
historian and author, “The
British Baking Book”
preference of this kind of oat-cake over the
leavened and partly sour kind used in Yorkshire
was another source of her unpopularity.”
Historian Peter Brears found a later reference
to clapcake in the 1940s, when a Dr. Henry
Bedford recorded them still being made in the
Lake Counties.
Today clapcake is, unfortunately, largely
forgotten. It’s a shame, because it is a
versatile oatcake suitable for various
applications, great for breakfast or lunch with
cheese, jam, or even chocolate spread, but
it’s also perfect to serve with a cheese platter
or dips. I regularly bake a batch of clapcakes,
and they keep for up to a month in a sturdy
brown paper bag—they become rather like
cardboard when kept in an airtight container.
Clapcakes can be revived by putting them in a
hot oven for a few minutes.
Although not traditional, rolling different
types of seeds, such as caraway, into the
dough as they do in Scandinavia makes for a
nice variation. I add a little regular flour to this
batter because it makes for an easier batter,
but feel free to use all oat flour.
MAKES 4 INDIVIDUAL 8-INCH CLAPCAKES,
OR 1 TO 2 LARGER ONES
1 1/2 tablespoon (20 grams) lard
1 cup boiling water
1 3/4 cups (170 grams) oat flour
GREETJE VAN BUGGENHOUT
pasties were granted a Protected Geo-
graphical Indication (PGI) status. A pasty
can now only be called a Cornish pasty if
it’s made in Cornwall, has the shape of a D,
and is made with shortcrust dough and a
crimped edge, among other specifications.
Other regional bakes include Bath
buns, rich with butter and decorated with
caraway comfits; Yorkshire tea cakes,
round, brioche-like buns with golden
tops; and bannocks, griddle-baked quick
breads from Northern England, North-
ern Ireland, and Scotland, made with
a mixture of oats, rye, and barley from
their harvest. The key crops of specific
regions in Britain—oats and barley in the
harsher, wetter north, and wheat in the
warmer, drier center and south—influ-
enced their signature, regional bakes.
With British food, pride has always
been a factor. Ysewijn told a story of a
French visitor to England in the 17th
century who kept a diary about his
visit to England. He marveled at the
way the English took pride in their ani-
mal husbandry—breeding and caring
for their animals—and how that pride
resulted in excellent roast beef. Over
the centuries, the British have hung
on to their heritage—including their
landscape.
In the north of England, for instance, there
are herds of sheep that have been there for
hundreds of years, with knowledge of the
landscape, that know how to survive.
1/2 cup (60 grams) all-purpose flour or
superfine oat flour
Pinch of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
Oat flour, for dusting
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F.
Melt the lard in the boiling water. Mix in the
flours, baking powder, and salt to make a
smooth dough. Mix with a wooden spoon and,
once it is cool enough, knead well by hand. If
the dough remains too wet (this will depend
on the age of your flour), add a little more flour
until the dough is no longer sticky.
Divide the dough into portions or leave it whole
if you are making one large clapcake. On a sheet
of parchment paper generously dusted with oat
flour, roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/16
inch (or as thin as possible). Use a Scandinavian
knobbly rolling pin if you have one.
Using the parchment paper, slide the
clapcake(s) onto a baking sheet. Bake in
the middle of the oven for 15 minutes, then
turn and bake for another 5 minutes. Let the
clapcakes cool on a wire rack. Clapcakes
keep for a very long time in a sturdy brown
paper bag.
All recipes reprinted from “The British Baking
Book: The History of British Baking, Savory and
Sweet” by Regula Ysewijn, with permission
from Weldon Owen Publishers.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021
“Other sheep wouldn’t survive the
weather elements there,” Ysewijn said.
Because the sheep have been a priority to
the culture, they are still there today.
“The pride British people have for their
heritage shines through in every layer
of their food culture,” Ysewijn said. “It’s
not just the dishes or recipes; they’re also
maintaining their landscapes, their na-
tive animal breeds, animal husbandry,
because everything is connected.”
Preserving History
In a field such as food history, Ysewijn is
all too aware of how quickly recipes can
change. Take, for example, the Bakewell
tart, a dessert made with shortcrust
pastry, jam, and a dense almond filling,
topped with flaked almonds.
“I’ve been obsessed with Bakewell tarts
for years,” said Ysewijn. “It’s fascinating
to see how something can change in five
years. A bakery is bought by someone
else. They change the Bakewell tart a little
bit, and the recipe is changed forever.”
Today in Britain, the “cherry
Bakewell”—a mass-produced supermar-
ket version, topped with smooth white
icing and a lone cherry—has risen in
popularity. True to the dessert’s history,
Ysewijn’s version isn’t iced.
“I try to catch things before they disap-
pear into oblivion,” she said. Ysewijn
cares about preserving the history and
identity of the bakes she writes about. “I
try to communicate this information in
plain English.”
Indeed, Ysewijn’s book is written in a
delightfully digestible way. Filled with
beautiful pictures and designs, as well as
interesting anecdotes about Britain’s rich
culinary history, it’s hard to put down.
The biggest gift for me, in reading this
book, was the way it connected me once
again to the forgotten foods of my child-
hood. As an American raised by Eng-
lish parents, I was thrilled to discover
once again foods I’d had during trips to
England: bacon baps and butties on the
Dover cliffs with my grandparents, ched-
dar scones outside of Walmer Castle,
a Chelsea bun with a cup of tea in my
auntie’s garden.
Baking these foods in my own kitchen,
especially in a time when England is
closed to me, made me feel like I was
unlocking again the important foods of
my childhood and family.
Ysewijn possesses a knowledge of
British culture and heritage that might
surpass that of most native Britons. By
documenting and sharing so much of
the nation’s history and identity around
its food in her book, she has become the
blacksmith of the childhood rhyme that
drew her to England in the first place—
and has mended for all of us a key.
Rachael Dymski is an author, florist, and
mom to two little girls. She is currently
writing a novel about the German occu-
pation of the Channel Islands and blogs
on her website, RachaelDymski.com
REGULA YSEWIJN
Clapcakes, nearly forgotten crispbreads from Cumbria in northern
England, are very versatile.
 THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021 B5

