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In the News
NEWS
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
has vowed to keep schools in
his state open, regardless of
the latest guidelines from the
Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention. ... A7
Secretary of State Antony
Blinken says that the United
States will contribute more
than $200 million to the
World Health Organization
by the end of the month. ... A3
Sen. Lindsey Graham says
that former President Donald
Trump is the key for the Re-
publican Party to take back
the Senate majority in the
2022 election. ... A4
Three hackers of the North
Korean military intelligence
unit have been charged with
a major conspiracy to steal
1.2 billion globally, the Justice
Department says. ... A3
New York Attorney Gen-
eral Letitia James has filed a
lawsuit against Amazon alleg-
ing that the online retail be-
hemoth failed to adequately
protect its warehouse work-
ers from the CCP virus pan-
demic. ... A6
Jailed Hong Kong media
tycoon Jimmy Lai is being
charged again, this time on
suspicion of assisting a fu-
gitive who China captured
at sea last year, the media
says. ... A9
George Conway, co-found-
er of the anti-Trump Lincoln
Project, has called for the
group to be shut down amid
sexual harassment allega-
tions against another co-
founder, John Weaver. ... A6
Three news agencies have
paid an activist who identifies
as Antifa and was charged for
allegedly committing crimes
during the U.S. Capitol breach
for footage he captured dur-
ing the mayhem. ... A6
Up to 3,700 active-duty
troops have been placed on
standby to assist in admin-
istering COVID-19 vaccines
at Federal Emergency Man-
agement Agency sites, in a
bid to administer millions of
vaccines to the areas hardest
hit by the pandemic. ... A7
A county Republican Party
in Kentucky is demanding
that Senate Minority Leader
Mitch McConnell resign as
leader. ... A8
BUSINESS
Sens. Mitt Romney and Tom
Cotton have joined Demo-
crats in calling for a $15 mini-
mum wage. ...A18
Rep. Byron Donalds is urging
the New York Stock Exchange
to relocate to Florida, where
he says there’s no danger that
the company will be hit with
a tax on stock trades. ... A18
OPINION
Luke C. Sheahan: The Lost
Art of Association... A13
Wesley J. Smith: Democrat-
ic Senators Refuse to Outlaw
Infanticide... A14
Michael Walsh: A Freedom-
Loving People Needs to Call
the Bluff of Those Instilling
Fear... A17
FEATURES
Just when we’re most in
need of sunshine, citrus fruits
are shining their brightest. ...B1
For mild fish filets, go big on
adding flavor. ...B2
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Published in New York,
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| T H U R S D A Y, F E B . 18 , 2 0 21
RARE EARTHS
China Targets America’s Rare
Earth Mineral Vulnerability
China controls about
80 percent of the global
supply of rare earths and
could use its dominance
as leverage against the US
BY EMEL AKAN
W
ASHINGTON—Chi-
na is reportedly look-
ing into curbing the
export of rare-earth
minerals to the United States,
which may become a new source of
friction between the two countries.
ELECTION INTEGRITY
Red-District
House Democrats
Refuse to Talk
About H.R.1
Bill would federalize voter
registration and elections
BY MARK TAPSCOTT
Don’t ask 14 “Red District” House
Democrats about H.R.1 (the “For the
People Act”), which would reform
future elections on the same model
that made 2020 one of the most bit-
terly disputed in U.S. history.
Despite repeated inquiries by
The Epoch Times, none of the 14
lawmakers agreed to discuss what
Republican critics argue is likely to
be the most consequential proposal
to come before the 117th Congress.
Given that Speaker of the House
Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has such a
narrow majority, 221–211, a switch
of only six Democrats to oppose
H.R.1 would kill it. That’s why these
14 Democrats in red districts are
already the focus of intense pres-
sure from the measure’s opponents.
Five of the Red District Demo-
crats represent districts that Trump
Continued on A5
OBITUARY
Rush Limbaugh
Dies at 70 After
Battle With
Lung Cancer
BY ZACHARY STIEBER
Conservative radio host Rush Lim-
baugh has died at age 70, according
to his wife.
Limbaugh passed away at his
home in Palm Beach, Florida, his
wife, Kathryn Adams Limbaugh,
Continued on A5
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
An F-35A Lightning II team parks the aircraft at Mountain
Home Air Force Base, Idaho, on Feb. 8, 2016.
China’s Ministry of Industry and
Information Technology in Janu-
ary proposed draft controls on the
production and export of rare-earth
minerals and provided 30 days for
public comment.
During the comment period,
industry executives were asked
to assess how U.S. and European
companies could be affected if
Beijing decided to cut rare-earth
exports during a bilateral dispute,
the Financial Times reported, citing
people involved in the discussions.
“The government wants to know Rare earth minerals to be loaded for
if the U.S. may have trouble making export at a port in Lianyungang, Jiangsu
Continued on A3
Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 27, 2019.
CHINA THREAT
Rep. Banks Leads Republican Study Committee
in Large-Scale Campaign to Counter CCP
BY BOWEN XIAO
For the first time in its history,
the Republican Study Committee
(RSC)—the largest conservative
caucus on Capitol Hill—will make
countering the Chinese Commu-
nist Party (CCP) a key part of its
agenda under the leadership of its
newly elected chairman, Rep. Jim
Banks (R-Ind.).
As part of this large-scale effort,
Banks said that he and others in the
House committee will introduce Continued on A2
CCP THREAT
The CCP’s Agenda in Kashmir
BY VENUS UPADHAYAYA
News Analysis
NEW DELHI—Propelled by its
geostrategic ambitions, China
is silently expediting a policy of
unrestricted warfare in Kashmir, a
region that has witnessed decades
of territorial disputes between
India and Pakistan, according to
an expert on Kashmir.
“I will say the Chinese have a
much more sinister, deeper, and
U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTO/AIRMAN 1ST CLASS CONNOR J. MARTH
STR/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Province, China, in this file photo.
YORK DU/NTD
more than 20 bills this week alone
dedicated to confronting the China
threat and holding the Biden ad-
ministration accountable for weak
policies on China.
The legislative barrage will touch
upon a wide range of issues broadly
focused on pushing back against
the CCP’s influence in the United
States.
“We’ve made countering commu-
nist China a platform of the RSC for
the first time, under my leadership,”
larger agenda in Kashmir, rooted
in its larger regional and global
geostrategic ambitions,” Abhinav
Pandya, CEO of India-based think
tank Usanas Foundation, told The
Epoch Times on Feb. 8.
While India and China decided
to end a 10-month-long military
stand-off in the northern Indian
region of Ladakh last week, Indian
army chief Gen. Manoj Naravane
said on Feb. 12 that China’s “rising
Continued on A10
VOL . X V I I I | NO. 2,900 $1.
US–CHINA
Trump
Impeachment
Attorney
Canceled by
Law School,
Civil Rights
Law Group
BY IVAN PENTCHOUKOV
An attorney who represented Presi-
dent Donald Trump during the re-
cent impeachment trial says a law
school canceled a civil rights law
course he was going to teach and he
was suspended from a civil rights
lawyer email discussion list.
I faced many threats
for different kinds of
reasons, over the years.
But if you let that stop you,
I suppose you’re in the
wrong business.
David Schoen, attorney
“I was hoping to teach a civil rights
course at a law school in the fall.
We’ve been in talks about it, kind of
planning it out. I wrote to them and I
said, ‘I want you to know, I’m gonna
be representing Donald Trump in
the impeachment case. I don’t know
if that impacts on your decision at
all,’” David Schoen, one of the three
attorneys who argued before the
Senate, told The Epoch Times.
“And they said, you know, they
appreciated my writing and, frank-
ly, it would make some students
and faculty uncomfortable, so I
couldn’t do it.
“That was sad for me because I
really want to go more and more
Continued on A7
EDUCATION
Biden Administration
Gives Mixed Messages
on School Reopening
Promise
BY PETR SVAB
News Analysis
The Biden administration’s prom-
ise of school reopenings appears to
be lost amid muddled messages.
While President Joe Biden just
affirmed children are unlikely to
spread COVID-19 and is talking
about opening schools by April,
health officials in his administra-
tion are recommending measures
that appear likely to lead to a
reduction of in-person instruction.
The dissonance comes after Biden
said his press secretary had given
incorrect information about his
goals for reopening.
Meanwhile, many public school
teachers are still unwilling to teach
in-person until a litany of demands
is fulfilled, including vaccination
priority and regular testing.
During a Feb. 16 CNN town hall,
Biden was asked by a parent of an
8-year-old about the risk of CO-
VID-19. He said children are the
“safest group in the whole world”
Continued on A2
CAPITOL HILL
JUDICIAL WATCH SUES
FOR CAPITOL DOCS
“The public hasas a
right to know
about how
Congress
handled
security and
what all the
videos show off
ol
the U.S. Capitol
riot,” Judicial Watch
President Tom Fitton said.
Read more on A8
A2 | NATION
Biden Administration Gives Mixed Messages
on School Reopening Promise
CONTINUED FROM A1
and that it was “not likely” that
a child would catch the virus or
spread it further. That roughly
mirrors what Rochelle Walen-
sky, Biden’s head of the Centers
for Disease Control and Preven-
tion (CDC), had said previously.
“The data from schools sug-
gests that there’s very little
transmission that is happening
within the schools, especially
when there’s masking and dis-
tancing occurring,” she said
during a White House Feb. 8
briefing on COVID-19.
Biden said in December that
“if Congress provides the fund-
ing” and “states and cities put
strong public health measures
in place,” then he “will work
to see that the majority of our
schools can be open” within his
first 100 days in office.
But the promise appears
ephemeral. In fact, the admin-
istration may even be under-
mining it.
When asked on Feb. 9 what
“reopening” means, White
House press secretary Jen Psaki
said it would be at least one day
a week of at least some in-person
instruction at more than 50
percent of the nation’s schools,
a day after she backed that goal
as a part of “an emboldened
ambitious agenda.”
But that goal was meaningless,
given that as of Feb. 10, some
40 percent of K–12 students
were already attending schools
that offer traditional, in-person
learning, according to data col-
lected by Burbio, a community
tracking firm.
Another about 25 percent of
students were attending schools
that offer at least two days a
week of in-person instruction,
according to publicly available
data collected from 1,200 school
districts that represent 35,000
schools in all 50 states, Burbio
states on its website.
The data has since moved
slightly more toward in-person
instruction, the firm said in a
Feb. 15 update.
During the town hall,
Biden distanced himself from
Psaki’s description, saying it’s
“not true.”
“That was a mistake in the
communication,” he said.
He described the plan as hav-
ing “close to” the majority of K–8
grades opened for in-person
instruction by the end of April,
“many of them” five days a
week.
“The goal would be five days a
Rep. Banks Leads Republican Study Committee in Large-Scale Campaign to Counter CCP
CONTINUED FROM A1
Banks told The Epoch Times. “It
deserves our attention, and as the
largest caucus, our members un-
derstand this is the greatest threat
that we face and that we have to
confront it.”
The focus on the CCP is “uni-
formly supported within the
caucus,” said Banks. During the
116th  Congress, there were 148
members of the committee, which
accounted for nearly 75 percent of
Republicans.
Banks said the caucus is in some
ways an “internal policy think tank
within the Republican Confer-
ence” that is dedicated to uphold-
ing conservative principles.
As part of this agenda, there will
be full-time staff in the RSC devot-
ed solely to this effort. The commit-
tee will also bring in leading think-
tank experts to help craft policy
solutions, according to Banks.
Banks is introducing a number
of measures including the “Stop
Funding the PLA Act,” which will
protect U.S. investments from
flowing to China’s military-indus-
trial base. Other RCS members are
introducing legislation that would
A student takes an online reading class on her first day of distance learning amid the pandemic, in Las Vegas on Aug.
24, 2020.
week,” he said.
It appears that goal is about to
be reached, too, if it hasn’t been
already.
As of Feb. 8, nearly half (48.6
percent) of K–5 students al-
ready had traditional in-person
instruction available to them,
according to Burbio. In grades
6 through 8, the number was 33
percent.
The numbers have likely
increased since then and could
be expected to rise further in the
weeks ahead, regardless of the
White House’s actions. Half of
New York City middle schools
are slated to open on Feb. 25,
the Staten Island Advance
reported. North Carolina state
Republicans are advancing a
bill that would require school
reopening, although Gov. Roy
Cooper, a Democrat, may still
veto it.
CDC Guidelines
On Feb. 12, the CDC released
guidelines for school reopening.
While the guidelines don’t
require full vaccination of stu-
dents and teachers for reopen-
ing, they set up strict require-
ments for when schools should
be allowed to reopen.
The agency has set four levels
of COVID-19 prevalence in com-
munities: blue, yellow, orange,
and red. Only schools in blue
and yellow zones should be
allowed to open for five-days-
a-week instruction. In orange
stop Biden from removing Huawei
from the Commerce Department’s
entity list and legislation to stop
Biden from lifting sanctions on
People’s Liberation Army-linked
firms.
“China’s objective is to domi-
nate the United States of America
economically and militarily, to
become the hegemonic power
of the entire world, and to put
the United States of America un-
der its thumb,” the congressman
said. “And for years, they’ve been
steadily marching towards that
end goal.”
The RSC will continue this effort
in the long term. Banks said coun-
tering Beijing will be a “very top
priority for our organization over
the next couple of years.”
During a town hall on Feb. 16,
Biden appeared to downplay the
genocide  against the Uyghur
population in China by saying
that different countries and their
leaders can be expected to follow
“different norms.” The president’s
comments sparked criticism, and
Banks described them as “deeply,
deeply troubling.”
“I’m not quite sure what to make
of it,” he said. “It’s so off the wall
President Joe Biden speaks in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower
Executive Office Building in Washington on Feb. 10, 2021.
and red zones, only partial
in-person instruction should be
allowed. If the schools can’t offer
COVID-19 screening tests to all
teachers and students at least
once a week, only virtual classes
should be allowed in the red
zones, unless the school “can
strictly implement all mitiga-
tion strategies” the CDC recom-
mends.
One of the strategies is sepa-
rating students into smaller
“cohorts” and minimizing con-
tact between the groups, which
Biden acknowledged would
require more teachers.
But a Feb. 4–6 poll of public
school teachers shows that a
majority (59 percent) of them
A Chinese paramilitary soldier secures an entrance to the Jingxi hotel where
CCP elites are holding their fourth plenary session, in Beijing on Oct. 28, 2019.
and wrong. It’s really hard for me
to wrap my head around.”
A number of Biden’s Cabinet
have made friendly overtures to
the CCP, Banks said. In confirma-
tion hearings, several members of
Biden’s administration declined
to call the CCP an adversary and
pivoted instead toward Biden’s
definition of China as a key global
competitor.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021
ETHAN MILLER/GETTY IMAGES
SAUL LOEB/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
deem it “essential” for “at-risk”
teachers to be allowed to work
remotely. More than 1 in 3 (36
percent) of the teachers identi-
fied themselves as “high-risk.”
That would suggest fewer, not
more teachers will be available.
When Burbio crunched the
data, over 85 percent of people
live in counties that fall into red
zones; another nearly 12 percent
were in orange zones.
It’s not clear how schools will
respond. While not binding,
CDC guidelines are commonly
adopted as the official rules by
states and localities. If that were
to happen, many schools may
be forced to reduce in-person
teaching or cease it altogether.
NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
On his first day at the job, Sec-
retary of State Antony Blinken—
who has a decades-old relation-
ship with Biden—told reporters the
U.S.–China relationship is “argu-
ably the most important relation-
ship that we have in the world.”
Blinken said he favors coopera-
tion with China on climate change
and other issues of shared concern,
while also endorsing the determi-
Many Teachers Reluctant for
Now
The teachers poll, conducted
among 600 members of the
American Federation of Teach-
ers, the nation’s largest teachers
union, showed that a major-
ity was opposed to normal,
in-person teaching. Only 23
percent said their school should
be operating “on a full in-person
basis,” while 35 percent thought
their school should be remote-
only. Of those already teaching
remotely, only 40 percent agreed
they would “feel comfortable
returning to work in-person
during the spring semester.”
Most respondents (88 percent)
agreed that “full in-person
learning can happen” if the
AFT’s proposals are fulfilled.
“COVID-19 testing must be-
come a way of life in schools and
we need to test regularly and
rapidly to monitor the virus. We
need to ensure the proper safety
protocols, including masks,
physical distancing, cleaning
and sanitizing procedures, and
ventilation upgrades in every
school. High-risk teachers and
school staff need appropriate
accommodations to keep them
safe. And we need to prioritize
vaccinations for teachers and
school staff,” according to the
poll’s summary of the plan.
The poll was conducted by
Hart Research, which special-
izes in polling for Democrats
and progressive organizations.
Its respondents skewed toward
large cities, underrepresent-
ing rural areas and suburbs.
Rural schools were most likely
to be open for in-person learn-
ing, while city schools were the
least likely, according to a Nov.
24–Dec. 28, 2020, survey of a na-
tionally representative sample
of 477 school districts conducted
by the Center on Reinventing
Public Education.
Both the administration and
the union agree that schools
need more money to reopen
safely.
Biden is asking Congress for
nearly $130 billion for K–12
schools in his $1.9 trillion CO-
VID relief bill. But Congress has
already provided over $110 bil-
lion of COVID relief to schools
and “most of those funds
remain to be spent,” according
to the Congressional Budget Of-
fice (CBO). The CBO projected
that only about $6 billion of the
new money would be spent this
fiscal year, another $32 billion
in 2022, and the rest in subse-
quent years.
nation made by the previous ad-
ministration that China is com-
mitting genocide against Muslims
in Xinjiang.
Meanwhile, Rhode Island Gov.
Gina Raimondo, Biden’s nominee
to be secretary of the Department
of Commerce, has refused to com-
mit to keeping Huawei Technolo-
gies on  the  Commerce Depart-
ment’s Entity List, which would
stop it from acquiring U.S. tech-
nology.
Banks said the friendly approach
toward China is “deeply concern-
ing” and pointed out that Biden
has refused to directly call China
a threat, in contrast to how former
President Donald Trump handled
the country. Under the Trump ad-
ministration, the United States es-
calated its countermeasures and
employed a more hard-hitting ap-
proach toward countering Beijing.
Biden spoke with Chinese lead-
er Xi Jinping on Feb. 10. According
to a readout of the call, they dis-
cussed China’s unfair economic
practices, the suppression in Hong
Kong, human rights abuses in Xin-
jiang, and assertive actions in the
Indo-Pacific region, including to-
ward Taiwan.
 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021
DOJ Indicts 3 North
Korean Military
Hackers, Canadian
Money Launderer
CHARLOTTE CUTHBERTSON
WASHINGTON—Three North Ko-
rean hackers that were part of the
hermit kingdom’s military intel-
ligence unit have been charged
with a major conspiracy to steal
$1.2 billion globally.
The Department of Justice (DOJ)
on Feb. 17 unsealed an indictment
that adds to previous charges that
included a November 2014 hack
targeting Sony Pictures Entertain-
ment over the comedy film “The
Interview”; a February 2016 cyber-
enabled heist of $81 million from
the Bank of Bangladesh and other
heists; and the May 2017 global
WannaCry 2.0 attack.
Two North Koreans were added
to the new indictment, which also
expands the scope of the allega-
tions to include schemes to steal
hundreds of millions of dollars,
according to Tracy Wilkison, act-
ing U.S. attorney in Los Angeles.
“Some of these intrusions oc-
curred as recently as a few months
ago, using newly identified strains
of malware uncovered by the FBI,”
she said on a media call on Feb. 17.
Wilkison identified four new
types of schemes employed by the
hacking units, which are known
as Lazarus Group, and Advanced
Persistent Threat 38, but are part
of the Reconnaissance General
Bureau, a North Korean military
intelligence agency.
The first is a series of alleged cy-
ber heists targeting banks around
the world, from which the hackers
attempted to steal $1.2 billion.
“The hackers typically gained ac-
cess to a bank computer network
and sent secure messages through
the Swift system that is used to
transfer money between banks,”
Wilkison said.
China Targets America’s Rare
Earth Mineral Vulnerability
CONTINUED FROM A1
F-35 fighter jets if China imposes an
export ban,” a Chinese government
adviser told the Financial Times.
Industry executives were also
asked to comment on how quickly
the United States could secure rare
earths from alternative suppliers
or increase its production capacity.
Rare earths are 17 metals that are
required in the manufacturing of
airplanes, computers, cell phones,
electricity generation and trans-
mission systems, and advanced
electronics.
China controls about 80 percent
of the global supply of rare-earth
minerals and sees its dominance
as leverage that can be used against
the West. It’s not clear whether Chi-
na can really weaponize rare-earth
exports, as it could backfire by forc-
ing other countries to increase their
own production capacity.
The timeline to increase produc-
tion capacity at home “could in fact
be very, very short” with more gov-
ernment support and industry in-
novation, according to Pini Althaus,
CEO of USA Rare Earth, a mining
company that is developing the
Round Top rare-earths deposit in
Texas.
“The writing has been on the wall
for decades, and now we are seeing
first-hand why we’ve been raising
the alarm that China’s dominance
over the rare earth and critical min-
erals industry is a highly volatile
geopolitical concern,” Althaus said
in a statement.
“To counter the effort of the CCP
to put a chokehold on defense and
other high-tech metals, the U.S. and
its allies must continue to invest in
this space.”
Former President Donald Trump
last year signed an executive order
The second method was an al-
leged ATM cash-out scheme, in
which the hackers used malware to
take control of bank ATMs, allow-
ing for limitless cash withdrawal.
“This scheme ... allowed co con-
spirators to withdraw $6.1 million
dollars from one bank alone,”
Wilkison said.
Third, the indictment states
that “the North Korean hackers
engaged in cyber extortion, in
which they would gain access to
computer systems and then steal
data or deploy ransomware that
would demand payment.”
The fourth method allegedly
involved the development and
spread of malicious applications
that were used to trade and store
cryptocurrency, but instead gave
the North Koreans a back door into
computer systems.
One of those applications was
used to steal $112 million from
three companies, including a New
York-based entity.
Marine Chain Token
The other major count in the
indictment was a scheme that
tricked investors into purchasing
ownership interest in marine ship-
ping vessels, such as cargo ships.
In reality, the investors were pro-
viding both cash and a controlling
interest in shipping vessels to the
North Korean regime.
“It would have allowed them to
obtain funds from abroad and skirt
U.S. sanctions that were placed on
the regime,” Wilkison said. “The
scope of these crimes by the North
Korean hackers is staggering. They
are the crimes of a nation state that
has stopped at nothing to extract
revenge and obtain money to prop
up its regime.”
The three North Koreans—Jon
to expand and strengthen domes-
tic mining of rare earths and other
critical minerals.
“The United States now imports
80 percent of its rare earth elements
directly from China, with portions
of the remainder indirectly sourced
from China through other coun-
tries,” Trump stated in the execu-
tive order. “In the 1980s, the United
States produced more of these ele-
ments than any other country in
the world, but China used aggres-
sive economic practices to strate-
gically flood the global market for
rare earth elements and displace
its competitors.”
Last year, a bipartisan group of
House and Senate lawmakers also
introduced proposals aimed at
reducing U.S. dependence on Chi-
na by providing tax incentives for
the rare-earths industry.
“The global pandemic has high-
lighted our reliance on China to
meet our demand for critical min-
erals that are used in products such
as electric and hybrid cars, comput-
ers, and military equipment,” Rep.
Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) told The
Epoch Times.
“It is essential for our national se-
curity and economic interests that
we reduce our nation’s dependence
on China for rare earth minerals. I
co-sponsored the RARE Act to in-
centivize domestic production and
develop our own consistent supply
chain. To remain a world leader in
technological and military innova-
tion, we must act.”
The White House didn’t immedi-
ately respond to a request from The
Epoch Times for comment.
President Joe Biden, during his
election campaign, pledged to “ac-
celerate innovation in supply-chain
resilience” and address “issues like
reliance on rare-earth minerals.”
A hacker in China on Aug. 4, 2020.
North Korean military hackers Jon Chang Hyok (L) and Kim Il are wanted by
the FBI.
Chang Hyok, Kim Il, and Park Jin
Hyok—are considered fugitives
from justice and are believed to
be located in North Korea, accord-
ing to the FBI.
John Demers, assistant attorney
general of the DOJ’s National Secu-
rity Division, said the hackers al-
legedly worked from inside China
and Russia at times.
North Korea has also used Chi-
nese cryptocurrency traders and
other criminal networks to laun-
der their funds, Demers said.
The World Health Organization’s headquarters in Geneva on May 18, 2018.
US Will Pay $200 Million
to Meet WHO Obligations,
Blinken Says
TOM OZIMEK
The United States will pay more
than $200 million to the World
Health Organization (WHO) by
the end of the month, following
President Joe Biden’s reversal of a
Trump-era decision to exit the orga-
nization, Secretary of State Antony
Blinken said on Feb. 17.
“This is a key step forward in ful-
filling our financial obligations as
a WHO member and it reflects our
renewed commitment to ensuring
the WHO has the support it needs to
lead the global response to the pan-
demic,” Blinken told a virtual Unit-
ed Nations Security Council session
on COVID-19, AFP reported.
“The United States will work as a
partner to address global challeng-
es. This pandemic is one of those
challenges and gives us an oppor-
tunity not only to get through the
current crisis, but also to become
more prepared and more resilient
FBI
North Korean hackers are almost
uniquely focused on raising funds
through illegal cyber activity, he
said.
“Their need as a country is for
currency—because of their eco-
nomic system and because of the
sanctions that are placed on them.
And so they use their cyber capa-
bilities to get currency wherever
they can do that.”
Actors in China, Russia, and Iran
are after different aspects, such as
intellectual property, export con-
FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Biden reversed
former President
Donald Trump’s
decision to termi-
nate the United
State’s relationship
with the WHO.
for the future.”
The United States has been the
U.N. agency’s largest funder, regu-
larly pouring hundreds of millions
of dollars annually into the orga-
nization.
Then-President Donald Trump
announced in May 2020 that the
United States would formally termi-
nate its relationship with the WHO,
with the withdrawal scheduled to
go into effect in July 2021. Biden
reversed that decision in one of his
first acts after taking office.
NATION | A3
NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
trols, technology, or disrupting
elections, Demers said.
“Due to the authoritarian, totali-
tarian nature of those countries,
there’s very little of significance
that goes on there without those
governments knowing about it.”
Money Launderer
Related to the North Korean in-
dictment is the criminal case
against money launderer Ghaleb
Alaumary, which the DOJ an-
nounced at the same time.
Alaumary, a U.S.–Canadian dual
citizen, has agreed to plead guilty
to conspiring to launder funds
for the North Koreans from both
the cyber heist and ATM cash-out
schemes. He is currently in cus-
tody in Georgia.
“According to a plea agreement
that was unsealed today, Alau-
mary conspired to steal and then
launder tens of millions of dollars
for the North Koreans and other
criminals,” Wilkison said.
The FBI asked the public to con-
tact their local FBI office if they’re
a victim or witness to cybercrime.
The agency also warned the gen-
eral public to be wary of clicking
links in emails and texts without
close scrutiny.
“We have detailed the reforms
that it must take and have engaged
with them directly but they have
refused to act,” Trump said at the
time. “Because they have failed to
make the requested and greatly
needed reforms, we will be today
terminating our relationship with
the World Health Organization and
redirecting those funds to other
worldwide and deserving, urgent
global health needs.”
Trump said at the time that Chi-
nese officials failed to report the out-
break of the CCP (Chinese Commu-
nist Party) virus, commonly known
as novel coronavirus, to the WHO
and pressured the WHO “to mislead
the world when the virus was first
discovered by Chinese authorities.”
On May 18, 2020, Trump outlined
a host of questionable steps taken
by the WHO in relation to the pan-
demic in a letter to the head of the
organization, Tedros Adhanom
Ghebreyesus. They included WHO
criticism of Trump’s early travel ban
on China and the organization up-
holding the CCP’s early claims that
there was no evidence of human-to-
human transmission of the virus.
Tedros, the WHO director-gener-
al, told reporters in May 2020 that
he hoped the United States wouldn’t
sever its ties with the group.
He called America “a longstand-
ing and generous friend to WHO,”
adding, “We hope it will continue
to be so.”
Blinken said that the Biden ad-
ministration has pressed China
to be more forthcoming to a WHO
team investigating the origins of
the virus.
“All countries must make avail-
able all data from the earliest days
of any outbreak,” Blinken said.
“And going forward, all countries
should participate in a transparent
and robust process for preventing
and responding to health emergen-
cies so the world learns as much as
possible, as soon as possible,” he
said, AFP reported.
A4 | NATION THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021

