The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1359118
A-10 Wednesday, April 7, 2021 The Press-Dispatch OPINION Submit Letters to the Editor: Letters must be signed and received by noon on Mondays. Email: editor@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg President Biden just delivered a master class in confused, ambivalent leadership. In his first press confer- ence as president, he addressed the border crisis by regurgitating the talking points his press team, allies and an adoring media have been re- peating for days. In just a few days, the administra- tion went from proclaiming there is "no [crisis] … the border is closed" to announcing that Vice President Harris has been tapped to fix the crisis-that-isn't-a-crisis. Then a vice presidential spokesperson declared that the VP is not in charge; she's just undertaking a diplomatic outreach to Latin America. Finally, speaking for himself, Biden had nothing to add but the same blame game and excuse-mak- ing that his team has been peddling for days. There is another bad side to Biden's blind-eye border shenanigans: it can only embolden our foreign rivals to take advantage of a seemingly weak and flailing U.S. ad- ministration. In a few short months, illegal bor- der crossings have reached historic highs, and there is no question why. On Day One of his administration, Biden dramatically changed border policies that had helped stem the tide of illegal immigration. There is also no mystery about why the border tsuna- mi keeps rising. The admin- istration has clearly demon- strated that it considers bor- der security to be a low prior- ity. For example, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has repeatedly em- phasized the administration's intent to continue accepting unaccompanied minors. By saying the government won't stop this abuse of the immigration system, administration officials are Reshaping America By Salena Zito Points to Ponder By Rev. Ford Bond Continued on page 11 It's a little late to discuss this matter but I think it's never too late to learn something about subjects that inter- est us. So the past week I did a little read- ing about Easter. And about Easter egg hunts. Apparently the word Easter, al- so called Pascha (Greek and Latin) is well known to all Christians as a festi- val and holy day celebrating the resur- rection of Jesus from the dead, three days after he was crucified and buried. I think the story is very well under- stood practically by the Christian be- lievers. What I was not too clear about was the reason for the Easter egg hunt. It apparently is a symbol of the emp- ty tomb, and the Easter lily as a symbol of the resurrection. The Easter bun- ny, for which I can't find a good cor- relation, was mentioned as analogous to Santa Claus in the American culture – a gift giving character. Regarding the Easter parades which seemingly did not take place this year, I under- stand it is a celebra- tion of the resurrec- tion of Jesus and the triumph over death. The Easter egg tradition took dif- ferent forms. In some countries, eggs were made from chocolates, some from porcelain beautifully decorated with jewels and precious stones, some made from plastic. The prevailing be- lief is that the egg is a symbol of new life and rebirth. Every year before or on Eas- ter Sunday, our grandkids cel- ebrate the Easter egg hunt in our or our kids' backyard. The adults had fun placing these eggs in areas that were a little hard to find, and the grandkids running all over the yard had as much fun trying to find and collect them. It certainly gives them a lot of excitement and laughter and great memories. I hope everybody had a good Easter celebration. For our new Christian life begins with hope. My Point of View By H. K. Fenol, Jr., M.D. Eggs and Bunny, and waiting in line Continued on page 11 Continued on page 11 Continued on page 11 Continued on page 11 Give Me a Break By John Stossel Woke colleges Eye on the Economy By Stephen Moore Are Democrats dangerous to your health? We Need to Resolve a Dilemma Holy Week ended in a disaster. Je- sus, whom many embraced as the Mes- siah, had been condemned to death and executed. This cannot be – But His disciples saw it. However, before His death, Jesus told His disciples, "The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sin- ful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.' We concluded Good Friday with death, but as disciples, we were ex- pecting life! We are still expecting life even though we realize that we are in a dilemma, just as acute as the patri- arch Job who cried out in his despair centuries before Jesus. As he agonized in his dilemma of life, he cried, "For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And af- ter my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God.