BAKEWELL TART

In Bakewell you’ll find a bakery on every street corner,

each claiming they bake the one and only original Bakewell
pudding that made the little Peak District town famous.
Who actually invented the Bakewell pudding?
According to the most popular story, the Bakewell
pudding originated around 1850 when the maid of the
local Rutland Arms pub made a mistake when reading a
recipe from her mistress, Anne Grieves, thus creating a
new bake that they then baptized as Bakewell pudding.
However, recipes for this pudding appear two decades
earlier in two manuscript recipe books, and in print
in “The Magazine of Domestic Cookery” published in
1836. In “Traditional Fare of England and Wales” from
1948, a recipe says that: “A Mr Stephen Blair gave £5
for this recipe at the hotel at Bakewell about 1835.”
But there isn’t just Bakewell pudding to be had in
Bakewell, there’s also Bakewell tart. When researching
my first book, I was on a mission in Bakewell to uncover
the mystery surrounding the Bakewell pudding and
Bakewell tart, two very similar bakes, although the
pudding has a custard filling and is baked in a puff
pastry base, while the Bakewell tart has a more cakelike
consistency—often made with frangipane in recent
years—and is baked in a shortcrust base. Could the
Bakewell tart be a more recent invention based on the
pudding? Nineteenth-century cookbooks show recipes
for Bakewell tarts, but they are always called Bakewell
pudding, which tells us that people were baking two kinds
of Bakewell pudding at that time and one of the recipes
was simply renamed tart in the early 20th century.
But while the Bakewell pudding was most likely an
18th-century sweetmeat pudding renamed to create