Graham Says Trump Is Key to GOP Winning

Back Senate Majority in 2022
ALEX EDELMAN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
TOM OZIMEK

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told

Fox News on Feb. 16 that unless the
Republican Party has the backing
of former President Donald Trump,
the GOP doesn’t have a “snowball’s
chance in hell” of taking back the
Senate majority in the 2022 mid-
term election.
“Trump is the most consequen-
tial Republican in the party,” Gra-
ham said, adding that while the
former president “can be a hand-
ful,” Republican leaders need to
work with him for the good of the
GOP and the country.

Republican lead-
ers need to work
with him for the
good of the GOP
and the country.
Sen. Lindsey Graham

“I’m more worried about 2022

than I’ve ever been. I don’t want
to eat our own,” Graham said, re-
ferring to the feud between Trump
and Senate Minority Leader Mitch
McConnell (R-Ky.), who, while he
Outgoing President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump address guests at Joint Base Andrews, Md., on Jan. 20, 2021.
voted to acquit Trump at his im-
peachment trial, later rebuked him STEFANI REYNOLDS - POOL/GETTY IMAGES DREW ANGERER/GETTY IMAGES

as “morally responsible” for the

Jan. 6 unrest at the Capitol.
Trump hit back with a strongly
worded statement on Feb. 16, call-
ing McConnell “a dour, sullen, and
unsmiling political hack” who was
“destroying the Republican side of
the Senate” and who “will never do
what needs to be done, or what is
right for our Country.”
Graham argued on Fox News’
“Hannity” that McConnell had
been “indispensable” to Trump
during his time in office and urged
the two to tone things down and
work together.
“I know Trump can be a handful,
but he is the most dominant figure Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) walks to his office on the
in the Republican Party,” Graham Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) (C) speaks to members of the media on Capitol first day of former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial, at the
Hill in Washington on Feb. 13, 2021. U.S. Capitol in Washington on Feb. 9, 2021.
said. “We don’t have a snowball’s
chance in hell of taking back the
majority without Donald Trump. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who vot- and accused the former president that the former president’s speech of sight since leaving office on Jan.
“If Mitch McConnell doesn’t un- ed to impeach Trump last month. of a “disgraceful dereliction of duty.” “was not an act encouraging an or- 20, releasing few statements and
derstand that, he’s missing a lot. Several Republican senators In an editorial for the Wall Street ganized movement to overthrow mostly communicating through
“We need to knock this off. Kevin who voted to convict Trump over Journal, McConnell wrote that the United States government.” intermediaries.
McCarthy is the leader of the House the weekend were subsequently Trump’s “supporters stormed the On Feb. 13, the Senate acquitted Former Trump campaign strate-
Republicans. He has taken a differ- censured by their respective state Capitol because of the unhinged Trump with a 57–43 vote, 10 votes gist Jason Miller said last month that
ent approach to President Trump. GOPs. Cheney, meanwhile, will falsehoods he shouted into the shy of the 67 needed for a “guilty” Trump will become active in poli-
I would advise Sen. McConnell to face a Republican primary chal- world’s largest megaphone” and verdict. tics again to “make sure” Republi-
do that.” lenger for her seat in 2022. his “behavior during and after the In a statement following his ac- cans win back the majority in 2022.
Graham was presumably referring “I will back primary rivals who chaos was also unconscionable.” quittal, Trump thanked his sup- Meanwhile, three-quarters of
to the fact that after House Minority espouse Making America Great Trump and his lawyers denied porters and denounced the im- Republicans told Quinnipiac Uni-
Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) Again and our policy of America that he incited the violence on Jan. peachment effort as a “witch hunt.” versity pollsters that they want
initially criticized Trump after the First,” Trump wrote in his Feb. 6, with his attorneys calling the “in- Trump also teased a political Trump to play a prominent role in
Jan. 6 incident, he later toned down 16 statement. “We want brilliant, citement of insurrection” charge comeback, saying that “our histor- the Republican Party.
his rhetoric and traveled to Florida to strong, thoughtful, and compas- a “monstrous lie” that didn’t reflect ic, patriotic, and beautiful move- “He is certainly not out of favor
meet with Trump, with the two dis- sionate leadership.” the reality of what happened when ment to Make America Great Again with the GOP. Twice impeached,
cussing working together to help the McConnell, after voting to acquit the Capitol was breached. has only just begun. In the months vilified by Democrats in the trial,
GOP to take back the Senate in 2022. Trump on the charge of “incitement “An insurrection—unlike a ahead I have much to share with and virtually silenced by social me-
Graham’s remarks highlight the of insurrection” in the impeach- riot—is an organized movement you, and I look forward to continu- dia. ... Despite it all, Donald Trump
schism in the GOP between pro- ment trial, issued a scathing rebuke, acting for the express purpose to ing our incredible journey together keeps a solid foothold in the Re-
Trump elected officials and the in which he said Trump was “prac- overthrow and take possession of to achieve American greatness for publican Party,” Quinnipiac Uni-
wing led by the likes of McCon- tically and morally responsible for a government’s powers,” Trump’s all of our people.” versity Polling Analyst Tim Malloy
nell and House leadership member provoking the events of the day” lawyers wrote in filings, arguing Trump has largely remained out said in a Feb. 15 release.