…" Good Friday left us in a dilemma – the apostle John observed the words of Jesus: "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. Notice the order of wording - from death to life! Recognize this concept? It is found at the end of the Parable of the Prodigal Son – YOUR BROTHER WAS DEAD! The Golden Age of Hollywood pro- duced some classics that bore deep in- to dilemmas of life. Consider The Wizard Of Oz. What is the dilemma? Dorothy wants to go home!; The A frican Queen. The ship is stuck in river reeds and death is ap- proaching; The Maltese Falcon, who has the priceless Falcon and who killed Miles Archer? CASABL ANCA, two men love the same women–the same women is torn between the two men–and there is a nasty Gestapo major causing trouble. This is not a morality play. War had torn the fabric of life to pieces, and Rick Blaine, Elsa Lunge, and Victor Laslow were thrown together in a di- lemma. Casablanca is a dilemma that needs an ending–as do all dilemmas. So what is the shared dilemma be- tween Good Friday and Casablanca? Conflicting realities. Elsa loves Rick, BUT victor is her husband, and he needs her! Jesus said, "I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." But I saw Him die! THIS CANNOT BE! Psychology class this state of mind "Cognitive Dissodance." The disciples that were at the Pass- over Feast saw the fellowship and peace of God, while a few hours later they saw Him die! What each of these men and wom- en saw and experienced are in conflict; this must be resolved! Can you see the dilemma? We must have a resolution to the story! Allow me to place you at the Pass- over Celebration as a participant, then you were there when Jesus was arrest- ed, then you were there when a soldier pierced the side of Jesus. I am sorry. Jesus is dead. [Just as the prophets spoke] Now what? Our mind is at war with our spirit because we have faith to be- lieve! Remember Job said, "I KNOW MY REDEEMER LIVETH! " There is a glimmer of hope; Jesus said "destroy this body and in three days I will raise it up." Matter-of-fact- ly, John writes later, "Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This com- mand I have received from My Father." If you celebrated Easter, you re- solved the dilemma, and you have an ending; it was resolved through faith. The followers of Jesus had to expe- rience three days of spiritual agony, yet we can read of the Passion of Je- sus through the eyes and heart of faith and see the victory! The apostle Peter wrote at least 25 years after the resurrection, "Bless- ed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrec- tion of Jesus Christ from the dead," That is it – that is it – that is it! The story has an ending! The dilemma has been destroyed through the resurrec- tion of Jesus! Continued on page 11 Did you take the SATs to try to get into college? Your kids may not have to. More than 1,300 schools have be- come "test optional," meaning stu- dents need not submit SAT scores. Some, like the entire University of Cal- ifornia system, now won't even look at scores. There are seemingly legitimate rea- sons to oppose the tests. Richer kids often get tutoring that gives them an advantage. Critics claim the tests are culturally biased and say that's why Blacks and Latinos don't score as well. But that doesn't explain why Asians do so well. In fact, Asians get the best SAT scores. I assume it's more about culture and parenting. Kids raised in front of the T V do poorly. Those encouraged to read do better. Kids who spend time talking to adults do better. Bob Schaeffer, ex- ecutive director at FairTest, an advoca- cy group that helped persuade colleges to dump tests, says testing companies just want to make money. "These are busi- nesses selling prod- ucts," Schaeffer says in my new video. "The College Board is a billion-dollar a year business." I ask him what's wrong with the tests themselves. He replies, "The SAT and ACT are inferior predictors of college performance." It is true that high school grades predict 33 percent of college grades, while tests predict 32 percent. But that is just barely "inferior." Combining grades and SATs predicts 42 percent of college grades, which makes the tests useful. Also, tests can help the smart student who, for what- ever reason, doesn't do well in high school. "It's the diamond in the rough argument," Schaeffer responds. "There are actually very few examples of that being true." I believed him until I looked at Col- lege Board data. It shows that students with C grades in high school, but great SAT scores, do better in college than A+ students with low SAT scores. Rep. Jack Kemp used to say that minority voters "don't care what you know until they know that you care." Democrats have cleaned up with Black and Hispanic voters (although a little less so with each passing elec- tion) by professing how much they care. Ah, but it is also a truism that ac- tions speak louder than words. Black voters made significantly more eco- nomic progress in former Presi- dent Donald Trump's one term, de- spite his label as a "racist," than in eight years under former President Barack Obama. The Black poverty rate fell to its lowest level EVER un- der Trump, whereas little progress was made in Obama's two terms. Dit- to for Hispanics. The income gains under Trump policies were larger in three years under Trump than in the eight years under Obama for both Hispanics and Blacks. Asian