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In the News
NEWS
A federal advisory panel
has approved the use of the
Pfizer vaccine on children
aged 12 to 15. ... A7
The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention
says that people vaccinated
against COVID-19 can stop
wearing masks inside in most
places. ... A8
Americans are poorly in-
formed on politically salient
topics including the deficit,
police shootings, and health
insurance coverage, a poll
shows. ... A8
Top Republicans have told
President Joe Biden that they
won’t support tax increases
in a major infrastructure
package. ... A7
Biden supporters tend to
overestimate the negative ef-
fects of climate change com-
pared to the views of prevail-
ing establishment science, a
poll shows. ... A6
Gas shortages have eased
slightly overnight in some
states but worsened in others
as Colonial Pipeline works to
bring one of the nation’s major
fuel conduits back online. ...A8
Ohio will give five residents
$1 million each as a monetary
incentive for getting vac-
cinated against COVID-19,
governor says. ... A2
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has
announced that the compa-
ny will no longer accept the
cryptocurrency bitcoin as
payment. ... A4
Florida authorities are tight-
ening eligibility requirements
for people to collect unemploy-
ment benefits, in a bid to get
people back to work. ...A7
The United States has
criticized the Chinese Com-
munist Party’s extensive
abuses against people of faith
including Uyghur Muslims,
Christians, and Falun Gong
practitioners. ... A9
A panel of independent
experts commissioned by
the World Health Organiza-
tion has called the COVID-19
outbreak a “preventable di-
saster.” ... A10
A rare but potentially deadly
infection dubbed “black fun-
gus” by Indian doctors appears
to be more frequent among
CCP virus patients in the na-
tion, reports show. ...A10
Israeli troops have amassed
at Gaza’s border as Palestin-
ian militants pounded Israel
with rockets in intense hostili-
ties that touched off clashes
between Jews and Arabs in
Israel. ... A11
OPINION
Anders Corr: ‘New’ Chinese
Military Paper on Weaponizing
Coronaviruses—West Should
Respond With Defensive De-
coupling, End to STEM Coop-
eration...A13
Roger L. Simon: American
Communism Has Found Its
Brezhnev in Biden...A14
Brian Cates: The American
Oligarchy Is Being Exposed...
A16
FEATURES
Finding hidden Greece, from
unnamed islands to the heart
of Athens. ...B1
In Delaware’s Kent County,
drives through the country-
side provide encounters with
the Amish lifestyle. ...B5
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Published in New York,
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| F R I D A Y, M A Y 14 , 2 0 21
Falun Gong practitioners hold a parade in New York to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day and to protest
FALUN GONG the ongoing persecution of the group by the Chinese Communist Party in China, on May 13, 2021.
Thousands of Falun Gong Practitioners
March Across Manhattan
Showcasing hope and resilience, Falun Gong adherents speak of the
importance of remaining true to their faith in the face of brutal persecution
By EVA FU
N
EW YORK—Nothing catch-
es the eye quite like the
sunny, golden hues that
brighten up the Big Apple.
On May 13, marking World Falun
Dafa Day and the 29th anniversary
of the spiritual discipline  Falun
Gong’s introduction to the public,
2,500 practitioners wearing bright
yellow shirts marched across Man-
hattan, a rare sight since the pan- Continued on A9
ENERGY
Biden Tells
Americans Not
to Panic Amid
Fuel Shortages
Fuel is beginning to flow to
a majority of the markets’
serviced by Colonial, Biden says
By JACK PHILLIPS
President Joe Biden said that as the
Colonial Pipeline is coming back
online following a ransomware at-
tack last week, Americans shouldn’t
panic-buy and hoard fuel, although
he cautioned that shortages might
continue in the near future.
“Fuel is beginning to flow to a
majority of the markets that they
service, and they should be reach-
ing full operational capacity as we
speak,” he said at the White House
on May 13, but noted that “we will
not feel the effects at the pump im-
mediately.”
“This is not like flicking on a light
switch,” Biden said. “I know see-
ing lines at the pumps or gas sta-
tions with no gas can be extremely
stressful,” he said, “but this is a
temporary situation.”
ARIZONA
Arizona Senators Overseeing Audit Ask Maricopa Officials
to Attend Meeting on ‘Serious Issues’
By ZACHARY STIEBER
Arizona’s state Senate backed away
from a threat to subpoena Maricopa
County officials, instead requesting
they voluntarily appear at a meet-
ing on May 18 to answer questions
about “serious issues” that have been
uncovered by a 2020 election audit.
On May 12, Arizona Senate Presi-
dent Karen Fann, a Republican,
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
LARRY DAI/THE EPOCH TIMES
CHUNG I HO/THE EPOCH TIMES
demic hit early last year.
“It’s like a golden dragon wind-
ing right through the heart of New
York,” said Michael Fitzgerald, a Fa-
lun Gong adherent who sat watch-
ing as the parade proceeded from
Katharine Hepburn Garden.
To the participants, a sizable
number of them survivors of a
bloody suppression under commu- A bystander watches a parade held
nist China, the gathering was an by practitioners of the spiritual disci-
opportunity to celebrate decades of pline Falun Gong in New York on May
13, 2021.
NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
PANDEMIC
UK Government ‘Anxious’ About Indian
COVID-19 Variant: Boris Johnson
By ALEXANDER ZHANG
The British government is “anxious”
about the CCP (Chinese Commu-
nist Party) virus variant that was
first detected in India, Prime Min-
ister Boris Johnson said on May 13.
“It is a variant of concern, we are
anxious about it,” Johnson said. “It
has been spreading.”
Three types of the Indian variant
President Joe Biden at the White
House on May 13, 2021.
1776 Action Takes on American Education
The operator of the 5,500-mile Co- By MATTHEW VADUM
lonial Pipeline system, which runs
from the Gulf Coast to New York, South Dakota Gov. Kristi
confirmed that it was able to restart Noem announced re-
its operations the night of May 12. cently that she’s the first
The system is crucial in delivering candidate nationwide to
fuel to portions of the Southeastern promise to fight action civ-
United States. This week, gas sta- ics and critical race theory by
tions in North Carolina, Tennessee, signing the 1776 Pledge to Save Our
South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Schools, a pledge drafted by a new
Maryland, and elsewhere reported patriotic education group.
fuel shortages, according to analyst The pledge signed by the Repub-
website GasBuddy. lican governor is promoted by 1776
Meanwhile, long lines were seen Action, a new 501(c)(4) nonprofit
Continued on A6 founded by Adam Waldeck, former
COURTNEY PEDROZA/GETTY IMAGES
A contractor
transports bal-
lots cast in the
2020 general
election, during
an audit at Vet-
erans Memo-
rial Coliseum
in Phoenix on
May 1, 2021.
VOL . X V I I I | N O . 2 , 9 61 $1.
NATIONAL SECURITY
Lawmakers
React to
Pentagon
Delaying Report
on Chinese
Military Firms
The Pentagon’s list is crucial
in tackling the challenges to
US national security posed
by Chinese regime
By EMEL AKAN
WASHINGTON—The Pentagon has
failed to release an annual list of
Chinese companies with military
ties, triggering concerns that the
Biden administration could be
hesitating to enforce a Trump-era
executive order that banned invest-
ments in these companies.
Under the defense policy
bill, Congress directs the
Pentagon to identify Chinese
military companies through
a publicly published list.
The Financial Times reported
on May 13 that the Department
of Defense missed the deadline
to publish a legally required list of
Chinese military companies, citing
two people familiar with the mat-
ter. The report is crucial for Presi-
dent Joe Biden, who must make a
decision on whether Americans
can invest in such companies.
Under the National Defense Au-
thorization Act of 2021, Congress
directs the Pentagon to iden-
tify Chinese military companies
through a publicly published list.
The deadline for this year’s report
was April 15.
Continued on A3
have been identified in the UK, in-
cluding one, known as B.1.617.2,
which was designated a “variant of
concern” last week. Public Health
England said the mutation is “at
least as transmissible” as B.1.1.7,
which is known as the UK variant
or the Kent variant.
“At the moment, there is a very
wide range of scientific opinion
Continued on A10
EDUCATION
aide to former Speaker of the
House Newt Gingrich. Gin-
grich and former Housing
and Urban Development
Secretary Ben Carson
support the group. All the
major candidates in the re-
cent contest for the Republican
Party nomination for governor of
Virginia also signed the pledge.
“1776 Action is an issue advocacy
organization focused on stopping
the anti-American indoctrination
happening in our schools,” the
Continued on A4
PANDEMIC
DESANTIS ON MASK
MANDATES
“Floridians
should not
be penalized
for rejecting
the overreach
of local
authorities
through unnecessary
mask mandates,”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said.
Read more on A4
A2 | NATION
McGahn to Sit
for Closed-Door
Interview With
House Judiciary
Panel, Ending
Protracted Lawsuit
JANITA KAN
Former White House counsel Don
McGahn will appear for a closed-
door interview with House Judiciary
Committee lawmakers as part of an
agreement to end a years-long lawsuit
seeking his testimony.
The Justice Department (DOJ) and
attorneys for the Judiciary committee
provided details of the agreement in
the filing to a federal court, a day after
they informed the court that the par-
ties had reached an agreement on an
accommodation that would resolve
issues in the lawsuit.
The agreement would allow the
panel to conduct a transcribed in-
terview of McGahn that would be
closed to the members of the pub-
lic, press, and lawmakers not on the
panel. The document didn’t indicate
when the interview would occur but
said it would be conducted as soon
as possible.
Committee Chairman Jerrold
Nadler (D-N.Y.), who hailed the de-
cision, said that the panel will ask
McGahn questions about “Special
Counsel Robert Mueller’s investiga-
tion, allegations of obstruction of jus-
tice, and former President Trump’s
attack on Mr. McGahn’s credibility.”
“The law requires that when there
is a dispute in court between the leg-
islative and executive branches, the
two must work in good faith to find a
compromise—and I am pleased that
we have reached an arrangement
that satisfies our subpoena, protects
the committee’s constitutional duty
to conduct oversight in the future,
and safeguards sensitive executive
branch prerogatives,” Nadler said in
a statement.
According to the agreement, Mc-
Gahn will be allowed to decline to
answer questions outside the agreed
scope and DOJ lawyers could in-
voke executive privilege to prevent
McGahn from responding to cer-
tain questions, except for questions
related to information provided by
McGahn to Mueller and attributed
to him in publicly available portions
of the Mueller report.
A court filing on May 11 noted that
former President Donald Trump, who
isn’t a party to the case, wasn’t part of
discussions to reach the agreement.
The DOJ didn’t immediately re-
spond to a  request by The Epoch
Times for comment.
House Democrats have pursued a
slew of investigations against Trump
since 2019, which included the sub-
poena of McGahn in an effort to
find information that could lead to
Trump’s impeachment. The White
House blocked McGahn’s appear-
ance, asserting executive privilege
over the documents, which prompted
House Democrats to subsequently
sue McGahn in August 2019 in an at-
tempt to enforce the subpoena.
Litigation over the subpoena had
taken a number  of twists,  with a
full federal appeals court interven-
ing twice in the matter. The full Dis-
trict of Columbia Court of Appeals in
October 2020 granted a request by
the House committee to rehear the
case after a divided three-judge panel
ruled in August that the House can’t
look to federal courts to enforce its
subpoenas because there’s no law that
gives the chamber the power to do so.
The full circuit court vacated the
three-judge panel’s August 2019 deci-
sion. The majority in the August deci-
sion had ruled that the case had to be
dismissed because the committee
“lacks a cause of action to enforce its
subpoena.”
In 2020, the full court visited an-
other issue in the case and ruled
that the House has the legal right to
bring suits, or standing, to enforce
its subpoenas but also allowed Mc-
Gahn to continue challenging the
subpoena on other grounds.
Nadler reissued a subpoena for Mc-
Gahn’s testimony in January at the
start of the new congressional term.
The case was scheduled to be ar-
gued before the full circuit court on
May 19 but attorneys have asked
the court to “postpone” the oral ar-
guments in light of the agreement
reached between the parties.
Judge Postpones Trial for 3 Ex-Cops in George
Floyd Case After Bombshell Allegation
ZACHARY STIEBER
A Minnesota judge on May 13
delayed the trial of three former
police officers who were involved
in the arrest of George Floyd in
Minneapolis last year, after one
of the officer’s defense attorneys
argued that the medical examin-
er who performed Floyd’s autop-
sy was coerced by prosecutors.
Thomas Lane, J. Kueng, and
Tou Thao, according to court
records, will now face trial on
March 7, 2022, a delay of more
than six months from the previ-
ous date.
Hennepin County District
Judge Peter Cahill told a pretrial
hearing in Minneapolis that he
wanted to give time for federal
prosecutors to pursue their case
against the three men, local me-
dia reported.
A federal grand jury last week
indicted the trio and Derek
Chauvin, the other former of-
ficer involved in Floyd’s death,
alleging the officers violated
Floyd’s constitutional rights
when they restrained him on
the ground outside Cup Foods,
where he was accused of using
counterfeit money.
Floyd eventually stopped
breathing and was soon ruled
dead.
Chauvin was convicted in
April of second-degree mur-
der, third-degree murder, and
second-degree manslaughter.
He faces up to 40 years in prison.
Lane, Keung, and Thao face
aiding and abetting murder and
aiding and abetting manslaugh-
ter charges. The first charge car-
ries up to 40 years in prison.
The federal charge the former
officers were indicted on car-
ries up to life in prison, with the
death penalty possible in certain
scenarios.
Matthew Frank, a state pros-
ecutor, told Cahill he disagreed
with pushing the trial back into
next year and that he wanted it
to proceed in August, KARE 11
reported.
Cahill also heard two other
matters. Lane’s attorney asked
the judge to compel Minnesota
authorities to produce all use-of-
force reports “where force was
used by a Minneapolis police
officer in making an arrest and
another officer, either orally or
physically, intervened in the use
Ohio to Give 5 Residents $1
Million Each in Lottery to
Push COVID-19 Vaccination
ISABEL VAN BRUGEN
The state of Ohio will give five
residents $1 million each as a
monetary incentive for getting
vaccinated against COVID-19,
Republican Gov. Mike DeWine
announced on May 12 as he
lifted CCP virus pandemic re-
strictions statewide.
It comes as de-
mand for CO-
VID-19 vaccines
in the state—and
nationwide—has
dwindled.
Ohio residents who are at
least 18 years old and have re-
ceived “at least” one dose of the
COVID-19 vaccine are eligible
to win the sum in once-a-week
lottery drawings, the governor
said, noting that the incentive
program, named “Ohio Vax-
a-Million,” will be funded by
existing federal pandemic re-
lief funds.
The Ohio Department of
Health will be the sponsoring
agency for the drawings, and the
Defense Attorney Eric Nelson (L) and former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin listen as Hennepin County
Judge Peter Cahill presides over pre-trial motions in the trial of Chauvin over the death of George Floyd, in Minne-
apolis on May 25, 2020.
of force by his or her fellow of-
ficer, in the last fifty years.”
Cahill hasn’t yet ruled on the
matter, but asked prosecutors to
get back to him on how many re-
ports over 10 years would be gen-
erated under the request to help
him decide how to rule. He also
asked prosecutors to get Rich-
ard Zimmerman, a Minneapo-
lis police officer, to find a report
from decades ago that describes
when Zimmerman intervened
physically to stop a fellow officer
from using excessive force on a
prisoner who was handcuffed.
The other matter was a mo-
tion that accused state prosecu-
tors of leaking to The New York
Times details of a plea deal with
Chauvin that never fully materi-
alized. Cahill said he’d deal with
the issue during a hearing in Au-
gust but chastised prosecutors
for not submitting filings swear-
ing they didn’t leak to the paper,
KARE 11 reported.
Frank, the only prosecutor
to submit such an affidavit,
speculated that the U.S. De-
partment of Justice leaked to
The New York Times. Defense
lawyers said Minnesota Attor-
ney General Keith Ellison was
likely to blame.
A bombshell filing submitted
to the court the day prior wasn’t
state Lottery will conduct them,
DeWine said. The first drawing
will occur on May 26.
“I know that some may say,
‘DeWine, you’re crazy! This
million-dollar drawing idea
of yours is a waste of money,’”
DeWine said in announcing the
initiative on Twitter. “But truly,
the real waste at this point in the
pandemic—when the vaccine
is readily available to anyone
who wants it—is a life lost to
COVID-19.”
DeWine said the pool of
names for the drawings, set to
take place each Wednesday for
five weeks, will come from the
Ohio Secretary of State’s publicly
available voter registration data-
base. Residents not in the data-
base can register on a separate
website that will be made avail-
able later, the governor said.
A separate incentive for
younger Ohio residents will see
five vaccinated 12- to 17-year-old
students receive full four-year
scholarships to attend Ohio
public universities, including
tuition, room, board, and books.
It comes as demand for COV-
ID-19 vaccines in the state—and
nationwide—has dwindled.
DeWine noted that 42 percent
of residents have been fully
FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2021
addressed during the hearing.
Thao’s lawyer alleged that Dr.
Andrew Baker, the Hennepin
County Medical Examiner, was
“directly and indirectly coerced
by the State and its agents” into
altering Floyd’s autopsy report.
The three will now
face trial on March
7, 2022.
On May 26, 2020, Baker told
prosecutors that the autopsy
“revealed no physical evidence
suggesting that Mr. Floyd died
of asphyxiation” and showed no
signs of damage to his airways or
thyroid, or brain bleeding, bone
injuries, or internal bleeding.
Findings released to the public
three days later said there were
“no physical findings that sup-
port a diagnosis of traumatic
asphyxia or strangulation.”
But the final autopsy report
listed neck compression.
In the intervening time, Baker
spoke to Dr. Roger Mitchell, for-
mer medical examiner of Wash-
ington, about the autopsy find-
ings. Mitchell decided to write an
op-ed critical of Baker’s findings
in the Washington Post, accord-
Walgreens staff prepares COVID-19 vaccine in Dayton, Ohio, on Feb.
10, 2021.
vaccinated against COVID-19,
the disease caused by the CCP
virus. That falls slightly below
the national average of 46.4 per-
cent, according to data from the
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC).
As U.S. demand for vaccines
declines, the Biden adminis-
tration is also facing the chal-
lenge of figuring out new ways
to motivate more people to get
vaccinated. The White House on
May 11 said that people travel-
ing to get their shots will get free
or discounted ride shares.
Companies have started of-
fering incentives as part of an
effort to encourage Americans
to get vaccinated. For example,
Krispy Kreme stores are offer-
ing one free glazed doughnut
for people who show that they
COURT TV VIA AP
ing to the filing from Thao’s law-
yer. Mitchell later called Baker
again to let him know.
“In this conversation, Mitch-
ell said, ‘you don’t want to be
the medical examiner who tells
everyone they didn’t see what
they saw. You don’t want to be
the smartest person in the room
and be wrong.’ Said there was a
way to articulate the cause and
manner of death that ensures
you are telling the truth about
what you are observing and via
all of the investigation. Mitchell
said neck compression has to
be in the diagnosis,” according
to the filing.
State prosecutors later met
with Mitchell.
What Mitchell did amounts to
coercion, a crime under Min-
nesota law, as state prosecutors
“knew that a potential expert
witness had coerced the State’s
main expert witness/the only ex-
pert to perform the physical au-
topsy in the case of State v. Thao,”
the former officer’s lawyer, Bob
Paule, charged.
Baker’s office declined to com-
ment, citing pending litigation.
Frank, the assistant attorney
general, called the allegations
“bizarre.” The state plans to file a
complete response in one week,
he said on May 12.
MEGAN JELINGER/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
have had one or two shots of any
COVID-19 vaccine.
The pace of COVID-19 vacci-
nations has declined in recent
weeks, in part following an 11-
day pause in administering the
single-dose Johnson & Johnson
shot, as federal health authori-
ties investigated reports of po-
tentially dangerous blood clots.
The CDC and the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration on
April 24 recommended that the
distribution of the vaccine con-
tinue but with warnings.
“Those who are not vaccinated
remain prey to the virus,” DeW-
ine said. “We hope for a good
summer, but we also have to be
able to get through the dark days
of winter safely. To do that, we
need a much higher percentage
of Ohioans to be vaccinated.”
 FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2021 NATION | A3
STR/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

