Welcome back to the Morning Brief——brought to you by one of America’s largest independent newspapers—The Epoch Times. 

It’s Friday October 16th, and I’m Keegan Billings.

Let’s jump right in.

Good morning! It’s Friday. Here are today’s top stories:

• The Chinese Communist Party weaponizes tasks that are largely lawful to operate an expansive spy network in the United States.

• The DOJ sued California over its voter list after finding more than 20,000 “likely noncitizens” registered to vote in the state, prosecutors said.

• Social media platform X has suspended more than 13,000 accounts involved in three suspected foreign influence operations linked to China, Russia, and Iran that targeted American political discussions ahead of the November midterm elections.

• Ukraine has resumed attacks on Russian refineries after Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said Kyiv was “done” complying with Trumps  energy ceasefire 

• 🍵 Health: Here are five ways to counter the effects of prolonged sitting.

US Law Wasn’t Built for How China’s Spies Operate in America

An American journalist who spent 16 years in China as a columnist and editor for its state media was, for seven of those years, also on the payroll of the Chinese Ministry of State Security—the civilian agency that runs Beijing’s foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, and secret-police work.

What made Thomas Weir Pauken II, 51, valuable to the Chinese regime was that he could enter the United States whenever he wanted.

On Sept. 1, a federal judge in Alexandria, Virginia, sentenced Pauken—arrested at a Washington hotel in February—to two years in prison.

“[Pauken] exploited his U.S. citizenship and corresponding ability to travel to the U.S. without restriction,” Assistant Attorney General John A. Eisenberg said.

From at least 2019 until February 2026, Pauken was paid at least $100,000 by a Chinese state handler he knew as “Cathy,” according to the Justice Department. His tasks were to travel from Beijing to the United States, meet people who might become intelligence assets, hand them communication devices, and pass along what Beijing wanted to know.

Experts told The Epoch Times that Beijing conducts most of its U.S. intelligence operations through people already living inside the country, relying on tasks that are largely lawful—making introductions, hosting events, logging attendee lists, or looking up individuals.

These activities unfold across student clubs, hometown associations, campaign fundraisers, and university forums—the very institutions an open society intentionally keeps accessible. In Pauken’s case, his role was to identify individuals the Justice Department called “new recruitment targets” for his Chinese handlers.

For Beijing, two jobs run parallel in the United States. One is aimed outward at U.S. politicians, campuses, and defense firms. The other is aimed at the Chinese diaspora, whose gatherings are tracked and reported back to Beijing.

To carry out those two jobs, Beijing works through two kinds of people: trained professionals and informants, Chen Pokong told The Epoch Times.

Chen helped organize the 1989 democracy protests in Guangzhou, China, and was jailed twice before his exile to the United States in 1996. An author and longtime commentator for Radio Free Asia and Voice of America, he has spent three decades inside the overseas Chinese dissident community.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) uses the second kind in numbers—what Chen called the CCP’s “human-wave tactic.”

“These informants are everywhere: in the Chinese community, at democracy-movement meetings, at all kinds of academic conferences in the United States, in all kinds of university forums,” he said.

“What these informants do is walk along the edge. He can say he is acting legally.”

Pauken fell between them. He was not a trained officer, and he was not walking on the edge either: He was a recruited agent—paid, run by a handler and given assignments—and what Beijing wanted from him was more people.

He also sold reports to a Wuhan group seeking information on American technology and the U.S. Department of Justice and to an expert who could help the group “engage in cyber espionage.”

Prosecutors said he encouraged a Trump administration official to contact a woman in China he believed was a Chinese intelligence officer. The Justice Department stated that he admitted trying to “infiltrate U.S. political circles” for access to classified information.

Pauken pleaded guilty in June to acting as an agent of a foreign government in the United States without notifying the attorney general. At his sentencing before Judge Leonie Brinkema, Pauken did not dispute what prosecutors found out about what he did.