a local delicacy to attract the increasing number of
Victorian tourists when the railway came to the area,
today we find yet another kind of Bakewell in Bakewell,
and it was not invented by a kitchen maid.
Filming a program with the BBC recently about how the
iced “Cherry Bakewell”—the supermarket version of
the Bakewell tart—was born, I found out that although
five years ago you couldn’t find an iced Bakewell tart in
Bakewell (at one bakery there was even a sign saying
that you shouldn’t ask about iced Bakewells because
“Bakewell tarts are not iced”), today you can choose
between a plain Bakewell and an iced Bakewell. The
owner of Bloomers of Bakewell bakery, where the
aforementioned sign used to be, told me, rather sadly,
that tourists now demand iced Bakewells because
they know them from the supermarket shelves and
see them as the original Bakewell. You can also make a
Bakewell as a traybake (sheet cake). This is known as a
“Bakewell slice” when divided up into portions.
The iced “Cherry Bakewell” is a completely different
product. Its scallop-rimmed pastry casing and smooth
white icing with a lone cherry in the middle did become
iconic, even though it had nothing to do with the
original. It was developed in the 1970s by Mr. Kipling,
a major manufacturer of cakes, and today the tart is
manufactured on a massive scale throughout Britain.
And so the history of this bake changes again. It is only
a matter of time before the Bakewell tart—as we know
it now—is replaced by the iced version created to meet
mass production, with a cherry on top.
The recipe in this book is based on the Bakewell
pudding from Mrs. Leyell’s book, “Pudding,” published
in 1927. Although in the book it is called “pudding”
rather than “tart,” it is what we know today as a
Bakewell tart. The only difference with the commercial
Bakewell tart is that this recipe uses breadcrumbs and
almond meal, which makes for a superior, more dense
filling, and not frangipane. So by baking this version,
you’re keeping the old-style Bakewell tart alive.
Due to the dense nature of this tart, it will keep for many
days in an airtight container. I think it even improves on
the second day.
REGULA YSEWIJN
SERVES 6 TO 8 the blade attachment. Pulse for 8 seconds until the filling on top. Sprinkle with the flaked almonds and bake
mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg and for 30 to 35 minutes until golden brown.
FOR THE SHORTCRUST PASTRY water and pulse again until the dough forms a ball in
NOTE:
2 cups (250 grams) all-purpose flour the bowl. Remove from the bowl and knead briefly. In the past, bitter almonds were used instead of almond
Wrap the pastry in plastic wrap and let it rest in the
3/4 cup (100 grams) powdered sugar flavoring. These almonds contain a toxin that can be
refrigerator for 30 minutes. harmful if you eat too many of them. Apricot kernels
Pinch of sea salt
Prepare an 8-inch round cake tin: With a folded sheet contain the same toxin but to a much lesser extent,
1/2 cup (125 grams) chilled butter, diced of paper towel, apply a thin layer of butter nicely around making them a good alternative. Bashed apricot kernels
the edge of the baking tin. Place a layer of parchment to which rosewater is added give the same marzipan-
1 egg paper on the bottom of the baking tin: trace around the
like odor and taste as bitter almonds.
1 tablespoon water tin onto the parchment paper, then cut out the circle. Adhere strictly to the quantities in this book and do
Butter, for greasing
Stick the parchment paper to the butter so that the not eat the kernels without incorporating them into
paper stays in place. Dust the lined tin with flour, then the bake. The kernels may not be eaten in any case like
Flour, for dusting hold the tin upside down  above your workbench or sink
regular nuts. Therefore keep them out of the reach of
and tap on the bottom to remove the excess flour. small children and housemates who are looking for
FOR THE FILLING
Roll out the pastry on a floured work surface to a something to nibble.
3 tablespoons (20 grams) apricot kernels (see thickness of 1/4 inch. Fold in the sides so that the
Note) pastry will fit into the base of the tin, then gently lift
1 tablespoon rosewater it into the tin, letting it sink down into the base. Use a
small piece of excess dough to firmly press the edges
10 tablespoons (150 grams) butter of the pastry into the tin. Trim the excess pastry with
1/3 cup (75 grams) demerara (coarse raw sugar) a knife and then pierce the base with a fork. Put the
1 3/4 cups (150 grams) almond meal
pastry in the fridge to rest for at least 20 minutes or
overnight (we don’t blind bake this pastry as we want it
Baking these foods in my
2/3 cup (50 grams) fresh white breadcrumbs to blend a little with the filling). own kitchen, especially
2 eggs Blanch the apricot kernels in boiling water, then remove
the skins. Using a mortar and pestle, bash the apricot in a time when England
Pinch of grated nutmeg
kernels with the rosewater to make a paste. is closed to me, made me
3 tablespoons raspberry jam Melt the butter in a saucepan but don’t let it bubble.
Handful of flaked almonds Remove the pan from the heat, add the sugar, almond feel like I was unlocking
meal, apricot kernel paste, and breadcrumbs and stir
Flour, for dusting
well. Add the eggs and nutmeg and mix well. Let the again the important
filling rest for at least 1 hour. Towards the end of the
resting time, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
foods of my childhood
Make the shortcrust pastry by combining the flour,
sugar, salt, and butter in a food processor fitted with Spread the jam over the pastry base and spoon the and family.