China Critics React

to Pentagon Delaying
Report on Chinese
Military Firms
CONTINUED FROM A1
A Pentagon spokesperson told
the Financial Times that the re-
port would be submitted before
October.
In his final weeks in office, for-
mer President Donald Trump took
swift action to ban investments in
Chinese companies that are tied
to the People’s Liberation Army
(PLA), a major step in curbing Bei-
jing’s access to lucrative U.S. capital
markets.
The investment ban targeted 44
companies identified by the De-
fense Department as “Commu-
nist Chinese military companies”
(CCMCs). The order required U.S.
investors to divest the securities
of these companies and their sub-
sidiaries before the November 2021
deadline.
Trump’s executive order “is a crit-
ical tool in preventing the augmen-
tation of the Chinese Communist
Party’s military capabilities,” Rep.
Scott Perry (R-Pa.) told The Epoch
Times in an email.
“If this delay is attributable to the
Biden Administration’s hesitancy
over keeping the executive order
in place, the American people de-
serve to know that, and the absence
of any explanation or communica-
tion here is troubling.”
Trump’s order aimed to curb
U.S. pension and retirement
fund investments in companies
that support China’s totalitarian
regime. Many of these companies
are publicly traded on stock ex-
changes around the world and are
tracked by major indexes such as
MSCI and FTSE.
The Chinese companies black-
listed by the Pentagon last year
included prominent technology
and manufacturing firms, such as
state-run mobile operators China
Mobile and China Telecom, video
surveillance manufacturer Hikvi-
sion, and aerospace firm Aviation
Industry Corp. of China.
During her confirmation hear-
ing, Secretary of Commerce Gina
Raimondo highlighted the impor-
tance of the Pentagon’s list in tack-
ling the “substantial challenges
China’s military-civil fusion policy
poses to U.S. national security.”
U.S. Congress first directed the
Pentagon to produce an annual
list of military companies with
ties to the Chinese regime in 1999.
The report, however, wasn’t filed
until last year.
“After 21 years and pressure
from President Trump, the Penta-
gon finally released the initial list
last year,” Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.)
stated in an email.
“The threat from the Chinese
Communist Party is far more ur-
gent than it was two decades ago.
America can’t afford more delays.
Congress needs to know which
firms are tied to China’s military
as soon as possible,” he said, urg-
ing Congress to pass his bill, Stop
Funding the PLA Act, to prevent
U.S. investments from flowing to
China’s military industrial base.
Pentagon officials didn’t imme-
diately respond to a request by The
Epoch Times for comment about
the delay.
The absence of any
explanation or
communication
here is troubling.
Rep. Scott Perry
“The challenge is, every day we
continue to study the problem is
another day where money contin-
ues to flow to companies that are
engaging in bad behavior,” Rep.
Michael McCaul (R-Texas) told The
Epoch Times.
Pentagon to Remove Xiaomi From
Blacklist
The Department of Defense on May
12 also agreed to remove Chinese
smartphone maker Xiaomi from
its investment blacklist.
Chinese People’s Liberation Army soldiers take part in a training exercise in Kashgar, Xinjiang Province, China, on Jan.
4, 2021.
The department early this year ing full well the facts may not be go through the same legal route
had designated the company as publicly available, as governments and challenge enforcement of the
having ties to China’s military. In do not generally publicize their blacklisting, she said.
response, Xiaomi filed a lawsuit military affiliations,” according to Shares of Xiaomi jumped 6 per-
against the U.S. government, call- Nazak Nikakhtar, partner at law cent in Hong Kong following the
ing its placement “unlawful and firm Wiley Rein LLP and former news.
unconstitutional.” assistant secretary at the U.S. De- “We know that our adversaries
In March, a federal judge or- partment of Commerce. across the globe, especially
dered a temporary halt to the “The litigation risk could Communist China, will
enforcement of the blacklisting, have been avoided,” she use every resource avail-
citing insufficient evidence about told The Epoch Times. able to steal American
the company’s ties to the PLA. The It’s a known fact that technology, jobs and
Biden administration didn’t chal- the Chinese regime, intellectual property
lenge the ruling. through its national in an effort to dominate
“We were compelled to do this by strategy called “Mili- the world,” a spokesper-
the court,” Emily Horne, National tary-Civil Fusion” and son for Sen. Rick Scott (R-
Security Council spokesperson, other national security Fla.) said in an email.
told The Epoch Times. laws, uses Chinese com- “That is why compa-
“U.S. courts found that the pre- panies to help strengthen Rep. Scott nies under the influence
vious administration failed to de- the PLA, she said. Perry (R-Pa.) of our adversaries, such
velop a legally sufficient basis for As stated in her testi- speaks at a as Xiaomi, DJI, and Hua-
imposing restrictions on the com- mony before the United panel titled wei, should stay on the
pany and this action was required States–China Economic “The Present entity list.”
in light of court rulings.” and Security Review Danger: China” The American Securi-
However, she added that “the Commission in March, at the Con- ties Association, which
Biden Administration is deeply Congress could consider servative Polit- represents regional Main
ical Action
concerned about potential U.S. amending the defense Conference in
Street financial services
investments in companies linked policy bill to apply “a de National Har- companies, also urged the
to the Chinese military and is fully jure approach, rather than bor, Md., on Pentagon “to quickly ful-
committed to keeping up pressure a de facto approach, for Feb. 27, 2020. fill its legislative mandate
on such companies.” designating CCMCs.” and report to Congress.”
Legal experts have been warn- “This more flexible stan- “Last quarter, Wall
ing Congress for months about the dard would facilitate the designa- Street diverted $3.4 billion of new
ambiguous language in the defense tion of CCMCs by reducing the American investor money to the
policy bill that makes it difficult to evidentiary burden on the Depart- Chinese Communist Party, under-
pinpoint companies connected to ment of Defense and would reduce writing its engine of environmental
the Chinese military. litigation risk for the government as destruction, gross human rights
The problem arises because well,” she argued in her testimony. abuses against its own people, and
“the Department of Defense has Otherwise, many other black- military buildup,” Chris Iacovella,
assumed a fact-finding role, know- listed Chinese companies could CEO of the ASA, said in an email.

California Controller Wrote 49 Million Checks, “Despite repeated attempts to

but Claims She Can’t Locate Any of Them
MARK TAPSCOTT
News Analysis
As California state controller,
Betty Yee’s job includes being
“responsible for accountability
and disbursement of the state’s
financial resources,” according to
her office’s official website.
Yee’s office issued 49 million
checks in payments worth $320
billion in 2018 in her capacity as
“chief fiscal officer” for the state
whose economy is the fifth-largest
in the entire world. The state’s
2020 budget was $208.9 billion,
but Yee’s office payments often
cover multiple-year obligations.
California is the
only state that
has not produced
documentation of
its spending
Her job description also makes
her “responsible for auditing all
funds disbursed by the state and
all claims presented for payment
to [her office]. Performs indepen-
dent audits of government agen-
cies that spend state funds.”
Given Yee’s job duties and
actions, Open the Books Chair-
man Adam Andrzejewski may be
forgiven for being mystified by the
California State Controller’s claim
to be “unable to locate or other-
PHILLIP FARAONE/GETTY IMAGES FOR EQUALITY CALIFORNIA
wise provide” documentation of
any of those payments.
“The State of California, State
Controller’s Office does not main-
tain a centralized vendor contract
database which would allow it
to identify all contracts regard-
less of the agency awarding such
contract,” Yee’s general counsel
Richard Chivaro told Andrzejew-
ski’s group in a Nov. 6, 2019, letter.
That letter was in response to a
series of requests made by Open
the Books beginning in 2013 un-
der the California Public Records
Act (CPRA).
Open the Books’ requests sought
documentation—a “line-by-line
state checkbook”—of California’s
massive state government spend-
ing. To date, California is the only
one of the nation’s 50 states that
haven’t produced such documen-
tation in response to the Burr
Ridge, Illinois-based nonprofit’s
efforts to make public “every dime
online in real time” of spending
by government at all levels in the
United States.
“In fact, many state contracts
are paid for directly by the con-
tracting agency. This procedure
allows the contracting agency to
make such payments as expedi-
tiously as possible thereby taking
advantage of an early payment
discount which may be avail-
able,” Chivaro said.
“Moreover, the Controller’s Of-
fice receives literally thousands of
claims for payment daily. Claims
are batched by date received
California State Controller Betty Yee
attends the Equality California 2018
Los Angeles Equality Awards in Los
Angeles on Sept. 29, 2018.
and are not segregated, logged,
or otherwise tracked by agency,
employee, or payment type.
“Consequently, because of the
way the claims are batched and
processed by this office, we are
unable to locate or otherwise
provide you with the documents
requested.”
Open the Books first began
seeking “various records concern-
ing state spending information,
including records reflecting line-
by-line vendor payments,” the
group told the California Superior
Court in its suit filed last year.
The group is represented in
the suit by the Cause of Action
Institute, a public interest law
firm that litigates on behalf of
government accountability and
individual liberty.
obtain an adequate response
from the Controller, Plaintiffs
have instead faced at various
points delay, silence, obfuscation,
and inadequate justification for
the agency’s refusal to provide
a reasoned determination and
responsive records,” Open the
Books told the court.
“Plaintiffs first filed a CPRA
request for state checkbook data
in 2013—over six years ago—but,
to date and after repeated re-
quests, the Controller has failed to
disclose any relevant records.
“It is beyond dispute that the
public records at issue are subject
to disclosure under the CPRA,
notwithstanding the Control-
ler’s protests. The situation now
requires judicial intervention.”
Andrzejewski told The Epoch
Times on May 13, “COVID slowed
our suit down, but we’re push-
ing for summary judgment now
because we think we will win.” He
didn’t know when the court would
issue a decision on a summary
judgment motion.
“We always knew California
would be a dogfight,” Andrze-
jewski told The Epoch Times.
A spokesman for Yee acknowl-
edged The Epoch Times’ request
for comment but didn’t provide a
response by deadline. A spokes-
man for Gov. Gavin Newsom,
who faces a recall election,
couldn’t be reached.
“We’ve sued two other states, we
expect to win in California, and
we’re undefeated in these suits,”
Andrzejewski said.
He noted that, while Cali-
fornia’s Yee is a Democrat, the
officials involved in the other two
states—Illinois and Wyoming—
that required litigation to obtain
requested spending records were
both Republicans.
In Illinois, Andrzejewski said:
“Republican Comptroller Judy
Baar Topinka claimed, ‘The state
doesn’t have a magical check-
book.’ So we reminded her that
the state doesn’t have magical
taxpayers, either.”
In Wyoming, he said, Open the
Books sued “State Auditor Cyn-
thia Cloud, who claimed ‘it would
take years and years for the state
to produce its checkbook.’ By tak-
ing this anti-transparency stance
in Red Wyoming, Cloud made
herself politically toxic and never
ran for office again.”
Cloud eventually relented,
but then delayed for months on
end in producing the records.
Her successor within a month
of taking office produced all the
records Open the Books had
requested, plus another year’s
worth that hadn’t been sought,
and refunded an $8,000 check
the nonprofit had paid to cover
the costs Cloud said were in-
volved in producing the records.
Open the Books required no liti-
gation to obtain spending records
it sought from the other 47 states,
he said. The group also regularly
receives spending data from vir-
tually all of the nation’s 500 most
populous cities.
“We even get the checkbooks
from the historically, systemically
corrupt Port Authority of New
York and New Jersey,” Andrzejew-
ski said. “We do get the second set
of books from there.”
Congressional correspondent Mark
Tapscott may be reached at mark.
tapscott@epochtimes.nyc
A4 | NATION FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2021

MARIO VILLAFUERTE/GETTY IMAGES

to hate their own country & pitting them

against one another on the basis of race or
sex is shameful & must be stopped,” Noem
wrote on Twitter. “I’m proud to be the 1st
candidate in America to sign ‘The 1776
Pledge to Save Our Schools.’”
Noem’s embrace of the pro-American
education pledge comes as state lawmak-
ers nationwide consider legislation banning
the teaching of critical race theory, which
maintains, like The New York Times’ con-
troversial 1619 Project, that America is an
inherently racist nation.
It also comes as Democrats promote the
proposed Civics Secures Democracy Act
in Congress, which involves distributing
$1 billion per year in federal grants over six
years for K–12 curriculum development,
teacher training, and research on the teach-
ing of history and civics. Some of the money
will go toward action civics.
The 1776 Commission report states that
action civics “uses direct community ser-
vice and political action (such as protesting
for gun control or lobbying for laws to ad-
dress climate change) to teach students to
bring change to the system itself.”
The education bureaucrats who will be
in charge of disbursing the money from
the proposed act are overwhelmingly left-
wing, and the recipients are likely to be of
the same ideological stripe, conservative
critics say.
The grant money handed out under the
A class of Hispanic students recites the Pledge of Allegiance during a September 11 memorial service at Birdwell Elementary School in Tyler, Texas, in legislation will promote so-called woke edu-
this file photo. cation in the nation’s classrooms, including
critical race theory and action civics, merg-
ing “the culture war [and] ... K–12 educa-
1776 Action Takes on Anti-American tion-policy disputes to a degree never before
seen,” according to Stanley Kurtz, a senior
fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

Education, Critical Race Theory
CONTINUED FROM A1
group said in a statement. “Our goal is to
make this a central voting issue in state
and local elections where decisions over
education are primarily made.”
“We’re doing that through ongoing ad
campaigns, as well as the release of The 1776
Pledge to Save Our Schools to help parents
evaluate relevant candidates and officials.”
1776 Action opposes action civics, which
refers to K–12 and college students being
required to protest and lobby for political
causes for course credit.
Critical race theory—whose proponents
frequently denounce American culture
and history as “Eurocentrism” and “white-
ness”—is “a variation of critical theory ap-
plied to the American context that stresses
racial divisions and sees society in terms
of minority racial groups oppressed by the
white majority,” according to the report of
the 1776 Commission (not to be confused
with 1776 Action).
“Equally significant to its intellectual con-
tent is the role Critical Race Theory plays
in promoting fundamental social trans-
formation,” the report states, “to impart an
oppressor-victim narrative upon genera-
tions of Americans. This work of cultural
revolution has been going on for decades,
and its first political reverberations can be
Teaching our seen in 1960s America.”
children & In his first executive action, President Joe
grandchildren Biden dissolved the 1776 Commission.
In Executive Order 13985, Biden rescinded
to hate their President Donald Trump’s Executive Order
own country 13950, which forbade teaching the Marxist-
invented critical race theory in federal train-
& pitting them ing, along with Trump’s Executive Order
against one 13958, which created the 1776 Commission,
another on the which sought to move U.S. education away
from a radical curriculum that unduly em-
basis of race or phasized race-related injustices of the past.
sex is shame- “In classrooms across the country, the
ful & must be far Left is successfully indoctrinating chil-
dren with anti-American lies and divisive
stopped. theories that pit them against one another
South Dakota Gov. based on race and gender,” Waldeck told
Kristi Noem The Epoch Times in a statement.
“We don’t have decades to waste trying
to persuade them that they are misguided,
and so 1776 Action was founded to defeat
them politically, culturally, institutionally
and financially.”
Critical race theory-based trainings im-
part a false and hateful narrative about
American history that exacerbates racial
tensions, 1776 Action supporters say.
“Teaching our children & grandchildren
The 1776 Action pledge itself consists of a
statement signed by the candidate promis-
ing constituents that he or she “will take
concrete steps” to fix K–12 public schools.
The candidate vows to “restore honest,
patriotic education that cultivates in our
children a profound love for our country,”
and to “promote a curriculum that teaches
that all children are created equal, have
equal moral value under God, our Consti-
tution, and the law, and are members of a
national community united by our found-
ing principles.”
The candidate also commits to “prohibit
any curriculum that pits students against
one another on the basis of race or sex,”
and to “prevent schools from politicizing
education by prohibiting any curriculum
that requires students to protest and lobby
during or after school.”
Among 1776 Action’s objectives are “sup-
porting candidates for school boards, state
boards of education, and other relevant of-
fices who believe in teaching our children
to love America,” and “defeating local and
state education officials who indoctrinate
our children with the false and divisive lies
of the radical Left.”
The group also aims to use targeted mes-
saging campaigns to pressure colleges and
universities “to stop the anti-American pro-
paganda,” and promote “pro-American al-
ternatives to the radical version” of Ameri-
can history that is taught in many parts of
the country.

SAUL MARTINEZ/GETTY IMAGES

Tesla Suddenly Florida Gov. DeSantis Will Pardon Anyone

Stops Accepting
Bitcoin as
Payment
ZACHARY STIEBER
Tesla will no longer accept the cryptocur-
rency bitcoin as payment, the company’s
CEO Elon Musk announced on May 12.
Musk said the abrupt move came because
of worries over how much energy bitcoin
mining, or production, consumes.
“We are concerned about rapidly increas-
ing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining
and transactions, especially coal, which
has the worst emissions of any fuel,” he
said in a statement.
The price of one bitcoin dropped about
13 percent to $46,980 after the announce-
ment, though it later rebounded above
$50,000. Tesla shares dropped pre-market
on May 12 by about 10 percent.
Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurren-
cy, is a payment method that uses nodes
scattered across the world.
Tesla disclosed in February that it had
bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin while
revealing plans to accept the currency as
a form of payment.
Musk has been bullish on bitcoin and
other cryptocurrencies, including doge-
coin. His tweets, which are seen by more
than 54 million followers, often drive price
surges or dips.
Mining bitcoin, or producing it, which
Tesla CEO Elon Musk at the Kennedy Space Cen-
ter in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on May 27, 2020.
is done through computers solving equa-
tions and puzzles, has gradually consumed
more energy over time as the amount of
power required to mine escalates. Miners
increasingly need complex systems that use
powerful but less energy-efficient software.
Mining consumes between 20 and 80 ter-
awatt-hours of energy every year, accord-
ing to estimates reviewed by the Interna-
tional Energy Agency in 2019. That number
has risen in recent months. Most of the
mining is done in China, sometimes using
alternative energy such as hydroelectricity.
Mining is likely responsible for 10 to 20
Mt CO2 per year, or between 0.03 and 0.06
percent of global energy-related CO2 emis-
sions, according to the agency.
Musk said Tesla will not sell any of the
bitcoin it has accumulated and will use it
for transactions “as soon as mining transi-
tions to more sustainable energy.”
The company is also exploring the use
of other cryptocurrencies that use less
energy.
Who Broke Mask Mandates, COVID-19 Rules
JACK PHILLIPS
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is pledging
to pardon any state resident who was
arrested for not following COVID-19-re-
lated restrictions.
“Floridians should not be penalized for
rejecting the overreach of local authori-
ties through unnecessary mask man-
dates,” DeSantis wrote on Twitter on May
13. He linked to a Fox News video of him
appearing alongside a Broward County,
Florida, couple—Mike and Jillian Car-
nevale—who were arrested several times
for not requiring masks in their gym.
“As soon as I heard that Mike and Jillian
Carnevale were facing criminal penal-
ties, like possible jail time, for not requir-
ing masks at their gym, I stepped in to
shield them from this local government
overreach,” DeSantis, a Republican,
added in a subsequent tweet.
The Carnevales were facing possible jail
time for allegedly not enforcing mask or-
ders. They both appeared before a judge in
March and had a trial set for May 18.
“Now they’re looking to take it a step
further. They want to put us in jail, and
we’re not backing down to this,” Mike
Carnevale told CBS Miami. “We have an
attorney that’s going to fight this until
the very end. I’ll be fighting this until the
very end. I won’t be backing down, that’s
where we stand.”
But DeSantis on May 13 told Fox News
that their arrests were “total overreach”
on behalf of the local government.
“When our clemency board meets in the
coming weeks, we’ll issue pardons not only
for Mike and Jillian but for any Floridian
that may have outstanding infractions for
things like masks and social distancing.
“The fact is, it’s not even right to be
wearing masks when you’re exercis-
ing,” DeSantis said. “The World Health
Organization advises against it. It’s not
healthy for people to be doing that in the
first place. So it was a bad restriction. But
these things with health should be advi-
sory. They should not be punitive.
“And so we are happy to use our con-
stitutional authority. I think they’ve been
treated poorly, and fortunately, they’ve got
a governor that cares.”
DeSantis in recent months has taken ex-
ecutive action to curb lockdowns imposed
because of the pandemic, while also ban-
ning COVID-19 vaccine passports.
Speaking to The Epoch Times’ “Ameri-
can Thought Leaders” program in April,
DeSantis said he believed the lockdown
orders were a “huge mistake,” including
the one that was implemented in Florida.
Recalling the mantra pushed by health
officials to lock down for two weeks last
year, DeSantis said he now realizes that it
likely didn’t have any effect.
“We wanted to mitigate the damage.
Now, in hindsight, the 15 days to slow
the spread and the 30—it didn’t work,”
DeSantis said. “We shouldn’t have gone
down that road.”
COVID-19 is the disease caused by the
CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.
 FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2021 NATION  |  A5