A key element of the CCP’s human-wave tactic, Chen said, is overseas Chinese students, who are given small tasks to complete at events—such as networking, recording videos, and collecting business cards.

“Back in China, they can turn it in for credit,” he said.

He called it “zuoye,” meaning homework.

What that is worth is set out in nearly 150 pages of FBI records on Christine Fang, declassified by the White House and released on Aug. 17. They document four years of investigation into a Bay Area woman the FBI assessed as having suspected ties to the MSS and whose parents were intelligence officers.

Fang founded a Chinese student association at a state university and grew it past 700 members. The Chinese Consulate in San Francisco named her the best such president on the West Coast. She threw galas with the mayor of San Francisco and raised campaign money for a young then-Congressman Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.).

Not one of those instruments was illegal. But across those years, by Fang’s own account in the file, they put her in rooms with a governor, two mayors, and a member of Congress.

• The Department of Justice sued California over its voter list after finding more than 20,000 “likely noncitizens” registered to vote in the state, 

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli in Los Angeles said the DOJ gave the state 48 hours to review the names of the suspected noncitizens registered to vote who were mailed live ballots and determine whether citizens were on the list.

The federal government asked that if California was not able to independently confirm the citizenship of the voters registered, that the state would then set aside the  ballots received until citizenship could be confirmed.

Essayli posted on X. “California refused,” the request

 Essayli said. The DOJ asked the court for an emergency order requiring California to separate the ballots returned by the suspected noncitizens and verify their citizenship status, 

In response California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the lawsuit is unfounded and represents an attempt by President Trump to disenfranchise voters.

Essayli said the lawsuit isn’t political or controversial but is a way to ensure that noncitizens are not allowed to break the law by voting in a federal election.

• Social media platform X has suspended more than 13,000 accounts involved in three suspected foreign influence operations linked to China, Russia, and Iran, saying that they targeted American political discussions ahead of the November midterm elections.

 X said the networks used fake accounts to publish and amplify political content targeting U.S. candidates and public figures across the political spectrum.

The company identified the accounts through proactive monitoring and investigations by its Safety team.

X did not disclose how many accounts were associated with each country, or  identify the American candidates targeted, or publicly release evidence linking the networks to specific foreign government agencies.

X said its election-related enforcement builds on safety measures operating year-round, particularly its rules against coordinated inauthentic behavior, which prohibit organized efforts to manipulate discussions through deceptive accounts.

Earlier Chinese Influence Operations

X previously disclosed in August that it had identified approximately 200,000 suspected Chinese bot accounts, including about 200 posting content that could manipulate American debates over AI data centers and energy policy.

Such operations have also involved accounts posing as Americans.

In September 2024, Microsoft reported that Chinese Communist Party-linked influence operators impersonated U.S. voters, asked Americans about divisive political issues, and engaged with users across the political spectrum.

Meanwhile Chinese researchers have separately explored how American political opinions could be influenced.

In a December 2024 paper, researchers at the Communication University of China described using artificial intelligence to create 101 simulated American voters and expose them to segments of a 2020 presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

The virtual voters discussed the candidates’ statements, reconsidered their positions, and cast ballots over six rounds.

The researchers tracked how support for the candidates shifted as the simulated voters exchanged information and revised their preferences.

The research was a computer simulation, not a documented attempt to influence actual voters.

No public connection has been established between that research, the earlier influence operations, and X’s latest suspensions.

• the FBI said  that Federal investigators are looking into “a series of suspicious mailings” sent to election offices across the country, 

The FBI told The Epoch Times the mailings were sent to various addresses nationwide, including secretary of state offices and related election offices.

Though The agency did not confirm the number of mailings intercepted, 

the spokesperson said 

“Some of the letters contained an unknown substance 

 according to the spokesperson. The FBI is partnering with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and law enforcement partners to identify the person or people responsible for sending the letters,

Four Republican election officials have so far reported they were the intended recipients of the suspicious mail.