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 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021
Milwaukee Bucks
Executive Alex Lasry
Announces Run for Ron
Johnson’s Senate Seat
TOM OZIMEK
Alex Lasry, a 33-year-old Milwau-
kee Bucks executive and son of a
billionaire, has announced he
will run for Sen. Ron Johnson’s
(R-Wis.) Senate seat in the 2022
midterm election.
Lasry, a Democrat whose first job
out of college was as an aide in the
Obama White House, made the
announcement in a YouTube vid-
eo published on Feb. 16, in which he
spoke of being “inspired by Presi-
dent Obama’s call to action” and the
need for “a new way of thinking and
a new perspective” in Washington.
“What we all too often, I think,
see in Washington is people talking
about the problems rather than ac-
tually trying to do something about
it,” Lasry says in the video, which
features endorsements from local
officials and activists who tout his
approach and engagement.
“The Milwaukee Bucks have al-
ways been a good ally to the LG-
BTQ+ community,” JoCasta Za-
marripa, a Milwaukee Common
Council member, says in the video.
“But Alex Lasry truly has taken it to
the next level. He was always on the
ground, in person, sleeves rolled
Red-District House Democrats Refuse to Talk About
Huge H.R.1 That Federalizes Voter Registration, Elections
CONTINUED FROM A1
carried in both 2016 and 2020,
most by solid margins, while he
won the districts of the other nine
in 2016 and only lost to President
Joe Biden in 2020 in most by small
margins.
The five include Reps. Ron Kind
of Wisconsin, Andy Kim of New
Jersey, Elissa Slotkin of Michigan,
Cheri Bustos of Illinois, and Cindy
Axne of Iowa.
The nine include Reps. Lau-
ren Underwood of Illinois, Sean
Patrick Maloney of New York,
Abigail Spanberger of Virginia,
Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey, Car-
olyn Boudreaux of Georgia, Tom
O’Halleran of Arizona, Antonio
Delgado of New York, Chris Pap-
pas of New Hampshire, and Haley
Stevens of Michigan.
All 14 are co-sponsors of H.R.1 in
2021, as they were in 2019, when it
passed the House but died in the
Republican-controlled Senate.
Pelosi and Senate Majority
Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)
rank the proposal as their top leg-
islative priority in 2021. Biden has
promised to sign it when it reaches
his desk.
The proposal brings together in
one bill a veritable Democratic
wish list of changes in virtually
every aspect of campaigning and
voting in federal elections for pres-
ident and members of Congress.
Enactment of H.R.1 would insti-
tutionalize on a nationwide basis
controversial registration and vot-
ing procedures that were hastily
enacted in six states in 2020, most-
ly in response to the CCP virus
pandemic and that subsequently
prompted multiple allegations
of voter fraud in the presidential
election.
The most notable provisions in-
clude nationwide online voter
registration, with minimal veri-
fication requirements; same-day
registration; automatic voter reg-
istration unless an individual
specifically requests not to be
registered; legalization of ballot
harvesting, and making it illegal
to disclose how an individual re-
sponded when asked if they are
a U.S. citizen when registering
to vote.
It also includes nationwide reg-
istration of 16- and 17-year-olds;
availability of mail-in ballots with
minimal screening qualifications;
and restoration of felons’ voting
rights after release from prison.
up, Obama-style, and that was re-
ally moving for me.”
Cavalier Johnson,  Milwaukee
Common Council president,
touted the Lasry-backed arena
construction project in downtown
Milwaukee, the  Fiserv Forum,
home of the Bucks.
Lasry took a “real hands-on ap-
proach,” Johnson says, noting that
he held “job town halls so that peo-
ple who live directly in our neigh-
borhoods who are unemployed or
underemployed had the opportu-
nity to come and work and build
up this fantastic arena.”
On the policy front, Lasry said
corporate tax cuts should be con-
ditional, with companies having to
prove they deserve them, by paying
their workers well or rooting their
supply chains in the United States.
“If their manufacturing opera-
tions and supply chains are com-
ing from America, if they’re pay-
ing their workers $20 an hour, if
they’re continuing to do things
that make this country better, then
great, you’ve earned your tax cut,”
Lasry says.
Lasry and Outagamie County
Executive Tom Nelson, also a
Democrat, are currently the only
ROBYN BECK/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Mail-in ballots await processing at the
Pomona Fairplex in Pomona, Calif., on
Oct. 28, 2020.
But those are only the provisions
that affect voter registration and
election procedures. Other parts
of the bill place the redistricting
process under the supervision
of congressionally mandated
independent commissions, and
restructure the Federal Election
Commission (FEC) to majority-
party control from its current bi-
partisan voting requirement.
It also would permit members
of Congress to draw salaries from
campaign funds in addition to
their official compensation, and
includes findings supporting
statehood for the District of Co-
lumbia and Puerto Rico.
There has been some talk in con-
gressional hallways about asking
Pelosi to break H.R.1 into three or
four separate pieces, a move that
would give at least a few of the si-
lent Democrats some leverage in
being able to support some parts
of the proposal while opposing
others. But nobody would con-
firm that such an appeal has been
made to Pelosi.
Reactions
That the 14 Red District Democrats
wouldn’t discuss H.R.1 comes as
no surprise to Jessica Anderson,
executive director of Heritage Ac-
tion for America.
“It’s not surprising that left-wing
members of Congress don’t want
to talk about their bid to grab pow-
er and rewrite America’s election
rules,” Anderson told The Epoch
Times on Feb. 16.
“They know that Americans
want more election integrity, not
less. They certainly don’t want to
allow the federal government the
power to unconstitutionally over-
rule the states to destroy voter ID
laws, force states to allow felons to
vote, promote ballot harvesting,
and more.
“That’s why these politicians
would rather talk about anything
Milwaukee Bucks senior vice president Alex Lasry (L) and then-Bucks guard George Hill walk through a neighborhood in
Milwaukee on Oct. 24, 2020.
two candidates who’ve officially
announced they’re running in
Wisconsin’s Senate race, with the
fight for Johnson’s seat expected
to be among the most competitive
contests next year.
Johnson hasn’t said yet whether
he will seek a third term.
“My bias has always been [to
serve] two terms and go home,”
Johnson told the Milwaukee Jour-
nal Sentinel in January before Dem-
ocrats won a pair of Georgia runoff
elections to take majority control
of the Senate. “That continues to
be my preference, but at the same
except the most consequential bill
they will vote on this year.”
Anderson’s group is already run-
ning ads in the districts of the 14
lawmakers that are designed to
pressure them into opposing the
measure.
Other H.R.1 critics attributed the
silence of the 14 to the sheer scope
of the proposal.
“H.R. 1 is a massive federaliza-
tion of voting and removes the
proper role of the states in deter-
mining the rules,” Republican
congressional strategist Brian
Darling told The Epoch Times.
“Just as many conservatives
thought there was no basis to con-
test the counting of the electoral
votes from certain states where
fraud was alleged, these same
conservatives should dig in and
fight against liberal Democrats’
use of federal power to seize con-
trol of state voting procedures and
laws. H.R. 1 is a frontal assault on
federalism,” Darling said.
Americans for Limited Govern-
ment (ALG) President Rick Man-
ning said the Democrats’ silence
is attributable to the fact Trump
voters are especially opposed to
any measure that expands con-
troversial voter registration and
election procedures that marred
the 2020 balloting.
“Real election reform with in-
creased signature verification is
a top issue for many Trump voters,
but H.R.1 does the exact opposite
and vulnerable House Democrats
want to pass it without scrutiny,”
Manning said.
“Votes against or for certain sec-
tions of the bill makes them spe-
cifically accountable for easily de-
fined changes, which is politically
dangerous.”
Taxpayers Protection Alliance
(TPA) President David Williams
suggested opposition to H.R.1 may
be coming on the left, as well as
among conservatives.
“H.R.1 is very problematic on a
number of fronts, but the biggest
area of agreement that center-left
and center-right groups have is
mandatory donor disclosure. Both
sides find this very problematic,”
Williams told The Epoch Times.
“In a time of hyper vitriol, neither
side wants to be forced to disclose
donors because of the potential
privacy and safety concerns of the
donors,” he said.
Contact Mark Tapscott at
Mark.Tapscott@epochtimes.nyc
time, the Senate is kind of a firewall
against total control by Democrats,
which would be, I think, a very bad
thing for this country.”
Johnson remains popular with
Republican grassroots, a key factor
as he mulls whether to run again,
according to Republican strategist
Brian Reisinger.
“There’s a lot of people who look at
Ron Johnson, and they see the po-
litical durability that he’s had over
the years despite being a dead man
walking twice before,” said Reis-
inger, who worked on Johnson’s
2016 campaign.
Rush Limbaugh Dies at 70
After Battle With Lung Cancer
CONTINUED FROM A1
said on his radio show on Feb.
17, hours after his death.
Limbaugh was diagnosed with
lung cancer last year, causing
him to miss hosting the show.
“This day has been one of the
most difficult days in recent mem-
ory, for me, because I’ve known
this moment was coming,” Lim-
baugh said on the air at the time.
“I can’t help but feel that I’m let-
ting everybody down with this.
But the upshot is that I have been
diagnosed with advanced lung
cancer.”
It prompted then-President
Donald Trump in February 2020
to present Limbaugh with the
Presidential Medal of Freedom
during his State of the Union Ad-
dress in front of the joint session
of Congress.
“He is the greatest fighter and
winner that you will ever meet,”
Trump said at the time, add-
ing that the medal recognized
all that Limbaugh had done for
America.
In December 2020, Limbaugh
told listeners that he considered
himself “extremely fortunate and
lucky” to still be alive, consider-
ing the grim diagnosis.
“I wasn’t expected to make it to
October, and then to November,
and then to December,” he said.
“And yet, here I am and today. Got
some problems, but I’m feeling
pretty good today. ... God knows
how important this program is
for me today. ”
Limbaugh was born in 1951
in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
He had a long career in media.
After leaving college in 1971, he
hosted his own radio show for
many years.
Limbaugh was a stalwart
AP PHOTO/PATRICK SEMANSKY, FILE
NATION | A5
AP PHOTO/STEVE MEGARGEE FILE
Reisinger said Johnson has been
able to overcome naysayers who
didn’t give him much of a chance of
winning, first against then-incum-
bent Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) in
2010 and again in a 2016 rematch.
Johnson has been a staunch sup-
porter of former President Donald
Trump, backing Trump’s efforts to
question the integrity of the election
and, more recently, challenging the
impeachment-related “incitement
of insurrection” allegations, saying
in a Feb. 15 radio interview that the
Jan. 6 Capitol breach “didn’t seem
like an armed insurrection.”
He is the greatest
fighter and winner
that you will
ever meet.
Then-President Donald Trump
Trump supporter who often
praised the Republican business-
man and president. He was also a
critic of former President Barack
Obama and President Joe Biden.
Condolences poured in on
Feb. 17 when news of his death
emerged.
Former White House press sec-
retary Kayleigh McEnany wrote
on Twitter: “Rush Limbaugh had
unrelenting boldness to proclaim
the truth. Watching his wit, pas-
sion, and willingness to hold the
media accountable informed my
entire career.”
Radio host Glenn Beck wrote: “I
just got news the Rush Limbaugh
has passed away. Thanks, Rush
for all you taught, gave, and were.
A hero to many. An icon. A patriot.
A revolutionary that saved radio.
Heaven’s gain, our loss.”
British politician and activist
Nigel Farage wrote: “So sad to
see the death of Rush Limbaugh.
He was a conservative radio phe-
nomenon for decades and gave
the silent majority a voice.”
South Dakota Gov. Kristi
Noem wrote: “Rush Limbaugh
often said, ‘I have talent on loan
from God.’ He understood that
our gifts on this earth are not
our own—they’re a blessing. He
shared his gifts with all of us. And
we’ll miss him dearly.”
Jack Phillips and Gary Du
contributed to this report. 
Rush
Limbaugh
and his wife,
Kathryn (L),
during then-
President
Donald
Trump’s State
of the Union
address on
Capitol Hill in
Washington
on Feb.
4, 2020.
A6 | NATION
New York Sues Amazon Over
‘Flagrant Disregard’ for Virus Safety
JANITA KAN
New York Attorney General Letitia
James filed a lawsuit against Ama-
zon, alleging that the online retail
giant failed to adequately protect
its workers from the CCP virus
pandemic.
Amazon is ac-
cused of ‘repeatedly
and persistently
[failing] to comply
with its obligation
to institute reason-
able and adequate
measures to protect
its workers.’
James’s office accuses Ama-
zon of violating state labor laws
by “repeatedly and persistently
[failing] to comply with its obliga-
tion to institute reasonable and
adequate measures to protect its
workers” from the pandemic at a
Staten Island fulfillment center and
a Queens distribution center, both
in New York City.
“Amazon’s flagrant disregard for
health and safety requirements
has threatened serious illness and
grave harm to the thousands of
workers in these facilities and poses
a continued substantial and spe-
cific danger to the public health,”
the lawsuit, filed Feb. 16, states.
The action follows days after
Amazon filed a preemptive law-
suit in an attempt to block James
from continuing an investigation of
the company. The business argues
that James lacked the jurisdiction to
regulate its workplace safety mea-
sures and accuses her of subject-
ing the business to an “inconsistent
A billboard by The Lincoln Project in New York’s Times Square on Oct. 25, 2020.
Lincoln Project Co-Founder
Backs Shutting Group Amid
Sexual Harassment Claims
ISABEL VAN BRUGEN
George Conway, one of the co-
founders of the Lincoln Project,
on Feb. 16 called for the anti-
Trump group to be shut down
amid sexual harassment allega-
tions against another co-founder,
John Weaver.
Conway, who resigned in Au-
gust 2020, made the comment in
agreement with remarks by Kurt
Bardella, a former senior adviser
for the project.
“Just shut it down already ... it’s
over,” Bardella wrote on Twitter,
in response to a media report that
several Lincoln Project founders
were aware of the Weaver allega-
tions as early as March 2020.
“It’s a shame, and we shouldn’t
forget the hard work of so many
people and the positive things the
organization did, but yes, I think
this is right,” Conway responded
on the social media platform.
At least 21 men have claimed
that they were sexually harassed
by Weaver through text messages.
Some of the messages implied that
if the individuals reciprocated his
and unfair standard for workplace
safety” by forcing it to comply with
an “exorbitant” list of demands.
“The OAG, without jurisdiction,
is demanding relief that is not
appropriate or warranted and is
threatening to publicly sue if Ama-
zon does not submit to the OAG’s
unreasonable terms. The OAG’s
threats and unwarranted demands
are not tethered to the facts or the
law and thus Amazon must now
seek relief in this Court,” according
to Amazon’s filing.
In a statement to The Epoch
Times, Amazon spokesperson
Kelly Nantel disputed the claims
TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
advances, their careers could be
boosted. One individual alleged
he was just 14 years old when he
began receiving messages from
Weaver.
Weaver in a statement in January
admitted to sending “inappropri-
ate” messages and apologized “to
the men I made uncomfortable.”
The Lincoln Project is a politi-
cal action committee run by cur-
rent and former Republicans. The
project endorsed Democrat Joe
Biden for president and worked
to prevent the reelection of former
President Donald Trump.
During the 2019-20 election
cycle, the group raised more
than $87 million and spent more
than $81 million, according to the
Center for Responsive Politics. The
Lincoln Project put out aggressive,
blunt ads to capture the attention
of Democrat strategists, some of
whom said the group’s Republi-
cans were battling harder against
Trump than some Democrats.
Hours earlier, Conway, the hus-
band of former Trump adviser
Kellyanne Conway, called on the
group to “come clean,” saying that
in James’s filing.
“We care deeply about the health
and safety of our employees, as
demonstrated in our filing last
week, and we don’t believe the
attorney general’s filing presents
an accurate picture of Amazon’s
industry-leading response to the
pandemic.”
According to James’s complaint,
Amazon failed to comply with
cleaning and disinfection stan-
dards when infected workers were
present in its facilities. The com-
pany also failed to identify and no-
tify potential contacts of infected
workers, and failed to ensure its
a probe into the Lincoln Project
must be “thorough” and “not a
whitewash.”
“THE LYING HAS TO STOP,”
Conway wrote on Twitter. “It’s
clear now that, as early last
*MARCH*, the people who were
in operational control of the Lin-
coln Project were told of Weaver’s
predations. Enough is enough.
LP needs to waive the NDAs and
come clean.”
Six former employees of the
group are seeking to be freed
from their non-disclosure agree-
ments so that they will be able to
talk openly about the allegations
against Weaver.
In a statement last week, the six
individuals said that they wish to
speak out about “harassment per-
petuated by John Weaver that we
have experienced or witnessed,”
knowledge of “harassment of oth-
ers by John Weaver,” and any other
information “specific to the John
Weaver situation that would aid
the press, public, and our donors
in questions relevant to the public
interest, and to the interests of the
Lincoln Project’s many loyal fans
and small donors.”
“Expecting victims and those
close to victims to contact and
engage the people and organi-
zation accused of protecting the
very predator at issue is absurd,
unreasonable, and insensitive,”
the statement said.
The Lincoln Project didn’t im-
mediately respond to a request for
comment by The Epoch Times.
CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES
Lincoln Project co-founder George
Conway in Washington on April
17, 2017.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021
operations allowed employees to
take time to “engage in hygiene,
sanitation, social-distancing, and
necessary cleaning practices.”
James also accused Amazon of
taking “retaliatory action to silence
workers’ complaints,” citing the fir-
ing of employee Christian Smalls,
who organized a walkout to protest
conditions at the workplace. The
company also issued a final writ-
ten warning to employee Derrick
Palmer, who accused the company
of having poor contact tracing.
“Over the course of the pandemic,
Amazon netted more than $130 bil-
lion in profits from online sales—
CNN, NBC Paid Antifa Activist for
Footage From Capitol Breach
ZACHARY STIEBER
Three news agencies paid a man
who identifies as an Antifa activ-
ist and was charged with allegedly
committing crimes during the
Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol for
video footage he captured during
the mayhem.
CNN, NBC, and the Australian
Broadcasting Corp. (ABC) paid
John Earle Sullivan thousands of
dollars to use video clips he shot
inside the building, according to a
new court filing.
CNN paid $35,000, NBC paid
$35,000, and ABC paid $2,375, ac-
cording to invoices that were filed
with the U.S. District Court for the
District of Columbia.
Sullivan, 26, was arrested and
charged last month with multiple
crimes on Jan. 6, including violent
entry, civil disorder, and disorderly
conduct.
CNN and NBC didn’t immedi-
ately respond to requests by The
Epoch Times for comment.
Video footage, some of which
was filmed by Sullivan, showed
the Utah man illegally entering the
Capitol building and urging others
to go inside and burn the structure
down. CNN also hosted Sullivan for
an on-air interview later on Jan. 6,
along with Jade Sacker, a freelancer
who has had work published by
various outlets.
Sullivan has told The Epoch
Times that he’s apolitical but has
told other news outlets that he is
Antifa or anti-fascist. Antifa is a
far-left, anarcho-communist net-
work that has engaged in violence
across the country in recent years.
Sullivan has also been linked to
the Black Lives Matter movement,
though he’s been disavowed by the
leader of Black Lives Matter Utah.
Sullivan was released condition-
ally shortly after being charged and
remains free, despite violating the
conditions of his release. A federal
People protest about working
conditions outside of an Amazon
warehouse fulfillment center in
Staten Island, N.Y., on May 1, 2020.
STEPHANIE KEITH/GETTY IMAGES
representing 35 percent growth
from its pre-pandemic earnings
and a 10 percent higher growth
rate than in prior years—at the ex-
pense of its frontline workers who
have experienced significant risks
of COVID-19 infection while work-
ing at Amazon,” the lawsuit states.
The complaint was filed in the
Supreme Court of the State of
New York.
Amazon said in October 2020 that
nearly 20,000 workers had tested
positive or were presumed to have
COVID-19, the disease caused by
the  CCP (Chinese Communist
Party) virus.
judge on Feb. 16 declined to block
him from using Twitter and Face-
book but said he must stop working
for Insurgence USA, an organiza-
tion he founded to help advocate
for the empowerment and uplifting
of “black and indigenous voices.”
Magistrate Judge Robin Meri-
weather, an Obama appointee,
also decreed that Sullivan’s 24-hour
monitoring be stopped, Politico re-
ported, but said his internet use will
be checked by probation officers.
Sullivan can’t use social media plat-
forms to incite riots or violent pro-
tests, and is being forced to remain
home as the case moves forward.
Sullivan’s attorney had argued in
a memorandum that the govern-
ment’s attempts would “limit defen-
dant’s ability to communicate the
way the vast majority of Americans
communicate is oppressive, over-
broad, and unconstitutional [sic].”
“The entirely overboard request
by the government would effective-
ly ban hm [sic] from communicat-
ing with friends, interacting, with
his family, writing his thoughts,
keeping up with the news, check-
ing on the weather, reading a news-
paper outline or any of the typical
reasons why the vast majority of the
[population] uses these social me-
dia platforms,” the attorney wrote.
Sullivan was already banned from
using Twitter and Facebook, along
with 11 other websites, by a judge
in Utah in a separate case. Sullivan
was arrested last year for allegedly
rioting and other crimes in the state.
His primary Twitter account has
been suspended; a search of Face-
book didn’t turn up a profile. He has
claimed to be a journalist as a de-
fense of what he did in Washington,
but authorities say that was a front.
“Under the guise of journalism
... he is engaged in and incited vio-
lent activity, including the kind of
destructive society we saw on Jan.
6,” prosecutor Candice Wong told
the court.
 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021
Trump Impeachment Attorney Canceled
by Law School, Civil Rights Law Group
CONTINUED FROM A1
into teaching. I like doing that,”
Schoen said.
Schoen, an Alabama-based law-
yer recognized for his civil rights
litigation, declined to name the
school that canceled his course.
He likewise declined to name
the legal organization behind the
email list that suspended him.
That was sad for
me because I really
want to go more
and more into
teaching. I like
doing that.
David Schoen, attorney
“They actually spent 48 hours
discussing this with their board
and so on. And they decided that
they needed to suspend me from
the list,” Schoen said. “It’s a very
important one to me. It’s very
prominent civil rights lawyers and
fine people.”
Schoen delivered an impas-
sioned argument on the first day of
the trial for why the Senate didn’t
have jurisdiction to try a former
president. At the conclusion of
his remarks, he appeared to be
choking back tears as he read an
1849 poem by Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow titled “The Building of
the Ship.” Schoen told The Epoch
Times that he chose the poem—
and the quote from President
Abraham Lincoln that preceded
it—because he views the days of
Lincoln as the closest parallel to
the current division in the United
States.
“I think we’re in a very perilous,
divided time. The election itself
showed that, but I think all of the
rhetoric shows it also,” Schoen
said.
Schoen brought his children,
aged 15 to 25, into the process
of preparing his impeachment
trial remarks. His daughter was
the one to suggest using Longfel-
low’s poem.
“I wrote my remarks myself. I
Florida Governor Vows to Keep Schools
Open, Calls CDC Guidelines a ‘Disgrace’
GQ PAN
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has
vowed to keep schools in his state
open, regardless of the latest guide-
lines from the U.S. Centers for Dis-
ease Control and Prevention (CDC),
which he said would close almost
all of the nation’s schools if applied.
“Florida schools are open for in-
person instruction. Every single
parent in this state has a right to
send their kid to in-person instruc-
tion. We have done it the right way;
we are not going to turn back,” De-
Santis said on Feb. 15 during a press
conference. “What the CDC put out,
5 o’clock on a Friday afternoon—I
wonder why they would do it then—
was quite frankly a disgrace.
“It would require—if you actually
followed that—closing 90 percent
of schools in the United States,” the
Republican governor said. “We have
been open. They will remain open,
and we are not turning back.”
According to the recently updated
CDC guidelines, communities with
“high” transmission—defined as
having more than 100 new COV-
ID-19 cases per 100,000 people and
more than 10 percent positive tests
in the previous seven days—are
advised to open their elementary
schools for a hybrid of remote and
in-person learning and offer exclu-
sively remote learning to middle
and high school students.
Under the CDC standard, about
90 percent of all U.S. counties are
currently considered areas of “high”
transmission and are not encour-
aged to fully reopen their K–12
schools.
Then-President Donald Trump turns to reporters as he exits the White House
to walk toward Marine One on the South Lawn on Jan. 12, 2021.
wanted to share them with the
kids and I wanted their feedback.
They were very helpful to me. One
of my sons was with me at the im-
peachment trial,” Schoen said.
“We’ve been open the whole time
since August. We had kids doing
camps and athletics and all that
over the summer. And we’ve been
in-person as much as anybody in
the country,” DeSantis said, noting
that there are 33 states that have
more COVID-19 cases per capita
in children than Florida, even
though many of them don’t open
their schools.
DeSantis moved on to criticize
states run by Democrats, where
students have been out of school
for almost a year. He argued that
if those states choose to follow the
new CDC guidelines, their students
may not be able to go back to school
even in the fall.
“That is a disgrace, that is not sci-
ence,” he said. “That is putting poli-
tics ahead of what’s right for kids.
That is putting politics and special
interests ahead of what the evidence
and observed experience says.”
DeSantis’s comments followed
state Education Commissioner
Richard Corcoran expressing some
dissent on Feb. 12, when the new
CDC guidance on school reopening
was published. Corcoran said in a
statement that Florida has been do-
ing well since the summer of 2020,
and was unlikely to change course
because of the CDC’s advice.
“CDC guidance is informative,
although Florida school districts,
public charter schools, and private
schools should stay the course they
began in summer 2020,” Corcoran
wrote. “The science has been clear
since August, and subsequent stud-
ies and data since then show that
schools are safe to reopen.”
DREW ANGERER/GETTY IMAGES
Schoen isn’t the only attorney
facing repercussions for defend-
ing the president.
Attorney Michael van der Veen
said vandals broke the windows in
Pentagon, FEMA to Set Up COVID-19
Vaccine Sites in Texas, New York
ISABEL VAN BRUGEN
As many as 3,700 active-duty
troops have been placed on
standby to assist in administer-
ing COVID-19 vaccines at Fed-
eral Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) sites in several
locations, including Texas, New
York, and the Virgin Islands, in
a bid to administer millions of
vaccines to the areas hardest hit
by the pandemic.
U.S. Northern Command head
Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerck
told reporters during a press
briefing on Feb. 16 that by
Feb. 24, about 778 troops will
be deployed to begin running
five COVID-19 vaccine sites in
Houston, Dallas, and Arlington
in Texas, and the boroughs of
Brooklyn and Queens in New
York.
As many as 3,700 troops “are
allocated to prepare to deploy,”
VanHerck said. “They haven’t
been given a tasking to deploy
at this time.”
Plans are still being finalized
by the Pentagon and FEMA to
set up two additional sites in St.
Thomas and St. Croix in the Vir-
gin Islands.
VanHerck said he hopes that
can be done by roughly March
1 or 2.
So far, the Pentagon has autho-
rized 25 military teams, which
include 4,700 active-duty troops,
to assist FEMA at COVID-19 vac-
cine sites nationwide.
VanHerck said that the U.S.
TASOS KATOPODIS/GETTY IMAGES
his home and defaced the house
with graffiti. Van der Veen has had
to move his children to a secret
location and hire armed guards to
protect his home and workplace.
Schoen said that he’s used to
threats after decades of practic-
ing civil rights law.
“When I lived in Alabama, I lived
behind an electric fence with two
German shepherds and I had to
carry a gun every place I went. I
faced many threats for different
kinds of reasons, over the years.
But if you let that stop you, I sup-
pose you’re in the wrong busi-
ness,” Schoen said.
Schoen received the Pro Bono
Publico Award from the Ameri-
can Bar Association (ABA) in 1995
for his civil rights work. The ABA
handbook says he was “recog-
nized for his enormous contribu-
tion to bringing about change in
schools, prisons, jails, foster care,
police departments, and election
ballot access in the South.”
Northern Command has re-
quested up to 100 teams, which
could potentially make way
for 18,000 troops to adminis-
ter 400,000 jabs daily.
Controlling the CCP (Chinese
Communist Party) virus pan-
demic is the chief national secu-
rity mission for the U.S. home-
land, VanHerck added.
President Joe Biden has vowed
to vaccinate 100 million Amer-
icans against COVID-19 in his
first 100 days in office. Accord-
ing to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, more
than 71.6 million doses of the
two authorized vaccines have
been distributed as of Feb. 16,
but just 55.2 million total doses
have been administered.
One vaccine is made by Pfizer
and BioNtech; the other is made
An aerial view of the Pentagon in Washington.
NATION | A7
David Schoen
(C), lawyer
for former
President
Donald Trump,
talks to
reporters as
he departs the
U.S. Capitol on
the third day of
Trump’s second
impeachment
trial on Feb.
11, 2021.
The Senate acquitted Trump of
the charge that he incited the mob
that breached the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Schoen said he spoke to the presi-
dent after the acquittal. He said
the president was “very upbeat,
very gratified.”
During the trial, Schoen spoke to
Trump two or three times per day.
He said the president was always
“very gracious,” “very supportive,”
and “very much appreciated the
presentations I made.”
Days after the acquittal, a top
House Democrat and the National
Association for the Advancement
of Colored People (NAACP) sued
Trump over the Capitol breach,
accusing the president of planning
a conspiracy to attack the Capitol.
Schoen said the lawsuit is “politi-
cal theater.”
“I don’t think there’s any merit to
it. I think it’s an abuse of the stat-
ute that it’s based on. And I think
it’s just going to lead to further di-
visiveness,” he said.
by Moderna, with assistance
from U.S. health officials.
At least 11 states have seen
delays in the rollout of vaccines
due to severe winter conditions,
with many forced to shut vac-
cine sites and reschedule ap-
pointments.
Thousands of appointments
have been rescheduled in New
Jersey, New York, Maryland,
Missouri, Georgia, Kansas, Mis-
sissippi, Kentucky, New Hamp-
shire, Texas, and Alabama, ABC
News reported.
All mass vaccination programs
scheduled through Feb. 19 in
Missouri have been canceled
over health and safety concerns
due to “severe winter weather,”
Gov. Mike Parson said, noting
that vaccine shipments are also
likely to be delayed.
AFP/GETTY IMAGES
A8 | NATION
Judicial Watch Sues US Capitol Police for Emails,
Videos Related to Jan. 6 Riot
JACK PHILLIPS
Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit
against the U.S. Capitol Police to
obtain videos and documents per-
taining to last month’s breach of
the Capitol building.
The organization said in a state-
ment that it filed the lawsuit under
the common law right to access
public records, after the Capitol Po-
lice “refused to provide any records”
in response to a Jan. 21 request.
Email communications between
the Capitol Police’s executive team
and the Capitol Police Board about
security on Jan. 6 were sought by
the conservative-leaning watch-
dog group. It also requested emails
between the Police Board and the
FBI, the Department of Justice, and
the Department of Homeland Se-
curity about security details that
day—as well as all video footage
from inside the Capitol between 12
p.m. and 9 p.m. on Jan. 6, according
to Judicial Watch.
“The public has a right to know
about how Congress handled se-
curity and what all the videos show
of the US Capitol riot. What are
Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer
trying to hide from the American
people?” Judicial Watch President
Tom Fitton said, referring to the
Democratic speaker of the House
and the Senate majority leader.
The organization noted that Con-
gress exempts itself from the Free-
dom of Information Act, which is
a federal law passed in 1967 that
requires the full or partial disclo-
sure upon request of previously
unreleased information and doc-
uments controlled by the federal
government.
The Capitol Police stated in a
Feb. 11 letter that the materials
sought by Judicial Watch don’t
constitute “public records,” Judi-
cial Watch said.
Facebook CEO Zuckerberg Expresses Concern
About COVID-19 Vaccines in Leaked Footage