CHELSEA BUNS

Chelsea buns were sold in The Chelsea Bun House in
London as far back as 1711. They may be considered
the first sweet confection that people ever queued for
in masses, just to get their hands on a bun or two. It
might not be as modern as a cronut or a freakshake,
but the Chelsea bun managed to live through the
ages without being forgotten along the way. Today it
is still the bun you see most frequently sold in British
bakeries, although it’s getting some competition from
the Scandinavian cinnamon bun.
Chelsea buns are made from a rich yeast dough and
must have a square shape, with a circular spiral dotted
with currants. The pleasure of unrolling them while you
eat them and tearing the dough is addictive. The size
of the baking tins is important to ensure that the buns
touch one another and push each other into a square
shape. The trick to making the best Chelsea bun is to
roll out the pastry as thinly as you can manage.
MAKES 24 BUNS
sugar), or granulated white sugar
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Pinch of fine sea salt
2 1/2 cups (350 grams) currants
FOR THE SUGAR SYRUP
1/4 cup (60 grams) demerara (coarse raw sugar),
or granulated white sugar
5 tablespoons water
Superfine sugar, for sprinkling
Add the yeast to the lukewarm milk and stir briefly and
gently to activate it. The yeast will start to foam up in
clusters, which means it is ready for use.
Combine the flour and sugar in a large bowl or the
bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook and
put the butter on top. Pour half of the yeast mixture
over the butter and start kneading. When the milk and
REGULA YSEWIJN