Mailed packages containing a powdery substance prompted evacuations in Louisiana and Oklahoma this week.

Louisiana Secretary of State Nancy Landry’s office was evacuated and closed Tuesday after an election employee opened a package and found a white powder, the department announced on social media.

In Oklahoma, the state election board received an envelope containing a suspicious white powder Tuesday. Police were called and the office was evacuated, 

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose confirmed Wednesday his office had been an intended recipient of one of the mailings but the letter was intercepted by federal investigators.

• Japan will invest up to $21 billion to build two chip factories in New York state under a trade agreement with President Donald Trump’s administration, this comes as Washington seeks to expand domestic semiconductor production.

They will be jointly owned by the U.S. government and Japanese interests and operated by GlobalFoundries, 

Construction of the first factory is scheduled to begin this year, with chip production expected in ⁠2029. GlobalFoundries executives said the partners will decide whether to build the second factory before the end of 2028.

The initiative was part ‌of a deal struck by the Trump administration last year for Japan to invest $550 ⁠billion in the United States. In return, the United States lowered its import tariff rate on Japanese cars and other imports from a threatened 25 percent to 15 percent.

Tim Breen, CEO of GlobalFoundries, in a statement.

“[GlobalFoundries] was selected because fabs of this scale require more than capital. They require differentiated technology, operational excellence and a proven ability to execute.”

The U.S. government previously held a 3 percent stake in GlobalFoundries.

Breen said that would rise to 7 percent. Japan will provide all of the ‌investment capital under the ⁠deal.

The first site in Malta, New York, is expected to add approximately 900,000 wafers (300-millimeter wafers) of annual U.S. manufacturing capacity when fully operational.

A second would add the same amount.

• Elon Musk and his America PAC agreed to settle two lawsuits alleging that Musk defrauded voters during the 2024 election by promising $1 million giveaways to randomly selected registered voters.

Musk offered the daily giveaways to registered voters who signed a petition supporting both the First and Second Amendments of the Constitution in the weeks leading up to the 2024 presidential election. 

Two Arizona residents filed lawsuits against Musk and his political action committee (PAC) claiming that while voters were told the $1 million recipients would be chosen randomly in a lottery style, they did not have a real chance to win.

The plaintiffs in the two proposed class-action lawsuits informed the Judge that they reached settlements, which are subject to approval by the court.

The parties requested that the court vacate any deadlines pertaining to the lawsuits and stay further proceedings for 30 days to allow the settlements to be finalized and executed and to file a motion for preliminary approval. Thursday’s court filings did not disclose the terms of the two settlements.

The two plaintiffs, both Arizona residents, accused Musk and America PAC of misleading voters in seven swing states into signing Musk’s petition to support the Constitution.

The plaintiffs said the defendants promised the $1 million recipients would be selected “randomly.” However, the plaintiffs alleged that voters did not have a legitimate chance of winning, citing one of Musk’s lawyers who said the 18 winners were selected because they might be good spokespeople for Musk’s PAC.

One plaintiff  said voters who signed Musk’s petition were required to provide their names, phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses. She told the court that if she had known that she had no chance of winning the $1 million giveaway, she would not have signed the petition or provided her personal information.

The plaintiff also alleged that Musk and America PAC profited off her personally identifiable information and accused the defendants of defrauding other voters who signed the petition.

Musk and America PAC denied the allegations.

• President Trump announced that the execution of the Fort Hood mass shooter, Nidal Hasan, will not be live-streamed.

that Hasan, formerly a U.S. Army major, killed 13 people and injured 32 more in the 2009 mass shooting at the Texas military base.