ZACHARY STIEBER
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg
made comments last year about
COVID-19 vaccines that clash
with policies that his platform has
implemented, leaked video shows.
Zuckerberg said in July 2020: “I
do just want to make sure that I
share some caution on this [vac-
cine] because we just don’t know
the long-term side effects of ba-
sically modifying people’s DNA
and RNA ... basically the ability
to produce those antibodies and
whether that causes other muta-
tions or other risks downstream.
So, there’s work on both paths of
vaccine development.”
Zuckerberg took a different
stance when appearing in a virtual
forum in November 2020 with Dr.
Anthony Fauci, a leading govern-
ment scientist.
“Just to clear up one point, my
understanding is that these vac-
cines do not modify your DNA or
RNA. So that’s just an important
point to clarify,” Zuckerberg said,
prompting Fauci to say: “No, first
of all, DNA is inherent in your own
nuclear cell. Sticking in anything
foreign will ultimately get cleared.”
Facebook didn’t respond to a re-
quest for comment.
The footage was published by
JOE RAEDLE/GETTY IMAGES
A bottle of the Moderna COVID-19
vaccine in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on
Dec. 23, 2020.
Protesters clash with police at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021.
The public has a
right to know about
how Congress
handled security
and what all the
videos show of the
US Capitol riot.
Tom Fitton, president,
Judicial Watch
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies at a Senate Judiciary
and Commerce Committees Joint Hearing in Washington on April 10, 2018.
Project Veritas, a journalism
watchdog. It was allegedly from
Facebook’s internal weekly ques-
tion-and-answer session.
Zuckerberg’s Facebook has im-
posed harsh guidelines on what
people can post about COVID-19,
and banned or restricted a number
of users for violating the policies.
Facebook earlier in February said
it would take down any posts with
claims about vaccines deemed
false by health groups or its so-
called fact-checkers.
Facebook stated in a blog post,
“Today, following consultations
with leading health organiza-
tions, including the World Health
Organization (WHO), we are ex-
panding the list of false claims we
will remove to include additional
debunked claims about the coro-
navirus and vaccines.”
The list includes “claims that the
COVID-19 vaccine changes peo-
ple’s DNA.”
Administrators for some groups
will be required to greenlight all
posts if the groups have been la-
beled problematic in terms of posts
that have been made.
Former Senate Sergeant-at-
Arms and Doorkeeper Michael
Stenger, former House Sergeant-
at-Arms Paul D. Irving, and for-
mer U.S. Capitol Police Chief Ste-
ven Sund have been invited to
testify next week before the Senate
Homeland Security committee,
according to lawmakers.
“The security failures that led to
the breach endangered not just the
Vice President and the Congress,
but the peaceful, democratic trans-
fer of power itself. The American
people deserve a complete ac-
counting of those failures,” law-
SAMIRA BOUAOU/THE EPOCH TIMES
“Claims about COVID-19 or vac-
cines that do not violate these poli-
cies will still be eligible for review
by our third-party fact-checkers,
and if they are rated false, they will
be labeled and demoted,” the com-
pany stated.
Footage showing Zuckerberg
commenting privately on various
issues has been made public before
by Project Veritas. In one clip, he
praised President Joe Biden’s early
executive orders “on areas that we
as a company care quite deeply
about and have for some time.”
“Areas like immigration, preserv-
ing DACA, ending restrictions on
travel from Muslim-majority coun-
tries, as well as other executive
orders on climate and advancing
racial justice and equity. I think
these were all important and posi-
tive steps,” he said.
Facebook banned former Pres-
ident Donald Trump in January
while Trump was still in office.
Trump remains blocked from the
platform.
Jack Phillips contributed
to this report.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021
makers wrote last week in a letter
regarding their request.
Separately, the union represent-
ing the Capitol Police delivered an
overwhelming vote of “no confi-
dence” in the department’s leader-
ship, including Acting Chief Yoga-
nanda Pittman.
About 92 percent of union mem-
bers voted “no confidence” in Pitt-
man, who became the agency’s chief
two days after the breach. Around
97 percent voted “no confidence”
in Capitol Police Capt. Ben Smith,
according to the union, while other
leaders also received a high degree
Kentucky County Demands Mitch McConnell
Resign as Republican Senate Leader
JACK PHILLIPS
A county Republican Party in
Kentucky demanded that Senate
Minority Leader Mitch McCon-
nell (R-Ky.) resign as leader after
his comments on the Senate floor
over the weekend.
“I do not take this action lightly
and understand the ramifications
in doing so,” Nelson County GOP
Chair Don Thrasher said in a writ-
ten statement released on Feb. 16,
noting that he received Trump’s
statement about McConnell’s
leadership. “As the highest rank-
ing Republican in that position
you are de facto leader of the Na-
tional Republican Party.”
“The overwhelming number of
Republicans in Nelson County
are not on your side on this issue
and I speak on their behalf,” he
wrote, noting that McConnell’s
“leadership does not represent
the Republican voters that put
our faith in you in the last primary
election” before asking the Senate
Republican leader to resign.
The Epoch Times reached out
to McConnell’s office for com-
ment. McConnell hasn’t issued
a response to Trump’s statement.
The Nelson County Republi-
can Party censured McConnell
last month over the Republican
leader’s comments on the Senate
floor condemning Trump’s Jan. 6
speech to supporters.
On Feb. 16, Trump released a
statement via his Save America
PAC in which he called on Re-
publican senators to abandon
McConnell and threatened pri-
mary challenges to Republican
incumbents.
“Where necessary and appro-
priate, I will back primary rivals
who espouse Making America
Great Again and our policy of
America First,” Trump wrote in
the statement.
He also noted McConnell’s
family ties to China via his wife
JULIO CORTEZ/AP PHOTO
of “no confidence” votes.
“The current leadership is just a
continuation of the past regimes on
this Department and there needs
to be accountability,” U.S. Capitol
Police Labor Union Chairman Gus
Papathanasiou said in a Feb. 15
statement.
“Their failures are inexcusable.
This vote, which the majority of the
officers in the bargaining unit par-
ticipated in, shows they have lost
our trust. The anger in this depart-
ment is widespread and the trust
that has been broken is not going
to be regained.”
Elaine Chao, whose family owns
a shipping business that report-
edly has close connections with
the country. “McConnell has no
credibility on China because of
his family’s substantial Chinese
business holdings.”
Also in the statement, Trump
paints McConnell as out of touch
with the GOP’s voter base.
McConnell, he said, is respon-
sible for Republicans losing the
Senate because he wouldn’t sup-
port Trump’s proposal for $2,000
stimulus checks. Democrats then
weaponized Trump’s demand
and used the $2,000 stimulus pay-
ments as a campaign proposal,
according to Trump’s statement.
McConnell wrote a Wall Street
Journal op-ed following the im-
peachment effort, suggesting that
Trump was the one who was re-
sponsible for the Republican Sen-
ate majority loss.
“Georgia was a fiasco,” McCon-
nell wrote. “We all know why that
occurred.”
Although he voted to acquit
Trump during the Senate im-
peachment trial, McConnell sug-
gested that Trump could face civil
or criminal penalties for his Jan.
6 speech to supporters.
“Jan. 6 was a shameful day. A
mob bloodied law enforcement
and besieged the first branch of
government. American citizens
tried to use terrorism to stop a
democratic proceeding they dis-
liked,” McConnell wrote in the
article.
“There is no question former
President Trump bears moral
responsibility. His supporters
stormed the Capitol because
of the unhinged falsehoods he
shouted into the world’s largest
megaphone,” he stated. “His be-
havior during and after the chaos
was also unconscionable, from
attacking Vice President Mike
Pence during the riot to praising
the criminals after it ended.”
 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021
Beijing’s ‘Vaccine Diplomacy’ Fails to Quell Safety
Concerns About China-Made Vaccine
NICOLE HAO
As China seeks to bolster its inter-
national standing through “vac-
cine diplomacy,” public confidence
in the safety and efficacy of China’s
COVID-19 vaccines—both in and
outside China—appears mixed.
The Chinese regime is aggres-
sively promoting its COVID-19
vaccines to foreign countries.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping told
state leaders at a recent economic
summit with central and eastern
European countries that Serbia
has received 1 million doses of
COVID-19 vaccines from China.
“If any other central and east-
ern European countries have a
demand for vaccine cooperation,
China is willing to proactively
consider it,” he said.
On Feb. 16, a shipment of 550,000
doses of vaccines manufactured
by Chinese state-run company
Sinopharm arrived in Hungary.
China’s foreign minister Wang
Yi told his EU counterpart dur-
ing a Feb. 8 video conference that
China and the EU should lead the
global effort to combat COVID-19,
and that Beijing wished to supply
vaccines to developing countries.
Meanwhile, foreign ministry
spokesperson Wang Wenbin (no
relation) said during a Feb. 8 press
conference that China had agree-
ments with 53 developing coun-
tries to export COVID-19 vaccines
to them, and has already sent vac-
cines to 22 of them.
Wang also stated that China
would supply 10 million doses to
the World Health Organization’s
global vaccines program, which
provides doses to developing
countries in Africa, South Amer-
ica, and Asia.
International Concerns
French President Emmanuel Ma-
cron criticized the lack of trans-
parent information about Chinese
vaccines during an event held by
U.S.-based think tank Atlantic
Council earlier this month.
Macron also expressed con-
cerns that the Chinese vaccines
wouldn’t be effective in protecting
against new variants of COVID-19
that have emerged.
China hasn’t published any data
regarding its vaccines’ effective-
Thousands Protest Long-Term Lockdown in
China’s Current Virus Hotspot
ALEX WU
Gaocheng district of Shijiazhuang
city, Hebei Province, is one of the
hotspots of the latest COVID-19
resurgence in China. The district
of roughly 800,000 people has
been under total lockdown since
early January, despite authorities
recently downgrading the disease
risk level to low.
Thousands of residents at the
Hengda Oasis residential com-
munity in the district protested
against the lockdowns this week
and clashed with local govern-
ment workers. Meanwhile, people
in nearby Nangong city, another
hotspot, are becoming distraught
after being stuck indoors for an
extended period. One reportedly
committed suicide.
The Hebei government an-
nounced that the mass lockdown
will continue for the foreseeable
future.
On Feb. 7, conflicts broke out be-
tween residents and government
officials. The owners accused the
government of inaction. Tensions
escalated and eventually, a clash
broke out, according to local resi-
dents.
Mr. Li, who owns and lives
in one of the apartments in the
complex, told The Epoch Times
that some people from the gov-
ernment visited the community
that day and let residents express
their views. Thousands of people
A medical worker shows the Sinopharm vaccine from China, at the Calmette
hospital in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Feb. 10, 2021.
ness or side effects.
Taiwan’s Minister of Health and
Welfare Chen Shih-chung told re-
porters in Taipei on Feb. 14 that
Taiwan didn’t buy China-made
COVID-19 vaccines because of
incomplete technical information
and lack of scientific reports.
Last month, Brazilian President
from the entire community went
downstairs and asked for the rigid
lockdown policies to be lifted.
According to Mr. Li, there are
about 15 buildings in their com-
munity, with a total of about
10,000 residents.
He said the government staff,
who weren’t wearing uniforms,
entered the residential commu-
nity without presenting work per-
mits. When security guards asked
them for identification and why
they were entering, “maybe there
were some heated words. And
then a clash broke out,” he said.
Mr. Li said he didn’t know of any-
one being injured in the clash, but
the scene was chaotic. The conflict
started around 3 p.m. and ended
around 6 p.m. The Epoch Times
has obtained a video of the clash.
Mr. Li said that on Jan. 5, after he
returned home from work, he dis-
covered that authorities had en-
acted a lockdown and he could no
longer leave his home. He hopes
the lockdown can be lifted soon so
he can go back to work and make
a living. He added that vegetables
were becoming more expensive.
“The key issue is that you have
to live and you can’t make money.
Some people have family to sup-
port and mortgages and car loans
to pay. People are going crazy. I
just heard that some people in our
community have already lost their
jobs [due to the lockdown], crying
at home.”
TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Jair Bolsonaro also questioned the
efficacy of Chinese vaccines.
China’s Sinovac ran last-stage
clinical vaccine trials in Brazil,
which was shown to have an ef-
ficacy of 50.4 percent—just barely
passing the WHO’s 50 percent
threshold for regulatory approval.
The rate is also lower than U.S.-
Meanwhile, on Feb. 15, in near-
by Nangong city, the 11th round
of mandatory nucleic acid testing
for all residents was completed,
as a measure to detect infections.
Although authorities designated
the city as an area with a low
risk for disease spread on Feb.
8, residents were still locked in
their homes. After spending the
Chinese New Year holiday in iso-
lation, many residents felt heavy
mental pressure and were on the
verge of collapse, according to a
local resident.
Mr. Wang in Nangong told
The Epoch Times that on Feb.
10, two days before the Chinese
New Year, a 60-year-old man in
Nangong’s Nanguan community
hanged himself. The specific cir-
cumstances weren’t disclosed by
authorities, but locals speculated
that he couldn’t bear life in isola-
tion any longer and chose to end
his life.
The total lockdown in Nangong
began in early January.
Wang said people were becom-
ing distressed from the long-term
isolation.
“I think I am about to get de-
pressed. People are suffocating
and going crazy. No one will tell
us when we can be released from
lockdown!”
Gu Xiaohua, Ling Yun,
and Hu Yuanzhen contributed
to this report.
MARTIN BERNETTI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
developed vaccines, with Pfizer-
BioNTech’s at 95 percent, and
Moderna’s at 94.1 percent.
YouGov, a London-headquar-
tered research data and analytics
group, also conducted a survey
that asked 19,000 people from 17
countries about their attitudes to-
ward COVID-19 vaccines made in
12 countries.
China scored second-to-last, at
minus-19 on average. The negative
score means people were more
likely to feel worried than reas-
sured by a vaccine coming from
there.
Inside China
Chinese citizens also showed low
confidence in China-made vac-
cines.
The Epoch Times previously
obtained an internal survey con-
ducted by authorities in Jing’an
district of Shanghai, in which
113,000 people were surveyed
about their willingness to be vac-
cinated.
Roughly 21 percent (24,000) said
they were willing.
Hong Kong Media Tycoon Lai Charged
Again While in Jail: Reports
HONG KONG—Jailed Hong Kong
media tycoon Jimmy Lai has been
arrested and accused of assisting
one of 12 fugitives who were flee-
ing the city before China captured
them at sea last year, his Apple
Daily tabloid and local newspaper
Oriental Daily reported on Feb. 17,
without citing a source.
Lai, detained while awaiting a
bail hearing earlier in the week,
was already facing charges of col-
luding with foreign forces under a
sweeping national security law that
Beijing imposed on Hong Kong last
year.
The 12 fugitives could face po-
tential charges in Hong Kong over
mass pro-democracy protests in
2019, with Andy Li—whom the pa-
pers identified as the person Lai
was suspected of helping—being
investigated for suspected national
security crimes.
Neither newspaper gave further
details. It was unclear if the na-
tional security law extends to the
assistance Lai is suspected to have
given Li.
Police didn’t immediately re-
spond to a request by The Epoch
Times for comment.
The Chinese Coast Guard cap-
tured the 12 fugitives in August as
they tried to flee Hong Kong in a
boat believed to be headed for Tai-
wan; all were held virtually incom-
municado in a mainland China
prison until trial in late December.
Ten were jailed for terms rang-
ing from seven months to three
CHINA | A9
A medical
worker (C)
prepares to
administer
a dose of
the COVID-
19 vaccine
by China’s
Sinovac, at the
Bicentenario
Stadium in
Santiago,
Chile, on Feb.
3, 2021.
Meanwhile, out of 12,479 people
who said they have already re-
ceived doses of a COVID-19 vac-
cine, 17 cases of adverse reactions
were reported, or roughly three
per 10,000.
A doctor surnamed Wang at a
Beijing hospital said in a phone
interview that he suspected the
reason why Chinese authorities
haven’t publicized vaccine data is
that the vaccines aren’t sufficiently
safe for use.
He also noted a peculiarity with
Beijing’s issued guidance on vac-
cine usage: only people between
the ages of 18 to 59 can take it. Se-
niors, the most vulnerable popula-
tion, aren’t eligible.
Wang hypothesized that this was
because younger populations are
less likely to develop serious ad-
verse reactions.
If seniors were allowed to take it,
“and a large number of them suf-
fered serious adverse reactions, no
one in our country would dare to
get the vaccine, and the vaccine’s
safety will be challenged by the
people,” Wang added.
It was unclear if
the national secu-
rity law extends
to the assistance
Lai is suspected to
have given Li.
years for illegally crossing the
border or organizing the crossing,
while two minors were returned
to Hong Kong.
Lai was already the most high-
profile person to be charged under
the new security law.
Prosecutors allege that in state-
ments he made last July 30 and
Aug. 18, he encouraged foreign in-
terference in Hong Kong’s affairs.
Lai was arrested during an August
raid by about 200 police officers on
the newsroom of his Apple Daily,
known for its feisty and critical cov-
erage of the Chinese regime and the
pro-Beijing Hong Kong government.
Beijing imposed the new law on
the former British colony last June,
after months of pro-democracy
protests, to target anything that
the regime considers subversion,
secession, terrorism, or collusion
with foreign forces, with maximum
penalties of life imprisonment.
Critics say the law aimed at
crushing dissent and erodes free-
doms in the financial hub.
By Marius Zaharia
From Reuters
A10 | WORLD
The CCP’s Agenda in Kashmir
CONTINUED FROM A1
footprint” in India’s neighborhood and its
bid to “unilaterally alter the status quo”
along India’s disputed borders have fos-
tered an environment of “confrontation
and mutual distrust.”
Kashmir and Ladakh are the northern-
most border territories of India and were
part of a common state that shared bor-
ders with both Pakistan and China before
the political reorganization of Jammu and
Kashmir in 2019.
Since the 1980s, China has adopted a
policy of neutrality on the Kashmir issue,
a region that was the triggering point of
multiple wars between India and Pakistan.
However, for some years, the regime in
Beijing has issued loose-leaf stapled visas
to people from Jammu and Kashmir—a
gesture indicating that China doesn’t ac-
cept India’s sovereignty over the region.
Pandya believes that China doesn’t want
a resolution to the Kashmir issue. “It’s their
long-term strategic game. They wouldn’t
want the settlement of Kashmir in that
sense,” he said. “They would want it to be
a disturbed area to keep India engrossed
and to keep India under pressure.”
Draining India’s Resources in Kashmir
China works in tandem with its ally
Pakistan to keep India totally engaged
and “bogged down” in Kashmir, with
an insurgency and local terrorism, said
Pandya, who’s also the author of the book
“Radicalization in India: An Exploration.”
China wants to “keep a major part of
the Indian army occupied with Kash-
mir insurgency and the problems on the
Pakistan frontier” so China can  “establish
their firm control over the oceans, where
they are vulnerable, as 60 percent of their
oil supplies pass through Malacca straits,”
he said.
The Center for Strategic and Interna-
tional Studies notes that 80 percent of the
global trade by volume and 60 percent by
value goes by sea, and 60 percent of that
passes through the Strait of Malacca. India
has greater control over trade in the area
because the trade route from the strait
leads to India’s maritime boundary. Pan-
dya said that since India has the ability to
choke that point, the Chinese are creating
an alternate route by way of the Belt and
Road Initiative.
While the conflict in Kashmir appears to
be a dispute between only India and Paki-
stan, he explained, it is largely the result
of unrestricted warfare waged by China
against India. “For [the Chinese regime],
war is not just confined to your military
confrontation that lasts for a specific peri-
od of time. The idea is to dominate others,
put others under some kind of an inferior
economic and military position. Hence,
the war is always continuing,” he said.
“They would not want to have India as
a powerful and adversarial neighbor in
their backyard, as all their claims to global
superiority will fall flat if India is seen or
perceived as some kind of a challenger to
China.
“So they would also want India to be eco-
nomically backward under pressure. And
Kashmir is a big, big theater to keep India
economically drained.”
Pandya said Pakistan acts in a “tactical
convergence” with China in Kashmir.
“Chinese would start aggression in the
eastern theater [Ladakh], and they would
ask Pakistan to execute some kind of terror
attack or organize a civil protest in Kash-
mir or massive ceasefire violations or even
an attack on the western front [de facto
border with Pakistan],” he said.
About Chinese Arms in Kashmir
When Pakistan directs a terrorist into
Kashmir, the fighters are provided with
two kinds of AK-47 assault rifles: One
manufactured in Darra Khel, Pakistan,
A Pakistani army officer (3L) briefs Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Yao Jing (4L), Pakistani Maj.
Gen. Asif Ghafoor (2L), and foreign diplomats during their visit at an area affected by cross-border
shelling in Jura, Pakistan-administered Kashmir, on Oct. 22, 2019.
A map of the Kashmir region.
AP PHOTO/DAR YASIN
Indian policemen stand guard during a curfew in Srinagar, Indian-controlled
Kashmir, on Aug. 12, 2016.
which costs roughly $370 to $415, and
the other a Chinese-made version that
While the con- costs $690 to $830, Pandya said, citing his
flict in Kashmir research for his upcoming book “Terror
appears to be a Financing in Kashmir,” a project of Vive-
kananda International Foundation.
dispute between Pakistan spends less than 1.5 to 2 lakhs
only India and ($2,300 to $3,000) on each foreign terror-
Pakistan, it is ist sent to Kashmir, he said. Since there
seems to be no shortage of local recruits,
largely the result foreign fighters and the costs incurred
of unrestricted are even less, he added.
Meanwhile, the Indian army spends a
warfare waged minimum of $9,643-$11,021 (7-8 lakhs)
by China on each cordon and search operation
against India. (CASO) to neutralize terrorists in Kash-
mir, he said.
“And in one day, you will have around
50 to 60 CASOs in Kashmir, and out of
those 50 to 60 CASOs, maybe two or
three turn out to be successful ones. So
imagine the amount of money that India
is spending,” he said, adding that on av-
erage, 16 percent of India’s development
funds go to 1 percent of India’s popula-
tion in Jammu and Kashmir.
FAROOQ NAEEM/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
“Then surrounding this builds a whole
huge conflict narrative,” he said about
the situation before India re-organized
Jammu and Kashmir into two federally
governed territories called the Union
Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the
Union Territory of Ladakh.
“In the name of conflict, it’s very diffi-
cult to prove the expenditure, it’s difficult
to hold people accountable, and it paves
the way for massive corruption, huge cor-
ruption in the state.”
China’s Fears About CPEC
The China–Pakistan Economic Corridor
(CPEC), which is a nodal project of Chi-
na’s Belt and Road Initiative, is displacing
locals in the areas of Balochistan and
Gilgit-Baltistan, which is legally India’s
territory but currently under Pakistan’s
control. The resulting dynamics have
created a silent flashpoint between India
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021
WIKIPEDIA
and China in Kashmir.
“The [Pakistani army is] killing civil-
ians. It has already generated hatred and
resentment, giving rise to the armed Bal-
uch resistance movement against CPEC
activities and Pakistan’s illegal occupa-
tion,” he said. “Because of such a precari-
ous situation, China fears that Indians
might help the local rebels in sabotaging
CPEC’s projects in Balochistan.
“So that’s why they want to keep India
under some kind of pressure. And, to
do that, they prefer to keep Kashmir
boiling.”
Researcher Zeus Hans Mendez at the
Centre for Security Studies wrote in a
paper published last fall that, at the time
of the formation of India and Pakistan
in 1947, Pakistan forcibly took over the
region of Balochistan, while the ethnic
Baloch people wanted independence.
Mendez explained that fighting between
the Pakistan army and Baloch rebels has
led to the loss of thousands of soldiers
and fighters since the 1970s.
“With so many Chinese set to enter
Balochistan, the Baloch fear irreversible
demographic changes and increased
marginalization,” Mendez wrote in the
Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs, adding
that the Balochs have started a series of
unsuccessful attacks against the CPEC.
A top Baloch leader reached out to both
the United States and India to support an
independent Balochistan, describing the
CPEC as “threatening to the interests of
both India and the U.S.”
US Policy
Pandya said the United States must real-
ize that amid a changing geopolitical
context, India will be the most “trustwor-
thy and credible” partner against China,
should the Biden administration seek to
be “sincere” with India.
“In the past, [the United States has] suf-
fered from misplaced priorities and made
wrong investments in Afghanistan. They
provided billions of dollars in aid to Paki-
stan, and Pakistan kept bleeding them
through Taliban and Haqqani network,”
he said.
“Now, President Biden must be percep-
tive and understand India’s concerns
and security issues vis-a-vis cross border
terrorism supported by Pakistan. If the
U.S. had supported and stood firmly with
India against Pakistan on the Pak-occu-
pied Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan issue,
China would not have pulled off its CPEC
in Gilgit-Baltistan.”
He said that at a time when the United
States is withdrawing from Afghanistan,
China is ready to act as a decisive player
with its ally Pakistan.
“The U.S. must stand firmly with India
if it wants India to be its trusted partner
against China,” he said.
 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021
Include 4 More Symptoms to List That
Triggers PCR Test in UK: Study
SIMON VEAZEY
The list of symptoms that prompts
a CCP virus test in the UK should
be expanded to include fatigue,
headache, sore throat, and diar-
rhea, according to researchers.
Currently, cough, fever, and loss
or change in the sense of smell
(anosmia) are the only symptoms
that the health care system uses
to assess whether people should
get a PCR test.
But that approach catches only
69 percent of cases, according
to researchers at King’s College
London.
They say that by adding fatigue,
headache, sore throat, and diar-
rhea to the diagnostic list, 96 per-
cent of cases would be picked up.
Using data from over 122,000
people recording their symptoms
on a phone app, they were able to
build up a broader picture of the
symptoms associated with people
who later tested positive.
“We’ve known since the begin-
ning that just focusing testing on
the classic triad of cough, fever,
and anosmia misses a significant
proportion of positive cases,” said
professor Tim Spector from the
School of Life Course Sciences,
who ran the survey.
“We identified anosmia as a
symptom back in May and our
work led to the government add-
ing it to the list, it is now clear that
we need to add more,” he said in
a statement. “By inviting any us-
ers who log any new symptoms
to get a test, we confirmed that
there are many more symptoms
of COVID-19.”
Specter says that for his team,
the message is clear, “If you’re
feeling newly unwell, it could be
Russia Dismisses European Court of Human Rights’ Call to Free Navalny
MOSCOW—Russia’s justice
minister on Feb. 17 dismissed as
“unlawful” a European Court of
Human Rights ruling demand-
ing the release of Kremlin critic
Alexei Navalny and accused the
court of meddling in the Russian
judicial system.
The Strasbourg-based court
(ECHR) said it had ruled on Feb. 16
to “indicate to the Government of
Russia” that it should with imme-
diate effect free Navalny, whose
arrest and jailing have sparked
anti-Kremlin protests in Russia.
The ECHR, the international
court of the Council of Europe,
Europe’s main human rights fo-
rum, said its decision to demand
Lab technicians wearing full personal protective equipment hold test tubes containing samples taken from people
tested for COVID-19, at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, Scotland, on April 22, 2020.
Researchers say
that by adding
fatigue, headache,
sore throat, and
diarrhea to the
diagnostic list,
96 percent of
cases would be
picked up.
Navalny’s release was motivated
by a possible risk to his life.
It said in a statement that in-
formation provided by Russia—a
member of the Council of Europe—
about the conditions in which Na-
valny was being held had been con-
tested by the opposition politician.
“This demand is baseless and
unlawful because it does not con-
tain any reference to any fact or
any norm of the law, which would
have allowed the court to take this
decision,” Russian Justice Minis-
ter Konstantin Chuychenko said.
He was quoted by Russian news
agencies as saying the decision
was an unprecedented degree of
meddling in the work of the Rus-
LET’S
REJECT COMMUNISM
TOGETHER TAKE ACTION TODAY
Sign the Petition
to Reject the CCP
RejectCCP.com
COVID and you should get a test.”
The ZOE COVID Symptom
Study records people’s symp-
toms in real time, providing an
up-to-the-minute snapshot of
infections that has consistently
foreshadowed infection surveys
that follow a few days later.
The study has also found that
people are more likely to have a
headache and diarrhea within
the first three days, but more
likely to have a fever in the first
seven days.
Claire Steves, reader at the
School of Life Course Sciences,
said in a statement: “There are
many symptoms which occur in
sian court system and that the de-
mand was impossible to fulfill, as
it had no basis in Russian law.
Russia passed a law in 2019 giv-
ing its national legislation prece-
dence over international treaties
and rulings from international
bodies in cases when they con-
flict with the Russian constitution.
Navalny’s allies had earlier pub-
lished a letter from a member of
the court containing its decision,
which a Navalny ally, Leonid
Volkov, said was binding.
Navalny, 44, was detained after
returning to Russia from Germa-
ny in January and jailed on Feb.
2 for violating the parole terms
on what he says was a politically
TRUTH and TRADITION
Help Spread Subscribe to
the Word The Epoch Times
ANDREW MILLIGAN/POOL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
acute COVID, including some like
fatigue and headache which are
also common in other conditions.
“Depending on the testing avail-
able, different symptom combina-
tions can be used to be as sensitive
or specific as possible.”
A Department of Health and
Social Care spokesperson told
The Epoch Times in an email:
“An expert scientific group keeps
the symptoms of COVID-19 un-
der review.
“The main symptoms have been
carefully selected to capture those
most likely to have COVID-19,
while not capturing a great num-
ber of people who do not.”
motivated charge.
He had been treated in Germa-
ny for poisoning with what many
Western countries say was a nerve
agent in Siberia in August 2019,
and has blamed the attack on Rus-
sian President Vladimir Putin.
The Kremlin has dismissed
Navalny’s accusations and ques-
tioned whether he was poisoned.
Several Western countries have
called for his release and said they
could impose sanctions against
Russia over the case.
Navalny’s lawyers couldn’t im-
mediately be reached for comment.
By Anton Zverev & Polina Ivanova
From Reuters
WORLD | A11
Former Brexit
Negotiator Frost
Promoted to PM
Johnson’s Cabinet
LONDON—Prime Minister Boris
Johnson has given David Frost,
the man who led Britain’s Brexit
negotiations, a job in his top team
of ministers to advise on the re-
lationship with the European
Union, the prime minister’s of-
fice said on Feb. 17.
Frost served as Johnson’s chief
Brexit negotiator, both for the
initial deal that took Britain out
of the EU on Jan. 31, 2020, and
for negotiations on a trade deal,
which replaced a transition pe-
riod at the end of the year.
The government had previ-
ously indicated that Frost would
continue to advise the govern-
ment on matters relating to
the EU, but his appointment to
Johnson’s Cabinet of top minis-
ters was unexpected.
His appointment will take ef-
fect March 1, Johnson’s Downing
Street office said in a statement.
Frost is a member of Parlia-
ment’s unelected House of Lords.
He paid tribute to Michael
Gove, the senior minister who
previously led the implementa-
tion of the EU exit agreement and
free trade deal.
Frost will take over from Gove
as UK Chair of the Withdrawal
Agreement Joint Committee. This
means he takes on the responsi-
bility for negotiating with Brus-
sels to make the complex parts of
the trade deal relating to North-
ern Ireland work smoothly.
“I am hugely honored to have
been appointed Minister to take
forward our relationship with
the EU after Brexit,” Frost wrote
on Twitter.
“In doing so I stand on the
shoulders of giants & particu-
larly those of @michaelgove who
did an extraordinary job for this
country in talks with EU over the
past year.”
By Alistair Smout
From Reuters
OLIVIER HOSLET/POOL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Then-Brexit negotiator David Frost
in Brussels on March 2, 2020.
A12 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021