FOR THE BUNS

3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon (30 grams) dried
yeast
2 1/2 cups lukewarm milk
8 1/3 cups (1 kilogram) strong white bread flour
(around 12.6 grams/1/2 ounce of protein per
100 grams/3 1/2 ounces of flour, or 12 to 13
percent; see Note)
1/2 cup (120 grams) demerara (coarse raw
sugar), or granulated white sugar
10 tablespoons (140 grams) butter, cubed, at
room temperature
2 eggs, beaten
1 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
Flour, for dusting
FOR THE FILLING
1 pound (450 grams) butter, at room temperature
1 1/3 cups (285 grams) demerara (coarse raw
butter are completely absorbed, add the rest of the
yeast mixture, along with the eggs. Knead the dough
for 5 minutes, then let it stand for a few minutes (at
this point the dough will be very wet). Add the salt and
knead for 10 minutes, scraping the dough off the dough
hook and sides of the bowl if needed, until the dough
has come together in a smooth and elastic dough that is
not too dry but also not terribly wet.
Cover the dough and set aside for 1 hour until it has
doubled in quantity.
Meanwhile, make the filling by whipping the butter with
the sugar, cinnamon, and salt until creamy.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F and line two 15 x
10-inch jelly roll tins with parchment paper.
Roll out the dough on a floured surface to a rectangle
that’s about 24 x 38 inches and 1/16 inch thick (or
as thin as possible). Place the dough in front of you
horizontally. Cover the top half with a third of the filling,
then fold the bottom half over the filling. Roll over the
dough with a rolling pin to flatten it out.
Spread the whole surface of the dough with the
Chelsea buns are made from a rich yeast dough and must have a square shape, with a circular spi-
ral dotted with currants.
remaining filling, dot with the currants, and roll up
lengthwise to make a long roll. Cut the roll into 2-inch
slices and place in the baking tins with the spiral facing
upwards and a little space in between each bun. Bake
for 20 to 25 minutes until the buns are golden brown.
Prepare the syrup while the buns are baking by heating
the sugar and water in a small saucepan until the sugar
has dissolved. Brush the buns with the sugar syrup as
soon as they come out of the oven and sprinkle with
superfine sugar.
The buns are best eaten on the day they’re made, but
they can be revived in a hot oven for a few minutes the
next day, or you can freeze the baked buns, thaw, and
then pop them in a hot oven for a few minutes.
NOTE:
British recipes for bread and other bakes sometimes
require completely or partially strong white bread flour,
which can be compared to patent flour. This flour is
made from harder wheat, which means that the flour
contains more gluten. Gluten is needed for a light
and well-raised result. There are several varieties of
patent flour and the difference is in the protein content.
American flour may be made from either winter or
summer wheat. Winter wheat is sown in the fall and
harvested in the summer. This wheat produces more
protein than wheat that grows in the summer. These
types of flour are available only in specialty shops or
online, but are very accessible to hobby bakers.
B6 THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021