Trump said in a post on Truth Social that

“I think streaming the execution for all to see might have been a strong deterrent for the World to witness how America deals with Terrorists and SCUM like Hasan but, many very good and well meaning people would rather not watch him die, through streaming, or through any other visual device,” t

He confirmed that Hasan will still be executed via firing squad, 

“And that  the execution may be viewed in person by the immediate families of the victims, if they so choose. They deserve to witness JUSTICE!” he said

Earlier this month, War Secretary Pete Hegseth said Hasan’s execution would be carried out on Dec. 3 in public, and the Pentagon later confirmed that it would be live streamed.

Hasan, an Army psychiatrist who held the rank of major, walked into a medical building in November 2009, where soldiers were waiting to receive immunizations and medical clearance for deployment.

He shouted “Allahu akbar” before he opened fire with a laser-sighted handgun. He also shot at the backs of soldiers fleeing toward the parking lot.

During a 2013 military court-martial proceeding, Hasan said he was the shooter and described himself as a jihadist.

The U.S. military hasn’t executed a service member by firing squad since World War II. The last military execution took place on April 13, 1961, when Army Pvt. John Bennett was executed by hanging.

• Ukraine has resumed attacks on Russian refineries after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv was “done” complying with the  energy ceasefire proposed by President Trump.

With that, Ukrainian drones conducted an assault on the Ryazan region of Russia during the night of Oct. 14 and the morning of Oct. 15, which caused a fire to break out at an oil refinery, thats  according to Ryazan Gov. Pavel Malkov.

Malkov said in an Oct. 15 post on Telegram, saying that, along with the refinery, a warehouse, and vehicles at a business were damaged.

Ukraine said it had held off on targeting Russian refineries following Trump’s Oct. 11 announcement of an energy ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow, which Trump had blamed for global spikes in diesel prices.

However, Zelenskyy said Russia had continued to hit Ukrainian energy infrastructure, despite Trump’s assertion that they had agreed to the ceasefire. 

In the interview, Zelenskyy also criticized the Trump administration’s desire to make business deals with Moscow and accused the U.S. president of having an affinity for autocrats such as Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Zelenskyy said.

“[Trump] speaks about it openly and loudly that he loves such people and he respects such people. Because for him people who can be leaders 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, it means they can be very strong,” 

• U.S. War Secretary Pete Hegseth on Oct. 14 called President Trump’s proposed $1.5 trillion national defense budget “absolutely critical,” warning of a potentially historic military buildup by China.

during a panel at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual meeting in Washington. Hegseth said: “We’ve got a near peer adversary who’s building a military, the most historic military buildup potentially in world history,” 

He said “That’s not hyperbole; that’s just an objective truth.”

He said advances in autonomy, robotics, space, and artificial intelligence could widen the gap between countries leading in those technologies and those falling behind.

In written testimony submitted to Congress on May 12, Hegseth identified deterring Beijing in the Indo-Pacific as a major priority.

Air Force Secretary Troy Meink directly addressed China’s expanding military capabilities during Wednesday’s panel, warning that advances in satellite surveillance could increasingly expose American military assets to detection and targeting.

Meink said autonomous systems could give U.S. forces greater flexibility by allowing commanders to send unmanned aircraft and other equipment into dangerous environments where deploying crewed platforms would be too risky.

The Pentagon’s fiscal year 2027 budget request includes approximately $54.6 billion for its Defense Autonomous Warfare Group, compared with $225.9 million in fiscal year 2026.

During the Oct. 14 discussion, Hegseth also raised concerns about Chinese components used in drones operating in Ukraine.

he said. “We’ve learned a lot from Ukraine, but you can’t use everything that’s in Ukraine because of all the Chinese components involved in it,” 

Hegseth said The Pentagon must adapt lessons from Ukraine’s battlefield experience while developing systems that can be produced and deployed by U.S. forces. 

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5 Ways to Counter the Effects of Prolonged Sitting 

Hi It’s Helen Billings here, and to finish off the week I’ll be talking about a Traditional Chinese medicine, or TCM approach to countering the effects of prolonged sitting. 