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“Signing the Mayflower Compact 1620,” 1899, by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris.
The Lost Art of Association
LUKE C. SHEAHAN
America is a nation of
joiners. When the French
aristocrat and politi-
cal philosopher Alexis
de Tocqueville visited
America in the early
1830s, he was astonished at
all the ways Americans associated.
He wrote, “Of all countries in the world,
America has taken greatest advantage of
association and has applied this power-
ful means of action to the greatest variety
of objectives.”
The American art of association was
so extraordinary to Tocqueville because
Europe had long relied upon either the
aristocracy—persons of wealth and pres-
tige who headed their own estates—or
the government to do the sorts of things
that Americans did through associa-
tions. Tocqueville writes, “Wherever, at
the head of a new undertaking, you see
in France the government, and in Eng-
land, a great lord, count on seeing in the
United States, an association.”
Americans had no aristocrats, nor did
we want them, nor—and this is impor-
tant—did we need them. And we didn’t
seem to need the government, either.
In America, Tocqueville saw that
ordinary people on their own initiative
got together to solve problems and to
pursue shared goals. Americans do this,
Tocqueville noted, for problems large
and small, for ends banal and exalted.
He wrote:
Americans of all ages, of all conditions,
of all minds, constantly unite. Not only
do they have commercial and industrial
associations in which they all take part,
but also they have a thousand other
kinds: religious, moral, intellectual,
serious ones, useless ones, very general
and very particular ones, immense and
very small ones; Americans associate to
celebrate holidays, establish seminar-
ies, build inns, erect churches, distribute
books, send missionaries to the Antipo-
des; in this way they create hospitals,
prisons, schools. If, finally, it is a matter
of bringing a truth to light or of develop-
ing a sentiment with the support of a
good example, they associate.
From a political perspective, why do
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021 • A13
associations matter?
Associations matter because they
are quite literally self-government. By
forming associations, Americans are
creating their own means of governing
themselves around various objectives.
Citizens like the ones Tocqueville saw as-
sociating to form schools do so because
they see themselves as responsible for
the education of children in their com-
munity. Citizens associating in political
parties do so because they believe that
they should decide which candidates
should run for election and what their
general policies should be. Citizens asso-
ciating to build churches do so because
they believe themselves responsible for
their own religious worship.
This practice of self-government goes
back to the beginning of American pub-
lic life. In 1620, Pilgrims formed the May-
flower Compact, an agreement among
those in the nascent colony to govern
themselves. Similar constitutional forms
took place in Connecticut, Rhode Island,
and elsewhere in the English colonies. By
the time 1787 rolled around, Americans
had more than a century and a half of
practice in self-government.
But Tocqueville’s point is that Ameri-
cans don’t just engage in this form of self-
government when it comes to their politi-
cal lives, drawing up colonial charters
and then state constitutions and, finally,
a national constitution. Americans do
this in their social lives as well. Ordinary
citizens associate for all sorts of reasons
to solve various problems. And this has
deep political significance.
Association and the Constitution
The First Amendment to the Constitution
doesn’t mention association, but it does
protect the right “peaceably to assemble.”
SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES
A man rides on an Staten
Island Ferry to Manhat-
tan on March 24, 2020.
PUBLIC DOMAIN
A painting of Alexis
de Tocqueville by
Théodore Chassériau.
PUBLIC DOMAIN
One of America’s finest First Amendment
scholars, John Inazu, argues that this
right of assembly protected political dis-
senters like the Democratic-Republicans
in the 1790s, the abolitionists in the early
19th century, and suffragettes in the late
19th and early 20th century. Inazu also
notes that the right of assembly is fun-
damentally relational. By definition, one
practices the right of assembly only in
association with others.
When the first Congress was debating
the assembly clause, one objection raised
was that the provision was superfluous,
so obvious it was unworthy of inclusion
in a Bill of Rights. How could one wor-
ship, speak, engage a free press, or peti-
tion the government without assembling
with others? The right of assembly was a
redundancy in the text.
Congressman John Page of Virginia
responded by saying that the right of
assembly is “no more essential than
whether a man has a right to wear his
hat or not, but let me observe to him that
such rights have been opposed.” This
was a veiled reference to the founder
of my home state of Pennsylvania. In
1670, William Penn had been arrested in
England for unlawful assembly when he
tried to worship with his fellow Quakers.
He refused to remove his hat at the trial,
showing that he thought it an illegitimate
infringement upon his rights. The point
was that important rights like religious
liberty and free speech could be un-
dermined if people were not protected
in the right “peaceably to assemble,” to
associate with others for their common
purposes.
The simple image of Penn’s arrest was
worth a thousand words, and the assem-
bly clause was saved.
Unfortunately, there is reason to worry
that Americans’ right of association, as
well as our practice of association, are in
decline. These trends are probably relat-
ed. Given the importance of association
to self-government and its long history of
practice and protection in America, these
developments are disconcerting. How-
ever, if we can understand the reasons be-
hind the decline, perhaps we can reverse
the trend.
Continued on A16
A14 | OPINION
Democratic Senators Refuse
to Outlaw Infanticide
WESLEY J. SMITH
With the exception of
Sens. Joe Manchin and
Bob Casey Jr., Senate
Democrats just endorsed
infanticide. OK, perhaps
that’s a tad overstated.
The more charitable view is
that they just aren’t opposed to killing
some babies.
Here’s the story: For the third year in
a row, Democrats filibustered passage
of the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors
Protection Act, which Sen. Ben Sasse (R-
Neb.) tried to insert into the COVID-19
relief bill. The amendment needed 60
votes but only received 52—all 50 mem-
bers of the Republican caucus and the
two aforementioned Democrats.
Why would 48 senators refuse to
oppose infanticide? Is the proposal a
surreptitious attempt to impose “The
Handmaid’s Tale”—that tired feminist
cliché about women forced to carry
babies they don’t want—on an unsus-
pecting public? Hardly. The bill wouldn’t
force any woman to do anything with
her body. Indeed, it wouldn’t prevent a
single abortion.
Rather, the bill would require health
care practitioners present when a baby
survives abortion to exercise the same
degree of professional skill, care, and
diligence to preserve the life and health
of the child as they would “render to any
other child born alive at the same gesta-
tional age.” It would also require abor-
tionists to ensure that surviving babies
be “transported immediately to a hospi-
tal for care,” and would outlaw “an overt
act” meant to kill “a child born alive,” i.e.,
it would outlaw infanticide.
DILBERT
PEANUTS
RED AND ROVER
GRAND AVENUE
MUTT & JEFF
Ooh, how radical! Here comes the
patriarchy!
This is a very big deal. Infanticide has
long been considered one of human-
ity’s great evils. We properly disdain the
ancient Roman and Greek practice of
exposing unwanted infants to the ele-
ments. German doctors who euthanized
disabled babies during World War II
were rightly branded as monsters. A few
were hanged for their murders after the
Nuremberg Doctors trials.
Today, infanticide is no longer neces-
sarily a crime. The Netherlands—which
has embraced voluntary euthanasia—
also permits Dutch pediatricians and
obstetricians to lethally inject babies
who are born with terminal or seriously
disabling conditions. These infanticides
aren’t a secret. They aren’t done furtively,
or even, with a sense of shame. Indeed,
it is all done in the open under a bureau-
cratic infanticide checklist known as the
Groningen Protocol (after the Groningen
University Medical Center, where doc-
tors wrote the set of rules).
This is a very big deal.
Infanticide has long been
considered one of humanity’s
great evils. Today, infanticide is
no longer necessarily a crime.
But who are we to get on our high
horse? Roe v. Wade and the bioethics
movement have pushed our society in
the same direction by denigrating the
moral importance of gestating human
life and diminishing the worth of the un-
born as killable and disposable as mere
COMICS
STEFANI REYNOLDS/GETTY IMAGES
The U.S. Capitol in Washington on Aug. 6, 2020.
medical waste—including babies who
are viable.
That’s not fair, Wesley! Roe v. Wade
ruled that state laws could set limits on
third-trimester abortions. Indeed—but it
certainly did nothing to outlaw late-term
abortions nor require states to enact such
laws. Recently, some blue states passed
laws allowing no gestational time con-
straints on abortion, statutes that don’t
violate one i-dot or t-cross of Roe v. Wade.
Vermont’s law makes that right abso-
lute, stating starkly, “Every individual
who becomes pregnant has the funda-
mental right to choose to carry a preg-
nancy to term, give birth to a child, or to
have an abortion.” That means healthy,
viable babies could be terminated at
eight months, 30 days gestation, and
nothing could be done to stop it.
And what are we to make of this provi-
sion? “A fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus
shall not have independent rights under
Vermont law.” This utter objectification
of unborn life would fully authorize the
horrible fetal-part selling practices in
which Planned Parenthood was caught
engaging.
It would also permit experimentation
GARFIELD
GINGER MEGGS
BIG NATE
DRABBLE
FRANK AND ERNEST
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021
on living fetuses. Don’t say that would
never happen because it already has. In
1968, researchers kept an aborted baby
alive for five hours in a liquid containing
oxygen. The experiment won the Founda-
tion Prize Award from the American As-
sociation of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Meanwhile, some of the world’s most
respected and influential bioethicists
argue for the propriety of infanticide.
Princeton University’s utilitarian moral
philosopher Peter Singer is the most (in)
famous of these. Indeed, he became
world-renowned precisely because he
argues that infants aren’t “persons,” be-
cause they are not self-aware, and thus,
a newborn baby should be allowed to be
killed if that furthers the interests of the
parents or the baby in preventing suffer-
ing. Some in bioethics make the infan-
ticide connection explicit by referring to
infanticide as “after-birth abortion.”
We also mustn’t forget that in 2019,
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam—a pediat-
ric neurologist!—opined that a baby who
survived an abortion could be neglected
to death, stating in a radio interview: “If
a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly
what would happen. The infant would
be delivered. The infant would be kept
comfortable. The infant would be resus-
citated if that’s what the mother and the
family desired, and then a discussion
would ensue between the physicians and
the mother.”
So, once again, infanticide and un-
wanted baby neglect have become
respectable—at least on the left flank of
politics and among leading members
of the medical intelligentsia. In accept-
ing baby-killing by refusing to outlaw
it, Senate Democrats besmirched the
foundational moral principle of the West
that all—including babies—are endowed
with the equal right to life; not because
they are healthy, not because they are
wanted, but simply and merely because
they are human.
Award-winning author Wesley J. Smith
is chairman of the Discovery Institute’s
Center on Human Exceptionalism and a
consultant to the Patients Rights Council.
 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021
SPECIAL SERIES
How the Specter of Communism
Is Ruling Our World
The Media: The Specter’s Mouthpiece
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.”
4. The Media Takeover
by Liberalism and
Progressivism
Walter Williams, the founder of
journalism education and of the
world’s first journalism school at the
University of Missouri, created “The
Journalist’s Creed” in 1914. It de-
fined journalism as an independent
profession that respects God and
honors mankind. Journalists should
be “unmoved by pride of opinion or
greed of power.” They must exercise
self-control, patience, fearlessness,
and constant respect for their read-
ers. [26] After the 1960s, however,
as progressivism became preva-
lent, advocacy replaced objectivity,
and liberalism and progressivism
replaced impartiality.
In the 1986 book “The Media Elite,”
author Samuel Robert Lichter wrote
that reporters tend to add their own
opinions and influences from their
educational background to their
reports on controversial issues.
Because the majority of the people
in newsrooms are liberals, news
reporting has shifted in favor of
liberal politics. [27] Jim A. Kuypers,
in his research on the evolution
of American journalism over the
past two hundred years, concluded
that today’s mainstream media
are liberal and progressive in both
their personnel and their report-
ing. He quoted a liberal editor of a
major newspaper as saying: “Too
often, we wear liberalism on our
sleeve and are intolerant of other
lifestyles and opinions. ... We’re not
very subtle about it at this paper: If
you work here, you must be one of
us. You must be liberal, progressive,
a Democrat.” [28] In a commentary
piece published by The Wall Street
Journal in 2001, former CBS reporter
Bernard Goldberg wrote that main-
stream news anchors are so biased
that they “don’t even know what
liberal bias is.” [29]
Having been influenced by
the CCP in various ways, most
mainstream media outlets have
exercised self-censorship or
remained silent amid the Party’s
monstrous assault on freedom
of belief and the core values of
human civilization. Some foreign
outlets have even been complicit
in helping the CCP spread its
deceit about Falun Gong.  by the CCP in various ways, most
Despite polls suggesting that
Americans are aware of media
partisanship, many people still take
it for granted that reports are written
objectively and comprehensively,
and that what is cited is serious
expert analysis based on informa-
tion from reliable sources. The leftist
media make use of their consumers’
trust to inculcate them with their
ideological worldview. Because the
free societies of the West have tradi-
tionally emphasized the need for a
truthful, objective, and fair media,
the left-wing media do not always
spread fake news to deceive the
public outright. Their methods are
more subtle and elaborate, as will be
described.
Selective Coverage
Every day, thousands of newswor-
thy events occur around the world.
But which events receive attention
or quietly fade from view is almost
completely determined by what the
media chooses to cover.
Despite polls suggesting that
Americans are aware of media
partisanship, many people still
take it for granted that reports
are written objectively and
comprehensively, and that
what is cited is serious expert
analysis based on information
from reliable sources.
Selective coverage can be divided
into three categories. First, events
are selected only or primarily for
their utility in helping readers ac-
cept the ideological stand of the Left.
Second, instead of reporting com-
prehensively on an event’s context,
the media report only the aspects
that support the leftist point of view.
Lastly, the media tend to give greater
voice to those who lean left or whose
statements agree with the Left,
while other organizations and in-
dividuals are sidelined. Groseclose
and Jeffrey Milyo wrote in their 2005
paper “A Measure of Media Bias”
that “for every sin of commission ...
we believe that there are hundreds,
and maybe thousands, of sins of
omission—cases where a journal-
ist chose facts or stories that only
one side of the political spectrum is
likely to mention.” [30]
Perhaps one of the most striking
examples of selective coverage is the
dearth of reporting on the largest
persecution of faith in contempo-
rary history. In China since 1999,
the CCP has persecuted adherents
of Falun Gong, who number in the
tens of millions. Despite the brutal-
ity of the Party’s campaign to eradi-
cate this peaceful spiritual faith—in
which countless victims have been
tortured, sentenced to forced labor,
or even killed for their organs in
state and military-run hospitals—
coverage of Falun Gong by the West-
ern media has been disproportion-
ately weak. Having been influenced
of the mainstream media outlets
have exercised self-censorship or
remained silent amid the Party’s
monstrous assault on freedom of
belief and the core values of human
civilization. Some foreign outlets
have even been complicit in help-
ing the CCP spread its deceit about
Falun Gong.
At the same time, a trend has
emerged that opposes communism
and advocates a return to tradition.
As of May 2020, more than 350 mil-
lion people had withdrawn from the
CCP and its affiliated organizations
in the Tuidang (“Quit the Party”)
Chapter Thirteen
movement. Yet such a major phe-
nomenon, which holds great signifi-
cance for the future of China and
the world, is rarely if ever mentioned
in the Western media.
Agenda-Setting
In the 1960s, media researchers
came up with the influential theory
that the media determine which
topics people find suitable for dis-
cussion. American political scientist
Bernard Cohen articulated this well
when he said that the press “may
not be successful much of the time
in telling people what to think, but
it is stunningly successful in telling
its readers what to think about.” [31]
That is to say, the press can deter-
mine the importance ascribed to
an event by deciding the amount of
coverage the event receives, while
equally or more important issues
can be dealt with more summarily
or not at all. For example, though
the issue of transgender rights con-
cerns only a very small portion of
the population, it has become a focal
point of discussion and an example
of the media successfully setting
the agenda. In addition, a narra-
tive about global warming became
prominent in public discourse as
the result of a long-term conspiracy
between the media and other politi-
cal interests (see Chapter Sixteen).
Many progressive ideas—such as
so-called social justice, equality,
and feminism—have become main-
stream, while the crimes of com-
munism have been whitewashed.
Former Speaker of the House Newt
Gingrich once wrote in 2018, “The
academic Left and its news media
and Hollywood acolytes refuse to
confront the horrifying record of
Marxism’s endless inhumanity.” [32]
Notes
26. Ronald Farrar, “A Creed for
My Profession: Walter Williams,
Journalist to the World” (Missouri:
University of Missouri, 1999).
27. S. Robert Lichter et. al., “The
Media Elite: America’s New Pow-
erbrokers” (Castle Rock, Colo.:
Adler Publishing Co., 1986).
28. Jim Kuypers, “Partisan Journal-
ism: A History of Media Bias in
the United States” (Lanham, Md.:
Rowman & Littlefield, 2013).
29. Bernard Goldberg, “On Media
Bias, Network Stars Are Rather
Clueless,” The Wall Street Jour-
nal, May 24, 2001.
30. Tim Groseclose and Jeff Milyo,
“A Measure of Media Bias,”
The Quarterly Journal of Eco-
nomics, 120, no. 4 (November
2005), 1205.
31. Bernard Cohen, as quoted in
Maxwell E. McCombs and Don-
ald L. Shaw, “The Agenda-Setting
Function of Mass Media,” The
Public Opinion Quarterly, 36, no.
2 (Summer 1972): 177.
32. Newt Gingrich, “China’s
Embrace of Marxism Is Bad
News for Its People,” Fox News,
June 2, 2018.
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
ABOUT US
The Epoch Times is a media
organization dedicated to seek-
ing the truth through insightful
and independent journalism.
Standing outside of politi-
cal interests and the pursuit of
profit, our starting point and our
goal is to create a media for the
public benefit, to be truly respon-
sible to society.
We endeavor to educate read-
ers about today’s most impor-
tant topics, seeking to broaden
and uplift minds. We believe that
rational, balanced debate is key
for fostering a healthy democ-
racy and a compassionate
society.
As an independent media out-
let, we use our freedom to inves-
tigate issues overlooked—or
avoided—by other media outlets.
We seek to highlight solutions
and what’s good in society rather
than what divides us.
We report respectfully, compas-
sionately, and rigorously.
We stand against the destruc-
tion wrought by communism,
including the harm done to cul-
tures around the world.
We are inspired in this by our
own experience. The Epoch
Times was founded in 2000 to
bring honest and uncensored
news to people oppressed
by the lies and violence in
communist China.
We still believe journalism is a
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genuinely seeks to serve its com-
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ish. In all that we do, we will hold
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A16 | OPINION
The Lost Art
of Association
CONTINUED FROM A13
Tyranny of the Majority
and Decline of Associations
The potential for those in power to op-
press those without power is present in
any form of government. In a monarchy,
one must worry about a tyrannical king.
In an aristocracy, he must worry about
oppressive aristocrats. In a democracy,
the people rule, or more precisely, the
majority rules. Well, Tocqueville noted, a
democratic form of government was not
in itself an antidote to oppression. A great
danger in democracies is that the major-
ity will oppress minorities. But, he notes,
one of the great securities against this
danger is the freedom of association.
If individuals in the minority are free to
form associations, they can pursue their
interests and solve their own problems
by strengthening one another’s will
to action, no matter what the majority
might think of them.
Government co-optation
of such functions does
real harm, by making our
associational ties superfluous.
This principle has played out repeat-
edly in American history. The abolitionist
movement made great use of the right of
association to host conventions and ex-
ercise other constitutional freedoms, like
free speech and free press, to convince
fellow Americans of the rightness of its
cause. The labor movement made power-
ful use of associational rights. In fact,
the Supreme Court famously enforced
the First Amendment right of assembly
in a landmark case to vindicate a labor
union. The Supreme Court repeatedly
upheld the associational rights of the
The Book You’ve Been
Waiting for...
“Extremely well “The Truth, as horrifying as it is,
researched and true.” shall set us free. This should be
on this country’s academia’s
list of required reading.”
HOW THE
SPECTER OF COMMUNISM
IS RULING OUR WORLD
The specter of communism did not
disappear with the disintegration of the
Communist Party in Eastern Europe
ORDER NOW!
EpochShop.com
NAACP to work to end segregation.
Unfortunately, the Supreme Court
has described the right of association
as the right of “expressive association,”
reducing freedom of association to an
aspect of the freedom of speech. As
essential as free speech is to American
liberty, freedom of speech and freedom
of assembly are, as Inazu notes, separate
rights. Look again at the quote above
from Tocqueville. Many of the examples
that Tocqueville gives of associations
are peaceable, but they are not expres-
sive and they fall outside of the Supreme
Court’s definition of “expressive associa-
tion.” That doesn’t mean, though, that
these associations aren’t important, and
it shouldn’t mean that they aren’t pro-
tected under the First Amendment right
of assembly.
Our associations remain essential to
our self-government.
Furthermore, it is precisely around
these seemingly insignificant activities
that, among other things, lifelong friend-
ships are made, that a social safety net is
formed, and that human beings become
socially integrated into the world around
them. Perhaps even more disturbing
than the misunderstanding of the right
of association is the decline of Ameri-
cans’ practice of the art of association.
Harvard professor Robert Putnam
noted despondently 20 years ago that
Americans were increasingly “bowling
alone”—forsaking the associations that
give life meaning and that attach us to
others. Where we once participated in
multiple social groups, we now go through
life alone. We have essentially abandoned
our associational practices and, in the
process, we have seen our associational
rights decline as well. Where we once
turned to our associations, now, like Toc-
queville’s French, we turn to the govern-
ment. As Howard Husock has argued, this
has undermined the norms of responsibil-
ity that bolster a healthy society.
NOW
BIGGER SIZE,
EASIER TO READ
FORMAT
A group of suffragettes
advertise the “Suffrage Day”
baseball game between New
York Giants and Chicago
Cubs, on May 1915.
The American art
of association was
so extraordinary to
Tocqueville because
ordinary people on
their own initiative
got together to solve
problems and to
pursue shared goals.
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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021
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State and Community
Why has this happened, and why does
it matter? American sociologist Robert
Nisbet argued in his classic book “The
Quest for Community” that the modern
state has caused a decline in associations
by taking on the functions of various
groups. Instead of a local community fix-
ing the pothole, the state does it. Instead
of parents getting together to create a
school for their children, the state does it.
Instead of religious organizations caring
for the poor, the state does it.
What’s the difference between receiv-
ing money from a government program
or from a private charity? From one
perspective, nothing. The public welfare
system may just as easily provide the
services we need without requiring us to
organize them ourselves.
But from another vantage point,
government co-optation of such func-
tions does real harm, by making our
associational ties superfluous. Sure,
we might have a few friends, but we
don’t need them. And if we don’t need
them, if they don’t serve a significant
function in our lives, we may neglect
these relationships, which are so impor-
tant to our happiness and well-being. We
lose the concrete social networks that
help us to advance socially and economi-
cally. Chatting with a neighbor while we
work on a communal project, we find out
about a reliable and affordable mechanic.
Talking with a fellow parishioner over
coffee at church, we are introduced to
someone who needs our professional
services. J.D. Vance notes that the real
advantage of the upper class is not its
wealth per se, but its networks—the
people in its web of connections who can
help professionally and personally.
The psychological and social signifi-
cance of associations is related directly
to the functions that these associations
perform for us. If they fail to perform
these functions, many people withdraw
from them. This social withdrawal is
what Nisbet called “alienation.” People
feel excluded from the social order and
they lose interest in being a part of it.
Getting together with neighbors to fix
potholes, to found schools, build church-
es, and care for the underprivileged
binds people together. These associa-
tions lead to a deep sense of commu-
nity. Timothy Carney has argued that
the loss of this sense of community has
led to a significant increase in deaths of
despair and poverty.
What Can We Do?
A good place to start in reversing these
trends is changing our own attitudes.
Before you think of yourself as a member
of political society, think of yourself as
a member of your social groups, of your
family, of your neighborhood, of your
school. Devote yourself to those places
and to the people in them. Second, when
conflict arises between these associa-
tions and the state, let your prejudice be
for the association, whether you are a part
of it or not. Associations can be dread-
fully wrong at times, true—but so can
the state, and the state has much more
power. Third, insist that our judiciary and
our legislatures do better in treating our
right “peaceably to assemble”—to form
the associations that Tocqueville saw as
so important to American self-govern-
ment and individual well-being.
Our associations matter. Let’s act like
they do.
From RealClearWire.
Luke C. Sheahan is an assistant pro-
fessor of political science at Duquesne
University and a non-resident scholar in
the program for research on religion and
urban civil society at the University of
Pennsylvania. He is the author of “Why
Associations Matter: The Case for First
Amendment Pluralism” (2020).
 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021 OPINION | A17