CROSSWORD CONSTRUCTED BY TOM HOUSTON

EPOCH TIMES STAFF 8. Strumpet 4NUMBERS CONSTRUCTED BY C. CHANG
AT 4NUMS.COM DAILY BRIDGE CLUB
9. Poetic stress The sound of silence
Use the four numbers in the corners, and
10. Innocent the operands (+, - X, and ÷) to build an BY FRANK STEWART, TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY
equation to get the solution in the middle.
11. Dummkopf There may be more than one “unique” so- ©2020 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
12. NASA concern lution but, there may also be “equivalent”
solutions. For example: 6 + (7 X 3) +1 = 28 Unlucky Louie, who has a houseful of kids,
13. Prohibition and 1+ (7 X 3) + 6 = 28 says that silence is golden — unless all the
14. First acrylic fiber kids are home, in which case it’s downright
suspicious.
15. Stinks As declarer at today’s 3NT, Louie put
20. Entry to a fairway up dummy’s jack to win the first heart but
next led ... a spade. East rose with the ace
24. Flubs to return a heart, and West took four hearts
27. Causes consternation for down one.
“I could have finessed in both diamonds
28. Chap and clubs,” Louie shrugged, “but forcing
29. Theater seaters out the ace of spades looked simpler.”
30. Peter Pan’s loss EXTRA TRICK
31. Ambrosia of immor- Even if Louie set up four spade tricks, he
would have only eight in all and would need
tality an extra trick in a minor. But Louie should
35. Like some debts Hard 1 - 2 Solutions have listened to W est’ s silence. W est
surely had five or more hearts headed by
36. Germany’s Dort- the A-Q, and with a side ace, he would have
mund-___ Canal overcalled at favorable vulnerability.
East was likely to hold the ace of spades.
38. An awful Heep At Trick Two, Louie can let the nine of
39. Military science diamonds ride. He next finesses in clubs,
then goes to the ace of diamonds to pick
41. Pertaining to up the diamonds. He wins five diamonds,
element 92 three clubs and a heart.
42. Equal to 1/166th DAILY QUESTION
of a Euro in 2002 You hold: { A 7 10 3 2 Q 5 4
yK97 62. YThe dealer, at your left, opens
43. Noisy talk one heart. Y our partner doubles, and the
45. Toy ammo next player passes. What do you say?
Hard 2 - 2 Solutions ANSWER: Your hand is worth about 10
46. Big Apple attraction, points. The textbook call is a jump to three
Across 37. Small dog 73. Plants with anti-in- with “the” clubs to invite game. A bid of two clubs
1. “Over here!” 40. Cloyingly sweet flammatory properties would deny as many as 10 points. Still,
50. Earlier I would prefer longer or stronger clubs
5. Kind of acid from 44. Devil-may-care 77. Send 53. Franklin, for one since partner might bid 3NT next, hoping
apples, grapes, etc. 47. Bailiwick 79. Now! to run several club tricks. I would accept
55. Center of activity either call.
11. New York’s ___ Place 48. Touches up 81. Sample stuff 56. Important times South dealer
16. Tesla Model 3 49. “Send up a signal, I’ll 82. Puke N-S vulnerable
60. More pretentious
17. Provincial ruler in the throw you ___” (Billy Joel 83. Genesis garden 62. Cajuns’ early home
Byzantine Empire lyric) 84. Japanese “comics” 64. Punch bowl of old
18. Fifth wheel 50. “Stop!” 85. Machine-gun sound 65. Met offering
19. Give credit for a quote 51. Decomposes 86. Program that ensures 66. Flank Easy 1 - 1 Solution
to a second source 52. English royal house combat journalists can 67. Theoretical premise
21. Dark brown or black 54. Wrap in a blanket perform first aid 68. “The Lego Movie”
22. D and C, in D.C. 57. “___ Loves You” hero
23. Come-on 58. Respectful Down 69. Messenger ___
25. Prepare 59. Subtle glow 1. Links numbers 70. Saltpeter
26. Bridge workers, 61. “Go team!” 2. Haggis ingredient 74. Ghanaian money
perhaps 63. “Dude, Where’s My 3. Headliner 75. Public house
29. “Anytown, ___” ___?” (2000 comedy) 4. Took along inventory
32. Telesthesia 64. Liquor personified 5. Cheek 76. Harmony
33. Very dry, as wine 71. “Globe’s” angle? 6. Are 78. Leaves in a bag
34. Nobodies 72. Originate (from) 7. Hack 80. DC clock setting Easy 2 - 2 Solutions

WORDSEARCH CONSTRUCTED BY TOM HOUSTON

EPOCH TIMES STAFF SUPER KAKURO CONSTRUCTED
BY EPOCH TIMES STAFF

Help with Today’s Crossword Puzzle? Kakuro puzzles are like crosswords that use numbers instead of words. The goal is to fill the blank squares associated with a clue (called a “run”) with the numbers
1-9 so that the numbers add up to the corresponding clues. Like Sudoku, digits in a run cannot repeat. When the grid is filled, the puzzle is complete.

ALINE EXISTS PECTIC SPARE

AMRITA HEM IN PESETA STREETS
ARNICAS ICTUS POLITE SYRUPY
ASTOR IMMEDIATELY RAT-TAT TABOO
AVAST JORUM REMIT TOTED
CHERUB LEMMA SABLE TRULL
EDITS MANGA SHADOW URANIC
EMESIS NITER SHMOES URIAH
EMMET OPERA SPACE URINE
EXARCH ORLON TRAVEL USHERS

SOLUTIONS
CROSSWORD SUPER KAKURO
4 NUMBERS
HARD 1

HARD 2

EASY 1

EASY 2
 THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021 B7

SUDOKU CONSTRUCTED
BY KANNAN SANKARAN SUPERSUDOKU CONSTRUCTED
BY KANNAN SANKARAN

Fill in the boxes using numbers between 1 and 9 so that each column, each Fill in the boxes using numbers from 0 to 9 and letters from A to F so that each column, each row, and
row, and each 3x3 square contain all nine numbers only once. each 4x4 square contain all ten numbers and six letters only once.
Hard