Arizona Senators Back Off Subpoena Threat Over Audit,

Ask Maricopa Officials to Attend Meeting on ‘Serious Issues’
MATT YORK/AP PHOTO/POOL
CONTINUED FROM A1

asked Maricopa County Board of Su-

pervisors Chairman Jack Sellers, also
a Republican, to cooperate with the
state Senate to resolve the issues in
question, including the county’s non-
compliance with earlier subpoenas.
The county is refusing to supply rout-
ers—or even images of routers—used
in connection with last year’s election,
claiming that doing so would pose a
security risk. A state Senate lawyer
said last week that the body would
issue fresh subpoenas unless the re-
quested materials were produced, but
Fann instead opted to write a letter
to Sellers seeking to convince him to
cooperate voluntarily.
Fann is proposing that CyFIR, one
of four firms hired to carry out the au-
dit in Maricopa County, review vir-
tual images of the relevant routers in
county facilities with representatives
from the Maricopa County Sheriff’s
Office present.
“Such an arrangement would permit
Maricopa County to retain custody
and monitor the review of router data,
while ensuring that the Senate may
access the information it requires—
and to which it is constitutionally
entitled—to successfully complete Maricopa County ballots for the 2020 general election are examined and recounted by contractors working for Florida-based company Cyber Ninjas, at the
its audit. The Senate has no interest Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix on May 6, 2021.
in viewing or taking possession of any ROSS D. FRANKLIN/AP PHOTO

information that is unrelated to the votes. Batches are supposed to con-

administration of the 2020 general
election,” she wrote in the letter.
Fann also expressed concern that
the county either doesn’t have or won’t
provide passwords to access admin-
istrative functions on vote tabula-
tion machines. She told Sellers that
“it strains credulity to posit that the
County has no contractual right to
obtain (i.e., control of) password in-
formation from Dominion.”
Dominion has not returned requests
for comment.
Auditors, the top senator contin-
ued, have “become aware of appar-
ent omissions, inconsistencies, and
anomalies relating to Maricopa Coun-
ty’s handling, organization, and stor-
age of ballots.” That includes a lack of
chain-of custody documentation for
the ballots; bags in which the ballots
were stored not being sealed; and a
disparity between the actual number
of ballots in a batch and the total listed
on a pink report slip accompanying
the batch, which the county provided.
In one case, the discrepancy was 35
COURTNEY PEDROZA/GETTY IMAGES
tain 200 ballots.
The county is Additionally, the audit teams
refusing to found an entire database directory
supply rout- deleted from an election machine,
even though the details appear to
ers—or even have been covered by the subpoena.
images of Combined with not finding the main
routers—used database for the election management
software, “this suggests that the main
in connec- database for all election related data
tion with for the November 2020 General Elec-
tion has been removed,” Fann said.
2020’s elec- She told Sellers that she hopes the
tion, claiming issues can be resolved without ad-
that doing so ditional subpoenas, and invited him
and any other county officers or em-
would pose a ployees who know about the outlined
security risk. matters to attend a meeting at the Ari- Arizona Senate President Karen Fann talks to reporters in Phoenix on May 26, 2020.
zona Capitol on May 18. The hearing
will be live-streamed. The county has said its own machine denied that claim.
“I’m looking forward to the County forensic audit, carried out by Pro V&V “This is really dangerous to our de-
coming to the AZ Capitol to answer and SLI Compliance in February, un- mocracy. This is a group of people who
these important questions related to covered no issues. A hand count on are clearly partisan. It is headed by a
the audit,” state Sen. Warren Petersen, Nov. 4, which reviewed 2 percent of company that has no auditing or elec-
a Republican, said in a statement. ballots cast on Election Day and 1 per- tion experience and they’re making
A Maricopa County spokesperson cent cast early, yielded a 100-percent up the rules as they go along,” Hobbs
told The Epoch Times via email: match to the results produced by the said on “The Daily Show” on May 12.
“We’ve seen the tweets and the let- tabulation equipment. Hobbs announced earlier in the
ter. Much of the letter is a misun- “The County’s two independent day that observers from her office

derstanding of election operations.”
The spokesperson said the county
board, recorder, and counsel were
meeting later on May 13 to discuss
the next steps.
Sellers and a Sellers aide didn’t re-
spond to inquiries.
Maricopa County officials previ-
ously fought against subpoenas from
the state Senate, claiming they were
too broad. A county judge ruled in
February that the subpoenas, which
were issued in late 2020, were valid
and should be obeyed.
Contractors working for Cyber Ninjas transport ballots from the Among the materials subpoenaed
2020 general election at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoe- were machines, routers, and access to
nix on May 1, 2021 technology used in the election.
audits have already shown there was
no foul play in the 2020 General Elec-
tion,” Sellers, the board chairman,
said in a statement last week.
The current audit is focused on ma-
chines and all of the nearly 2.1 million
ballots cast in Arizona’s largest county
in the election.
Democrats tried stopping the au-
dit, alleging security and privacy
issues but were rejected by a judge.
Democrats eventually reached a
settlement with the state Senate. Ar-
izona Secretary of State (SoS) Katie
Hobbs, a Democrat, has accused the
Senate and its contractors of violat-
ing the agreement. The Senate has
found a WiFi router connected to
the audit servers, adding, “There’s
no way to ensure that ballot images,
vote counts, and perhaps voter data
weren’t connected to external net-
works or the Internet.”
But the team led by one of her pre-
decessors, Ken Bennett, a Republican
who is the state Senate’s liaison for the
audit, said no wireless connection was
ever enabled.
“This was explicitly explained to
the SoS observers on site,” the team
said. “We are open to providing all
passwords and access needed for a
forensic investigation of the router if
requested.”