Ok so for this topic, TCM doctor Kuo-Pin Wu gave us his advice. In his practice he often sees workers whose lower backs ache after hours at a desk. Between writing code, attending meetings, and meeting deadlines, they spend most of the day barely moving.

After sitting for a long time, their posture often leans forward, which can cause muscle tightness and soreness and increase pressure on the spine.

And from the perspective of  TCM, He said prolonged sitting can affect the circulation of qi, the(vital energy), as well as the blood, reducing nourishment to the brain and bone marrow. (More

He said to start off simple, give the body regular opportunities to move. like Brief walking breaks, gentle exercises, and appropriate strengthening.

So First off Dr. Wu recommends doing some half squats.

He recommends that people who sit for long hours make it a habit to move for one minute every 20 minutes. The squat does not need to be deep; the key is to safely and gently activate the thigh and gluteal muscles.

One key point of this movement is to place both hands in front of the knees while squatting down. As you stand back up, gently slide your palms upward along the knees.

This hand movement helps remind the body to rise slowly. From a TCM perspective, it also helps guide qi and blood around the knees upward in a smoother direction.

Next he recommends Tapping the Supporting Middle acupoint.

This acupoint is located at the back of the knee, in the center of the crease.

In TCM, this acupoint is often used to support the management of lower back soreness and discomfort in the lower limbs.

For daily care, gently tap the Supporting Middle acupoint on both legs using your palm or a loose fist, about 50 to 100 times on each side, until the area feels slightly warm and mildly sore.

Tapping may help relieve tension in the lower back and the back of the legs.

Now after tapping the Supporting Middle acupoint, he recommends gently stretching the muscles along the back of the legs.

According to TCM meridian theory, the bladder meridian runs along the back of the body, extending from the head and neck down through the back, lower back, and the backs of the legs.

This pathway roughly corresponds to the posterior chain, which links the calves, hamstrings, hips, and lower back.

A slant board may be used to assist with stretching and help relieve tension along the lower back and the posterior side of the lower limbs.

When standing on a slant board, keep the heels firmly planted and the body upright. Allow the backs of the calves to stretch gradually, then slowly extend the stretch toward the hamstrings and hips.

Next he recommends doing some Leg Raises.

Exercises such as leg raises can help activate the abdominal core muscles and reduce the burden on the lumbar spine.

Now for Step 1: Lie flat on the floor with both legs together and straight. Slowly raise both legs to about 30 to 45 degrees, hold for about seven seconds, then slowly lower them back down.

Then Step 2: Focus on maintaining control throughout the movement, ensuring it feels stable without straining the lower back.

And last he shared a Traditional Soup for Dietary Support.

It consists of  kudzu root, Chinese yam, pour-ree-uh, and black soybeans. In TCM, these ingredients are traditionally used to support digestion, address dampness, and nourish the body.

So Kudzu root is traditionally used to ease muscle tension; Chinese yam supports the spleen and kidney systems; pour-ree-uh supports the spleen and the handling of fluids; and black soybeans are traditionally associated with nourishing the kidney system.

The TCM kidney system encompasses functions related to bones, marrow, and vitality. It is broader than the anatomical kidneys. These traditional uses explain the recipe’s place in TCM dietary therapy; the soup should not be presented as a treatment for nerve compression or spinal damage.

He said the most useful change can begin right now, before the next meal or exercise session: stand up and take a short walk. Repeated throughout the day, small movement breaks turn caring for the back into a habit that fits everyday life.

So If you’re interested in more detailed instructions as well as a recipe on how to make a soup with those ingredients, you can head over to the epoch times dot com and search for the article titled “5 Ways to Counter the Effects of Prolonged Sitting,”

Yep this soup sounds amazing to me and I’d like to try it out soon.

Ok I want to thank you for listening and wishing you a healthy weekend. Stay well.

And before we leave, here are some words of wisdom to start the day…Today’s quote is by Louis Pasteur,

He said,

“Where observation is concerned, chance favors only the prepared mind.” 

—Louis Pasteur