A Freedom-Loving People Needs to

Call the Bluff of Those Instilling Fear
JOHN MOORE/GETTY IMAGES
MICHAEL WALSH

On March 4, 1933, in his

first inaugural address,
Franklin Delano Roo-
sevelt took square aim
at the national panic
over the Depression as he
spoke to his fellow citizens:
“So, first of all, let me assert my firm be-
lief that the only thing we have to fear is
fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, un-
justified terror which paralyzes needed
efforts to convert retreat into advance.
In every dark hour of our national life, a
leadership of frankness and of vigor has
met with that understanding and sup-
port of the people themselves which is
essential to victory.”
While it took the combined elements of
the New Deal and U.S. mobilization dur-
ing World War II, the land of the free and
the home of the brave eventually reas-
serted itself and America won through to
victory—over straitened economic cir-
cumstances and the combined military
might of National Socialist Germany and
Imperial Japan. What followed was two
decades of prosperity, social harmony,
and relative peace.
Today, that country has nearly van-
ished into history, defeated by a combi-
nation of “progressive” assaults on the
nation as founded, and a concomitant
loss of self-confidence and even legitima-
cy. Worst of all, the fear that FDR warned
of has now inculcated itself as the new
U.S. default mode: everything terrifies
us, and sends us scurrying for the imag-
ined security of “safe spaces.” Which are,
of course, really prisons for a people no
longer capable of governing themselves.
Exhibit A is COVID-19, China’s gift to
the world, the overreaction to which has
elevated “civil servants” to the status of
dictators, abrogated the Constitution,
destroyed the economy, and encouraged
the citizenry to shun their fellow men as
if they were radioactive. It has terrified a
country grown ever more effeminate in
its mannerisms and speech patterns, and
fearful of engagement with everyday life.
It has created the absurd spectacle of
once-free citizens habitually masked and
shuffling along like the captive residents
of a communist country, tethered to their
iPhones, bombarded daily with govern-
ment and Google propaganda, and ac-
cepting the notion that this is somehow
the New Normal—and ought to be.
Keeping People Captive
Even if the CCP virus were as deadly
as at least half the population seems to
think it is, which it isn’t, this would still
be a grotesque overreaction. There’s no
point in debating the statistics, which
are, in any case, increasingly difficult to
find and of uncertain accuracy, given the
government’s rooting interest in keeping
the population captive.
Want to attend church? Go to the
beach? Have a family gathering at
Thanksgiving or Christmas? Forget about
it. “Two weeks to slow the spread” has
morphed—as I predicted a year ago—
into indefinite house arrest for most of
the country. The fact that a virus can’t be
“controlled” has long been forgotten.
And yet to that end, whole industries
have been crushed, millions of jobs lost,
a doddering old man named Joe Biden
and a woman raised in Canada are
somehow now president and vice presi-
dent of the United States, and our quality
of life has perceptibly been degraded and
diminished. Once-free Americans have
turned into Stasi-like snitches, sniffing
out the free-thinkers and lovers of both
liberty and the law and screaming at
them in the streets.
For what? The politicians and bureau-
crats who are “fighting” the coronavi-
rus (i.e., the flu) have neither missed a
FOTOSEARCHGETTY IMAGES
A woman looks out from her bedroom window in Mineola, N.Y., on March 30, 2020.
paycheck nor a meal since this nonsense
began, but instead have amassed enor-
mous unconstitutional power, which,
appallingly, has gone almost entirely
unchecked by the legal system.
To think they will obligingly surrender
that power at this point is delusional.
And all in the name of a spurious
“safety,” as if life were supposed to be
a state-supported, pain-free glide path
from birth (if you survive your mother’s
right to choose) to the grave.
The insidious language of therapy is
everywhere. The new White House press
secretary, Jen Psaki, natters constantly
about “safety.” The social media giants,
Twitter and Facebook, have whole units
devoted to “safety,” as if words could
harm anyone who grew up with the free-
speech maxim, “sticks and stones may
break my bones, but names can never
hurt me.”
Rejecting Fear
That was the old America; in the new
America, capon-voiced males bill and
coo on National Propaganda Radio
(NPR) as they relate, with a palpable
frisson, their fears of “harm” and tales of
imaginary trauma.
Journalists, who once prided them-
selves on their jaundiced misanthropy
and laughed at the bloodiest crime
scenes as they rushed to make their
deadlines, now share the effete culture
of the “social sciences,” one in which
the cheap and consequence-free emo-
tion of empathy is prized above all else;
the precious, fragile staff of The New
York Times can bleat to its bosses, with
a straight face, that “our community is
outraged and in pain” over things like
op-ed pieces with which they disagree,
and management’s personnel decisions,
which are now apparently subject to the
approval of the hirelings.
Your tax dollars at work: the teachers’
unions in Chicago, Los Angeles, and
elsewhere, have demonstrated their utter
lack of concern for anything except their
own “safety” as they adamantly refuse to
return to their classrooms, and instead
force parents to effectively homeschool
their children, thus paying twice for the
privilege of raising the next generation in
an abnormal atmosphere.
The toll such imprisonment is taking
on teens and tweens is incalculable, and
can and should be laid squarely at the
feet of everyone from the self-aggrandiz-
ing media gnome, Dr. Anthony Fauci, to
the local school board—but, naturally, it
won’t be. Not to mention the real death
toll from heart disease, cancer, suicide,
and other mortal threats that have been
concealed by the COVID-19 obsession,
but whose true cost will eventually be
revealed.
So this is the part where we call their
bluff. Tell them that Biden has no consti-
tutional right to issue a “mask mandate”
and then tell him what he can do with it.
Tell them that Florida’s Ron DeSantis is
and the four other senators who voted to
convict Donald Trump during his sham-
peachment “trial.”
Tell them we demand the immediate
cessation of any and all “states of emer-
gency,” the full restitution of our civil
rights, including our right to be left alone
by a meddlesome and malicious gov-
ernment, and the reinstatement of the
safeguards of our electoral system. That
elections should be held on a single day,
during defined hours, and not one min-
ute earlier or later. That the “resistance”
begins here and now, with the end of the
COVID-19 panic.
Most of all, tell them that we’re per-
fectly safe, and we are no longer afraid of
them, or of the unreasoning, unjustified
terror they have imposed upon us. That
we will no longer retreat, but advance.
What People Are Saying
I read The Epoch Times daily.
I still like hard papers […] and
I still like to grab that paper in
my hand, but I get more printed
versions of stories than ever
before. You guys have done an
amazing job, and really—I think
there’s such a void in media,
especially newspapers. They
slant so solidly one way that
there are very few papers that
I can really feel that I can rely on,
and The Epoch Times is one.
SEAN HANNITY
Talk show host
The Epoch Times is a
great place where you can
understand traditional
values in a way and in a tone
and through content that is
accessible. It’s smart.
CARRIE SHEFFIELD
Columnist and broadcaster
That we are free men and women and
intend to stay that way.
And that, henceforth, the only thing
they have to fear is us.
Michael Walsh is the editor of The-Pipe-
line.org and the author of “The Devil’s
Pleasure Palace” and “The Fiery Angel,”
both published by Encounter Books. His
latest book, “Last Stands,” a cultural study
of military history from the Greeks to the
Korean War, was recently published.
Like this article? Share
it with your friends and
family. Use the camera
on your smart-phone
to scan this code and
receive a shareble link.
I congratulate you and
The Epoch Times for the work
you are doing, especially with
regard to keeping the menace of
the communist threat in front of us.
DR. SEBASTIAN GORKA
Military and intelligence analyst and
former deputy assistant to the president
I rely on The Epoch Times
newspaper for factual and
unbiased news coverage.
LARRY ELDER
Best-selling author, attorney,
and talk show host
It’s our favorite paper. It’s the first
one we read. Thank you so much
for your reporting of the news.
PAUL GOSAR
U.S. representative for Arizona

Learn more at EpochSubscription.com

Men waiting for job calls during the Great
Depression in Chicago, circa 1933.
the model of what a governor under our
system of federalism ought to be.
Tell them that we have no further use
for Senate Minority Leader Mitch Mc-
Connell (who should have lost his seat in
2014 and now will be around to plague TRUTH AND TRADITION
us until 2026) nor, indeed, for the GOP of
Mitt Romney, Susan Collins, Ben Sasse,
A18 | BUSINESS & ECONOMY THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021

STEFANI REYNOLDS - POOL/GETTY IMAGES DREW ANGERER/GETTY IMAGES

(Left) Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), center, at the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 13, 2021. (Right) Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) speaks during a press conference to discuss legislation for a $15 federal minimum
wage, on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 25, 2017.

GOP Sens. Romney, Cotton Say They Will

Introduce Bill to Raise Minimum Wage
MASOOMA HAQ
Two Republican senators have joined Dem-
ocrats to call for a minimum wage increase
to $15. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said
he, along with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.),
will introduce a bill that will authorize a
gradual increase to the $15 minimum wage
and ensure that illegal immigrants can’t be
hired for the same jobs.
“Millions of Americans are struggling
to make ends meet. I’m introducing a bill
with @SenTomCotton that would increase
the minimum wage while ensuring busi-
nesses cannot hire illegal immigrants. We
must protect American workers,” Romney
wrote on Twitter.
“Congress hasn’t raised the minimum
wage in more than a decade, leaving
many Americans behind,” he said. “Our
proposal gradually raises the minimum
wage without costing jobs, setting it to in-
crease automatically with inflation, and
requires employers to verify the legal sta-
tus of workers.”
Romney may be alluding to the Congres-
sional Budget Office (CBO) report released
this month that shows an increased budget
deficit of $54 billion if the minimum wage
is increased to $15 nationally, resulting in
a loss of millions of jobs, and higher prices
for goods and services.
The report states: “If enacted at the end of
March 2021, the Raise the Wage Act of 2021
would raise the federal minimum wage,
in annual increments, to $15 per hour by
June 2025 and then adjust it to increase
at the same rate as median hourly wages.
... The cumulative budget deficit over the
2021–2031 period would increase by $54
billion.”
“Today, Americans have to compete
against millions of illegal immigrants
who take illegally low wages under the
table. We can fix this by requiring em-
ployers to verify the legal status of every
worker so they can’t undercut Americans
on the black market,” Cotton wrote on
Twitter. “This minimum-wage increase
will go into effect after the pandemic has
ended and include protections for small
businesses.
“We have an obligation to protect our
workers and fellow citizens. This common-
sense proposal will give millions of Ameri-
cans the raise they deserve.”
Calls for a $15 minimum wage have
grown as President Joe Biden took office in
January amid an economic crisis brought
on by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party)
virus pandemic, as increasing the mini-
mum wage had been one of Biden’s cam-
paign promises.
Biden recently said the minimum wage
increase likely wouldn’t have the votes to
pass as part of his proposed $1.9 trillion
stimulus plan. “I don’t think it’s going to
survive,” Biden told CBS News.
Senate Budget Committee Chair-
man  Bernie Sanders  (I-Vt.), a self-de-
scribed democratic socialist, has been one
of the most consistent voices for raising the
minimum wage.
“A $15 minimum wage is not a radical
idea,” Sanders wrote on Twitter on Feb. 14.
“What’s radical is the fact that millions of
Americans are forced to work for starva-
tion wages, while 650 billionaires became
over $1 trillion richer during a global pan-
demic. Yes. We must raise the minimum
wage to a living wage.”
The economic facts are clear:
A $15 minimum wage would
be a job and small-business
killer at the worst possible
time as the economy remains
stuck in first gear.
Alfredo Ortiz, president and CEO, JCN
Most Republicans, however, are con-
cerned that small businesses can’t survive
or will be forced to lay off employees if the
minimum-wage legislation is passed.
The Republican National Committee re-
cently voiced concern about a “one-size-
fits-all” wage increase, citing the CBO re-
port’s assessment that the increase would
cost 1.4 million jobs.
Conservative groups such as Job Creators
Network (JCN) have criticized Democrats
for putting their political goals before the
nation’s 30 million small businesses.
They urge Biden to focus on policies that
boost economic growth instead of raising
the minimum wage. The pro-growth poli-
cies of the Trump administration lifted 6.6
million people out of poverty between
2017 and 2019, according to “The Eco-
nomic Report of the President” released in
January.
“The economic facts are clear: A $15
minimum wage would be a job and small-
business killer at the worst possible time as
the economy remains stuck in first gear,”
Alfredo Ortiz, JCN’s president and CEO,
said in a statement.
Meanwhile, a nationwide strike was
organized on Feb. 16 by Fight For 15, an
organization that started in 2012 with 200
fast-food workers walking off their jobs in
New York City. According to the organi-
zation, it’s now an international group, in
more than 300 cities, on six continents.
Progressive Congresswoman Pramila
Jayapal (D-Wash.) praised the Fight For
15 movement, saying she will continue to
fight alongside them.
“I stand in solidarity with the fast-food
and care workers all across America who
are striking today for 15 minimum wage.
It’s past time for the minimum wage to be
a livable wage,” she wrote on Twitter.
Emal Akan contributed to this report.

ANGELA WEISS/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Florida Congressman bate. It taxes stocks being traded based on

the dollar value of the stock.
The Florida lawmaker called the tax

Urges NY Stock Exchange proposal “outrageous,” and said he un-

derstands why NYSE executives are upset
about it.

to Move to His State “With our current technology, securi-

TOM OZIMEK
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) is urging the
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to relo-
cate to Florida, where he says there’s no
danger that the company will be hit with
a tax on stock trades.
“We have a lot of nice land here in South-
west Florida. We can find a place for them
right here in the heart of my congressional
district,” Donalds told NTD in a Feb. 16
interview.
Donalds’s invitation to the NYSE to
move to Florida came in the context of a
recent proposal floated by legislators to tax
stock trades. New York lawmakers have
introduced a bill to amend the law to tax
transfers of stocks, bonds, and derivatives,
citing the state’s budgetary shortfall. The
transfer tax was first imposed in 1905 but
was effectively eliminated in 1981 via re-
COURTESY OF NTD
ties are traded all over the world. They’re
traded all over America. So if I’m trading
stocks in Florida, that means they’re going
to be taxed in New York,” Donalds said.
“No, that’s not appropriate.”
New York, my Plans to reimpose the tax prompted
NYSE President Stacey Cunningham to
former home issue a warning that the exchange might
state, has gone leave New York.
the complete “The New York Stock Exchange belongs
in New York,” Cunningham wrote in an
opposite direction. op-ed in The Wall Street Journal. “If Al-
That’s why bany lawmakers get their way, however,
business owners the center of the global financial industry
may need to find a new home.”
are fleeing. “While New York has remained a center
Rep. Byron Donalds of gravity for the financial industry, many
employees of ‘Wall Street’ firms are mi-
grating to Florida, Texas, and other states
with hospitable tax policies. New York’s
leaders did the right thing in 1981 when
they made the state’s stock-transfer tax
dormant through a 100 [percent] rebate,”
she wrote.
“If lawmakers opt to reinstate that tax,
the NYSE may need to follow the lead of
those relocating firms. Some of our cus-
tomers are already asking about our will-
ingness to relocate.”
Saying he hopes NYSE does decide to up-
root and relocate to Florida, whose tax and
regulatory environment he called a “recipe
for success,” Donalds lamented the grow-
ing constraints on New York businesses.
Rep. Byron Donalds “New York, my former home state, has gone
(R-Fla.) in an inter- the complete opposite direction,” he said.
view with NTD on Feb. “That’s why business owners are fleeing.”
16, 2021. Donalds’s invitation comes after Florida
The New York Stock Exchang on Aug. 3, 2020.
Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis
wrote a letter to the NYSE president, out-
lining some arguments why operating the
exchange in Florida would be financially
prudent.
“The Exchange’s parent company, Inter-
continental Exchange, Inc., could realize
a significant savings on corporate income
taxes since Florida’s 4.4 percent corporate
income tax rate is nearly one-third lower
than the New York Corporate Income
Tax rate of 6.5 percent,” Patronis wrote,
according to a copy of the letter obtained
by WCTV.
“Crucially for The Exchange, Florida
repealed its intangible tax on the market
value of stocks, bonds, and other finan-
cial instruments in 2007. The tax repeal
also eliminated intangible taxes on mutual
funds, bonds, and more,” Patronis added.
The nonpartisan Citizens Budget Com-
mission has recommended that New York
lawmakers not revive the transaction tax
and instead use other ways to close the
state’s budget gap, including reducing lo-
cal aid and trimming spending on some
development projects.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration
has signaled it may not support the bill.
Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.
 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021
Chinese Money Pours Into Hong Kong
as It Becomes Stock Gambling Paradise
WILLIAM FANG
On the eve of President Joe Biden’s inaugu-
ration, the Hong Kong stock market soared
as Chinese money poured in.
On Jan. 19, the daily trading volume of
Hong Kong stocks exceeded 300 billion
Hong Kong dollars ($38.7 billion). On Jan.
21, the Hang Seng Index, which tracks the
Hong Kong stock market, rose by more
than 10 percent, ranking first among the
most important global indexes, according
to NetEase Finance.
Despite the spread of the pandemic in
Hong Kong, a weak economy, and the Chi-
nese Communist Party’s (CCP) increasing-
ly stringent control, the Hong Kong stock
market experienced an unusual rise from
Jan. 6 to Jan. 21.
Hong Kong Guotai Junan Securities (GJS)
issued a report predicting that Hong Kong
stocks are expected to have an “index bull
market” in 2021. However, according to
expert analysis, this bull market is driven
by policies and built on a weak foundation.
It functions more like a casino for the CCP
to collect money.
According to a report by The Paper on
Feb. 3, since the beginning of 2021, capi-
tal has continued to flow into Hong Kong
stocks, stimulating the long-silent Hong
Kong stock market. Wind Data Service
shows that in January, the total annual
net inflow of funds into Hong Kong rose
to 310.623 billion Hong Kong dollars ($40.67
billion).
The net purchase amount in just 13 trad-
ing days this year exceeded 30 percent of
last year’s, close to the 249.3 billion Hong
Kong dollars ($32.16 billion) in 2019, ac-
cording to the NetEase report.
Later, due to the listing of Kaishou, a new
stock in Hong Kong that attracted a lot of
capital, Hong Kong stocks fell. In the first
month of 2021, the Hong Kong Hang Seng
Index rose by 1052 points or 3.9 percent; the
Hang Seng Technology Index rose by 932
points or 11.1 percent in January.
Chinese Money Floods HKSE
GJS also said that with the accelerated in-
flow of funds, Hong Kong stocks will con-
tinue to lead the world, and overseas funds
will return to Hong Kong stocks.
On Jan. 20, a Chinese-language Securities
Times article on the funds flowing into the
Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKSE) men-
tioned that leading internet companies,
unicorn startups, and other new economic
leaders in biotechnology are now listed in
Hong Kong. These high-quality core as-
sets that aren’t available as A-shares have
attracted investors from mainland China.
The most sought after are technology gi-
ants such as Tencent Holdings, Meituan,
and Alibaba. Leading companies such as
the Industrial and Commercial Bank of
China and Construction Bank will greatly
benefit from the resonant inflow of funds
from China and overseas.
China Concepts Stock Returns
to HK for 2nd Listing
Mike Sun, a financial expert with more
than 30 years of investment experience in
China, told The Epoch Times that he be-
lieves the pouring of funds into the HKSE
means Beijing is mobilizing to prepare for
the expansion of Hong Kong’s capital. He
predicted that the CCP will continue to
suppress the housing market in 2021 while
supporting the stock market and expand-
ing capital.
Sun explained that while the develop-
ment of the capital market was empha-
sized in the CCP’s 14th Five-Year Plan in
October 2020, the new securities law for
IPOs introduced in March 2020 changed
from an approval system to a registration
system. He believes the purpose is to find
a new reservoir for overprinted banknotes
and to collect money from the stock mar-
ket. Not only will mainlanders’ savings be
driven toward the stock market, foreign
capital is also targeted. The goal is to at-
tract capital from Wall Street to the Hong
Kong stock market.
MARK RALSTON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Sun also mentioned that the CCP will
This bull market take the initiative to allow China concepts
stock in the U.S. stock market to be listed
is driven by in Hong Kong.
policies and “Today, the CCP wants to expand the
built on a weak stock market, but it is facing a shortage of
assets. The few high-quality assets make
foundation. It its stock market less appealing. Most of
functions more the quality assets have been listed in the
like a casino United States. If these companies of China
concepts stock are allowed to return to
for the CCP to China, they’ll be able to help to collect
collect money. money in the Chinese stock market and
let the funds go into the Chinese H shares
and A shares, then the situation will be
very different. For example, the stage is
set up, but there are not enough good ac-
tors. So good overseas actors, even if the
box office hits are not high, are retrieved,”
he said. “Of course, packaging is also very
important.
“Now, China capital is sweeping the Hong
Kong stock market. Everyone is rushing for
chips in order for the next larger Chinese
concepts stock to be listed in Hong Kong
for the second time.”
State-Owned Enterprises Packaged
for Listing
China concepts stock refers to stocks that
are registered and listed overseas, but the
largest controlling interest—usually more
than 30 percent—and the actual controller
is directly or indirectly subordinate to a
private enterprise or individual in China.
Sun believed that while overseas Chi-
nese concept stocks are returning to Hong
Kong, Beijing is also vigorously building
state-owned enterprises (SOEs), hoping
to make SOEs bigger and stronger. At the
same time, it’s engaged in “mixed reform
management,” a system of reforming SOEs
and private enterprises into high-quality
stock market assets to attract international
capital.
Sun took China’s largest iron and steel
company, China Baowu Steel Group, as
an example. The company plans to list all
of its more than 30 subsidiaries in the next
three years.
The Chinese public data shows that
Baowu Group is the leader of China’s steel
industry. The registered capital is 52.79 bil-
lion yuan ($8.175 billion), and assets exceed
860 billion yuan ($133.178 billion). In 2019,
its crude steel output was 95.46 million tons
and total operating income was 552.2 bil-
lion yuan ($85.513 billion). The total profit
was 34.53 billion yuan ($5.347 billion), and
the scale of operation and profitability
ranks first in the world.
Under Baowu, five subsidiaries that
make money, such as Baosteel, are listed.
The other subsidiaries only generate 20
percent of the net operating cash flow for
the group but bear 71 percent of interest-
bearing debts.
Sun reminded investors that in the next
three years, Baowu will package the nearly
30 low-quality subsidiaries and conduct
IPOs on the stock market, which is very
risky to the investors.
Chinese 100 Yuan notes “There are too many state-owned enter-
are counted at a bank in prises like this. As former Chinese Premier
Shanghai, in a file photo. Zhu Rongji said back then, the Chinese
BUSINESS & ECONOMY | A19
ISAAC LAWRENCE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
stock market is the cash machine for state- Electronic
owned enterprises. This is the essence of boards dis-
China’s stock market. Officials will promote play various
publicity during IPOs. In the first few years, stock prices
it will continue to rise in the stock market, at Exchange
but when the general public starts to enter Square in
the market and even the little old ladies Hong Kong
who dance square dances also speculate on March 9,
in stocks, it becomes dangerous. Because 2020.
there is no real economy to support the
high stock prices,” Sun said.
Wall Street Downplays Dollar,
Touts CCP
In an Aug. 24, 2020, article from The Con-
versation, professor of finance Arturo Bris
analyzed the currency risk.
“For international investors in general,
currency risk—above all the weakening
of the U.S. dollar—has become the most
important financial risk of the year. In spite
of the pandemic, it has even overshadowed
their considerations about specific firms
and sectors,” Bris wrote.
“For a European investor, for example,
U.S. markets have yielded about 5 per-
cent in U.S. dollar terms in the first eight
months of 2020. Translated back into eu-
ros, however, that return is 0.5 percent be-
cause of the depreciation of the U.S. dollar
over the past two months,” according to
the article.
In recent years, Wall Street has down-
played the dollar and touted the CCP.
For example, on Nov. 25, 2020, Goldman
Sachs predicted China’s outlook in 2021
and claimed that RMB is very optimistic
in 2021.
As the CCP prepares for capital expan-
sion, Goldman Sachs still recommends a
high portfolio allocation of China’s stock
market. It fits well with the CCP narrative.
In July 2020, former Morgan Stanley Asia
Chairman Stephen Roach said that “the
dollar is going to undergo a sharp correc-
tion to the downside” and “the Chinese
renminbi can also continue to move up
on a broad trade-weighted basis” and that
RMB could be an alternative to the dollar.
On Jan. 25, Roach also stated that “the dol-
lar’s crash is only just beginning.”
Sun said that not long ago, Chinese re-
gime leader Xi Jinping’s open letter to the
former CEO of Starbucks Howard Schultz
wasn’t only targeting Starbucks, but also
targeting the world’s big capital, especially
Wall Street capital. Xi Jinping wanted to
attract Western capital to China.
“Xi Jinping’s beckoning is full of tactics
from the CCP. The CCP hides no bait and
believes that someone will always volun-
teer to grab it,” Sun said.
“Beijing wants to attract Wall Street dol-
lars to the Chinese stock market. What the
international predators think about is how
to make money in the Chinese stock mar-
ket and how to convert it into U.S. dollars.
I learned from sources close to Beijing’s
high-level officials that this is a bargain
between the two sides.”
Sun, who has more than 30 years of in-
vestment experience in China, has many
connections among the senior cadres.
“The CCP stock market is a casino, and it
is a doomsday casino,” he said.
A20 | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021