Easy FEEDBACK@EPOCHTIMES.COM

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CRYPTIC QUOTE

EPOCH DOKU CONSTRUCTED

BY EPOCH TIMES STAFF

WORK SPACE

KAKURO CONSTRUCTED
BY EPOCH TIMES STAFF JUMBLE BY DAVID L. HOYT
& JEFF KNUREK

Kakuro puzzles are like crosswords that use numbers instead of words. The goal THAT SCRAMBLED WORD GAME
is to fill the blank squares associated with a clue (called a “run”) with the numbers By David L. Hoyt and Jeff Knurek
1-9 so that the numbers add up to the corresponding clues. Like Sudoku, digits Unscramble these Jumbles,
*HWWKHIUHH-867-80%/(DSS‡)ROORZXVRQ7ZLWWHU#3OD\-XPEOH

in a run cannot repeat. When the grid is filled, the puzzle is complete. one letter to each square,
to form four ordinary words.
Easy
62..,
EPOCH ESCAPE MAZE
37=2$

0()/8%

&<2712
Now arrange the circled letters
©2021 Tribune Content Agency, LLC to form the surprise answer, as
All Rights Reserved. suggested by the above cartoon.

WORK SPACE

SOLUTIONS
SUPERSUDOKU SUDOKU: EASY JUMBLE EASY KAKURO
— OUT OF POCKET
ing the shot, he would be
would win, but after miss-
The pool player bet he
Answers:

TYCOON
FUMBLE
TOPAZ
KIOSK
SUDOKU: HARD EPOCH DOKU
Jumbles:

