The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1089368
B-4 Wednesday, March 6, 2019 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 The fact that a "Mobile World Congress" will soon convene in Barcelona, Spain, probably doesn't interest very many Americans. And yet what will be going on there could affect something that nearly everyone has a great deal of interest in: Our smartphones. Specifically, their future. Right now, the best connection speed that most people have is 4G. But 4G was an upgrade from 3G, and now the next-generation speed is just around the corner: 5G, which will dominate discussions at the Barcelona conference. Everyone is interested in get- ting even faster Internet — and not just in the United States. The tripping point in Barcelona, as far as U.S. officials are concerned? It's the fact that many European countries are closer than we are in launching 5G networks, so they're naturally interested in what a com- pany called Huawei Technologies has to offer. As you can probably glean from the name, Huawei is a Chinese company. And that has U.S. offi- cials worried. The message they're carrying to Barcelona for Huawei's global customers is simple: Huawei, the world's largest provider of telecom gear, could be forced by Beijing to spy on or disable their networks. As one State De- partment official told The Wall Street Jour- nal, "The stakes are high." In an op-ed for Fox News, Newt Gingrich explained how high: "In the very near future, domi- nating the wireless world will be tantamount to dominating the world. But many of our allies and others around the world seem con- tent to stand by and let Beijing's march to domination continue un- hindered. We cannot allow a na- tion that has no respect for polit- ical freedom, freedom of speech, or freedom of conscience to dom- inate this space." Small wonder that President Trump has sound- ed the alarm. As he tweeted recently, "American companies must step up their ef- forts, or get left be- hind." In a sign of how se- riously the adminis- tration is treating this, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has a warning for Huawei's potential customers: Governments that use the company for critical infrastructure might wind up ex- cluded from information-sharing with the Untied States. "There's a risk where we won't be able to co-locate American re- sources, an American embassy or an American military outpost," Mr. Pompeo told Fox Business Network. Warnings like that, however, usually don't meet with very pos- Somebody's Place My Point of View by Dr. H. K. Fenol, Jr., M.D. From time to time, it's a good thing to do, to tell what's going on in a place where so many in our community benefit from it's exis- tence. It is so great to see the many vol- unteers who faithfully continue to provide a safety net for those who are in need, for whatever circum- stance they may have fallen in- to. What truly amazes me is the faithfulness of those who show up to provide their time and energy to do a variety of volunteer help. There are those who distribute toi- letries, perishable and non-perish- able food and drinks, those who give out clothes and other items related to clothing, those who give out different household items such as kitchen ware, also toys, items for babies, infants, and toddlers, furniture that have been cleaned up and sometimes repaired, and many other items. For lack of space, I just can't name those all those items. From the front office staff, to the crew who give out the food, the ones who carry boxes of the delivered items from the delivery truck, the drivers who volunteer to pick up groceries from various food banks, the staff who cook lunch for Tues- day operation, and volunteers who constantly clean up the place, and on and on and on. I hope I did not miss anyone. Let's not forget the members of the Board past and present who give advice, direction and support, we thank them for their time and Last week we focused on the his- torical roots of Lent. We now turn to how the Church observed Lent in the past. In time past, the disciple who observed Lent abstained from certain types of food (particu- larly meat, eggs, and milk prod- ucts). In some traditions, partial or complete fasts were observed where participants would eat only one meal on certain days. In our more "Modern Era," ma- ny who observe Lent are not as strict nor do they abstain from foods, but often choose to refrain from a particular behavior, habit, or electronic device. Whatever one chooses to ab- stain from the central idea remains to abstain from a pleasurable ac- tivity and use the time and ener- gy spent in that activity to focus on taking stock of one's own spiri- tual condition, and repents. [This idea may be foreign to many Chris- tians who entwined their Christi- anity within our culture, which is addicted to immediate gratifica- tion.] Fasting is an ancient practice that can be found in the Law of