‘You and I have

a rendezvous with destiny.’ – Ronald Reagan

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TRUTH AND TRADITION

WEEKNIGHT COOKING WINE TALK

Bringing Bold Flavor Time to Think Pink

to Mild Fish Filets Rose wines are typically among the first new
wine releases of spring, a sign of warmer
A deeply savory, anchovy-spiked tomato
days to come.
sauce makes this simple halibut puttanesca pop.

See B2 See B8

GOOD EATS|RECIPES|DRINKS THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021 B1

FOOD
ELENA NILOGOVA/SHUTTERSTOCK

Just when we’re

most in need of
sunshine, citrus

Wintertime fruits are shining

their brightest.

Sunshine
Make the most
of citrus season
to brighten your
meals—and mood
CRYSTAL SHI

T
hat the year’s coldest, darkest
season is also prime time for
citrus feels like a small gift from
nature. Just when we’re most
in need of sunshine, weighed
down by dreary weather and a steady diet
of rich braises and stews, oranges and cle-
mentines, grapefruits and pomelos, even
humble lemons and limes are shining their
brightest, here to lift and lighten our meals
and spirits alike.
In honor of the season, I asked a few
citrus-loving chefs and bakers for their fa-
vorite recipes and tips for making the most
of these winter treasures. Here’s what they
said.

Keep It Simple
With truly peak-season, high-quality pro-
duce, possibly the best thing to do is not
much at all.
At all-day café Ghaya at JACX&CO in
New York City, Ghaya Oliveira shows off
her favorite citrus, Texas Ruby Red grape-
fruits (“they’re big, juicy, tart, bitter, sweet,
tangy, and fresh—everything you’d hope
for in a fruit!”) in a simple fruit salad. The
café’s Vitamin C Bowl combines grapefruit
segments, kiwi chunks, and pomegranate
seeds, a fun mix of textures and colors, in
a dressing of honey-sweetened, rosemary-
infused grapefruit juice.
“I thought it would be nice to have some-
thing full of freshness in the morning, or
really anytime of the day,” Oliveira said.
“It’s very simple, and you just need to get
the right fruits for it—high quality and
perfectly ripe.” While she’s partial to Tex-
as grapefruit, you can easily substitute in
other citrus.
Amy Riolo, a chef, author, and TV per-
sonality specializing in the Mediterranean
diet, offered inspiration from Morocco,
where she co-leads culinary tours—and
where the oranges are famously sweet and
abundant in winter.
She’ll often serve a traditional Moroccan
With truly peak-
salad of juicy orange segments with sticky season, high-quality
Medjool dates and crisp shredded carrots,
a “unique combination of soft and crunchy produce, possibly
textures and sweet and sour tastes.” the best thing to do
Continued on B4 is not much at all.

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
FOOD
across the 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, FEBRUARY 18, 2021

STEVE KLISE

AMERICA'S TEST KITCHEN

Halibut
W
Mild
e’re always on the look- halibut As for the anchovies,
out for ways to bring filets are our tasters clamored
bold, exciting flavors to simmered

Puttanesca our weeknight dinners.

Enter halibut puttanesca,
a dish of mild fish simmered in a tomato
sauce that’s punched up with spicy pepper
in a tomato
sauce
punched
up with
for more, so we slowly
added them, test by
test, until we'd used the
Adds Big flakes, garlic, briny olives and capers, and
plenty of savory anchovies.
For an easy-to-make version, we skipped
pan-searing the fish, which often causes
spicy
pepper
flakes,
garlic,
briny
whole 2-ounce can.
A mixture of Kalamata olives and capers

Flavor to Mild the fragile fillets to stick to the pan and

flake apart. Instead we sautéed shallot,
garlic, anchovies, oregano, and red pep-
per flakes in the skillet; added canned to-
olives and
capers,
and savory
anchovies.
added pops of savory saltiness to the sauce.
As for the anchovies, our tasters clamored
for more, so we slowly added them, test
by test, until we’d used the whole 2-ounce

Fish Fillets matoes; and then nestled the halibut fillets

into the pan of sauce.
Cooking on the stovetop worked, but
we found it easier to maintain an even,
can. It sounds like a lot—and it is—but the
anchovies mellow in the sauce and give it
an incredible depth of flavor. A shower of
parsley before serving added freshness and
gentle heat (so as not to overcook the fish) color to this bold, simple supper.
by moving the skillet to the oven. The to-
mato sauce slowly reduced as it cooked, For 25 years, confident cooks in the
concentrating its flavor. And this gentle know have relied on America’s Test
approach made for halibut that not only Kitchen for rigorously tested recipes
Use halibut held its shape but also stayed moist. We developed by professional test cooks and
or any
also found that other fish varieties such as vetted by 60,000 at-home recipe testers.
other mild
white fish. cod and haddock worked just as well with AmericasTestKitchen.com/TCA. Copyright
this forgiving method—as long as the fil- 2021 America’s Test Kitchen. Distributed by
NATALIMA/
SHUTTERSTOCK lets were similarly sized and 1 inch thick. Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

HALIBUT PUTTANESCA

SERVES 4 5 garlic cloves, sliced thin 1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves until fish registers 135 degrees, 13 to 16 minutes.
1 (2-ounce) can anchovies, drained and chopped
Adjust oven rack to the middle position and heat the Using a spatula, transfer halibut to a platter. Stir sauce
4 (6- to 8-ounce) skinless center-cut halibut
oven to 375 degrees F. Sprinkle halibut with salt and to recombine, then spoon over halibut. Sprinkle with
fillets, 1 inch thick 2 teaspoons dried oregano pepper; set aside. Add oil, shallot, garlic, anchovies, parsley and drizzle with extra oil. Serve.
1/2 teaspoon table salt oregano, and pepper flakes to a 12-inch oven-safe RECIPE NOTES: We do not drain the canned tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon pepper nonstick skillet and cook over medium-low heat until before adding them to the sauce. One 2-ounce can
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes fragrant and shallot softens, about 4 minutes. of anchovies equals roughly 1 1/2 tablespoons once
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for
1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives Stir in tomatoes and their juice, olives, and capers. chopped. You can substitute other types of white
drizzling
Nestle halibut into sauce and bring to a simmer over fish, such as cod, haddock, and hake, for the halibut, if
1 shallot, minced 1/4 cup capers, rinsed medium-high heat. Transfer skillet to oven and bake desired. Serve with crusty bread.
EMILY LI/SHUTTERSTOCK

Turn Cabbage Into

Winter and cabbage
a Comforting Dish With Ease go together.

DIANE ROSSEN WORTHINGTON added to chicken stock is the base. For

When it’s cold outside, I yearn for dishes
that include this amazing vegetable. I’ll
cook up cabbage with apples into a wilt-
ed bed for juicy roast Cornish hens, as a
soothing soup with or without beef, and
in a fresh shredded cabbage salad stud-
ded with pomegranate seeds and bits of
fresh citrus.
Recently, I was reminiscing about a meal
I had enjoyed many years ago in Paris that
included soft, braised sweet and sour
cabbage wedges. It was a first course to a
hearty dinner on a chilly February night.
I so enjoyed that clever adaptation of the
classic cabbage soup. This is my recollec-
tion of that tasty and satisfying dish that
is certain to satisfy a craving for a com-
forting dish.
The sauce is easy to make. Tomato paste
sweet and sour flavor, brown sugar and
cider vinegar provide just the right balance.
I prefer golden raisins, but you could also
use dark raisins. Make sure to brown each
side of the cabbage wedges.
While I might have had this in Paris as
a first course many years ago, I find it just
right as a main course with warm crusty
chunks of country bread. To drink? How
about a merlot or a chilled beer? Enjoy.
Diane Rossen Worthington is an authority
on new American cooking. She is the
author of 18 cookbooks, including
“Seriously Simple Parties,” and a James
Beard Award-winning radio show host.
You can contact her at SeriouslySimple.
com. Copyright 2021 Diane Rossen
Worthington. Distributed by Tribune
Content Agency, LLC.
BRAISED SWEET AND SOUR CABBAGE WEDGES
SERVES 2 TO 4 Place the cabbage in the pan turning and sauté the
wedges on all sides, 3 to 4 minutes per side, until
1/4 cup vegetable or grapeseed oil
nicely browned.
1 medium green cabbage, cut into 4 wedges with
core intact While the cabbage is cooking, combine the chicken
broth and tomato paste in a glass measuring cup and
2 cups chicken broth whisk to combine. Add the tomato-chicken broth,
3 tablespoons tomato paste vinegar, sugar, raisins, and salt and pepper to taste;
bring to a boil.
1/2 cup cider vinegar
Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and slowly
2 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
simmer, turning every 15 minutes and spooning
1/4 cup golden raisins some of the sauce over, until the cabbage is tender
Salt and pepper and the liquid is slightly thickened, 50 minutes to an
hour depending upon the size of the cabbage. Taste
Sour cream, garnish for seasoning.
Dill weed sprigs, garnish Place each wedge in a shallow soup bowl with some of
Heat the oil in a large skillet with cover over medium- the sauce and garnish with a dollop of sour cream and
high heat. dill sprigs.
 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021
The Make-Ahead Secret to
Instant Garlic Bread
PATTY CATALANO
We should all be enjoying more garlic
bread in our lives, yes? It’s the perfect part-
ner to cozy stews and hearty lasagna, and
the only acceptable side to a plate of spa-
ghetti and meatballs. To get it on our tables
more often, I’ve created a way to make it
in a fraction of the time: a cheesy make-
ahead seasoning blend, with no fresh gar-
lic required.
While you can sometimes find a store-
bought version on your supermarket’s spice
rack, making your own garlic bread sea-
soning couldn’t be easier, and it’s guaran-
teed to be fresher. Simply mix garlic powder
with kosher salt, dried parsley flakes, dried
Italian seasoning, and grated Parmesan
cheese in a bowl or lidded jar. That’s it!
Coarsely grated store-bought or shelf-
stable Parmesan is actually preferable to
freshly grated here—the flecks of herbs will
remain evenly distributed and the cheese
won’t clump when stored.
When you’re ready for garlic bread, sim-
ply mix three tablespoons of the seasoning
with a stick of unsalted butter, slather it
into a halved loaf of bread, and bake until
toasted and warm.
Garlic Seasoning Isn’t Just for Bread
Easy garlic bread is the obvious use for this
seasoning sprinkle, but don’t stop there: Pat
the spice blend onto pork chops or chicken,
then sear in a skillet until the cheese crisps,
turns golden, and the seasonings infuse
the meat with herb and garlic flavor. Use it
to make a compound butter to serve atop
steaks and potatoes, or toss the sprinkle
with stale, cubed bread to make croutons
for soups and salads. It’s also great on fresh-
ly popped popcorn.
Patty Catalano is a contributor to
TheKitchn.com, a nationally known blog
for people who love food and home cooking.
Submit any comments or questions to
editorial@thekitchn.com. Copyright 2021
Apartment Therapy. Distributed by Tribune
Content Agency, LLC.
GARLIC BREAD SEASONING
MAKES ABOUT 3/4 CUP
1/2 cup (3 ounces) store-bought or shelf-stable grated Parmesan
cheese
3 tablespoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
Place 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, 3 tablespoons garlic powder, 2
teaspoons dried parsley flakes, 2 teaspoons kosher salt, and 1 teaspoon
dried Italian seasoning in a medium bowl and whisk to combine.
Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate up to three months.
TO MAKE GARLIC BREAD
Mix 3 tablespoons garlic seasoning and 1 stick (8 tablespoons) softened
unsalted butter together.
Cut a 1-pound loaf of French or Italian bread in half lengthwise and evenly
spread the cut sides with the garlic butter. Place butter-side up on an
aluminum foil-lined baking sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees F until the bread is toasted and warmed through,
A 5-minute Solution
to Your Chocolate
Cravings
MARCELLA DILONARDO
There are plenty of days when we’re fired
up and eager to begin a baking project.
Unfortunately, those moments don’t al-
ways line up with when our chocolate
cravings hit. More often than not, we start
craving a warm, fudgy brownie right as we
sit down to relax in front of the television,
perfectly content to not move for the rest
of the night.
Unfortunately, we can’t just snap our fin-
gers and have a brownie appear. But this reci-
pe gets us pretty close—you’ll have a brownie
in your hands in less than five minutes.
This fudgy brownie recipe—made entire-
ly out of pantry ingredients—is perfectly
portioned to serve you and only you, which
means you don’t have to worry about what
to do with the rest of the pan. It also means
fewer ingredients, so even if you’re down to
the last few tablespoons of sugar or flour,
you can still whip this up.
I recommend making it in an 8-ounce
ceramic mug, which will ensure it will cook
evenly in the microwave.
With this seasoning on hand, you can make homemade garlic bread in a fraction of
the time.
Making your own garlic bread seasoning couldn’t be easier, and
it’s guaranteed to be fresher than store-bought.
about 15 minutes. For crispy garlic bread, broil on low until browned, about
1 minute more. Slice crosswise and serve.
BROWNIE IN A MUG
SERVES 1
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
3 tablespoons whole milk or non-dairy
milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
powder
Pinch salt
1 tablespoon dark chocolate chips
(optional)
Vanilla ice cream, for serving
Place 3 tablespoons butter in a large,
microwave-safe mug. Microwave on high
until fully melted, about 30 seconds. Swirl to
coat the mug with melted butter, then pour
the butter into a small bowl.
Add 3 tablespoons packed brown sugar, 3
tablespoons milk, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
extract, and whisk until smooth. Add 1/4
cup all-purpose flour, 2 tablespoons cocoa
powder, and a pinch of salt, and stir until
combined. Fold in 1 tablespoon chocolate
chips if desired.
Scrape the batter back into the mug.
B3
KARY OSMOND
BARTOSZ LUCZAK/SHUTTERSTOCK
An Instant Pot is handy for cooking up soup.
A Quick and
Tasty Clean-Out-
the-Fridge Soup
KARY OSMOND
I’m in the process of getting ready to put my
house up for sale, which means I’m trying
to bring less stuff into the house and use
up what I have. This includes the food in
the fridge, and right now I have a butternut
squash, a few onions, carrots, potatoes, and
some garlic—all the ingredients to make a
tasty soup.
I’m using my Instant Pot (electric pres-
sure cooker) to make this soup so I don’t
need to babysit it while it simmers away.
All the ingredients go in for a quick sauté
and then it’s locked and loaded until the
buzzer goes off. If you have a hand blender,
you can blend the soup right in the pot; if
not, transfer the soup in batches and blend
in a food processor or blender.
Kary Osmond is a Canadian recipe
developer and former television host of
the popular daytime cooking show “Best
Recipes Ever.” Her easy recipes include
helpful tips to guide you along the way,
and her love of plant-based cooking
offers healthy alternatives to some of
your favorite dishes. Learn more at
KaryOsmond.com. Copyright 2021 Kary
Osmond. Distributed by Tribune Content
Agency, LLC.
HERBED BUTTERNUT
SQUASH SOUP
SERVES 4
KRISTIN TEIG/TNS
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, cut into chunks
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 small butternut squash peeled, seeded, and
cut into large chunks
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
1 potato, peeled and chopped
4 cups vegetable stock
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon oregano
Lemon juice
Set the Instant Pot to “Sauté” and add oil and onion.
Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion softens, about
5 minutes. Add in garlic, stir, and cook for 1 minute.
Add butternut squash, carrot, potato, vegetable
stock, salt, pepper, thyme, and oregano and stir to
combine.
Secure lid and set pressure release to sealing. Select
the pressure cook setting to high pressure and set the
Microwave on high for 1 minute and 15 cook time for 12 minutes.
seconds. The brownie is ready when the Once the 12-minute timer has completed and
center is slightly gooey and the edges
bounce back when pressed. If not ready,
beeped, allow a natural pressure release.
Open the pot, use an immersion blender directly in the
microwave for 15 seconds more. Top with
ice cream and enjoy!
instant pot to blend the soup until smooth. Season
to taste with salt and pepper and a squeeze of fresh
INGREDIENT SUBSTITUTIONS lemon juice.
If you don’t have cocoa powder, you can use TASTY TIPS
2/3 ounce unsweetened chocolate, and
Butternut squash can be tricky to peel and cut. To do
reduce the butter by two teaspoons. Melt it
so, make sure you have a sharp knife. I like to start by
with the butter, then proceed with the recipe
trimming off the top and bottom to give me a flat edge.
as directed. You could also use chocolate
Then cut the neck off. Use a knife or sharp peeler to peel
chips or a sweetened bar of chocolate, but
away the skin and scoop the seeds out with a big spoon.
you’ll want to use less brown sugar to keep
the brownie from tasting overly sweet.
KOLPAKOVA SVETLANA/TNS
If you’re looking for a vegan treat, simply
use dairy-free milk and melted coconut oil
in place of butter. I enjoy mine with a little
scoop of vanilla ice cream on top, as it melts
into the warm brownie. Vegan ice cream
would be equally as delicious.
Marcella DiLonardo is a
contributor to TheKitchn.com,
a nationally known blog for
people who love food and home
cooking. Submit any comments or
questions to editorial@thekitchn.
com. Copyright 2021 Apartment
Therapy. Distributed by Tribune
Content Agency, LLC.
B4
Wintertime
Sunshine
Make the most of citrus season
to brighten your meals—and mood
Continued from B1
For the dressing, she combines a freshly
squeezed lemon and orange juice, black
pepper for some kick, and orange blossom
water—often made from home-pressed
orange oil in the Moroccan countryside,
where orchards are common, Riolo said—
for an aromatic finish.
Another Moroccan classic, a simple plat-
ter of spiced oranges, makes for an easy yet
elegant dessert, a crowd-pleaser on Riolo’s
tours. Her barely-a-recipe recipe, inspired
by the breakfast served at a favorite riad
in the old town of Fes, tops thin orange
rounds with honey, cinnamon, and sliced
almonds. Other versions may swap the
honey for granulated or powdered sugar—
or omit it entirely, as the oranges are often
sweet enough on their own—and add a
splash of orange blossom water.
For a more involved dessert, cookbook
author and food stylist Jason Schreiber
shared a recipe from his baking book,
“Fruit Cake”: a polenta pound cake spiked
with orange zest and liqueur, served with
saucy spoonfuls of spiced mandarins. The
starring mandarins get gentle treatment,
simply left to lounge in a bath of more or-
ange zest and juice, orange liqueur, and
whole spices for an hour or more.
POLENTA POUND CAKE
WITH SPICED MANDARINS
If you wanted to, you could plate this in individual
servings elegant enough for the nicest restaurant in
town, but you absolutely do not have to.
MAKES 8 TO 10 SERVINGS
FOR THE POLENTA POUND CAKE
Pan Goo, for greasing the pan (recipe follows)
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
2 tablespoons plus 1/4 cup quick-cooking (but
not instant) polenta, divided
1 cup water
2 tablespoons orange liqueur, such as Triple Sec
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into
1/2-inch pieces
1 cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest (from 1
orange)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
FOR THE SPICED MANDARINS
5 large mandarin oranges
4 teaspoons finely grated orange zest, preferably
Valencia (from 2 oranges)
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice,
preferably Valencia (from 2 oranges)
2 tablespoons orange liqueur, such as Triple Sec
2 whole cloves
1 star anise pod
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds
scraped out
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F with a rack in the
center position. Brush a standard 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch
loaf pan with Pan Goo.
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking
powder, salt, and 2 tablespoons of polenta. Set aside.
In a small saucepan, bring 1 cup of water and the
orange liqueur to a boil over medium heat. Sprinkle
in the remaining 1/4 cup polenta while stirring
constantly with a wooden spoon, letting the polenta
fall at such a rate that you can see the individual
granules as they tumble through the air. Return
the mixture to a boil and continue cooking, stirring
constantly, until you can see the bottom of the pan in
the wake of the spoon, about 2 minutes. Remove the
pan from the heat.
Whisk in the butter a few pieces at a time, until all
of it has melted. The mixture will be very greasy.
Whisk in the sugar, which will cool down the
mixture so the eggs don’t scramble. Whisk in the
eggs one at a time, followed by the zest and vanilla.
Stir in the flour mixture with the wooden spoon,
then transfer the batter to the prepared pan. Tap
the pan on the counter a few times to dislodge any
large bubbles.
Bake until the cake is golden brown and springs back
when gently pressed and a cake tester inserted in the
center comes out clean, about 75 minutes, tenting with
Make it a habit
to zest every
lemon, lime,
and orange
that passes
through your
kitchen, and
you’ll always
have a supply of
kitchen gold on
hand.
This polenta pound cake is spiked with orange
zest and liqueur, and served with saucy
spoonfuls of spiced mandarins.
foil after an hour if the top is darkening too quickly.
Transfer the pan to a wire rack. Allow the cake to rest
in the pan for 15 to 20 minutes, then carefully unmold
it onto the rack to cool completely.
While the cake is in the oven, make the spiced
mandarins: Peel the oranges and separate the
segments, removing every last bit of pith you can
stand to. Place in a medium bowl and add the orange
zest and juice, orange liqueur, cloves, star anise, and
vanilla seeds and pod. Let the flavors meld together
for at least 1 hour. (The spiced mandarins can be
made the day before and refrigerated.)
Serve slices of the pound cake with the mandarins and
their juice.
Storage: The moisture from the polenta keeps this
cake fresh, well wrapped, at room temperature for up
to 1 week.
Pan Goo
MAKES ABOUT 3/4 CUP
1/4 cup neutral oil, such as safflower
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
In a small container with a lid, whisk the oil and flour
together until combined. Brush onto baking pans in
place of parchment paper or cooking spray.
Storage: Keep it in the fridge for a couple of weeks. A
month seems like maybe too long.
Recipe from “Fruit Cake” by Jason Schreiber.
Copyright 2020 by Jason Schreiber. Used with
permission from William Morrow, an imprint of
HarperCollins. All rights reserved.
Schreiber often bakes with sharper-fla-
vored citrus, or cooks it into curds for filling
cakes and pies, “but for delicate citrus like
mandarin oranges,” he explained, “you’ll
get the most bang for your buck by keep-
ing the fruit out of the oven and spooning
it over slices of cake.
A Finishing Touch
While citrus fruits can easily take center
stage, they’re most versatile in playing a
supporting role. Most dishes will benefit
from a finishing squeeze of lemon juice:
roast chicken or Brussels sprouts, fried fish
or steamed mussels, a simmering pot of
soup or stew.
“People underestimate the use of acid
in cooking, but in fact, it can transform a
whole dish from mediocre to amazing,”
said Suzy Karadsheh, chef and founder of
The Mediterranean Dish food blog. “That
splash of acid is just the one subtle thing
that will wake everything up and allow
your stew to achieve the perfect balance
of flavor.”
The same goes for citrus zest, for dish-
es both savory and sweet. Alex Grunert,
pastry chef at Olmsted in New York, often
finishes desserts with a dusting of citrus
zest; he compares it to the now-ubiquitous
finish of flaky Maldon sea salt. “A little zest
of Meyer lemon, fresh yuzu, or kaffir limes,
and it looks nicer, smells amazing, and el-
evates the taste of the dish.”
No Peel Left Behind
Before you get zesting, Beverly Luk, pastry
chef at Miro Kaimuki and Hau Tree Lanai
in Honolulu, has a word of caution: “Don’t
ever zest [citrus] in advance for recipes.
Zest it right into the batter if you are making
a cake or pancakes. The natural essential
oil is the key, and it will get lost if you trans-
fer the zest from container to container.”
Still, while fresh is best, zested in advance
and stored for later is better than wasted—
MOROCCAN ORANGES WITH CINNAMON AND HONEY
ETHAN CALABRESE
One of my favorite places to stay in Fes, Morocco,
is Dar Bensouda, a riad in the UNESCO-protected
medina, or old city. There you can really take in
the sounds, aromas, tastes, history, and beauty
of Morocco’s spiritual capital.
When our culinary tour itineraries include Fes,
we always stay there, and breakfast is one
of the highlights. This dish is always served
during orange season, and guests always ask
me how to make it. It’s so simple that it’s hard
to even categorize it as a recipe, but because
it is so sweetly satisfying, and popular both
with Moroccans and tourists, I am obliged to
include it.
A simple platter of spiced, sweetened oranges makes an elegant and healthy
dessert—or breakfast.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021
the fate of all too many citrus peels, thrown
away after their insides are juiced or eaten.
Before you cut open that lemon or orange,
Luk offers a suggestion: “Zest it over a bowl
of sugar. You will end up with the best sugar
for all your wonderful baked goods!”
Riolo, meanwhile, always stores extra
grated zest in between paper towels, or
strips of peel on their own, in a sealed plas-
tic bag for up to a week; for longer storage,
keep it in the freezer. Make it a habit to zest
every lemon, lime, and orange that passes
through your kitchen, and you’ll always
have a supply of kitchen gold on hand.
If you can’t be bothered with all that zest-
ing, though, Schreiber has another sweet
solution: “Candied citrus peel is a fantas-
tic way to use a part of the fruit that often
gets thrown away. You can make it from
virtually any citrus.” Once you’ve tried the
freshly candied stuff, he writes in “Fruit
Cake,” “you’ll never waste your time with
the store-bought drudgery.”
The Whole Fruit
Then, of course, there are the ways to di-
rectly use the whole citrus fruit all at once.
Brian Casey, chef and founder of the
KnifeGeeky blog, shared a recipe for Shaker
lemon curd, which he describes as a “lem-
on marmalade curd, because it uses the
entire citrus all at once—peel, pith, and
seeds included!”
It’s a shortcut to the filling of the famously
frugal Shaker lemon pie, originally from
the Shakers, an early 19-century religious
group with communities from New Eng-
land to the Midwest. The original pie recipe
involves slicing whole lemons paper-thin,
macerating them in sugar, and mixing
them with eggs to bake into a bitter-sweet-
tart filling.
Casey simply blitzes all the ingredients
in a blender until smooth—a ratio of two
lemons, four eggs, and two cups of sugar—
and cooks the mixture on the stovetop over
SERVES 4
4 small, sweet oranges
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon pure cinnamon
1/4 cup slivered blanched almonds
Peel the oranges and slice them into thin rounds.
Place the rounds on a platter and drizzle honey
over the top. Sprinkle with cinnamon and
almonds, and serve.
Recipe reprinted with permission from “The
Mediterranean Diabetes Cookbook” by Amy Riolo.
COURTESY OF AMY RIOLO
 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021 B5
BRENT HOFACKER/SHUTTERSTOCK