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A6 | NATION
Biden Supporters Overestimate
Climate Change Effects, Poll Shows
PETR SVAB
Supporters of President Joe Biden
overestimate the negative effects
of climate change compared to the
views of prevailing establishment
science, a poll of likely voters by
Rasmussen has shown.
A majority of the respondents
who approved of Biden believed
that humankind will “become
completely or nearly extinct due
to climate change” in the next 100
years if carbon dioxide emissions
continue at the same volume as in
the past decade.
Establishment experts generally
say that climate change would lead
to severe problems, such as more
droughts and flooding, but tend to
not go as far as to predict human ex-
tinction in the next 100 years. Cata-
strophic climate predictions hold a
poor track record of coming true.
About two-thirds of those who
disapproved of Biden said climate
change would lead to extinction in
more than 100 years or not at all.
More than two-thirds of Biden
supporters estimated that the
earth’s surface temperature has
warmed more than 3 degrees Fahr-
enheit since the preindustrial times
in the late 1800s.
Establishment estimates, such
as from the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, put
the figure at slightly over 2 degrees.
Only 30 percent of Biden support-
ers picked the matching answer (1
to 3 degrees), while more than 40
percent of those disapproving of the
president did. Among those who
Rep. Liz Cheney Leaves Door Open for
2024 Presidential Run, Won’t Exit GOP
JACK PHILLIPS
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who
was ousted from her House Re-
publican leadership position this
week, said on May 13 that she
won’t leave the GOP and didn’t
rule out a run for president.
In an interview with “Today,”
Cheney, the former House GOP
Conference chair, was asked
several times about whether
she wants to run for president in
2024 to prevent former President
Donald Trump from winning the
presidency again.
“I’m going do everything that I
can—both to make sure that that
never happens, but also to make
sure that the Republican Party
gets back to substance and poli-
cy,” Cheney said, adding that she
will “absolutely” seek reelection
to Wyoming’s lone House seat in
2022. Cheney, the daughter of for-
mer Vice President Dick Cheney,
also said that she won’t leave the
Republican Party.
House Republicans stripped
Cheney of her leadership role in
a May 12 voice vote, following
her repeated public criticism of
Trump and his post-Nov. 3 claims
about the election. Around the
same time as the vote, Rep. Elise
Stefanik (R-N.Y.)—who has been
endorsed by Trump and House
Republican leaders—said she
would vie to replace Cheney.
House Minority Leader Kevin
McCarthy (R-Calif.), in a letter to
House Republicans, announced
the vote to remove Cheney from
her role because members were
concerned about her messaging
ahead of the midterm elections,
suggesting that the Wyoming
congresswoman was becoming
an increasingly divisive figure
within the party.
“It had been my hope that our
driving focus would be taking
back the House in 2022 and im-
plementing our Commitment to
America,” McCarthy said in a let-
ter on May 10 to House Republi-
cans. “Despite the mainstream
media working overtime against
us, I believe we still have a great
chance to do so. Unfortunately,
“strongly disapprove” of Biden, 47
percent picked 1 to 3 degrees and
27 percent thought the increase was
less than 1 degree. Almost no Biden
supporters picked the lowest option,
the results show (xlsx).
People who picked CNN, MSNBC,
NBC, ABC, or CBS as their favor-
ite cable or broadcast news source
were less likely to pick the answers
matching established estimates
than those favoring Fox News or
“another” network.
The poll was conducted between
April 29 and May 3 among 2,000
likely voters. The Heartland Insti-
tute is a conservative think tank
that holds a position skeptical about
the magnitude of negative effects of
global warming.
The pollster also asked whether
climate change is primarily caused
by human activity or by “long-term
planetary trends.” More than 80
percent of Biden supporters picked
the former option, while nearly as
much of those who disapproved of
him picked the latter.
The question only allowed either-
or answers, leaving some ambigu-
ity in the results. While many sci-
entists say human activity is the
primary factor behind the current
changes in global temperature,
they also believe major shifts in cli-
mate occurred in the ancient past.
As such, one may believe concur-
rently that long-term trends have
been the primary factor overall, but
that the current changes have been
affected primarily or in major part
by humans.
The Biden administration iden-
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) speaks to the media at the U.S. Capitol in Washing-
ton on May 12, 2021.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) outside the White House
on May 12, 2021.
each day spent relitigating the
past is one day less we have to
seize the future.”
McCarthy, citing concerns from
House GOP members, wrote, “We
need to make a change.”
And while Cheney asserted
that Republicans need to sepa-
rate themselves from Trump, the
former commander-in-chief still
enjoys significant support among
the GOP voter base, as more than
75 million voted for him in 2020.
While few House Republicans
have come to Cheney’s defense
in recent days, some Republican
A majority of the
respondents who
approved of Biden
believed that hu-
mankind will ‘be-
come completely or
nearly extinct due to
climate change.’
MANDEL NGAN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
DREW ANGERER/GETTY IMAGES
senators suggested on May 12
and May 13 that her ouster was
unfortunate.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine)
told reporters, “I have said that I
believe Liz Cheney is an honor-
able, courageous individual who
did what she thinks is right, but it’s
up to the House to choose its own
leaders, it’s not up to senators.”
Senate Minority Whip John
Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters, “I
hope that Republicans will con-
tinue to be the party that values
free speech and doesn’t give in to
groupthink.”
DAVE KOTINSKY/GETTY IMAGES FOR GREEN NEW DEAL NETWORK
tified climate change as one of its
core agenda points, promising to
spend trillions on efforts to cut car-
bon emissions while combining the
issue with proposals for spending
on other things such as gender and
racial diversity as well as child care
and housing subsidies.
The United States reduced its car-
bon emissions by about 14 percent
between 2005 and 2019, in large part
due to transitioning to natural gas
from coal with the advent of frack-
ing. Other factors included efficien-
cy innovations such as LED light
Biden Tells Americans Not to Panic,
Says Fuel ‘Beginning to Flow’ Amid
Pipeline Crisis
CONTINUED FROM A1
at stations, which triggered other
motorists to fill their tanks—as
well as gas canisters—out of
fear of a shortage, according to
GasBuddy’s Patrick De Haan in
a May 12 interview with The Ep-
och Times.
Fuel is beginning
to flow to a major-
ity of the markets
that they service.
President Joe Biden
Biden on May 13 also elabo-
rated on the ransomware attack
and cited an FBI report in say-
ing that officials “do not believe
the Russian government was in-
volved in this attack.” However,
he said that the cybercriminals
are most likely living in Russia
and called on the Kremlin to
take “decisive action” against
them.
The FBI said a hacker group
that calls itself Darkside was be-
hind the pipeline breach. Mean-
while, according to a statement
from Darkside to news outlets
this week, the group said it’s
apolitical and that “our goal is
to make money.”
The president also used the
announcement to promote his
multi-trillion-dollar infrastruc-
ture package, saying it’s crucial
for the bill to be passed in the
midst of the pipeline shutdown
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2021
A climate activist in Albany,
N.Y., on April 7, 2021.
bulbs as well as the increased use
of solar panels and wind turbines.
The pollsters asked about several
other subjects, such as “the status of
the national debt,” “the top federal
income tax rate,” and “the num-
ber of unarmed African Americans
killed by police in 2020,” Heartland
stated in a release. Results on those
topics haven’t yet been released,
but show that majority of likely vot-
ers is poorly informed on several
politically prominent topics, based
on a copy of the results obtained by
The Epoch Times.
and weeks after fuel shortages
in Texas during freezing tem-
peratures. The United States,
he asserted, is not going to “win
the 21st century” against China
without “modern infrastructure”
in place.
Biden said he and Republican
congressional leaders were to
meet again on an infrastructure
deal later on May 13. Republi-
cans have balked at the price
tag of Biden’s two infrastructure
bills—$4 trillion—and said the
legislation includes a number of
unnecessary provisions unre-
lated to traditional infrastruc-
tures such as bridges, roads,
and pipes.
During their first round of
talks on May 12, Minority Lead-
er Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and
House Minority Leader Kevin
McCarthy (R-Calif.) said they
would oppose tax increases to
cover the cost of the gargantuan
package. The two met with Biden,
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
(D-Calif.), and Senate Majority
Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)
at the White House.
“We’re not interested in re-
opening the 2017 tax bill. We
both made that clear to the
president. That’s our red line,”
McConnell told reporters, while
McCarthy said, “Raising taxes
would be the biggest mistake you
could make.”
Some Republicans have also
expressed concern that the mas-
sive bills would spark a rise in in-
flation after the Consumer Price
Index rose 4.2 percent from April
2020 to April 2021.
Motorists fill
their cars at a
gas station in
Arlington,
Va., on May
13, 2021.
 FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2021
Florida Tightens
Unemployment
Benefit Eligibility
Requirements to Get
People Back to Work
TOM OZIMEK
Florida authorities are tightening
eligibility requirements for people
to collect unemployment bene-
fits, in a bid to encourage people
to take jobs as businesses in the
Sunshine State struggle to hire
badly needed workers.
If we have policies
that are incentiv-
izing people to stay
home or driving
up costs ... we need
to let the market
take over.
Dane Eagle, secretary,
Florida Department
of Economic Opportunity
The Florida Department of
Economic Opportunity (DEO),
the state’s employment agency,
on May 12 announced that as of
June 1, unemployed Floridians
will have to contact five employers
a week to continue to be eligible
for jobless benefits.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) and House Minority Leader
Kevin McCarthy arrive at the White House on May 12, 2021.
Republicans Reject Tax
Increases After Meeting With
Biden on Infrastructure
ZACHARY STIEBER
Top Republicans told President
Joe Biden during an Oval Office
meeting on May 12 that they
won’t support tax increases in
a major infrastructure package.
Biden, a Democrat, has pro-
posed reversing key portions
of the 2017 tax bill which had
been approved by the GOP and
signed by then-President Don-
ald Trump.
“We’re not interested in reopen-
ing the 2017 tax bill. We both
made that clear to the president.
That’s our red line,” Senate Mi-
nority Leader Mitch McConnell
(R-Ky.) told reporters in Washing-
ton after the meeting.
The economy was strong in
early 2020, before being derailed
by the COVID-19 pandemic, be-
cause of the tax cuts in the bill,
McConnell asserted.
“Raising taxes would be the big-
gest mistake you could make,”
added House Minority Leader
Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), citing
the rise in gas, food, housing, and
lumber prices and surging infla-
tion. “That, to us, is a nonstarter.”
Biden’s primary tax-related
provision in his $2.3 trillion in-
frastructure plan is raising the
corporate tax rate to 28 percent
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
waived that requirement last year
when the CCP (Chinese Commu-
nist Party) virus wreaked havoc
on the economy and unemploy-
ment surged. DeSantis signed an
executive order earlier this month
that declared the emergency over
and suspended all local pandem-
ic-related restrictions.
Calling Florida “a beacon for
economic freedom throughout
the COVID-19 pandemic,” DEO
Secretary Dane Eagle said in a
statement, “There is a job surplus
across the state, and we stand
ready to assist Floridians who are
out of work as they return to the
workforce.”
Eagle put it more bluntly at a
press conference in Tallahassee
on May 12, when he said, “For our
economy to heal, it is time to get
back to work.”
Florida’s unemployment rate
now stands at 4.7 percent and
continues to fall below the na-
tional average of 6.0 percent, while
the state has gained more than
700,000 private-sector jobs since
the beginning of the pandemic.
“If we have policies that are in-
centivizing people to stay home
or driving up costs ... we need to
NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
from 21 percent. The 2017 legis-
lation slashed the rate from 35
percent.
Biden is also pushing a $1.8
trillion bill that would fund free
preschool and two free years of
community college. Part of that
proposal is increasing the high-
est individual tax rate to 39.6 per-
cent from 37 percent. Trump’s
tax bill shifted the top rate to its
current level.
Before the meeting, the presi-
dent said the group, which in-
cluded House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate
Majority Leader Chuck Schum-
er (D-N.Y.), was going to try to
reach some kind of consensus on
a compromise moving forward.
Afterward, he said he came
away encouraged.
“I’m encouraged that there
is room to have a compromise
on a bipartisan bill that’s solid
and significant, and a means by
which to pay for it without drop-
ping all of the burden on middle-
class and working-class people,”
Biden said.
According to a White House
readout, the meeting consisted of
congressional leaders and Biden
working “to identify areas where
they could collaborate, especially
with regard to infrastructure, on
Unemployed people look for job opportunities at the South Florida Workforce center in Miami, in this file photo.
let the market take over,” Eagle
said, echoing arguments made
by business groups and Repub-
lican leaders in Washington that
generous unemployment benefits
introduced under pandemic relief
legislation were creating a disin-
centive for people to take jobs.
Following a lackluster govern-
ment report last week that showed
a sharp slowdown in hiring de-
spite sky-high job openings, the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
called for an early end to the fed-
eral $300 weekly jobless benefit
supplement that is over above
what states provide.
“The disappointing jobs re-
port makes it clear that paying
people not to work is dampening
what should be a stronger jobs
market,” U.S. Chamber of Com-
merce Chief Policy Officer Neil
which the leaders agreed there
was a need for investment.”
Biden said he ran to be presi-
dent for all Americans, but he
hasn’t yet reached a major bipar-
tisan agreement on any proposal.
Democrats used a budget tool to
ram their COVID-19 relief plan
through Congress earlier this
year, after bipartisan support for
relief measures throughout the
Trump administration. Demo-
crats haven’t ruled out using
the same tactic to push through
other packages.
“We’ll see if I can get it done
without Republicans if need be,”
Biden said on MSNBC.
Even that could prove difficult,
with pushback on some of the
more radical parts of the propos-
al from Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-
Ariz.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).
In the Senate, Democrats need
every single vote from caucus
members, and two nominal in-
dependents, to pass a bill.
The GOP unveiled a $568 billion
infrastructure counterproposal
last month, and McConnell has
said he might support a package
that went as high as $800 billion.
“There is certainly a bipartisan
desire to get an outcome,” Mc-
Connell told reporters on May 12
outside the White House.
“I think there’s a place where
we can find bipartisanship,” Mc-
Carthy said.
Schumer said the meeting was
good.
“Basically, we said that we
would explore the way—the
places where we could agree on
and come to a bipartisan agree-
ment on those. So we’re going to
see which areas there are areas
of agreement in some degree of
detail, based on Biden’s plan,” he
told reporters on Capitol Hill.
ZACH GIBSON/GETTY IMAGES
The IRS building in Washington on
April 15, 2019.
Bradley said in a statement on
May 7. “One step policymakers
should take now is ending the
$300 weekly supplemental un-
employment benefit. Based on
the Chamber’s analysis, the $300
benefit results in approximately
one in four recipients taking
home more in unemployment
than they earned working.”
Florida Chamber of Commerce
President and CEO Mark Wilson
said that there are now 402,200
open jobs in the state that are
“looking for people.” At the same
time, there are 475,000 Floridians
looking for jobs, and over 460,000
people who have stopped looking
for work, he said.
“Filling these jobs and getting
Floridians back to work is essen-
tial to keeping Florida’s momen-
tum going,” he said.
CDC Panel
Endorses Pfizer
Vaccine for
Adolescents as
Young as 12
SAMUEL ALLEGRI
A federal advisory panel approved
the use of the Pfizer vaccine on
children aged 12 to 15 on May 12.
The Advisory Committee on Im-
munization Practices, which offers
assistance to the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC), voted unanimously, 14–0,
in favor of the vaccine, saying that
after evaluating trial evidence, it
showed no cases of severe allergic
reactions or Bell’s Palsy on the age
group, and none of them contract-
ed COVID-19.
“This will provide protection for
12 to 15-year-olds,” said Dr. Henry
Bernstein, a member of the advi-
sory committee and professor
of pediatrics at Zucker School of
Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell,
according to Reuters.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky
signed the panel’s recommenda-
tion, and the agency is now rec-
ommending the vaccine be used
among children aged 12 and older.
“For vaccination to do its job,
we must do our critical part. That
means vaccinating as many peo-
ple as possible who are eligible.
This official CDC action opens
vaccination to approximately 17
million adolescents in the Unit-
ed States and strengthens our
nation’s efforts to protect even
more people from the effects of
COVID-19. Getting adolescents
vaccinated means their faster re-
turn to social activities and can
provide parents and caregivers
peace of mind knowing their
family is protected,” Walensky
said in a statement.
On May 10, the FDA approved
the usage expansion for the Pfizer
vaccine.
Pfizer’s testing in adolescents
“met our rigorous standards,” FDA
vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks said
in a statement.
Pfizer isn’t the only company
seeking to lower the age limit for
its vaccine. Moderna recently said
preliminary results from its study
NATION | A7
JOE RAEDLE/GETTY IMAGES
Speaking at a press conference
in Tarpon Springs on May 12, De-
Santis echoed the business com-
munity’s concerns about hiring
difficulties.
“I think that looking for work is
important, I think it’s something
that needs to be done,” DeSantis
said, according to Tampa Bay
news outlet WTSP. “There is not a
single part of Florida I go to where
I don’t hear the exact same con-
cern about, ‘we have openings, we
need people to fill them.’”
Republican governors in a
number of states—including Al-
abama, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa,
Montana, South Carolina, Ten-
nessee, and Missouri—are re-
sponding to business hiring woes
by ending the federal unemploy-
ment boost ahead of its scheduled
termination date in September.
in 12- to 17-year-olds show strong
protection and no serious side ef-
fects, data the FDA will need to
scrutinize.
Last week, Biden administration
officials said the goal will be to ap-
ply at least one COVID-19 shot to
70 percent of adults in the nation
and to get 160 million adults fully
vaccinated by Independence Day.
The goal comes as authorities
encounter increasing opposition
against the vaccine due to hesita-
tion over concerns of side effects,
safety, efficacy, the speed at which
it was made ready, mistrust in
pharmaceutical companies, and
an aversion to vaccine passports.
Pfizer is expecting
to sell $15 billion in
vaccines in 2021.
Some children are already hav-
ing their sleeves rolled up for in-
oculation.
States such as Georgia, Delaware,
and Arkansas started to offer vacci-
nation of younger teens on May 11.
According to Quartz, Pfizer is ex-
pecting to sell $15 billion in vac-
cines in 2021 alone.
Pfizer is the first company to
have been approved for advanced
market use, they expect a 6 percent
growth in 2021—moving toward
about $60 billion in earnings from
$42 billion made last year, which
would make it one of the most prof-
itable drugs on the globe.
From Dec. 14, 2020, to May 3, the
publicly available Vaccine Adverse
Events Reporting System received
4,178 reports of deaths among
people who received a COVID-19
vaccine.
In a recent data update, the CDC
states that less than 6 percent of
deaths involving COVID-19 were
due to COVID-19 alone. For the rest
of the cases, there was an average
of “4.0 additional conditions or
causes per death.”
According to recent data from the
American Academy of Pediatrics:
“Children were 0.00%–0.21% of all
COVID-19 deaths, and 9 states re-
ported zero child deaths. In states
reporting, 0.00%–0.03% of all child
COVID-19 cases resulted in death.”
Reuters and The Associated Press
contributed to this report.
A8 | NATION
Motorists line up for fuel at one of the few remaining gas stations that still have fuel in Arlington, Va., on May 13, 2021.
Over 15,000 Gas Stations Out
of Fuel Nationwide
ZACHARY STIEBER
Gas shortages eased slightly over-
night in some states but worsened
in others as Colonial Pipeline
works to bring one of the nation’s
major fuel conduits back online.
More stations were out of gas in
Florida, Maryland, South Carolina,
Tennessee, and Mississippi early
on May 13 compared to the night
of May 12, according to GasBuddy.
In Florida, 30 percent of 7,564
stations were out of fuel as of 6
CDC: Fully Vaccinated People Don’t
Have to Wear Masks Inside
JACK PHILLIPS
The U.S. Centers for Disease Con-
trol and Prevention (CDC) on May
13 eased mask-wearing guidance
and said that people vaccinated
against COVID-19 can stop wear-
ing masks inside in most places.
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle
Walensky said there are instances
where individuals may need to
wear masks, such as in a health
care setting or at a business that
requires masks. People will also
have to abide by federal, state, lo-
cal, tribal, or territorial guidance,
she said.
“Anyone who is fully vaccinat-
ed can participate in indoor and
outdoor activities, large or small,
without wearing a mask or physical
distancing,” Walensky told report-
ers during a news conference. “If
you are fully vaccinated, you can
start doing the things that you had
stopped doing because of the pan-
demic. We have all longed for this
moment, when we can get back to
some sense of normalcy.”
Fully vaccinated people should
still wear masks on buses, trains,
airplanes, and other public trans-
Americans Poorly Informed on Deficit, Police Shootings, Health Insurance Coverage, Poll Shows
PETR SVAB
Americans had trouble picking
the right answer on several politi-
cally salient topics, a poll of likely
voters shows. Supporters of Presi-
dent Joe Biden were wrong more
often than those who disapprove
of the president, although on no
question did a majority of respon-
dents answer correctly.
Fewer than one in five of those
approving of Biden correctly ap-
proximated the current national
debt by picking the right $10 tril-
lion range. About two in five of
those who disapprove of the presi-
dent picked the closest answer ($20
trillion to $30 trillion), according
to forthcoming results of the Ras-
mussen/Heartland Institute poll
a.m. Central Time. In Maryland,
34 percent of the state’s 1,869 sta-
tions could no longer serve cus-
tomers. More than half of South
Carolina’s 3,084 stations ran out
of gas, along with 34 percent of
Tennessee’s stations. Seven per-
cent of Mississippi’s stations are
out of gas compared to 6 percent
the night prior.
At the same time, shortages
eased in several of the states most
impacted by the current situations,
including by 3 percent in North
portation, she said, addng that for
those who aren’t vaccinated, the
CDC recommends that they wear
masks in public spaces.
Some experts agreed with the re-
laxation, while others weren’t sure
about the timing.
“I completely agree that people
who are fully vaccinated against
the coronavirus are safe to stop
wearing masks and to stop social
distancing,” Dr. David Boulware,
professor of medicine at the Uni-
versity of Minnesota, told The
Epoch Times in an email. “There
are a few caveats. The risk of any
infection is not zero, but the risk of
developing symptomatic disease
is very low, and the risk of severe
disease or death is virtually zero.
There are exceptions.
“For people with weakened im-
mune systems, they remain at risk
and absolutely should continue to
socially distance and wear masks.
Those who are not vaccinated
should get vaccinated because they
also remain at risk.”
But Dr. Walid Gellad, associate
professor of medicine at the Uni-
versity of Pittsburgh, said on Twit-
ter there is “ZERO justification for
obtained by The Epoch Times.
The national debt was about $28
trillion as of mid-April.
When asked about the extent of
health insurance coverage, only
about 5 percent of Biden support-
ers picked the right answer—that
less than 10 percent of Americans
were uninsured in 2019 before
the COVID-19 pandemic. About
20 percent of Biden opponents
chose correctly.
As of 2019, about 29 million
Americans lacked health coverage,
which was less than 9 percent of
the population. The number rose to
about 31 million in 2020, according
to estimates by the Congressional
Budgeting Office (CBO).
When asked about fatal police
shootings of unarmed black men,
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Carolina. About 7 in 10 stations in
the worst-hit state, which has 5,373
stations, remain out of gas, accord-
ing to GasBuddy, an app that tracks
prices and availability.
Shortages also eased in Virginia,
where 55 percent of stations are out
of fuel, and Georgia, where ap-
proximately 50 percent were out
of fuel, and remained the same in
a number of states, including West
Virginia, Alabama, and Delaware.
All told, more than 15,630 sta-
tions were out of gas in the East-
doing this now except to soothe
people who are asking for it.”
“The right thing is to tell people
that we’re in this together, feel free
to remove mask outdoors, but con-
tinue to wear indoors until X per-
cent are vaccinated and cases are
down to X – soon,” he said.
The announcement comes as
the Biden administration has
faced mounting pressure to ease
the guidance on mask-wearing for
people who are vaccinated. Some
have questioned why it’s still re-
quired to wear a mask after getting
the shot, saying that it undermines
the federal government’s messag-
ing for people to get the vaccine.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Re-
publican, has called on Floridians
who are vaccinated to “act im-
mune” and argued that they should
permanently ditch their masks.
During a meeting on vaccines
with President Joe Biden and a
group of governors,  Utah Gov.
Spencer Cox, a Republican, echoed
DeSantis’s comments that “we
have fully vaccinated people” who
“should start acting like it.”
“That’s a big motivation [to] get
the unvaccinated to want to to get
fewer than one in four Biden sup-
porters correctly answered that
less than 50 cases occurred last
year. The exact number was 26, ac-
cording to a tally kept by The Wash-
ington Post. About two-thirds of
those who disapprove of Biden
picked the right answer.
A majority of Biden opponents,
however, overestimated how many
white Americans were shot dead
by police. Less than a third said it
was fewer than 50, which is cor-
rect as the actual number was 37.
Biden supporters fared better on
the question, but still only about
two in five answered correctly.
Most Biden opponents also un-
derestimated how many rifle ho-
micides occur each year in Amer-
ica. Only about 14 percent picked
ern United States, according to
an Epoch Times review of Gas-
Buddy data.
Colonial Pipeline’s 5,500 mile-
plus pipeline, which stretches from
Texas to New Jersey, was taken of-
fline last week as a defensive mea-
sure to the company being cyber-
attacked by a criminal ring called
DarkSide, federal authorities and
the company have stated. Colonial
on May 12 initiated the restart of