Mo- ses. The nation of Israel was man- dated to fast one time each year, on the Day of Atonement [Yom Kippur]. This was a se- rious assembly for the Hebrews; for not only work was to stop, but no food or drink for 24 hours! The conse- quences for failing to observe the fast was to be expelled [cut off] from the group. Fasting is a mean to convey to the participant the difficulty in bringing the body under control [eating and drinking are required for life]. Atoning for sins was a se- rious ritual, and all were to expe- rience discomfort. Fasting became one the three devotional pillars of observing the Law along with almsgiving and prayer. Jesus teaches about fasting, almsgiving, and prayer in the Ser- mon on the Mount. However, He first rebukes the Jews because they had become hypocritical in practicing these elements of the Law. Therefore, after the repri- mand, He gives in- struction on how to achieve the right atti- tude and spirit. Fasting was a devo- tional practice in the early Church and for rites such as prepar- ing for baptism and re- ceiving the Eucharist, or Holy Communion. Giving was the cen- tral feature of the Law and it pro- vided for three different tithes: The Levitical or sacred tithe, the tithe of the feasts, and the tithe for the poor. Almsgiving in the New Testa- ment is the practice of giving to others, and is a frequent theme in the Gospels. Jesus sets the standard as he en- courages His disciples to act out their faith, give freely, and seek nothing in return: "Freely you have received, freely give." Paul moves the Church beyond Points to Ponder by Rev. Ford Bond Afflicting the soul, part II Continued on page 5 Continued on page 5 Continued on page 5 Continued on page 5 Minority View by Walter E. Williams Hate crime hoaxes: The bad and good Continued on page 5 Continued on page 5 Jussie Smollett, "Empire" ac- tor, claimed that on Jan. 29, two masked men identifying them- selves as Donald Trump support- ers and using racial and homopho- bic insults attacked him. Smollett said the assailants yelled "This is MAGA country," bashed his face, crushed his ribs, splashed him with bleach and put a noose around his neck. Smollett's telling of the hate crime was gobbled up hook, line and sinker by the anti-Trump news media, but Chicago police say it was a hoax. This type of hoax is part and parcel of the left's broad agenda of victimology, fraudulence and gimmickry, plus gross media gullibility, incompetence and po- litical attention seeking. What's so troublesome is the fact that despite considerable evidence that the inci- dent was a hoax, no apologies have been issued to either the public or the targets of their malfeasance — President Trump and the Ameri- cans who voted for him. Racial hoaxes have been a ma- jor part of the leftist agenda going back decades. In 1987, the Rev. Al Sharpton created the Tawana Brawley hoax, wherein four white men were falsely ac- cused of rape. For per- petrating the hoax, Sharpton was reward- ed by receiving nation- al recognition, millions of dollars and a career as a television/radio talk show host, and he ran for president in 2004. He also received 82 invitations to advise Barack Obama's White House on matters of race. Most of the nation's racial hoax- es take place on college campuses. Recall the 2006 Duke lacrosse rape case, in which three affluent white male Duke students were falsely accused of raping a black female stripper. Police exposed Bowling Green State University student Eleesha Long as a liar after she complained about being attacked by Trump supporters the day af- ter his election. At Goucher Col- lege in Maryland, scrawlings de- picted swastikas and also spelled out the N-word and the names of four black students — includ- ing the perpetrator. The Maryland po- lice found out that the perp was a 21-year-old black lacrosse player seeking victimhood. Nonetheless, the in- cident led to protests, demands for designat- ed safe spaces and de- mands that incoming freshmen and trans- fers be required to take a "cultur- al competency" course. The Daily Caller News Founda- tion has compiled some of the most outrageous hate crime hoaxes since Trump was elected (http:// tinyurl.com/y2xcc3co). The hate crime hoaxes include claims of at- tacks on Muslim men and women by Trump supporters. A bisexual woman falsely claimed that Trump supporters were sending her nasty notes. Most of the hate crime hoax- es have been committed by black students. Their charges include Speeding up spy-free smartphones Heritage Viewpoint by Edwin J. Feulner Pursuit of the Cure by Star Parker Observations Sowell Protect life rule is good news for America Lucid Moments By Bart Stinson We have truly lost our minds The Trump administration has taken another critically important step in strengthening the moral health of our nation, and hence our future. The Department of Health and Human Services has issued the Protect Life Rule, stopping