medium-low heat, stirring constantly with

a spatula to keep the bottom from burning.
When the curd is thick enough to coat the
back of a spoon, it’s ready—to pour into
pie or tart shells, spread between cake lay-
ers, or swirl into yogurt. The method works
well with “any citrus that is juicy and has a
flavorful peel,” Casey said, though sweeter
varieties will need less sugar. “Yuzu, lem-
ons, Meyer lemons, and oranges are great
for this.”
If you still find yourself with an excess
of citrus fruits, preserve the harvest—es-
pecially specialty varieties you won’t find
year-round. Marmalade is a classic, but
for a savory condiment, try your hand at
salt-preserving.
Toward the end of the season, Brandon
Boudet, executive chef and co-owner of Lit-
tle Dom’s in Los Angeles, often has excess
Ojai pixie tangerines from his 18 trees—a
specialty of Ojai, where Boudet lives, just
northwest of Los Angeles.
“I like to preserve them by cutting them
into quarters, adding a teaspoon of salt [to
each], and packing them into glass jars,”
he said. “Typically, I let them sit for three
days and shake them up each day to move
the juices around. After that, you can place
the jars in the fridge for three weeks. When
you are ready to use them, remove the pith,
rinse well, and use only the peel. I recom-
mend adding it to soups, stews, and salads
for flavor.”

Expert Tips for
Buying and Storage
First Impressions: “Citrus is such a wide
family of fruits that there really is no uni-
versal tip for how to go about purchasing
it. Some should feel firm and taut with thin
skins, like clementines, lemons, and limes.
Others, like satsumas, have naturally loos-
er skin, which says nothing about their
freshness. In general, look for fruit that is
Don’t forget the zest: Dust
this aromatic kitchen gold,
full of natural essential
oils, over everything.
brightly colored, feels heavy for its size, and
is blemish-free.” —Jason Schreiber
Scratch and Sniff: “You should be able to
smell the fruit faintly, and when scratched,
the peel should burst with aroma.” —Brian
Casey
Smart Storage: “Citrus lasts at room tem-
perature for a few days, but other than that
should be refrigerated. Store away from gar-
lic and onion, which can speed up the aging
process, and try to keep a space between or-
anges, either by storing them in special boxes
or simply wrapping paper towels around
them so that their skin does not touch and
form condensation.” —Amy Riolo
A Note Before Use: “It is best to use room
temperature citrus to extract more juice—
or microwave them for a few seconds before
juicing.” —Amy Riolo

VITAMIN C BOWL

James Beard Award-winning pastry chef Ghaya
Oliveira serves this simple fruit salad at Ghaya at
JACX&CO, her all-day café in New York City.
“It’s very simple, and you just need to get the right
fruits for it—high quality and perfectly ripe,” she says.
“I love the Texas Ruby Red grapefruit, but you can of
course substitute the fruits and use oranges, mandarin
oranges, or even better, blood oranges!”
1 entire grapefruit, segmented (around 14 or
more segments)
1 kiwi, cut into 8 pieces
3/4 cup pomegranate seeds
To make the dressing, mix the grapefruit juice, honey,
and rosemary and let the mixture infuse overnight.

SERVES 1 In the morning, combine the grapefruit segments, kiwi,

and pomegranate seeds. Remove the rosemary sprig Let high quality,
3/4 cup freshly squeezed grapefruit juice from the dressing and gently pour over the fruit. perfectly ripe
fruit shine in
3 tablespoons honey Recipe courtesy of Ghaya Oliviera, chef, Ghaya at this simple
1 sprig fresh rosemary JACX&CO breakfast bowl.
ALAN BATT

CARROT, DATE, AND ORANGE SALAD CANDIED CITRUS PEEL

This refreshing salad is a Moroccan favorite that
makes the most out of three widely used ingredients. In
the countryside, where orange orchards are common,
families press their own orange oil to make orange
blossom water. In the United States, orange blossom
water can be found in specialty stores.
Even children will love the unique combination of soft
and crunchy textures and sweet and sour tastes in
this salad. Both the salad and dressing can be made in
advance, and stored separately in the refrigerator. Pour
dressing over salad just before serving.
SERVES 8
4 cups baby spinach
2 medium carrots, peeled and grated
1 navel orange, peeled and cut into segments
1/4 cup pitted dates
Juice of 1 orange
Juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon orange blossom water
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
Arrange spinach on the bottom of a large serving dish.
Scatter carrots on top of lettuce. Arrange oranges on
top of carrots. Arrange dates around the top.
Make dressing by whisking orange juice, lemon juice,
orange blossom water, and freshly ground pepper
together in a small bowl. Set aside.
Drizzle dressing over the salad. Serve immediately.
Recipe reprinted with permission from “The
Mediterranean Diabetes Cookbook” by Amy Riolo.
COURTESY OF AMY RIOLO
Once you’ve tasted freshly candied citrus, you’ll never
waste your time with the store-bought drudgery.
MAKES ABOUT 1 1/2 CUPS
7 to 8 assorted citrus, such as navel oranges,
lemons, or limes
2 cups granulated sugar
Use a sharp knife to remove the peel from the fruit in
wide pieces, slicing deep enough to just barely expose
the flesh inside. Place the peel on the cutting board
with the white side face up and carefully remove about
half the pith by slicing horizontally in a sawing motion.
Discard the removed pith and save the fruit for juice or
snacks.
In a small saucepan, place the peel and add enough
cold water to cover. Bring to a boil over medium heat.
When it reaches a boil, drain off the water and replace
with fresh cold water.
Return to a boil once more and cook until tender, about
10 minutes, then drain again and transfer the peel to a
small bowl.
Bring 2 cups water and the sugar to a boil in the
saucepan over medium heat, stirring just until the
sugar has dissolved. Carefully add the peel to the sugar
syrup and adjust the heat to a simmer.
Place a lid on the pot slightly ajar and cook the peels,
stirring occasionally, until the pieces are translucent,
about 20 minutes.
Remove the pan from the heat and allow the peel to
cool completely in the syrup.
Storage: Candied peel can be stored in its syrup in
a covered jar in the refrigerator for up to 1 month, or
drained, air dried, and stored in an airtight container at
room temperature for up to 3 months.
Recipe from “Fruit Cake” by Jason Schreiber. Copyright
2020 by Jason Schreiber. Used with permission from
William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins. All rights
reserved.
ETHAN CALABRESE

Juicy orange
segments,
sticky Medjool Candied citrus
dates, and crisp peel is a fantastic
shredded carrots way to use a part
combine in of the fruit that
this traditional often gets thrown
Moroccan salad. away.
B6 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021

CROSSWORD CONSTRUCTED BY TOM HOUSTON

EPOCH TIMES STAFF
Across
1. Celtic neck-ring
5. Lapwings
11. Lukewarm
16. Allege as fact
17. ___ Island, Fla.
18. Tropical lizard
19. Show
22. Less experienced
23. Marienbad, for one
24. Palm starch
25. So far
26. Heating alternative
29. Freudian topic
31. Show ___
32. Mythical substance
36. Almost forever
37. Animal with a snout
38. Describing the con-
centration of solute per
1000 grams of solvent
39. Coffee order: Abbr.
40. 1/525,600th of a yr.
41. Retrovirus component
43. Academic grilling
44. Big trouble
47. Hiked
50. “If the ___ is con-
cealed, it succeeds”: Ovid
51. Words of honor?
52. Provide staff
55. Daughter of Tantalus
56. Tasty
58. “Over” follower in the
first line of “The Caissons
Go Rolling Along”
59. U.N. supporters
63. November honoree
64. Martinmas’s mo.
65. Court ruling?
66. Slips
67. Pavarotti piece
69. Visit
71. Appraiser
72. Army equivalent of a
Navy Commander
78. Sleeveless garments
79. Father of the Titans
80. Prefix with phone
81. Bar at the bar
82. Front wings in beetles
83. Lodge
Down
1. Work on a doily
2. Bad weather footwear
3. Serving as a satellite
4. Some embroideries
5. Tabloid topic
6. 911 call respondent
7. Chinese dynasty dur-
ing the Three Kingdoms
period
8. U.N. working-condi-
tions agcy.
9. Anchovy containers
10. Army engineer 4NUMBERS CONSTRUCTED BY C. CHANG
AT 4NUMS.COM DAILY BRIDGE CLUB
11. “Chuang Tzu” principle Cy’s wrongful defense
Use the four numbers in the corners, and
12. Breakfast staple the operands (+, - X, and ÷) to build an BY FRANK STEWART, TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY
13. Arch shape, perhaps equation to get the solution in the middle.
©2020 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
There may be more than one “unique” so-
14. Of mental conceptions lution but, there may also be “equivalent”
15. Maids solutions. For example: 6 + (7 X 3) +1 = 28 “Wendy is still on your case?” I asked Cy
and 1+ (7 X 3) + 6 = 28 the Cynic.
20. Kind of power Cy, a chauvinist, and Wendy, my club’s
21. Symbol of poverty feminist, are adversaries even when they
are partners.
25. Impressionist “After the penny game,” Cy bit out, “she
26. Big lizard family asked me what I wanted for lunch. When I
27. iPhone download told her, she said I was wrong.”
The two were today’s East-West. Wendy
28. Kind of relative led the jack of diamonds against South’s
30. Diffuse game.
“Dummy played low,” the Cynic said,
33. Mix up “and I signaled with the seven. South won
34. “East” or “west” and led the A-Q of trumps. Wendy won and
endings led another diamond, but South ruffed the
third diamond, drew trumps and claimed.
35. Cause for a lawsuit Wendy said I was as slow as next-day
40. “___ Marvels” (His- Hard 1 - 1 Solution delivery in a nanosecond world.”
tory Channel staple) BEST CHANCE
42. Smear Since Wendy probably has four trumps,
44. “H.M.S. Pinafore” lass Cy’s best chance is to try for a forcing
defense. To duck the first diamond is
45. “... which ___ from unlikely to gain. Cy must grab his ace and
heat did canopy the lead the KING and a low club. To lead low
first won’t do.
herd”: Shak. South must ruff, and when Wendy takes
46. 15th Century Old the king of trumps, she leads the ace of
clubs. South must ruff again and has lost
Norse poetic saga control.
47. Snail, e.g.
48. Dole hothouses? DAILY QUESTION
You hold: { 4 3 2 10 5 K 8 4
49. Most feeble, in Hard 2 - 1 Solution y1083 2. Your partner deals and opens
London one spade. The next player passes. North in
52. “Le Cid” composer today’s deal bid 1NT. Do you agree?
ANSWER: To respond was reasonable,
53. Substitute both to preserve game chances and to
prevent the opponents from coming in
54. Loch ___
cheaply. Some players might have bid two
57. “All that we see or spades, but a psychologically encouraging
call with such a weak hand would be
seem / Is but a dream
questionable. I sympathize with the 1NT
within a dream” writer response.
58. “They’re at the bot- South dealer
tom of the food chain,” N-S vulnerable
Tom said swimmingly (7)
60. Beak
61. Means of access Easy 1 - 2 Solutions
62. “All men true and
___... “ Tennyson
68. Aries or Taurus
70. Count, now
71. Santa ___, Calif.
73. Kitchen meas.
74. Opponent’s vote
75. Great leveler
76. Mongrel
77. “A shrewd pickpurse”:
Howell Easy 2 - 1 Solution

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.

AGAMA ESTOP OVERSHOE TAPIR

ALTER EGO GOANNA PARABOLA TELEVISION
AMELIA HORNET’S PEWITS PROGRAM
ANOINT NEST PINERIES TEPID
AS YET IMAGINAL POTTIEST UNIVALVE
AVENUE MASSENET RATER UPPED
CREWELS MODERN RAWER URANUS
DAMOZELS MOLAL RELAYING VESTS
DIATOMS NIOBE SAPID
EASES ORALS SAPPER
ELYTRA OSMOSE SHIRTTAIL

SOLUTIONS
CROSSWORD SUPER KAKURO
4 NUMBERS
HARD 1

HARD 2

EASY 1

EASY 2
 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021 B7

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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
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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,
Get the free JUST JUMBLEDSS‡)ROORZXVRQ7ZLWWHU@PlayJumble

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
NYORI
EPOCH ESCAPE MAZE
VEIWA

SUPEUR

MHEANU
Now arrange the circled letters
©2021 Tribune Content Agency, LLC to form the surprise answer, as
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Answer “ ”
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WORK SPACE

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SUPERSUDOKU SUDOKU: EASY JUMBLE EASY KAKURO
— “WHOA” IS ME Leave no stone unturned
horse, the horse thought
down the galloping
When the rider slowed
Answers:
HUMANE
PURSUE
WAIVE
IRONY
Jumbles:
SUDOKU: HARD EPOCH DOKU

CRYPTIC QUOTE
does not take place.
succeed is the one that
meeting that can
The only summit
B8
BARMALINI/SHUTTERSTOCK
Rose wines are typically among the first new wine releases of spring, a sign of warmer days to come.
WINE TALK
Time to Think Pink
ROBERT WHITLEY
The arrival of Valentine’s Day marks a turn-
ing point for many wine enthusiasts, par-
ticularly those who have recently come to
love dry rosé wines.
What makes these wines
so appealing is their crisp,
bright fruit structure and
their versatility with food.
Not only is dry rosé a natural for the Val-
entine’s tradition, but it also signals the
coming of spring and warmer days. Rosé
wines, which are seldom aged in oak bar-
rels, are typically among the first new wine
releases of spring.
This coincides with a natural move away
from the heavier reds and richer whites
we favor in the cold winter months, and
a move toward fresher, brighter, zestier
wines that are more in tune with the weath-
er, and hence, our mood throughout the
rest of the year.
Sales of dry rosé have surged in re-
cent years, as more wine lovers have
discovered the remarkable versatility of
these wines. Rosé from France is typi-
cally made from pinot noir or one of the
Rhone grape varieties, such as grenache
or cinsault. Rosé from Italy, where it is
called rosato, is frequently made from
sangiovese. In Spain, where it is called
rosado, the favored grapes for dry rosé
are tempranillo and garnacha (same as
grenache in France).
Rosé made in the United States is all
over the map. In the Eastern states, the
Catawba grape is prominent. But that
makes for a sweeter wine that isn’t uni-
versally popular. In the Western states,
the Rhone grape varieties and pinot noir
tend to prevail.
A few prominent producers that make ex-
cellent dry rosé include Etude of the Napa
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021
Tasting Notes
Wines are rated on a 100-point scale. Wines are chosen for review because
they represent outstanding quality or value, and the scores are simply a
measure of this reviewer’s enthusiasm for the recommended wine.
Gloria Ferrer Blanc de Gloria Ferrer Blanc de Noirs,
Blancs, Carneros ($22): Carneros ($22):
COURTESY OF FREIXENET MIONETTO USA
COURTESY OF FREIXENET MIONETTO USA
Rich and luscious with Gloria’s Blanc de Noirs is a
hints of lemon and paragon of consistency and
brioche, Gloria Ferrer’s one of the great values in
Blanc de Blancs is sparkling wine. This latest
without a doubt among release shows mouthwatering
the greatest values in red fruits with good balance
sparkling wine today. and impressive length on the
Rating: 94. finish. Rating: 91.
.................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Rodney Strong 2014 Chardonnay, Estate, Sonoma County ($17):
You could make an argument that Rodney Strong invented the
COURTESY OF RODNEY STRONG
California chardonnay craze, but Kendall-Jackson might dispute it.
That said, Rod Strong was certainly one of the earliest champions of
California chardonnay, and that legacy has been maintained through the
decades by winemaker Rick Sayre. This one shows rich notes of pear
and apple, and a hint of wood smoke and spice. It’s a crowd pleaser with
a great price. Rating: 90.
.................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Domaine Carneros by Taittinger 2013 Brut Rosé, Carneros ($39):
The common thread that runs through all of the Domaine Carneros sparkling wines is
elegance. Always beautifully balanced, complex in aroma and flavor, and exquisitely
proportioned, this is so very true of the 2013 Brut Rosé. Delicate aromas of peach,
strawberry, and red berry, and a touch of spice make this one of the most impressive
domestic sparkling rosés you are likely to encounter. Rating: 96.
Valley in California (made with pinot noir) your driveway, but now that Valentine’s
and Eberle of Paso Robles, California (made Day has come and gone, warmer days are
with syrah). just ahead. It’s time to think pink.
What makes these wines so appealing is
their crisp, bright fruit structure and their To find out more about Robert Whitley
versatility with food. You could enjoy the and read features by other Creators
Eberle Rosé of Syrah with virtually any Syndicate writers and cartoonists,
grilled fish, game fowl, grilled sausages, visit the Creators Syndicate website
or even a barbecued steak. Or you could at Creators.com. Email Robert at
simply quaff it on a warm spring day. whitleyonwine@yahoo.com.
There might still be snow piled up in Copyright 2021 Creators.com