the pipeline but warned that it will
take several days for operations to
return to normal.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Gra-
nholm said early May 13 that the
restart went well overnight.
“This should mean things will
return to normal by the end of the
weekend,” she said in a statement.
Supply remained adequate in
the wake of the attack, but trans-
portation issues stemming from
a dearth of fuel truck drivers and
a run on gas from panicked con-
sumers led to shortages and rising
prices, experts have said.
The pipeline coming back should
alleviate some consumer concern,
Phil Flynn, an energy market ana-
lyst with the Price Futures Group,
told The Epoch Times.
“Reports that the pipeline’s re-
started is going to take away some
of the panic,” he said.
Tom Kloza, founder of the Oil
Price Information Service, said
Colonial’s message “means that
the deluge of rain is over, but the
‘river crest’ of station outages prob-
ably arrives tomorrow or Friday.”
“Friday is always the busiest day
for purchasing gasoline,” he wrote
in a tweet.
But people in the worst-hit states,
such as the Carolinas, Virginia,
and Georgia, could see up to 14
days of trouble buying fuel, Pat-
rick De Haan, an analyst with Gas-
Buddy, wrote on Twitter.
The problems will end sooner in
other states, he predicted.
A man without a mask crosses a street in New York on April 27, 2021.
vaccinated,” Cox argued.
A number of states in recent
weeks have moved to ease mask
guidance in public or outside. Ac-
cording to a recently compiled list,
25 state governments, as well as
the governments of Washington,
D.C., and Puerto Rico, have mask
orders in place.
Critics of the move to ease mask-
wearing have said that there’s no
way for businesses to determine
who is fully vaccinated from those
who are not. New York state, several
areas in California, Cyprus, Israel,
and other countries have begun
to roll out various “vaccine pass-
the right option of 100–500. While
a majority of Biden supporters also
got it wrong, fewer did, with about
30 percent giving the right answer.
When it came to what the top
marginal income tax is, about one
in four Biden supporters picked
the right answer. Among those op-
posing Biden, close to 40 percent
chose correctly.
The top tax bracket is currently 37
percent, down from more than 39
percent before President Donald
Trump’s 2017 tax reform.
People who picked CNN, MS-
NBC, NBC, ABC, or CBS as their
favorite cable or broadcast news
source were less likely to choose
the right answers than those
picking Fox News or “another”
network. People who said they
FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2021
Still, the first step to restoring the
pipeline’s operations, in addition
to exports that are coming in from
Europe, might ultimately turn a
shortage into the country having
extra gas, according to Flynn.
Reports that the
pipeline’s restarted
is going to take away
some of the panic.
Phil Flynn, energy market analyst,
Price Futures Group
DarkSide infiltrated Colonial’s
network with ransomware, tech-
nology that enables hackers to hold
hostage information in return for
payment. Colonial hasn’t said
whether it paid the ransom. The
company said the hackers didn’t
reach core parts of its network but
that it took certain areas offline in
response to the breach, leading to
the pipeline going offline.
Federal officials, including
members of Congress, are study-
ing how to prevent such attacks
in the future against critical in-
frastructure. A bipartisan group
in the House introduced a bill on
May 12 to send money to state and
local governments to bolster their
computer security.
President Joe Biden, mean-
while, signed an executive order
that calls for the federal govern-
ment “to bear the full scope of
its authorities and resources to
protect and secure its computer
systems, whether they are cloud-
based, on-premises, or hybrid”
while working with private com-
panies to protect their systems.
Flynn sees the need for a national
effort to respond to the attack.
“I would say it’s the moral equiv-
alent of war. We have to do what-
ever we can to stop this.”
ANGELA WEISS/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
port” systems, which have been
criticized by civil liberties groups
as an infringement on individuals’
privacy while creating a two-tier
class system of vaccinated and un-
vaccinated people.
On May 13, Walensky said there
are some exceptions to the new
guidance. People who have dimin-
ished immune systems, including
people who have received organ
transplants or treatment for can-
cer, should speak to a doctor about
ditching their masks.
Zachary Stieber contributed
to this report.
were getting their news primar-
ily from talk radio tended to be
the most accurate, compared to
people who identified cable news,
network news, online and social
media, or streaming services as
their primary source.
Those who said they use “a mix of
services” as their primary source
also fared comparatively well.
The poll was conducted between
April 29 and May 3 among 2,000
likely voters by Rasmussen for
The Heartland Institute, a con-
servative-leaning think tank. The
pollster also asked about climate
change, where the results showed
Biden supporters being more pes-
simistic than establishment ex-
perts about the consequences of
global warming.
 FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2021
Thousands of Falun Gong Practitioners
March Across Manhattan to Showcase
Hope and Resilience
CONTINUED FROM A1
perseverance and to call for greater aware-
ness from the international society. Stand-
ing up for the beliefs that have sustained
them, they said, is crucial not just for their
faith alone, but for humanity as a whole.
“Defending morality and humanity, only
then will people have hope ... and will our
society stabilize,” Li Meifang, a practitioner
originally from mainland China, said.
Falun Gong, a meditation discipline first
introduced in northern China in 1992, fea-
tures teachings based on three core prin-
ciples—truthfulness, compassion, and tol-
erance—along with a set of slow-moving
exercises meant to uplift both mental and
physical health.
It’s like a golden dragon
winding right through the
heart of New York.
Michael Fitzgerald, Falun Gong adherent
Around 70 million to 100 million people
had taken up the practice by 1999, when the
atheist Chinese regime saw such immense
popularity as a threat to its rule. Beginning
in July that year, millions of practitioners
were thrown into jail or other detention
facilities, where they suffered torture and
slave labor for persisting in their faith. Un-
told numbers have been subjected to state-
run organ harvesting.
‘They Have Used It All’
“They wanted us to ‘transform.’ Transform to
what?” Li said, referring to one regime tactic
called “transformation through education,”
in which detainees are tortured and forced to
watch propaganda videos. The detainees are
then forced to write so-called “repentance
statements” promising never to practice Fa-
lun Gong again.
US State Department Highlights
Communist China’s ‘Dire’ Religious
Freedom Situation
CATHY HE
The United States on May 12 criticized the
Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) exten-
sive abuses against people of faith, from
Uyghur Muslims to Christians to Falun
Gong practitioners, as the State Depart-
ment released its annual update on reli-
gious freedom around the world.
Daniel Nadel, a senior official in the State
Department’s Office of International Free-
dom, said the Chinese regime has turned
the far-western region of Xinjiang into an
“open-air prison” in its campaign of oppres-
sion against ethnic Muslim minorities that
the United States has designated a genocide.
Aside from the detention of more than 1
million Uyghurs and other Muslim minori-
ties in internment camps, Nadel noted the
regime’s intrusive surveillance of the rest of
the population in Xinjiang.
“People’s movements are closely tracked.
“If we turn back against truthfulness, com-
passion, and tolerance, turn back against
humanity, turn back against what’s upright,
then we would be turning wicked. This is
completely unacceptable.”
Tears wet her cheeks as she began to recall
the grueling years spent under persecution.
“Toxic drugs, jails, handcuffs, shackles,
they’ve used it all,” she said.
Now 71 years old, Li spent the better part
of 15 years in China in detention or in hid-
ing, until she fled to New York in 2014. She
experienced at least a dozen arrests.
In one labor camp, the guards force-fed her
two pots of an unknown liquid that made her
lose awareness of everything.
“When I saw people, I only knew to wear a
silly smile,” she said. She once memorized
the preface of “Zhuan Falun,” the main
teaching of the practice. But after the drug,
the most she could recall was the first two
sentences, she said.
“My house was raided so bare that only a
few benches were left.”
To dodge incessant police threats, Li later
left her hometown of Chenzhou in Hunan
Province. The communist authorities, in an
effort to track her down, locked up her son
and daughter, who were then in primary
school and high school, respectively. The
children were kept in the detention center
for a day, without food or water, as authori-
ties pressed them for her whereabouts. They
were released at 2 a.m.
Once while walking on the street, Li’s
daughter was stabbed repeatedly by some-
one Li believed to be a communist agent.
The doctor counted at least 13 wounds. One
of them, between her thumb and forefinger,
was cut so deep, the bone stuck out.
Yet despite all the dark memories, Li and
her children persisted. At one point while
Li was in custody, the guards brought her
kids in front of her and told her they might
be kicked out of school if she refused to
“transform.”
Whatever threats the guards made, “fear
not,” she remembered telling her children.
You have minders who have been assigned to
live with Uyghurs to keep tabs on them. You
have people going to the market who have
to check in every time they go to a different
market stall,” he said at a press briefing.
The CCP’s campaign against Muslims was
“the culmination of decades of repression of
religious adherents, from Tibetan Buddhists
to Christians to Falun Gong practitioners,”
Nadel said.
Also on May 12, U.S. Secretary of State Ant-
ony Blinken announced sanctions against a
Chinese official because of his involvement
in “gross violations of human rights” against
Falun Gong adherents.
The sanctions will bar Yu Hui, the former
director of the agency specifically tasked
with persecuting Falun Gong in the city
of Chengdu, in Sichuan Province, and
his immediate family from entering the
United States.
The move was applauded by Sam Brown-
CHUNG I HO/THE EPOCH TIMES
Practitioners
of the spiri-
tual discipline
Falun Gong hold
a parade in New
York on May
13, 2021.
“The dawn will eventually break after the
darkness,” she told them, before the police
pulled them apart.
Colors of Hope
Even though some of the banners carried
by participants displayed images of brutal
torture, the parade’s bright yellow and blue
colors projected a message of hope.
Both yellow and blue appear prominently
in Chinese traditional culture. In Fitzgerald’s
eyes, golden yellow carries the meaning of
springtime and rebirth. Blue reminds one
of peace, as with tranquil water.
“For people who are very hopeless in the
city, who feel like they don’t know what
to do because of the pandemic ... this is a
chance for many of them, what they’ve been
waiting for—to know that they have hope,”
Fitzgerald said.
Last August, Fitzgerald and his wife, Katie,
moved to New York with their four kids, aged
2 to 8, upon Michael landing a job upstate.
Katie is also an adherent of Falun Gong, and
they had coordinated the outfits of the whole
family in the two colors to mark the occasion.
Katie, who has been homeschooling the
kids full time, credited the practice’s teach-
ings with bringing harmony to her family
and giving her the wisdom to resolve con-
flicts among the children.
She said that today, she seems a world apart
from her younger self of 11 years ago, before
she began to practice. What she has gained
since then has not just been peace of mind,
health, and wellness, she said.
“We are busy, but every single moment of
the day is full of purpose,” she said. “We are
just the richest, very lucky.” She laughed as
she gently stroked the hair of the youngest
girl, who was moving around on her lap.
Her husband interrupted her to point to
four or five people in yellow or blue jack-
ets who stayed behind after the parade,
quietly sweeping trash into plastic bags
in their hands.
“Isn’t that incredible? What other groups
are doing that?” he said.
back, former U.S. ambassador-at-large for that has been “ignored way too long,”
international religious freedom, along with Brownback said. “But the evidence just
the chairs of the Congressional-Executive keeps mounting.”
Commission on China.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun
In 2019, an independent people’s tribu-
Dafa, is a spiritual practice that has
been brutally suppressed by the
CCP since 1999. Millions of ad-
herents have been detained in
prisons, detention centers, and
labor camps, where they have
been subjected to torture, brain-
washing, and organ harvesting.
‘Thorough’ Persecution
Brownback says the State Depart- Then-U.S.
Ambassador-at-
ment’s report exposes the expan-
Large for Inter-
siveness of the CCP’s war against national Reli-
faith, a campaign that has gotten gious Freedom
“more thorough” in recent years. Sam Brownback Brownback said.
“China is unwilling to tolerate in Washing-
anybody that has a regard for a ton on June 21, short-term wins in its war against
higher authority than the commu- 2019.
nist government itself,” he said in
a May 12 interview with The Epoch Times. “Faith is a matter of the soul, and it will
“They are hell-bent to drive faith out of the come back,” Brownback said. “They will
country.” not win this war.”
The issue of forced organ harvesting from
live Falun Gong practitioners is something Eva Fu contributed to this report.
CHINA | A9
China Uses Coercive
Policies in Xinjiang to
Drive Down Uyghur
Birth Rates, Think
Tank Says
JACK PHILLIPS
BEIJING—Coercive policies in China’s far
western region of Xinjiang have led to a
sharp decline in birth rates for Uyghurs
and other minorities, which could add to
evidence of genocide, an Australian think
tank said in a report released on May 12.
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute
(ASPI) report, citing official Chinese data,
said there has been an “unprecedented
and precipitous drop in official birth-
rates in Xinjiang since 2017,” when China
began a campaign to control birth rates
in the region.
Xinjiang’s birth rate dropped by near-
ly half from 2017 to 2019, and counties
where the population was predominate-
ly Uyghur or another minority group
saw much sharper declines than others,
the government-funded institute said
in the report.
China maintains that changes in birth
rates are linked to improved health and
economic policy and it strongly rejects
accusations of genocide.
ASPI “fabricates data and distorts facts,”
Hua Chunying, China’s foreign ministry
spokeswoman, told a daily news briefing
in Beijing on May 13.
Xinjiang’s Uyghur population grew fast-
er than that of the Han between 2010 and
2018; the region’s birth control policies
don’t target any single ethnic minority
group, she said.
The ASPI analysis is based on Chinese
government data, including regional
population figures released in March.
“Our analysis builds on previous work
and provides compelling evidence that
Chinese government policies in Xinji-
ang may constitute an act of genocide,”
it said.
The ASPI report said birth rates in coun-
ties with a 90 percent or greater indig-
enous population declined by an average
of 56.5 percent from 2017 to 2018, far more
than other regions in Xinjiang and China
during the same period.
Fines, internment, or the threat of in-
ternment, were among the methods used
by authorities to discourage births, it said.
There have been growing calls among
some western states for an investigation
into whether Beijing’s actions in Xinji-
ang amount to genocide. The U.S. gov-
ernment and parliaments in countries
including Britain and Canada have de-
scribed China’s policies in Xinjiang as
genocide.
According to the 1948 U.N. Genocide
Convention, there would need to be
proof of intent by Beijing to destroy an
ethnic population in part to meet that
determination.
Rights groups, researchers, former
residents, and some western lawmakers
say Xinjiang authorities have arbitrarily
detained around a million Uyghurs and
other primarily Muslim minorities in a
network of camps since 2016.
Beijing initially denied the camps ex-
isted but has since said they are voca-
tional training sites designed to combat
religious extremism, and that all people
in the facilities have “graduated.”
By Gabriel Crossley
From Reuters
nal found, after a yearlong inves-
tigation, that the CCP has been
killing detained prisoners of
conscience—predominantly
Falun Gong practitioners—
for their organs for sale in the
transplant market “on a sub-
stantial scale.” The tribunal’s
work was covered in the State
Department’s 136-page China
country report.
The Chinese regime could easily
disprove such activity by open-
ing up its organ transplant system
to outside scrutiny, but it hasn’t,
While the CCP may score some
faith, it ultimately won’t prevail,
the former ambassador said.
A10 | WORLD
A sign of the World Health Organization at the agency’s headquarters in Geneva on Aug. 17, 2020.
CCP Virus Pandemic Was
‘Preventable Disaster’ and
‘Terrible Wake-Up Call’:
WHO-Commissioned Panel
TOM OZIMEK
A panel of independent experts commis-
sioned by the World Health Organization
(WHO) has issued a scathing rebuke of the
global reaction to COVID-19, calling the
outbreak a “preventable disaster” and a
“terrible wake-up call” that exposed weak
links along the entire chain of pandemic
preparation and response.
In a report issued on May 12, the Inde-
pendent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness
and Response blamed countries worldwide
for their sluggish response to the outbreak
of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) vi-
rus, saying most waited to see how the virus
was spreading until it was too late to contain
it, leading to catastrophic results.
The group also took aim at the lack of glob-
al leadership and restrictive international
health laws that “hindered” the WHO’s
response to the pandemic. Some experts
criticized the panel for failing to hold the
WHO and others accountable for their ac-
tions, describing that as “an abdication of
responsibility.”
Preparation was incon-
sistent and underfunded.
Independent Panel for Pandemic
Preparedness and Response
Lawrence Gostin of Georgetown Univer-
sity said the panel “fails to call out bad actors
like China, perpetuating the dysfunctional
WHO tradition of diplomacy over frankness,
transparency, and accountability.”
The controversy centers on the fact that
Chinese officials knew in early December
2019 that the virus had appeared in Wu-
han, but they sat on the information for six
weeks, arresting those who tried to warn of
the danger and accusing them of spreading
“rumors.” The regime’s rigorous censorship
apparatus was deployed to prevent media
coverage and to delete any mentions of the
virus from social media.
“As with SARS, the first response was
denial,” The Epoch Times editorial board
wrote in a piece explaining why it opted to
use the term “CCP virus” in reference to the
pathogen that causes the disease COVID-19.
“The name holds the CCP accountable
for its wanton disregard of human life and
consequent spawning of a pandemic that
has put untold numbers in countries around
the world at risk, while creating widespread
fear and devastating the economies of na-
tions trying to cope with this disease,” the
board wrote.
Members of the Trump administration
sought to take the Chinese regime to task for
its failures in the early phases of the outbreak,
with former President Donald Trump repeat-
edly blaming China for fanning the flames.
FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
The panel took a soft approach on China,
praising clinicians in Wuhan for being
“quick to spot unusual clusters of pneu-
monia of unknown origin in late December
2019,” while making no mention of earlier
regime efforts to suppress whistleblow-
ers. The panel did note, however, in a seg-
ment of the report that it calls an “authori-
tative” timeline of the outbreak, that “early
case definitions in China likely underesti-
mated prevalence” of the virus.
The report blamed bottlenecks in formal
notification and emergency declaration
procedures under international health
regulations for being “much too slow to
generate the rapid and precautionary re-
sponse required to counter a fast-moving
new respiratory pathogen.”
“Valuable time was lost,” the panelists
wrote.
They praised health workers for being
“stalwart in their efforts” to combat the
pandemic, while characterizing success-
ful national responses as ones that were
built on lessons from previous outbreaks
and relied on plans that could be readily
deployed.
“They listened to the science, changed
course where necessary, engaged commu-
nities, and communicated transparently
and consistently,” the panel noted.
Overall, the report found that, even after
decades of warnings that a highly transmis-
sible virus was poised to sweep the globe,
the world wasn’t prepared for the CCP virus.
“The Independent Panel has found weak
links at every point in the chain of pre-
paredness and response. Preparation was
inconsistent and underfunded. The alert
system was too slow—and too meek,” the
panel wrote.
The panel was led by former Liberian
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and for-
mer New Zealand Prime Minister Helen
Clark, who were tapped by the WHO last
year to examine the U.N. agency’s response
to COVID-19 after bowing to a request from
member countries.
“This is an ongoing disaster that we be-
lieve could have been prevented. The evi-
dence shows that an outbreak became a
pandemic because of failures, gaps, and
delays in preparedness and response. This
was partly due to a failure to learn from the
past,” Johnson Sirleaf said.
Beyond the call to boost the WHO’s
ability to investigate outbreaks, the pan-
el made an array of recommendations,
such as urging the health agency and the
World Trade Organization to convene a
meeting of vaccine-producing countries
and manufacturers to quickly reach deals
about voluntary licensing and technology
transfer, in an effort to boost the world’s
global supply of CCP virus shots.
The Associated Press
contributed to this report.
People wait in line outside a railway station to return home during the first day of a govern-
ment imposed 10-day lockdown, in Secunderabad, India, on May 12, 2021.
Rare and Deadly ‘Black Fungus’
Increasingly Seen in COVID-19
Patients in India: Reports
MIMI NGUYEN LY
A rare but potentially deadly infection
dubbed “black fungus” by Indian doctors
appears to be more frequent among CCP
virus patients in the world’s second-most
populous nation, according to reports.
The infection, called mucormycosis,
is caused by a group of molds called mu-
cormycetes found particularly in soil
and is associated with decaying organic
matter such as rotting leaves and wood,
compost piles, and animal dung, accord-
ing to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC).
There have been tens of thousands
of cases of mucormycosis reported in
India in the past month, compared to
just a handful over the past decade, Dr.
Bhakti Hansoti, associate professor in
the department of emergency medicine
and international health at the Johns
Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public
Health, told USA Today.
“We’ve seen this skyrocket in recent
weeks,” she said.
Hansoti added that symptoms of the
disease tend to arise two to three weeks
after a person is infected with the CCP
(Chinese Communist Party) virus. India
recorded 362,727 new cases and 4,120 new
deaths from the CCP virus on May 12, ac-
cording to Johns Hopkins University data.
Cases of the fungal infection in CCP
virus-recovered patients is “nearly
four to five times than those reported
before the pandemic,” said Atul Pa-
tel, an  infectious diseases specialist
based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and a
member of the state’s COVID-19 task
force, Agence France-Presse reported.
According to the news agency, citing
data from state-run hospitals, at least
300 cases have been reported in four
cities in Gujarat—Ahmedabad among
them. In India’s western state of Maha-
rashtra, where Mumbai is located, about
300 cases have been reported, Khusrav
Bajan, another member of the state’s
COVID-19 task force, told AFP.
Depending on where the fungus grows,
it has the ability to attack the skin, lungs,
digestive system, brain, or areas sur-
rounding the sinus and can eat away
at facial structures including the nose,
mouth, and eyes. The fungus can more
likely cause an infection in those with
weakened immune systems. People can
come into contact with the fungus di-
UK Government ‘Anxious’ About Indian
COVID-19 Variant: Boris Johnson
CONTINUED FROM A1
about what could happen. We want to
make sure that we take all the pruden-
tial, all the cautious steps now that we
could take, so there are meetings going
on today to consider exactly what we
need to do,” Johnson said.
The government’s Scientific Advisory
Group for Emergencies (SAGE) was to
meet to discuss the spread of the Indian
variant, amid fears it could have an ef-
fect on the government’s road map out
of the COVID-19 lockdown.
“There is a range of things we could
do, we are ruling nothing out, of
course,” Johnson told reporters while
visiting a primary school in Ferryhill,
County Durham.
But he said the nation is still on track
to reopen indoor hospitality services
and international travel on May 17, and
to lift all legal restrictions on June 21, as
planned in the government’s road map.
“At the moment, I can see nothing
FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2021
NOAH SEELAM/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
rectly via a cut or trauma in the skin, or
indirectly by breathing in fungal spores.
Symptoms of mucormycosis can in-
clude headache, nasal or sinus conges-
tion, and pain due to black lesions on the
nasal bridge or the mouth. Others may
experience more lung-related symptoms
including fever, chest pain, and short-
ness of breath.
Tens of thousands of
cases have been reported
in the past month.
As India faces a shortage of medical ox-
ygen—a treatment that can relieve a lack
of oxygen in the blood due to pneumonia
following infection from the CCP virus—
steroids are instead being prescribed to
many patients as treatment for the virus.
Steroids can reduce the hyper-inflamma-
tory response that arises from COVID-19
and can help people with breathing dif-
ficulties. But steroids also weaken a per-
son’s immune system, thereby making
them more vulnerable to being infected
with the mucormycetes molds, Hansoti
told USA Today.
She added that diabetes is a prime risk
factor for being infected with “black fun-
gus.” Up to 75 percent of mucormycosis
cases occur in CCP virus patients with
diabetes, she said, adding that due to lack
of routine testing, there’s a high preva-
lence of uncontrolled diabetes in India.
India’s health ministry on May 9
shared an advisory first posted by the
government-funded Indian Council of
Medical Research on how to treat the
infection. “Mucormycosis—if uncared
for—may turn fatal,” part of the advi-
sory reads. Recommendations include
continuing personal hygiene practices,
being cautious when handling soil and
other wet materials that may contain
fungus, and discontinuing steroids or
other drugs that suppress the immune
system as soon as possible.
The overall mortality rate of the fungal
infection is about 50 percent, but early
diagnosis and treatment can increase
the chances of survival, according to
the CDC. The condition is treated with
certain prescription antifungal medica-
tions, and may need surgery to remove
any infected body tissue.
that dissuades me from thinking we
will be able to go ahead on Monday
and indeed on June 21, everywhere,
but there may be things that we have
to do locally and we will not hesitate
to do them if that is the advice we get,”
he said.
Johnson said he was “cautiously op-
timistic” about reopening the country.
“Provided this Indian variant,
B.1.617.2, doesn’t take off in the way
that some people fear, I think certain-
ly things could get back much, much
closer to normality.”
Professor James Naismith from the
University of Oxford said the variant
may spread “way beyond” the local ar-
eas where it has been detected, suggest-
ing much wider community transmis-
sion of the variant.
“I think we should view it as a coun-
trywide problem,” he told BBC Radio
4’s “Today” program. “It will get every-
where. We keep learning this lesson,
but we know that this will be the case.”
A12 FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2021