prog- ress also soared high under Trump; the median Asian household income reached very close to $100,000 in 2018 — much higher than for whites. Money isn't everything. What about health and well-being? Here, too, Democrats have failed racial minorities in America. Consid- er the performance of Republican governors versus Democratic gov- ernors in keeping minorities free from COVID-19 infection and death. On a national basis, it is true and troubling that mi- norities have been more ad- versely affected by COVID-19 than whites. The media re- ports this all the time. But the story that hasn't been told is that Democrat- ic governors have done a much, much worse job keep- ing Blacks protected from the virus than red-state governors. For proof of this, I checked the ra- cial composition data from The At- lantic's COVID Tracking Project through January 2021. Two findings Heritage Viewpoint By James Carafano President Biden worsens border mess Frye is helping stage New Castle's comeback Star Parker is off this week. The fol- lowing column is by Salena Zito. For over 100 years, the sprawling Shenango, China plant warmly greet- ed just about every person who entered this Lawrence County city. Its 30 acres of multipane windows reflected off the Shenango River when they entered the city. It was one of the largest dinnerware manufacturers in the country. China made here was hailed for its craftsman- ship. It graced middle-class family ta- bles and the state dining rooms of Pres- idents Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Tru- man, Dwight Eisenhower and Lyndon Johnson. The plant was a place where skilled artisans and union labor workers made a good living. They took advantage of local natural resources: The clay de- posits used to make the pottery, and the abundant soft coal used to fire the beehive ovens. That soft coal was also used for making steel. One hundred years ago, New Castle was such a sig- nificant player in iron and steel manu- facturing that it was often referred to as "Little Pittsburgh." Today, it is only decaying. A factory abandoned and ravished by time and fires likely caused by addicts scaveng- ing for copper wiring. Thirty years af- ter its closure, the complex has boxes of china never sent, and weeds grow, pushing through cracked floors. The decay was likely one of the first things 10 -year-old Chris Frye saw when his family moved here from Vir- ginia. The 32-year-old father of three described his first impressions after arriving in this post-industrial setting from an expanding Washington, D.C., suburb. "I remember asking my mother, 'Who is in charge of all this stuff? '" he said. "When she asked me what stuff I was talking about, I told her, 'These potholes and buildings and bridges. Who is in charge of them? Because they are all falling apart, and some- one is not doing their job.'" "She told me it was the mayor's job, and that always stuck with me," Frye said. Twenty years later, Frye is the may- or of his adopted hometown. The son of a single mother with three siblings made history in January 2020 when he was sworn in as New Castle's first Black mayor. He is the rare Republi- can elected to the city's top job and the youngest person ever to hold it. He did this with only $250 in his campaign coffer in a predominantly white city where the registration is overwhelm- ingly Democratic. "My biggest challenge is being new to the mechanics of politics and be- ing an outsider," he said. Long before his political career, he had explicit be- liefs and drew upon conservative prin- ciples and values. "I always say this. The conflict was: We were low-income. We utilized government services, had food stamps, the whole nine yards," he said of his upbringing. He added it pro- vides a misconception about how polit- ical values get formed. He called the decision "one of values versus which parties dictate the programs that we're involved in," he said. "So, my conserva- tive values of free enterprise and per- sonal responsibility come from those experiences and, of course, religious freedom." The city is very urban and industri- al. The downtown business district is vibrant, filled with dozens of shops and restaurants. It is a melting pot of eth- nic delicacies reflective of the genera- tion of immigrants that moved here at the turn of the 20th century. Frye came back to live here after earning his bachelor's degree at Gan- non University and then a master's de- gree in social work at the University of Pittsburgh. Frye said he and his wife briefly considered moving the family to suburban Cranberry Township, an af- fluent community close to Pittsburgh. But he was drawn back, and the idea of entering politics someday was there, albeit far in the back of his mind. "I didn't even think about running (for mayor) until I was later in life, may- be in my 50s," he said. "I had a good job, still aspiring to do more, maybe do some little entrepreneurial stuff and some grassroots work, continue to help local kids in education or to get off of probation, things of that na- ture through my job in social services. Court Down Agricultural