the flow of Title X federal funds to fam- ily planning clinics that perform abortions or do abortion referrals. It also requires that clinics re- ceiving Title X funds be "physical- ly and financially" separate from any entity providing abortions. This puts a stop to organizations like Planned Parenthood, the na- tion's largest abortion provider, from claiming that, although they perform abortions, Title X funds they receive are used for other pur- poses. Estimates are that this rule will reduce federal funding flowing to Planned Parenthood by some $ 60 million. The Title X program was enact- ed in 1970, as part of the Public Health Service Act, to provide fam- ily planning assistance, primarily to low-income families. In 2018, $286,479,000 was ap- propriated to this program. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., chair- man of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, notes that Title X funds were "never" meant to fund abor- tions services. Given that the pro- gram was enacted three years be- fore abortion was legalized nation- wide as result of Roe v. Wade, his case is convincing. A Planned Parenthood spokes- person attacked this rule-mak- Girls' basketball season has end- ed in my state, and grandchildren are beginning to speak of track and field tryouts. All our track meets in this region are outdoors, so we schedule them toward the end of Spring and hope for good weather. But some states have in- door facilities and have already had major competitions. Connecticut, for example, had its state meet in mid-February. There, juniors Terry Miller and Andraya Yearwood ran away from the competition again, just like last year. No Connecticut girls even came close. Miller set a new state record for the 55 -meter dash at 6.95 and Yearwood came in at 7.01. Their competition was way back, bunched behind a girl who came in at 7.23 seconds. That's not es- pecially surprising, because Mill- er and Yearwood are males, and all the others are girls. A photo of Yearwood reveals a thickly mus- cled young man with a moustache. Miller's time would have land- ed him 17th in the Connecticut meet if he had competed against boys like himself. Two boys from his own high school had much fast- er times. Only one boy ran a slow- er time in the preliminary heats. Yet Miller is the third-ranking runner in the nation against girls. Yearwood, whose time would have made him dead last in the boys' preliminary heats, is tied for 7th- fastest nationally against girls. Both young men are competing against girls, of course, for col- lege scholarships. Runner Selina Soule, for exam- ple, finished 8th in the Connecti- cut race, and thus missed qualify- ing for the New England region- als in Boston by two spots. Mill- er and Yearwood occupied two of those spots. Soule will not advance to race in front of college coaches in Boston because hirsute (hairy) young men have crowded her out of the event. Your heart has to break for the young women who have worked hard to excel at their sport and to attract the attention of college coaches, only to be crushed by po- litically correct adults who lack the integrity to protect them from this gross injustice. We might as well repeal all drug and doping laws if we allow males to crash this boundary. In fairness to the girls, they too should be allowed abun- dant testosterone, thick muscles and moustaches. It wouldn't be the first time. Get on your computer and Google images of Jarmila Krat- ichvilova. She set an astonishing world record for the 800 meter run in 1983 although she was in the twilight of her career. It has never been broken, the oldest unbroken world record in men's or women's athletics. She never popped dirty on a drug test, but we do know that her country was notorious for dop- ing during her career. The mainstream media have been the guardians of dirty Iron Curtain female athletes. Sports Il- lustrated called American swim- mer Shirley Babashoff, 19, a sore loser and a poor representative of the Olympic spirit after she com- mented on East German compet- itors' deep voices and masculine physiques. It was so obvious that Saturday Night Live did hilarious skits about hairy-chested East German women who took home 11 of 13 swimming golds from the Montreal Olympics. Yet the adults in charge of the Olympics were too cowardly to take action. A younger Olympian said she kept her mouth shut after she wit- nessed the media's abuse of Ba- bashoff. And the pressure is un- mistakable for female athletes today to keep their mouths shut about boys invading girls' sports. The Associated Press wrote of Soule's complaint as if it was just her "belief" that the two young men had crowded her out of the Boston showcase, subtly discredit- ing her view as the envy of an also- ran. The AP article used feminine pronouns for the two young men, and parroted their absurd excuses. The lead suggested that most crit- icisms arose, not from female ath-