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TRUTH AND TRADITION


The P4 laboratory (L) on the campus of the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, on May 27, 2020.
‘New’ Chinese Military Paper
on Weaponizing Coronaviruses
US should respond with defensive decoupling, end STEM cooperation with China
ANDERS CORR
On May 7, The Australian
revealed the existence of
a Chinese military paper
from 2015 that discusses
the weaponization of
SARS coronaviruses. CO-
VID-19 is the disease caused
by a SARS coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2.
Given 6.9 million COVID-19 deaths
globally and counting, such military-
scientific musings are the height of
irresponsibility and should be deci-
sively countered through new sanctions
against China’s science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics (STEM)
researchers.
In the paper, Chinese military scien-
tists and senior Chinese “public health”
officials predict that World War III, if it
comes, will be decided by new biologi-
cal weapons. We are no longer in the age
of gunpowder or nuclear weapons. The
future of war is biological, they argue.
The document is consistent with sig-
nificant prior evidence of offensive Chi-
nese biowarfare research that can access
technologies such as gene-editing and
viral “gain-of-function” (GOF) processes.
Chinese military researchers have also
shown an interest in bioweapon genetic
targeting. A specific ethnic genetic attack
technology would be a biological weapon
that targets a specific ethnicity. Gene-ed-
iting, such as CRISPR technology, could
facilitate such targeting.
GOF produces new viruses that are
more transmissible and lethal than their
progenitors, for example, the use of an
avian influenza virus to evolve, in the
lab, to a virus that can infect humans.
If China can put these technologies to-
gether, and has the will to do so, it could
design a killer virus that only infects a
particular race that China considers to
be an enemy.
As recently as June 2020, the U.S.
Department of State (DoS) expressed
concern that China was violating the
Biological [and Toxin] Weapons Conven-
tion (BWC or BTWC) of 1984 through
research into dual-use technologies. In
2005, DoS alleged that “China maintains
some elements of an offensive [biologi-
cal weapons] capability in violation of its
BTWC obligations.” DoS made similar
charges in 2010, 2012, and 2014. The 2019
OPINION
FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2021 • A13
report stated that “information indi-
cates that the People’s Republic of China
engaged during the reporting period in
biological activities with potential dual-
use applications, which raises concerns
regarding its compliance with the BWC.”
The 2020 report was more specific,
about “compliance concerns with re-
spect to Chinese military medical insti-
tutions’ toxin research and development
because of the potential dual-use appli-
cations and their potential as a biological
threat,” and stated that China had an
offensive biological warfare (BW) pro-
gram from the early 1950s to at least the
late 1980s. The report noted that China
hadn’t acknowledged the BW program,
or provided evidence of its dismantling.
The newly discovered Chinese military
paper is titled “The Unnatural Origin of
SARS and New Species of Man-Made Vi-
ruses as Genetic Bioweapons.” Eighteen
authors at the highest levels of China’s
military and academic hierarchy wrote
the 263-page paper. It was obtained by
DoS in May 2020 and independently au-
thenticated by digital forensics specialist
Robert Potter. Additional details of the
paper will be published in Sharri Mark-
son’s September book on the origins of
COVID-19, “What Really Happened in
Wuhan” (HarperCollins).
Chinese military scientists and
senior Chinese ‘public health’
officials predict that World War
III, if it comes, will be decided
by new biological weapons.
The Chinese military study describes
SARS coronaviruses as providing a
basis for a “new era of genetic weapons,”
according to its authors, that can be
“artificially manipulated into an emerg-
ing human disease virus, then weapon-
ized and unleashed in a way never seen
before.”
It claims that “following developments
in other scientific fields, there have been
major advances in the delivery of biologi-
cal agents.” It continues, “For example,
the new-found ability to freeze-dry
micro-organisms has made it possible
to store biological agents and aerosolize
them during attacks.”
The document notes that a sudden
flood of patients into hospitals during a
biological weapons attack “could cause
the enemy’s medical system to collapse.”
In the study, the Chinese military
examines optimal conditions for the
release of a biological weapon.
“Bioweapon attacks are best conducted
during dawn, dusk, night or cloudy
weather because intense sunlight can
damage the pathogens,” according to
the document. “Biological agents should
be released during dry weather. Rain or
snow can cause the aerosol particles to
precipitate. A stable wind direction is de-
sirable so that the aerosol can float into
the target area.”
Analysts are increasingly wary of Chi-
na’s biowarfare programs, and potential
leakage of U.S. and allied STEM research
that could serve as enablers.
“Chinese military researchers have
closely examined American initiatives
and international advancements, which
have seemed to inform and inspire the
direction of developments underway in
China today,” according to Elsa Kania at
the Center for a New American Security,
and consultant Wilson VornDick. “So
too, at a time when Chinese universities
and enterprises are pursuing investment
and expanding global research collabo-
rations in such fields, it is important that
their foreign partners remain cognizant
of the interests and involvements of their
counterparts.
“For instance, although biomedical
HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
MANDEL NGAN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
President
Donald
Trump signs
trade sanc-
tions against
China in the
Diplomatic
Reception
Room of the
White House
on March
22, 2018.
research involves numerous promising
applications in medicine and therapeu-
tics, there are also reasons for concern
about some of the ethical and security
externalities of these research engage-
ments.”
In another article on the weaponiza-
tion of biotech, Kania and VornDick
warn that “the lack of transparency and
uncertainty of ethical considerations
in China’s research initiatives raise the
risks of technological surprise.”
My read: Watch out for a surprise bioat-
tack from China.
Given revelations about the latest
Chinese biowarfare paper, along with
China’s criminal behavior related to CO-
VID-19, genocide against the Uyghurs,
highly aggressive military stance toward
the United States and allies, national
strategy of civil-military fusion, danger-
ous new technologies of gene-targeting,
and facile theft of foreign technology,
one must conclude that the United States
and allies should act more decisively to
defend ourselves.
The Chinese military, and the explod-
ing economy from which it acquires
strength, both depend upon STEM and
trade that they obtain from the United
States and allies. Continued STEM co-
operation with China should therefore
be immediately suspended. Decreasing
imports from China would impose a logi-
cal consequence, and send a message, by
constricting their economy.
Continued on A16
A14 | OPINION
American
Communism
Has Found
Its Brezhnev
in Biden
ROGER L. SIMON
I expected the Biden administra-
tion to be bad, but I never expect-
ed it to be this bad this quickly.
Practically everything from
public safety to education (!) to
foreign policy to the border to
the military has gone haywire in
months, with worse undoubtedly to come.
Some or much of this is likely deliber-
ate, with the “moderate” Joe Biden hav-
ing been almost miraculously installed
at the last moment to turn the ship of
state leftward on a watery dime.
This put a seemingly benign public face
on anything but benign policies.
Where have we seen this before?
Well, not that long ago in the Soviet Union.
In Biden, the United States has found
its Leonid Brezhnev—an addled leader
surrounded, propped up, and dictated to
by an unseen Politburo that, unlike the
original, don’t even show their faces for
May Day on Red Square.
You don’t have to be a Sovietologist
to recall Brezhnev’s reign (1964–1982)
as general secretary of the Communist
Party and chairman of the Presidium of
the Supreme Soviet was the beginning of
the end for the Soviet Union.
London’s Sunday Times reported during
most of those years, Brezhnev was effec-
DILBERT
PEANUTS
RED AND ROVER
GRAND AVENUE
MUTT & JEFF
tively addicted to what were politely called
“sedatives” and that his doctors needed
four to six weeks to prepare him for a pub-
lic appearance.
Brezhnev apparently had difficulty even
mouthing the platitudes of Soviet-speak.
Key Politburo members of the time—
KGB chief Yuri Andropov, defense min-
ister Dmitri Ustinov, and leading party
ideologue Mikhail Suslov—were evidently
happy with this arrangement, being able
to manipulate affairs, foreign and domes-
tic, from behind the throne.
How unfortunately familiar this sounds,
although such behind-the-throne manip-
ulation is hardly unique in history. In fact,
it is quite common, including in our time.
But it has reached such a level in today’s
America that speculation about who is re-
ally in charge is endless—Barack Obama,
Susan Rice, Valerie Jarrett, several people
inside the administration such as chief of
staff Ron Klain, Kamala Harris, Jill Biden,
Nancy Pelosi, AOC and her entourage,
even Michelle Obama.
What is going on?
I used to be one of those who down-
graded accusations of communism on the
part of our more liberal left. Only hardcore
outliers or spies were true communists.
How could we be so stupid and heartless
as to even show interest in a system that
not only has failed so consistently but that
has resulted in something approaching
100 million deaths, exponentially more
than any other religion or ideology?
COMICS
GARFIELD
GINGER MEGGS
BIG NATE
DRABBLE
FRANK AND ERNEST
SAMUEL CORUM/GETTY IMAGES
A protester waves a D.C.
flag with Black Lives Matter
spray painted on it next to a
D.C. National Guard Humvee
as protesters march through
the streets during a dem-
onstration over the death of
George Floyd, in Washington
on June 2, 2020.
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FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2021
But our current Politburo-like obfusca-
tion is, well, communistic to the core and
what we are seeing in action, I have to
admit after years, is nascent American
communism throughout our federal
government, not to mention many of our
more populous blue states.
We no longer have two political parties
jockeying over such comparatively mi-
nor matters as tax rates and the extent of
welfare programs. This is the real, deep
ideological game-changing deal.
That Antifa and Black Lives Mat-
ter—both self-admittedly Marxist
organizations wreaking havoc on our
city streets—are never criticized by our
current administration and are left to do
what they do is just one example of the
spread of this burgeoning communism.
The continuing leftward lurch of our
already leftist Department of Justice is a
yet more dangerous one.
Most of all, our educational system K–
through–doctorate, as many have pointed
out, is, consciously or unconsciously, with
the Goebbels-like critical race theory at the
forefront, imitating the Chinese Cultural
Revolution in all but the dunce caps (so far).
The good news we can hold onto is that
a number of red states are starting to resist
the communistic trend in education and
elsewhere.
A cold war between red and blue states
has already started—capitalism versus
communism all over again, although the
contemporary form of communism might
be more exactly called fascist oligarchy.
This is Marxism with the working class left
out—go figure.
In the midst of all this, the figurehead-
like Joe Biden is already making his
name on the short list of worst presidents
of all time and is headed for the top.
Pretty soon, he’ll be No. 1 with a bullet.
But will there be a country left for a rank-
ing of this nature? That is the question.
Or, in the actual words of Leonid Brezhnev
himself, “The trouble with free elections is
you never know who is going to win.”
Roger L. Simon is an award-winning
novelist, Oscar-nominated screenwriter,
co-founder of PJ Media, and now a col-
umnist of The Epoch Times.
 FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2021
SPECIAL SERIES: How the Specter of Communism Is Ruling Our World
The Chinese Communist
Party’s Global Ambitions
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.”
18
CHAPTER 3. Unrestricted Warfare
With Chinese Communist
Characteristics
e. The Many Forms of
Unrestricted Warfare (cont.)
Other Forms of Unrestricted
Warfare
During the 1989 student democracy
movement, the CCP ordered soldiers
and police to disguise themselves as
Beijing civilians and create riots so that
the military could use them as an ex-
cuse for its mass killing, which it called
“suppressing riots.” During the early
years of the persecution campaign
against Falun Gong, the CCP fabricated
a “self-immolation” incident in Tianan-
men Square to justify the ensuing esca-
lation of the persecution. During Hong
Kong’s Occupy Central With Love and
Peace movement, the CCP transported
people from Shenzhen to incite vio-
lence in Hong Kong, effectively forcing
police action to escalate.
People in all walks
of life, especially in
politics and business,
have become the
CCP’s pawns in its
unrestricted warfare
campaign. Almost
all countries in the
world have begun to
feel the CCP’s global
ambitions and its evil,
unrestricted means.
In the eyes of the CCP, murder and
assassination are commonplace meth-
ods, and when the timing is right, the
Party may well use any means—poi-
soning, assassination, explosions, the
sabotage of power grids or transpor-
tation facilities, and so on—to create
chaos and conflict in the West.
The core of unrestricted warfare is
about mobilizing evil people to de-
stroy mankind step by step. The CCP
SPECIAL SERIES
is highly skilled at tempting people to
go against morality and their own con-
science, and those who do so often end
up as either passive in the face of the
CCP’s abuses, or active participants.
When it comes to influential figures
in the political, economic, military,
media, cultural, technological, edu-
cational, and other fields, the CCP
will use any means to discover their
A reeducation camp where mostly Muslim ethnic minorities are detained, north of Kash-
gar in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region. As many as 1 million ethnic Uighurs and other
mostly Muslim minorities are believed to be held in a network of internment camps in
Xinjiang, China, on June 2, 2019.
Riot police stand guard outside of a Hong Kong government building on Sept. 28, 2014.
weaknesses—whether vested interests
or desires—and exploit them to make
people willingly collaborate with the
Party. When this doesn’t work, the CCP
blackmails them into assisting the Par-
ty. In some cases, the CCP has even
provided organs obtained by killing
dissidents to buy off influential figures
in need of a transplant.
The resources the CCP is able to bring
to bear to infiltrate other countries defy
the imagination, and the facts uncov-
ered at present are only the tip of the
iceberg. People in all walks of life, es-
pecially in politics and business, have
become the CCP’s pawns in its unre-
stricted warfare campaign. Almost all
countries in the world have begun to
feel the CCP’s global ambitions and its
evil, unrestricted means.
4. The Communist
‘China Model’
The CCP’s nature means that it will
always set itself against traditional
culture, morality, and universal val-
ues. Today’s CCP is the world’s axis of
evil and the enemy of humankind. The
world must wake up and take action.
China has a vast territory and the
largest population of any country
on earth. It has become the world’s
second-largest economy and, from
2010, the second-largest military
power. No tyrannical force in history
has had such economic and military
power. The Party has absorbed the
most sinister and deformed elements
of modern totalitarian regimes and
ancient Chinese tactics, and therefore,
it never plays by the rules. Its strate-
gies are both deep and ruthless, often
beyond the imagination and under-
standing of leaders and strategists
in other countries. By hijacking 1.3
billion Chinese people, the CCP has
presented a huge and greatly cov-
eted market to the world, attracting
GREG BAKER/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
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YOUR
COPY
HERE
EPOCHSHOP.COM
ANTHONY KWAN/GETTY IMAGES
foreign capital, business people, and
politicians. It has them turn a blind
eye to the CCP’s human rights abuses
and evil, and in some cases, even gets
them to cooperate with the CCP in its
crimes.
The CCP has killed eighty million
Chinese people. In recent times, it has
committed countless crimes against
Falun Gong practitioners, under-
ground Christians, Tibetans, Uyghurs,
dissidents, and those at the lower end
of society. Once the regime collapses, it
will be brought to justice and punished
for all its crimes. To avoid this fate, the
CCP will not hesitate to commit more
horrific crimes to protect itself.
The Chinese Communist Party is the
communist specter’s main agent in the
human realm. Fated for elimination,
its existence has always been accom-
panied by a strong sense of crisis and
fear. Driven by this sense of constant
crisis, the CCP resorts to any means
necessary at critical moments, taking
extreme measures to keep itself going.
It has built itself up in an attempt to
replace the United States and domi-
nate the world and is preparing for the
final battle with the United States with
determination and nonstop effort. At
the same time, it has used a range of
means to export the CCP’s model and
the Communist Party’s ideology, poi-
soning the world.
If the orthodox morality that has
helped humankind survive for thou-
sands of years is ever truly destroyed,
the result will be the destruction of the
entire human race. Therefore, in addi-
tion to its military, economic, scientific,
and technological endeavors, the CCP
is also bent on imposing its ideology of
atheism and warped views of good and
evil on other countries.
All the CCP’s ambitions—which
it pursues through soft power, hard
power, and sharp power—are based
on a total disregard for morality and
are aimed at serving its larger ambi-
tion of destroying traditional morality
and universal values. The CCP’s goal
is to establish itself as an evil empire
and world ruler. It aims to bring to-
talitarian oppression to the world—a
global police state characterized by
brainwashing, mind control, mass
surveillance, the elimination of pri-
vate ownership, official atheism, the
elimination of religion and traditional
culture, unrestrained carnal desires,
corruption, and moral degeneration.
Its aim is to drag the world into pov-
erty and turmoil, turning men into
beasts and sending humankind into
an abyss of moral degradation. All this
is the path arranged by the commu-
nist specter in its attempt to destroy
mankind.
See next edition for the next
installment.
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-
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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
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by the lies and violence in
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We still believe journalism is a
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A16 | OPINION
The
American
Oligarchy
Is Being
Exposed
BRIAN CATES
Although Donald Trump
has made few public ap-
pearances since leaving
the White House on Jan.
20, he has made his pres-
ence felt in other ways.
One of the biggest impacts
that Trump has had on the country both
as president and as a private citizen has
been awakening millions of Americans
to the very real danger of a media and
political elite class that has been subvert-
ing Constitutional and legal processes
in the states to increase their own power
and control.
This is especially true of America’s
election systems.
For the past six months, more Ameri-
cans than ever have been made aware of
the existence of this powerful network of
incredibly rich and privileged people that
we could call an “oligarchy,” as James
O’Keefe does in his recent music video.
An oligarchy is defined by Britannica as
being “government by the few, especially
despotic power exercised by a small and
privileged group for corrupt or selfish
purposes. Oligarchies in which members
of the ruling group are wealthy or exer-
cise their power through their wealth are
known as plutocracies.”
This present oligarchy has recently
been forced from behind the curtains
and into the open as it began clumsily
and incompetently seeking to control
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
Poll workers board up windows so ballot challengers can't see into the ballot counting area at the
TCF Center in Detroit on Nov. 4,2020.
the national dialogue on a variety of
subjects, even as the role it played in
the 2020 elections was uncovered. The
more it fought to censor what Americans
could say, the more the oligarchy ex-
posed itself.
In this column, I’m going to cover three
specific attempts by this oligarchy to
control the national dialogue preceding,
during, and following the 2020 election.
Attempt 1: The Hunter Biden Laptop
The first attempt at blatant and open
censorship of what the public could
talk about and see involved the Hunter
Biden laptop scandal. The New York Post
published an explosive report about the
contents of the younger Biden’s allegedly
abandoned laptop, which led to the rev-
elation that the FBI was investigating.
As a counter to those facts, a narra-
tive based on no evidence was quickly
launched and relentlessly pushed in the
mainstream media that the laptop scandal
was a Russian disinformation operation.
Candidate Joe Biden himself spent the
remainder of the campaign dismissing
questions about the laptop by calling it
Russian disinformation.
Now the Russian disinformation narra-
tive has been exposed as not only being
a lie but also a coordinated media cover-
up—created to get Biden past the election
without having to answer hard questions.
NOW
BIGGER SIZE,
EASIER TO READ
FORMAT
SETH HERALD/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Attempt 2: The Election Discussion
The second attempt sought to prevent
any national discussion of election irreg-
ularities by engaging in a truly massive
campaign of censorship. Twitter alone
seems to have permanently banned mil-
lions of its users for supposedly spread-
ing “election disinformation.”
Facebook and YouTube have also
regularly censored content regarding the
controversial election. I’ve been warned
more than once during a regular Sunday
night livestream I participate in on You-
Tube to watch what I say regarding the
2020 election, to keep the video service
from taking the video offline.
Attempt 3: The Insurrection Narrative
The third attempt was when the oligarchy
tried to launch a false narrative about a
supposed “armed” insurrection at the
Capitol building in Washington on Jan. 6.
Just about everything that was claimed
to have happened that day has turned
out to be a lie. This insurrection narrative
was begun to provide justification for an
absurd second impeachment of a presi-
dent who had already left office.
As I stated in a previous column, there
has never been such a thing as an un-
armed insurrection in American history.
Yet another narrative that was quickly
launched despite no evidence was the
claim that Capitol Police officer Brian
Sicknick died because of injuries suf-
fered during the Capitol breach. In fact,
Sicknick died of a stroke unrelated to
anything that happened on Jan. 6.
Yet, for weeks, the mainstream press
regaled the American public with lurid
stories that claimed Sicknick was struck
in the head by a fire extinguisher wielded
by a Trump supporter. In a video show-
ing the alleged incident, the red object
thrown by the rioter appears to bounce
off an officer’s helmet. There was never
any confirmation that the officer struck
was Sicknick. But that didn’t matter. The
media had their narrative, and they ran
with it enthusiastically for weeks.
And when the truth emerged about the
‘New’ Chinese Military Paper
on Weaponizing Coronaviruses
CONTINUED FROM A13
Until China demonstrates a significant
improvement in its ethics and transpar-
ency, cooperation with China’s STEM
academics and business people, includ-
ing STEM undergraduates, graduate stu-
dents, professors, and scientists, should
be banned by law in the United States,
the European Union, Japan, India, Brazil,
and among our broader circles of allies.
But if we sanction China’s STEM, make
sure it doesn’t simply flow elsewhere, or
advance in isolation beyond allied science.
Regulation of science in China is generally
less demanding, and so China’s military
science could progress at a faster rate
than allied science, through for example
unethical forms of human experimenta-
tion. Note that five clinical trials of CRISPR
gene-editing technologies are currently
underway at China’s military hospitals.
STEM sanctions against China should
have been implemented in 2005, when
DoS first found evidence of an offensive
biological weapons capability in viola-
tion of the BWC. Continuing to cooperate
more than 15 years later, when China’s
STEM research can be used to build
offensive biological weapons that likely
target the United States and allies, is ir-
responsible and unethical.
Knowing that China’s intentions are
in part illegal or even genocidal should
make those who transfer STEM, willingly
FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2021
real cause of Sicknick’s death, the press
quietly moved on. There were no real
public recriminations or any apologies
over this journalistic malpractice.
The modern American news media
creates narratives to drive political out-
comes, nothing more. This is just another
clear example of it.
Freedom Versus Control
Has Never Been More Clear
Nobody elected Mark Zuckerberg of
Facebook, Jack Dorsey of Twitter, Sun-
dar Pichai of Google, or any other social
media technocrat to police the nation’s
dialogue about politics—or anything
else. They are self-appointed gatekeep-
ers, nothing more than that.
Nobody elected Marc Elias or the horde
of lawyers working for Perkins Coie to
run around in certain states before the
2020 election to litigate extensive chang-
es to election laws that bypassed state
legislatures in a most unconstitutional
fashion. Rich and privileged people paid
them to do that.
There’s a big difference between a
national dialogue that’s organic and rises
up from the people of these United States,
and Marxist/progressive political narra-
tives that are being forced onto the public
from the top down by those who control
much of the nation’s electronic discourse.
When you refuse to let organic national
conversations rise and insist on control-
ling with an iron fist what people can talk
about publicly while you attempt to force-
feed them your own handpicked political
narratives, you’ve gone far beyond being
a mere censor.
You’ve become Big Brother.
The Stakes Couldn’t Be Higher
The shadow “cabal” used a Time maga-
zine article to try to recast themselves as
selfless public servants on a noble quest
to “fortify” the 2020 presidential election
against Donald Trump, which turned
out to be far more revealing than they
perhaps intended.
The main claim of the article ended
up being that they had to rig the election
against Trump to save the election.
If these oligarchs have their way, the
outcome of every future election will be
predetermined by their army of lawyers
and their creation of a clearly unconsti-
tutional “election week.” How long before
Americans must endure an “election
month,” where it takes weeks to get to
the “right” outcome the powerful have
already decided on?
I already see a huge backlash building
against this oligarchy. It will take some
time for Americans to get the audits
done, get the court victories, and build
their own alternatives to bypass these ar-
rogant digital gatekeepers. But now that
the oligarchy has been forced out into
the open, American patriots can begin
working together to counter its power
over this country.
Brian Cates is a writer based in South
Texas and author of “Nobody Asked For
My Opinion ... But Here It Is Anyway!”
or unwillingly, culpable and criminally
negligent.
Let’s not wait for a surprise bioattack.
Shut down China’s bioweapons pro-
grams now, by defensively decoupling
from, and thereby minimizing, the coun-
try’s STEM infrastructure. Add maxi-
mum economic and political pressure,
to nudge China toward much-needed
democratization. Only when the country
democratizes should we allow it back
into the international system.
Playing Mr. Nice Guy and tip-toeing
around existential threats to America
and democracy from genocidal technol-
ogies through elision, euphemism, tech-
nocratic language, and an illogical belief
in political change in Beijing through
the self-serving economic and scientific
engagement of individuals and corpora-
tions, is no longer acceptable. We need
the United States and allies to defensively
decouple, and quickly.
Anders Corr has a bachelor’s and master’s
in political science from Yale University
(2001) and a doctorate in government
from Harvard University (2008). He is a
principal at Corr Analytics Inc., publisher
of the Journal of Political Risk, and has
conducted extensive research in North
America, Europe, and Asia. He authored
“The Concentration of Power” (forth-
coming 2021) and “No Trespassing,” and
edited “Great Powers, Grand Strategies.”
 FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2021 OPINION | A17
deceased became mortally ill within one
Vaccine Skepticism Is Soaring Amid day of inoculation and almost 40 per-
cent did so within two days.
The coincidences—if that’s what they