CRYPTIC QUOTE
illusory and contemptible.
the public purse is the most
arise by thrusting the hand into
every difficulty that might
government, that of solving
Of all the vulgar arts of
B8
Highlights from major wine competitions offer a heartening look at the wine industry in 2020.
WINE TALK
Big Winners of 2020
ROBERT WHITLEY
The many setbacks of 2020 notwithstanding,
there were numerous bright spots for the
wine industry over the course of the year.
There were numerous
bright spots for the wine
industry over the course
of the year.
As regular readers of this column know,
I oversee four major international wine
competitions. The insights I gain as I digest
the competition results—from new trends
and developments to the confirmation of
long-held truths—give me a unique win-
dow into the year-to-year evolution of the
wine world.
I’ve assembled highlights from the four
competitions that provide a peek into the
not-too-distant past, a 2020 that was better
than you might have imagined given the
circumstances of COVID-19 lockdowns
and rampant disruption of our dining and
consumption habits.
BIGNAI/SHUTTERSTOCK
We kicked off the year with the Wine-
maker Challenge International Wine Com-
petition in January.
The domestic wine of the
year was the Ledson 2016
COURTESY OF LEDSON WINERY & VINEYARDS
Cabernet Sauvignon Estate
Reserve, Alexander Valley
($120). Winemaker Steve Led-
son emerged from the con-
struction business a couple
of decades ago with a passion
for grape growing and wine-
making. He had help from
brilliant winemaking consul-
tants along the way, but these days, he’s
pretty much a solo act with a commitment
to sourcing from exceptional vineyards and
the finest techniques in the cellar. It shows.
The imported wine of the year was a tie
between the exceptional 2018 Doble de Diez
Mencía, Spain ($22) and the 2018 Martin
Codax Albariño, Rías Baixas, Spain ($15).
A relatively obscure grape variety, Mencía
is one of the most charming wines from
Spain and typically modestly priced. Al-
bariño is probably Spain’s most exciting
white wine, and remarkably, the Martin
Codax is the product of a cooperative—a
very demanding, exceptionally well-run
co-op, I would add.
The most impressive perfor-
mance, however, was turned
in by Runquist Wines from
COURTESY OF JEFF RUNQUIST WINES
California’s Sierra Foothills.
Winemaker Jeff Runquist is
the resident genius, making
wines that are both profound
and accessible, powerful yet
elegant, always well bal-
anced. Runquist rang up 29
medals at the 2020 Wine-
maker Challenge, where the judges are
prominent winemakers.
The 38th annual San Diego International
Wine & Spirits Challenge, typically judged
by a mix of wine journalists, sommeliers,
winemakers, and other wine professionals,
was up next.
V. Sattui, one of the Napa
Valley’s greatest success sto-
ries, simply stole the show.
Sattui, situated along High-
way 29 in the heart of the
Napa Valley, sells most of its
COURTESY OF V. SATTUI
wines at the winery, so don’t
look for it at your favorite wine
shop (you can purchase the
wines online). Sattui special-
izes in vineyard-designate
cabernet sauvignon and zinfandel, though
it does dip into other grape varieties with
equal enthusiasm.
The big hits for Sattui at the 2020 San
Diego competition were its 2016 Vangone
Vineyard, Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvi-
gnon ($140), and its 2016 Cabernet Sauvi-
gnon Mt. Veeder ($92). The two cabernets
tied for wine of the year honors as V. Sattui
went on to wrap up the winery of the year
title with a total of 26 medals, including
10 platinum and 12 gold. If you ever visit
Napa Valley, V. Sattui, with some of the
finest picnic grounds in the valley, is a
must-stop.
The 17th annual Critics Challenge In-
ternational Wine Competition followed.
Judged by prominent wine writers, it sur-
prised with a tie for domestic wine of the
year between two California chardon-
nays. Over the years, many wine journal-
ists haven’t been kind to California char-
donnay, put off by sometimes excessive
use of oak and uber-ripe flavors. There is
a new trend afoot, however, toward more
balanced chardonnay that combines rich-
ness, structure, and more subtle influence
from oak aging.
Two superb California chardonnays
emerged from the crowd: 2018 Palazzo
THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021
Chardonnay, Napa Valley ($45) and 2018
The Barn Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast ($65).
Palazzo is a relatively new brand conceived
by entertainment industry executive Scott
Palazzo in 2003. Sourcing primarily cool-
climate grapes, the Palazzo chardonnay
are popular at many high-end restaurants
because they’re multidimensional, and
they show freshness and structure yet the
richness and complexity many chardonnay
enthusiasts crave. The Barn is a relatively
new brand from Kenwood Vineyards, an
icon of the Sonoma Valley. Like the Palazzo,
it’s multidimensional, beautifully struc-
tured, and well balanced.
Imported wine of the year also went to a
white wine, which is somewhat unusual.
The 2019 Starborough Sauvignon Blanc
from Marlborough, New Zealand, took
the honors and is well priced ($15) for the
quality in the bottle.
Navarro’s selection as winery of the year
was further confirmation that the small
Mendocino County winery is a gem among
family-run wineries. Situated in the cool
Anderson Valley, Navarro specializes in
aromatic white wines, pinot noir, and some
of California’s finest late-harvest dessert
wines. Navarro racked up 13 medals, with
a stunning haul of seven platinum awards
and three gold.
The challenge series ended with the 13th
annual Sommelier Challenge, where, of
course, the judges are certified sommeliers.
The somms ended the year on a surprise
note, awarding nine medals to Akash,
which is less than 10 years old and situated
in a region, Temecula Valley, that some-
times fails to get the respect it deserves.
An hour from San Diego,
just across the Riverside
County line, the Temecula
Valley is home to a growing
number of wineries. It has
COURTESY OF AKASH WINERY
a Mediterranean climate
with cool evening temps that
help maintain freshness and
acidity in the grapes. Akash
amassed four platinum
awards and a gold among its
nine medals, including a stunning rosé
wine it calls Parlez-Vous Rosé ($35).
To find out more about Robert Whitley
and read features by other Creators
Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the
Creators Syndicate website at Creators.
com. Email Robert at WhitleyOnWine@
yahoo.com. Copyright 2020 Creators.com