Opinion | Cheng the Protector

He was identified by all as merely Dr. John, the quiet, calm doctor who mentored children in kung fu, discovering time between affected person appointments to encourage individuals to be taught self-defense. So it was no shock to pals and colleagues that John Cheng spent his last moments saving others by speeding a gunman who fired on a Southern California church luncheon of principally older Taiwanese individuals, together with Cheng’s just lately widowed mom…

“It was attribute of Dr. Cheng to cost ahead at that gunman,” mentioned Erica Triplett, Cheng’s workplace supervisor. “It doesn’t shock any of us. Dr. Cheng exemplified what he was constructed for — his heroism that saved so many individuals not solely at that church, however all through his profession.”

Amongst childhood pals from East Texas and classmates from Baylor College and Texas Tech’s medical faculty, intense grief is blended with gratitude. “From time to time, this overwhelming sense of pleasure fills my coronary heart as a result of I knew this man.. and I’m proud to name him my pal,” former classmate Sam Hammontree tells Shreveport, La.’s KSLA-TV.

The BaylorProud web site carries remembrances from those that knew Cheng as a school pupil:

“He actually had a coronary heart for the Lord in a approach that not another man that I ever met did, and from a younger age,” says Heidy McWhorter…

“You would simply inform he was a really loving individual,” provides Jinny Henson… “He was born to be a protector and to be a helper.”

In southern California, the place Cheng constructed a household and a profitable medical profession, the AP experiences:

Those that knew Cheng mentioned that selflessness outlined his life.

He began his apply by knocking on doorways to introduce himself as the brand new household physician within the space, mentioned Johnna Gherardini, government director of South Coast Medical Group. Cheng gave physicals to pupil athletes after which donated the cash he was paid to Aliso Niguel Excessive College.

Gherardini took kung fu together with her daughter at Cheng’s urging.

“He’s all the time taught us easy methods to defend ourselves,” she mentioned…

“He was unfathomably form,” learn a be aware left by a affected person taped to the door of his workplace, the place individuals left flowers to pay homage.

In a video posted on-line, Cheng mentioned he was impressed to become involved in medication after seeing the care his father offered as a doctor of their small neighborhood in East Texas, the place the household had moved… from Taiwan when Cheng was a child.

“It’s these small-town values that have been ingrained in me after I was youthful that basically helped create this sense of neighborhood,” mentioned Cheng, who… did his residency in California. “And on this fashionable society, in these fashionable instances, we miss quite a lot of that.”

So many are actually lacking Dr. Cheng—or wishing they’d had an opportunity to know him.

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In Different Information

‘The Spy Who Got here Into the Fold’
Usually not so admirable are the characters who present up when there’s cash to be made in

Vladimir Putin’s

Russia—although such alternatives proceed to dissipate.

The Journal’s Anna Hirtenstein and Joe Wallace report:

Russian state oil big

Rosneft Oil Co.

is shedding a number of senior executives and board members, a mind drain that stands to weaken a main driver of the nation’s financial system whereas Moscow wages warfare on Ukraine.

Former German Chancellor

Gerhard Schröder

and

Matthias Warnig,

a longtime pal of President Vladimir Putin, are leaving the board of administrators, the corporate mentioned Friday.

Their departure coincides with these of a number of different executives who additionally hail from outdoors Russia. Ms. Hirtenstein and Mr. Wallace add:

The timing of the exits could also be associated to European Union sanctions, in accordance with one of many individuals acquainted with the matter. A ban on some contracts with sure state-owned Russian corporations, together with Rosneft, got here into drive on Might 15. Whether or not this additionally applies to employment contracts isn’t clear. Having residents of nations that imposed sanctions in opposition to Russia within the government ranks at state-owned corporations can also be now seen as much less acceptable by the Kremlin, the individual mentioned.

Some might proceed to marvel how Mr. Warnig grew to become acceptable within the first place. The Journal reporters add:

Mr. Warnig, a German businessman, served as an agent in East Germany’s secret police, the place he solid a decadeslong friendship with Mr. Putin. He has been on Rosneft’s board since 2012.

And get this—when you consider the company ESG crowd, traders are imagined to assume that Rosneft has been serving as some kind of mannequin of social duty.

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Pursuits in Battle?
Josh Wingrove experiences for Bloomberg:

President

Joe Biden’s

resolution on whether or not to forgive pupil debt will probably be private for a lot of of his aides, who’re among the many thousands and thousands of People carrying loans for faculty and graduate faculty.

Not less than 30 senior White Home staffers have pupil mortgage balances, in accordance with 2021 monetary disclosures Bloomberg Information obtained from the Workplace of Authorities Ethics… Collectively, they owe as a lot as $4.7 million, the paperwork present, together with one legislative aide who reported owing between $500,000 and $1 million. Typically, solely senior or well-paid White Home workers should file monetary disclosures, and so they don’t should report debt lower than $10,000, that means the entire variety of Biden’s aides with mortgage balances is actually increased.

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Breaking Information From Busytown
“Lady tries to flee police, drives into moist concrete and will get caught,” Orange County Register, Might 18

And the Relaxation Was Simply Squandered
“Colorado Springs golf programs obtain thousands and thousands from federal COVID restoration fund,” KRDO-TV, Might 17

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James Freeman is the co-author of “The Value: Trump, China and American Revival.”

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Observe James Freeman on Twitter.

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(Teresa Vozzo helps compile Better of the Net. Due to William Hestir and Mark Zoeller.)