Heightened Government Hype are—have especially jinxed COVID-19

vaccines. As Fox News’ Tucker Carlson
reported last week to an audience of close

and Steps to Hide Unwelcome Data
LAWRENCE SOLOMON
How might governments
counter the high rate of
vaccine skepticism that’s
foiling their plans to
reach herd immunity?
According to Gallup’s 2020
World Poll, 1 billion people
indicated they would refuse a COVID-19
vaccine, with rates of skepticism espe-
cially high in the developed world.
In the United States, many who were
willing to be vaccinated early on have
had second thoughts. The Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
reports that more than 5 million Ameri-
cans—and counting—who have received
a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine are
skipping appointments for their second.
Over the past month, Americans’ aver-
age acceptance of 3.3 million daily doses
has plummeted to under 2 million, with
no sign of the freefall ending. The 115
million already fully vaccinated were the
easy gets. The many skeptics who remain
unvaccinated are anything but.
Cheerleading for vaccines by virtually the
whole of the medical establishment and
mainstream press hasn’t been able to turn
the tide; neither has widespread censorship
by social media of anyone who questions
the efficacy or safety of COVID-19 vaccines
or an unprecedented U.S. government
outreach aimed at winning over skeptics.
None of these have been able to overcome
persistent reports of harm caused by vac-
cines, bolstered by official government data
showing questionable benefits.
Hence, there is a heightened motivation
for the CDC to hide unwelcome data and
make vaccines look more effective than
they are. A current case in point involves
“breakthrough infections,” jargon used to
describe COVID-19 infections that occur
after people get vaccinated. Although the
CDC acknowledges that the existing re-
porting systems for breakthrough infec-
tions already “represent an undercount,”
since reporting is voluntary and “not
all real-world breakthrough cases will
be identified because of lack of testing,”
that official undercount nevertheless at-
tracted unwanted publicity, making it too
high for the CDC’s liking.
By April 26—when the ever-increasing
tally of these undercounted break-
through infections exceeded 9,200—the
CDC called a time-out, stopped report-
ing them, and announced that it would
arrange for new breakthrough cases to be
counted differently as of May 14.
To lower the official numbers that
come in from U.S. states and territories
for breakthrough infections, the CDC
APU GOMES/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
A nurse
administers
the Moderna
Covid-19 vac-
cine at Kedren
Community
Health Center,
in South Cen-
tral Los Ange-
les on Feb.
16, 2021.
won’t log breakthrough cases requir-
ing doctor or emergency-room visits, let
alone minor adverse events: It’ll only
report adverse events serious enough to
result in hospitalizations or deaths. The
CDC’s new procedure should reduce the
number of new breakthrough infections
that they report by approximately 90
percent—ending their newsworthiness
to the press.
The CDC faces other challenges in con-
vincing people that COVID-19 vaccines
are safe, however, due to another report-
ing system that documents deaths and
side effects following vaccination: its own
Vaccine Adverse Events Reports (VAERS).
The most recent update, for example,
showed that by April 30, 157,277 adverse
events had occurred, including almost
4,000 deaths. Although these deaths
could be entirely or mostly coinciden-
tal—as the CDC and vaccine companies
assert—more than 30 percent of the
to 3 million viewers, “In just the first four
months of this year, the U.S. government
has recorded more deaths after COVID
vaccinations than from all other vaccines
administered in the United States be-
tween mid-1997 and the end of 2013.”
Carlson’s comparisons of recent deaths
following COVID-19 vaccines with the
cumulative deaths that occurred over a
period of 15 1/2 years from all other vac-
cines combined—all based on the gov-
ernment’s VAERS data—also noted that
160 million Americans get the flu shot
every year, yet relatively few coincidental-
ly die afterward: 203 deaths in 2019, 119
deaths in 2018, and 85 deaths in 2017. In
contrast, far more deaths have followed
the far-fewer people fully vaccinated for
COVID-19. Coincidence seems to strike
those who take a COVID-19 vaccine sev-
eral dozen times more often than those
who take the flu vaccine.
Foreign governments have also under-
mined the CDC’s insistence that the vac-
cines are all safe. Last week, Denmark’s
health authority broke from the U.S.
insistence that the Johnson & Johnson
vaccine is safe by concluding “the ben-
efits of using the COVID-19 vaccine from
Johnson & Johnson do not outweigh the
risk of causing the possible adverse effect
in those who receive the vaccine.” Den-
mark voiced similar concerns last month
in abandoning the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Without high vaccination levels, the
CDC won’t reach the numbers it believes
are needed to reach herd immunity. That
might be a blessing in disguise. The CDC
could then rely on a fallback position that
might even be superior: the default of ac-
quiring herd immunity through natural
infections that humans have used since
time immemorial.
Lawrence Solomon is a columnist, author,
and executive director of the Toronto-
based Consumer Policy Institute.

Newsom’s Double Whammy to California: Drought Declaration

and Incentives Not to Work
THOMAS DEL BECCARO
California Gov. Gavin
Newsom’s so-called
economic plan, in truth,
isn’t an economic plan
at all. Rather, it’s a po-
litical recovery path for
himself as he faces a recall
election later this year.
Meanwhile, his policies continue to
hammer California’s job markets.
Despite having the most natural
Nancy Pelosi, in favor of reducing regula-
tions, income taxes, and capital gains tax
rates to provide incentives for employers
to open new businesses.
As I have noted elsewhere, “The sum
of decades of Democrat rule in Califor-
nia” has “been a tremendous loss of busi-
nesses and, therefore, jobs.”
“At least 50 large corporations have
left California since 2014, with the vast
majority leaving in 2019 and 2020,” tak-
ing their jobs with them, according to
notes from the California Policy Center,

resources of any state, California con-
tinues to have one of the highest unem-
ployment rates in the country. During
the pandemic, Newsom ordered the
strictest lockdown regulations in the
Behind the
which keeps a “Book of Exoduses.”
Newsom’s handouts will also result in
future Democratic-imposed tax increas-
es and only exacerbate that job flight.
As if the last year of bad policies

country.
Predictably, California’s small busi-
nesses were hit hard and employers
throughout the state had to shut down.
Estimates indicated that more than half
of restaurants in the state won’t reopen
post-pandemic. Of course, that industry
is dominated by workers making less
than $40,000 a year—the people who
most need the economy to rebound.
It’s become a national story that the
size and frequency of government as-
sistance to workers has been a disincen-
tive for those workers to return to work.
The lack of workers is damaging the
prospects for small business recovery
throughout the country and therefore,
the economic fortunes of so many work-
ers and the nation as a whole.
Even The New York Times conceded
that “expanded benefits” were part of the
cause and ran a story with this headline:
“Unemployment Is High. Why Are Busi-
nesses Struggling to Hire?”
Recently, in the San Francisco Bay Area,
a restaurant posted this sign:
Despite that hiring problem, which
is known to most everyone, in order to
save his own political fortunes, Newsom
is proposing a massive handout for all
those making less than $76,000 per year.
While that may help him buy votes, it
will only exacerbate the damage he has
done to small businesses and jobs over
the last year.
Instead of making it harder for employ-
ers to find employees, Newsom should
abandon the big government programs
of his aunt-by-marriage, House Speaker
Subscription
wasn’t enough, Newsom has imposed
a declaration of drought across most of
the state. While the skies may not have
provided enough rain last winter, there
can be no excuse for Newsom’s failed
water policies.
Keep in mind that, according to a Your subscription will not only provide you with
University of California–Davis study, the accurate news and features, but also contribute
state is experiencing one of its wettest to the revival of American journalism and help
100 years among the last 7,000 years.
However, instead of saving that rain for a safeguard our freedoms for future generations.
lack of a rainy day, Newsom has bowed to
environmental demands and refused to We aim to tell you what we see, not how to think; we
collect enough water to satisfy the needs
of nearly 40 million Californians. strive to deliver you a factual picture of reality that
For decades, California’s water storage lets you form your own opinions.
capacity has remained relatively static,
while its population nearly doubled.
In 2014, voters approved a water bond We believe that we live in truly epochal times, where
exceeding $7 billion for the building of the faithful representation of our current events
the Sites Reservoir and Temperance Flat won’t just be important for the people of today, but
Reservoir. Yet, seven years later, not a
single shovelful of dirt has been turned also for the generations to come. The records we
for the construction. keep now will directly inform the foundations of the
Meanwhile, over 75 percent of the history they’ll learn and the values they’ll cherish—
water that reaches the San Joaquin/Sac-
ramento Delta flows straight out to the and this knowledge is what drives us.
ocean, instead of filling our reservoirs,
to satisfy the demands of environmental- Learn more at
ists at the expense of Californians and
their employers. EpochSubscription.com
So, once again, Californians will suffer
because of the bad policies of Democrats in
Sacramento and, principally, Gov. Newsom.
Thomas Del Beccaro is an acclaimed TRUTH AND TRADITION
author, speaker, and Epoch Times opinion
writer. He’s the author of “The Divided Era”
and “The New Conservative Paradigm.”
A18 | PUZZLES FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2021

CROSSWORD CONSTRUCTED BY TOM HOUSTON

EPOCH TIMES STAFF 8. Art base 4NUMBERS CONSTRUCTED BY C. CHANG
AT 4NUMS.COM DAILY BRIDGE CLUB
9. Kitchen pest Use the four numbers in the corners, and Test your defense
10. One out? the operands (+, - X, and ÷) to build an BY FRANK STEWART, TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY
equation to get the solution in the middle.
11. Was humbled There may be more than one “unique” so- ©2021 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
12. Honkers lution but, there may also be “equivalent”
solutions. For example: 6 + (7 X 3) +1 = 28 To end the week, try to find a winning
13. Spanish liqueur and 1+ (7 X 3) + 6 = 28 defense against today’ s four hearts. Cover
14. Physics calculation the East and South cards and defend as
West after East preempted over North’ s
15. ___ Vista one club. South showed a good hand with
long hearts. You lead the king of diamonds:
20. A.M.A. members deuce, jack, five. What next?
26. Not right When I watched the deal, West went
wrong: He led a second diamond. East won
27. Photo finishes but had no winning return. He tried a third
28. More refined diamond, but South ruffed with the six.
West discarded a club.
32. “Scram!” When South led a low trump next, West
33. Graceful bird played low, and dummy’s ten won. South led
a spade to his hand and tabled the king of
34. Age abbr. trumps, and West’s ace won the defenders’
36. Department of east- last trick. Making four.
Hard 1 - 1 Solution
ern France PROMISING
37. Fills West’ s trump holding was promising, and
the defense could prevail with a trump
38. Gab promotion. But at the second trick, West
39. Sweetheart must cash his ace of trumps. He then leads
a second diamond, and when East wins
40. _____ haddie and leads a third diamond, West scores
42. Peter, Paul and Mary, his nine of trumps whether South ruffs
low or high.
e.g. Did you beat the contract?
43. “Biggest Little City” DAILY QUESTION
44. “Mule Train” singer, You hold: { 10 8 7 6 A 9 3 2
K 3 y 5 4 2. The dealer, at your left,
1949 opens one club. Your partner doubles, and
45. “___ Walk” (Frost Hard 2 - 2 Solutions the next player passes. What do you say?
ANSWER: The correct call is one spade.
Across Alibi” 70. Dry poem) The auction may become a partscore
1. Barge ___ 37. “MASH” prop 72. King Telamon and He- 46. Prof.’s helpers battle. Say the opening bidder rebids two
clubs, and two passes follow. Then you can
5. Asian antelope 39. French flower sione’s son and founder of 47. Sam Spade, e.g. bid two hearts and play at the level of two
10. Kind of hat 40. Kismet Salamis 51. Diluted in the major suit partner prefers. He may
have four-card support for only one major.
16. Don’t 41. ___ de combat 73. Football Hall-of-Fam- 52. Spring times
17. As a rule 42. Hanyu Pinyin er Merlin 53. Herbal drink North dealer
47. “___ chic” 74. Everglades deposit N-S vulnerable
18. Discordant-sounding 54. Symbols of authority
48. Hydrocarbon suffixes 75. Mounts 55. Implore
19. Holds true to one’s
49. Computer connection 76. Form of Spanish 56. In places
beliefs
(abbr.) “to be” 59. Least wild
21. Not comply
50. Brainy people 77. Ballpark figs. Easy 1 - 1 Solution
22. Court call 60. Delaware Indian
53. Carrier to Stockholm
23. Cousin of -trix 61. Prepare for winter
54. Debussy’s “La ___” Down
24. “Potemkin” mutiny takeoff
57. Murmur 1. To such an extent
site 58. Mandlikova of tennis 2. Medium, maybe 62. Highlanders, e.g.
25. Done deals 59. Make lace 3. One way to stop 63. Cambridge sch.
29. Venus de Milo’s lack 60. Channel 4. Fair-sized musical 64. ___ and sciences
30. Underground letters 61. Tactical retreats groups 65. Red vegetable
31. Teacher of Heifetz 64. Out 5. “H-E-L-P!” 66. Change direction
32. Sow’s pen 67. French soul 6. Touches abruptly
35. Riddle-me-___ 68. Opener 7. Lake ___, source of the 70. Foot part
36. Sue Grafton’s “___ for 69. Brake job Mississippi 71. Switch settings Easy 2 - 2 Solutions

WORDSEARCH CONSTRUCTED BY TOM HOUSTON

EPOCH TIMES STAFF SUPER KAKURO CONSTRUCTED
BY EPOCH TIMES STAFF

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

ABSENT GAELS NOT RARE RESORTS

AFFECTS GESSO ODESSA SAGE TEA
ALATE INSOFAR OFTEN SAIGA
AMISS INTRO OLSEN SATES
ATE DIRT ITASCA ON A DIME STANDS FAST
ATONAL LAINE ORDER STEEDS
EASTERS LENAPE PANAMA STRETCHER
EINSTEINS MANTLES PAROLEE TAMEST
ENTREAT MATTES PURER TEETOTALER
ESTAS NONETS RELINE TEUCER
FINNAN NOSES RESIST THINNED

SOLUTIONS
CROSSWORD SUPER KAKURO
4 NUMBERS
HARD 1

HARD 2

EASY 1

EASY 2
 FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2021 PUZZLES | A19
SUDOKU CONSTRUCTED
BY KANNAN SANKARAN SUPERSUDOKU CONSTRUCTED
BY KANNAN SANKARAN WORK SPACE
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,
row, and each 3x3 square contain all nine numbers only once. each row, and each 4x4 square contain all ten numbers and six letters only once.
Hard

Easy

CRYPTIC QUOTE

EPOCH DOKU CONSTRUCTED

BY EPOCH TIMES STAFF

WORK SPACE

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

Kakuro puzzles are like crosswords that use numbers instead of words. The goal THAT SCRAMBLED WORD GAME
is to fill the blank squares associated with a clue (called a “run”) with the numbers By David L. Hoyt and Jeff Knurek
1-9 so that the numbers add up to the corresponding clues. Like Sudoku, digits Unscramble these Jumbles,
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 NPDEU
EPOCH ESCAPE MAZE
CUONE

IRHODA

GTAIMS
Now arrange the circled letters
©2021 Tribune Content Agency, LLC to form the surprise answer, as
All Rights Reserved. suggested by the above cartoon.
Answer
here:

WORK SPACE

SOLUTIONS
SUPERSUDOKU SUDOKU: EASY JUMBLE EASY KAKURO
— POURING IN
start with customers WORK SPACE

café was off to a great

The vineyard’s new
Answers:
STIGMA
HAIRDO
OUNCE
UPEND
Jumbles:
SUDOKU: HARD EPOCH DOKU

CRYPTIC QUOTE
Bridge and then buy it.
who build the Brooklyn
Scientists are people
A20 | FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2021

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DELAWARE SCOTLAND

Good Times and Quiet The Eccentric Isle of Eigg

Moments in Kent County Houses are few and far between, and long-timers
Drives through the countryside provide encounters become handy at fixing things and helping each
with the Amish lifestyle. Tiny shops and tidy farms other out.
line narrow, winding roads.
See B5 See B4

DESTINATIONS | TRENDS | TIPS FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2021 B1

ALL IMAGES BY SHUTTERSTOCK

Finding
Hidden
Greece,
From Unnamed
Islands to the Heart
of Athens
(Above left) The Great Rock of Monemvasia, which has been dubbed the Greek Gibraltar. (Above) An old narrow
street in Anafiotika, Athens.

TIM JOHNSON

I
’m not sure this place even has a
name, and I know you’d never find
it online. Tucked away, just off the
village’s main square, I can’t even
recall, for the moment, how we got
here from the ship. Disembarking
from our gulet, a big, wooden sail-
boat that looks like it could carry pirates,
walking the gangway just before golden
hour, our small group hiked up a series
of small, steep pathways to a white, blue-
domed church crowning a big hill.
An Aegean panorama spread out at its feet,
the aquamarine turning, by shades, to burnt Grilled sardines served at a taverna on
orange, as the sun drops toward the sea. Milos.
With the light now ebbing fast, we make
our way back down, toward the winding
streets in town, past scenes of small-town
life—priests in black robes, big crosses
hanging from their necks, kids riding by,
getting their last bit of time on their bikes
before dinnertime.
Arriving at the tiny taverna, I see that it has
four tables and no menus. What’s for dinner? Arriving at the tiny
Whatever they made that day. How much
does it cost? Whatever we think is right. We
taverna, I see that it
feast on heaps of steaming, buttery fish, has four tables and
caught and brought in just that morning
from the harbor across the way, as well as no menus. What’s for
salty olives from the grove up on the hillside,
and fresh bread paired with enough tzatziki
dinner? Whatever
to fill a swimming pool. Then, we settle in for they made that day.
a one-man show. The owner, a little cigarette A gullet plies the waters in the Greek isles.
dangling from his lips, tunes his guitar, then
entertains us, song after folk song, as we sip
ouzo and clap along.
Where’s the ship? We don’t care, not for the
moment, anyway. We’ll find our way back at
the conclusion of the show, whenever that (Right)
will be, as the old man plays us into the night. A narrow
I’m somewhere in the Dodecanese, an stone
Aegean island group spread into an arc, street in
a long way from Athens, but close to the Monemvasia.
Turkish mainland. This small island is the (Far right)
Greece that few get to see. A vineyard
in the
Continued on B2 Peloponnese.
B2 FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2021

Even in the
heart of Ath-
ens’s historic heart,
there are plenty of
back lanes and hid-
den squares to be
explored.

Behind the
Subscription
Your subscription will not only provide you with
accurate news and features, but also contribute
to the revival of American journalism and help
safeguard our freedoms for future generations.

Finding
We aim to tell you what we see, not how to think; we
strive to deliver you a factual picture of reality that
lets you form your own opinions.

We believe that we live in truly epochal times, where

the faithful representation of our current events
won’t just be important for the people of today, but
Hidden
also for the generations to come. The records we
keep now will directly inform the foundations of the
history they’ll learn and the values they’ll cherish—
and this knowledge is what drives us.
Greece,
From Unnamed Islands
Learn more at
EpochSubscription.com
to the Heart of Athens
Continued from B1 juts into the sea, its Byzantine churches
and medieval cobblestone lanes con-
As the country reopens to American nected to the mainland by a 650-foot
TRUTH AND TRADITION travelers, most will flock to destinations causeway. After a visit, walking the cob-
that are understandably popular with blestones, I backtrack in the Mercedes
tourists, from the rollicking beaches of through terraced vineyards, near a route
Mykonos to the picture-perfect sunsets once used by the ancient Spartans to
on Santorini. But, during more than half reach the coast.
a dozen visits here, I’ve learned that this Arriving at the estate, I meet the
country rewards those who search be- owner, Nikos, and hop into the back
yond, with food, wine, unforgettable of his dusty old pickup truck, getting
characters, and experiences that re- an impromptu tour of his 75 acres of
main with you for a dry whites and reds.
lifetime. Basking in the late af-
For example, the ternoon sun, he tells
Peloponnese. On a This country me that the grapes
subsequent trip to
Greece, I pile into
rewards those who thrive in this volcanic
soil, caressed by the
the back of a Mer- search beyond, prevailing winds that
cedes taxicab and blow from the Aegean
make my way west, with food, wine, to the Black Sea.
crossing the Corinth unforgettable Afterward, Nikos
Canal about an hour takes me into the cas-
out from Athens, characters, and tle-like winery, telling
the steaming streets me that wines grown
of the city already experiences that here in Laconia (the
feeling like another remain with you for southeastern part of
world. the peninsula) were
This famous penin- a lifetime. once sent under sail
sula, home to Sparta, as far as Venice and
snow-capped peaks, and miles of roll- Genoa. “And they were favorites at the
ing groves, grows some excellent wine. noble courts of Constantinople,” he
While oenophiles from abroad have adds. And while his own family winery
traditionally looked askance at Greek is just about a century old, it’s all cer-
vintages, locals here will tell you that tified organic, and he uses only local
they’ve always kept the best for them- grapes in his award-winning vintages.
selves, exporting only the leftovers, so Across the mainland, I find other Hel-
Ying and Yang by Sandra Kuck you’ll have to visit their vineyards to get lenistic pleasures. On a cool night, I sit
a true taste. by a roaring fire at a hotel near Parnas-
I do, at Estate Theodorakakos. First, sos the largest ski resort in Greece, wan-
I tour nearby Monemvasia, which was dering into the nearby village the next
once a powerful fortress. Settled in the day. There, I pop into a small restaurant
sixth century, this Gibraltar-like rock for a bite of the best, melty, fire-kissed

Original artworks, canvas wraps,

and prints of Award-winning oil
paintings now available at

InspiredOriginal.Org/Store

An old neighborhood on the slopes of the Acropolis.

 FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2021
halloumi I’ve ever had, the semi-ripened
sheep’s cheese finished on the grill.
Even in Athens—a bustling city where
visitors often stay just long enough to
see the Acropolis, then make a bee-line
to the beach—I find plenty of reasons
to tarry.
Starting in the heart of Plaka, the his-
toric heart of the city, I eat and drink my
way through the back lanes and hidden
squares, the Parthenon soaring on a hill
just above it all. At Brettos, I pull up a
stool to the backlit bar and try a series
of ouzos, enjoying the anise spirit—the
national drink—at the oldest distillery
in the country. Then, tucked away on
a very narrow side street not far from
the mayhem of Monastiraki Square, I
slide into Six Dogs. Feeling a little like
a speakeasy, this bar, restaurant—and
secret garden—is set on a fully con-
tained urban courtyard, the little rooms
around it devoted to pop-up galleries. I
browse, a draft beer in hand.
And I show up far too early for dinner
at Zonars (since renamed Athenénée), a
little further up the road, a once-glorious
restaurant that devolved into a shabby
coffee shop, now restored to its original
1930s Art Deco glory. Arriving to find the
place half-empty at 10 o’clock at night,
it’s full of hungry diners by midnight,
all of us downing tender grouper and
heaps of risotto and big, bone-in lamb
shanks, sipping wine into the wee hours
of the morning.
Hopping into a taxi and curling down
to the coast, I spend a few days on the
Athenian Riviera. Providing the plea-
sures of the islands without the need to
board a ferry, this string of resorts and
beach clubs is less than a half hour’s
drive from Plaka.
And it feels like a world away. With
sandy beaches and super-fresh seafood
and water as blue as anything you’d see
on the islands, I enjoy the beach, grab-
bing a cabana and soaking up the sun. I
dine on octopus and squid, and feta and
moussaka, among locals in the super-
ALL PHOTOS BY SHUTTERSTOCK
Seafood abounds at a
taverna.
B3
An aerial view of Monemvasia.
The Elkomenos Christos church in Monemvasia.
cool nearby neighborhood of Glyfada,
swimming in the warm, spring-fed
Vouliagmeni Lake, and bedding down
for the night at the luxurious, newly re-
opened Four Seasons Astir Palace.
The islands? Yes, they beckon, espe-
cially the charms of nearby Spetses, just
a short ride away, as well as the rugged
pleasures of far-flung Crete. But for now,
away from the crowds on Santorini, no
boat to miss, or flight to catch, I’m happy
to just sit here and soak up the sun.
Toronto-based writer Tim Johnson is
always traveling, in search of the next
great story. Having visited 140 coun-
tries across all seven continents, he’s
tracked lions on foot in Botswana,
dug for dinosaur bones in Mongolia,
and walked among a half-million
penguins on South Georgia Island. He
contributes to some of North Amer-
ica’s largest publications, including
CNN Travel, Bloomberg, and The
Globe and Mail.
Unmoved
Oil on canvas
Size: 29 1/2 x 39 1/2 in
Original artworks, canvas wraps,
art posters, and framed prints of
Award-winninvg oil paintings
now available for purchase at
I ns piredOrigina l.Org
B4
PUBLIC DOMAIN
An 1892 map of Eigg.
Scotland’s Eccentric
Isle of Eigg
SHARON WHITLEY LARSEN
I
f you’re going to get sick, be sure it’s
on a Wednesday,” my Isle of Eigg
tour guide/driver Brian Greene
said. “That’s the day the doctor ar-
rives by ferry from Skye.”
Greene was filling in for Charlie Galli,
this Scottish island’s usual taxi driver
(and only source of public transporta-
tion), who was stuck on the mainland
for a week awaiting space for his van on
the ferry to return home. So Greene, who
has lived on this 3-mile by 6-mile Inner
Hebrides island since 1979, had volun-
teered his car to drive my husband, Carl,
and me on the single-track road around
this gorgeous green area, affectionately
dubbed the “People’s Republic of Eigg”
by its population of 109.
Houses are few and far
between, and long-timers
become handy at fixing
things and helping each
other out.
Following an unhappy laird—“estate
owner”—leadership history (long story),
since 1997, the island has been owned by
the Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust, a commu-
nity ownership that raised $2.5 million
from 10,000 individual contributions and
one extremely generous anonymous do-
nor. As Britain’s most eco-friendly island,
it boasts the world’s first fully renewable-
powered electric grid, generating its own
electricity from a combination of wind,
hydroelectric, and solar. It has more
sheep than people—and roaming cows
known to block the narrow road and
testing drivers’ patience.
Backing up a bit, you may recall seeing
Eigg (pronounced “egg”) profiled on “60
Minutes” in November 2017. It’s “some
really obscure place that you’ve never
heard of and are not likely to visit,” com-
mented correspondent Steve Kroft in his
introduction.
“I want to go there!” I exclaimed to
Carl after we watched the entertaining
episode about the island’s charming and
resilient—yet quirky—residents.
I had no idea that just two years later,
in November 2019, we would be here as
A house on the Isle of Eigg.
COURTESY OF CARL H. LARSEN
This single-track road carries visitors around
the Isle of Eigg in Scotland.
curious, traipsing tourists—for about
two hours.
Until COVID hit, some 11,000 visitors
would come here each year via ferry—
mostly as day-trippers, as we were,
since accommodations are few. Tourists
hike the white, sandy beaches; enjoy
bird-watching, lobster-fishing, daytime
boat cruises, kayaking, stargazing—just
relaxing.
After taking the overnight Caledonian
Sleeper train to Scotland from London,
we had started our journey in Fort Wil-
liam at the Alexandra Hotel conveniently
located next to the train station. We took
another train 90 minutes up the scenic
coast to Mallaig, a tiny fishing village,
where we caught the Caledonian Mac-
Brayne ferry for the 80-minute sail to
Eigg, 10 miles off the western coast.
I counted only 10 passengers onboard.
There were also two vans and a few
cars—which belonged to residents since
“outsiders” cannot take cars to Eigg. It’s
either walk, hire a bike, hitchhike—or
book Galli’s taxi when he’s in town.
I had to laugh as I disembarked: Earlier,
I had emailed Maggie Fyffe (the colorful
Isle of Eigg Trust’s secretary, a 45-year
resident who was featured with Galli on
“60 Minutes”), sending a photo of Carl
and me since she was meeting us at the
pier. I spotted her right away, holding an
umbrella and patiently waiting for us in
the drizzle. With so few passengers, there
had been no need to send the photo! She
had invited us for lunch at the pier cafe
after we toured the island for 45 minutes
with Greene.
“We don’t have the influx of tourists
here,” he commented as he drove us in
his small older car. Despite the cloudy
rain and wind, we loved seeing the is-
land’s craggy, rustic beauty. We passed a
few drenched, waving islanders bicycling
on the narrow road.
Eigg boasts a small medical center, a
few churches, a post office, one primary
school with five students, one grocery
store, a museum, a coffee shop, and
“wee” craft shop, and a pub-tearoom-
cafe by the pier. The gift shop there sells
items made by the many creatively
self-employed residents: hand-knitted
sweaters (courtesy of the island’s sheep),
jewelry, purses, candles, soap. There
are also books about Eigg, T-shirts, and
postcards. Mail is normally delivered
three days a week. There is a smattering
of guest houses, B&Bs, a hostel, self-ca-
tering venues, and yurts.
The ferry doesn’t arrive daily—and
JOSHOJOSHO/SHUTTERSTOCK
The small island has been owned by the Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust since 1997.
Before COVID-19, 11,000
visitors would travel here via
ferry each year.
COURTESY OF SHARON WHITLEY LARSEN
Passengers disembark the
ferry on the Isle of Eigg in
Scotland.
COURTESY OF SHARON WHITLEY LARSEN
WHEN YOU GO
Ferry: Calmac.co.uk; IsleOfEigg.org; Galmisdale-Bay.com
Inner Hebrides islands’ newspaper West Word: WestWord.org.uk
Caledonian Sleeper: Sleeper.scot; VisitScotland.com
FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2021
ERICA SORENSEN/SHUTTERSTOCK
sometimes not for a week during fierce
weather. Houses are few and far be-
tween, and long-timers become handy at
fixing things and helping each other out.
There’s no McDonald’s, Costco, or shop-
ping center.
“We’re all from different cultures,
backgrounds,” Fyffe said, as we sipped
delicious soup for lunch in the pier’s
cozy Galmisdale Bay Cafe and watched
through the picture window as our re-
turn ferry slowly sailed in.
The ferry doesn’t
arrive daily—and
sometimes not for a
week during fierce
weather.
“Most people are on the same page.
They recognize it’s a very beautiful,
special place and want to keep it that way.
The landscape is amazing. We’re a small,
enthusiastic community. We wouldn’t
have achieved what we have if it weren’t
for that. There’s something about island
communities—a bit different, special—
people know warts and all. You sort out
disagreements—you have to see them the
next day. I don’t see many disadvantages.
But it’s a pain [...] if you miss the boat!”
Sharon Whitley Larsen is a freelance
writer. To read features by other Creators
Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the
Creators Syndicate website at Creators.
com. Copyright 2021 Creators.com
Visitors browse the charming gift shop,
which sells handcrafted items by locals,
on Scotland’s Isle of Eigg.
ONDREJ PROCHAZKA/SHUTTERSTOCK
 FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2021 B5
ALL PHOTOS BY SHUTTERSTOCK UNLESS NOTED OTHERWISE

Good Times and

Quiet Moments
in Kent County,
Delaware
VICTOR BLOCK

The sound of slot machines competes

with the excited cries of winners sitting
at the nearby gambling tables. Mean-
while, silence reigns at farms where hors-
es—rather than tractors—pull plows.
Welcome to Kent County, Delaware.
Dover, the state capital, retains the
charm that William Penn envisioned
when he laid it out in 1683. The grace-
ful Dover Green surrounds the inviting
public square. This is where a Continen-
tal regiment was mustered during the
American Revolution, and where towns-
people gathered in 1776 to hear the newly
penned Constitution of Delaware read.
The First State Heritage Park encom-
passes The Green and links a number of
important sites. Guided walking tours 1
focus on stories of The Green, Revolu-
tionary War heroes, and tales of slavery
and freedom.
The Old State House, completed in 1791,
served as Delaware’s Capitol for more
than 140 years before it was replaced in
1933. An audio-visual presentation and
tour bring to life the people who once de-
liberated within the walls of the graceful
Georgian-style structure.

Dover, the state

capital, retains the
charm that William
Penn envisioned when
he laid it out in 1683.
During a visit to Kent County, I enjoyed
another immersion in history, this one
provided by a costumed interpreter
playing the part of James Booth Jr., who
served as Chief Justice of the Delaware
Supreme Court from 1841 to 1855. He
explained that although Delaware was a
slave state, residents were divided over
the issue.
Around the corner from the Old State
House is the tiny John Bell House, which
was erected in the mid-1700s. It was
owned by three generations of a family
that operated taverns around The Green.
The little wooden structure now serves
as an interpretive center and the starting
point of tours.
After taking in your fill of early Ameri-
cana, it’s time to set your sights on the
eclectic offering of other attractions in
and around Dover. A short stroll leads
to the Johnson Victrola Museum, which
is as fascinating in its role in facilitating
the town’s history. That history began
with a Delawarean named Eldridge
Johnson, who founded the Victor Talk-
ing Machine Co. in 1901. After perus-
ing collections of more than 100,000
old records, antique phonographs, and
memorabilia that trace the history of
recorded sound, I was amused by an
assortment of early hand-cranked “talk-
ing machines” with oversized listening
horns.
I also enjoyed intriguing stories told
during a guided tour. These stories
revealed the source of popular sayings,
such as “Put a sock in it,” referring to
when people literally stuffed a sock into
the listening horn of a Victrola to quiet
the sound, and “Put a lid on it,” which
evolved when record-players were later
placed in cabinets with lids which could
be closed.
An introduction to a more contempo-
rary chapter of history is available at the
farmers’ markets that take place in and
around Dover. Spence’s Bazaar offers the
appeal of a rambling open-air shopping
experience and encounters with repre-
sentatives of a local Amish community.
Dressed in their distinctive “plain peo-
COURTESY OF JAMES MATTIL/DREAMSTIME.COM
4 powered sewing machine—was work-
1. The Delaware
Legislative Hall, the
state capitol building of
Delaware.
2 and 3. Bombay Hook
National Wildlife Refuge.
4. A red wing blackbird
and blue heron at the
Bombay Hook National
Wildlife Refuge.
5. An Amish boy plows
a field with a team of
horses instead of a
tractor in Kent County,
Del., in this file photo.
6. At the First State
Heritage Park in Dover,
visitors enjoy a walking
tour of The Green.
2 3
ple” attire, the Amish sell fresh-baked
breads and pies; homemade fudge; and
other hard-to-resist, diet-busting foods.
Drives through the countryside pro-
vide other encounters with the Amish
lifestyle. Tiny shops and tidy farms line
narrow, winding roads. I paused to chat
with an amiable young man guiding a
six-horse team pulling a plow.
The main feature at Shady Lane Selec-
tion is a large collection of quilts, one of
which Salina Yoder—using a foot-pedal-
ing on when I arrived. After viewing the
colorful assortment of bright coverlets
and comforters, I spotted a sign that
suggested, “When life gives you scraps,
make quilts.”
Even as a non-fan of automobile racing,
I found a tour of Dover International
Speedway more interesting than I had
anticipated. The “Monster Mile,” as it is
known, hosts automobile races each year
on what’s billed as “the fastest 1-mile car
track in the world.” Guided tours include
a visit to a garage where retired Sprint
Cup race cars are parked once their
careers of tooling around at speeds ap-
proaching 200 miles per hour have come
to an end.
Even this long list of attractions and
activities doesn’t exhaust the possibilities
available to those visiting Kent County.
The somewhat oddly named Air Mobil-
ity Command Museum—housed in a
World War II hangar—is home to more
than two dozen aircraft. They include
an open-cockpit biplane and a retired
jumbo jet which has taxied passengers
such as U.S. presidents and vice presi-
dents, as well as Queen Elizabeth II.
The Bombay Hook National Wildlife
Refuge encompasses 16,000 acres of hab-
itat for waterfowl, songbirds, shorebirds,
and other wildlife. Close-up animal en-
counters are available for those who set
out on gentle walking trails, while there
are also options for those who would
rather experience drive-by sightings
from their car.
The section of the Delaware Bayshore
Byway that traverses Kent County me-
anders through marshlands that skirt
Delaware Bay and leads to small fishing
villages. A personal favorite was Leipsic,
a tiny hamlet where working boats used
for fishing, crabbing, and oystering are
often tied up at the dock. I received a
lesson in crabbing from two watermen
as they unloaded bushel baskets of the
crawly crustaceans they had just re-
trieved from the traps they had tended
earlier in the day.
Museums and history-rich buildings
have much to offer those who visit Kent
County. But for me, chatting with amia-
ble watermen as they unloaded the day’s
catch and watching a young Amish man
steer a horse-powered plow were among
experiences that provided the most last-
ing memories.
Victor Block is a freelance writer. To read
features by other Creators Syndicate writ-
ers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syn-
dicate website at Creators.com. Copyright
2021 Creators.com
WHEN YOU GO
Those interested in more information re-
garding Kent County may visit the website 
VisitDelawareVillages.com
COURTESY OF KENT COUNTY TOURISM CORP.

5 6
B6
Wine Brings Visitors
to Once-Sleepy
Cottonwood, Ariz.
DENNIS LENNOX
A
rizona’s burgeoning wine industry
has put the once-sleepy Cotton-
wood on the map.
Nowhere is that more ap-
parent than the Historic Old
Town, an area listed on the National Reg-
ister of Historic Places for its commercial
architecture from the first half of the 20th
century. Many of the old storefronts lining
Main Street have been repurposed into
wine tasting rooms.
Cottonwood, a quick drive from the red
rocks of expensive Sedona, is located in the
200-square-mile Verde Valley.
More than 20 vineyards form the Verde
Valley Wine Trail appellation—an official
American viticultural area (AVA) desig-
nation is pending before bureaucrats in
the federal government—and grow grapes
for commercial wine production. The rest
of the wine predominantly comes from
FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2021
the Willcox AVA, an appellation about 300
miles to the southeast in and around Co-
chise County.
Cottonwood, a quick
drive from the red rocks
of expensive Sedona, is
located in the 200-square
mile Verde Valley.
Wines include those made from univer-
sally known chardonnay and riesling, but
also somewhat lesser-known grapes that
just happen to thrive in Arizona’s climate.
Think Rhône-style blends of grenache,
syrah, and mourvèdre; orange wine from
malvasia bianca; and the Spanish mainstay
tempranillo.
(Above) Vintage signs It may, however, take some detective
in historic Old Town work to figure out what is actually in the
Cottonwood. bottle, as a considerable number of Ari-
zona wines are sold with labels that pri-
(Left) Alcantara oritize a marketing name over the actual
Vineyards produces 17
different varietals from
grape varietal or varietals used. This is
over 20,000 vines. certainly true at Merkin Vineyards with
its Tarzan red blend of tempranillo and
an undisclosed grape.
Cottonwood’s tasting rooms include an
outpost of Arizona Stronghold, the state’s
biggest winemaker. For reds, the 2017 estate-
grown syrah from Buhl Memorial Vineyard
and 2019 Bayshan, a blend of petite sirah,
syrah, and mourvèdre, are highly recom-
mended. Both are serious wines. Drinkers
of big, buttery chardonnays should try the
2018 estate-grown chardonnay from Bonita
Springs Vineyard.
The 2018 chardonnay from Pillsbury
Original artworks, canvas wraps,
art posters, and framed prints of
Award-winning oil paintings
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 FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2021 B7
EQROY/SHUTTERSTOCK ALL PHOTOS BY DENNIS LENNOX UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED

The Merkin Vineyards in downtown Cottonwood.

The Southwest Wine Center at Yavapai College is a teaching vineyard and winery for students pur-
suing a career in the wine industry.

Wine Co. punched well above its weight
(only 190 cases were produced). The Co-
chise County-based winemaker produces
a leaner chardonnay more akin to the kind
associated with Chablis in France.
Some of the closest vineyards to down-
town’s tasting rooms are Alcantara Vine-
yards and Page Springs Cellars in Cornville,
where John McCain lived. A full map and
accompanying Verde Valley wine passport
can be picked up at the tourist office on
Main Street, next to Cottonwood City Hall.
No visit would be complete without a
stop at the Southwest Wine Center on the
campus of Yavapai College. Not only is it
a place for students to learn winemaking
and land jobs in the industry, but oeno-
philes are welcome to visit the 13-acre
vineyard and sample wines from the cen-
ter’s own label.
IF YOU GO
Stay at the Iron Horse Inn,
an updated early 1930s
motor court motel, with
clean and well-appointed
rooms. Alternatively,
consider The Taven Hotel.
Both are located on Main
Street.
Eat downtown at Nic’s
Cottonwood, Ariz., is located about two hours Italian Steak & Crab House
by car from Phoenix. or Pizzeria Bocce Patio Bar.
Another superb choice is Up
the Creek by Page Springs
Cellars, where the seriously
fine wine list includes
Dennis Lennox writes around 180 selections.
a travel column for Verde Adventures offers
The Epoch Times. an approximately two-hour,
self-guided kayak tour of
the Verde River that starts
and finishes at Alcantara
Vineyards, where a tasting
is included in the cost
($109.50 weekdays; $121
weekends).
Cottonwood is two hours
by car from Phoenix, the
state’s biggest city. Flying
in and out of Las Vegas
(almost five hours away) is
another option, depending
on airfare, flight timings,
and rental car rates. Best of
all, parking in downtown’s
street spots and parking
lots are free, which will
surely change as tourist
numbers increase.

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